The caste system and titles therein are complex. They are related to the level of responsibility given to an individual or family, which also affords the titled varying levels of control over land, social policies, and other portions of aelven society. The Queen has the most responsibility to the people, and for that, she is honored with the opportunity to make decisions for the many.
While the title of Queen has always been a part of aelven history, since the days of Ael, the caste system has not. Some of the aelves decided to start playing “The Game” of hierarchical structures, and it has grown evermore complicated to navigate and understand. The Game is primarily played by meadow* aelves (vindael) and mountain aelves (lo t’aelk), though not by most wood aelves (saellvwen), nor any of the deep dwellers (???). Those vindael who continue to follow the original, nomadic ways of the meadow aelves have created a new name for themselves: vindael’kelth, or “those who wander with kin.”
The following list is incomplete, but useful for the purposes of the series.
Amakai. An individual dragon rider/speaker. All dragon riders are dragon speakers, though in times before the Great Wave, when the dragons slept, those with the dragon speaking ability were unable to fully express their talents and increase their skills.
Am’Kaila. 1. A group of Amakai. 2. The group or phenomenon of dragon riders and speakers known as Amakai.
Bruomiel. Captain of the guard.
Coriandthe. The Royal Bellringer. This individual has only one bell, but can make all tones of the bells of the lands with that one.
C’rezhe. Count.**
C’rezhelth. Countess.
C’rezhen. Son of a Count or Countess.
C’rezhina. Daughter of a Count or Countess.
Durze. Duke.
Durzelth. Duchess.
Durzen. Son of a Duke or Duchess.
Durzina. Daughter of a Duke or Duchess.
Loriandthe. A bell ringer of noble blood.
Marqesh. A telekinetic.
Matalieth. A practitioner of the Dark Arts.
Miashona. A practitioner of the elemental art of waves—air, water, sound, light, and energy.
Orieth. Speaker for the Royal Court. This individual controls the debates in the Court, and has the final political and judicial power in any arbitration unless the Queen, or one of her near-kin, should veto the decision.
Iandthe. A bellringer of common blood. Bellringing is seen as an almost holy profession, and elevates any commoner who practices the art form to a separate and higher caste.
Shiliea. 1. House guard. 2. Foot soldier. Term only applies to Aelves in honorable service, but may be of common or noble birth.
Shiliea’telth. An entire garrison or company of shiliea either from a single House, or a mix of several represented houses. Does not apply to those that directly guard the Queen of aelves, who have their own name.
Tra’ta’vrell. Hand of the Elder, a.k.a. a Collector.
Tre’ze. Prince.
Tre’zelk or Tre’zelshna – Crown Princess. The heir in succession for the throne. The former title is for a gender neutral “princess,” in line to be the next queen. The latter title is for a cisgender princess. The only Tre’zelk in aelven history was lost in battle.
Tre’zelth. Princess.
Tre’zen. Child of a Prince or Princess.
Tre’zelken. Child of a Crown Prince or Princess.
Tre’zina, Tre’zelkina. Great-grandchild of the Queen.
Var’lain. Lord of a mountain keep
Vrai’ell. Teacher or Master. No gender association.
Vrell. Elder of the Aelven Council.
Vrianna’shei Ja’qnartia. Current Queen; literally: “Lady of the Golden Sun and Silver Moon.” Only her closest friends and relatives are permited to call her Vrianna’shei, and only those with express permission from the Lady of the Sun and Moon Herself, may call her Vrianna. There is no one word for King or Queen, each ruler has his or her own unique combination of title and name which presents them as the highest among equals.
*Meadow is a misnomer. Any aelf who is at home on the land, rather than above it (e.g. trees, jungles, mountains, etc.) or below it (deep dwellers), is a vindael. There are qualifiers that can distinguish the land upon which an aelf is adapted (e.g. tundra, desert, water’s edge, wetland, prairie, et al), they all live upon the land. Aelves, by nature, adapt rapidly to new environments, so that within a generation, major changes can be seen in their offspring that include wide variance in coloration and traits.
**Though many titles indicate gender, variances have been known to exist in those outside a gender binary. The changes reflect appropriate grammatical structure based on the title itself. Since aelves loves playing with language, the acceptance of such gender-neutral variations are readily integrated with little to no requirement of explanation. Any titles not associated with a gender, are to be considered gender neutral.