#of course take this with a grain of salt literally one source said smth about talos being the god of governance war and smth else

[smolsaltypan]

Google says one of Talos' realms of importance is war and like. If that's true,,,shouldn't the stormcloaks have an advantage? Prayers to talos before battle. The one time they skip it due to time like 2/3 of the soldiers on their side present die. The imperial soldiers loyal to the empire but still worshiping talos in secret seem to come out of battles ridiculously lucky, surviving wounds no human should be able to. I just think the concept is neat ya know?

[anditendshowyoudexpect]

Esteemed detective Anna fan/benevolent translator.

Wondering if you could help answer a question due to lost in translation side effect ——— How many names does a Russian need?

Okay, joking joking.

Real question was if you could shed some light on the social standing of the characters.

Main reason for my confusion was due to honorifics translating into “your high nobleness” and I wondered if they meant aristocratic status or was it something one used in general to address person in power.

Side note, the Anna/Iakov/Nina triangle confused the hell out of me because the relationship status seems to vacillate one episode after another and I won’t bother you with figuring this one out....Two episodes from wrapping up S1 for me. 💪

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hey, cool, my first ask!  and there i was, wondering why nobody asks me anything. i figured it was because i'm not that interesting and i happen to know next to nothing, which is both an attempt at self-deprecation and a defense mechanism, but also more than a bit true: it did, after all, take me quite a while to find the right section in the settings to turn this function on and i couldn't even do that without googling it first.

you said you were joking, but Russian names are no joke! :D a Russian needs a last (family) name, a first (given) name and a patronymic - all three together make the full name, what we call a Ф.И.О. (фамилия/имя/отчество), and that's the formal order, like for various paperwork. they are used in various combinations or alone (yes, each of the three can be used alone, even the patronymic) depending on the situation, conversation companion, etc. but i won't bore you with these, i'm sure you can read about Russian honorifics on Wikipedia or smth

now, to your real question: first of all, you shouldn't take this show as a reliable source on the Russian society in the late 19th century, because there are many things that the writers were either lazy or ignorant about or just plain used however was convenient to them.

there was a Table of Ranks in the Russian Empire, which determined the positions and ranks in the army, government and court etc. (i think the Russians had to do this bc they were so confused about all kinds of nobility they had) and each of those ranks had a style of address of their own. while "your high nobleness" sounds jarring to me, i'm not sure any translation wouldn't (i think i saw it translated as "your honor" as well), so i just went with plain good "sir" (i also just didn't want to waste time on something that wasn't actual plot and, more importantly, the protagonists' relationship, and for that i apologize to those genuinely interested in all things Russian). long story short, it's sometimes both and sometimes (in this lazy, lazy show) neither. say, Shtolman in s1 has the rank of a court councillor (надворный советник), which means he's nobility, although we don't know if it's hereditary or personal. that's class 7, which entitles him to be addressed as "Ваше высокоблагородие" - that's "your high nobleness" right there (btw i looked it up on the English wiki, and it's translated as "Your High Well Born", i mean it's correct literally but wow. there, you can see for yourself). what makes me more curious is that the writers smh made Anton a collegiate assessor (коллежский асессор), that's class 8, one class lower than Shtolman, which can't be right, as Anton is only, what, a couple of years out of gymnasium, has no higher education and next to no work experience. so, as i said, take it all with a grain of salt. 

as for the Mironovs, yes, they are definitely nobility - landowners? - although i think their house being situated next to a prince's house has more to do with the plot than with their social status.

oh, and of course, there's nobility and there's nobility. like, hereditary and personal (granted to a commoner for service etc.). and there's royalty. but i guess it’s not exactly unique to the Russian Empire.

i don't know if this helps or confuses you even more :D i am not an expert (i'm not even 100% Russian (like, not even close) or a Russian national, just a native speaker, so my knowledge of Russian history is limited to what i learned in the first years of Soviet school, some historical fiction and films and TV. ...then again, you probably could say that about most Russians. thank you almighty google)

p.s. oh, and i don't mind discussing the love triangle either. you can blame most of your confusion on the writers though. there is a tentative consensus (well, kinda) in the Russian DA community that Shtolman got back together with Nina to keep Anna safe (after she pointedly said "i'd be scared for Anna if i were you. YOUR Anna" and did everything she could to make Anna stay so that she'd have smth to hold over Shtolman) and broke it off when he knew for sure he was in love with Anna (and/or didn't think she was in danger anymore. yes. i know. L is for Logic). although that didn't look like much of a painful and heavy burden for him, at least for a while :D his and Anna's back and forth is on the writers' too: they needed to keep the relationship storyline (or whatever the hell you call it) tense for 56 episodes and they resorted to every (well, maybe i’m exaggerating a lil bit here) soapy trick in the book. personally, it doesn't irk me as much as it might if i had to watch the show weekly but i get that it can be annoying.

here’s a small spoilerish thing for s2 re: social status, maybe come back when you’re done with the available episodes

there's one thing re: social status i think i should note. i don't remember it ever being mentioned in s1, but it was in s2 at least twice - the first time it was about one of Anna's admirers in Paris, the second time Anton says it about himself. these guys: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raznochintsy

both times i translated it as "commoners", because i honestly ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i mean... you know? while nobody cares about that student, Anton is another matter, because he cites his status as one the reasons he's no match for Anna. and, well, if he's still a collegiate assessor, he is nobility, too. so there, take it as you will.