I like it, this follows some of the things that I have thought about social respect/status.
A wrinkle - this can change around a lot depending on how flexible status is in a particular tribe.
I would figure medieval feudalist tribes have a powerful division between "noble" and "commoner" that can't simply be crossed. They're tight-knit, so it may be expected that everyone around knows what everyone's status is, and that it can't be changed. So if the commoner was to compliment a noble in a notably muted way in public ("Prince John's new coat is pretty nice, I guess"), everyone would see it as an insult, likely to have dangerous consequences. The noble... (read more)
I like it, this follows some of the things that I have thought about social respect/status.
A wrinkle - this can change around a lot depending on how flexible status is in a particular tribe.
I would figure medieval feudalist tribes have a powerful division between "noble" and "commoner" that can't simply be crossed. They're tight-knit, so it may be expected that everyone around knows what everyone's status is, and that it can't be changed. So if the commoner was to compliment a noble in a notably muted way in public ("Prince John's new coat is pretty nice, I guess"), everyone would see it as an insult, likely to have dangerous consequences. The noble... (read more)