Inner Palace

The Inner Palace is a sprawling organisation that is dedicated to two things - the pleasure of the Emperor, and the propagation of the Imperial House.

To help with this, a hierarchy of multiple ranks exists, to establish order within the Palace.

Empress
The Empress is simultaneously the head of the Inner Palace, and almost entirely outside of its system. This is because she has a unique position - she is not a consort, taken at will by the Emperor; but is the Emperor's married wife.

Under Confucian teachings, therefore, even the Emperor owes the Empress a certain amount of respect as his wife.

Consort Ranks
The following is the Wei Empire system of consort ranks. In general, there are certain quotas for the higher ranks, though these quotas are not in place for posthumous promotions. Generally speaking, the rank of Imperial Noble Consort is almost never given unless in two circumstances:
 * 1) Posthumous promotion, or
 * 2) The absence of an Empress.

The Silk Veil
The term Silk Veil is given to the customary practice of separation between the Imperial Court, or the "Outer Palace", and the Inner Palace. Drawing from the experience of

This separation works both ways:

As the Inner Palace comprises the Emperor's women, and concerns his personal desires, officials of the Court are not allowed to remonstrate against acts carried out on the consorts. This extends even to execution; the Emperor may execute a consort, and her relatives in Court are not allowed to comment on it.

Similarly, as the Court is concerned with the administration of the Empire as a whole, the consorts of the Inner Palace are not to comment or remonstrate against Imperial laws, policies or edicts. Punishments for this varied in severity; during the Wei Dynasty there were cases of consorts being executed for participating improperly in court politics.