Peerage

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Earl / Countess
Baron / Baroness

A Peerage is an award bestowed on members of The Royal Manticoran Navy: The Official Honor Harrington Fan Association, Inc. for exceptional service and dedication to the organization, making them a "peer," or titled noble within the context of the club. "The Peerage" refers collectively to all members who are peers.

Peerage in the Star Kingdom of Manticore

In the Honorverse canon, the Manticore Colony established in 1416 P.D. lost almost 60 percent of original colonists to a plague several decades after landing. Realizing that they would need to attract additional homesteaders, but wanting to maintain control of their colony, they adopted a new constitution, creating the Star Kingdom of Manticore in 1471 P.D.

In addition to crowning their Planetary Administrator Roger Winton as King Roger I, the surviving "First Shareholders" (who already had vast landholdings) were given patents of nobility, making them titled peers of the Star Kingdom and creating a hereditary aristocracy.

Peerage as a TRMN award

TRMN policy is that no more than one percent of members may be granted peerages. This award affords the member to roleplay as a member of the nobility of Manticoran society. Peers are given privileges including a seat in the House of Lords, the right to bear a coat of arms approved by the College of Arms, and special forms of address. These rights are hereditary; any peer who dies passes the title to their eldest offspring, if the offspring is a TRMN member.

Peers are granted titles named after their "peerage lands," fictitious territories on the worlds of Manticore, Gryphon, Sphinx. Additionally, a TRMN peer's spouse and children (if they are TRMN members) are given appropriate honorifics.

Peerage titles may exist on other worlds from the Honor Harrington series of novels and related books, the most notable being the Grand Duke of New Montana, an honorary award bestowed on the author David Weber by the organization in appreciation of him creating the series.

Peerages come in several levels, based on the Manticoran Peerage System and those of other Honorverse star nations. In ascending order of precedence, the Manticoran peerages are:

• A Barony, is a peerage awarded to a Baron or Baroness. The word barony refers both to the peerage title itself and to the "land" granted to the peer.

• An Earldom is the peerage awarded to an Earl or a Countess. The land granted to an earl or countess is called a county.

• A Dukedom is the peerage awarded to a Duke or Duchess. The land granted to a duke or duchess is called a duchy.

• A Grand Dukedom is the peerage awarded to a Grand Duke or Grand Duchess. The territory associated with a Grand Duchy is an entire planet. Presently the only Grand Duchy in existence within The Royal Manticoran Navy is that of New Montana (originally Montana, but changed by the author), and it is an Honorary Peerage, as opposed to the regular peerage for active members of the organization.

David Weber modeled the SKM on historical British society, the peerage of which includes marquesses and viscounts in addition to dukes, earls and barons mentioned above. However, these two ranks are not used in the Manticoran system and thus are not utilized by TRMN. Although there was one marquess mentioned in the canon, the author considers this an oversight which he has retconned to an earl. In the earliest days of TRMN, some founding members were created viscounts, but these titles are no longer recognized in the organization.

Some foreign peerages are awarded in TRMN to members who have non-manticoran personae. The Andermani Empire has equivalent noble ranks, including freiherrs (barons), grafs (earls), and herzogs (dukes).

The Protectorate of Grayson has one level of peer, that of steadholder, which is considered equivalent rank to that of duke or duchess in the SKM, although steadholders exercise "head of state" sovereignty withing their territories, while dukes/duchesses hold their lands in fief from the crown.

Cadet peers

The heir of a peerage title (usually the eldest offspring of the title holder) is referred to as a cadet peer and is addressed as "my lord" (for males) or "my lady" (for females) and referred to in the third person as (for example) "Lord John Doe" or Lady Jane Doe."

Additional younger offspring of the title holder are referred to as, for example, "The Honorable John Doe" or "The Honorable Jane Doe" (abbrev: "Hon. John Doe"). There is no special form of address for them.

List of TRMN Peers

Rank	Title	Name	Date of Peerage
Grand Duke	New Montana	David Weber	25 May 2017
Duke	New Scania	Martin Lessem
Duke	New Ulyanovsk	Sean Niemeyer
Duke	Karstadt Sea	Robert Jackson
Duke	Mountain View	Robert Bulkeley	27 May 2017
Countess	Wilson	Sharon Rice-Weber
Countess	New Cumbria	Elisa Randall
Earl	Neu Odenwaldkries	James Friedline
Earl	Westmarch	John Neitz	October 2015
Countess	Fontana Flats	Chrissy Killian
Countess	Nya Östergötland	Brandi Hinson
Countess	Boundary Waters	Laura Lochen
Earl	Cumberland Moor	Peter Gordon
Earl	Mars-Evans	Daniel Walker
Countess	Miyake Jima	Jill McTavish
Earl	White Lion	William Knight
Baroness	Silver Heath	Gena Robbinson
Baron	Nový Prerov	Ivo Heger
Baron	Tesseyman	Greg Marchand
Baron	New Mimas	Timothy Zahn
Baron	Glencairn	Drew Drentlaw
Baroness	White Rose	Allison Gahrmann
Baron	New Victoria	Justin Grays
Baroness	Cape Fear	Cindy Epard
Baron	Piedmont	John Stump
Baroness	Havelok	Stephanie Taylor
Baroness	Blacksburg	Heather Selbe
Baron	Bahia Cadiz	Kim Niemeyer
Baroness	New Dover	Christa Brolley
Baron	Serpent Head Point	David Weiner
Baroness	Redstone	Heidi Nelson
Baron	Camera Stellata	Matthew Parker
Baroness	New Adelaide	Nicola Hawke
Baroness	New Essex	Diane Bulkeley	28 October 2017
Baron	La Mancha	Bill Lochen	28 October 2017
Baron	Grosvenor	Wayne Bruns	28 October 2017
Baron	Clipper Island	Mark Gledhill	27 May 2018
Baron	Silver Lake	Garret Bitker	27 May 2018
Baroness	New Florence	Pamela Cole	27 May 2018
Baron	New Caladan	Jeffrey Webb	27 May 2018
Baron	New Halifax	Rob Marshall	27 May 2018
Baron	McCovey Cove	Michael Garcia	27 May 2018
Baroness	Clear Lake	Cindy Jeffers	27 May 2018
Baroness	Alnwick Estates	Lauren Niemeyer
Baron	Cooper's Lake	Joseph Grieco
Baron	Eboracum	Benjamin Wagner
Baron	New Greyhawke	Doss Buckalew
Baron	Whidbey Basin	James Jones
Baron	Glencairn	Drew Drentlaw
Baroness	New Troy	Jackie Snedden
Baron	West Columbia	Brad Lee
Baroness	New Hastings	Cheryl Krause
Baron	Calabasas	Chris Thompson
Baron	New Ayers	Colin Lloyd
Baron	Black Thunder	Rob Folden	5 July 2019
Baron	Grays Harbor	AJ Olsen	5 July 2019
Baron	Sutherland	Michael Houghtaling	5 July 2019
Steadholder	Pittman	Martyn Griffiths
Steadholder	Henesy	Tom Saidak
Steadholder	Maelstromm	David Melsome
Steadholder	Fitzgerald	Philip Clayton
Baroness (Andermani)	Neu Sachsen	Laura Lüschen
Baron (Andermani)	Baudenvost	Philip Wohlrab
Senator (Havenite)	Duquesne Tower	James Sena

See Also

• Forms of Address

• Admiralty Order 1102-14, defining peerage awards

External Links

• The Wall of Peerage Gallery of peers' coats of arms at the TRMN website

References

Awards of The Royal Manticoran Navy and Marine Corps
Honors:	Peerage - HMS Unconquered - HMS Valhalla
Orders:	Star Kingdom - King Roger - Golden Lion - Queen Elizabeth - Merit
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Unit Citations:	LHC - RUC - RMU - FEA
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Awards Portal