I have been puzzling over Peerage in this story. On the one hand, I know how I want it to work. But on the other hand, I am doing research to see how it works in other countries. It is my story and I can actually make it work however I choose, but I don’t want to confuse my reader by being similar to current standards while breaking half the rules.
This has been very interesting research. I knew that as an American I really didn’t understand the peerage outside of queens and kings, man oh man was I right. I thought most to all of the titles followed birth lines, but that is the opposite of how it really works. I also knew that there were ties to land ownership but I wasn’t sure how these came to be.
I am happy to report that what I wanted to do with the peerage in my story is actually closer to reality than I ever imagined. So, I can now go full steam ahead with my ideas in this area knowing that any confusion will be because others are also uneducated in this area and that I need to make sure an explanation is woven into the story in a meaningful way.