The Astral Empire: Commoners (part 1)

(Disclaimer: the Abh are ultimately the work of Hiroyuki Morioka. This informal adaptation to the fourth edition of Dungeons and Dragons deviates significantly from the original.)

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Commoners in the Empire are divided into citizens (laimh) and serfs (soss). Serfs are hereditarily beholden to the lord of their demesne, and have very few rights under Imperial law; citizens are beholden to none, save the royalty, and have a number of additional rights.

The nature of the life of a serf is dependent on their lord, who has almost absolute power over them. Some lords rule with an iron fist, while many others scarcely rule at all. In practice there is a limit to how poor the life of a serf may be, since the Empire guarantees to any serf the right to join the Astral Navy; if life under a lord is truly terrible, many will flee to military service and the promise of eventual citizenship.

(A surprising number of lords allow, or even set up, a subsidiary system of self-governance; this is occasionally out of ethical principle, but far more often on the principle that any given Abh would just as soon not be bothered with the details of actually making laws and judgements as long as the taxes come in. The fact that there are elected officials other people between the lord and many unpopular decisions also implies a ready collection of scapegoats in case of hard times.)

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(Edit 2009-01-14: Generalized somewhat.)