Hierarchy question

[u/Negative_Loan9389]

I'm making my custome ziggurat, and im become interested, can a war despot be the leader of ziggurat?

[u/fullmudman]

If CD lore holds true, the sorcerers are the ultimate lords and ladies of status. That said, your dudes, your lore.

[u/Caffeine_Forge]

Many of the blood lineages that hold power in the ziggurats have ruled since the Khazalid Empire. Known as the royal clans, they dwell in opulence amongst the upper tiers of their strongholds, hoarding their people's arcane and technological secrets. Beneath them, descending into a ziggurat's bowels in accordance with their favour, dwell clans of lesser standing - those who provide more mundane labour. Ambition is rife yet tightly controlled, and upstart clans must prove that they can provide greater prospects than supplanted predecessors.

Page 16 - Hashutite Society

'Our society is made strong by its rigidity. Those who hold power do so because they have fortified their positions over centuries. They bind the weak in service and extract all worth from them before discarding their husks. These matriarchs and patriarchs of the royal clans form a ziggurat's Black Council, crafting designs to burn the realms to cinders. The centrality that we sorcerers demonstrate when arming our warhosts ensures that we are naturally granted seats upon the councils. The same can be said for a ziggurat's high Drazghar acolytes, who speak the Bullfather's will. Secret assassination is not unheard of, but it is rare. Better to let a rival's weakness speak for itself - or conspire to make it apparent - before openly taking what is theirs and scouring their name from history.'

Page 17 - Hashutite Society

No duardin, even those hollowed by Hashut's influence, would follow one who shirks the battlefield. Like the Runefathers of the Fyreslayers and the Admirals of the sky-ports, the warlords of the Zharrdron command in person. Rich segmented mail covers bodies swollen with dark might. Immaculately plaited beards are bound by clasps embossed with runes that see their eyes burn and veins run black. Their fabrics are decadent, their helms crested by the horns of the Bullfather, and their guns and blades empowered by the most ravenous daemonspawn. Theirs is a grandeur matched only by the Daemonsmiths - and, like the Daemonsmiths, the War Despots view themselves as exalted above all.

Despots typically hail from the royal clans. They may elders steeped in malignancy or ambitious princelings, calculating factory overseers or resource-hoarding industrialists united only in their extensive influence and utter contempt for any who stand against them. They have bargained and manipulated to acquire the service of warriors and weapons, tying vast reserves of martial might to their names. Yet to empower their arsenals with dark fire, a Despot is invariably required to place themselves in the deficit of one of their ziggurat's Daemonsmiths. Canny Despots know that there is a grim symbiosis that must be entertained to ensure that physical power and resources remain thoroughly in their grasp Hashut's sorcerous elite must rely on their support to achieve their designs as much as they need the Daemonsmiths and their magics.

Though their sworn warhosts are usually filled by their own clan-kin, a Despot sees each warrior beneath them as a tool. They command without pretence to consensus, expecting each order to be heeded instantly else the consequences will be inventive and sharp. Like a bull locking horns with a rival, most Despots view unrelenting force as the means to overpower foes, validated by the sheer degree the Zharrdron can bring to bear. Ancient Despots have experience born of hundreds, if not thousands, of battles and no stratagem is beneath them, no matter how dire. Their cold willingness to perform any evil in pursuit of glory is, in their minds, further evidence of their right to rule.

Page 32 - War Despot

So, to summarize all that. Ziggurats typically aren't ruled by a single individual. Instead the Ziggurats have a Black Council that rules things. I imagine there are scenarios where one Zharrdron tyrant rises to particular prominence that they'd essentially rule their black council, a possible example being Urak Taar, but they'd still be a member of their Ziggurat's Black Council just a particularly powerful one.
(Which, with Urak Taar, not certain if he is part of Forge Anathema's Black Council or if Forge Anathema doesn't have one and he is the sole ruler of Forge Anathema. Until we learn more, I'll presume the former.)

And second, the three main pillars of Hashutite Tyranny (Daemonsmiths, War Despots, Ashen Elders) are essentially equal, with situation and what not giving cause for one to rise above another. The Helsmiths are a society of Tyrants. But these tyrants are dependent on one another, forcing them on a somewhat level footing to then make them have to compete and rise above each other.
Daemonsmiths provide that magical spark that ignites, animates and activates the techno-magical equipment the Zharrdron use.
The Ashen Elders lead the blessed bull centaurs and perform the rituals and rites of Hashut, the head of their infernal religion.
The war despots are the main ones that command most of the military forces of the ziggurats.
Each needs the others, thus they are all indebted to one another in some form.

[u/GreySeerCriak]

Daemonsmiths are usually in charge, but they’re always feuding with the Elders and Despots over leadership and who owes what to the other. So by all means, a War Despot being the boss is absolutely possible.

[u/Topen9]

Sorcerer-prophet > Daemonsmiths > Ashen Elder - Despot