Social Structure in Nahuac

Like everything else in Nahuac, social hierarchy is holistic, tiered and organized to match the natural order. Leaders are only so in the sense that they serve the people, and citizens are a part of the community as long as they do their own part for its survival.

Despite their strict hierarchy, the different social groups of Nahuac are not ‘lower’ or ‘higher’. Social mobility is both possible and expected, with leaders stepping down when it’s time for someone new to take the reins, and peasants rising up when their expertise can help lead the others.

Mahuílid
This is the most common status in Nahuac, including every citizen able to work, from builders to farmers. Mahuílid are expected to tend to the fields, build the homes and repair the towns. Their payment is a weekly portion of the community’s food and water stores. What each mahuíl citizen can find on their own, like fruit trees, a mineral yield or a water source, is automatically theirs, unless it is enough to share with the community, in which case it must be given to everyone.

Daálid
In most cases a temporary status, daálid are those citizens who clearly cannot perform mahuíl work, be it for their age—very young children or very old seniors—or because of an illness or disability.

Being marked as daálainn is uncomfortable, and most Náhuinn citizens try to avoid the label with its associated social perception. Thus, even young kids, disabled or elderly citizens often try to perform their mahuíl work, even if it’s beyond their abilities. It falls on the daálainn’s closest relatives to prevent them from performing dangerous tasks, and on the community leader to assign them jobs that they can undertake without risk. Still, dying while doing mahuíl work is considered a very worthy and admirable death.

Tlahuílid
This term refers to writers, storytellers, merchants, crafters and artisans. While they aren’t a separate social group, being expected to perform mahuíl service like everyone else, they are acknowledged for their ability to produce good things, and may occasionally be chosen to travel outside the community, to deal with other clans, carry messages or trade supplies.

Brálaid
Soldiers and warriors are not a separate status, and everyone is expected to fight and die for their community. However, brálaid are marked for their greater strength or weapon skill, and often sent in first to defend the community. They enjoy no other privilege or special status, and are still expected to perform mahuíl work.

Aábaid
This includes any citizen with magical abilities. Like Brálaid, they enjoy no privilege or special treatment, but often are put in charge of mahuíl teams, or march with brálaid defenders, when their specific magic powers would help the required task.

An aábainn citizen also tends to be among the first choices for appointment as lénau, or elder, of the community.

Lénaid
The elders of a family or clan, lénaid are in charge of deciding what the mahuílid should work on, administering food and supplies, and adjudicating local disputes or ownership of any resources discovered. Lénaid are forbidden from owning property or receiving gifts, but they earn their corresponding ration for their job like everyone else.

A clan’s lénau is chosen from the mahuílid for their age, or by popular vote among the eldest citizens. It’s usually a lifetime position, with new lénaid chosen only in the case of the current elder’s death or their destitution, also by popular vote. A single community may have more than one lénaid, which then discuss among themselves to decide what’s best for their people.

Mahau
When several Náhuinn communities share a territory, a similar culture and a language, they may appoint a leader, known as a Mahau, or ruler, to organize them into a single ápal, or community-state. A mahau serves as a supreme authority when the elders or citizens of two or more communities require outside adjudication, and is in charge of administering those resources that are available and sufficient for all the communities in their ápal.

A Mahau’s rule is absolute, and their decisions cannot be argued. However, they don’t control the ápal’s army, workforce or supplies - they can only decide how best to distribute them. And while the lord’s decisions are indisputable, their position is not.

If a Mahau is proven to act against the interests of the people, the elders can promote their destitution. By Nahuínn law, no brálainn soldier is allowed to raise their arms against their own people, so mahauíd cannot use military force to keep themselves in power. However, mahau are themselves expected to excel as tlahuíl artists, aábac wizards or brálainn warriors, so they can take the lead when their ápal requires their direct action.

Beaks
Beaks are a special body of brálaid, not associated to any community but to the ápal as a whole. While each team of Beaks is assigned to a specific ápal, they respond directly to the Council, and can take action against any member of their assigned state, including its mahau, as they are not considered to belong to ‘their’ community.

When a mahau orders supplies to be taken from one community to another, Beaks escort the cargo; when the council requires the capture or transport of a prisoner, it’s the  Beaks' job too.

Beaks travel in small groups, so they cannot become an army, and are always of mixed ethnicities, so they cannot favor a community over another. They are considered untouchable, and any citizen that raises their hand against Beaks risks exile or death. By the same token, Beaks that act against the people without the council’s sanction are executed right away.

Speakers
A State’s lépalinn, or speaker, is an exceptional tlahuíl citizen, chosen from the state’s communities for their intelligence and eloquence. Their position, while still subject to their Mahau’s commands, is more important than the mahau, for they are the voice of their entire state before the lepalcáinn—the Nahuac Council.

While a speaker makes the will of their state known, they are considered to have moved ‘outside’ their community, and are no longer part of its mahuíl workforce. In turn, they perform mahuíl service in Nahuacáinn, the city’s capital, in addition to their council duties. Speakers are still required to travel back to their ápal every 26 days, to remember their roots and get in touch with their people’s updated needs.