What is a caste system?
A society inevitably divides into rank by ability, or fascimile thereof based on the rules and values of that society. A healthy society looks at raw ability; an unhealthy society uses surrogates like wealth, popularity or public allegiance to political or religious creeds. These ranks of ability are both horizontal and vertical: vertically, people are divided by specialization, and horizontally, by aptitude in each specialization. Vertical rank does not imply superiority or inferiority, but exceptional ability in a specific type of task. Horizontal rank creates degrees of quality within each vertical rank. Since most traits of personality and intelligence are inherited, these roles tend to be familial, barring exceptional competence or incompetence on the part of any individual. It tends to take multiple generations of competent, moral people to make a family line change to another specialization, but a single incompetent can degrade rank.
