Osronan Nobility

Osronan nobility constitutes the three Great Houses of the Kingdom of Osrona - House Pelleaux, House Grimmore and House Astor - and the ruling dynasty of House Petrakis, along with other minor noble families. While the minor noble families of old Esshar have yet to return to the kingdom, Houses Gardios and Gelmont are the newest of the minor noble houses. Since the collapse of the Kingdom of Esshar, nobility is largely a status symbol, though the benefits enjoyed by the Houses in the old days of the Essharan Empire ensure they have largely remained some of the most wealthy and well educated families in the kingdom.

Particles

Osronan nobility is identifiable through their use of nobiliary particles.

Royal

• 'rei' distinguishes the current King or Queen of Osrona. The King-Consort/Queen-Consort is granted no particle save any they possessed prior to marriage to the monarch.
• 'ras' distinguishes a member of House Petrakis not of the line of Arista rin Petrakis.
• 'rin' distinguishes a member of House Petrakis of the line of Arista rin Petrakis.

Great Houses

• 'ven' distinguishes a member of the main branch of a Great House; that is, the line descending within one generation of the current or immediately prior Head of the noble House.
• 'vey' distingushes a member of a minor branch of a Great House; that is, the lines not descending within one generation of the current or immediately prior Head of the noble House.

Minor Houses

• 'cos' distinguishes a member of a minor noble House.

Terms of Address

An expectation of correct term of address is kept as part of Osronan nobility. Any Noble above the age of fifteen is to be referred to by 'My Lord/My Lady', or with Lord/Lady prefixed before their given name or surname, ie. Lord August, or Lord Solenne. It is generally considered disrespectful to refer to a noble by their given name without being granted permission. However, it is not considered as such if there are multiple nobles of the same gender and family present in a situation, given in this case one's given name is the distinguishing factor. Naturally, at any point a noble may waive this expectation in favour of a different form of address such as their given name.

Royal

• The ruling King or Queen and their consort are to be referred to as 'Your Royal Majesty' upon first address, after which 'Your Majesty' is considered an acceptable abbreviation. This form of address also applies to widowed Queen/King consorts.

• The first-in-line for the throne is to be referred to as 'Your Royal Highness' upon first address, after which 'Your Highness' is considered an acceptable abbreviation.

• Any other members of the royal family are to be referred to as 'Your Grace'.

Great and Minor Houses

• The correct term of reference to a noble past the age of fifteen is 'Lord/Lady particle surname'. In this case, Serea ven Astor would be referred to as 'Lady ven Astor'.
• It is considered impolite to refer to a noble - especially a Head of House - by their given name until invited.
• When one is in the presence of nobility but does not know the correct form of address, 'Your Grace' is acceptable.

Dynastic Customs

• A noble family is a political entity typically termed as a 'House', i.e. the Grimmore family being House Grimmore. The head of a noble House is typically the eldest member of the main branch, though this may vary from house to house.

• Noble Houses have internal dynastic law, which often concerns things such as grounds for disinheritance, inheritance law, and the rights of its individual members within the house. In one house, marrying a non-human may be grounds for being disinherited, whilst in another it may not. Likewise, there are families in which only men may inherit as the Head of the family, whilst in other it may be men before woman, or equal inheritance, with the latter being in fashion as of 1800 AC. The Dynastic law of a House may be freely changed by its current Head, though egregious changes are often looked down upon. The majority of noble families disallow the inheritance of non-humans, especially the Great Houses, as a non-human member cannot possibly have the blood of a Great House anywhere close enough to be legitimate.

• It is not uncommon for married members of two separate families to have their children bear different surnames -and is in fact almost always the case for marriages between two Heads of Houses. For example, Lord Anomeus Astor marries Lady Aspasia Grimmore. Their first child takes the name Grimmore, and the second takes the name Astor, or vice versa.

• The Main Line of a family follows the path of inheritance of the Headship, and is the line descending within one generation of the current or immediately prior Head of the noble House. A Branch line of the family is the line not descending within one generation of the current or immediately prior Head of the noble House. Unlike the main line, which may spawn branches every generation, a branch line does not create further, separate branch lines in successive generations.

• Minor branches of noble families may be formed voluntarily into a 'Cadet' house by members with the permission of the current Head of the House, or forcibly by the Head of the House alone. These Cadet houses are generally formed as a way of tidying up succession in large families, and may change all dynastic law save grounds for disinheritance within themselves. Often, said Cadet Houses will take slightly different names based on where they are located, i.e. House Nuburg Grimmore. If the main branch of a noble House becomes extinct and the last Head of House had not declared a successor, the most populous minor branch takes their place as the new main branch.

• Heirs to the Lordship of a House under the age of sixteen are known as the 'Heir Presumptive'. At the age of sixteen, an heir is generally introduced to Osronan society through an event such as a gala or ball and then becomes known as the 'Heir Apparent'. An heir must be eighteen years of age to be able to immediately inherit upon death of the Head of a House. If there are no valid adults to serve as head of a family, the parent of the heir who is part of the family purely as a spouse may serve as a regent until the heir comes of age. This allows them to manage - but not change in any way - family properties, businesses, etc.

• Nobles may adopt children, but this is a purely personal matter outside of the Noble Family structure. Adoption permits the legal, unchallengeable inheritance of personal property, but not Familial property such as Noble Manors. Adoptees have no entitlement to the Headship or surname of a family, and are themselves not legally recognised as nobles, due to their lack of shared blood with the age-old family and thus lack of the blessing of the cosmos passed down from this lineage. These children, much like commonborn spouses, do not gain nobiliary titles. It is typical for adopted children to be married to members of a Cadet House of the House they are adopted into to ensure a continuation of noble blood. In this case, their children may inherit the main house, and are subject to its dynastic law.

• A disinherited noble loses all rank and status, as well as the right to bear their nobiliary particle. The first generation of a disinherited noble's children may retain the surname, but if they have not reconciled with the Kingdom or their family by the time their children are born, the children do not inherit the surname, becoming nameless or - more often - taking the name of the disinherited noble's spouse.

• A child born to a noble out of wedlock is considered a bastard, denied right of inheritance, nobiliary particle, and often the surname itself. The Head of a House may request legitimisation of a bastard, but due to the stigma that results from being a bastard this must be approved by the reigning Monarch.

• While inbreeding has never reached truly concerning levels, to avoid marriages too close to recent ancestors nearly all noble families keep detailed family trees.

Ennobling Customs

• Only the reigning Monarch may ennoble an individual. Requesting nobility is considered shameful, and likely to disqualify an individual for consideration.

• Whilst extremely rare, the Head of a Major Noble house may sponsor a commoner for nobility. A Lord will submit a request for an individual to be ennobled to the ruling Monarch, and should they agree the sponsored individual's newly formed house will become a vassal of the main family. The most famous example of this is the Salis house, which has been a vassal under the Grimmores for at least seven centuries. A vassal family may be released from vassalage at any time by their Liegelord.

• When ennobled by the Monarch, the only members of a family who become nobility are the individual specifically ennobled, and their descendants by blood.

• As a commoner may be raised to nobility, so may a noble be lowered to a commoner. If a noble performs an act the Monarch considers to erode the value of the honour of nobility but does not rise to the level of treason, they may convene a Vote of Expulsion. All Lords and Ladies -specifically the Heads of Houses- of the Kingdom, and the majority rules. If a vote is successful, the noble is stripped of all rank and title, branded with the image of a crumbled tower, and given the term 'orn' to replace their 'cos', 'ven', or 'vey'. This is an exceptionally rare punishment, and not undertaken lightly. In the case of Treason this is however unnecessary, and the Monarch may freely strip the noble of rights and titleage without requiring a vote.

Marriage Customs

• When marrying amongst themselves, the lesser noble takes on their spouse's surname, but keeps their own particle; for example, when August cos Solenne married Serea ven Astor, he became August cos Astor.

• Nobility marrying commonfolk is not illegal, but was once seen as making one the subject of mockery. Following the restoration of the Petrakis monarchy, this has been largely destigmatised.

• The nobilliary terms are reserved for blood relations only. A commoner who married a main branch Astor, for example, would not take the 'ven' term.

• An individual marrying into a noble family is not of equal social status to their spouse, and does not possess the same authority. For example, Lord Severus ven Grimmore marries Hestia cos Moralis. Hestia becomes Lady-Consort Hestia cos Grimmore, lacking the power of being a full Lady Grimmore, but enjoys greater social status. An individual marrying a monarch becomes King-Consort or Queen-Consort respectively. A consort's spouse may declare them equal in the eyes of the stars, and thus give them equal power, but this is extremely rare.

• Divorce in Noble society is rare, and often dependent on sufficient circumstances being met. The Stellus must approve a divorce on grounds of Infidelity or Irreconcilable differences. Marriage contracts, however, may contain clauses that automatically void the marriage if met/not met.

• Marriage Contracts are common amongst the nobility. Generally, these name a 'Primary' partner, specify the expected dowry and minimum number of children required from the union within a certain time, and specify the name children of the union will bear. The 'Primary' partner is generally the noble of higher status, or the male if of equal status, as they are considered to have the most to lose. If the conditions of the contract are not met, the Primary partner may annul the marriage freely.

• Same-Sex marriages are legal under Essharan law, but are seen as something of a taboo within noble society, due to the inability for same-sex marriages to produce children. Children conceived by donors are considered bastards under Essharan law and are thus not applicable to recieve the noble particle. Furthermore, a children conceived via a donor are the only kind of bastard which may not be legitimised.

Inheritance

By default, the adult firstborn of the current Head of a noble family inherits the position of Head upon the death or retirement of the existing Head. This, however, may change depending on circumstances.

• Default succession is superseded by the decree of the Head themselves. A designated successor always has a greater claim on the Headship, so long as they themselves are an adult, trueborn member of the family - that is, a member of the family by blood and through a legally recognised union.

• Some families may hold a preference towards Male or Female members, with the Firstborn Male or Firstborn Female respectively being primary inheritors. This, however, has largely fallen out of fashion, and most Noble families practice a gender-equal succession.

• If there are no valid adults to serve as head of a family, the parent of the heir who is part of the family purely as a spouse may serve as a regent until the heir comes of age. This allows them to manage - but not change in any way - family properties, businesses, etc.