Status on Zekira

mmm, status

Zekiran Status Information
In this section the many different Status in Zekiran society will be closely examined. I will be using examples from my own Character base, and I will include the timeline through the acceptance of High Ownership.

The whole of Zekiran society does not revolve around Slaves and Owners - much though either Status would love you to believe it. It revolves around FreeWorkers and FreeLandHolders. Deeply connected to the business aspect of their world, the Zekirans admire work: they love to do it, mostly, they love to watch it, and most of all they are rewarded for it in ways that Earthers are not usually. They have a strong belief that if they work hard they will get far - and this is often true.

The other Status' may say they look down their noses at Workers and LandHolders, but they are rare and usually either lying or mistaken, or using a single example among many. FreeWorker is a title that many Bayaran or Slaves look up to or forward to if they are able, it is a goal in and of itself to the lower Status', and it is a good one to have.
Problems occur because of (naturally) money. Money matters complicate nearly every aspect of daily life in Zekira, most notably for Bayaran and their Masters. Money seems to matter least to those who have excessive amounts of it or none at all.

Their own Status seems to matter most, to those who have gained or fought their way to a higher (or often lower) one than they started out. A FreeWorker who manages to finally Hold that land they're so fond of and put up a new machine shop is often seen at Races wearing their new Status pin prominently, whereas an old hand at Land Holding might not wear theirs at all.

Inheritance, like money particularly, seems to complicate things for those involved. Objects and Land, money and Steeds, and even Stock like Slaves is split among offspring or family friends after the death of someone. If there is no Will, all Land and Holdings are divested among the family if present. If there are no people to Inherit, the entire Estate is put up for auction by the Land or Area or even the City authorities (depending on how large the Estate is or where it was actually situated). If a Bayaran is listed as an Inheritor, their money or Land goes directly to their Membayar for payment, regardless of the wishes of the dead family member. Likewise, of course, debts are Inherited... Many High Holders and Owners Inherit very large amounts of everything, and have large families when they can, and many Membayar will tell you that they have families purely to complicate things when they die.

All Status' have access to basic health care when they are in cities larger than 50 thousand people, so it is usual to see starting Breeder/Healers in smaller cities giving this care. This is not saying that this care is necessarily free, but it exists. Smaller places may have emergency technicians on hand, or even rely on their Animal Masters for health care of humans as well as beasts. Clinics and large Breeding Houses are often shared by many Breeders, with a company name generally agreed upon, and most often with shared profits when they start making it big.

The mention of sex is frequent in this book. No apology can be made for this, sex comprises a very large portion of the Zekiran's lifestyle. Everyone enjoys it, when it isn't forced. Unplanned pregnancies are rare and usually found in already Bred individuals they are not usually a problem, and sexually transmitted diseases are taken care of easily and most often free at clinics all around the world. There is no time when a Zekiran thinks about preventing birth, other than perhaps if it will destroy their Status or their health. Equally rare is a time when Breeders offer to terminate a pregnancy. That usually means that either the child is deformed so badly that they will die on birth, or kill their mother. If available, in that circumstance, the Breeder will take the child out and keep it alive in an artificial womb until it is ready to be born, saving both lives. Consequences of sex are both of lower and greater meaning to Zekirans than Earthers: it's who you are seen with, who you conceive with, who Inherits, and it's who your child becomes, rather than the common Earthly avoidal of responsibility and monetary shame that goes along with unplanned birth.

Social systems
Zekiran society is ruled by the rich, populated mainly by the working class, and is as stable as ever. Their society has been as such for at least ten thousand years, there is more about this in the culture section. Fairly feudal in nature for political purposes, each Land is split into Areas, and those into Cities and City Zones. For every Zone there is a City President who is in charge of it, with the ability to submit laws, change existing ones, and generally act like a dictator for a few years. Below them are elected officials and sub-leaders, all based on finance and popularity. For every Area, there is also an Area President, elected by those other Zone Presidents and also based on popularity. Land President status and title are rarely actually awarded by anyone, but the laws exist and should they require the use of a World leader, they may elect one again based on Who Holds Most.

Each Status has a certain symbol which goes with it, and most people have a piece of jewelry or pendant which displays this. Equating to the visibility of military rank on Earth (but not the meaning), this is coupled too with the individual's Homeland colors, if desired. Not everyone wears their insignia visibly, it is not law to do so, but it is law that somewhere on the person must be their identification information, and Status must be included there. The reason most people of higher Status wear their insignia is so lower people will recognize it, and to show it off to those they wish to impress with it. Otherwise they may be well known enough they do not need to, or for some reason they wish to hide it.

It is not taboo for those in lower Status to be Raised and gain all the amenities of their new Status, but it is unusual or difficult to actually do so. Most lower Status people refer to their superiors by their Title, as visible by the aforementioned insignia. Most higher Status people don't care to refer to each other by their Title except as per personal habit.

If playing in a time line after 10500, there are the widest variety of Status to attain. However before that time or playing in another genre-based version of the game, the Status may be vastly different.
After 10500 Status available include:
Slave, Bayaran, Free Worker, Free Land Holder, Membayar, Owner, Suzerain, Animal Master, Breeder, High Owner, High Holder. (And, of course, Rogue, Exile, or Unknown...)
Between 10400-500: Characters cannot take High Owner category (it does not officially exist yet), but they may be born into Suzerain.
Between 1000-14000: Characters cannot be born into Suzerain status, they must raise from Membayar or Owner into it.

Here is a brief breakdown of the Status on Zekira:
High Holder - The top of the heap, making more money and holding more Land than anyone else.
High Owner - Slave holders, plantation-owner types, with hard stock rather than workers.
Breeder - Doctors, medical professionals, psychologists, dream analysts, family planners and genetic engineers.
Animal Master - Specially tuned mutants who deal with animals needs of any kind.
Suzerain - Business people with canny ownership abilities as well.
Owner - Born into their money, and inheriting people as well as money or land.
Membayar - Lawyers, business folk, money lenders who pay off other people's debts.
Free Land Holder - Small business owners, homesteaders, those who own their own small plot of land.
Free Worker - The backbone of the world's work force, renting homes and hoping to earn enough to hold land.
Bayaran - Bonded in debt to Membayar, having incurred too much debt to pay themselves off.
Slave - Owned stock that are at the whim of their Lord or Lady, some treated like kings and others like dirt.

There are other Status that don't "count". Rogue - a criminal whose presence in a City Zone or Held Lands would cause them to be arrested; Exile - a caught criminal who is held to be "untouchable", unhelpable, and if someone is caught assisting an Exile they may be required to divest everything and become Exiled as well; Renegade - escaped Slaves or runaway Bayaran who try to wait out a 20 year "squatters" law to become Free Land Holders; Outsider - re-created clones and rescued 'souls' inserted into effectively immortal bodies (also applies to true born-immortals) who wander the world without hope of fitting in. There are two other Status included in character generation that are not touched on in this web site. Dragon Master and Dragon Breeder. Please visit the Dragonmasters of Zekira website for that information!! They are in an alternate time line.

All Status are described on the following pages, including the character Creation stats. Stat creation is duplicated and expanded in the Mechanics section. However, for the quick reference on the stat generation, the rolls are "Natural/Bred 1/Bred 2/Bred 3/Bred 4/Bred 5/Bred 6" in order. Rates of Holding and Stock are "per year" and "at the time of character creation" only. These numbers are meant to be changed over the course of play.

Certain Status may not occur in certain times, nor with certain Breeding levels, so be careful what you choose to play. Experienced players of other games might want to jump in farther than inexperienced ones.

Titles and Status Names
Each Status has its own distinct name, but also a title which that name implies. Many people come to parties to be annouced as "Master so-and-so" or "High Lady yadda-yadda". It would be a grievous error on the part of a lower Status person to refer to a higher-up by their wrong title on such an occasion. That is why most Zekirans wear some form of their Status pin/id somewhere on their person - usually prominently - so they can be known.
Here is a quick list of the Titles that go along with their Status, and some variations which occur.

High Holders - High Master/Mistress
High Owners - High Lord/Lady
Breeders - Doctor, Healer, Dream Healer, Psyche Healer/Doctor, Breeder, 'by degree' (ie: 1st through 6th), Breed Master, Breed Mistress, Breed Lord/Lady, Lady/Lord Breeder, Master/Mistress Breeder, Suzerain Breeder, Beast Breeder, High Breeder, etc.
Animal Master - Beast Lord/Lady, Beast Master/Mistress, Animal Master/Mistress, Animal Lord/Lady; in the case of those who multi-status - High Beast Mistress/Master, High Beast Lord/Lady etc.
Suzerain - Suzeraan, male; Suzerinne, female
Owner - Lord/Lady
Membayar - Master/Mistress
Free Land Holder - Land Master/Mistress
Free Worker - Worker or by name only
Bayaran - Bond or by name only
Owned - Slave or by name only
Other status - no title is afforded except when that person distinguishes themself - Rogue Etan, Renegade Tai, Outsider Cloud. Otherwise these status don't count. Exiles don't get a name to go along with their title - Jonbyer was referred to as "the Exile" by those who had to confront him - while those who helped him still referred to him as "Lord Breeder".

Everyone must always refer to High Holders as High Master/ess unless they are on such a familiar basis that it is not necessary. They do not tolerate (usually) being referred to their name while in public unless they are really relaxed. High Holders invent new names for each other constantly. Membayar and Owners also play naming games, but they usually involve either silly ones or ones that cannot be mentioned in public anyway. Membayar are the most formal of the Stations, they keep people in line when in their presence. Animal Masters usually refer to Owned Stock by name, because many of them have never forgotten their past. Perhaps it is the way they can both show more respect for their former Station as well as piss off Owners and High Holders both. Animal Masters are the most forgiving of souls, they and Slaves get along well, with the Owned stock often getting much more life out of living with BeastLords. That and when they 'accidentally' refer to their Lord as just a name, they are often rewarded rather than punished. Most Animal Masters wish to dispense of the whole formality thing but some feel it keeps the world running. Breeders are referred to as their other Title, except as noted. Animal Masters like reminding them of their work. Breeders refer to BeastLords with the definite emphasis on beast. You guess why.
Some attempt at proper Titles should always be expected. Especially in polite society, but even in more relaxed settings it's always a good idea to know who you're with and/or talking about. There can be mistakes made... Some Lord has the same name as a Bond you once knew, there could be trouble if you announce the wrong one at a party. Since last names are fairly uncommon, mistakes like that could be disasterous.

Below are links to the Status information for each of the many different social castes on Zekira. The page will open in a new window, and give all the information needed to run and create that type of Status. To move on to the next, just keep clicking, but you'll be opening into new windows each time...