Themiclesian nobility
The Themiclesian nobility (姓族) consists of multiple categories of individuals that enjoy varying degrees of social, political, and economic privilege.
Royalty
Palatine princes and princesses
The palatine princes are the most senior titles recognized by the Themiclesian nobility system. On a symbolic level, the relationship between the sovereign and the palatine princes is one created by a treaty between equals, unlike that with his barons, which is created by vassalage, and with his children, created by descent. This symbolic equality is punctuated by political inequality, whereby the princes have surrendered part of their jurisdiction under the terms of the Treaty of Five Kings in the 3rd century; the independence of their states, from the Tsjinh suzerain, shrank during centuries of negotiations and conflict, but their rulers' nominal parity with the sovereign was retained. This situation persisted until the end of the 10th century, when the palatine princes, by now mascots of political conservatism, were finally deposed.
Though the palatine princes no longer existed as individuals, their titles and privileges remained a useful tool to satisfy several other traditions, such as marriage between social equals. The king, or emperor after 542, customarily took a palatine princess' hand in marriage, and after deposition a noblewoman was symbolitically raised to the rank of a palatine princess. The same was done for the sovereign's biological mother, if she was of a sufficient background and not the same person as his predecessor's consort. When Camia became officially independent in 1703, the Themiclesian government framed this as an elevation to the rank of a palatine prince, which ultimately meant Camia's ruler was an equal to the Themiclesian emperor.
Royal princes and princesses
Empress Dowager
There are several titles used for the legal and biological mothers and grandmothers of the emperor, depending on the circumstances of the succession and relationship of the incumbent with the predecessor. Themiclesian law regards each succeeding emperor as an offspring of the precedessor's consort—the empress, and an empress who survives into the following reign is given the title Empress Dowager (帝太后, tis t'ais-goh), regardless of her relationship with the incumbent. This title is synonymous to Queen Dowager (帝后, tis-goh) before the pretention of imperial title by the Meng Dynasty. If the incoming emperor's biological mother is not the late emperor's consort, then there is a secondary title to honour the former, which is also written as Empress Dowager (皇太后, gwang-t'ais-goh) in Tyrannian. Where there is only a single Empress Dowager, the distinction is usually not made.