Aristocracy

""The first and foremost rule of an Imperial patrician is that service is its own reward; for it is through service that the patrician enobles his liege, inspires his lessers, and furthers the greater glory of our Imperium. A patrician may be deprived of his lands and riches, of his chain of office, even of his titles; yet his duty before the Throne, and the honour that it entails, shall never be separated from him.”"

- - excerpt from The Patrician by Imperial philosopher Khasverus Tenvinus

Owing to the conservative tendencies that predominate the peoples of Dranvamus, and the indirect method of government practiced by most of its rulers, aristocracy still remains an important part of many societies across the galaxy. From the patricians of Alcanti and the gentlemen-scholars of Vendaetha to the proud warlords of Karathon, such hereditary nobles define Dranvamus’s culture, and their way of life is observed with great curiosity, and at times emulated, by the rest of the galaxy. Aristocracy also exists in some societies outside Dranvamus, although it generally does not possess the same kind of cultural clout there.

The exact titles, traditions, and duties of nobility vary greatly from culture to culture, or even from planet to planet. In some places noble titles are merely symbolic, a sign of status rather than actual political power, while in others, scions of noble families play a key role in the affairs of governance. Some cultures favour strictly hereditary laws of succession, while others allow for a certain degree of meritocracy, allowing commoners to be elevated or noblemen to lose their status at times. Though the Imperium’s shared hierarchy does help bring some order to this chaos of Dranvamus’s aristocratic politics, not even the Paragons’ wisest advisors have been able to untangle it completely, and any attempts at total centralisation so far have ended in failure.

Imperium
As the most extant civilisation in Dranvamus, the aristocratic customs, titles and traditions of the draknir hold the most sway over the customs considered proper practice.

With its origins said to be in tying up the divergent developments of the early colonies of Alcanti, the institution’s main unifying principles are in ability to consolidate power in the paragon’s name. Aristocrats of the Imperium vary wildly in how they assure that power, from priest-lords and landholders to business leaders and merchant princes. Though the power of the nobility on some planets can be more ceremonial, or in some cases even non-existant, High Imperial law restricts  holding central positions of office to individuals with a title.

Draknir planets
Draknid noble families organise themselves into institutions known as “Grand Houses.” Both a family unit and a political institution, the Grand House is an organisation derived from the large clan-like social groupings that developed among the ancient city-states of Alcanti’s northern continent Miminas. With members of these organisations commonly called “highborn” (used both which is both singular and plural)

According to historical accounts, the original colonies of Alcanti had diverged by the time of re-established contact. These various planets each developed their own systems of governance. From this, it is presumed, a highborn’s holding is not limited to landed estates. Holdings can be corporations, institutions, even something with as little physicality as a financial portfolio. Similarly, the paragon has the power to elevate any family of their choosing to highborn status.

Draknir take immense pride in their family histories, and some of the oldest grand houses claim they can trace their histories back to the first extrasolar colonies.

Houseless
"“The grand Houses are exemplars of respect, honour, tradition and prestige, the Houseless, on the other hand, are everything they are not. Exiles, disgraced sons, oathbreakers and defilers. To be Houseless is to be marked as a fallen angel. Worse than even a common criminal for abusing or disgracing the prestigious station you were trusted to uphold.“"

- - excerpt from The Dark Imperium by Shenar Allyon

Because of the extreme importance put on position, custom and tradition, the price for abusing the privelages of highborn status is severe. Cursed as “Houseless” (Dracid: “without a Great House”), individuals with this title are nobility who have been banished from their families. Cast out of high society either by family or the state and treated as pariahs. More of a social condemnation than anything codified as law, being Houseless is considered a lower station than being a common citizen. Disgraced out of holding office and barred from the former perks of their station, “houseless” is a term synonymous with distrust, disgrace and complacency. And its use as a harsh slur has seen bursts of popularity in wider imperial society.

Grand Seranaica
In the days before Imperium, the deonari of Grand Seranaica did not have nobility in the conventional sense: the teachings of the Fourfold Church condemned the notion that one’s worth was determined solely by ancestry. Rather, deonari society was structured into various castes, based not on hereditary principles, but on the careful selection of the most worthy candidates.

The roots of the deonari caste system, as with many aspects of their society, lie in their religious beliefs, particularly their belief in the so-called Grand Design. According to that doctrine, every sentient being entered the universe for a specific, immutable purpose in the Void’s greater plan, and only in following that purpose could one achieve spiritual peace and salvation. Thus, one’s place in society was determined from youth, and though one could ascend within one’s caste, there were few ways to escape the system altogether.

The difference between the deonari castes and (for example) draknir aristocracy was in how one’s membership in a caste was determined. The Fourfold Church postulated that the Void worked in mysterious ways, and those destined to become the brightest of scholars or the bravest of warriors could arise from even the humblest origins. Thus, caste membership was determined based on a series of examinations, usually performed by specific members of the clergy (a caste in itself, and a rather powerful one at that). Social mobility within the caste itself (such as from soldier to officer, or craftsman to guildmaster) was also determined by various examinations. Young deonari were encouraged to seek higher ranks in society, but to remain at the bottom was not considered dishonourable: the lowliest of clerks, after all, was as important to the survival of the Divinarium as the wisest of the cleric-officials.

The deonari themselves believed their caste system to be the perfect way to preserve both societal and spiritual order: to ensure that one’s divinely ordained purpose in life was fulfilled as well as to maintain meritocracy and social justice. In truth, however, the system was prone to corruption. Examinations were often rigged and the examiners themselves bribed, and deonari from faraway worlds and poorer upbringings often lacked the very means to receive the necessary education, thus becoming relegated to lower castes. High-ranking caste members would also frequently abuse their power within the system, ensuring that their children would inherit their positions even if they were obviously unfit for them - essentially becoming a quasi-aristocracy.

When the Imperium absorbed Grand Seranaica, the draknir did not bother with understanding the many intricacies and specificities of the deonari caste system, and would simply apply their own social structure on top of it. Under Alcanti’s rule, the castes remained mostly unchanged, but the higher ranks of the most powerful castes within deonari society - whom the draknir could identify as nobles - were all granted titles within the Imperial aristocracy. These new aristocrats - cleric-officials, commanders of military orders, and high-ranking bureaucrats - wielded the most political power within the old system, and were more than happy to gain new ways to cement it and maintain it within their families. Thus were born the Seranaic Houses - perhaps the most influential non-draknir noble families within the Imperium, second only to the Grand Houses themselves.

The culture of the Seranaic Houses depends greatly on the region in question, but is always a rather peculiar fusion of both deonari and draknir traditions. To the east, old sensibilities predominate: it is still considered normal to have scions of noble houses undergo proper examination, and their etiquette reflects the more egalitarian practices of the Divinarium: majestic, but refined and subtle, based on the economy of movement. On some worlds such as Sanctuarium, no aristocracy has been formed at all, or it is a mere formality, with commoners frequently allowed into the upper ranks of society through the process of formal adoption.

On the other hand, the western reaches of Grand Seranaica, who have existed within the Imperium for longest, have long since integrated into its aristocratic culture. These have adopted draknir traditions with glee: solemn white robes have been replaced with lavish colourful dresses, ceremonies have become bombastic and pompous, and language refined and elegant (and heavily laced with Dracid). These Seranaic Houses - the Ma’fests, the Q’ralis, the Venoriels - are among the most ancient and powerful, and hold important positions within the region as well as the Imperium as a whole.

Teyan Dominion
Being a far more heavily centralized state (in comparison to the Imperium Draknir), the nobility within the Teyan Dominion, although superficially similar on the surface, lacks the considerable influence and power that draknir nobles hold; within the non-military sphere. Due to its highly militarised culture, the teyan nobility that serve within the Dominion Armed Forces hold considerably more influence than planetary governors or other land-owning nobles.

While the nobles responsible for governing worlds are beholden to (relatively) strict oversight from the Dominion’s capital and monarch, the expansive military grants those nobles with high positions within it considerably more weight to back up their actions, and considerably more actual power as a result.