ETA: For ease of use, I’ve decided to put a masterlist at the top of the thread of various gender-neutral terms that could be used in a fantasy setting (or other settings!).
THE MASTERLIST
“Your Grace” - alludes to a duchess or duke (or nb equivalent)
“The most honourable” - lower rank nobility
“Your Majesty” - equivalent of kings or queens
“Your Highness” or “Their Royal Highness” - princes and princesses (or princets or princexs or… you know. the royal heirs.)
“Ser” - a (new) popular gender-neutral word in place of sir/madam in recent fantasy novels and games.
“Lairde” - based on the sound of La in Lady and rd in Lord.
“Layde” - based on the sound of La in Lady and rd in Lord.
“Liege” - neutral, term of address for a Lord/Lady.
“Suzerain” - neutral, a feudal equivalent of Lord/Lady
“Potentate” - neutral, a Latin word for someone in power.
“Good Gentle” - singular form of “good gentles,” which is plural of ladies/lords
“Domine” - Latin term for “master” (good for vampires?!)
“Esquire” - suffix for higher social ranks without formal title
“Your Excellency” - ranking diplomats
“Your Worship” - mayors
“The Right Honourable” - Prime Ministers, Chief Justices,Governor Generals and those who granted with this honourific by a Governor General in Commonwealth countries
“The Honourable” - Members of Parliament, Privy Councillors, Senators, Supreme Court Justices and Lieutenant-Governor Generals in Commonwealth Countries.
“Hajji” or “Hadji” - refers to any Muslim that has completed the hajj.
“Sayyid” - refers to a descendant of the prophet Muhammad.
“Captain” - self-explanatory
“Kaiet” - gender neutral Ms/Mr
“Sai” - gender neutral Ms/Mr
“Milayde” - milord/milady
----Original Post-----
Hey all! I’m working on my first CoG, which is set in a fairy tale setting. I’ve included the option for the protagonist to be male, female, or nonbinary (with various options for pronouns, including direct input if the ones provided don’t work for the player). It’s important to me that this option exists in the game and I intend to keep it.
For the most part, this has been a fairly seamless integration into the story. However, I am about to write a character who I imagine would say things like “milady” and “milord” and whatnot to the MC. Is there a non-gendered version of this, possibly? A lot of the time I use “noble,” and occasionally “good gentle” a la Midsummer Night’s Dream, but they don’t quite translate into the same usage as “milord” or “milady.”
If no such word exists, would it be acceptable to have a scene where the knight asks whether the nonbinary protagonist wishes to be called milord or milady, and include an option where they can input something entirely different? It seems to be the simplest solution, but I want to make sure it won’t seem like a derogatory addition.
Thanks for the help!