The problem of "friendly encirclement" was just as impossible to stamp out in a world like Coriel, where feudal knightly orders dominated warfare.
At its root, the issue was still one of profit—military merit.
And military merit was almost the most likely path for freemen to rise into the nobility.
Although there were many ways to become a noble in Coriel, the vast majority were beyond the reach of commoners.
For instance, marrying into nobility.
And it would take successive generations gradually marrying into noble families before one might possibly become noble.
Savor that compounded probability. Really, savor it.
In city-states like Luskan, which had grown barbarically rich through pirate plunder, becoming a noble might be a little easier.
You only needed an annual income of at least twenty Calamity Coins, then pay the Arcane Brotherhood an enormous donation. You could then be granted a knighthood, which counted as crossing the threshold into nobility.
The last path was becoming a church noble.
On the Coriel Continent, quite a few city-states and kingdoms treated one god, or several Orthodox Gods, as the mainstream faith of their realm. If one entered a major church to study devoutly and possessed real talent, then rose within one's lifetime to become the dean of a branch church, or won a deity's favor and became a consecrated Cleric, one could likewise be accepted by the ruling class and become a church noble.
Take Silvermoon City, for example. Before Alustriel's reign, legend had it that Mielikki, the goddess of forests and Rangers, once visited the Silvermoon Tavern in human form and bestowed a blessing upon it. Thus, prior to that, the faith of the goddess of forests and Rangers had been considered the most orthodox faith in Silvermoon City. But after Alustriel, the Chosen High Mage, took