Ivory Honors System

Peerage | Orders | Medals

The Ivory honours system is a means of rewarding individuals' personal bravery, achievement, or service to the nation of Ivory and its provinces. The system consists of three types of award: honours, decorations and medals:

* Honours are used to recognise merit in terms of achievement and service;
* Decorations tend to be used to recognise specific deeds;
* Medals are used to recognise bravery, long and/or valuable service and/or good conduct.

As the head of state, the Sovereign remains the "fount of honour." Various orders of knighthood have been created (see below) as well as awards for military service, bravery, merit, and achievement which take the form of decorations or medals.

Honours are split into classes ("orders") and are graded to distinguish different degrees of achievement or service. There are no criteria to determine these levels; various honours committees meet to discuss the candidates and decide which ones deserve which type of award and at what level. The Prince of Seston provides approval before being sent to the Sovereign for final approval. Certain honours are awarded solely at the Sovereign's discretion, such as the Order of the Sword and the Royal MacMillan Order.

Current Ivory Orders of Chivalry:

The current system is made up of nine orders of chivalry. The statutes of each order specify matters such as the size of the order, etc.

Recipients of orders receive no styling of Sir or Dame, but they may attach the according postnominal letters to their name, e.g. John Smith, VC.

Knighthood
Descended from mediaeval chivalry, knights exist both within the orders of chivalry as well as in a class known as Knights Bachelor (no order). Knighthood carries the title Sir. The female equivalent, Dame, only exists within the orders of chivalry and not in the Knights Bachelor. [Not all members of an Order are necessarily knights, and not all knights are members of an order.]

Ceremony of Orders & Knighthood
Each year, awards are given personally from The Queen or a member of the Royal Family to all those newly appointed into an Order. These investitures are performed at Cannaid in Seston, House of Ivory near Lartia, Palace of Manto, Dragonbane Hall in Thantos, or Sky Castle in Triates. The Queen usually conducts the Investitures, although The Prince of Seston and The Princess Royale also hold some Investitures on behalf of the Queen.

During the ceremony, The Queen enters the Ballroom attended by two Lartian Orderly Officers. On duty on the dais are five members of The Queen's Body Guard. Four Gentlemen Ushers are on duty to help look after the recipients and their guests.

The Queen is escorted by either the Lord Chamberlain of Ivory or the Mayor of the city of the ceremony. After the Ivory National Anthem has been played, he stands to the right of The Queen and announces the name of each recipient and the achievement for which they are being decorated. The Queen is given a brief background by her Equerry of each recipient as they approach to receive their award.

Those who are to be knighted kneel on an investiture stool to receive the Accolade, which is bestowed by The Queen using Renderer, one of the three swords of fire which her grandfather, Karal Bairde MacMillan forged in the smithy outside the House of Ivory. Occasionally an award for Gallantry may be made posthumously and in this case The Queen presents the decoration or medal to the recipient's next-of-kin in private before the public Investiture begins.

Information on Decorations and Medals of Ivory will be available in the future.

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