Most settlements with a population less than a thousand souls– hamlets and villages– in feudal Runtallia are administered by a local lord referred to as the 'lord of the manor.' While provinces are ruled by provincial lords, nobles of high nobility having the ranks of baron, viscount, count, marquis, and duke depending on the size of their territory, lord of the manors are mostly from the lower nobility: lesser barons, baronets, knights, and at some instances, squires and sergeants. Rich yeomen like successful merchants may also hold a title of lord of the manor by purchasing a title and land from the original noble land owner or the liege lord of his province.
Another way for yeomen or even peasants to be admitted to the lower nobility is if his liege rewarded him a land for his merits through battle or acquisition of enough wealth, power, or favors. Then, a lord of the manor, in return of possessing a land in the province of a superior noble, will owe their fealty or allegiance to that provincial lord as his or her vassal. Owing fealty meant that the overlord may demand a vassal to pay him homage, or require of him military, judicial, and administrative services attached to the vassal's fief. In addition, the provincial lord has the right to a portion of the taxes collected by the lord of the manor from the local populace of his demesne. Meanwhile, towns in the Kingdom of Runtallia may or may not be ruled by a lord of the manor. Those that were not are governed by a local administrator called the 'lord mayor' or simply 'mayor,' which are educated yeomen granted this special honorary title due to their military, economic, judicial, or administrative merits. A lord mayor may be appointed by the provincial lord or the minor noble who owns the town, or they can be elected by the townspeople. However, this title is not hereditary unlike those of higher and lower nobility's. But the scope of their duties does not differ from that of a lord of the manor's.