Social Status and Wealth in York

Before I start this, let me add the note that we decided, as a group, not to charge points for wealth or social status. If you want to play a noble, great, set them up and tack on the points to make them what- ever social status they should be. The point of this little article is to figure out what social status people should be at for different places in society.

Status	GURPS Basic			York
8	Divine Ruler			No analogue
7	Pope, King			Pope, Grand Duke
6	Prince, Duke, Archbishop	Duke, Archbishop, Cardinal

5	Baron, Count, Bishop		Bishop, Marquis (Waltham & 
					McKitrick), Baron (Devonshire, 
					Chesterton), Earl (Lethbridge),

4	Landed Lord			Earl, Count, Baron (Waltham, 
					McKitrick: not equal but close 
					enough to not warrant a full 
					step), Baron (Lethbridge), Guild-
					shief (Waltham), Burghermeister 
					(Hudson)

3	Lesser Lord			Baronet, Abbot (Waltham), 
					Landed Lord (Devonshire, Ches-
					terton, Lethbridge), Lanholder, 
					(Hudson)

2	Knight, Mayor, Great Merchant	Knight (Waltham), Knight-
					errant (All others), Mayor (all but 
					Hudson), priest (all)

1	Squire, Captain, Merchant	Master Anchor, Master in Guild 
					(Waltham, Devonshire), 

0	Freeman				Guildmember (Waltham, Devon-
					shire), Freeman, Anchor

-1	Bondsman or servant		same
-2	Outsider, underworld		same
-3	Street beggar			same
-4	serf or slave			same

Note that in some cases this isn't real fast and firm. For instance, the spouse of a Lord is considered the same social status by lesser lords but slightly lower by the other lords of the same rank. That is, don't think for a minute that there aren't smaller gradations within these big, broad bands that people will make up and adhere religioously to.

Power is correlated with status, but they are not the same.

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