Nobility

Nobility is a class of aristocracy present in Tamriel. Noble status is hereditary but can be granted to someone by landed nobles of high status, like Kings. They are present all over Tamriel and are the ones that rule over the land. However, not all nobles are rulers some are landless nobility.

Hierarchy

The Nobility of Tamriel has a strict hierarchy that is universal but the specific terms for each tier of the hierarchy can differ from culture to culture, province to province.

	Ruler of  the Province	Ruler of a City	Ruler of a Town	Ruler of a Village
Black Marsh	Archwarden	Vicewarden	Warden	Underwarden
Cyrodiil	Emperor/Empress	Count/Countess	Earl/High Lady	Baron/Baroness
Elsweyr	The Mane	King/Queen - Raja/Rani (Ta'agra)	Duke/Duchess - Thakur/Thakurani (Ta'agra)	Baron/Baroness - Damapati/Damapatni (Ta'agra)
Hammerfell	King/Queen - Badshah/Badsha (Yoku)	Prince/Princess - Sultan/Sultana (Yoku)	Duke/Duchess - Emir/Emira (Yoku)	Baron/Baroness - Sheikh/Shaykah (Yoku)
High Rock	High King/High Queen	King/Queen	Duke/Duchess	Baron/Baroness - Lord/Lady
Morrowind	King - Queen	Councilor	High Lord/High Lady - Muthserjo (Dunmeri)	Lord/Lady - Serjo (Dunmeri)
Orsinium	King	---------------------	High Chieftain	Chieftain
Skyrim	High King - High Queen	Jarl	Thane	Lord - Lady
Summerset Isles	King - Queen	Marquess - Marquise	High Kinlord - High Kinlady	Kinlord - Kinlady
Valenwood	King - Queen	Treethane	High Chief - High Chiefess	Chief - Chieftess
The Vale	Arch-Curate	-----------------------	----------------------	Curate

Landless nobles, those that do not rule over settlements, are often referred to as "Lord" and "Lady". In Morrowind they are called "Ser" and "Sera", with wealthy aristocary being called "Sedura". In the Summerset Isles, lords and ladies can be referred to as "Reeve". In Hammerfell they can also be called "Wali" and "Walia". In Eslweyr, lords and ladies are called "T'har" and "T'hari".

Knights, whom are considered minor landless nobility, are addressed by their title, "Sir/Dame", then their first name and possibly their last. For example: Sir Marcus, or Sir Marcus Mede. Wives of knights are addressed as "Lady <husband's last name>", however if they are a knight themselves then they would be addressed by their own title.

Widows of Kings, High Kings and Emperors are referred to as "Dowager Queen", "High Dowager Queen" and "Dowager Empress" respectively. A kingdom can only have one Dowager at a time. Should the new king's wife become a Dowager Queen, the previous king's widow loses the title. A Dowager Queen is a widow of a former ruling king. As they were not the ruling monarch and were merely married to him they no longer hold the title of Queen upon their husband's death. As a Dowager Queen a woman has no real power in the kingdom, but they still hold the prestige and honor that they held as Queen. There is no male alternative of this title. When a ruling Queen dies her husband only keeps his previous titles from before marrying her, so he no longer holds prestige or power in the kingdom of his dead wife.

Orc culture doesn't allow female rulers, so all the noble titles are exclusively male. The King's wives are called "Concubines" while a Chieftain's wives have specific roles like "Forge-Wife", "Hearth-Wife", "Hunts-Wife". As Orsinium doesn't have any cities other than the capital, there are no nobles than rule cities other than the ruler of the province.

In Black Marsh, the Argonians don't consider the ruling class any different from the others. As such, there is no true Argonian nobility. However, when the Archein faction was in charge of the province in the 3rd Era their leader held the title of King and they treated other Argonians as inferior to them, all concepts that they adopted from Imperial culture. When the An-Xileel took over the province in the 4th Era, they abandoned those noble titles and adopted the title of Warden and its variants, as they saw themselves as caretakers of the Argonian people instead of their rulers.

In Skyrim, the spouses of Jarls and Thanes don't possess the title of Jarl or Thane themselves, but can gain it if their ruler spouse happens to die without any heirs. The spouse has the title of Lord Consort or Lady Consort and are referred to as "my Lord" or "my Lady".

In Hammerfell, the nobility is separated between the two political factions: the Crowns and the Forebears. The Forebear nobles have a peculiar rule for succession, as they hold an open elective for the successor of the current monarch. As such their holdings act as a pseudo-republic, though the only ones elegible for election are noblemen themselves and most of the time a title tends to stay within a single family. The Crown nobles have a more traditional primogenitor succession. Crown nobles tend to use the traditional Yokudan names for their titles instead of the Tamriellic translation, which the Forebear nobles favor. Minor noblemen in Hammerfell, those that hold lands with settlements smallers than villages, hold the title of Headman/Headwoman.

In High Rock, the rulers of villages have two different titles depending on who is their liege lord. If their liege is a King, then their title is that of a Baron. If their liege is a Duke, then their title is that of a Lord. Below Lords are Landed Knights, that have a keep of their own but don't rule over an important village. These landed knights might have a settlement of their own, a small one that focus only on mining or fishing, or milling, etc.

In the Vale of Auri-El, there are no towns or cities because the Snow Elves are have just recently started to rebuild their society. As such there are only scattered villages and smaller settlements dotting the Vale. The Vale is ruled through a theocracy known as the Chantry of Auri-El, so the ruler titles are the same as clergy titles. However, all the members of the clergy are from the upper class of the Falmer, the Snow Elves descendant from the survivors other than the Betrayed. As such the clergy is comprised solely from nobles.

Noble Family

The different races of Tamriel have different ways of referring to their families:

• Altmer Nobles always refer to their families as a "Lineage".
• Argonian Nobles always refer to their families as a "Tribe".
• Bosmer Nobles of high status refer to their families as a "Line", while those of low status refer to their families as a "Tribe".
• Breton Nobles refer to their families as a "House of" for rulers of duchies and kingdoms. The royal houses are called "Royal House of". The nobles below dukes refer to their families as "Family"
• Dunmer Nobles always refer to their families as a "House", though Ashlanders refer to their family as a "Clan". The 6 most prominent houses are referred to as a "Great House".
• Falmer Nobles always refer to their families as a "Lineage".
• Imperial Nobles of high status, counts and above, refer to their families as a "Dynasty", while those of low status either refer to their families as a "Family". The ruling dynasty of the Empire is referred to as "The Imperial Dynasty".
• Khajiit Nobles refer to their families as a "Clan", though they have a habit of using Clan as a suffix, not a prefix like others such as the Nords.
• Nord Nobles always refer to their families as a "Clan".
• Orc Nobles refer to their families as a "Bloodline". This is due to the fact that Orcs don't have last names. Instead they use the name of a prestigious ancestor as the name of their Bloodline. They might also name their Bloodline after the name of their Stronghold.
• Redguard Nobles refer to their princely families as "House of", while the others are referred to as "Family".

Court

The various nobility of Tamriel employ courtiers to help them rule their lands. These positions can only be granted by ruling nobility and are not hereditary. The positions are universal but the terms that refer to each position can differ from culture to culture, province to province.

Advisors	on Finance	on War	on Magic	on Legislature	on Intel
Black Marsh	Coinkeeper	Warchief	Histspeaker	Lawspeaker	Shadowscale
Cyrodiil	Treasurer	Marshal	Battlemage	Minister	Spymaster
Elsweyr	Seneshal	Doraiit	Joraiit	Lawspeaker	Nightstrider
Hammerfell	Magistrate	Swordmaster	Court Wizard	Master of Laws	Master of Whispers
High Rock	Castallen	Master at Arms	Magister	Master of Laws	Master of Whispers
Morrowind	Second Councilor	Chap'thil	Kena	Mouth	Eye
Orsinium	Forge-Wife	Warcaller	Wise Woman	Hearth-Wife	Hunts-Wife
Skyrim	Steward	Housecarl	Court Wizard	Chancellor	Spymaster
Summerset Isles	Canonreeve	Battlereeve	Magister	Vicereeve	Shadowreeve
Valenwood	Coinclerk	Master of the Hunt	Shaman	Chancellor	Shadowhunter

• The Emperor's courtiers all have the prefix "Imperial" before their position, with the exception of the Minister who takes the prefix "Prime".
• The Chancellor of the King of Valenwood is known as the Silvernar.
• Usually, the Advisor on Finance is the chief advisor of a ruler, also serving as their Master of the Court.
  • In Cyrodiil it is the Minister that usually acts as chief advisor and Master of the Court.