Origins and Purpose
The strength ranking system was formalised by the Adventurers Guild in year 341 as a standardised measure of combat capability applicable to both human fighters and beast threats. Prior to formalisation, individual guild offices used inconsistent internal scales that made cross-provincial cooperation difficult and threat assessment unreliable.
The current system uses fifteen gradations arranged in ascending order. The scale was designed with the practical upper ranges treated as theoretical, as the guild's founding assessment committee considered it unlikely that any living person or beast would ever register above S rank in measurable quantities.
This assessment has required revision on several occasions.
The Fifteen Gradations
FF is the entry point of the scale, representing the absolute minimum measurable combat capability above a completely untrained civilian baseline.
F represents a first functional level of mana control and physical development. Most guild registrants enter at this level.
D minus and D represent the trained fighter range. Consistent mana output, reliable basic technique, capability against minor threats without significant support.
C minus and C represent the intermediate range. Fighters at this level are considered professionally capable. The majority of active guild hunters operate within this band.
B minus and B represent the advanced range. B rank fighters are uncommon, respected, and capable of managing most surface and rift threats independently.
A minus and A represent the elite range. A rank fighters are considered significant military assets. The kingdom maintains a registry of all confirmed A rank individuals within its borders.
S minus and S represent the pinnacle of what the kingdom formally recognises as achievable. Fewer than fifty confirmed S rank individuals are alive at any given time. They are treated as strategic national resources, their movements tracked, their welfare considered a matter of state interest.
SS, SSS, and Z are listed in the formal scale for completeness. They were included in the original formalisation document on the recommendation of a historian who had reviewed pre-unification texts describing combat capabilities that exceeded the scale's upper range. At the time of formalisation no living example of any rank above S had been confirmed and the three upper gradations were included as theoretical placeholders.
The assessment instruments used by the Adventurers Guild and Avar Academy are calibrated to register up to S rank with precision. Readings above S rank are technically detectable but the instruments were not designed with upper range precision as a priority.
Instrument failure during assessment is not formally covered in the guild's operational guidelines.
This is an oversight that the Academic Standards Committee has noted for review.