Clanhold Thanes

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Just because a clanhold has its King doesn’t mean that person’s word is absolute. While Kings are highly respected as the usual patriarch (or matriarch) of the clan’s most prestigious family (a designation that can be slipperier than it seems), and are the font from which the laws of the clanhold flow, they designate a figure that often commands greater public respect (and greater realpolitikal power) – the Thane. Part provincial prefect and part General, Thanes command enormous public respect and even the ability to levy armies as needed, but gain the responsibilities of day to day governance of the clanhold. While being Thane virtually guarantees you will be your clan’s next king, that does not necessarily mean the eldest son or daughter of the King will be Thane, at least for long. To avoid public revolt and the need for tyranny, a Thane must be proven in both martial and political prowess and possess the goodwill of those who he would be put in charge of. If the risk of civil unrest demands, kings have the authority to depose their Thane; that said, if a thane is popular enough among the actual military and civil keys to power, this might not go as planned.

N.B. that Thane is a neutral title, unlike that of a monarch or a Bastonian noble – just as there is no such thing as a Captainess or Generaless, there is no feminine diminutive of Thane in either the dwarven tongue nor common.