Social Class

Social Class operates a little like a skill in the Darkrealm system, working on a scale of zero to ten, and like a profession serves to marry character to setting. Social class is the key determining factor as to how society at large reacts to and views you. There are several mechanical ways in which social class in relevant to a character, first it helps to determine what kind of income he generates in the majority of professions, and secondly it helps determine how other people react to him. A King is hardly going to give an audience to a mere peasant without extremely good reason, and a simple farming community is likely to be tight lipped, or at least not bluntly honest in the presence of a grand nobleman. Players should be allowed to choose their character's social class as befits their concept, and this can easily change repeatedly throughout a character's life.

0 - Beggar/Vagrant/Slave
These individuals have no rights, and no agency in their communities, and no way to legitimately gather income.

1 - Field Labourer/Servant
These are the lowest ranked legitimate individuals, they usually do a great deal of hard work for little reward, and are typically indentured in some way to a local lord or landowner.

2 - Skilled Labourer/Pedlar
These individuals have some value due to a skill they possess, and usually have more freedom, but they are in very little demand and so usually have little mobility.

3 - Tradesman/Farmer
These are individuals who are skilled enough to go into business for themselves, of course they may not have the legal right to do so in many places, but their skill set is essential for the proper use of the labourer class.

4 - Skilled Professional
People whose skills have required considerable work or experience to acquire, who are essential to a community, and who may not be beholden to lesser nobility for an income, and have greater mobility should they choose to ally themselves with another powerful individual.

5 - Merchant/Artisan/Minor Noble
These are the individuals who are capable of employing or directly overseeing large groups of professionals. Generally they have a measure of social autonomy either by owning extensive land, leases, monopolies or assets.

6 - Powerful Merchant/Nouveau Riche
These are individuals who independently control considerable assets on a scale greater than across a single settlement. In many legal systems they are still beholden to hereditary nobility, but often these minor nobility who have legal authority rely on the wealth or assets of this class.

7 - Landowner/Freeholder/Lesser Noble
These are the individuals in a feudal system who control the land, where the true wealth lies. In some places these are hereditary nobility, or agents of a larger body given responsibility for considerable landed assets.

8 - Major Noble/Heir to the Throne
These individuals are lawmakers, policy makers or those direct servants of the ruler of a region that have greater assets or just greater station and prestige than the other nobility, or in some cases church officials around them.

9 - King/Ruler
The controller of law making, who owns all assets in a given region by attribute of the nobility of that region pledging their loyalty. Usually also the leader of a large military, in the case of religious leaders they usually control and entire faith, and have a direct line to the worshiped divh.

10 - Over-King/Supreme Ruler/Emperor
The Imperator of Haedrasia and the High King of Ralstaa are examples of individuals to whom kings pledge their loyalty. These individuals are nearly always closely associated with divhi, in the above examples by decent, and unify state and religious authority. There are never more than a handful in the world at a time.