1: While it is clear that the social hierarchy in Kryta and Ascalon shared a European system of government, I do not believe this is true for Cantha and Elona. Remember both Kryta and Ascalon appear to share many traits with feudal England and France respectfully. Kryta has the english title “Baron” where as Ascalon has the french counterpart “Duke”, also their weapons bear a striking resemblance to the weapons of feudal Europe. Cantha on the other hand has a very clear Japanese culture to it. Its leader is called “The Emperor” and every weapon we have seen from the Jade Empire is a katana or Odachi (Think Marjorie’s sword). Elona on the other hand is reported to have a more African culture to it. It’s also ruled by a dead guy, so I’m not really sure how that’s supposed to work…
2: As for the titles and how they are used, please note this is base purely on what I’ve seen shown in Kryta, it seems to be a very basic design of the Hierarchy of their respective Kingdom. Based on what I’ve seen Baron/Duke appears to be a special title given to member of the nobility with a more direct tie to the royal bloodline. (ex. Duke Barradin was the brother of King Adelburn) Also it should be noted that Countess Anise appears to be the only person with that particular title in all of Kryta (if there is someone else, please let me know) this would suggest that Count/Countess might be a special title used to refer to the current Master Exemplar in polite company. Everyone else in the nobility is apparently called a Lord/Lady.
3: I know for a fact that these titles are used exactly as they appear (ex. Countess Anise is called “Countess Anise” and so on) I know this because anytime you talk to anyone in cinematic you refer to them as [title] [name].
4: It appears to be a mix of both with many of the nobility owning land outside the city, yet living within Divinity’s Reach. The ongoing war with the centaurs and increasing attacks from bandits may have driven the Nobles to seek shelter within the capital’s walls.
5: As far as I have seen, The Ministry appears to function in much the same say as the UK Parliament. Ministers are elected to their position by the people they represent. As far as I’m aware there is no rule stating that they have to be of noble birth, hell they don’t even have to be Krytan, the only regulation I’ve seen is that minister must own land. This is supported by the fact that it was set up specifically to give all humans a voice in the kingdom by the late King Baede. It is further supported by the fact that the ministers and the nobles do NOT get along as noted by Lord Faren during the quest “Party Politics”.
6: It varies depending on how involved someone is in Ministry politics. Ministers and nobles with ties to the Ministry appear to treat everything with a level of subterfuge and under handed dealings (a.k.a. they’re all politicians, with secret agendas and people to please), whereas everyone else seems much more relaxed. There is however a level of decorum that everyone is expected to abide by as suggested in the quests “Party Politics” and “A Society Function”. Basically, be polite and don’t be blatantly insulting. (ex. Its bad form to be blatant in invasive at a party)
7: As far as I’m aware all nobles, at least in Kryta, have ties to the crown. That said members of the royal families have been know in our recorded history to say “This man is related to an ancient and royal line because I said so!” For those of you who don’t know what I’m getting at please read or watch A Knights Tale. That movie is based on actual medieval records.
8: Hmm… yah… As far as line of succession goes… I believe, at least in Kryta, Kings/Queens are named the successor. At the very least I know King Baede did name his and he’s the only King I can find any records of who actually had that choice… The only other King with lore on succession for the throne was good ol’ Mad King Thorn and he murdered both his brother and his father, so he only got the throne by default. However it is worth noting it’s stated in his lore “…as a second son he was not expected to ascend to the throne” so this might be something start after the psychotic king was executed in order to make sure that didn’t happen again.
(edited by Shadow.1238)