EVE Fiction

I've had a few things come up in my roleplay regarding Hope. She's a holder, as she's been accelerated to one of her Father's subsidiary titles. She however, is not the matriarch of the Uzza family, as that belongs to her father. Hope is also a vassel of Lord Ardishapur. The issue that came up was how a commoner would address Hope. There are a few choices: "My lady, Lady Hope, Lady Uzza" and another that I cannot remember. Does the method of address change based on the house one owes loyalty to? Does a vassal of House Sarum address Hope, an Ardishapurite, differently than a vassal of House Ardishapur? Also, two holders meet, I would assume they address each other as lord and lady, is that correct?

I look forward to hearing the community's thoughts.

With the exception of 'Holder', for the most part Amarr titles seem to follow standard British styles (Lord and Lady referring to any titled Holder, the use of 'Right Honourable' as a preface, referring a Holder or Heir formally with the use of 'The Title Housename' (The Heir Kor-Azor having been used for Aritcio), using styles like His Highness and Her Majesty, etcetera).

In more casual correspondence, the use of Lord and Lady are proper styles of address for any Holder, regardless of who is addressing them. So if a Sarumite addresses an Ardishapurite, they'd still call them Lord/Lady Housename.

Surnames seem to be what is almost always used, with the exception of the empress (who drops her House once becoming empress). So it should be Lord/Lady Housename, not Lord/Lady Firstname. The exception would be when doing the full name, or when there is two people of the same Housename. If there are two people of the same Housename, then using Lord/Lady Firstname would be appropriate to distinguish.

A key thing often missed (which you and I have discussed in-game, but just mentioning here for other readers) is the fact that Lord/Lady are only used for Holders, and that only a title owner is a Holder, with all other members of their family simply being non-titled nobility. So the heir of a House wouldn't be a Lord/Lady, unless they are a Holder in their own right (For example, a Holder who possesses multiple holderships may grant his son ownership over one of his smaller holdings, therefore making his son a Holder by courtesy).

Empress Jamyl I is styled as Her Majesty and Her Holiness (Your Majesty and Your Holiness in direct address). Jamyl herself has never been called Her Holiness in PF (to my knowledge), but Heideran was (in both Speaker of Truths and Theodicy), so it likely applies to Jamyl as well. And of course, Empress Jamyl I is the most common casual address used for her. I personally also like to use Her Imperial Majesty for Jamyl, as Majesty by itself is occasionally used by Kings/Heirs (see below) and Imperial Majesty is the proper style for an emperor by the UK model.

King Khanid II is styled as His Highness (Your Highness in direct address) or His Majesty. And as each of the Heirs could likely be considered kings in their own right (as direct vassals of an emperor), Highness or Majesty would probably work for them as well.

Senior Holders, such as those whose holdings include entire constellations and those who carry more archaic but prestigious titles like Duke might be styled 'His Grace' (Your Grace, in direct address). This is just an assumption though, going by the model.

All Holders beneath that are simply Lord Housename, and could be referred to as 'Your Lordship' or 'Your Ladyship' in direct address. Additionally, one can use my lord/my lady and milord/milady, the latter of which has been seen by a slave towards an Heir in Godflesh and by a lesser Holder towards an Heir in The Speaker of Truths).

Going by above, the most formal address you'd probably use for a standard Holder would be The Right Honourable The Holder Housename. That would only be for exceptionally formal circumstances though. Heirs would probably go by His Highness The Heir Housename or His Majesty The Heir Housename, while the Empress would go by Her Majesty The Empress, or Her Holiness The Empress (possibly including 'Jamyl the First' at the end of either of those). And I personally use Her Imperial Majesty The Empress, for the reasons mentioned above.

(note that the use of Right Honourable and 'The Title Housename' appeared in the news article "Kor-Azor Holders Stand Against House in Protest of Think-Tanks". I cannot currently link this article to source it, as it is impossible to find due to the changes to the website and the lack of a search engine in the news section).

The actual title granted to an individual is Holder of [Holding]. This is typically not used in styles of address, but rather is used to specify what holdership the Holder owns ("Lord Ardin Tarpur is the Holder of Dakba"). However, it can be appended to styles if one wants to be specific in the actual address ("Lord Tarpur of Dakba").