That Most Peculiar Institution: Southern Society and Economics
The South is the most prototypically medieval region of the former United States. Here more then anywhere, traditions of chivalry, of honor, of nobility are upheld. What this inevitably means, of course, is upholding a rigid class system where society's "betters" are segregated from the lowly. Below is a general overview of the social structure of the South.
Churchmen
Much like the Almighty, Churchmen exist both above and beyond the normal order of Southron society. Theoretically, the priests are loyal only to God and the Supreme Court. The truth can vary wildly depending on the time and place. Many Baptist-leaning nobles worry that the priesthood's loyalty to the Nondenominational Church also translates to a loyalty towards the secular authorities of the United States. While the interests President and the Court do occasionally align, more often then not they are at odds: there is a reason the secular seat of government is in Baltimore while the Supreme Court resides in the District of Columbia. Since the priesthood is generally drawn from the second sons of local nobility, and due to the Church's emphasis on the sanctity of government, most of the time the priesthood is fully supportive of their liege. The priesthood makes up less than 1 percent of the South's population.
Mastery
The Mastery sit at the top of Southron society. These are the nobility, those believed to be of good blood from old families who can often draw their lineages back to the Colonial period and venerable Patriot-Saints. Fundamentally, all nobles are believed to be created equal - but of course, some are more equal than others. Nevertheless, though the lower nobility is bound to the higher nobility by their obligations and notions of respect, the highest gentlemen are severely limited in power by a complex networks of etiquette and ritual and the belief in equality between the gentlemen. This represents the perennial shortcoming of the South, and prevents the consolidation of truly strong states. Due to the decentralized nature of the South, the nobility makes up a larger percentage of the population than anywhere else in Medieval America
First Families
The First Families or the 'Guvnas' are the greatest of the South, who possess storied histories and vast tracts of land: the Lees, the Flannagans, the Washingtons, the Duvals, the Jeffersons and Hemings, to name but a few. They usually represent the executives of a given nation. This, combined with the fact that they can often trace their lineages back to Patriot-Saints, marks the First Families as semi-divine. They expected to uphold an example of Southern nobility for the rest to follow. Though occasionally the houses of lower nobility may rise to the rank of a First Family, the First Families will never truly fall to the level of lower nobility: even if a Jackson were a homeless pauper on the street of Charleston, he would be accorded with a tremendous amount of respect by all he comes in contact with. The First Families call upon hordes of serfs, hosts of vassals, and even entire nations.
Gentry
Below the First Families are the gentlemen. These are the nobles of middling pedigree, of middling holdings, and of middling means. Exactly how middling can vary widely. The gentlemen makes up the core of the mastery, ruling over smaller localities and holding allegiance pledge from smaller land holders. A gentleman often has several planters pledging allegiance to him, and a goodly number of serfs at his disposal.
Planters
The Planters are the lowest of the landed masters, and are often the descendants of Knights awarded land by their master. They rule over the many individual plantations that are not directly owned by the Masters. Technically, any master that directly owns land is a Planter, and Planters are occasionally referred to as "Yeoman Planters" to draw a distinction.
Landless Masters
Landless Masters are the lowest rung of the Mastery. Most landless Masters are landless knights or the sons of knights, while some are those awarded with honorific titles by higher nobility. The lowest of the landless masters are the Overseers, who are essentially serf-knights, landless and hereditarially pledged to a plantation. overseers may be drawn either from Freemen hoping for a chance at advancement when the militia is not recruiting or debt slaves.
Freemen
Freemen are the highest level of peasantry. The most common occupation for freemen is that of yeoman, paying rent to a planter for the use of some of his land. Other freemen work as artisans in guilds, or as merchants. Those freemen who become very wealthy or powerful may be granted a title by the mastery. Alternatively, a freeman hoping to advance his standing may enlist directly in the militia as a Private in the hopes of eventual promotion to Knighthood, or if the militia is not recruiting he may be forced to seek work as an Overseer.
Debt Slaves
Debt slaves make up the largest portion of the Southern population, and are essential to its labor intensive agriculture. In the early days of the new Medieval era, some southerners revived the peculiar institution of chattel slavery. When the Church finally managed to reassert itself across the south, it pushed those who pledged it allegiance to phase out the practice once more. This posed a massive problem for the south and the nation at large who needed vast numbers of laborers who were willing to work for basically nothing. A compromise was reached by the Court in the case of Boyd v. Peaks. Boyd was a Southern gentleman who had imprisoned Peaks, a free tenant farmer, for his inability to pay off his debt. Peaks argued that his condition was essentially slavery, and that debt slavery was illegal. The Court ruled that debt could be considered tantamount to theft, and therefore enslavement was legal under the 13th Amendment, assuming a state passed a law equating debt to slavery. Just like that, the floodgates were opened, and Medieval America rebuilt itself around debt slavery.
The number of debt slaves varies from state to state. In some states the number is zero, as debt was never equated to theft. The number tends to average around 50% in the American South, jumping as high as 60% in South Carolina. Though the Supreme Court ruled that debt slaves were still afforded certain basic human rights, they left much of their treatment up to state discretion. The treatment tends to be at its worst in the South. The favored example is that of the right of First Night, by which a Southron master has the right to have carnal knowledge of a female debt slave upon her first night of marriage; most horrifyingly of all, if a child is resultant it is legally considered the son of the debtor, and therefore subject to their debt. Even in the South, however, there is a hierarchy among debt slaves.
Sharecroppers
Sharecroppers occupy the highest rung of debt slaves, and are afforded the most rights. They rent their own home on the plantation grounds, and are expected to work the Master's fields and submit some additional form of tribute. But for the most part, they are left to their own devices, free to cultivate their own plot of land and even pursue specialized trades. A sharecropper may even gain his freedom by two principal means: one, he may buy his own freedom from his master, or two, he may escape to a town or city in another municipality without being caught for a year, at which point he is legally free. This latter method seldom works, however, as Slave Catchers prowl much of the south, and a Sharecropper may expect a severe beating if he is caught and returned. Sharecroppers are tied to the land, and may not be directly traded.
Indentures
Indentures are those slaves who are so deeply indebted to their masters that they must work for them directly, not even renting their own strip of land. Generally, these are the second sons of Sharecroppers. They live in communal cabins, and only by demonstration of an extremely high level of loyalty or skill can they hope to be advanced. Indentures are not tied to the land but to their Master personally, and their debt (and by extension their personage) may be freely bought and sold.
Crackers
Ironically, the lowest rung of Southron society are not the slaves: at a minimum, the slaves are offered fairly fertile fields for their own sustenance and protection by their master. The Crackers are those that exist outside of the confines of Southron society: the hillbillies, the Melungeons, the hoboes, the Gullah, the swampfolk. They are offered few protections by the laws of the South, and are subject to harsh discrimination. They usually live in the harshest and least fertile regions, and live the most destitute lives. Many resort to beggary, brigandry, or piracy.