🎩 Social Strata & Class
The Empire runs on hierarchy as surely as it runs on coal. Knowing who outranks whom, how to address them, and what they consider beneath them is essential for navigating — or exploiting — the social machinery.
🏛️ The Class Pyramid
Who sits where, and what that means at the table
| Tier | Who | Access | Attitude Toward Others |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st — Crown & Peerage | Royalty, Dukes, Earls, Viscounts, Barons with Crown patents | All districts, all facilities; exempt from most inspections | Politely invisible to anyone below 2nd tier; see guilds as useful instruments |
| 2nd — Merchant Aristocracy | Patent-holding industrialists, senior guild masters, rich ship owners | Upper city, private airship berths, private clubs | Hungry for peerage; contemptuous of new money; terrified of labour unrest |
| 3rd — Professional Class | Qualified engineers, licensed inventors, senior Ministry officials, ship captains | Most licensed premises; guild halls; middle-city residences | Proud of credentials; dismissive of those without; quietly resentful of those above |
| 4th — Skilled Trades | Guild journeymen, licensed mechanics, factory foremen, artisans | Guild premises, trade districts; limited upper-city access with papers | Solidarity with fellow guild members; suspicion of automata; fear of being replaced |
| 5th — Labouring Poor | Factory workers, coal haulers, dock workers, unlicensed street traders | Lower city, factory district; barred from most upper-city locations without employer voucher | Grim pragmatism; fierce loyalty to block/family; deep distrust of Ministry and guild both |
| 6th — Marginalised | Unlicensed workers, refugees, ex-convicts, underground rebels | Lower-city slums, off-grid spaces; official access requires a patron | Survival-focused; invisible to upper tiers; networks of mutual aid; recruitment pool for revolutionary cells |
🗣️ Forms of Address
Getting this wrong marks you immediately — useful for social tests
| Rank / Role | Formal Address | Informal (among equals) | How they address their subordinates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duke / Duchess | "Your Grace" | "Hartfield" (surname only) | "You there" — or not at all |
| Baron / Baroness | "My Lord / My Lady" | "Crestwick" (surname) | "Fellow" or first name (if feeling magnanimous) |
| Grand Master (Guild) | "Grand Master [Surname]" | "Master [Surname]" | "Brother/Sister" — to guild members only |
| Senior Ministry Official | "Director [Surname]" | "Director" or "[Surname]" | "Inspector" or "Officer" for field staff |
| Qualified Engineer | "Engineer [Surname]" | First name | First name or job title |
| Ship / Airship Captain | "Captain [Surname]" | "Captain" alone is fine | "Mr./Ms. [Role]" — formal aboard; first name ashore |
| Guild Journeyman | "[First name]" or "Journeyman" | First name | First name |
| Factory Foreman | "Foreman [Surname]" | "Boss" (lower city) | "You" or employee number in large factories |
| Street Trader / Unlicensed | None expected | First name if known | — |
⚙️ Guild Ranks
Standard hierarchy shared by most Crown-chartered guilds
Ranked from highest to lowest
| Rank | Role & Rights |
|---|---|
| Grand Master | Elected head; Crown audience rights; sets policy |
| Master | Full voting member; can take apprentices; owns a registered workshop |
| Journeyman | Certified practitioner; may work independently; no vote |
| Senior Apprentice | 3+ years training; limited independent work with supervision |
| Apprentice | Bound to a Master; cannot work unsupervised; no wages (board & training) |
| Associate | Non-voting affiliate; pays dues; uses guild premises; no title rights |
Guild Privileges (by rank)
- 🔑 Master+: Guild mark on work; entry to all guild premises; Crown patent filing
- 🔑 Journeyman+: Guild identity papers; reduced tariff on guild-regulated materials
- 🔑 Apprentice+: Guild protection (can't be arrested without Guild Warden notification)
- 🔑 All members: Access to guild sickhouse, legal advocate, burial fund
Expulsion Consequences
- ⚠️ Loss of all patents filed under guild sponsorship
- ⚠️ Crown blacklist from regulated trades
- ⚠️ Social disgrace — most upper-city venues refuse entry
- ⚠️ Other guilds often refuse membership to the expelled
🗺️ Street Slang & Common Phrases
Lower-city cant, workshop jargon, and underground terminology
Lower-City Cant
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Gearhead | A skilled but unlicensed mechanic |
| Smoke-rat | A factory child worker |
| The Crown's own | A Ministry informant or spy |
| Clinker | Worthless; broken; a person who's lost their usefulness |
| Going underground | Joining or hiding with a revolutionary cell |
| Copper-faced | Bribed; in the pay of the authorities |
| The Long Arm | Ministry enforcement; also used for guild inspectors |
| Patent it | Claim credit for something (often sarcastically) |
| Off the register | Unofficial; unrecorded; illegal but invisible |
| Blow your valve | Lose your temper spectacularly |
Workshop & Guild Jargon
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Bench-tested | Proven to work in controlled conditions (not field-proven) |
| Running hot | A device or person operating beyond safe limits |
| Dead steam | Exhausted; nothing left to give |
| Full pressure | At maximum capacity; ready to go |
| The Mark | Official guild approval stamp on a finished work |
| Grey-market | Technically legal but ethically dubious components or contracts |
| Patent-jumper | Someone who steals or replicates another's invention |
| Cold-forge | Fabricated from scratch with no guild oversight |
| Aetheric bleed | Uncontrolled energy leakage from a damaged device |
| The Arrangement | Understood (never spoken) deal between guilds and Ministry |
✊ Revolutionary Cell Structure
How underground resistance organises — useful for GMs building rebel factions
| Role | Function | What they know | Exposure risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Theorist | Writes manifestos, sets ideology, recruits thinkers | Knows the cause; rarely knows operational details | Low (anonymous pamphlets) |
| Organiser | Coordinates cells; carries messages between groups | Knows 2–3 cell leaders; knows the safe house network | High — they're the connective tissue |
| Cell Leader | Runs a 4–6 person operational unit | Knows their cell completely; knows one contact upward | Medium — known within the cell |
| Operative | Carries out missions: sabotage, surveillance, supply | Knows their cell; does not know other cells | Medium — active exposure |
| Sympathiser | Provides resources, safe houses, cover | Knows one operative; doesn't know the structure | Low — deniable if captured |
| Courier | Carries physical messages; often doesn't know contents | Knows pick-up and drop-off points only | Very low — expendable and replaceable |