1. Friedrich Kugelschreiber

    Friedrich Kugelschreiber marshmallow Contributor

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    Political Structures in Fantasy or Sci-Fi

    Discussion in 'Setting Development' started by Friedrich Kugelschreiber, Apr 15, 2020.

    I was just wondering what some of you have come up with in regards to governmental structures in your worlds. I'm particularly interested in oligarchic or aristocratic societies that you may have developed.
     
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  2. Necronox

    Necronox Contributor Contributor

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    I have a group that's more of a theocracy than an oligarchy, but the definition of both applies as it is ruled by a very restrictive and elite theocratic and xenophopic cadre of priests (not their actual title, but it's equivalent).

    Their are a society whose religion is based upon the fact that the five elements (in my world) has betrayed humanity and they are effectively rebelling against "gods" (elements don't actually have a finite body or even a finite character either). Anyway, they pretty much secluded themselves off into the mountains and have become constantly at war with anyone around them. Their secluded location, highly defensive position and relative lack of access has allowed them to pursue such diplomacy without fear of being destroyed themselves.

    Their society is always highly... narrow minded. Tolerance is non-existant, any crime has a severe punishement, you have to believe and abide by the cult and what not. Any foreigners that are caught or imprisonned become slaves or killed outright (much like the womenfolk whom they believe caused the elements to betray them -- think like the whole eve-bit-the-apple deal but 1000x worse). If anyone knows warhammer 40k, then these guys are about as tolerant and pacifist as over-zealous inquisitors.

    Anyway, the actualy cadre of high-ranking priests are the ones in charge and call the shots for everything -- their power is utterly absolute and their morality is quasi-non-existant.

    They're not antagonists, per se, in my world. Their not really supporting anyone either. They just do their own thing. They do, however, become relevant when they capture my MC (whom they view him as some sort of satanic-prophet-from-hell kind of deal).
     
  3. halisme

    halisme Contributor Contributor

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    Putting this in spoilers as it is just copy-pasted. Presenting Taughflands electoral monarchy.
    As a county Taughfland is divided into five dukedoms, which in turn are divided into four counties each, creating twenty in total. Each county is ruled by a Count or Marquis(, a Count whose territory borders another country), who has near-total control within their area. The four counts of the dukedom elect one of their own to be duke, who has the ability to overturn a Count’s decision, but not make any laws himself within that area. His role is to act as overseer, and ensure that a count is not harming his own land and country.


    The dukes and counts then elect a king from the dukes, with each count having one vote, and the dukes having three votes each. This creates a total of thirty votes. If there is a tie, or there is not a majority vote, then a second round of voting occurs. In the case of a tie, then those who tied become the candidates that people can vote on. If there is a lack of a majority, then the three candidates with the highest amounts of votes are the only ones available, unless there is a tie for third place, in which case both are discounted. Nobles are not allowed to vote for their own Duke.


    With this second round of voting, another six votes are created. Three go to the Taughfish Pontiff (leader of the main religion), one to Sourcan High Priest(ess) (leader of a minority religion), one to The House of Nerin (a cult with large amounts of power due to its historical monopoly on education), and a final vote to The Taughfish School of Armour. This creates a total of thirty-six votes, however, The House of Nerin has, in its one hundred and fifty year of having said vote, never used it. With thirty-five votes, there cannot be tie of all candidates, however, if a majority is still not found, then the lowest candidate is removed, and a third round occurs. This prevents any ties, and a king is officially chosen. Due to each duke (theoretically) having an equal amount of men, the winner is guaranteed a larger amount of soldiers, making rebellion dangerous.


    The king is able to create and overturn laws as a whole, and receives a small amount of extra tax from the kingdom as a whole, however, his city becomes the capital, and this often results in a massive amount of trade in his county and duchy as court is held there
     
  4. The Bishop

    The Bishop Senior Member

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    My story actually revolves around the idea of government, or the creation thereof. The government at the beginning is like an oligarch/Junta type of thing. Very structured, with ten different members, or Overseers. These are the people that oversee the districts. This all takes place in 2030s United States, which afterward isn't so united. The new government, coming into power through a world war three-like event, is very similar to the Nazi's. A presidential candidate, appealing to the people with his policies, is elected int he 2032 presidential election. Then, for the next four years, he and his "posse" infiltrate the governement, like Congress, Senate, the Supreme Court. They assassinate a few of the Supreme Court justices, on the down-low, of course, then the president puts in his own people. That way he is able to gain executive control however he pleases. Then they begin to remove all aspects of the United States government and implement their own agenda rather quickly. They get rid of the states and put in the district system, ten districts for the ten Overseers. They set up private militaries for each district and the government is all very elitist. The gap between the poor and rich rises to historic highs, police brutality is major, the people are punished in a way. Of course though, no one would let this happen, hopefully. For a few years between the president getting elected and their party gaining power, there is a seven long second civil war. The people lose, as obviously they would against trained soldiers, and that's why they're punished. Anyway, it works for a while, about forty years. However, it eventually collapses due to an internal uprising, plus multiple other resistance groups throughout the country. After that, it's about trying to reform a strong government for the people. It's a lot like the early days of the United States. Supporters of the fallen Junta still remained, even as the newer political power rises into prominence, like the British in the colonies, sort of. That's really all it is.
     
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2020
  5. Oxymaroon

    Oxymaroon Contributor Contributor

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    I started from the beginning. That is, I made up a history. I imagined the people arriving on this new world, with their traditions and prejudices under control in a united endeavour. But as resources grew scarce and their equipment wore out, they fell into rival factions, just as they had been on Earth. The resulting conflict destroyed much of the old technology and records; there was a period of 'wandering in the wilderness' when they had to re-invent their societies.
    The present government(s), then, are products of a 1000 year history in which a series of wars and alliances eventually resolved into a functional but wary federation.
    The groups are, roughly, of Middle eastern, American and Asian stock.
    At the opening of the present story, the dominant group is sort-of-Arabic, divided into tribes and clans, ruled by an aristocracy and with a strong religious pillar that has its roots in Islam.
    (One of the most important threads of the story is the development of religion.)
    The society is regimented, stratified, rigidly hierarchical and covertly repressive. The agencies of repression are present, taken for granted, but unobtrusive: daily life is orderly and civil.

    The other two cultures are not described in detail: the descendants of the American faction are sort-of-democratic and progressive; the Asian ones are more conservative. The economy of all three is capitalist, economically stratified, urban and industrialized.
    Has to be: they've got interplanetary commerce: on an ungenerous planet, they need to co-operate to make space travel work.
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2020
  6. Thorn Cylenchar

    Thorn Cylenchar Senior Member

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    Theocracy:

    I took some existing religious and political organizations and took them to an extreme level. I wrote the section below to explain how it came about from where we are now. Story does have magical/fantasy elements in it so not just a dystopian fiction.

    Church of the True Saint


    It began in the 21st century, with the flood of immigrants northward into the United States from Mexico and beyond brought with it the influences of language, religion and culture. The backlash from the xenophobic elements in the United States was a foregone conclusion, the border militias fighting a losing battle to stem the tide of immigrants, legal and otherwise. But like that against the Irish, Japanese and Africans, it to was ground down in time, and these new arrivals absorbed into the collective culture. Religiously, the influx strengthened the conservative Catholic church both in the United States and in Rome that had been weakening like its branches in the more secular European countries. Now, the church tightened it’s hold, ruthlessly wielding it’s newfound might, regaining the power it had once had to shape political and social values across the Americas. Like Islamic Sharia law, the new testament and ten commandments, along with Rome’s increasingly strict conservative interpretations, began to be accepted on local levels and spreading outward. But the influx from South America, like many imports, it brought with it elements that the church viewed as pagan, dirty and barbaric. Corrupting elements to their religious purity. The foremost of these was the cult of Santa Muerte, which had gained dominance in South and Central America over the last few decades, pushing out the more traditional church recognized saints. Rome viewed the worship of La Santisima, or Lady Death as she was popularly known amongst the faithful, as evil and blasphemous, contradicting the Churches teachings of Christ conquering death and corrupting the faithful with black magic even worse than the Pagans and Wiccans because it drew on the churches own teachings. In the US, the spread of the cult was startling swift, appealing to a vast swath of the socioeconomic strata like it had in Central and South America, from slums to palaces. It became common for large sections of parishes to attend one mass at the local church, then had down the street to La Casa de La Muerta, the house of death, to listen to a priestess or priest, often the same one from earlier in the day, expound on the blessings of Lady Death, who had replaced the holy spirit in the Christian trilogy.

    The churches reaction to this threat to her power was equally swift and harsh against the followers of La Santísima. Rome excommunicated hundreds upon thousands of Santa Muerte worshipers worldwide, seizing local church buildings and schools in the US, driving out the priests, monks and nuns who they saw a heretical devil-worshippers. The social and political backlash against Santa Muerte and its followers was equally fierce. Riots rocked San Francisco, Los Angelas, Miami, Boston, New York, Cleveland, Detroit, Pheonix, Houston, Denver and Dallas where Roman Catholics torched Santa Muerte church buildings and offices, mobs pursued and beat the priests, nuns and politicians in the streets. Nearly a dozen incidents where the priest and priestesses were burned at the stake were reported nationwide. Lay worshipers were turned upon by their neighbors. Many saw the excommunications by the church as a license to take matters into their own hands and cleanse the evil from their country, taking as justification the Church propaganda that these were devil worshipers, suborning the word of god for their own ends. The fact that this led to frequent breaking of the sixth commandment was justified in that the victims had violated the first and foremost commandment. Within a year, the visibility of Santa Muerte had dropped to almost unheard of levels, seemingly ceasing to exist. The followers to afraid to practice openly, as accused followers would be set upon in the street and beaten by the ’Puria’, the Church appointed religious police, that held a position of power above and beyond the secular authorities, untouchable. The American Crusade, as it came to be popularly called, was heralded by the church as an unrivaled success, as politicians loyal to Rome stepped into the forcibly vacated seats. The modern Conservative Christian party emerged from the riots as a powerful political party. It had the backing of Rome and priests, deacons and cardinals worldwide. Many people in other parties and religions whispered that it was the unmentioned threat of force that helped them rise so quickly. Mobs showed up at voting booths to heckle opposition party members. All remembered the riots and killings, and did not want to be the target of further violence, as many of the precinct captains who had led the fighting now held positions of authority. The presence of the Puria, openly hostile, added additional unease, as any who fought back against the mob would be beaten and rumors swirled of disappearances that occurred in the middle of the night, people being dragged from their home into waiting cars by unknown men, supposedly members of the churches Puria, who now operated openly, in many places completely displacing and suborning the local secular police force. Critics conveniently disappeared, witnesses could not be found. America was quickly becoming a Theological police state.

    Without a recognized structure to shape it and fearing reprisals, the cult of Sante Muerta had gone underground, it’s teaching shedding the last vestiges of Christianity as useless trappings. Worshipers were forced to practice in small groups or alone, trading information in secret. The escalating oppression from the Conservative Christian party drove followers to them like moths to a flame. They had no dogma to convert to, all they asked for was devotion and loyalty. All men and women they claimed, were called by Lady Death, as she was the one constant. As an outlawed religion, it’s influence still continued to spread, changing from a religion of the newly assimilated, Membership becoming a status symbol among the powerful and influential, with secret codes and hand-signs that would identify members to each other without drawing the attention of others. Especially influential in it’s gaining of converts were the rumors that the upper echelons of the Santa Muerte Cult gained access La Santissima’s blessings. To secrets that enabled them to cheat death, to extend their own lives, often by decades. Amongst the Santa Muertens’, their structure was reshaped, and a new intent was developed. Well the Roman Catholic Church and the Conservative Christian Party celebrated their victory, Santa Muerte celebrated it’s rebirth, their cheating of death a fitting tribute to their patroness. Strengthened by the very group that had tried to destroy them, they waited and planned. Slowly spread out, moving members into the leadership of the Puria and the Church that had nearly destroyed them.

    The Conservative Christian party, backed by Rome continued its rise and dominance in the United States for the following two decades. Through tactful applications of fear, force, coercion and rewards, they continued to amass power and change the social strictures of the land. Rewriting laws that they felt corrupted the true teachings of the church. The Conservative Christian party presidential candidate was Father Marc Gregorio. Nephew to the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the Vatican’s Theological Champion in the US. The path to the office of President had been cleared for the Italian born Gregorio by the ratification of the 29th amendment to the US constitution (the 28th amendment, past several years prior removed the restrictions on certain foreign donations from ‘impeccable sources‘. Allowing the church to funnel funding to their favored candidates). It looked like the United States was preparing to take the potential last step towards becoming a Theology. The election followed a turbulent, tense and frequently violent election cycle. Two of the three election debates had become sermon’s for Gregorio as the opposing candidates had either been unable to attend as mobs trapped them in their offices, or refused to attend, citing threats against their lives and families, and the inability to make themselves heard after the first debate as the audience, dominated by Gregorio’s loyalists, shouted prayers whenever one began to speak. They also lacked the ability to make themselves heard on major television and newspaper stations, as the Conservative Christian party either owned them outright, or owned major sponsors, confining the oppositions ad’s to infrequently watched time periods, playing without any sound, or without any video, thereby being able to claim technical problems against the inevitable complaints of favoritism. Some of the smaller stations were afraid of ‘inciting radical elements’, especially after the flood of hate mail and threats they received for airing any broadcasts the church objected to. Their door to door canvassers were frequently assaulted and beaten, and the majority of the assailants were never found. In the few cases they were, the Puria marched organized protests outside the courthouses, and witnesses came forward to claim that the canvassers had intentionally started the fights, and that they had been beaten to a bloody pulp as self defense. They found their bank accounts and the accounts of their supporters frozen by the authorities for ‘suspicious deposits‘ and accusations of ‘Un-American activities‘. The internet was the predominant source for the other parties to attempt to spread their message, but they where subject to frequent denial of-service attacks, rendering them useless. Finally, after a nationwide string of strategically targeted fire bombings that went unsolved, destroying almost all of their main campaign headquarters, crippling many of the campaigns functions, there was little hope leading up to election day that Gregorio’s Conservative Christian party would not trample all opposition in a landslide. As the results came in, it became clear that it was not going to be a landslide, it was going to be a slaughter. With record turnout, Gregorio swept the election with 83% of the popular votes, and four hundred and seventy electoral votes. In the House, they grabbed one hundred and twenty-five additional seats to add to their previous tally of two hundred and three, and easily clinching the senate with thirty additional seats to reach the untouchable iron-clad majority of seventy-one. The last step towards becoming a Theology seemed to have been cleared, as the Conservative Christian party emerged as the dominant single party in the nation. Any of the few elected politician of other parties now was faced the prospect of the necessity having to placate the Christian leadership, as without it, the cash flow and funding that was the nations lifeblood would be diverted to another area, hereby applying pressure on the recalcitrant politician.

    Then, in one night, the whole direction of the world was changed, and what had been expected never happened. On the night of his ascension, as he stood to make his first speech as the 77th President-elect, and set America firmly on the road towards becoming a True Christian nation, Marc Gregorio was killed by a shaped charge that had been hidden in the podium. His Vice President barely survived the explosion as he had been called away at the last seconds to answer an urgent call from Rome. As citizens worldwide reacted to the events in horror, shock and confusion, governments and opposition parties fiercely debated who was behind the attack as several terrorist groups, including some no one had previously heard of, each came forward claiming that this was their work. The nation was gripped in panic as people sought reassurance that they were safe and that this was a one time event and not the first in a string of attacks. Many opposition party members went into hiding, afraid that they would be targeted by those who felt they were responsible for having spoken out against the party. It turned out that the chaotic events that would reshape the nation were not yet over. Three days after the explosion, Jared Akhar, newly elected Vice President stepped up to become President. It was a post he would hold for only eleven days.

    The cult of Santa Muerte, chose to make its reemergence as The Church of the True Saint. The Roman Catholic church did not see this blow to its power coming, having thought they destroyed the threat years earlier in the American Crusade, ground to dust along the other oppostion forces. The Church of the True Saint had adherents in all levels of power, and had quietly taken over the system in the decades following the American Crusade before choosing to make its self know again in its new form. Including many powerful members of the group that had led their oppression, and whose coattails they had ridden to victory. In a military coup, fourteen days after the Conservative Christian party’s greatest victory, the CTS stormed the White House, capturing the Lame Duck President and his cabinet. Sweeping the newly baptized President Elect from his Arlington home they seized control of Capitol Hill in a well coordinated, multiple pronged sweeping attack. With simultaneous attacks outside the beltway, they seized thirty-seven of the state government offices throughout the country, selected due to military, economic, and transportation reasons. From these they effectively shut down the country. Highways were blocked and cities locked down, newspapers, internet, radio and TV signals all went dead. Strong representations from the upper echelons of all the branches of the military, national guard, and even local citizen militias were mobilized in a show of organization and force that was as stunning in its execution as in its lack of subtlety. Roman Catholic politicians were rounded up and imprisoned, many turned in by their fellow members, and in the coup’s pinnacle moment, the Pope, visiting to give condolences to a grieving nation and meet with President Elect Akhar to draft new constitutional amendments and laws, was captured. In the weeks following the CTS consolidated power, assuming control of the media outlets, and applied strict censure of communications inside and outside the US as objectors were rounded up. The speed at which this was accomplished showed the substantial planning that had gone into the takeover. They knew who the potential problems where and acted quickly. In order to stop the predicted fleeing of influential minds and powerful families, the CTS rounded up the families of those they suspected might be tempted, and sent them to reeducation centers established to show the error of their parents’ ways. As long as their parents remained loyal and performed their duties acceptably, the families’ safety was guaranteed. The other edge of the blade, the new converts were able to work on the families from the inside, gaining the church additional support. Among the CTS loyalists there where voices calling for the objectors to be put to death, but the Matron, the spiritual leader of the CTS interjected, and the newly established reeducation centers were put to use to further spread the enlightenment of the true religion. No one is as fanatical as a convert, and many of the former objectors emerged from the centers as strong champions of the faith, spreading the word to all.

    The CTS, learning from its own persecution and its own assent to power, took care to make sure that the same did not happen again, with itself on the losing end. Building on the theological groundwork laid by its predecessors and former subjugators, the new government took care to institute a militarized faith. Like ancient Sparta, all children starting at the age of six left their families. They where entered into military religious academies outside of the major cities. The church and military became the children’s family. At age eighteen, every citizen swore loyalty to the Church. Six years of military service where required from every citizen upon turning eighteen, giving the Church a large standing army of well trained soldiers. The Order of The Sickle was founded to train the ruling class of military elites, selections coming as much from family history of service as from individual achievements, the Orders strictures for selection where simple, they required absolute dedication to church and state, and the highest level of ability. Children who were seen to have the potential where selected as early as age eight, and sent to specialized schools. The Order held some symbols sacred. The sickle, sign of reaping vengeance on their persecutors in order to spread the true word, and scales, sign of balancing their loyalty to their faith and to the country. These were the basics of their values that they believed overruled all else. By removing the families and putting the children in the hands of those who believed utterly and unquestioning in the Church of the True Saint, the Church quickly gained a massive following of people who could not question, because that was all they knew. Members of the Order were popularly known as Reapers, seen as La Santisema’s messengers, the scythe more than just an empty symbol in their hands, trained at it from the time they were sent to school, they were deadly with it in battle.

    The military and governments merged and realigned, reporting directly to the Council of The Faith who oversaw the running of the government departments. The Council of the Faith was led by the Commander General, who had assumed the role of President and the Brigadier General, his second in command, head of the newly formed Council of Governors who oversaw the running of the states. The senate remained to bring the states voices and concerns before the Council of The Faith, but the members were now appointed by the Matron, and were those deemed loyal to the church, and served as rewards to those who had helped the church. Under this new system, the church was the central power, as every elected official had a religious adviser, that provided guidance and moral weight to all their decisions. Despite the open presence of the priests and priestesses, the upper echelons of the church and government remained a secret, rarely being seen in public, or by other than the closest advisers. It was whispered that the Commander General, the highest official, himself was only an figurehead for the true power, to which the Churches response was ‘of course, he is only La Santisema’s earthly envoy.’ Few outside the Councils’ knew of the Matron’s existence let alone the power she held over the church, and through it, the nation.

    The transfer of religion and culture can flow both ways. Within two generations, the CTS became the dominant religion in the Americas. The governments soon followed, as treaties welded a vast empire over the entire north and south continent. The governments that resisted were crippled from within by worker strikes and military uprisings, only abating when the government stepped aside to those loyal to the Church.
     
  7. Accelerator231

    Accelerator231 Contributor Contributor

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    Republic. I had a single unicorn. A person, renaissance man who was reincarnated onto the planet where humanity was reduced to a few stone age tribes who were starving to death in a cold barren wasteland. He singlehandedly dragged them out from a stone age to the industrial age with advanced science, law, chemistry, medicine, and magic. He also annihilated anything that could threaten them, ranging from demons, to megafauna, to the other inhuman races. He's the combined equivalent of Shen-nong, Osiris, Thoth, Einstein, George Washington, and Edison, all rolled up and jacked up to god levels.

    Its been 80 years since he's died. Officially, it says that he is not a god. Unofficially, though? The cult of the conquering hero is pretty much the greatest religion in the empire.

    This doesn't change the fact that he's built the first city that humanity ever has, which serves as the capital of the human civilisation on the world. A quasi-victorian city with steampunk and biopunk aesthetics, with massive religious murals and icons pretty much everywhere (this is where things like iron, agriculture, law, education, and all that, were created). It's a democracy where the city makes votes to select rulers who would rule for 10 years. No ruler can rule more than once, with checks and balances created at the start to prevent corruption and such.

    Of course, the edifice is turning creaky. Already, corruption is seeping in. The people of the city see the people in the rural areas to be lower than them. And of course, in such a concentrated piece of power, there is always infighting for power.
     
  8. Cdn Writer

    Cdn Writer Contributor Contributor

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    Currently Reading::
    TRYING (!!!) to read Eric Flint's "Ring of Fire" series.......it's soooo many books!!!!!
    Look at some role playing source books in the Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder universes.

    It's not always fully fleshed out but you can get some basic ideas for a government structure depending on how the bad/good guys are organized in the story. Your characters have to interact with the law, with everyday citizens, and all the infrastructure present in any community.

    Scott
     
  9. Storysmith

    Storysmith Senior Member

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    I suggest you take a look at feudalism. It fits with medievalesque fantasy settings, and it's a very different way of organising society, producing conflicts of interest and sometimes forcing enemies to fight together or friends to fight each other.
     
  10. Friedrich Kugelschreiber

    Friedrich Kugelschreiber marshmallow Contributor

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    My world is broadly feudal. I've got the main points worked out; I was just curious what others may have come up with.
     
  11. Lazaares

    Lazaares Contributor Contributor

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    Political structures are a facade to hide power structures. And a power structure is merely the ability to enforce control over the distribution of resources. Resources in turn will always follow Maslow's hierarchy. Depending on how advanced your civilization is, the primary resources controlled will be higher up on the hierarchy's ladder (this is because certain resources become plentiful over the development of a society).

    Depending on how violent your society is, enforcement will move on a spectrum between media, bribery and corruption to mercenaries, wars, violence and oppression. Last, you have to account for speed and distance of communication, which will determine how centralized or decentralized your power structure is.

    Feudalism is the decentralized control of food through violence. Modern democracy is the centralized or decentralized control of the highest three tiers through the media and nepotism. The Soviet Bloc was a semi-centralized control of the second layer through surveillance, oppression and violence.
     
  12. Friedrich Kugelschreiber

    Friedrich Kugelschreiber marshmallow Contributor

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    I wonder how useful it is to apply Maslow's Hierarchy to societies as a whole. It may be a nice rule of thumb for determining certain motivations and needs of the individual, but is it helpful to determine the needs and motivations of a society? I'm writing fantasy, so I would be less inclined to adhere to such a materialist political philosophy as you have laid out. For example, I wouldn't place quite as much importance on the bare idea of resource distribution, or the categorization of each system primarily according to a Maslovian perception of how those resources are controlled. Thanks for the input, though.
     
  13. Lazaares

    Lazaares Contributor Contributor

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    There is always a "resource" that is sought-after, which can be controlled. Remember that Huxley's dystopia does not control food or water, it controls /self-actualization/ and the desire of people for change.

    Conversely, you can apply this principle to fantasy worlds. If magic can conjure food and defeat armies, then magic or mana may be the resource controlled and sought, leading to a theocracy of mages. Remember Dune & their spice!
     
  14. Accelerator231

    Accelerator231 Contributor Contributor

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    Its fiction, my dude. Fantasy, even. There's no need for you to be 'realistic'. Just make it sound believable, and then its cool.
     
  15. Lazaares

    Lazaares Contributor Contributor

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    This I have always found to be a bad advice. Things, especially in politics, are likely as they are in real life because of organic development over many years. Dismissing the idea that similar developments could occur in a fictional universe will leave a less-believable world. Mind that my explanation doesn't spawn an infinite amount of feudal societies. As I had mentioned in my other comment, it's also the precise explanation to serve as base for Dune or even the Elder Scrolls franchise (especially Morrowind), or Metro 2033. Those each are fiction with vastly different power structures but all wonderfully built up and founded on the logic of their world /and/ their plausible consequences.
     
  16. Friedrich Kugelschreiber

    Friedrich Kugelschreiber marshmallow Contributor

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    He who controls the spice controls the universe :-D
    Yeah, I agree. I just don't think that "resources" as such are the only factor to be considered.
    What's the difference between realistic and believable? Also, my world is vaguely tied to Earth as an undiscovered continent or something, so it needs to obey the same basic laws and tendencies as Earth. Besides, I love messing with this stuff :-D
     
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  17. Lazaares

    Lazaares Contributor Contributor

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    You are right, I should have used a looser term. "Self-realization" or "freedom" hardly fit the term resource - now only if I could find the right one! Perhaps I am bound to invent it.

    The key, as always, is consistency.
     
  18. Accelerator231

    Accelerator231 Contributor Contributor

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    It needs to make sense.

    Let's say, for example, oh, mana stones. Ok, sure, mana stones. The mana can be drawn out to create potions of varying uses and abilities. Can be used to power the immense magitech machines and energy circles that are reserved for the most elite and richest portions of the human civilisation. The mana stones are rare, and mines are often sought after.

    In other words, they're an oil analogue.

    That means that things have to make sense. Ok, fine. They're valuable. Ownership of Mana stone mines should be an incredibly contentious thing in-setting. Your mana-stone sellers shouldn't be poor, vulnerable, or weak. Things like mining and extracting resources tend towards economies of scale. Ignore the thoughts of the mom and pop stores of mana stones, they're more likely to be fronts for massive corporations bent around extracting mana stones and distributing them to the user. Is the government going to ignore this? Nope. Mana stones are either going to be sold to them at a contract, or they're going to be nationalized and the mines seized. No way in hell will there be no political links and communications between magitech-using governments and those in charge of mana-stones.
     
  19. Friedrich Kugelschreiber

    Friedrich Kugelschreiber marshmallow Contributor

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    Mana stones are superficial, though. Political institutions cut to the very heart of human nature, and any story that has unrealistic political institutions therefore has unrealistic humans.
     
  20. Accelerator231

    Accelerator231 Contributor Contributor

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    So what's your point?
     
  21. Aldarion

    Aldarion Active Member

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    You should first determine cultural, societal and historical context, and then see what political organization would follow from that. Or you can do it in reverse, political organization first, rest second; but the point is, all of these are connected.

    Anyway:
     
  22. Beloved of Assur

    Beloved of Assur Active Member

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    I haven't developed much as I try to put myself close to history, or write direct historical fiction, and thus I take my present cues from monarchies from Napoleon to the end of the First World War.
     
  23. Matt E

    Matt E Ruler of the planet Omicron Persei 8 Contributor

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    My book's original setting looked like a regular society in space, with a few cool things like a super-powerful judge/jury/executioner judiciary.

    At this point, I think I'm just going to make it all a dumpster fire.

    Some men just want to watch the world burn.

    The central government, they were cool until a rival superpower dropped a bunch of kinetic rounds on the planet's population center. Real day wrecker when that happens. The spread out population converged on cities and looked for leadership, but there was none. So new leaders emerged. Leaders who weren't held back by the old ways. They call themselves organizers, bosses, first citizen -- the names are different, but the idea is the same. If you say something bad about the boss, you're not long f0r this world. But the boss got your back. If he didn't, he'd be out. Time passes though, and the government gets back onto its feet. There are elections. And who wins in a landslide? The boss, of course. Now he's called the mayor. Or maybe he just tells the mayor what to do. But this is how it all works, and everyone knows it.

    There's the military. They do their own thing. Don't mess with them, and they probably won't mess with you. There are the Marshals, with their supreme judicial powers, but they don't usually do what you want them to do, and are small enough in number that they can't clean up an entire planet. And there's the big interplanetary coalition, which is divided between peace doves and war hawks. Good luck getting them to give a damn, they have bigger problems. And the core worlds? They actively want the brush-fire to burn, because that's what keeps them in power.

    It's a mess! We'll see who comes out on top.
     
  24. Beloved of Assur

    Beloved of Assur Active Member

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    Well, it seems that I can't let go of world building. Now look into a pseudo-feudal empire based on the Late Antiquity Roman Empire where Diocletian-ish ideas about inherited occupations and enforced guild membership is build upon. I don't know what will come of it, but its a nice exercise anyway. :)
     
  25. Oscar Leigh

    Oscar Leigh Contributor Contributor

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    In my sort of second-ranking WIP-in-waiting, behind my historical novel WIP, I have a high fantasy setting based on the mid-late Early Modern Period; roughly 1660-1750. The most important part of the setting is the Gehennish Empire, which somewhat resembles the British Empire. However I wanted to take a little inspiration from France, in that there is an emphasis on layers of councils where many of the centrals institutions are grown out of advisory bodies. I also want it to slightly resemble the Venetian Republic in that way, which fits with it having Italian city-state vibes as a reference for the empire.
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2020

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