You've just arrived in a foreign nation, a landless person of no reputation; and it's just your luck that the absolute ruler (a monarch, theocrat, whatever) is passing by at the same time. They stop. You are commanded to bow before your liege.
You do.
Don't worry. If you didn't, it would just be considered a faux pas. Nothing bad would happen to you.
But what person would you kneel and bow before? Yes, you can choose your own ruler; you can even make a ruler out of a janitor, if you wish. It's simply a person before whom you are willing to acknowledge yourself as subservient by inate quality. Heh-heh.
Any takers?
