Is there a more clear definition of nobility in Brettonia?
Yes, they have a much simpler system. The son of a Knight is a noble, and any higher title can only be earned through being a Knight Errant and performing Errands. The only way to bypass this is with the approval of the Lady or the King.
Also, do knights from Knight Orders (holy or not) also always own a piece of land?
No, which makes it a common way for non-inheriting sons to get a title of their own.
Whose idea/hope was that it would work that way? Because Magnus could have easily put something to enforce that into the Articles, but deliberately did not.
Altdorf Burgomeisters. Wizards started working their way into positions of power in Altdorf pretty much immediately, which spooked the local incumbents.
That makes the complete slaughter of the Haupt-Andersens all the stranger.
Just because adoption is possible doesn't mean it will always be used. Ancient Rome was very accepting of adoption but it still had dynasties go extinct and extremely unsuitable biological sons inherit.
Now that this has been the status quo for many generations, how do Altdorfians feel about the every day presence of magic in their lives? I imagine that grumbling about it has become a traditional passtime among locals, but that whenever a group of them travels abroad they are actually proud and nostalgic about their familiarity with magic and happy to scoff at "provincials" who fear all kinds if it, or don't know anything much about Wind magic.
That's pretty much it. When they notice it at all they might grumble, but they'd be very quick to look down their nose at any visitors that freak out about it. Things were tense for a while after the founding of the Orders and again after the Night of a Thousand Arcane Duels, but everyone's used to the status quo now.
We've seen that Dwarves don't quite know how to interpret many of the lower noble titles and essentially see most of them as Thanes of varying importance, i.e. commanders and/or fiefdom owners and/or heads of extended families of importance.
But how does the Empire interpret Dwarven nobility and how does it handle them when it comes to order of precedence during formal events and whatnot?
Dwarven nobility generally don't attend formal events in the Empire. Those that do are generally diplomats like Kazrik who are able to either tactfully explain relative titles or carefully fail to notice unintended slights.
Also, is any of the Imperial nobility non-Human? I.e. is there such a thing as a count or baron in an Imperial province that's a Dwarf, Halfling or... Ogre? Or is that type of social hierarchy separated by species in all but the rarest of exceptions?
The nobility of Mootland is entirely Halfling, Marienburg had a Dwarven family on their Executive Council even before it seceded, and Sylvania was technically an Imperial province during the times it's been ruled by Vampires. But the 'normal' nobility is entirely human, and usually able to at least fake descent from the founding tribe of the province. Ogre Knights in DoDA were the result of a
lot of hard work and one hell of a exemplar.
The Articles are blatantly permissive and respectful though, only really curtailing Wizards in ways that even Wizards find sensible. Any savvy noble of his time should have seen that very clearly. Meaning that smart yet bigoted people with political power must have been pretty much bulldozed over and aware that they wouldn't be getting nearly as much restriction and control over Wizards as they would have liked.
The 'smart yet bigoted people with political power' would have taken note when people tried to roadblock Magnus early on and had their actual Gods say in no uncertain terms that they should cut that shit out or there'd be smitings. And since Magnus reigned for 65 years, the institutions he created had plenty of time to carve out virtually unassailable positions in society.
It would have been childs play even. It just wasn't worth their time... Except for the time needed to attend and study the lectures, it was worth precisely that much time and no more.
