Political Ranking

Traditional rank amongst European royalty, peers, and nobility is rooted in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Although they vary over time and among geographic regions (for example, one region's prince might be equal to another's grand duke), the following is a reasonably comprehensive list that provides information on both general ranks and specific differences.

Titles
Titles provide legitimacy and power to the character wielding it. May it be military, economic, political, or religious one, having a title allows you to be recognized by the townsfolk and the local nobility. Higher-ranking titles can land you prestigious bonuses and interactions, It can also be dangerous for people who came from the peasantry, for the nobility do not like to be ruled by a person coming from the poor class.

Baron
A baron is a title-holder of a barony, a feudal tenure being held by the baron. A barony can be a castle, city, temple, tribe, or nomadic capitals. They have their own courts, law systems, taxation, and improvements. They can be attributed to modern-day mayors or district administrators. Baronies are usually held by a recognized family or dynasty.

Viscount
A viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial position, and did not develop into a hereditary title until much later. Their role was to administer justice and to collect taxes and revenues, often being castellan of the local castles.

Burgher
Burghers are responsible an economic holding's economy, which can provide huge income for rulers. Mayors can become patricians if they are wealthy enough, and be assigned to trading ports as trademasters. Mayors can be from a dynasty or elected from the townsfolk.

Cleric
Clerics control the religious life and holdings of a county. These are characters associated with conversion, piety, dealing with religious heads, or religious life of the county. They are often in conflict with rulers due to the power of the Catholic Church interferring with the ruler's state of affairs.

Noble
Nobles control military holdings. Castle barons are landed titles from a distinguished or recognized family or dynasty holding a castle, and are gained by inheritance or conquest.

Castellan
Castellans are governors that are not from noble lineage but held the castle and its surrounding territories.

Count
A count governs a county or province that consist of baronies. A count can designated a castle or a city as the capital of the county. Being a count is the first rank to climb up the feudal political ladder, testing a ruler's skill in military, diplomacy, religion, and economic policies on a province.

Duke
A duke manages a duchy which is a collection of counties. Dukes were the rulers of the provinces and the superiors of the counts in the cities and later, in the feudal monarchies, the highest-ranking peers of the king. Dukes control vastly more power on larger territories, and can exact almost similar laws to a kingdom.

Grand Duke
Grand dukes are dukes which controlled a larger realm than a duke, but not qualified enough to be considered a king. This title denotes either a particularly mighty Duke or a monarchy playing an important political, military and/or economic role, but not large enough to be a Kingdom.

King
A king is a ruler of a monarch or a kingdom, a collection of duchies. This is considered to be the highest rank of the feudal system of a homogenous culture (English, Scottish, German, etc). Being a king is already a powerful title with vast lands, economic and military power to subjugate nearby counties or duchies.

Emperor
An emperor is a ruler of an empire, a large stretch of land encompassing multiple cultures or kingdoms. Empires are very large and difficult to form. However, emperors' ability to employ kings (or equivalent) as vassals makes management of large realms considerably easier. Emperors wield almost absolute power on their rule, being regarded as highly important for the stability of the empire.

Vassalization
Rulers can have vassals that can manage activities or delegate power to make the management of powers beneath them, allowing the rulers to effectively manage their title and their responsibilities.

A count can delegate their county baronies to barons.

A duke/grand duke can have their own county and have baron vassals, as well as county vassals.

A king can enjoy the same powers as the duke, having a duchy and own county, but can have dukes as vassals.

Emperors can have kingdoms as vassals, although it is usually unadvised as kingdoms have large counties and baronies to control that can undermine the emperor's control.