There are two main "hierarchies" of power in Arath, that of the Chiefs, and that of the Clan.

The clan hierarchy is what most citizens are familiar with, and what most effects individuals on a day to day basis. To start off, every Clam has a leader. The leader of each Clan is the sole owner of the Clan property, and leadership of the Clan is passed to the second oldest, or oldest, child. While the core of the Clan is family based, Clans often extend far beyond family. To start, anyone who works for a member of a Clan is also considered a member of that Clan, and sometimes families will be in a clan solely for the connections and prestige it provides. A common example of an Arathee Clan would be the head family, living in the city, a secondary family who have been close political allies for generations, a servant family who tends to the household chores and serves guard duties of the first two families, several craftsmen who are a member of the clan for employment, and a dozen peasant families who farm for the clan.

While most Clans tend to be focused geographically, some have influence that spreads much farther abroad. Most notable is when first or third children become merchants, travel around, and end up settling down somewhere else.

Sometimes, those in a Clan feel the desire to leave their clan, for whatever reason. By far, the easiest way to leave a clan is to apply or appeal to the leader of the clan. Even if a person is refused their appeal, they may choose to leave the clan anyway, but along with it all of your possessions. Regardless of how you leave, the minimum that is required to be given you is a good set of clothing, 7 days of food, and in the case of craftsmen or soldiers, their tools of trade (often of poorer quality then they would normally use).

On other occasions, a Clan will will "trade" or sell people or lands to another clan. This is often done to consolidate the holdings of one clan, to establish monopolies, to pay off debts or fund ventures. When a clan itself is in significant debt, the most common outcome is for the clan to be absorbed into a larger clan (who more likely then not was the holder of said debt).

When two Clan leaders marry, the clans remain separate initially, but their heir will inherit both, such that when both of the parents die, the Clans will merge then. The clan name in this situation will either be some merging of the two names, or the name of the Leader that died first.

The hierarchy of the Chiefs (Rahnha) is what is more visible to outsiders. Originally the governing structure of Arath, the Cheifs have evolved into more of a military and tax collecting role. While they are technically in charge of allocating the use of government money in their area, more often than not that was left to either officials under direct control of the Rahning or to the leaders of Clans contracted by the Chief.

The leader of all Arath is the Rahning(King). The Rahning chooses his successor from one of the Chiefs, and rules until either he or she dies, retires, or is voted out by a 3/4 majority. The appointment to Rahning can also be overturned when there is a two-thirds majority against it and a majority agree on a different successor.

The Cheifs are directly below the Rahning. Each Chief is responsible for a defined area, in which they collect money, raise and train troops, settle disagreements between the Clans, and overall manage government in the area.

Most Chiefs have commanders under them. While the name commander originates in their role in war, they still have an important place in the more beurocratic and economic side of things. Often the actual tax collectors, they will travel between the different Clan leaders and ensure that proper tribute is being made (the specifics having been previously negotiated between the leader and the Chief. In addition to portions of grain and ore, Clans also "lend" members as a workforce for the Chief, to maintain roads and construct buildings). When an armed escort is needed, either to safeguard a tax transfer or "encourage" the transfer to take place, a commander will lead a division of soldiers.

In war, commanders generally lead a small troop of 9 soldiers, although in larger battles these divisions are indistinguishable from each other, as the tactical decisions involve moving such large numbers of troops. When a division is operating by themselves, they maintain a roughly even balance of melee to ranged, but while part of the larger army divisions are made up of a single unit type to facilitate larger strategy.

In battle, there are four main types of divisions. Ranged divisions are armed with bows or slings. Melee divisions are equipped with spears, and have either axes or swords as a backup. Mounted units are split between horse archers and light cavalry. "Special" divisions are those that do not fit under any other category. Quicklime and firebomb grenadiers, quarterstaffs, any combat unit that doesn't fit into the first three categories is placed in this one.

Due to both the swapping of compositions and the use of semi-professional soldiers in war, commanders often had two entirely different divisions, for peace time tax collecting and bandit hunting, and on the battlefield of war.

A few miscellaneous notes

• Only the leaders of a clan are allowed to wear hats. Those in a clan must wear hoods, skullcaps, or go bareheaded.

• The formula for a name is [Title] [Given Name] [Family Name] [Clan Name]. Which parent you inherit your family name depends of gender: boys get their father's name, girls get their mother's.

• The Hierarchy of the Chiefs is technically the clan Rhan. Chiefs can wear hats though, as the Rahning gets a crown.

• The color black is reserved for those of Clan Rhan. It is normally worn either as a sash or patch, due to the difficulty of dyeing cloth true black.

• Most large clans have distinctive borders for their hoods.

• A non-Arathee can become Rhaning, by getting into the following of a Cheif, succeeding that Cheif (possibly by trial of combat), then either being nominated or voted in. Tough, but doable.

• An extremely well dressed hooded man will often be treated better then an equally well dressed hat-wearing man, as the master of the hooded individual is likely very wealthy.

• Not a single religious figure wears a hat. Many seekers wear hoods to symbolize their devotion to their work, although others prefer distinctive wide brimmed hats.