Nobility, Advisors, and High-Level Characters

I’ve been rolling up my campaign setting for a while now, and decided I should work up the high-level characters in the Principality of Morachi. It’s been interesting to think about the relationships between the characters in light of their levels. For example, the mayor of Solove (level 5) might have some legal authority over the town, but it’s the resident mage (level 10) who really pulls the strings. In contrast, while the Patriarch (Cleric 10), residing in Prion has more pull than the Lord Mayor (Fighter 9), there is not nearly the difference in power.

I’ve noticed, as I’ve created these high-level people, is that it seems most of them are either lords of a domain, or advisors to those lords. Does that make sense to you guys, that most of the powerful folks would either have their own domain or be working directly with someone who does? Or should their be more ronin wandering around?

Also, given the maximum boss levels of the urban centers, there aren’t a lot of high-level thieves. Am I thinking about something differently here? I certainly don’t mind departing from the book where I decide I want to, but I’d like to know when I’m doing it so I can try to have a good reason.

ACKS assumes that the most powerful folks either have their own domain or are working directly with someone who does. "Ronin" would be characters at a lower tier, for the most part.

There won't be a lot of high level thieves outside of major urban centers, which is where the vast majority of the profits will be. Keep in mind that even a mid-level thief can run a local syndicate, however, if he's the vassal of a higher-level thief.