As a member of the newborn Human Empire—Arathor—there were generally only two paths to becoming part of its ruling class.
The first was naturally military merit.
By displaying one's bravery and command ability, one could win Emperor Thoradin's favor, eventually be granted a noble title, and receive a territory of one's own.
After all, in this barbaric age, only sufficiently powerful lords could protect their people from all manner of external threats.
The second path was for tribal chiefs and elders who voluntarily submitted.
As "meritorious officials" who had surrendered their power to avoid war, they too received their due rewards and transformed into members of the nobility.
However, compared to nobles elevated through military merit, the latter clearly still bore the marks of the tribal system. From the very beginning, they were excluded from the empire's core decision-making circle.
Given Emperor Thoradin's forceful personality, he would never allow anyone to obstruct his reforms of Human society, especially those lingering conservative forces.
Thus, he constantly promoted the status of the military nobles who represented the new age, weakened the influence of the old guard, and pushed them to the margins.
Unfortunately, as the founder and leader of the first-generation Barov family, Al Barrowf was exactly such a person: a man with the title of baron and a territory, yet no chance to participate in political decision-making.
In fact, like most noble surnames, Barov had originally merely been the name of his tribe.
Only after they became nobles was it changed into a surname, commemorating their origins.
Within the Arathor Empire, ordinary commoners might not even have proper names, much less surnames.
As for the nobility, they either used their original tribal names as surnames or took the names of their fiefs.
In short, all those Royal Families that would become