Dragonborn Castes

When Orlad founded the Dragonborn Empire and first assigned civil roles to the Dragonborn who had fought with him, he grouped them by colour. For the rest of his rule he insisted that this distribution of tasks be maintained, and to this day the Dragoborn Empire follows this tradition.

Builders (Green) They are the builders, engineers and architects. They design and manage the production of buildings, roads, wells, sewers, water pipes, bridges, aqueducts, viaducts, walkways, walls, fortifications (in conjunction with the military).   Priests (Silver) Operate the temples in the capital, head priests go to council. There is a consistent presence in each settlement where they maintain shrines, provide guidance, healing etc. To be a head priest you have to have served a number of years in a number of different settlements. Would also be responsible for judging and sentencing (though military would carry out enforcement).   Gatherers (White) They are the hunters and gatherers, the woodcutters and miners. Whatever is extracted from the land as-is, that’s their responsibility. Also fishing, in conjunction with the sailors.   Sailors (Bronze) Coastal merchant ships, passenger ships, fishing ships. Get called on to provide troop transport-by-sea.   Military (Blue) They are the officers for the organised military forces. They also manage guard duties in each settlement, enforce the collection of taxes by the bureaucrats and form the imperial guard in the capital. They have patrols along the highways as well, travelers can accompany a patrol if they desire protection.   Entertainers (Copper) They are the bards, musicians, singers (including opera, a favourite in the Empire), actors, writers, poets.   Librarians (Black) They handle storage of books, but also scribing and record keeping (in conjunction with the entertainers) as well as education (arcane themselves, other subjects in conjunction with the appropriate colour). They also manage communications, both magical and by way of a general postal service (most colours will take care of their own internal communications too).   Craft-workers (Brass) (leatherworkers, tailors, blacksmiths, armourers, innkeepers, carpenters, bakers, butchers, cooks, any burgeoning industrial/manufacturing crafts, painters, sculptors, artisans) also merchants (trading, selling, transporting goods)   Administrators (Gold) The administrators manage taxation and treasury. Taxation comes mostly through land use, which they control, typically by consenting. They form the basis of the bureaucracy of the empire.   Cultivators (Red) Farming, crops and herding, husbandry, breeding, land transport?)

Any citizen can serve in the lower ranks of the military or temple duties. A year of service in one or the other is required as part of becoming a citizen, as is an induction to both.   Non-citizens (including other races) can be employed in the lower ranks of any of the duties. Upper class citizens will often have servants of other races to provide low-skilled labour like cleaning or carriage driving. Lower classes will clean their own premises.   Sometimes a colour/role will have a central organisation and certain internal activities will be dealt with without regard for the usual colour roles. While the (Black) Librarians do provide message services to other groups generally, the (Blue) Military also has some of their own internal communications channels.   Marriage between castes is considered a breach of social protocol. It won't result in direct punishment or the revocation of citizenship, but in most cases there will be a demotion. A high-ranking Dragonborn might end up in a low-level posting in the countryside. A couple who were already serving in remote low-ranking roles might not suffer at all.