Important organizations with Courtesy Rank for standard ranks

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by rkbrown419

<SNIP>

OK, but most of that has nothing to do with what I wrote, though? This isn't about a few specific people in an organization having Courtesy Rank, it's about most or all of the ranks in an organization being Courtesy Rank, when the organization has some real authority.

Originally Posted by rkbrown419

This would hold true for Civilian vessels where Administrative ranks apply.

This is the only part that's sort of connected to what I was referring to, but it's a part specifically mentioned in the OP as rarely applying to the concept this thread was started for.

[The Colonel]

So - to use US agencies, the example might be if NCIS agents were assigned an equivalent military rank when dealing directly with the Navy?

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

it's about most or all of the ranks in an organization being Courtesy Rank, when the organization has some real authority.

The question seems self-contradictory to me. Courtesy Rank is defined by not having real authority. It's not about the degree of informality of an organization, nor the ability of individuals to shift the area and amount of their real authority from task to task without a change in title.

Originally Posted by B29, Courtesy Rank

Those who currently hold a title that carries little real authority may also take Courtesy Rank. Courtesy Rank is for social situations only; it gives you a fancier title.

If it's Courtesy Rank, it has no real authority by definition. If the organization in which you hold only Courtesy Rank does have some real authority, this character doesn't have access to it, responsibility for it, and can't wield any of it, for better or worse. The authority is wielded by those in the org that do have the real authority, represented by holding actual Rank in the org.

Those ranks might even have identical titles to the courtesy ranks, which would turn into a system fairly opaque and confusing to outsiders, but inside the org, people would know who the real movers-and-shakers were; if you know, you know. But in game terms, there's still some characters with Rank mixed in with others with Courtesy Rank.

If the organization doesn't have any real authority, then it might consist solely of Courtesy Ranks. This would be some sort of social club -- again by definition, as Courtesy Rank does function in "social situations only". I'm tempted to suggest fraternal societies, but I don't know enough about how any of them actually work to be sure that's a good example. So perhaps we can stick with the cartoon ones, as seen on The Flintstones and The Simpsons. There might be Aspirants and Poobahs and Grand Poobahs that measure popularity or seniority or random draws from cutting cards, but have nothing to do even with the minor administration of the organization -- who pays the rent on the meeting space, who collects the dues, who maintains the calendar of events, who gets people to sign up for one of those events and allocates the necessary work amongst the sea of poobahs? To the extent that the organization executes a function, it has real Rank, even if those Ranks don't get cool titles and social regard (either outside or inside the org).

If the org functions are minor enough that they're handled solely by volunteers each time, then the org itself, as a distinct entity, doesn't have any real authority to delegate to a member. "Ranks" there would be temporary and self-assumed, but any authority relies on the personal influence of the member assuming a role. So, a matter of that character's Influence skills, not authority conveyed by a Rank in the org in game terms. The instant no one feels like volunteering, that event fails. Much of that, and there's not really an "organization" worthy of modelling in game terms. You can volunteer to go pick up trash alongside the roads any time you like, and talk people into joining you, but that doesn't translate into even temporary Rank in the Department of Transportation.

[Varyon]

I could readily see an Adventurer's Guild working this way. I've seen settings where licensed adventurers do have real authority / legal immunity (being able to carry weapons, some degree of law enforcement powers including a limited license to kill, etc), and there are often formal ranks for them, but the ranks themselves generally don't give them any real authority over those beneath them. They seem to instead just serve as prerequisites to take quests of certain difficulty levels. A similar example would be the Hero Association in One Punch Man - the heroes have law enforcement powers and formal ranks (a letter - C, B, A generally, with special exceptional individuals being ranked S - and a number - Mumen Rider is the top-ranked C-class hero, at C-1, for example), but one's rank generally just determines what their wages and responsibilities are, what sorts of situations they are expected to handle (C-class do things like rescuing kittens from trees or stopping mundane petty criminals, B-class handle more serious criminals and minor monsters, A-class handle particularly nasty monsters, and S-class handle more existential threats), etc.

In both cases, higher-ranked individuals are more likely to be listened to and followed, but I feel that's appropriate for Courtesy Rank anyway. Both are meritocracies, so someone reaching Silver rank as an adventurer or high-B or higher rank as a hero indicates someone worth listening to. But this isn't enforced - many other adventurers, even those of lower rank, tend to look down on Goblin Slayer and think he isn't worthy of his Sliver rank (as he got there by doing almost nothing other than killing goblins, which are generally considered amongst the lowest-level monsters); meanwhile, at least as of the last of it I read, many heroes think Saitama / Caped Baldy cheated to get his rank and thus look down on him... but at the same time there are also heroes who are ranked well above him who are perfectly willing to follow his lead, as they've seen how capable he is.