Line #69 Main/SupernaturalElite


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5	[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/TheOgreGods https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hb1.jpg]]]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:Don't challenge the king's authority, or he'll [[GiantFootOfStomping squish you]].]]
7
8	The ruling class are monstrous/supernatural. The literal {{Blue Blood}}s, if you will.
9
10	This is nominally about supernatural creatures who have their own upper class ([[RankScalesWithAsskicking who are very likely to be more powerful than the lower-class supernaturals]]), but it can include characters who happen to be both supernatural and upper-class, characters who are supernatural ''because'' they're upper-class, or characters who are upper-class because they're supernatural. Due to the proud tradition of AsskickingLeadsToLeadership and RankScalesWithAsskicking, all four possibilities are likely to be true. Their lower-class subjects can be supernatural, "normal", or a mix of the two.
11
12	Can overlap with GodEmperor, if the claim of the monarch's godhood is genuine; and HiveQueen, if her control over the HiveMind is supernatural in nature (e.g. via a PsychicLink).
13
14	In some ways, the martial skills of feudal aristocracies (who were often the only skilled fighters at the time) could be compared to the supernatural skills of these elites. There's probably some element of [[SocialDarwinist Social Darwinism]] at work here.
15
16	Some ancient cultures believed this to be TruthInTelevision (or at least the subjects were ''supposed'' to believe that), e.g. concerning the Pharaoh of Egypt.
17
18	Subtropes include:
19	[[index]]
20	* CelestialParagonsAndArchangels
21	* DemonLordsAndArchdevils
22	* FaerieCourt
23	* TheGhostKing
24	* TheMagocracy
25	* MonsterLord
26	* TheNecrocracy
27	* RoyaltySuperpower
28	* TopGod
29	* VampireMonarch
30	[[/index]]
31
32	VampiresAreRich is a SisterTrope (if not a subtrope). See also SuperSupremacist, who believes their supernatural powers give them the right to rule over {{Muggles}}, and may be striving to create something like this.
33
34	----
35	!!Examples:
36
37	[[foldercontrol]]
38
39	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
40	* Although everyone, except Asta, in ''Manga/BlackClover'' is a mage, nobles usually have much higher magical power than commoners and peasants and use that as justification for their superiority.
41	* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
42	** All residents of Seireitei (lit: "The Court of Pure Souls") count as this. It's where all the privileged souls reside in the afterlife. That includes [[TheNecrocracy government officials]], {{shinigami}}, nobles, vassals, peacekeeping forces, and others. Every other soul either resides in Rukongai (lit: "Wandering Soul City") or suffers a FateWorseThanDeath elsewhere.
43	** Quincies are split into [[BlueBlood Echt]] and [[ServantRace Gemischt]] depending on purity of blood line. However, Uryuu Ishida's social status is murky because he is the Gemischt son of a high-ranking Echt father and a Gemischt NinjaMaid. [[spoiler:Made worse upon introduction to Quincy society, where he is immediately KickedUpstairs to become UnexpectedSuccessor to TheEmperor.]]
44	* In ''Literature/TheTwelveKingdoms'', the elites are immortal, can speak any language, and the kings and queens are so strong that killing demons is child's play to them.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:ComicBooks]]
48	* In ''ComicBook/ADistantSoil'', TheAgeless HumanAlien Ovanan are ruled by the [[DecadentCourt Hierarchy and the heads of the noble Houses]], who have greater PsychicPowers than lower-ranked Ovanan. Perhaps the most dramatic demonstration was the eminently ladylike Sere [[PowersDoTheFighting casually mowing down Seren's household guards]], despite their possession of guns as well as psychic powers. She was only stopped by Kovar, who as the Prince of House Teramis was sufficiently powerful to withstand her psionic attacks long enough to hold a sword to her throat. In theory the [[GodEmperor Avatar]] is higher still, but the Hierarchy has long since learned to control them.
49	* ''ComicBook/TheOgreGods'': Zigzagged. On the one hand, the giants are perfectly able to crush humans like flies and frequently do so, and in their days of conquest could easily destroy armies. However, nowadays they're content to live in their castle, with human chancellors doing the ruling for them. They aren't even divine: An ancestor of theirs (the biggest and longest-lived) believed himself a god and that a god should eat man flesh, but he died all the same.
50	* In ''ComicBook/TheRoyalsMastersOfWar'', ''every'' royal and noble house is shown to be made up of superpowered people. It's also mentioned however that even in the United States, the closest Americans and other {{Muggle}} democracies and dictatorships have to a landed, aristocratic gentry have some abilities, though nowhere near as powerful as actual royalty.
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Film]]
54	* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
55	** The Empire is led by the Sith, wielders of the dark side of the Force who possess powers that are magical in everything but name. The ability to wield the Force is innate - an average person cannot be trained in it. It's a pretty small elite, since there are only ever [[RuleOfTwo two Sith Lords at the same time]], a Master (Sidious) and an Apprentice (Vader).
56	** The Republic (both old and new) and the Rebel Alliance likewise have the Jedi, wielders of the light side of the Force. The Jedi serve rather than lead the Republic, but they act as diplomats and elite warriors, having the authority to negotiate peace over a trade dispute and even replacing the regular army by the time the prequels start.
57	* The Brotherhood from ''Film/PerfectCreature'' is [[OneGenderRace an all-male]] [[ReligiousVampire vampire]] [[TheTheocracy theocratic elite]] who are nominally [[ProHumanTranshuman sworn to serve and teach mankind as their protectors]], but in practice they run the government and enact laws, namely banning any genetic research that could turn humans against them.
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Literature]]
61	* The main setup of ''[[Literature/AllThoseExplosionsWereSomeoneElsesFault All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault]]'' is that, in 1982, the supernatural forces of the Dark revealed themselves to the world by offering to convert anyone to a Darkling for 10 million dollars. Although initially dismissed as a hoax, it wasn't long before curious elites took up the offer to discover that it was indeed genuine. Fast forward 35 years, and pretty much ''all'' of society's wealthiest and most powerful people are vampires, werewolves, demons, and other supernatural beings. Being Dark is treated as the ultimate status symbol of wealth and power, and those who've taken it act accordingly.
62	* ''Literature/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Only nobles have easy access to the means to handle the PentUpPowerPeril that manifests as the Devouring to which children born with magic are prone, and a child's mana level depends mostly on its mother's. Commoners who ''do'' get mana usually die of the Devouring before age seven. This results in magic use remaining something only found in nobles. There is a way to survive for non-nobles, but it boils down to pledging to become a noble's slave in exchange for an excess mana absorbing item. Before the arrangement gets actually made and if the noble changes their mind, the alternative is to pay a lot of money for a defective or broken mana absorbing item that only works once, overall making the option available only for people who already have a lot of money and connections to nobles.
63	* ''Literature/TheBeginningAfterTheEnd'': The continent of Alacrya is ruled over by the Vritra, a clan of Asuras [[FallenAngel exiled from Epheotus]] and the main villainous faction in the story. Being a clan of EvilutionaryBiologist[=s=], they have interbred with and experimented on the inhabitants of the continent for so long that one's Vritra bloodedness is deeply ingrained in the Alacryan social hierarchy with families being referred to as bloods rather than houses. Those identified to have the blood of the Vritra are taken to be fostered by a highblood if not already part of one, and a telltale sign of such is the presence of the same HornsOfVillainy that the true Vritra possess (to the point that "[[OhMyGods Vritra's horns]]" is a common swear in the Alacryan lexicon).
64	* In Creator/MarionZimmerBradley's ''Literature/{{Darkover}}'' series the Comyn are seen as this. The mythical origin is that they have divine ancestry. But in reality they are HalfHumanHybrid descendants of humans and a race of SpaceElves with PsychicPowers.
65	* The Red and White Courts of vampires in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' both appear to operate on an aristocracy-based system, particularly the Red, and the two [[TheFairFolk Faerie]] Courts have monarchies and nobles.
66	* This appears in the ''Literature/{{Deryni}}'' works, and King Kelson Haldane in particular holds that his arcane powers, which he distinguishes from those of [[PsychicPowers Deryni]] in general, are a manifestation of divine favour, signifying his right to rule. He says as much during an archiepiscopal tribunal investigating Duncan [=McLain's=] marriage:
67	--> "Deryni are not the only ones to have this power, Bishop Arilan....We Haldanes can tell when a man is lying. It is a power of our sacred kingship."
68	* The Psi Lords of Takis in the ''Literature/WildCards'' series have built up this mystique around themselves, although in practice they are really just products of a SuperBreedingProgram to produce ever-greater [[{{Telepathy}} telepathic powers]].
69	* All European royals and nobles in Neil Gaiman's short story ''Literature/AStudyInEmerald'' (an IntercontinuityCrossover between Literature/SherlockHolmes and the Franchise/CthulhuMythos) have [[AlienBlood green blood]] because they're all either {{Eldritch Abomination}}s or the [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]] [[HumanoidAbomination progeny]] of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.
70	-->''She was called Victoria, because she had beaten us in battle, seven hundred years before, and she was called Gloriana, because she was glorious, and she was called the Queen, because the human mouth was not shaped to say her true name. She was huge, huger than I had imagined possible, and she squatted in the shadows staring down at us, without moving''.
71	* Some of the Great Houses in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' have inheritable supernatural powers. House Targaryen has the power to control dragons and some form of resistance to heat, House Stark has warging (the power of moving one's consciousness to the body of an animal, usually a wolf). Both also have various forms of prophetic powers.
72	* This is an important belief in the Mel'in Empire of ''Literature/DiamondSwordWoodenSword''. It is believed that only scions of human aristocracy can have magical powers and talents. This belief is false, but the magocracy stamps out any evidence to the contrary by hunting down and executing magically gifted commoners.
73	* ''Literature/EndoAndKobayashiLive The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte'' has a similar setting as ''My Next Life as a Villainess'', and its case of this trope is more complete that the other work: even the supposedly MageBornOfMuggles turns out to be a {{Heroic\|Bastard}} RoyalBastard.
74	* The ability to use magic in ''Literature/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' is almost exclusively found among the upper class. While it's not unheard of for a commoner to be able to do so, it's so insanely rare (frequency of discovering one is about one person per ''decade'') that most people just end up assuming that the person's mother must have slept with a nobleman.
75	* ''Literature/RedQueen'': The Silvers are [[AlienBlood silver-blooded humans]] who have superpowers and rule over the Reds, who are ordinary red-blooded humans. The royalty, nobility, and middle class are occupied by Silvers, while Reds work as servants, cannon fodders in wars, or in menial jobs. The conflict is started when some Reds, including the protagonist, start exhibiting superpowers, causing the Silvers no end of problems as this means the Reds now have a fighting chance against them.
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
79	* In ''Series/{{Grimm}}'':
80	** Nick is a Grimm, a supernatural cop tasked with policing the monsters. This allows him to see past their human facade and grants him super strength, hearing, and reflexes.
81	** Adelind and [[spoiler:later Juliette]] are hexenbiest, a super powerful form of witches. [[spoiler:Juliette]] is considered stronger because she was made not born.
82	** Hybrids are generally considered stronger, although it's never explained why
83	*** Diana, the daughter of a zauberbiest and a hexenbiest, is extremely powerful, manifesting reality-warping powers that frighten even seasoned practitioners.
84	*** Kelly, the son of a hexenbiest and a grimm, has not manifested powers by the end of the series, as he is still a baby, but it is heavily implied that his zauberbiest (male equivalent of a hexenbiest) side will make him an even more effective Grimm than his dad, Nick.
85	*** Sean Renard is an exception, half zauberbiest and half royal. He seems to only have a weak form of shape-shifting and a reasonable amount of strength given that he's almost six and a half feet tall. It is never fully explained if the royals are simply privileged humans, which would explain his weak manifestation of powers, or are a special kind of wessen.
86	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
87	** The alphas, who are also the [[MonsterProgenitor first of their kinds]].
88	** Lilith, the first demon created by Lucifer.
89	** The princes of hell, who were the first generation of demons created after Lillith. Originally intended to be generals of Lucifer's hell army before Lucifer was caged.
90	** The knights of hell, were the first demons created from the souls of fallen humans. Includes Cain, the father of murder.
91	** The king of hell. A seeming contradiction that this would rank lower than princes and knights, but with Lucifer unable to take the throne, the King of hell is a contested position held by Crowley for the majority of the series. However, Crowley is an ascended crossroads demon, powerful, but still many rungs below the power levels of princes and knights.
92	** Special kids are human children who were tainted with demon blood as babies. This granted them supernatural powers such as telekinesis, super strength, mind control and other powers. This group includes, {{deuteragonist}} Sam Winchester who is often referred to by demons in early seasons as the Boy-king.
93	** AntiChrist Jesse Turner, is the offspring of a demon and a virgin woman. He has reality-warping powers and is supposed to aid Lucifer in the war against heaven.
94	*** Season 13 is set to deal with Jack, a nephilim, who is the half-human son of Lucifer, himself.
95	** Archangels, the first four angels created by God. Includes Lucifer, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.
96	* In ''Series/TrueBlood'', the vampires operate on a feudal system. A Vampire King/Queen claims a territory and appoints sheriffs to administer it for him/her. Usually the most powerful and/or oldest vampire becomes the monarch, however, the position can be reached if a vampire is politically connected with the Authority who seem to be a governing council above the monarchies.
97	* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' has the Originals, who seem to be the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin original]] vampire family. They're the strongest vampires around and can compel lesser vampires to do their bidding. They cannot be killed with standard anti-vampire methods. They're mostly unknown among younger vampires since [[spoiler: the Original Klaus hunted down the rest of his family and put them into a suspended state]].
98	* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E4StateOfDecay State of Decay]]'', the Three Who Rule are vampires, feeding off the peasants whom they rule.
99	* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': in the rushed series finale Angel ''et al.'' go up against the Circle of the Black Thorn, who are supernatural rulers/elite.
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
103	* In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', the Scarlet Dynasty, the ruling class of [[TheEmpire the Realm]] is composed largely of the [[ElementalPowers Terrestrial Exalted]].
104	** Hell is also organised into a hierarchy of serfs, citizens and Unquestionable.
105	* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'''s many supernatural creatures provide a number of examples:
106	** [[TheNecrocracy The Nehekharan undead]], an entire kingdom of resurrected egyptian-styled humans, were governed by kings, an aristocracy and a priesthood in life, which has translated into a hierarchy of undead types in death thanks to the various degrees of mummification and preservation each class enjoyed. The rulers of the Nehekharan tomb-cities are the [[NephariousPharaoh Tomb Kings and Tomb Princes]] - who became fully-fledged mummies. Their royal guards, chief architects and highest courtiers were only partially mummified, so became less powerful and less independent wights. The common folk did not receive any kind of mummification, and so were resurrected as near-mindless animated skeletons. The priesthood, being scholars of death and necromancy, never died and persisted as liches.
107	** Warhammer's Daemons of Chaos are organised along hierarchical lines, with Greater Daemons and Daemon Princes ruling over Lesser Daemons (the most important of which are known as Heralds and Champions), who in turn have dominion over daemonic beasts and daemonic mounts. Each of the four Gods of Chaos has its own parallel hierarchy of daemons along these lines. The lowest of the low are the Furies, with no divine patron, who are little better than scavengers and looked down upon by the rest of daemonkind.
108	** The Vampire Counts of Sylvania maintain a [[VampireMonarch vampire aristocracy]] ruling over a human peasantry.
109	** The Treemen, Branchwraiths, Branch Nymphs, Dryads and Spites of the Loren Forest seem to have their own hierarchy.
110	** The Celestial Empire of Grand Cathay is ruled over by the Dragon Emperor, the Moon Empress, and their five children. Due to [[LivingDistantAncestor their ancient nature]], the five Dragon siblings have sired many progeny throughout the ages. These Dragon-blooded frequently rise to positions of power, as their DragonAncestry not only gives them great prestige but also grants them formidable magical prowess. Lesser Dragon-blooded are known to ride the winged [[{{Kirin}} Longma]] into battle.
111	* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
112	** The original leaders of the Empire of Man, i.e. the GodEmperor and the Primarchs, his clone-sons. Although none of them are close to his level of power (and intentionally so), almost all of them have some Psyker-abilities. This proved to be a VERY bad idea in hindsight, since Psykers are more vulnerable to TheDarkSide. The elite split in two camps with one half defecting to the demonic Chaos Gods.
113	** The Tau as a whole aren't supernatural, but every Tau displays unwavering obedience to the Ethereal caste (Imperial xenobiologists suspect some kind of pheromone is involved). However, the whole point of the Greater Good is that everyone works together: Ethereals lead, but they defer to the specialists of the Fire (warfare), Water (diplomacy), Air (piloting), and Earth (engineering) castes as needed.
114	* The main feature of the ''TabletopGame/{{Birthright}}'' campaign setting for ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. All the rulers in the realm are 'scions', who have inherited some supernatural powers. (The first scions received the powers when the gods of the realm perished in battle.) It's a variation on the "divine right of kings"; an unpowered ruler couldn't hope to get the trust of the populace.
115	* ''Bloodpunk'' is another TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons setting. The known of world of Tolia is dominated by two rival city-states. The gothic city Kranath is ruled by a VampireMonarch and other vampire nobility with an iron fist. Art-deco Cyherested is ostensibly more democratic but the bureaucracy is rigged so that [[TheMagocracy sorcerers control the government and all major industry]]. Both of them require their citizens to pay a "blood tax'' to power the setting's {{Magitek}}.
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	[[folder:Video Games]]
119	* The maesters of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' are mostly unsent souls who simply aren't interested in giving away their power, even after their deaths.
120	* In ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'', the house of Aensland is the ruling family for all of Makai.
121	* Creator/NipponIchi games have this to varying degrees in their games. [[VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness Laharl]] is a prince, generally respected within his castle. [[VideoGame/MakaiKingdom Zetta]], who has to regain the kingdom he accidentally destroyed, earns varying levels of respect and obedience from his vassals. He gets none from the vegetables, who [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail thought they were an autonomous collective]].
122	* In the obscure [=PS2=]-game ''[[VideoGame/{{Deception}} Kagero: Deception 2]]'', humans are basically second-class to a nobility consisting of 'Timenoids' - blue-skinned immortals. As the player, you are initially a slave to the Timenoids, but eventually, you must decide whether to help them brutally suppress an emerging human uprising, help LaResistance destroy the Timenoid elite, or just kill them all.
123	[[/folder]]
124
125	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
126	* In ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'', the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent True Ancestors]] don't exactly have a proper hierarchy, but the highest-ranking of the True Ancestors are the ones closest to manifesting the Crimson Moon -- Arcueid and Altrouge Brunestud are considered the princesses of the True Ancestors.
127
128	[[/folder]]
129
130	[[folder:Webcomics]]
131	* How the [[TheFairFolk magical]] [[MageSpecies people]] work in the ''{{Webcomic/Buildingverse}}''. There are their Kings and Queens (according to ''{{Webcomic/Roommates}}'' they either inherit or [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt win]] these titles through blood) and various lesser beings they rule. These courts seem to be also thematic thanks to a mix of the rulers being {{Fisher King}}s and their lands {{Fisher Kingdom}}s.
132	* This seems to be the case for the world that Tara and Andrea came from in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive''. When they meet Nanase, they immediately assume she's royalty... because of the strength of her magic. Specifically, her faerie doll spell.
133	** It's later explained that the name is derived from the fact that their aura is shaped like a crown, and that only very powerful auras are capable of that. There are at least three known royals on Earth's side: Nanase, Mr. Verres, and Rhoda. Grace, as a seyunolu, is considered "pseudo-royalty".
134	* The Youreimoto clan seem to be this in {{Webcomic/Erma}}. Erma's grandfather seems to be the lord of their town, as well as head of their clan. Their home is the largest in town, and they have over a dozen servants working for them as well.
135	* Cities and towns in ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'' tend to be ruled over by creatures [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership due to their greater physical and magical abilities]] compared to beings. In good cases, they defend their cities from rivals and otherwise act as royalty or public officials. In bad cases, they run their protectorates as [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_2085.php glorified game reserves]] or [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_1970.php soul factories]].
136	[[/folder]]
137
138	[[folder:Western Animation]]
139	* [[PrincessesRule Princesses Luna and Celestia]] in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', who are the {{Alicorn}} [[GodEmperor rulers of equestria]] and {{Physical Goddess}}es. The rest of the population is composed of simple pegasi, unicorns and Earth Ponies, and while [[WordOfGod Word of Faust]] says that the three races can mate with each other, it's obvious that a pegasus and a unicorn won't produce an Alicorn (also, the princesses look [[LargeAndInCharge more like normal horses than ponies]]).
140	** And most of the aristocracy of Equestria appears to consist of unicorns, though not all. This traces back to [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E13HearthsWarmingEve the days before the foundation of Equestria]], in which the three tribes of pony (unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi) lived in a mutual dependency not unlike the tiers of Medieval European society. Earth ponies (peasants) [[GreenThumb grew crops]], the Spartan-style pegasi (the military) controlled the weather. Having the most crucial magic, literally controlling night and day, the unicorns appointed themselves nobility and, presumably, clergy of sorts.
141	[[/folder]]
142
143	[[folder:Real Life]]
144	* French kings were believed to be able to cure scrofula (a disfiguring skin disease) [[MedicalMonarch by laying their hands on the afflicted person.]]
145	[[/folder]]
146

Context Main / SupernaturalElite