Tyverian Social Structure

The Emperor and his court hold the supreme power in Tyveria, with all other social classes and institutions following their will and designs. Maghyr nobles are as much the Emperor’s vassals as the lowliest peasant, despite their greater wealth and magical power.

While Emperor Adrael has ruled for several years now, he still touts his banner of a New Order, where peasants are no longer the serfs of the maghyr caste, but free citizens thanks to Him, and where both rich and poor are equal under the Emperor’s law. To support this idea, Adrael promotes the view of maghyri as the obsolete remnants of a decadent past, the opposite of common people, while presenting his own maghyr family - who in fact have never left power since the founding of Tyveria - as the bold future of justice and equality. This keeps Adrael popular well into his second decade of rule, while removing public support from his potential rivals among the other nobles.

The Imperial Court
The main representatives of the Emperor’s “New Order” are known as the Three Faces - the Three Great Heroes of the Tyverian Empire, who freed the people from tyranny: The Emperor himself, Grand Marshal Baryen the Chainbreaker, and the ogerron Kiromonos, the Martyr of Tyveria, who gave his life for Freedom. The Three Faces appear in every monument and every city, reminding the people of who to thank and who to look up to.

Below the Three Faces are the actual rulers of Tyveria, the court of advisors and politicians that handle day-to-day affairs to keep the Empire working - the High Chancellor and her people.

Maghyri
After the Imperial Court come the maghyr landlords, nobles with hereditary powers of blood sorcery according to the Sanguine Legacy of their respective families. While their authority is but a shadow of the Emperor’s, maghyri retain their blood legacies and ancestral lands, which makes them Adrael’s potential rivals both in wealth and in magic power, and warrants keeping them on a leash.

All local rulers and nobles in the realm are maghyri, and have a voice in the Blood Court. Most still have the final word in enforcing the law in their domains, handling all blood pacts in their jurisdiction, and enjoying the loyalty of their supposedly freed subjects.

Despite peasants having the same rights by law, maghyri still are regarded as Ula or Ulan (Lady or Lord) of their lands, and referred to as such in all official matters and events.

Vampyri
Under maghyri come their vampyr enforcers, who are the realm’s petty nobles and lesser landlords. Vampyri enforce their maghyr’s law and execute their will. Most vampyri are bloodsworn as bodyguards and deputies in their corresponding maghyr’s domain.

Citizens
Technically, imperial citizens include everyone from the Emperor to a beggar in the street; in practice, the term refers mainly to freed human serfs, masterless vampyri and the merchant class - that is, people that pay their blood tax to their local maghyr or Imperial collector, but are not born in debt or considered in service to anyone.

Also, a new social status has become common among free citizens, thanks to the Emperor’s reforms. These are collectivists - farmer and worker communities that jointly own the land they work, having ‘bought’ it with their centuries of service to their former maghyr masters. Collectivists are the best result of Adrael’s rule - independent, self-governing communities of hard-working humans that keep the economy running, and are utterly committed to the New Order, thankful to Adrael, and loyal to the Empire.

Blood serfs
Despite Adrael’s reforms, a few blood serfs remain in the Empire, making up the lowest caste of Tyverian society. Blood serfs are indentured servants, mostly condemned criminals, but also war prisoners, victims of the Crimson Crow’s human traffic, or peasants that could not benefit from the Breaking of the Pacts upon Adrael’s rise, be it by the amount of their debt, their own will, or some trickery on the part of their maghyr.

While a small minority, blood serfs are an indicator of how little things have actually changed for some Tyverians - and how things were before the Emperor.