Tags:
  1. halisme

    halisme Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2015
    Messages:
    1,772
    Likes Received:
    1,230

    Bring out your: Government

    Discussion in 'Setting Development' started by halisme, Apr 3, 2019.

    Following on from the pantheon thread a while ago, I'm going to ask people to bring out the political structures of their fictional countries, towns, cities, evil empires, or alternate dimensions. Considering the last one was mostly me asking people questions, try to ask each other about stuff.
     
  2. DarkPen14

    DarkPen14 Florida Man in Training Contributor

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2019
    Messages:
    632
    Likes Received:
    882
    Location:
    Florida, United States
    The city of Dis Minor is the ring that completely encloses the nine rings of hell. As it is so large, it is divided into six districts where Lucifer, Mammon, Asmodeus, Leviathan, Beelzebub, and Belphegor respectively rule. below each of these six Archdevils are four Devils, and below each devil are six demons, who may take on however many servants weaker than themselves they choose.
    Once every three months, the six Archdevils meet in the ninth circle, the frozen lake, with one attendant each, to discuss politics and territory, negotiate truces, etc, standard politics stuff. After they go through their song and dance, they do a ritual which sends part of their essence into the crater in the center of the frozen lake to form the Prime Devil, Satan, who makes all final big decisions.
    Within the six districts of Dis Minor, each little area has a politics system of its own. It is literally hell, and might takes right. FIghters from one street regularly challenge the fighters from other streets for territory and power, with the strongest from each settling the thing in a one on one duel. The victor is the respective "boss" of both streets until such time as they are dethroned by someone stronger.

    At the opposite end of the four planes of existence is Heaven, which is less democratic than hell and more of a monarchy, with God at the top, the Seven Archangels below God, and the respective clans of angels below them. I haven't really explored how that system works because the story takes place in hell and I haven't really had the need to yet.
     
  3. Kalisto

    Kalisto Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 23, 2015
    Messages:
    975
    Likes Received:
    995
    White Asche is a electoral monarchy, where a monarch is selected for life by a group of electors who meet regularly and vote on certain policies and occasionally the new king if the old one dies. At least, that's what it says on their travel brochures. In reality they meet just to squabble and waste time. I mean, the electors elect the king, but who elects the electors? No one, so what's the point?

    Anyway, the electors are given the misleading title of Prince or Princess and they rule their own principalities in pretty much almost complete sovereignty. It's not a very sustainable system, which is precisely the issue throughout the book. It makes for a very empathetic lead villain and a very conflicted and jaded hero.
     
  4. Friedrich Kugelschreiber

    Friedrich Kugelschreiber marshmallow Contributor

    Joined:
    May 8, 2017
    Messages:
    4,744
    Likes Received:
    5,937
    What are the physical ramifications of residing in Hell? Does living in a place designed for eternal torment have any effect on governance? I would assume that the electorate is crankier on average? Rioting is more common? Are there government programs in place to defocus people's attention on their misery, like the distribution of flame retardant?
     
  5. Matt E

    Matt E Ruler of the planet Omicron Persei 8 Contributor

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2014
    Messages:
    690
    Likes Received:
    740
    Location:
    Seattle
    In Stars Extinguished, the Frontier Worlds are relatively lawless, with individual planetary governments having no practical ability to enforce laws at an interplanetary level. To solve this problem, the Marshals were banded together from disparate councils of frontier judges. They enforce a consistent set of basic laws across the human-colonized arm of the galaxy at the thou shalt not kill level, as opposed to the thou shall not use incandescent lightbulbs level. The latter is up to local governments, but many, limited resources as they may have, have outsourced a majority of their legal system to the Marshals, who survive off stipends from governments and corporations. Both have a mutual interest in law enforcement, otherwise commerce becomes impractical, and any colonies that ignore legal standards are basically written out of all the trade deals, or sanctioned if they become bandit-harbors.
     
  6. DarkPen14

    DarkPen14 Florida Man in Training Contributor

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2019
    Messages:
    632
    Likes Received:
    882
    Location:
    Florida, United States
    The government itself isn't really effected, aside from the fact that the torment damned human souls go through is the main source of power in Hell. Power referring to electricity, mana, etc. If you've read Dante's Inferno, you know that the outside of the nine rings is rather chill, mostly just annoying bugs and stuff like that. I took that and built a civilization around it.

    But the territory fights between streets can sometimes be destructive, forcing the Archdevil of the district to take action if things get too chaotic.
     
  7. EstherMayRose

    EstherMayRose Gay Souffle Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2017
    Messages:
    1,744
    Likes Received:
    3,256
    Location:
    Actually Decent Uni Halls
    OK. Time for a little history lesson.

    Cavallia, a small strip of land between France and Italy, was declared a country in 1072 by a French knight, who became the first King (the King of France disagreed, but I'll figure out what made him eventually give up trying to get it back). A group of several knights from France and Italy, in the various sections they were in back then, became the Knights' Council, who were the king's advisors. All of them were given sections of the country over which to rule, which became duchies.

    In the late sixteenth century a parliament was formed, mostly out of peers' sons. They were to vote on important matters put to them by the Knights' Council, although if the Knights' Council didn't like the result they could veto it, or force another vote (which would, of course, never happen today), so its role was mostly to make the country look more democratic. The highest-ranking MPs could expect to become Knights' Council members later in life, probably when their fathers on the Council died.

    In the seventeenth century the Knights' Council became the Privy Council and was selected by the King, as opposed to gaining their places based on how highly they ranked or just taking over from their fathers. This meant that the King could pass over his reckless (hypothetical) cousin in favour of a more minor noble with better political skills. They also lost their right to mess with Parliament's votes, although they could still choose what was voted on and what was not. (So if they thought there might be a result they didn't like, they could no longer disregard a result after the vote but could just decide not to hold a vote at all.)

    The French Revolution shocked the nation greatly. They lost their long-standing alliance with France (but were able to get another one with Napoleon), but chose not to get rid of their own monarchy as life was better than in France. However, to prevent a similar revolution anyway, they overhauled their political system. The Privy Council, now called the Cabinet, was put in charge of enacting Parliament's will (they only have one house, which functions like the House of Commons but can have peers in it) rather than telling Parliament what to do. Elections, first introduced when Parliament was founded, were overhauled and laws preventing people from paying off the electorate to vote how they wanted were put into place, but like Great Britain, there were still property requirements barring most of the population from the polling stations. The King (or Queen, but at the time there was a King) was still in charge, but was expected to rule for his people (meaning the rich nobles who could vote) and not just himself, and Parliament could hold him to account by denying him money if they felt he wasn't listening to them.

    In the mid-nineteenth century, a few of the offices in the Cabinet were merged to create the position of Prime Minister. Although he had more power than the monarch, the Queen could still dismiss him if she felt him incompetent. It was around this time that the various factions in the House arranged themselves into proper political parties, with the system of proportional representation put into place.

    In the early twentieth century the property requirements were scrapped but women were still denied the vote. The King's role had been drastically reduced and he was now there only to make sure that Parliament was being run properly. Laws could still not pass without the King's say-so, but he was likely to have his funds cut off by Parliament if he said no, since the bills would already have been agreed upon by a parliamentary vote.

    After the First World War, the King's role was reduced again. He was not to enter the Parliament's buildings, where he had previously spent his days, except when called there in times of crisis by MPs. He also lost his right to dismiss the Prime Minister.

    In 1920, women were given the vote, and the following year the King passed a law scrapping the idea that men take precedence in the succession, meaning that his newborn daughter would become Queen no matter how many brothers she had (seven, as it happened).

    During the Second World War, it was decided that the Queen would regularly check on her Government-in-Exile to ensure its smooth running, and she had her right to fire her Prime Minister reinstated, and although her success at this gave her great popularity, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, campaigns prompted her to resign this duty and confine herself to her purely ceremonial roles of signing bills into law and hosting foreign dignitaries, visiting charitable organisations, etc. Cavallia also joined the EU pretty early on. (I'll shoehorn it in somehow, although there probably won't be cause to mention it at all.)

    The Royal Family's role today is similar to that of our Royal Family: mostly visits and hosting. The people love them: they look good in the tabloids.
     
  8. The Bishop

    The Bishop Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2018
    Messages:
    277
    Likes Received:
    152
    My world is set in a sixty to seventy-year future in The United States. World War III had happened and forced The U.S. into a civil war, beginning in a steep decline downwards until the President at the time was assassinated. When the VP took his place he changed nothing so he was also then assassinated. That continued until the government started targeting literally anyone associated with these new founded Assassination Syndicates. Then that was when the Second Civil War really began. But this is about the government, so fast forward seven years to when the rebels, or Dregs as many called them, have been crushed and the United States is now ununited and under the control of The American Junta. All 48 continental U.S. states were stripped of their names and all Governors were expelled from their duties. Hawaii was sold off to the Philippines and Alaska to Russia. The money was used to improve the military strength of The Junta. To replace the 48 states were eleven districts, each of which was assigned its own private militia, not meant to replace the Law Enforcement already put in place but to keep control of the district they belong to as a whole. It's around then the story starts.
     
  9. Bone2pick

    Bone2pick Conspicuously Conventional Contributor

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2018
    Messages:
    1,718
    Likes Received:
    1,929
    Seeing that your universe has a frontier, I imagine it also has some sort of central interstellar nation/empire? If that's the case, have you fleshed out that nation's government?
     
  10. John-Wayne

    John-Wayne Madman Extradinor Contributor

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2017
    Messages:
    3,169
    Likes Received:
    4,986
    Location:
    Badlands
    I want to really share, but I'm kind of shy and nervous about sharing publicly.

    It's basically a royal Republic with limited power to the Royal Family.
     
  11. Bone2pick

    Bone2pick Conspicuously Conventional Contributor

    Joined:
    Aug 23, 2018
    Messages:
    1,718
    Likes Received:
    1,929
    No one is going to rake you over the coals here. But we might ask questions if you give us more.
     
    John-Wayne likes this.
  12. John-Wayne

    John-Wayne Madman Extradinor Contributor

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2017
    Messages:
    3,169
    Likes Received:
    4,986
    Location:
    Badlands
    It might be a thousand words right up, to explain my government. But I'll do it when I get home LOL. Right now I'm out and about and using my phone
     
  13. DarkPen14

    DarkPen14 Florida Man in Training Contributor

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2019
    Messages:
    632
    Likes Received:
    882
    Location:
    Florida, United States
    I've literally got Hell down to a feudal democracy, and no one batted an eye. I'm sure your thing is fine.
     
  14. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

    Joined:
    Aug 8, 2015
    Messages:
    17,922
    Likes Received:
    27,173
    Location:
    Where cushions are comfy, and straps hold firm.
    Mine is pretty much the same as it is now, just
    on a global scale. So the lovely nanny state has
    something to do, and the rich get to feel special
    and powerful. Though there is a rumored third
    level to the Gov., Deep State, Deeper State that
    really pulls all the strings down the line, and keeps
    things the way they like them. So it is extremely
    difficult to stop somethings from functioning
    even if you capture the politicians, and the
    plutocratic Chairmen, you still have to contend
    with the full weight of the military.

    Mars is a forward thinking place with quite a few
    liberties that we have now, plus they have both
    gambling and prostitution, which are legal.
    They are headed by an elected Chancelor that
    is part of a small body politic that takes care
    of everything that a functional gov. should.
    The Martian Colonial Marines play a dual role
    as both a competent and dangerous fighting force,
    as well as a form of police. Though they can be
    deployed with war-frames to deal with some of
    the more intense situations, it is extremely rare
    that they will (need) to be authorized to use lethal
    force. Seems they have other means with which to
    deal with and reform the criminal element that
    arises, and likes to keep it's citizens alive, unless
    the offender has done some real bad shit. :p

    The Centurians are guided by a Council of Elders,
    which are chosen to govern. A rather old system
    held over, seeing as they are still working on integrating
    into their more modern times since the old days
    of the Clans. So, during this transition there is still
    somewhat of a divide in the overall culture, as some
    prefer to let the old ways of the Clans go, and other
    groups still practice some of their rituals and rites.
    The main one being decorated with heavy rings on
    the body and face, to show status, and/or warrior
    prowess. They take a more physical punitive approach
    to most crime, in the form of lashes along with incarceration.
    It is rare that anyone gets the full weight of the law dropped
    on them, in the from of beheading. Mainly they are trying to
    move past the insanity of the last big internal war they had,
    when the last King was beheaded after a farmers revolt over
    the high taxation he imposed on them. Messy revolt, that they
    would wish to avoid in the future, since the streets ran red
    in several cities until the king was dead.

    As for the Uldivarions, well they have a 6 planet Empyre,
    and kinda adopted a 7th that happens to be the home of
    the Volgans, which they represent, educate (somewhat),
    and do their best to integrate into their own highly advanced
    society. Though they are given more menial and physical
    jobs (labor and military), since they are not the sharpest
    bunch (though there are exceptions, however rare) due to
    their strength to size (approx 6ft median), and are no strangers
    to good old fashioned violence. Though the deployment of the
    the Volgans in a military role is rare, due to just how hard they
    are to kill, along with having a strong leaning towards melee
    combat even when issued fire arms.
    The Unldivarion Emyreal Navy is massive, and remains largely
    neutral, unless invited into an engagement. Though if provoked
    will not hesitate to exercise their superior fusion weaponry on
    any antagonizing force that chooses to provoke them.
    Since their society is largely crime free, they share a penal colony
    with the Volgans on a moon, and the harshest punishment they
    will doll out would be with a penal mining company, which may
    be slightly better than being locked up with the much tougher
    and meaner Volgans that can get extremely violent.
    They elect an overarching Emperor/Empress that serves for life,
    who works independently, as well as with a collective of representatives
    from all the planets within the Empyre. Though they may take
    charge in matters they choose that are outside of their standard
    sphere of influence, and are highly intelligent and skilled in various
    forms of combat, should they want to get into a sword duel or run
    and gun. :p
    Their society is kinda flat on the surface of it, since they are an
    extremely advanced species and culture, that has no form of religion,
    and the rare artistic citizen (though they are still valuable to the
    society on the whole.). There unemployment is a point of a percentage
    due to the fact that it is extremely rare that even their least capable
    citizens cannot be placed into some kind of vocation.
    Economically they are a powerhouse to those who seek what they offer.
    They export education, medicine (and even medical personnel for much
    more complicated cases.), and anything that they deem fit to sell to whomever
    is looking for what they have to offer as far as wares are concerned.
    Though they strictly prohibit sharing their advanced military hardware
    and weapons to anyone looking to buy. The feel that there is no one
    capable of not running amok with fusion grade tech and conquering
    less advanced species with it.

    And lastly though not much to speak about, are the Veritoss.
    War became their culture, and their pretty damned good at it,
    though they are kinda dying species overall. They are splintered
    as well, with those that adhere strictly to fighting everything and
    everyone that isn't them, and those that have chosen to take a kind
    of contract to aid those that may use their skill on their behalf.
    While the only thing biologic about them are their brains encased
    in advanced bodies made out of ceramium and by class of each unit,
    they still have a personality of sorts still inside them, even if they are
    just given a generic classification name and serial number after they
    are incepted into their class and downloaded with pretty much everything
    they need to know from a collective memory. So basically a killer robotic
    species that only really cares about carrying orders, learning through each
    engagement, and will not really give up until the enemy has been terminated
    or they have. Armed or not, pretty much once these guys get their orders
    from a War Master/War Mistress, they will see them through with a
    high level of success, though they would rather be terminated, will accept
    that somethings simply can't be avoided in failure.
    Other than that not much is really known about these guys/gals/things. o_O
     
    John-Wayne likes this.
  15. Bobby Burrows

    Bobby Burrows Banned Contributor

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2018
    Messages:
    1,079
    Likes Received:
    637
    Location:
    London
    There was once a time when officials pushing a cart of dead people called out; "Bring out your dead, bring out your dead..."
    And I was thinking, what a horrible time that was to need a policy like that.
    The great fire of London, 1666; a blessing in disguise.
     
    John-Wayne likes this.

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Dismiss Notice