Regalian Court Protocol

This page contains a reference to all Court Protocols which describe social interactions between Commoners, Nobles, and Royals. This Page is part of Regalian Law, a category page that contains links to all legal documents in Roleplay.

Explanation

The Imperial Court (the royal house and its administration) enforced a so-called Conduces or Court Etiquette which dictates the social conventions between the social classes in the Regalian Empire. A lot of this pertains to public appearances but also contains some rules for behavior within the privacy of one's home. To this effect, Court Protocol is split between "Public" and "Private" rules. Public involves any kind of setting where a stranger is present, while Private is only ever among family/friends/servants inside the home. To help understand how each rank interacts with each other, first a listing of all the ranks viewed by the Court Protocol:

• Commoners are the lowest rank in the eyes of Court Protocol, which contains all non-Noble individuals including untitled Artistocrats.
• Knights are the second rank, which includes all Knights of Regalia-legal Knight Orders, though not including squires.
• Nobles are the third rank, which contains all titled Nobility and their direct kin. Adopted relatives are not recognized.
• Grandees are the fourth rank, which includes Dukes and Government officials. These are almost always Staff DM's.
• Royals are the fifth rank, which appear extremely rarely and only during events. These are always Staff DM's.

Dress Code

The first and most obvious aspect of the Court Protocol is the Dress Code. The Imperial Family does not enforce a Dress Code that dictates the maximum length of skirts, or how much percentage of skin is allowed to be shown. Even at the Imperial Palace, any visitor can wear as much or as little as they want. However, there is a so-called interpretation of preference. Even if there is no hard rule against men appearing bare-chested, or women wearing pants at the Imperial Court, some Princeroyals have preferences for specific clothing styles and may show more appreciation for those who comply with those styles. For example, the Emperor is very fond of old Anglian fashion such as large hoop skirts and collared necks (because he is old fashioned), which is often misconstrued as the Emperor disliking exposed shoulders on women and men. This is not the case, nobody ever gets punished for wearing too little clothes at Court, though if one seeks to impress specific Imperial Courtiers, dress-to-impress is the rule of the game, and through this loophole, a Dress Code is somewhat manifested. Each Princeroyal has a different taste in dress code, and the best way to figure it out is to observe their reactions and compliments. In short, there is no punishment for wearing the wrong clothes, but wearing the right fashionable style of clothes can marginally help improve attitudes and odds of success when interacting by catering to preferences.

Title Address

A great way to insult a person of a higher social class is by using the wrong titular address. each social rank has a standard address, and then some permutations exist. Conventionally, you can get an address wrong once and should be corrected, but are in an affront to this rule after repeatedly refusing to correctly Title someone. When this pertains to nobility, refusing to correctly Title someone is a Low Law crime.

• Commoners have no Title address, though Nobles and higher may sometimes refer to them as "Honorable" if they deem them respectworthy.
• Commoners can be referred to as Mister/Miss, Mister being masculine and Miss being feminine (Missus is unused, Honorable is non-gendered).
• Knights are addressed as Sir/Ser/Sera/Dame. Sir and Ser are masculine, Sera is non-gendered, and Dame is feminine.
• Nobles are addressed as Lord/Lirh/Lady. Lord is masculine, Lirh is non-gendered, Lady is feminine. This also applies to non-titles Nobles.
• Nobles can in some sentences be addressed as your Lordship/your Lirhship/your Ladyship, depending on grammar necessity.
• Nobles may also be addressed by their title, but this requires knowledge of their title, for example, Count of X or Baroness of Y.
• Nobles may also be addressed culturally appropriate, for example, Comtesse, Marquise, or Gravin, but this is considered ostentatious.
• Nobles may also be addressed by their title name for example Count Eaton or Countess Marinneburgh. This is considered the "Ceardian fashion".
• Grandees are addressed as your Grace, which includes all and non-genders. Government officials (including foreign) are your Eminence.
• Royals are addressed as your Highness, which includes all and non-genders. The Emperor is His Imperial Holiness or His Serene Highness.

Ranked versus Unranked

Ranked describes interactions from a lower social class to a higher one, for example from a Commoner to a Noble. In such a case, the Commoner is "Ranked" by the Noble, and they must observe Public Protocol. If an interaction occurs from a higher social class to a lower one, this is called "Unranked", for example, a Duke to a Noble. Unranked interactions do not need to hold to Protocol. In essence, it is the privilege of the powerful to be above protocol towards lower ranks, though social convention holds that those who engage in abandonment of Court Protocol just because they are more important, are considered uncouth, and most people who rub shoulders with politicians and would avoid this label at all costs.

Public Protocol

Public Protocol contains a list of all rules that must be observed when Ranked, from a lower social class to a higher one.

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