The stipulation of the Lady Greywand that gladiators who attain immortality should be granted titles caused some problems in Lirith Kai at first, as no one was sure just where to put them. Since many of them are foreign-born, and no few lacking in the traits of personality that the Adantri consider essential to membership in the nobility, the more conservative suggested that the arenas simply be closed (they didn't like them anyway), and the gladiators sent to Alastari, where the noble class was already thoroughly "contaminated" by the presence of ennobled gladiators.

It was Lord Anniar, an advisor to Emperor Dian, who pointed out that the ennobled gladiators already have a rank or title which is quite separate from that of the traditional caste of nobility: they are "Protectors." This was finally accepted by the Council of High Lords (the final arbiter in this matter), and it was decreed that any gladiator who achieves immortality shall be granted the honor and title of Protector of the Empire, which title does not place them at any particular point in the structure of nobility in Lirith Kai.

Where this title might actually fall in the hierarchy--whether the Protector ranks above or below some standard rank--is still being debated (although most people don't really care). For a while, certain parties (who are believed to have had some sort of personal interest in the issue) argued that since the title of Protector comes with a grant of lands, which is a feature of all hereditary titles but almost never accompanies non-hereditary ones, the rank must be hereditary. Others immediately pointed out that the title is granted to specific gladiators for abilities that do not necessarily aid the Empire and which must be separately learned and demonstrated by each person to hold that title, it is obviously non-hereditary; this is the view that prevailed. Both sides point to the amount of land which commonly accompanies the title and say that the rank must be equivalent to that of the liran and tiral, whether it is hereditary or not, although those two ranks may only be called "sir" and not "lord." (No few people, members of the nobility as well as commoners, fail to see what difference any of this makes.) Those instances where the gladiator is a native and a member of a titled lineage are greeted with relief; the puzzling question can be shelved in such cases and the gladiator treated as s/he would be in any case. (Yes, I know this is nit-picky, but sometimes court politics are like that.)