Duchy of Alesa, demesne of the Great House Morven.
House Morven has familial ties with the royal house through your paternal grandfather's mother.
Proud, with a family history that is ancient enough to almost rival that of House Argent itself, they are also by far the most traditional of the northern ducal houses.
This means their loyalties and enmities are ironclad, as oaths are sworn to repay every favor and slight.
A recent tragedy wiped almost half of the ducal house when V'era attacked them.
Duke Alexel Morven, Lord Sorenel Visdriasel, Uriel Morven, Lady Raysiel Barrodon, Calamiel Morven, Alexel Morven, and Andiel Morven all died in what is now known as the Northern Tragedy.
This event almost sparked total war between the tribes and northern duchies, and the remaining tensions have remained a constant thorn in your father's reign.
Almost all the members of their house possess blonde hair and blue eyes. They are all tall, but lithe in build.
(I wanted to put some character aesthetic pics here but holy shit Pintrest is drowning in fucking AI art slop. jfc you cant use character art from there anymore if you dont wanna support ai)
They are in the Royal Faction, though the troubles with the tribes have strained relations between the duchess and your father.
Two stand out members of House Morven:
Duchess Valindriel Morven, of Siriel. Born 576 A.L.
The Iron-Hearted Duchess.
One of your father's closest friends, and politically one of his most fervent supporters. Blonde, with blue eyes and fair skin, the duchess is considered a traditional Argentian beauty.
She suddenly found herself made Duchess Alesa when the Northern Tragedy claimed the lives of her husband, son, father, and sister-in-law. The duchess is now bitterly against the tribes and will side with her people in any dispute against them.
Lord Altairel Morven, Count of Fenar. Born 578 A.L.
Depressed, but functional.
As one of the most eligible bachelors in the kingdom, Altairel is expected to remarry. But he has had trouble connecting with young women, and refuses to marry if there is no spark.
He is now a part of the royal court and watches over his nephews and niece while looking for a bride among Queen Adelina's ladies-in-waiting.
Originally one of Uriel's childhood friends, he accepted your father's request to be part of his retinue. Now, he helps mentor noble boys to become proper Argentian noblemen.
Handsome, and still boyish looking, he nevertheless possesses dark circles underneath his green eyes. Still, he keeps himself and his red hair well-groomed as he tries being a role model for the boys.
He dresses in traditional Argentian clothing, meaning furs and linens dyed in bright colors. Known for being a talented singer, dancer, and being able to recite poetry.
Altairel is also Awakened, and uses the minor Blessing of House Morven, "Spring's Fortune".
You'll learn more about this ducal house, its members, and about other noble houses when the demo updates this month!
Royal Titles, Peerage and Gentry Facts for Writers:
Royal titles obviously belong to the royal family, exclusively, and their are essentially only two types of titles that exist within it. There is the King/Queen/Monarch, who is the head of the monarchy or the spouse of the head. Below them is the title of Prince/Princess/Prinxe, who are the direct descendants of the King/Queen/Monarch for two generations, meaning only the children and grandchildren get these titles, anyone following that is not actually a Prince/Princess/Prinxe. These are the only royal titles that exist.
Unfortunately, the male title does always outrank the female title, and the gender neutral title does as well. So, a King's bride may be given the title of Queen, but the Queen's husband would actually have to be given a different title, usually Prince. As for same sex relationships, the King's husband would be a Prince and the Queen's wife would be a Princess. King and Monarch are actually of the same rank, so a Monarch's wife would still be Queen, while the husband would be a Prince, and if the spouse was non-binary they'd have to be Prinxe. The title of Regent is tacked onto an existing title, giving them more power, but only temporarily. So, if the King is ill and unable to do his job, you may end up with a Queen Regent, Prince Regent, Princess Regent, Prinxe Regent. This era is called a Regency, and it's to say that the Kingdom is under the rule of another temporarily. Minor's cannot be Regents.
As for other members of the royal family, such as siblings to the King/Queen/Monarch or nieces/nephews/neib, they do not technically get royal titles, they instead usually end up being given peerage titles.
The peerage is a ranking consisting of five ranks, Duke/Duchess/Dux, Marquis/Marchioness/Marchix, Earl or Count/Countess/Countum, Viscount/Viscountess/Viscountum and Baron/Baroness/Baronum. Again, male title outranks the female title, and the gender neutral title is on the same rank as the female title for this one, since these are new terms while Monarch is an old term. The three highest ranking of the peerage have heirs who are automatically entitled to a title, which they may choose, however the children of Viscounts/Viscountesses/Viscountums and Barons/Baronesses/Baronum are not always going to automatically get a title. The eldest may inherit their parents title, but their siblings will at most be referred to as Lord/Lady/Laird unless they are given a different title. This may encourage them to marry up in the hierarchy.
The reason we tend to think of the siblings of the King/Queen/Monarch as being Duke/Duchess/Dux is because it is the highest title they may be granted without it being a royal title. They're still considered part of the royal family, but since they're not part of the direct lineage, they cannot be referred to with a royal title, thus they'll be given the highest title possible in most cases, although they may be given lower titles for various reasons. Their descendants may also be granted any Peerage that is lower than the one their parents have. So the eldest child of a Duke may be given the title of Marchix, and down the sibling order may get lower and lower titles or all of the same titles (rare since that requires a lot of land).
Marrying into the peerage does not guarantee a title, but a Duke's wife may be called a Duchess and so on for the rest of the titles. Since the male titles do outrank the female and gender neutral titles however, their spouses would have to be given a lower title, usually just Lord/Lady/Laird, although generosity may allow for a peerage for that spouse.
Below the peerage is the gentry, which consist of people who are nobility in some form, as in above the common people, but aren't typically considered noblepeople. The gentry includes Baronet/Baronette/Baronetum, Knight, Esquire and Gentlepeople. These people would typically all be referred to as either Sir/Dame/Ser, or sometimes none of these. Their children again, inherit the rank their parents have, but have no entitlement to a rank of their own. These people will also not be referred to as Lord/Lady/Laird, as they do not rank high enough for those honourifics. They're also not typically considered to be debutants. They don't have a coming out to society thing, nor do they attend the fancy parties.
There are other titles, such as Archduke/Archduchess/Archdux and Margrave/Margravine/Margravum, but the first one is actually specific to Austria and the second is specific to the German border, whereas a lot of the ones I've discussed, while specific to Europe and countries colonised by Europe, don't tend to have any one country their from. Archduke/Archduchess/Archdux would be a royal title, but the lowest one, and Margrave/Margravine/Margravum is a military rank around the same as Marquis/Marchioness/Marchix.
If there's any titles I missed or any details I got wrong, let me know! This is just as far as I know, but I could be wrong in some places.
Type of Work: Multi-Chapter Fanfic | Secret Nobility AU
Fandom: Akagami no Shirayukihime(Snow White with the Red Hair)
Pairing: Obi x Shirayuki
POV and Tense: Dual POVS's | 3rd POV | Past Tense
Genre and Subgenres: Romance, Mystery, Fantasy, Irish Mythology
Wordcount: 900+
CWs: Past kidnapping trauma,..(tbd)
Blurb:
Across the ocean to the west lies D'nali, a quaint island kingdom covered in lush forests and surrounded by steep sea cliffs. The Crown Prince of D'nali has sent his marriage proposal, however it shocks Zen and his court to see it's for Shirayuki. Through misfortune, a mystery and technicalities, she becomes the Duchess of Airmed. However Obi has no intentions of letting her be married off to a foreign prince, he takes it upon himself to subvert Zen and D’nali’s attempts to crown Shirayuki as Queen.
-
When a request from the D’nali royal family comes in, pleading for a skilled herbalist, Shirayuki is the first one to volunteer. She couldn’t give up the opportunity to travel to a foreign kingdom to perform her duties. It was perfect timing that Obi burst through the pharmacy's doors, looking spooked out of his mind. But she didn’t want to travel alone, much less considering the whole trip would be by boat.
-
With very little time to plan or pack they sailed off. Obi, having never told Shirayuki about her newfound nobledom, kept quiet and watched as her bodyguard. Whereas Shirayuki had begun to naively prepare for her encounter with a new set of royals.
Does your work contain NSFW content?: Yes, it probably will.
read on ao3
He was relaxing in the branches of a tree not too far from Zen’s terrace. A fresh breeze swept past him, instantly cooling his sweat. The air was earthy, pleasantly sweet, and humid; there was no doubt, it would rain within the next few days. Flinging himself down off the branches, Obi made an agile landing in the soft grass below. Mumbling to himself, “I should probably go check-”
“OBI!” His name was shouted from the terrace above him, Zen’s.
“Of course..right as I jump down.” He breathed out, dipping down into side lunges to stretch his legs.
Zen peered below the terrace, spotting Obi, “I need you up here!” he gestured behind him, towards his office. “Be right up, Master.” Obi purred back to Zen. The moment the last strand of white hair disappeared from his view, he pounced back up the tree, ready to spring onto the terrace. Upon taking the first step onto the marble flooring, he noticed there was extra company waiting. The messenger wore elegant clothing, not as nice as Zen and his court, of course, but still respectable.
Obi could practically sense the uneasiness seeping from this stranger; many years spent people watching equipped him with such intuition.Finally, he spoke with a nervous stutter, “I begin by th- thanking Your Majesty,” he quickly bowed deep.
When he brought his head back up, the messenger immediately locked eyes with Zen. "Do you know wh- when she wi- ill provide her response?" he choked out.
"I haven't made her aware yet." Prince Zen replied sternly.
The messenger took a step closer to the desk, tossing his hands forward in exasperation, "She must be notified soon, Prince Leo expects a response to his proposal."
A flood of frustration washed over him; the office had grown incredibly stuffy and the stranger had already gotten on his nerves. A drip of sweat slipped down his back, the sudden feeling caused him to readjust his weight-an action that seemed to remind the messenger that he was still there, even though he blended into the shadows. Kiki exhaled from her nostrils, it was the only sound heard in that office in the pause of conversation. Obi watched as her and Mitsuhide exchanged curious glances at each other; they were stationed on either side of Zen’s side and could almost be overlooked as statues behind the princes’ chair. Obi supposed a headache has begun to affect the prince when he noticed him rubbing the bridge of his nose.
The messenger cleared his throat, “Regardless of her answer, she must still fulfill her duties as Duchess of Airmed!” he asserted with a raised voice. The tone caused Obi to peel himself from the shadows, the room filled with a heavy atmosphere with his intense stare on the messenger, the man shriveling back into himself, loosing any sort of confidence he may have gathered. Obi’s glare slipped to Zen, those deep blue eyes, he knew his face had practically begged for more information. Prince Zen’s patience appeared to be wearing thin when he slammed a handful of parchments down onto his desk, he rubbed the bridge of his nose.
He finally started to explain.
“The Crown Prince of D’nali has sent a marriage proposal for the Duchess of Airmed..” he spoke with uneasiness and begun to tap his fingers against the parchments in front of him, “The first inline for that title has recently passed away, from an unknown disease. The second has been missing for the last 4 years. The line third in line..” he trailed off again, this time the thump of his fingers were on a small photo among all the other documents, “..was Shirayuki’s mother..” Zen peeled the photo from his desk and flung it at Obi. He caught it mere inches from his face, as he examined the photo he couldn’t help but notice just how similar this delicate woman looked to Shirayuki-it was her mother after all. Zen continued on, “Shirayuki being the fourth and final remaining Airmed that’s known to take the title.”
The silence that followed was deafening. Obi begun to hear a ringing that grew unbearably loud, a sizzling heat flushed his face, and a strike of lightheadedness whipped him a step back. I know she’d choose her freedom above all-else. But still, there was a tiny consideration in the back of his mind, what if she DID pick the noble life? The image of her beaming smile overtook his thinking, he hadn’t even realized that Prince Zen and the messenger had already begun to continue their exchange.
“I’ll provide you with an answer within the next few days..” Zen breathed out, his usual cool demeanor nowhere to be seen from the moment the conversation had started. The messengers assertiveness practically humbled him to submission. “..she doesn’t even know anything about her mother yet.”
DING -
The sudden peal from a bell tower startled everyone in the office; the tension in the room had popped, leaving a sense of deflation.
“I will remain here for another 3 days before I have my final meeting with Crown Prince Izana and return home.” he did not give Zen the chance to oppose, he swiftly gathered himself and disappeared out the door.
The mere mention of Izana seemed to get a reaction out of Zen. The others might not have noticed that vein popping in the Prince’s right hand, his grip so tight around his pen it could break. The prince let out a long breathe, and at the same time the terrace door was slid open. If Zen was this passive to him, then he has no power to resist him. Barely a flash of dark hair could be seen as Obi launched himself into the trees, he scurried away without saying a word.
Arms I made up for Jane Roland (and later Emily’s) Ducal House. Roland’s titles are never mentioned in the books, but I have her created Duchess of Carmarthen. Carmarthen was a major center in Wales prior to industrialization. It is meant something of an insult from the government because the Welsh are icky, just like women and aviators. The Rolands, naturally, do not care one bit and rather take a liking to the place. Most estates they are awarded are in England, however. They do not currently have a seat because they have dragons to fly. Might get some subsidiary titles (maybe something named for Scotland near Loch Laggan) so that Emily can be a Countess.
The dragon is not a perfect longwings, but it is blue, and holding a grenade to symbolize the guns and bombs. Four yellow stripes on green for an Admiral of the Air. Golden Laurels for Victory. A ducal coronet above. Jane is extremely mad that the College of Arms said she couldn’t swear in her motto, and refuses to use Latin or French until someone suggests “Excidium.” The dragon himself is quite pleased with this, although wishes his portrait was better. But the poor College of Arms people are already so sad about his hastily put together arms that Jane just left it.
