On 12:03 PM Scott Schultz wrote: > It's true that Vlad's title greased a few wheels as far as his entry > into > The Organization, but I think it's fair to say that Kiera should take > most > of the credit for that. Your typical honest social-climbin Easterner > buying > a title would be content, probably even happy, to have nothing at all > to do > with the business end of the House. I can't imagine that Taltos, Sr. > had a > career as a "workman" in mind for his son when he bought the title. Historically, titles meant more than one might think. Even evidence of being gentry counted. I believe that Beethoven almost won a court case (custody?) until the court discovered that his "van" didn't mean the same "von" that the court thought it meant. With a lower rank, he didn't have as many rights.