Jania has had a long tradition of noblemen, beggining from less then a generation after it's revolt away from a traditional Arkage aristocracy (Janian faction philosophers would argue that this was the essential breach away from being true Arkage).
After the revolt, the slaves were confident in their righteousness- for they had triumphed. Massacring even the children of the higher classes, they originally were quite egalitarian, despite installing their leader (Hanhard I- the -id suffix had not yet spread like flies) as King.
Hanhard I's error was not to install a system of administration- when an Arkage army nearly conquered Jania, he learned his lesson. He created regional Governors, who adopted their sucessors, for the purposes of raising forces for defence. Two months later, he finally conceded to taxes as well.
This triggered a second slave revolt against the government system (at this point, the Arkage had just conquered the Craknids, and so were tempted to reclaim their old city), which Hanhard challenged to a battle to decide. Hanhard would win because he actually had a chain of command, and thanks to a timely slave revolt Arkage would not attack a second time.
Janian noblemen were far less cruel to the peasant class, but noblemen they remained. Refugees from Seshweay and Arkage (especially Arkage) would accept the system as it was, strengthening Jania and securing it against revolt. By the time the Straits of Kargan were colonised, the idea of freedom had, in practice, been squashed. An arbitrary distinction between "slave" and "peasant", and a lack of depising the upper class as much, was all that remained.
So Jania would try to aid Arkage against the Seshweay, though a rash Arkage general would prevent them from being very sucessful.
Three major noble houses had arisen- the Hanhardians (descendants of the first king, and thus the ruling dynasty), the Quenians (sucessfully conquered the Straits of Kargan and were nobles over most of it), and the Trihe (seemed to know everything going on in Jania, though in reality their intelligence network was far superior but not that good, and were feared for a widly exaggerated reputation as assasins).
At the time of the Satarai conquest, the Trihe were looked to to undermine it, and decided to admit the truth rather then face scorn (this led to their downfall into a minor house). A naval invasion was attempted but defeated, and the Quenians too were discredited, if much more temporarily. The Hanhardians temporarily established an absolute monarchy in practice, but failed to use the opportunity to secure it.
At the time of the Seven Satraps, and of Te’esh, Jania had changed. The strong houses were more Republican style nobles, noted for respect and credit within Jania itself. They still could, if working in concert, triggered a coup, but their power was not based in land. The Quenians were now dead.
As Te'esh attacked one Satrap, the Janians made an ambitious Liberation Program which Te'esh would later exploit to advantage. In alliance with Akalm, they tried to conquer the peninsula, but they were overestimated. Four Satraps would fight them, and they would lose. This would make things easier for Te'esh, but was bad for Jania.
At the time Jania was annexed to Sesh, the Hanhardian house fell. There were five major houses, but only one, the Denxians, survived the time. Jania would fall, but the Denxians would become a minor Sesh house.
At the time of the fall of Sesh, a resistance on the Sesh river would attempt to hold back the attacks. Jania had no such luck, and the barbarians would sack it. They had been experimenting with copper, but the barbarians would easily defeat them.
By this time, things were egalitarian due to crisis, but people trusted the nobles. Wishful thinking was so high that noblemen were allocated "rightful" lands out of that which were seen as Janian, and new noble titles were created. The skill of the Akalm campaign would save Jania.
Akalm was a partly Craknid state, with it's own slave class. The rhethoric the Janians had used for centuries was nominally anti-slavery, and this served them well. Under pretext of being refugees who merely sought temporary safety until they could take an opportunity to defeat the barbarians, they got into the city. They would then betray this hospitality and take it, justifying it by the slavery in Akalm.
Jania would promise the Akalmese a better life, and thus reestablished nobility. The Qenids were given compensation land and rose again, but the exterminated Hanhardians were replaced by the Manids- who were believed to be descended from Hanhard's brother.
There became two types of noblemen- land noblemen and city noblemen. The city noblemen had more power in theory, the land noblemen in practice.
In land nobility, the Triminids would become a strong family through inheriting a much larger house via trickery (tricking them into adopting the same heir, then dealing with the consequences), the Dijenards would be given lands for their services and expand them by lending money and taking lands when the customer failed to pay, and a line of false Hanhardians would begin taking over old Jania by purchase over time to create a port city.
In the city, merchants and "philosophers" (usually demagouges in practice) would attain some degree of power, but nobility would attain more. As for the major lines, the Craknids managed to maintain great (if slowly dropping) prestige throughout the period, though they never managed to match it by their deeds. The Huxenids would clash with them for the throne, using their superior ability to pick good canidates for the Huxenid line. Finally, the Pexids would gain popular support in the city and a reputation as a patron of the arts, merchant expeditions, and "philosophy".
The system died in stages- first, the end of the Craknid dynasty. Second, the
rise of Hanid's court, defeating Huxenid, Pexid, and Dijenard canidates and becoming by the strongest amongst noblemen. Next, the rise of factional canidacies competing for the thonre. Finally, the destruction of any city significance and the great reduction of all but Dijenid (the name had changed over time) significance by the moving of the capital to Tisesh.
After the conquest of Tisesh, new nobles would arise. Temporarily, the King would have glory through his victory and the Sesh banner would fly. The noblemen in the new conquests were almost all royal appointees, and so had little relevance for a generation.
Soon there were two nobleman types (though there was no reason why somebody could not be both, and many were)- first, the "sleeping giant" class, consistent of traditional landed nobility who had plenty of potential power but never used it. Their main politicking, besides those who joined in faction debates, was trying to quicken or slow the decline of the lobby arguing for a restoration of the Arkage slave system.
Second were factional Politician Families, who canidates tried to get themselves adopted into. The Sesh Party, the Law Party (a late addition), the Craknid Party, and the Tradition Party each had their own families. But some of these, particularly in the Law Party, evolved into jobs which one could get by what resembled but was not a merit system. People would compete to get themselves adopted into families- it was seen as the first step on the way up in the party. Internal disunity was usually between family-based factions.
The idea of nobility was alive and well, but while they still had plenty of potential influence, the power they actually wielded was lower then usual...