  Fantasy
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"If men were angels, no government would be necessary."
-James Madison, 4th American president |
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submariner   wrote:
I see a lot of newsletters about the creation of the world, but what about governments? Not every town can be utopian, that would end up a snorer. Maybe a topic of different types of governments may be helpful as a newsletter. Thanks.
Wish granted, submariner ! Welcome to Part I of systems of government that you, the fantastical writer, can utilize in your stories.
 Government according to Merriam-Webster, is "the organization, machinery, or agency through which a political unit exercises authority and performs functions."
For your purposes as a writer, your characters are going to be citizens of some nation, tribe, clan, village, or some sort of group. Even lone characters like rangers will have something like this, even if they don't necessarily acknowledge it. These groups of people will have to be governed by something because, face it, anarchy (no government) and utopias (perfect societies) aren't very realistic and if you do employ those two systems then you'd better have good explanations.
A government could be a deciding factor that you as a writer might not have thought of. What kind of roadblocks could arise from a government getting involved in a quest or what if one of your characters was a part of the governmental system? Perhaps it's the government itself that instigates the quest, hoping to avoid a diplomatic disaster or wanting an object back that has special significance to the nation, or perhaps even providing supplies and manpower for an expedition. The possibilities are myriad.
Today we'll look at one of the most common types of government, especially for stories with medieval-ish settings:
Autocracy
An autocracy is a government in which one individual ultimately holds all the power.
 An absolute monarchy is an example of a autocracy, as is a republican dictatorship with an all-powerful president or other central figure.
 Real Life Examples - Saudi Arabia, Brunei, Nepal and Swaziland are all examples of current countries with absolute monarchies. Past examples include King Louis XIV of France whose famous statement "L'état, c'est moi" (The state is me) sums up the autocratic system quite well. The czars of Russia up to 1905 are also good examples.
 Some questions to consider:
How does this central figure keep his or her power?
English kings traditionally called on "Divine Right", saying that God had chosen them to be where they were and that was that. To show this, a king's coronation was usually at an important cathedral and the king would be anointed by a member of the clergy so the people of the country could see God's representative on earth giving the king his approval. Even today, the British Royal Family's motto is Dieu Et Mon Droit (God and my [birth] Right).
The Pharaohs of ancient Egypt are another form of an autocratic government that claimed Divine right. They claimed that they were gods incarnate, or at the least, semi-divine themselves. So to defy a pharaoh was to go against a god.
Fear of divine retribution for the most part kept kings that called on Divine Right on their thrones. In a fantasy world, a king or queen must claim their power from somewhere. Perhaps your monarchy (or dictator) calls on Divine Right as well. Or maybe it's family loyalty (e.g. King So-and-So was the founder of the kingdom and out of traditional national loyalty, the citizens obey each coming king or queen as a rightful successor). Perhaps it's something else completely. You decide.
How does the next monarch get chosen?
Unless your monarch is an invincible immortal who can never die or be killed, your king/queen will have need of a successor. All these methods have different dynamics that can influence a story and your characters.
 Primogeniture - The monarchy would pass to the oldest child, or nearest relative should no children be around. Whether it passes to to the son or daughter is up to you. Problems such as siblings squabbling over the throne, finding the next heir should none be readily apparent, outright wars fought over who really belongs next, and twin successors could create interesting conflict for your story.
Ultimogeniture - Inheritance by the youngest (instead of the oldest as in primogeniture).
Agnatic seniority - In this method, succession to the monarchy would pass to members of the monarch's own family (next oldest brother or sister), even if the monarch had children of his or her own. The children would only achieve the monarchy once the elder generation had been exhausted.
Tanistry - This method comes from Ireland and Scotland where the next king would be chosen from among all males (or females if you wanted to change things up a bit) in a royal clan and must be elected by the other members of the clan. The candidate's only requirement was that he be of the right family and have no major blemishes of mind or body. Some problems with this we see in history that civil wars often broke out when the clan did not agree who should be king.
Elective Monarchy - This is similar to Tanistry, but the elective body is not necessarily confined to the monarch's family. A modern example of this is the Pope who is elected to a life term by (and usually from) the College of Cardinals. A fictional example is Amidala from Star Wars who was elected to be Queen on her planet Naboo.
“The best reason why Monarchy is a strong government is, that it is an intelligible government. The mass of mankind understand it, and they hardly anywhere in the world understand any other.”
-Walter Bagehot (1826–1877), British economist, critic. From The English Constitution. |
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From: thatBobguy
I can think of a couple of Pantheistic views- one is the Gaia mythos (in which the Earth is a sentient being) out of the very early Greek tradition and the Chinese Tao concept (which the Force in Star Wars mimics). Also, in the early Christian church there were sects that held that God was in and of all creation. Most of those adherents got burned for heresy or martyred. Hope I helped and not offended.
Thanks Bob! I've heard of the Gaia myth, but it must have slipped my mind when I was writing my last newsletter.
From: Bob DeFrank 
Great article! One thing I've noticed about polytheistic religions is that the gods are often family members (Greek and Norse mythology). No wonder they never get along. There's no fight like a family fight.
Thanks Bob  . Good point about gods and goddesses being related; it gives an interesting reason for natural disasters and such. Why was there an earthquake? Because the kids were fighting! 
From: cwiz
So how do I get you to feature my book in the book of the month pick spot?
All the picks for the "Book of the Month" are books that I've read with two exceptions, and they were non-fiction writing/how-to books that I'd had several recommendations about or looked like a good resource. |
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Fantasy: April 05, 2006 Issue [#957]
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