Hierarchies

It is better to be on hand with ten men than absent with ten thousand.
— Timur

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Hierarchies, Reputation and Legacies

Hierarchies are where the community sees its people — position believed, understood, and accepted.

A Hierarchy is one axis of power inside the community — not the whole social map. Every campaign starts with a default set of four axes. The Storyteller may rename, add, or remove them — hard maximum of five.

One person may hold a tier on several axes at once (Honoured on Coin, Acknowledged on Arms). Climbing is per axis. The Ruler is not the fifth rung of any ladder — it is a single shared seat above all axes. Only one person holds it, no matter which axis they rose through.

During Campaign Setup, leave axes empty of names; standing is discovered and claimed in play.

Tiers

Each axis uses the same four rungs, top to bottom: Honoured, Trusted, Acknowledged, Outcast. The Ruler sits above them, not on them.

The shape of the Diagram

Read the diagram top-down: one crown, then parallel ladders. Each column is a separate Hierarchy. Each ladder uses the same four tiers (top of column = Honoured, bottom = Outcast).

Ruler

One seat for the whole community — above every axis, not the top of Arms, Faith, Coin, or Blood.

↓ · ↓ · ↓ · ↓

Arms

Martial strength, protection, war, right to violence

1. Honoured Significant voice
2. Trusted Real responsibility
3. Acknowledged A foothold
4. Outcast No standing

Faith

Ritual, sacred knowledge, moral weight

1. Honoured Significant voice
2. Trusted Real responsibility
3. Acknowledged A foothold
4. Outcast No standing

Coin

Wealth, trade, material surplus, leverage

1. Honoured Significant voice
2. Trusted Real responsibility
3. Acknowledged A foothold
4. Outcast No standing

Blood

Kinship, land, lineage, domestic authority

1. Honoured Significant voice
2. Trusted Real responsibility
3. Acknowledged A foothold
4. Outcast No standing

Same four rungs on every axis. A character may stand high on one and low on another. The Ruler seat is singular and sits above the whole set.

Characters who never belonged to the community are Outsiders. They sit apart on the Diagram (not on any axis) until they enter, then begin as Outcast on the axes that apply.

Default after The Weighing: Outcast, unless fiction already places them higher.

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Reputation

Reputation is a character’s relative position on the relevant Hierarchy.

Its only hard mechanical effect is the protection ratio when calculating Harm in Social or Mental contests. The greater the gap, the harder it is for the lower party to inflict lasting social or mental damage on the higher.

Nothing else is mechanically attached to tier. Influence in fiction remains free roleplay.

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Advancement

Rising usually begins with patronage or a hook.

A higher-tier character bestows an honour, role, quest, or public favour. That bestowal becomes an Echo. How the Echo resolves decides whether the character rises, stays, or falls.

Players may initiate rises for NPCs the same way. Handle with care: ambitious underlings threaten patrons; weak underlings hollow out a community. No one rules well without delegation.

Patronage is the clearest path, not the only one. Public deeds, force, death of a superior, or seizure of a vacant place may also move a character. The table decides what fiction will bear.

Competition and cooperation on the same tier are left to roleplay.

Before the Althing, the Honoured merchant on Coin — the woman who still holds the only sound mill accounts — pulls a player aside in the yard. The ledger that proves her claim on the mill shares was stolen last week. She names them before witnesses: bring it back before the assembly sits, and she will speak for them. That charge becomes something the character chooses to carry — an Echo. Completing it well may open a climb on Coin. The Echo alone does not grant rank. Later, if someone tries to shame them in public, relative standing on the relevant Hierarchy colours social Harm protection — not automatic power from the favour itself.

1. Hook: Honoured (Coin) publicly charges recovery of the mill ledger before the Althing.
2. Echo created: “Return the mill ledger before the Althing” (weight set at the table).
3. If it resolves well: Storyteller may approve a Hierarchy climb (e.g. Outcast → Acknowledged on Coin).
4. Reputation for social Harm: relative tier gap is established in play, then used as the protection ratio when social or mental Harm is applied.

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Legacies

When a character dies they are removed completely from the Hierarchy Diagram. Only the Echoes they left behind remain.

The player’s next character may claim one of those Echoes as a Legacy — a personal Echo representing a claim on the predecessor’s standing, name, or unfinished work. Living up to it, rejecting it, or breaking under it is the story.

A Legacy confers no automatic rank. It only gives a recognised claim and a reason to strive.

Character death does not interrupt the session. Play continues. Diagram removal and Legacy creation are handled after the session. The player returns later with a new character created with the Storyteller (Character Creation).

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The Hierarchy Diagram

The Diagram is a shared record of every known and tracked character in the campaign. Visible to all players and the Storyteller.

Workflow (same pattern as Inventory):

1. Player requests add / remove / move via automation
2. Storyteller approves
3. Automation executes

Dead characters are deleted. Their only remaining presence is through Echoes still carried by the living.

Any Kodranni story follows a larger community, yet it may diverge into solo strands focused on individuals. By design, every player’s story still feeds the shared legend.

A tale is but half told when only one person tells it.

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Don’t depend too much on anyone in this world, because even your own shadow leaves you when you are in darkness.
— Taqī ad-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Taymiyyah

Related: Harm, Echoes, Campaign Setup, Automation.

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