The Culture Column
The castes are heavily stratified. Every case has a specific place in society, and each caste is divided into many subcastes, each with its own place within that caste, and there are no equals among castes or subcastes, and even the lowliest tax collector is due more respect than the greatest merchant. Around ten subcastes will be provided for each of the castes, explaining how they're placed where they are and giving a good idea on where other occupations would fall. People cannot generally move between castes or even subcastes, but when there is not enough work to go around a person can fall through the cracks to the lowest of all the castes and become an untouchable beggar, thereby condemning their posterity to be beggars as well.
Most people, for sooome reason, choose death over that (or forging papers and joining one of the other castes).
Nimdokxelom
The highest of the brotherhoods is called Nimdokxelom, or the "hands which hold the pen." This is the caste concerned with administration. Tax collectors (lomnipymbyd) are one of the lower groups, mostly due to unpleasant associations with business and merchants. Above them are clerks (lomgyly dyser) who handle the day-to-day affairs of administration, passing paperwork along and acting as the public face for the government most of the time. They have an equivalent in the deacons (lomkeoqam) who do the same thing for the religious orders. Ferrymen (lomnilouy) are considered an integral part of keeping the government running, and they're in charge of moving along the rivers and large lakes. Footmen (lomnirylyu) are in charge of enforcing the laws which higher subcastes issue.
Immediately above the footmen are the clock keepers (lomsav) who would be part of a lower caste were it not for just how vital it is that the clocks be maintained. Without proper timekeeping the government could not run as well as it does, and this caste is made of not just those who administrate but also those who make it possible. Further up are mariners (lompolemel) who work out at sea, judges (lomuoqep), navigators (lommozebodal) who also act as captains on ships, and then priests (lomepop) as the higher end of the middle is approached. Administrators (lomnimdokxel) head the equivalent of government departments (or occasionally sub-departments when very large) in towns and cities, and answer to chancellors (lomvomrisal) who can be in charge of entire population centers or similarly-sized systems.
Only nimdokxeloms can use horses, which are valuable and much-revered animals.
Olouom
Below them is the olouom caste, or "the fountains;" fountains have long been used as symbols for sources of knowledge. Every subcaste here is involved in imparting education, even the dog trainers (olounisodeu omgemb). Teachers (olaubyly) are in charge of the general education for higher caste children with the money for an education but not a private tutor, although subcastes do their own apprenticing. Despite their importance, teachers are subordinate to horse trainers(olaunisodeu qyko) due to that animal's importance, but no subcaste is more important than that of the private tutor (olaupepxileqom).
Espy
If the olouoms are fountains, then the espys are the water which issues from them. The majority of the knowledge-oriented occupations are found in this caste. For their unrefined historical origins in comparison to doctors, herbalists (espkyqkm) have low associations and are in fact one of the few subcastes this high to be permitted to drink alcohol. Water-scrigers (esqor-vlebil), doctors who ply their trade through tasting, smelling, and testing the patient's urine in order to discover the ailment, are similarly exempt. Astrologers (esnilopos) are not concerned solely with fortunetelling and are actually more astronomers than anything else.
Above them are philosophers (esouse hosnohou) who focus primarily on ethical and religious questions, librarians (esnymdoqovom) who watch over knowledge, and mathematicians (esouse podipadeq) who produce no immediately-useful knowledge but whose work is a useful foundation for the pursuits of others. Apothecaries (esonadiq) rely on chemist-derived remedies rather than natural cures and are directly below barber-chirurgeons (esvyqyl). The highest subcaste belongs to the plague doctors (esvoxoq) who risk their lives to deal with virulent contagions and, in less pestilent times, battlefield conditions.
Nipxemoom
These are the "hands which build," and they are concerned primarily with construction. Bricklayers (xedykomb) are right at the bottom, right next to roofers (xeodon). Stonemasons(xeoxody) possess more skill and demand more respect, getting placed toward the top of the middle, while engineers (xeogylydilo) and architects (xeolqediq) are at the top.
Sabom
The saboms are toolmakers. Though they are called the "smiths," not every subcaste deals with metals. Bone carvers (bomdysomb) are barely considered to be part of this caste and may drink alcohol. Stone carvers (bomnipouad) are quite higher, but locksmiths (bomdyqomb) are better by dint of dealing with metal and a very important good. Tinsmiths (bomnodile) mainly create utensils and are some distance below mirrorers (bomvilpem), who have their station due to the intense value of mirrors in any society which can't mass-produce them. Slightly above them are various smiths, including knife smiths (bomneroy), blacksmiths (bomxire), silversmiths (bomniloq), and blade smiths (bompimipno). Armorers (bomnipeseq) are the top of this caste and a single good piece of armor can fetch a small fortune. Some armorers are richer than some chancellors.
Pipxyod
These are the "assemblers" of society, with such alcohol-drinking dregs as button makers (pipxydomb). More respectable are candle makers (pipnipxyod), hat makers (pipdane), and oil makers (pippemi'oq). Around the middle of the caste are more general clothiers (pipnoqoeom), leather makers (pipqysed), the all-important papermakers (pipqildor), and weavers (pipnimimym). Potters (pipnileyq) make things even more useful than clothes, and then there are barrel makers (pipnoqy) and the intensely-in-demand nail makers (pipgop)- a house might be burnt down because it costs less to build a new house than to buy new nails for that house. Clockmakers (pippimi'ildoe) are higher, joiners (pipgaemil) often do repair jobs, and cabinetmakers (pipnide) are where the true higher subcastes of the pipxyods begin.
Xauom Zoqy
Xauom Zoqy means something along the lines of "makers from nothing," and its members primarily deal with the creation or acquirement of raw materials and food. Beer brewers (zonipxyod) are the absolute lowest of them, of course, and with miners (zonimopxomb), woodcutters (zoqoi'y), fishermen (zomisoi'om), and other low subcastes are able to drink alcohol. Beekeepers (zonidilmoq sixou) produce a substance both practical and tasty, and some distance above these are bakers (zolade), chicken butchers (zokobemb), who are the lowest of several dedicated butchers, and cheese makers (zoqigy). Swineherds (zoxoxe) and shepherds (zobipxoso) are even more important, and while stone carvers are not highly placed in their caste, stonecutters (zoxody) are. As the source for most food in the country, however, farmers (zonidome) are the most respected subcaste.
Nimblogem
Now here, in the caste of the "beautifiers," is where alcohol-drinking becomes more common. The saboms and pipxyods only make things out of what others have created, but their products have inherent use. The nimblogemsÖ don't, to put it simply, and they are the highest of the three impure-yet-touchable castes. Books themselves are valuable but paradoxically those involved in creating them are not considered to be so. Bookbinders (nimnimgesek) and printers (nimvidiq) are two of the lowest subcastes, below even limners (nimsepmil), who do little skill painting. Illuminators (nimpimilombe), who provide the illustrations for books, are considerably better, and glass painters (nimqovo vod) are where they are purely due to the value of glass. They, and higher subcastes, are forbidden from having alcohol. Higher along are writers (nimnimyser), who write fiction specifically (nonfiction is handled by other castes where appropriate), and are below composers (nimqapnaril). The highest of all are the gem cutters (nimnadamb).
Nimbikolom
The nimbikoloms, or "spreaders," are the second of the impure-yet-touchable castes, due their low status for the fact that they make nothing but only distribute- for personal gain, no less- the works of others. Moneylenders are some of the very lowest people in the caste, below even rag and bone men (kopomyreo kom) and traveling peddlers (konimgyos), and the fact that they are often some of the wealthiest members of the nimbikolom caste goes to show that status isn't everything. Along with the likes of cloth merchants (koqoem), spice merchants (kolipnou-lipnou), and booksellers (konimbios), they are permitted to drink alcohol. Fuellers (kohyissil) mark the point where the subcastes start to deal with hard infrastructure (clothes are necessary, but not in the same way as coal) and are close below hay merchants (kogilope), who sell the inedible and uneaten portions of the harvests sold by grain merchants (koxege-xegeom). Metals merchants (kopidos) are at the top.
Nilquekpodom
Servile labor is not well-regarded and so the nilquekpodoms, or "unhearing ears" are as far down as someone can go without losing all respectability. Nilquekpodoms generally serve in high-caste families or in organized businesses serving the public. Laundriers (nilkaxe) and scullions (nilnembbom) are the lowest of the low; water carriers (niloel) and gardeners (nilqixym) are slightly higher. In the mid-range are courtesans (nilnisovyl), who can be of and serve either gender, and more general servants (nilnisoi'om). Watchmen (nilgyly dyser) and scribes (nilvovom-nipxova) are the lowest nilquekpodoms unable to drink alcohol, and while at first it seems odd that cup-bearers (nilyko) are above even these, the reasoning becomes more clear once it's understood that they're expected to sample the drinks and dishes they offer, making them a line of defense against poisoning as well.
Stablemen (nilrimirvuos) take care of their employers horses and some distance above, the diplomats (nilkonsapod) manage relations between businesses, nations, households, and other groups. They have no small amount of status and are directly below stewards (nilnisoi'om), who keep tabs on their employer's supplies and finances. Seneschals (nil'romb) manage the entire household or business and are in charge of all other nilquekpodoms in their employer's service.
Perkerjaan Nilqilgoom
Their name literally means "the untouchable ones which writhe and scavenge," which is hardly a ringing endorsement. They are all allowed to drink alcohol but are untouchable and abuse directed against perkerjaan nilqilgooms is rarely investigated. Additionally, only perkerjaan nilqilgooms are allowed to hunt game (with a few exceptions made for some higher subcastes). Beggars (pernimbiper) are the absolute lowest subcaste in society and are forbidden from pursuing actual work. Many turn to thievery in order to survive. Reflecting a bit of prejudice against people who don't make anything, actors (pernisoqam) and acrobat-dancers (pernimole) are hardly better off.
There is a distinction between writers and storytellers (pernimkambimb) in that the latter have no-one to pay them reliable wages and they must wander from town to town, and they exist above acrobat-dancers and below musicians (perpyrere). Higher up are dung carters (perqovou), knackers (perqmovqil), and oysterers (perdelop), who all earn a more-or-less honest living but deal with situations considered to be filthy. Rat catchers (perdeqyr) are even more important, and with the oysterers they provide a source of food for other untouchables, while the very highest of all are gravediggers (pernimbbose qyxyl), whose connection to death causes most people to be torn between disgust, respect-born-from-fear, and reverence.
