@idonotlikeusernames: You’re right that helot social climbing is totally unthinkable to most of the population of the Hegemony. In a system that has encouraged the impoverished free to console themselves with, “at least I’m not a helot,” and increasingly kept the nobles and merchants in line with the terror of a helot revolt, almost no one would welcome helot-led change.
@Ramidel is right that the “safeguarding of wealth and power” (rather than an attachment to noble bloodlines for their own sake) is the key motivator for most nobles and other well-off elites across the Hegemony. That said, it’s important to recognize that right now, keeping the helots in their place will be seen by most elites as an absolutely essential cornerstone for that goal.
As the system comprehensively breaks down, the potential for “axe-hefting” change becomes much wider–and could be taken in either the “destroy the Four Olds” direction you intend or the “co-opt useful values and features of the old system” direction that I think @Ramidel envisions.
The point at which a helot could declare themselves king of Shayard would be the point where social order had broken down so far that “king of Shayard” would be basically meaningless. But at a substantially lower (though still very high!) level of anarchy, it’s thinkable for a helot warlord to claim noble blood and have a significant numbers of people (especially merchants) in their sphere quietly accede to their claim – as long as said helot had managed to carve out a significant space where life and trade could proceed securely, and there weren’t better options locally on offer.
I did. 
Nice voice!
A lot softer and more potato-ey.
The cooption of the real-world anti-corruption agency culminated in the appointment of a head who was himself allegedly profiting from key corruption-affected sectors, notably medicine and export/import, and turning a blind eye to political cronies who were doing the same. He was eventually turfed out by court decision (before he could be impeached) which somewhat discouraged the abuse of the office. But on historical and cross-national trends, this is likely to be a lull rather than an End.
The helotry of the Rim might be satisfied if your backbreaking fines reduced the Keriatou to poverty, as a merciful alternative to execution. But anything that preserves the prosperity and honor of the oppressor is going to lose you significant popularity with the helotry. There’s a real trade-off here that can’t be haggled away.
And a Keriatou suicide squad is going to have to remain in the realm of fanfic, I’m afraid.
You’re right in that assumption. In general, when I do use a Latinate word in the gameworld, I treat it as part of the language family that runs from Shayard’s Southriding through Erezza, i.e. as a Shayardene term that has infiltrated your koine. For the corsairs, I think I’d have only Karagonds refer to them as “peirates,” since the Shayardenes and Erezziano (even if cosmopolitan) will be more inclined to use the word with local historic roots.
There are no privateers because the concept has not been invented yet. We’ll see when we get to later games if it makes sense for you and your merchant buddies to get the chance to invent it – that seems potentially fun, but we’ll have to cross that bridge later.
If you’re going to forge evidence of a bloodline, you need a pro in texts ancient and modern, not an adult literacy student. That’s an outside hire, from Grand Shayard, and not a drudge/day laborer either.
Simon/Suzane would be appalled at the suggestion of concubinage because polygamy and indeed extramarital sex are against his/her values.
If you used Theurgy to Change your face to resemble Abelard’s – which would require the plektosis skills of an experienced Abhuman plus a genius portrait artist’s eye for the fine detail that distinguishes one human from another – you wouldn’t be able to cross the City-Ward into Grand Shayard, which like all the capitals has a Ward around it. On the whole, I don’t think that’s a path we’ll go down.
As with any syncretic creed, you’d have to get over the hump that you’re asking both sides to unite over what neither of them believe. A devout Xthonist won’t think it’s OK for the Abhumans to worship the Eclectoi; a devout Abhuman won’t accept that the Nagyeh are dead mortal miracle-workers. With enough charisma, you might do it. But I’m not sure it’ll be the best path to peace or toleration.
Gellard will probably not show up in G2, though he will in one of the later games, TBD.
@wonderfulcarpet, thanks so much for the kind words, and glad you’ve enjoyed it!
This will be a plot point in G2 Ch 2, actually. The nobles are definitely not compensated (or, to give the Thaumatarch his due, they’re not compensated with anything other than the Wards being kept up, the Halassurqs being kept out, and the helotry being kept down). Rather, any noble family that doesn’t maintain at least five helots has to pay a hefty additional tax every year in lieu of providing blood for the Theurges.