Rank is not a big thing in the Nirvana pack. The Hindu dragons take rank rather more seriously, and what follows is their interpretation of the caste system:
Enlightened ones, priests, teachers, gurus, magic-users
Warriors, hunters, royalty (anyone from the leading family of a pack)
Artists, crafters, performers
Average dragons (nannies and jacks-of-all-trades), traders, merchants
Lazy sloboniks (pardon my family's butchered Slavic for slobs)
If there's any hierarchy or rank assigned, it's for the sake of division of labor. The fluidity of the caste system in the earliest days of Hinduism will be maintained...which means that the kids of Siddhartha could end up on the bottom if they don't work. oO There are no limits on joining any of these ranks, but to be a brahmin, please be ready to prove it through RP. Siddhartha is an exception because he is considered the enlightened leader. ^^; Sorreh, I'm using the Hindu terms for these "castes", though fortunately the pack doesn't take the system seriously by-and-large:
Brahmins: The most educated or enlightened draggies. Alternately, those who teach the young.
Kshatriyas: The draggies who hunt and protect the pack and the caravan. Also draggies who come from the family of a leader of another pack fall into this category.
Vaisas: The traders, the merchants, the craftsman, the artists, and the performers. The Hindu draggies further subdivide these draggies, but they're weird like that. icon_xd.gif
Sudras: Anyone doing something else, like nannies and those who can do anything asked of them.
The untouchables will not appear in this pack, as everyone has objected to them. The pack is run by a council of brahmins, but if there's only one brahmin currently, that brahmin makes the decisions alone.
Youth are generally referred to as children and do not gain an official rank in the pack until they reach adulthood. The youth are a free-floating, freeformed rank of no place in particular in the hierarchy of the pack, and spend a lot of time helping their elders.
The humans have a very similar command structure, with variations decreed by their lifestyle where trading is much more major than hunting. The term kshatriya among the Hill Folk of Savitri refers to hunters and trappers, as well as the caravan's guards; those of higher birth are not automatically kshatriya in the Savitri Caravan. The Caravan also has a section for orphans and misfits; they are lower than the rest by dint of being more readily underfoot, a state of being that is very problematic in a working caravan. Don't worry, the Nirvana pack will more favorably look on orphans and misfits. The pack and caravan work in strong symbiosis, a beneficial situation for all involved, including those fleeing the growing pack wars.
