Lein Official Ranks

The Lein Official Hierarchy (Itrani: i-Sekalar Ranaba, the Great Hierarchy) is the name of the system of official ranks, devised by Sen Dufan berKanzane, who was one of the advisors to Emperor Lein Durun. It consisted of a ten-rank structure, with further divisions to delineate the precedence and priority of officials within the same rank.

The Lein was the first dynasty of the Tranon to create an overall ranking system for officials within the government, applicable to all departments and ministries. Prior to this, the previous dynasties had an impossibly complex system of titles, many with clear orders of precedence within their spheres but not outside; thus it was never clear if the Junior Overseer of the Highways was superior or inferior to a Tiger-Might General - a situation that often led to administrative chaos and sometimes even civil war.

The ten ranks of the Lein had no names per se, but were instead identified by their costume and appropriate embelishments; by looking at a person in official dress, therefore, one could at least guess at his ranking (if not his precedence) and give appropriate tribute and courtesy. The income of the officials were also defined by their rank and precedence. Also, by the make of and the ornaments on their seals, it was possible to differentiate roughly which tier of rank they belonged to.

Seals

The seal, being the distinguishing mark of an official's authority and responsibility, is designed to give some information of the official as well. All seals have tassels strung through them, made of either black, blue or red string; these strings represent the Lower, Proper, and Upper precedences respectively, so that if two officials have the same rank their priority can still be determined.