Allarian Social Structure

Allaria is the most stratified nation of Valerna, with a caste system that’s as strict as the Realm’s rigid philosophy.

From the beginning, Allaria was founded by Allai ‘honor elves’, who placed themselves as rulers by right, and have remained the realm’s privileged nobility for two thousand years. By the laws of the Eliadu, castes are immobile, and for centuries Allaria built itself on the toil and oppression of ‘Null-eyed’ silver elves, with humans only slightly higher in the social order, all with extensively debated and documented moral justifications.

While Queen Elyse’s social reforms shook the core of Allarian philosophy, declaring that the cosmic order did not, in fact, require silver elves to be punished, the old customs are too ingrained, and elves are long-lived enough that they still remember being taught that Allai had to stand above Ellari as a universal rule. So, while all Allarian citizens have equal rights by law, most of society still tends to follow the old ways, going through the motions of ancestral bigotry.

The Queen and the Senate
While the Queen’s law establishes that no Allarian is inferior to another, she retains supreme authority, along with her closest advisors - the First Dreamshaper representing the Ellari, the First warden representing the Allai, and the General and the Great Golden for the Bucentauri and golden gnomes - the four of them respectively in charge of culture, social order, defense and research.

The Nobles
There used to be a noble ruling caste right below the royal court; not necessarily senators or advisors, but still noble citizens, who were traditionally consulted in matters of state. Of course, this noble caste consisted strictly of high-class Allai families whose greatest merit was old money. While these families remain rich and powerful, the Queen has declared them ‘landed’, instead of ‘nobles’, and she added many peasants and working-class citizens to the senate, abolishing the aristocracy in spirit if not in practice.

Before Elyse’s social reforms, Allai nobles minted their own coin, stamped with the seals of their respective families, and it was common for them to do ‘charity tours’ of Ellari slums, where they would present random poor families with donations of supplies or coin from their families’ currency, thus buying the loyalty of low-class slums under the pretense of charity. Elyse banned the practice, pushing instead for large-scale aid projects such as housing programs and academy scholarships, which are almost entirely funded with what was traditionally called ‘Noble Mint’.

The Senate
By law, all rulers from the Dragon Dynasty surrounded themselves with a council of nobles and advisors, which expressed the needs and concerns of the Realm before the Queen or King made any decision. While no law states that the senate has any power over the crown, and the most self-serving monarchs often ignored the council altogether, the senate has always held enough power to influence or even counter the Dragon Dynasty.

Traditionally, the Senate consisted only of Allai nobles, and a few Godao scholars; today, the Dragon queen allows bucentauri, humans and even silver elves to speak for their respective peoples. This has met with resistance from most of the older senators, but the Queen’s word remains supreme by their own law, so they content themselves with expressing their concerns on the senate floor.

The Warden Colleges
A powerful force despite Elyse’s social reforms, the Warden Colleges are the schools and guilds for the Allarian military elites. All qirin wardens and oathguard soldiers in the Realm belong to one of the Warden Colleges, and they are still seen as paragons of society and virtue. Stripped of their social privilege, many nobles have turned to the Warden Colleges to find their lost sense of tradition and distinction.

Just under the First Warden and the General, the Warden Colleges are the de facto military authority of the realm, and Elyse knows she needs their loyalty to retain power. Should the Colleges turn, Allaria would fall to civil war.

The Magistrates
Despite its hegemonic rule, Allaria remains a federation of mostly isolated city-states, which pay taxes and loyalty to the crown but otherwise have their own rule and their own concerns. To handle these concerns, each city has a Magistrate - a judge or constable, trained in law and politics, charged with maintaining order and prosperity within their jurisdiction.

Magistrates handle everything from neighbor disputes to invasions, from tax collection to crime investigation. They also deal with the local undercurrent, being as harsh or lenient as they see fit.

For uncounted centuries, all magistrates were either nobles or Allai landholders. After Elyse’s reforms, any citizen may apply for the position by popular ballot. Most elections are still won by nobles or Allai landholders, but middle and lower classes are slowly realizing they can run for office, and sometimes even win.

The Guards
Each city has a constabulary, overseen by a high warden or oathguard officer, with the exception of Allaria City, where it is under the direct orders of First Warden Eldai. While they cannot intervene with daily life or neighborhood decisions, city guards have higher authority than peasants, and have the right to sanction or arrest any citizen that is proven to break the Realm or City law.

The Guilds
Just above peasants, traders and crafters’ guilds are the Realm’s local peasant authorities. Each guild is in charge of a single neighborhood or trade union, solving minor disputes, organizing its members and conveying the people’s messages to the local magistrate, which in turn may point major issues to the Senate.

The local guild is the peasants’ closest and most trusted government body, and the only authority they deal with for most of their lives.