Lotharians

Lothairians are peoples native to the Lothairian Empire. Lothairians are an urbanized people living in the larger cities of the empire, most nobles of the empire were Lothairians. Lothairians are quite diverse in terms of their lifestyles. Lothairians were comprised of various peoples with different cultures and beliefs under the rulership of hereditary emperors. After the death of Emperor Omund X, the Lothairian Empire as a whole is in disarray, the great noble houses have for the most part been wiped out or had their holdings revoked. Now the various peoples of the Lothairian Empire are in a struggle to consolidate power and come out on top from all the turmoil and chaos.

Social Structure

The Lothairian Empire is a complex polity with various ethnicities and peoples. Although not in its prime anymore, the empire retains certain luxuries for its citizens. Slavery has been outlawed in the Lothairian Empire during Emperor Omund X's reign therefore some aftershocks are still being felt throughout the empire. These aftershocks were part of the reason for the Castrian and Lavenian Despotates' increasing autonomy. Every five years a citizen needs to register themselves at the Public House for the census, declaring the name of their spouse, the number of children, and all of their property and possessions. All of this data is reviewed and evaluated by the city's magistrates who can “promote or demote each citizen according to his worth.” The citizen is then awarded with one or two (depending on their marital status) copper tablets with said information which is approved by unique seals and then signed with a specifically magical quill. The origin of these magistrate quills was with Lothair I in order to ensure a proper census and limit the amount of fraud within the empire.

Slaves

Whilst slavery has been officially outlawed within the Lothairian Empire some backwater regions still retain their slaves, although unofficially. Slavery is still kept legal in the Castrian Despotate and Despotate of Lavenia. These despotates follow the old laws from the Lothairian Empire in regards to slaves, who are treated as any other piece of property. The only rights protecting slaves are in regards to their lives, as the Law of Lothair stipulates a slave can not be killed outright without reason and under no circumstances can they be tortured. Of course there had been incidents such as these and bribes were exchanged to have the whole affair die down before reaching the courts, however there were a few instances where even nobles were punished for mistreating their slaves. The way one is branded a slave is precisely that, branding with a magical seal. This seal in no way affects the bearer, however it cannot be healed as a normal wound would. To free a slave is as simple as having the magical seal removed. If the owner possesses magic, they can do so themselves, otherwise they can visit their local officials all of whom are equipped with the appropriate tools for removal. There are a few ways one can end up as a slave. The most common instances were of conquered tribes or unimportant prisoners taken in wars being taken as slaves. Another common instance is debt slavery, this is generally the way freemen end up as slaves. Courts can also assign some as slaves depending on their crimes, this is the most common way citizens end up as slaves, such slaves are generally not afforded as much courtasy as the others and are sent to work in mines and to do other dangerous work for the empire.

Freemen

Freemen are the largest group of individuals in the Lothairian Empire. These men and women include freed slaves, immigrants into the empire who have not yet managed to receive their citizenship and any other passers-by. Freemen are not allowed to vote on any affairs within the empire. They are also not affored the right to hold public office and their service within the military is limited to auxilliary units which help accelerate their path towards citizenship but does not guarantee it. Freemen are not allowed to own any property aside from some limited cases when they are awarded property for some great deed, this sort of decision is usually needed to be approved by a majority of votes from the local magistrates or local landowning noble.

Citizens

The citizens of the Lothairian Empire are generally split into 3 social classes.

Lower Classes

The lower classes, which are usually laborers, farmers and others who take on more physical tasks and can only vote on matters of local nature, such as the election of a certain number of magistrates within a public house (3 out of 5). They are also the most commonly represented within the Lothairian military. With a healthy stipend and respect of their peers many elect to serve within the military in hopes of moving upward in the social ranks. There is also a distinction to be made between the rural and urban lower classes. After military service, if lucky rural citizens purchase small amounts of land and settle down, sometimes even claiming government office within their small localized communities. For urban citizens they generally try to open up businesses within cities and generally become craftsmen, merchants or small landowners. There are some who seek military careers where their previous social status has little to no importance up to the rank of Major, where the individuals involved start preferring higher social status citizens.

Middle Classes

The middle classes of the Lotharian Empire are the worst defined of the three classes. Whilst legally there is distinction between the middle and lower classes, in terms of offices and military ranks which citizens can hold and on what they can vote on, essentially what being middle class boils down to besides income is one's social standing within their societies. This is not an official metric since it is extremely difficult to gauge but it encourages most citizens to conduct themselves in a manner that is beneficial to their communities. The middle classes are also allowed to serve as cavalry in the Empire's military. The middle class is generally occupied by medium landowners, prominent entertainers, merchants and artisans of luxury goods. They were also the ones who primarily owned slave markets. Middle class citizens commonly know how to read and write as they and their children would have attended some form of educational institution, like a grammar school. It is quite difficult for someone in the middle class to climb up to the upper class and requires exceptional amounts of ingenuity, effort and luck.

Upper Classes

The upper classes of the Lothairians compose the wealthiest and most well-respected citizens of the Empire, whilst there might be no visual distinction between them and the other citizens they generally enjoy a higher degree of preferential treatment and are generally looked up to, be they actually deserving of this or not. Knights of the empire usually derive from the upper classes, these prestigous positions are doubly beneficial for individuals as military servants as well as often being employed as diplomats. Nobles are exclusively composed of the upper class citizens, naturally not from the upper classes are nobles. These men and women are held in especially high regard within most communities and generally own considerable amounts of land and power. They are also the individuals who would be considered the same as counts, dukes and even kings. Such are the Despots of Castria and Lavenia, Alaric Serapius and Elianus Malachos both of whom consider themselves equals to kings in power and influence.

Lothairians are comprised of many different ethnicities which are united through culture, notably:
Andrimites
Corwellians
Rhowellians
Graids
Tulls
Farrowians