Tapani Titles
Head of the whole Province's nobility is High Lord/High Lady Whatshername Familyname Vorsoandso. High Lord is also Count Vorsoandso. Maybe. Sometimes.
A High Lord, the official head of an entire Umbrella Group of families, is almost never addressed as High Lord, or at least not at any event where an outsider could trip across it. Officially the High Lord of House Vorpelagia in 12720 was Count Theux Vorpaddox, but you hardly ever saw his name in the news, much less "High Lord Vorpaddox requests that you present your documents and bring your tax payments up to date" on an audit. Call this person "Count" on direct address unless someone else said "High Lord" just a few minutes ago, OR you are attending a formal meeting of the Umbrella Group of nobles for that particular province. Refer to "High Lord Vorsoandso" when that person is not present AND you are talking specifically about his role as chief Vor wrangler for that Province.
Got all that? No? Too bad. Here's another complication.
High Lord's appointed heir is usually Baron/Baroness Familyname. No "Vor" at the front of that. Which ought to mean that Familyname are not High Vor, right? Except they TOTALLY ARE because High Lords are always, only, invariably, High Vor. Baron Keva Leobund was the appointed heir to the Mecetti Province High Lord position until he was murdered by Darth Sidious in Selona 12724. He preferred to be addressed as "Lord Keva Vormecetti", but his official name on official records was "Baron Keva Leobund".
These appointed heirs (and their immediate families) are probably the only time the last name does NOT start with that "Vor" syllable!
Count's heir, wait that's Count's Heir, is addressed as Lord/Lady Whatshisname Vorsoandso, or Lord Vorsoandso for short.
Non-heirs are Lord Whatshisname in formal address.
BUT! Sometimes you're talking to a guy whose signature would say "Davey Jones" and he's not the one scheduled to be the next Count. Only you're still calling him "Lord Jones". This is INFORMAL usage because you're not following the Lord Davey usage above, but at the same time it is the equivalent of calling someone Mister Jones on, say, Coruscant.
Oh, and things get complicated when Jones has some other nobility rank, like Baron. Barons rank lower than Counts, higher than Knights; Barons are usually-but-not-always the heads of families that are not considered High Vor. Only High Vor have Counts. There's a Count Vorpatril but I think there's no Count Vorsoisson, just a Baroness Vorsoisson.
The Vor most likely to be admittedly involved in commerce and least likely to have much in the way of ancestral lands are Knights. Also, some Knights aren't Vor. Is there a hierarchy between Vor knights and non-Vor knights? I haven't gotten definite proof either way, but I lean toward "yes". I'm not supposed to be the "nobility" kind of knight anyway, because I've been awarded my knighthood and not inherited it. (Ergo, I'm a "petty knight", which is NOT supposed to be said sneeringly, apparently.) Knights are addressed as either "Sir" or "Dame", depending on gender, and ... there are definitely rules for using only first name or only last name but damned if I can figure them out yet. Sir Tam is not Sir Davish (ergo, last name), but Sir Angelo is not Sir Knollys (ergo, first name).
Some of the details of formal title have a LOT of basis in who's the boss of who. Emperors beat Counts, some Counts beat other Counts within their Umbrella Group, Counts beat Barons, Count's Heirs beat Barons, Barons can boss around Lords and Ladies within their own section of the Umbrella Group, all Lords and Ladies get right of way over all Knights 1, and Knights can pull the nobility card on non-nobles 1.
"I have large tracts of land, therefore your argument is invalid" is a legally valid statement in certain points of dispute.
Also, according to the laws of precedence, Khun is supposed to get out of Tsu Vorboccioni's way: the former is a petty knight, the latter is a Count.
One Person with Five Titles?
In direct verbal address, the two most important (or maybe most relevant) titles are used for one individual. In formal or official written correspondence, or when announcing someone's arrival to an Event, all titles (and sometimes all names) are used. When administering (or making) an important oath, however, all titles are DROPPED and the person's name is used -- titles can be taken away and modified, a name is supposed to be the definition of the person.
Military titles are considered more important in some situations than any title short of Count/Countess. It is theoretically possible to rank Admiral Vorhejeron higher than Baron Vorhejeron, depending on the context: is there a strong pseudomilitary flavor to the Event or the political topic?
In fact, it is possible to rank Admiral Hessman higher than Baron Vorhejeron in certain contexts. Which I'm still trying to figure out.
Other ranks of importance that interweave somehow with the strata of noble ranks are certain political ones (Regent, Prime Minister, other Ministers, Ambassador), legal ones (Count's Voice, Lord Solicitor), and maybe a few admired professional ones (Professor?). Their ability to pull rank on nobility seems to have something to do with how scary the power of their title's source is: a Lord Solicitor is hellaciously more important than a Baron, as is the Minister of Finance, but only when acting in his/her appointed role.
In conclusion:
Address everybody as "milord" or "milady".
Unless you are in the Freeworlds Territory, in which case just try not to address anybody until you've heard what someone not of their immediate family calls them.
1 Except in military situations.
1 Except in military situations.
Type
Guide, Generic
Medium
Digital Recording, Text
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Authors
Signatories (Characters)
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