Shireroth

I was reading up on how people in certain positions are addressed in real nations and so now I think I'll outline a system for addressing people by their titles and such. These would be used for Formal conversation, and correspondence. These only apply on the Imperial level of government, and in relevance to the position being addressed to. so if you are talking to the Minister about minister stuff, but he's also a duke, you don't use the duke references.

Inside subdivisions their may be other local ways to address a person (ie in Yardistan the duke is also known as the Anarch).

Only use the titles appropriate to the situation and topic. If talking in general then use the highest rank of nobility first, followed by office, Knighhood and if all else fails, Mr/Ms. Use all all titles is considered EXTREMELY formal, and is rarely needed.

Variation in order is allowed for ease of conversation.

Indirect Reference

The Kaiser
His Imperial Niftiness, the Right Honourable Kaiser <Coronation name>
His Imperial Niftiness, the Right Honourable Kaiser Mors V

Member of the Imperial Advisory Council
The Right Honourable <Any titles of nobility> <Full given name>
The Right Honourable Duke Ari Rahikkala

Duke
Duke <full given name> of <Duchy>
Duke Jacobus Loki of Yardistan

Baron
Baron <given name> of <Barony>
Baron Metzler or Baron Erik Metzler

Count
His Trivialness, Count <name> of <county>
Count Shyriath

Minister
<Ministry name> Minister <last name>
Trade Minister Metzler

Prætor
Prætor of the Landsraad
Noble Prætor of the Landsraad (if the Prætor is also a Baron or Duke)

Knighthood
Sir/Lady <full given name>

Direct Reference/Addressing

Kaiser
My Lord Kaiser (all citizens of Shireroth)
Your Imperial Niftiness (may be used by foreign diplomats and officials)
Kaiser <Coronation name> (can ONLY be used by foreign heads of state)

Member of the Imperial Advisory Council
(Unless they have another station no special address is needed.)

Duke
My Lord Duke (if it is your Duke)
Duke <last name>

Baron
My Lord Baron (if it is your Baron)
Baron <last name>

Count (optional)
Count <first or last name>
Your Trivialness.

Minister
Minister <last name>

Prætor
Mr. Prætor
Noble Prætor (if the Prætor is a nobleman)


In the rare cases when someone is a Noble in a Subdivision, the same rules apply only substitute 'of' for 'in'.

I'm still working on these... suggestions for forms and functions?

So if someone wants to be REALLLLLLLLY formal in reference to me:

His Imperial Niftiness, the Right Honourable Kaiser Mors V, Duke of Brookshire and Count of Monty Crisco.

In case anyone wonders, the Right Honourable comes from the fact I'm the head of the Imperial Advisory Council. Although, no Sir is added, despite being the head of several knightly orders.. Also, as the Kaiser I am the automatic minster of anything that have no minister in it, and the acting Prætor if there isn't one, but these are not mentioned since they are generally superseded by the Kaiser title..

Name-Title Abbreviations

These are generally used in informal situation or for brevity.

Pre-fixes

Mr./Ms. "Mister/Mistress" Used when no other statuses are being applied or exist.
Sir/Dame Same as above but for a knighted individual.
HIN "His/Her Imperial Niftiness" Only usable by the Kaiser
HIS "His/Her Imperial Steward" Only used by the Steward (The pronoun is based on the sex of the Kaiser not the Steward, as the Steward is for the Kaiser not them self)
Ministry Acronyms. "MiniTrade, MoMA, MiniInfo, MiniImNat or MiniInt" Depends on the Minstry held.

Suffixes

IM "Imperial Minister" Used by ministers
DM "Deputy Minister" Used by deputy ministers
IA "Imperial Adviser" Member of the Imperial Advisory Council.
PL "Pætor of the Landsraad" used by the Prætor

To me "The Right Honorable" anyone wears a powdered wig, sips tea, and says "whom" a lot. The Kaiser seems more like the sort to jump onto a big black horse and ride off to fight dragons. (Are there dragons here? Please tell me there are dragons.)

- actually, the whole list sounds a bit like England during the Age of Frumpiness. Except "His Imperial Niftiness". I can die happy after calling a monarch "His Imperial Niftiness". Or even better, just "His Niftiness".

Yvain wanders about, addressing everyone he meets as "Your Niftiness"

Your Imperial Niftiness, thank the Lord that you're here to bring us etiquette

I'm a noble Praetor

I was reading about British stuff when I started this.. well.. we can change things.. I was just getting the ball rolling..

My opinion is that they seem kind of... traditional...

I really like his Niftiness. Traditional is fine, I'm quite happy with that, but if we had more things along the lines of His Niftiness ... that'd be awesome ...

Ari Rahikkala wrote:My opinion is that they seem kind of... traditional...

I love traditional

Then let us make up titles?

To the Thesaurus!
Well, Duke is sometimes "His Grace" so how about "His Stylishness"
Barons ... "His Radiance" sounds cool, not sure it's appropriate ...

And Counts, since they're so far down the feudal chain, how about "His Trivialness"

Aww... come on, let's let Counts have some kind of title
How about just a simple 'Sir' for Counts, then?

Oh, I liked "His Trivialness."
But sir is fine. I expect counts can make up their own name based on what's appropriate for the subdivision (Prince, King, Steward, Sultan, President, High Priest, Person that makes the biggest boom etc)

I've GOT IT!

Counts: called "His Lesserness".

It's got a ring to it, no?

Oh! You guys don't know me yet do you?

I should introduce myself... somewhere... sometime...

His Trivialness.. I like it!

I expect counts can make up their own name based on what's appropriate for the subdivision (Prince, King, Steward, Sultan, President, High Priest, Person that makes the biggest boom etc)

Hell no! My peasants from Modan-Lach refer to me as Maksymbattur in the Laqi language

I' suggest "Triviality" instead of "Trivialness".

Oh, and for the greater glorification of the Kaiser: "His Imperial and Majestic Niftiness". Oh, oh! And tack on some stuff after the name. You know how the British monarchs have stuff like "Head of the Commonwealth", "Defender of the Faith", "Supreme Governor of the Church of England" and all that good stuff?

And I STILL think that my practice of adding epithets after the name was also cool. :P

Anything to make the contrast between His Imperial Niftiness, may He reign forever, and the rest of us mortals clearer.

I feel so awesome and powerful right about .....NOW!

I agree with Shyriath... we need to start adding epithets to Imperial names again.

To me "The Right Honorable" anyone wears a powdered wig, sips tea, and says "whom" a lot

Sipping tea is a necessity in life. After all, you wouldn't slurp it, would you?
Saying 'whom' is actually gramatically correct in many circumstances

There's nowt wrong with either of those save for the powdered wig. His Niftiness would be flattered with such a title as 'the Right Honourable' if he were British. Then again, he isn't, is he?

^ Waste of a post really, I suppose wasn't it?

Naw, like most of us, he's a Yank. We don't go in for powdered wigs here, except for masquerades.

Head of the Commonwealth? Then we need a Commonwealth first...

Naw, like most of us, he's a Yank. We don't go in for powdered wigs here, except for masquerades.

Time for a poll, methinks...

Powdered wigs aren't a particularly popular fashion here in the Americas.

A Commonwealth? Wouldn't an Empire serve better, unless we're trying to sucker them in the door...

I smell a sitcom!


We could bring back the Commonwealth of Benacia.. Offer nations some sort of alliance... Then ally the whole thing to Babkha in a new sort of Mango-Camel Pact...

Or Gralus ...

Would they join such a Commonwealth?

We'd certainly satisfy Yvain's request of having more political controversy in this nation with that plan