Nobility in the Five Realms
The society of the Five Realms of Tirneach is founded upon the rule of the Réig and the nobles who have been granted elements of their authority.
Riders, Iarlas and the Réig
The feudal system in the Five Realms recognises three ranks. The lowest of these is the Rider, who rules directly over the common-folk. A Rider has been granted their land by the Iarla of the Realm (or the Réig in the case of Uasa) in recognition of a great service, almost always from while serving as a gallóglach themselves. The size of the land granted is commensurate with the scale of the service and varies widely, though the minimum is as far as a person can see when mounted on horseback. In the case of an especially great service, for example saving the life of the Iarla in battle, the grant might be made for more than one generation. This is the only official way of keeping land within a Rider’s family as an inheritance, however for influential Riders their offspring or foster children will find ample opportunity to distinguish themselves and be granted their parent’s land for their lifetime.
Under the law of the Five Realms all Riders are equal, which enables the constant squabbling and skirmishing over borders between them, but naturally those who have done the greatest deeds and who possess the most land have the most power within the Realm and sway with the Iarla, but even they are limited to what they can hold by strength of arms against the Gwyllt and their rivals/neighbours. Riders are strictly limited in the size of the militia they can employ, dictated by the size of their lands. Most Riders with smaller holdings must hire the gallóglaigh to deal with larger threats or to make their ambitions a reality. A Rider is expected to manage their own income, whether by maintaining their own lands or extracting tithes or rent from the people who live there.
Every five years a Reckoning takes place in the Realms, with the Réig’s clerks circulating to a different Realm each year. The Reckoning is both census and ordnance survey, taking a record of who rules where and how many people they rule over. The official borders are thus redrawn every five years, and the strength of the Rider’s claims reaches its zenith at this time. The months preceding a Reckoning are called “the golden time” by the gallóglaigh bands, on account of the extra work they can count on as Riders set their sights on nearby lands.
Above the Riders, and nominally keeping them in line, is the Iarla. An Iarla rules over each Realm except Uasa, and within their Realm their word is second only to the Réig’s. The Riders are bound to them by an oath of fealty, renewed every five years at the Reckoning. Each Iarla has their seat in and around the capital settlement of their Realm, but they may keep lands elsewhere, as is the case with Siabhal. The Iarlas are charged with keeping the peace in their Realm, which some choose to see as keeping it from the brink of civil war while others prefer to employ guards to patrol the Réig’s Road and keep the gallóglaigh bands on their books from one end of the year to the other.
Just like the Riders, the Iarlas must renew their fealty to the Réig every five years, at the Reckoning of Uasa. The oaths they swear are not widely known, but legend says they are like those sworn by the gallóglaigh, but all the more potent, filling both the Iarlas and the Réig with torrents of power from the Shaper Themself. These oaths have not stopped attempts (some successful) at seizing the throne over the centuries, but the terrible price that breaking the oaths extracts from traitors has made sure that they have not lived long after their attempt.
Lesser Nobility in the Five Realms
Tirneach is an ancient place, and before the advent of the Réig there were other societies with rulers who traced their lineages back to even more farflung times. Although they have no official standing in the Five Realms, these noble lines are recognised for the purposes of becoming a gallóglach, if the aspirant can prove their lineage of course.
Most famous of these precursor nobility are the Ruby Families of the Realm of Siabhal, named for the Ruby Court in the great city of Iomra. The Ruby Families claim descent from heroes of legend that fought against the Gwyllt at a time when the Gwyllt’s hold on Tirneach was all the more fearsome. The legends of Siabhal, preeminent among them the Legend of Lobhan, serve as a way of cataloguing the Hundred Heroes of Siabhal and the status of those descended from them. Noble folk from Siabhal generally style themselves according to their most famous ancestor, so “Cillian Mac Fhiona” or “Siún Nic Shiún”, referring to Fiona Who Slew the Red Prince and Siún Who Leapt the Flaming Wall respectively. Most of the Ruby Families count at least one Rider among their number, but some keep lands without one, which shows the status the Ruby Families have maintained in their Realm. The Iarla of Siabhal has always been a descendant of the royalty of the Kingdom of Siabhal, themselves descended from the greatest of the Hundred Heroes, the iconic Finian the Brave.
In the highlands of Baol, the Clanns still organise themselves along the noble lines granted by the Amber King and Queen in a time forgotten. These are sometimes called the Courtly Clanns, recalling that the originators served in the Amber Court as advisors and war-chiefs. The leadership of each Clann is a mixed affair, consisting not only of Riders but also of those who study ancient mysteries, cinnirí of the Shaper and those who can claim an unbroken line of descent from the days of the Amber Court. Nomination from the highland Clanns to become a gallóglach is often viewed with suspicion, as the Clanns tend to regard anyone of their wider allegiance to become ennobled by their service. The Baolach highlanders have a reputation for being fierce fighters so their credentials are not scrutinised too closely.
In Draíod the lesser nobility are not a forgotten thing, in fact they are all too present. The Council of the Saoi ruled Draíod before the Réig united the Realms, and many say they still rule. The Saoi are the foremost scholars and tactical geniuses of the Learned Realm, and they advise (not to say direct) the Iarla in their rule of Draíod. Each and every Saoi is also a Rider, and while there are Riders who are not Saoi, their holdings are always above ground and therefore deemed less important. This situation causes the Réig’s courtiers much displeasure, as all Riders are equal under the law, but the Draíodaigh provide much expertise in the Shaper’s arts so it is overlooked.
The tribes of Uasa are not noble in and of themselves, but there are a few among their number who are recognised as having noble blood. These are the descendants of the shamen, the brokers of the original deals with the water spirits of the swamps and waterways of Uasa which protected the tribes from the Gwyllt in the terrible days before the Réig came and set Tirneach free. The water spirits are primeval forces left over from the Shaper’s act of Creation, and the bargains that were struck have left their mark through the ages in ineffable ways. Whether or not there is a link between the noble few of the tribes and the Riverborn, who in recent times have been conducting strange and gruesome ritual murder in the lands reclaimed from the swamps and rivers, many speculate but few are certain.
There are also those species that are considered more noble than others. Every Drakeblooded can trace their lineage back to the dragons of old, and the Drakeblooded Houses keep careful family trees and hold tight to their traditional duties. Even the most impoverished Drakeblooded is still related to one of the Houses and can rely on them to become a gallóglach... except in the direst circumstances of exile. The Leasiar are a unique case. Though the manifold lives of the Leasiar are poorly understood by other species, it is acknowledged that a single Leasiar could have been born noble or become ennobled in a previous life even if they don’t remember it, and so it is considered that the great deeds of the Leasiar as a whole species have ennobled them...at least for the purposes of risking their life for fortune and fame in the gallóglaigh.