Nobility

Nobility are the aristocratic class of the world of Ascendance of a Bookworm.

Nobility represent the upper part of the strictly caste-based society of the story's world. The lower part is simply commoners, who make up by far the majority of the population. The class division is so large that, for most purposes, Nobility can act with near-total impunity when dealing with commoners.

The primary distinguishing difference between nobility and commoners is that, with all but the rarest exceptions, nobility possess mana, while commoners do not. (In truth, all living things possess mana, but it is typically of such a small amount that it cannot be manifested; the defining difference, then, is that commoners would have a near-imperceptible amount while nobles would have clearly detectable quantities.) Mana was the original reason for the separation of the classes, and even among nobility the amount of mana you possess can drastically change how you are treated by other nobles.

Having noble birth does not grant one formal recognition as a noble within noble society, though you are still treated as one by commoners, and receive significant deference and respect by your family's level of noble status in general. In order to gain official recognition, one must attend the Royal Academy, which is also where nobles learn to control and utilize their mana; prior to that (or for those nobles who do not attend), nobles need to use magic tools to drain away the excess mana, or it would affect them with the Devouring, the same way as mana does a commoner (nobles generally do not run that risk, however, as acquiring the necessary magic tools is easy for them).

Nobles who do not attend the academy before reaching adulthood, or who fail to pass its courses, typically become priests and shrine maidens in the Temple, since it possesses a number of magic tools into which their mana may be drained; it is for this reason that nobles generally look down upon the Temple and those who live/work within it. On rare occasions, such as to replace nobles lost during the Sovereignty's civil war, those sent to the Temple may be granted the opportunity to attend the Royal Academy as adults and reenter noble society should they pass. Serving in the Temple voluntarily can also be seen as a means of relinquishing one's noble status, as Ferdinand did to signal that he had no political ambitions to become the next Archduke; in order to reenter noble society (though continuing to serve as Head Priest), he needed permission from the reigning Archduke, his half-brother Sylvester.

Nobility are ranked into three primary tiers, with two special tiers above that. The tier is not an indication of any title/rank, but merely of hierarchical status, because titles usually only come with control of land. It also depends on the mana quality a noble possesses. The hierarchy between the tiers is nearly as strict as between noble and commoner -- so much so, that a lesser-tiered noble who shows insufficient deference to a higher-tiered noble risks execution for their insubordination.
 * Primary Tiers:
 * Archnobles (上級貴族 [じょうきゅう きぞく - joukyuu kizoku], literally: "high-class nobility") represent the highest tier among nobility. They typically have the most mana among nobles.
 * Mednobles (中級貴族 [ちゅうきゅう きぞく - chuukyuu kizoku], literally: "mid-class nobility") represent the middle tier of nobility.
 * Laynobles (下級貴族 [かきゅう きぞく - kakyuu kizoku], literally: "low-class nobility") represent the lower tier of nobility. They typically have only a little mana.
 * Special Tiers (additional levels within the archnoble tier):
 * Royal Family - The King/Queen and Princes/Princesses of the Sovereignty. Though it may be fair to consider them to be a form of archnoble, their standing and mana levels are high enough that it is fair to think of them as a form of superior level altogether.
 * Archducal Family - The Archduke or -duchess as well as their children - including adopted ones - stand above the archnobles in status, but in terms of mana are typically only slightly higher than other archnobles.

Noble children, who have not yet had an opportunity to attend the Royal Academy, are treated by default as nobles of their respective tier, including in meetings between children (this is especially the case in the Winter Playroom and the Royal Academy, where noble children of differing tiers are interacting regularly). If a child has significantly more or less mana than their tier would suggest, the family may have them adopted by a family of a more appropriate tier, and if this is done before they are baptized then the families may simply pretend that the child was always a child of the new family. If a noble child is of a lower level of mana than even a laynoble, they may get sent straight to the Temple even before their baptism; this normally is only a concern for laynoble families, as higher-tiered families are unlikely to have children with such low amounts of mana.

Within the Sovereignty, the same system as in duchies is employed. Members of the Sovereignty count as higher in status than any noble of equal tier from a duchy, but not of higher tier. For example, a Sovereignty mednoble is higher in status than any duchy's mednobles, but is still considered lower than any archnobles.

The primary exception to this rule is for professors at the Royal Academy. A professor is always considered of a higher rank than their pupils during classes (and in any matters directly related to those classes), regardless of any other status, but revert to the normal ranking for all other matters. This applies even to students who are royalty, however no professor would risk causing such offense and no member of royalty would be callous enough to cause a scene in such a manner.

Students who show themselves very capable in their first two years at the Royal Academy sometimes get the option to join the Sovereignty from their third year onwards. This path however is not open to archduke candidates, to make sure Aubs don't have to fear having their children coerced into the Sovereignty, leaving them without a successor. As such, for archduke candidates, the only way to join the Sovereignty is a marriage with a member of the royal family.

Duchies themselves are ranked, though the ranking itself can vary from year to year and is decided upon at the Archducal Conference following the Interduchy Tournament each spring. Nobles of the same class but from two different duchies will have a similar relationship as is seen between nobles of the Sovereignty and those of one of the duchies.

The key difference is that nobles of the Sovereignty always rank above their similar-tiered nobles, while because duchy rankings can change the relationship is far more adversarial in nature. Due to this, higher-tiered nobles of a lower-ranked duchy may still show some levels of deference, in order to not incite problems with the rest of the higher-ranked duchy. This effect is compounded based on the difference between the ranking of the duchies, such that even an archnoble of a bottom-ranked duchy will be careful in how they treat a mednoble of a top-ranked duchy, despite clearly outranking that mednoble in an individual capacity.

Recognized nobles with governed land are granted a ranked title according to their status. Only those with direct control of land have such ranks, which fall into three classes: Zent, Aub, and Giebe. For Zent and Aub, which only have one title each within the respective classes, the class and title are essentially interchangeable.


 * Zent (ツェント) is an archnoble class representing the ruler of a country.
 * King/Queen/Sovereign (王 [おう - ou])
 * Aub (アウブ) is an archnoble class representing the person ruling a region in the direct name of the Zent, and to that end granted the full authority of the Zent within that region.
 * Archduke/-duchess (領主 [りょうしゅ - ryōshu], literally: "Feudal/Territorial Lord")
 * Giebe (ギーベ) is a class representing the person governing a local region of an Aub's territory, and under direct authority of the Aub. Giebe can be archnobles, mednobles, or laynobles.
 * Count (伯爵 [はくしゃく - hakushaku]) a landed archnoble of the Giebe class.
 * Viscount (子爵 [ししゃく - shishaku]) a landed mednoble of the Giebe class.
 * Baron (男爵 [だんしゃく - danshaku]) a landed laynoble of the Giebe class.

While the story thematically is reminiscent of North-Central Europe during the early medieval period, the structure of landed nobility in Ascendance of a Bookworm is very clearly modeled after feudal Japan, where an ultimate authority technically exists in the Emperor, but the feudal lords have near-total autonomy within their territory (including the granting of titled nobility positions under them) and even engage in open warfare against other feudal lords.

There are two other special titles that are not indicative of controlling land directly, but rather of relation to those that do. They are:


 * Prince/Princess - used only for the members of the Royal Family who are direct potential heirs to the position of Zent and corresponding title of Sovereign (King/Queen).
 * Archducal Candidate - used only for the members of an Archducal Family who are direct potential heirs to the position of Aub. and corresponding title of Archduke/-duchess.


 * Any member of nobility may be referred to using the generically-styled moniker Lord/Lady, as a general show of respect for their position. This is especially important when lower-tiered nobles are speaking to someone of a higher-tier as a means of displaying deference, but may also be used by higher-tiered nobles when speaking in a more formal manner to those of lower status (outside of formal contexts the term is typically not used).
 * A member of the Knight's Order is recognized as a knight, and may be addressed as such (using the common modifiers "Sir" for men and "Dame" for women). They may be a member of any tier of nobility, though the commander of the Knight's Order will always be a senior archnoble. Although it is rare, they may also possess a landed nobility title.
 * Translations of earlier novels in the series use the terms Sir/Dame more directly, however the translator felt it was distracting and began phasing out the use of them during Part 3 in favor of treating Knight as a job description or duty, and using the more general Lord/Lady in reference to them, or their tier of nobility, depending on the circumstance.

 See "Noble Euphemisms"