Nobility

[Murph]

LOL! Pine and skunk!

I doubt the Imperium is quite as catholic about titles as some think, either. The "Imperial Culture" is a thin skin over ten thousand worlds, quite a few of which have been continuously occupied for thousands of years, and at least a thousand of them in relative cultural and linguistic isolation.

123-1105; Hour 7 in the household of Knight Resident Sir Kadidae of Miku.
"House, what appointments are pending for today?"
*click*"Executive for Life Gingri of Northern Mines is scheduled at 10 to discuss import duties."
*click*"Boss-King Corleon of Dawnlake Skimming & Refining is scheduled at 13 for vague threats and cajoling."
*click*"Dame Isilaa (OEG) has requested a meeting at 15 for what she described as 'family matters'."
*click*"End of Appointments for Today."
"Great. Money, politics, and a marriage proposal all in one day. Confirm all appointments and set out the receiving formals. Warm up the East Viewing Room for the 10, and add a scents of Terran Pine and mustelid to the room for the 13. Warm up the Dining Room for the 15."

 

[Drakon]

Real Life Nobility

While wandering around the web, I found this story of a man who in addition to running an auto garage in Germay, is King of Gbi Traditional Area of Hohoe, Ghana. He also has his own brand of beer.

http://www.vice.com/read/meet-king-bansah-part-time-monarch-full-time-auto-mechanic-v22n11

Could be a useful template.

 

[david.wendelken]

At least we can deduce that the Moot is completely without any influence on Imperial day-to-day affairs. Otherwise you'd get a lot more for for a vote (If the Moot influenced the spending of even a small slice of the Imperial budget, a vote would be about handling trillions of credits). Who commands how many votes must be purely a matter of prestige.

EDIT: And not such a lot of prestige either. The Imperium's greatest nobles would be multi-trillionaires (or more) and the going rate is only Cr100,000?!? Apparently only the pikers are buying. Cr100,000 corresponds more or less to half a million dollars. Imagine the five richest people on Cognate Earth¹ were eligible to buy votes and one came up for sale. What sort of price do you think it could fetch?

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I see this as flawed logic.

The flaw is the assumption that the people selling their votes to proxy holders can reasonably expect to get "their fair share" of the Imperial largesse that votes in the moot might represent. I just don't expect that Sir Wii of Piddul/Around, has any such expectation. Nor should he. He's not a mover and a shaker. He'll get CR 100,000 and the gratitude of whomever he sold his vote to (and maybe not even that latter bit).

The world is chock full of examples where the "creator" of a product makes a pittance compared to the big resellers. I co-wrote a book that sold for about $40. My co-author and I each got up to $1 a book sold. Note the use of the phrase "up to". I mentioned this to a programmer from Trinidad and Tobago and he told me he didn't believe me. I told him how much a pound of sugar sells for in the grocery store and asked him how much of that the sugar farmers in his country got. His comment? "I believe you completely!!!"

Now, the person Sir Wii sold it to may resell it for more to a bigger proxy aggregator. For those holding proxies IN THE MOOT that are needed to win an important vote, you can bet they'll be selling that vote for a whole lot more! And just that specific vote in the moot on that day for that specific topic. Want to use it on a different vote tomorrow? Time to pony up more payment, 'cause they aren't selling the proxy, they're renting the use of it! And Sir Wii of Piddul/Around will never see any of that unless he happens to visit the moot on the right day, at the right time, a really important vote is that close, and someone realizes who he is and that he's got a vote available for the plucking.

 

[Bartleby]

I think somehow, somewhere, Hans is enjoying people are still arguing with him about CT.

 

[GypsyComet]

Proxy aggregation past one assignment apparently was allowed until the late 600s, when it enabled some dangerous politics. It was subsequently outlawed.
(see Marc's "Agent of the Imperium")