The Crisis of the 16th Century had far-reaching consequences for the nobility of the Alááshu of Tozàn, the uyó. From relatively irrelevant, their titles made huge leaps in terms of importance with the collapse of a central authority.

The uyó are an age-old class of Obibo, a relic of the old ages, as it can be said that since the first Alááfin, the nobility has never held as much power. It has, as long as there was a central authority, eroded more under every Alááfin. After all, to run a large state succesfully, it is better to have an elite based on merit than on blood.

The central government in Uwára was most guilty of this. While it had once been necessary to belong to the class of uyó to be appointed an important office in the central government, it was abolished under more recent Alááfins who sought to select only the best through national exams and also demanded their appointees to be eunuchs. While uyó inherited their status through their mother, it was still an affront to be demanded castration and the measures led to a decrease of nobles in the government, or an increase of intelligent commoners. It set bad blood among the uyó, who now only had one monopoly left, which was the military. Under the old central authority, it had been uyó who commanded every single soldier of the Alááshu.

When the central government stopped or became unable to tell them what to do, the uyó took power. After all, they had the means to do so with their soldiers. Soon after, the offices they had became meaningless: governor, inspector, magistrate, what was the point without some higher up enforcing you to play nice? Besides, what right had a commoner to bear such a title without the backing of the Alááfin? Uyó betrayed their common colleagues, commoners with such titles tried to become one of the nobility as soon as possible. What followed was essentially a purge or a renewal of the uyó, only those with a position in the military could maintain, even upgrade, their status. The others, who had fortunes and careers based on large agricultural estates, became irrelevant.

The Ofòku (Duchess) was the highest ranked. Replacing the governor, ofòku was the title of those who could grab the largest swathes of lands to command for themselves. Those so bold to claim the title of oba, queenship, were still similar in status to an ofòku with the land and soldiers to back it up.

The Orògò (Marquise) became a fancy term for a warlady. Ruthless generals, it was not a title that had even been seen as hereditary. Once appointed, an orògò now claimed their title and had to back it up with martial prowess, since the name of their title derived from the word for war itself. Some served ofòku, but most were semi-independent, existing on the fringes of the Alááshu, embroidled in permanent warfare with vultures circling Tozàn.

The Sagwo (Countess) were the foremost servants of the ruling Ofòku class. As captains, lieutenants and lesser generals, the Sagwo were already used to listening to an ofòku. They became more than just officers too, carrying out the rule of law, usually without consulting the legal codes of the Alááshu.

The Sháná (Baroness) was the lowest rank of the land-owning, military uyó. Everyone below a sháná was simply known and addressed as uyó. A sháná was generally a soldier, responsible for managing a few towns, maintaining the local loyalty for their lady and making sure there would be enough soldiers to fight when war inevitably came. The Alááshu had an army based on regulars, but the ofòku and by extension sháná could not maintain that. Instead, they gave the soldiers land and called them to war in times of conflict.