Alto príncipe
Highprince is the highest title of nobility in the Vorin kingdoms of Alethkar and Jah Keved, being directly subordinate to their respective Kings.
Alethkar
Alethkar has had ten highprinces throughout its history.[1] While they were always the highest title of nobility, their authority and scope has fluctuated.
In the ancient past, when Alethkar was a united kingdom, the ten Alethi highprinces were specialized and each was charged with governing a certain aspect of the entire kingdom.[1] Four such roles have been disclosed so far: the Highprince of Commerce had authority over all merchants and his troops would patrol the roads across all ten princedoms.[1][2] The Highprince of War had control over the kingdom's combined military forces (implied to only hold this power in a time of actual war[3][4]). The Highprince of Information conducted criminal investigations across the kingdom, especially where the Crown's interest was at stake,[3] and appointed judges and magistrates,[2] while another highprince was tasked with the administering of the judges and magistrates.[1] Dalinar Kholin believes that this system forced the ten highprinces to work together and accept each other's authority.[1]
At some point in time, Alethkar was fractured into ten separate princedoms, with each highprince having total autonomy over his princedom. During this time, Alethkar was effectively a loose coalition of ten separate states, being a unified kingdom in name only.
Highprince Gavilar Kholin conquered the ten princedoms and unified them, establishing himself as King and once again creating a united kingdom of Alethkar. While his force of will and strength led the other highprinces to accept his rule—and even be loyal to him—his reunified kingdom was not as strong as the ancient Alethkar, with the highprinces retaining large amounts of authority and autonomy.[5] After his death, his son Elhokar Kholin became King of Alethkar while his brother Dalinar became Highprince of Kholin.[5] Since Elhokar lacked land of his own to rule over, he acted more like a Highprince of Kholin, leeching off of the authority and resources of his uncle. Due to this, the other highprinces only paid token nods to his authority as their overlord.
Recently, in the year 1173, King Elhokar reinstated the ancient titles of Highprince of Information and Highprince of War in an effort to once again create a truly unified kingdom of Alethkar.
The current ten Alethi highprinces are:
Jah Keved
The Veden highprinces include: