Old Nobility

The Old Nobility was the ruling class for most of post-Catharxis history. They inherited the power and privilege reserved to Godlings after the old gods abandoned their worshippers. Since the 1800s, however, the nobility lost most of that power and privilege, thanks to world-wide revolutions that made common folk able to govern themselves.
Nowadays, the old noble families still carry their titles, but their old lifestyle is mostly gone. Only a few traditionalist still try to keep their traditions alive, and even fewer dedicate their lives to return their "rightful" power to them.
In the Tolona Peninsula, the noble families of note are the Rottborne, the Montanha, the Silvermour, the Caballera, the Braga, and da Nóbrega.

Structure

There are five different noble ranks, which are separated in three hierarchical layers.
At the bottom of the hierarchy are the Dames and the Knights.
Dames are those who were born as nobles from less influential families. The title is hereditary and does not change with gender. If a Dame is considered to have improved the family's influence, they may be promoted to the next rank, and their children will inherit the new title (but not their parents or other family members).
Knights are those whose families have ascended to nobility via marriage. Traditionally, when a non-noble person entered a marriage agreement with a noble, the person's entire family unit would be granted a noble title ("family unit" was understood to mean one's parents', siblings, and children of those siblings in all subsequent generations thereafter). The title does not vary with gender. It is not hereditary in the case of the person who married the noble, because a child of a Dame and a Knight will always be a Dame (the rule is that only one parent needs to have been born a noble for the child to count as "born of nobility"). For other members of the family unit, the title is hereditary.
Dames and Knights were given a Godling-like status, but were generally barred from being elected to government. In order to become eligible to run in the elections, Dames and Knights needed to be promoted to the next noble rank.
Senhora and Don are the titles that grant eligibility for elections to government. The division is similar to the lower category of Dames and Knights, in that a Senhora would have been born from a noble family, and a Don is someone whose family unit married into nobility. Neither title varies by gender. Dames become Senhoras via honourable deeds that raise the family's influence and prestige. Knights can become Dons in a similar way, but the threshold for what is considered an "honourable deed" is much higher. Alternatively, non-nobles family units who marry Senhoras automatically become Dons. The rules for title inheritance are the same as their lower title equivalents.
Prince is the highest noble title available. It is given only to those people who have been elected as heads of government. This title is not hereditary and does not vary by gender. Princes are granted special privileges and prestige even after their term has ended.

Public Agenda

The nobility emerged as the only people "capable" of ruling the world after the collapse of the gods. They endured as the absolute ruling class for almost 1800 years.
Nowadays, however, most nobles only carry their titles as memories of times gone by. Their lives are the same as the rest of the people around them, and their goals and motivations are not that different from everybody else's.
Of course, there are the exceptions who think the nobility should recover their past power and privilege. Those people will dedicate their lives to making sure this happens.

History

The nobility used to be an important class in the post-Catharxis world. They emerged from the chaos and destruction as the only people still rich enough to rebuild the wreckage left from the religious in-fight. They used their money and influence to restore temples, castles, and markets. Out of gratitude, the remaining priests let their noble benefactors be a part of restructuring their religion to make up for the absent deities and Godlings.
Of course, the nobles used that opportunity to make themselves prominent figures in the religions they were restructuring. Most new religions ended up with a rule or two about how the nobility was the most capable ruling class and how they were the modern equivalent of the Godlings who deserted them with their gods. And thus, the nobility did become the new Godlings. They were venerated and respected as such, and allowed to build bigger houses than everybody else or claim a larger share of the land’s production. Unlike the Godlings, whose blessing did not pass on to their children, the nobility framed their privilege as a gift of generosity that ran in the family. Therefore, a child of a noble was also a noble.
At first, only a handful of noble families existed within a country. Their number grew steadily over the first few centuries post-Catharxis, as nobles looked for trustworthy allies to help them expand their control and influence in society. Nobles and priests controlled local governments. Most of those functioned on a system of alternating power, in which a person would be chosen to rule for a few years, then replaced by a successor chosen by the other nobles. This system later evolved into the current election system, in which the general population chooses their local representatives.
The most assured way for a noble family to secure influence and support was to marry their children to someone from a family of good standing and exceptional, but non-noble people. Such a marriage automatically granted a new noble title to the commoner’s family, and usually came with additional promises to support the original noble family for the next few centuries. Thus, noble families used marriages to increase their power base and influence. Not surprisingly, this process was not necessarily always peaceful.
Clashes among nobles and their loyal followers were common occurrences for the first 800 years of post-Catharxis history. Fortunately for the general population, most of those conflicts manifested as political squabbles rather than physical violence. Duels of honour and other lethal forms of revenge were outlawed in the most developed cultures by the second century AC (undoubtedly after a decent amount of noble blood was needlessly spilled). Although this did not prevent the occasional drunken squabble, it eventually helped to create the notion that physical violence was the barbaric answer to disagreements, and was thus to be discouraged at all costs.
Instead, rival noble families would create political intrigue, interfere in marriage arrangements, disgrace and humiliate their enemies at the Hall of Law. Spies, hidden alliances, and corruption became so common place as to be an expected part of the job. Commoners were vaguely aware of the morally dubious conduct of their government, but since it made little impact in their day to day life, most did not care much (unless they were suddenly faced with a proposal to marry into nobility, at which point they generally panicked and ran around screaming before accepting the offer with newfound enthusiasm).
Nobility’s influence in society declined gradually over the last 500 years. New technologies being developed since then allowed for a better quality of life and more wealth for all the population in general, which translated to better education, more free time out of work, and more interest in matters not immediately concerning one’s survival. Questions were raised about whether nobles were really the new Godlings and if the power and authority granted to them was really warranted. Of course, the nobility and their supporters did not like to see their power stripped away from them, but after a few world-wide revolutions in the 1600s and 1700s, most noble families lost their Godling status and the exclusive right to form governments. However, their prestige and general sense of superiority had grown so much by that point that not even a new Catharxis could wipe them out. Nobles were generally allowed to keep their titles and pass them on to their children, even if the title itself had become meaningless for all practical purposes in life.
The strongest noble traditions, such as those regarding marriages, survived until the present day. Old noble families still keep their grand properties, heirlooms, and perfect family trees preserved, though most nobles are sensible enough to realise they will not be granted any special privilege because of their family history. Unfortunately, there are still a few entitled exceptions to this rule, who think the world should go back to the 1500s and treat them with the supreme reverence they deserve.

Founding Date

Right after the Cartharxis, as a new world order dawned on the world.

Type

Court, Royal

Demonym

Nobles