Commander (Agamar)

In Agamar, the term Commander (Agar: kospot) refers to the post-Secote military High Nobility. Originally applied to the rulers of the Commanderies of the Kunentsydom of All Mirokrai established under Zvezdan I Onorovid, it was gradually extended by metonymy to apply to the aristocracy as a whole, initially as a term of address.

The Commander class was never particularly numerous even by the standards of other High Nobilities across Outer Joriscia. Following the Secote conquest, only a single Secote group took up residence in cayvore-ridden Pạmā, the Spytihnevevids. The peninsula seems to have been seen as generally inhospitable and poor, with little in the way of immediate benefit to attract the ožidomy tax farmers, who typically preferred the more prosperous former Chotarian heartlands to the west. Under the Onorovid dynasty established in the peninsula in 1101 after the Nine Hands Revolt, a deliberate campaign of incentives was put in place to attract and settle Secotes in strategic locations. Nonetheless, Secotes remained fairly thin on the ground in Pạmā, restricted to these ruling families and their immediate dependents. After the vacation of the Kunentsy's seat in 1213, most of these dynasties became de facto independent, beginning the Seven States Era.

The small numbers and geographical distribution of the Commander families encouraged close contact and partial assimilation with the local Agar population, and for this reason during the pre-Neritsovid period they are sometimes referred to as Pseudoagars by analogy with the Pseudolacreans to the west. Unlike the Pseudolacreans, however, the Commanders sat firmly at the top of the social pyramid. Linguistically, they quickly abandoned Vulgar Secote and also most use of High Secote, and culturally adapted to Agar norms. As elsewhere, the nobility were distinguished by their names, their legal privileges, and - increasingly less as time went on and intermarriage with the local population began to attenuate their distinctively foreign looks - their appearance. Inasmuch as they were interested in a non-Agar elite culture, it was that of neighbouring Lacre.

With the reunification of Pạmā as the First Kingdom of Mirokrai under Tomislav the Pale, the formerly autonomous Commanders were reduced to a subordinate political role. Nonetheless, they continued to dominate the higher offices of government. Politically, their situation continued with little change after the incorporation of Agamar into Great Neritsia as the Polcovodate of Mirokrai (1560). Unlike other regions of the Empire which were more tightly bound into the imperial system, in Agamar local elites remained firmly entrenched and no foreign officials other than the Plenipotentiary were foisted onto the former kingdom. Indeed, unlike most regions of Great Neritsia, the dominance of the organs of government by the Commanders on the one hand and the Auditors on the other was never significantly challenged by the Scholarchate until the 18th century. What incorporation into Great Neritsia did provide for, however, was the unprecedented influence of post-Tirfatsevid noble culture on the local elites. This influence was felt from very early on. In 1583 Godemir II decreed that the business of government would from now on be conducted not in Agar but in High Secote. The adoption of much of the panoply of the western Great Houses as well as broader western fashion, modelled above all by the court of the Plenipotentiary, continued to define Commander culture until long after the collapse of Great Neritsia.

The reforming efforts of the last Polcovodes and, in particular, the King of Mirokrai Vojnomir I belatedly began the process of strengthening the Scholarchate and extending its control over the levers of government. Nonetheless, the Commander class continued to occupy most of the central positions in the Kingdom's government well into the 19th century, even as the Scholarly bureaucracy gradually expanded to meet the needs of a modern state. Secote culture continued to be modelled by the High Nobility of Azophin and Terophan and mirrored by eager Agamari aristocrats. By the turn of the 20th century, aristocrats were also well-represented in the higher ranks of the Scholarchate itself.