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slaydemons
2011-06-18, 11:15 PM
I would really like some help with this one,


Basically the race thinks about order and survival at all costs. What type of government would they have. I am at a total dead stop here and would really like some help with this if you guys feel up to it.

Tvtyrant
2011-06-18, 11:21 PM
Order at all costs? Survival? May I interest you in the Ottoman empire's government; it incorporated Roman imperialism with feudalism in a way that made it very effective militarily for centuries past their technological obsolescence.

slaydemons
2011-06-18, 11:36 PM
Order at all costs? Survival? May I interest you in the Ottoman empire's government; it incorporated Roman imperialism with feudalism in a way that made it very effective militarily for centuries past their technological obsolescence.

thanks and yes if you say it I must find it and read about it, their also the only race to not have had an empire on the continent they are on.

Set
2011-06-19, 01:39 AM
Governments that are strongly centered around survival and order would likely be isolationist / protectionist. Such a nation could be strongly bound by tradition, shunning innovation or creativity as 'radical' or 'artsy-fartsy' or 'too clever by half' or even arrogant (what, the way we've always done things isn't good enough for you, you have to say your newfangled way is 'better?') and often ruled by the elderly or an elite bloodline or the wealthiest among them (or some combination of all three), and, increasingly, powerfully racist / supremacist regarding the superiority / purity of their own people, and regarding people from across the border as being dangerous, anarchic, etc. keeping their people in line with grossly exaggerrated tales of how terrible it is out there. Rumors come in that some people were sick, in a nearby nation? By the time the peasant on the street of Isolation-ville hears about it, it was a terrible plague that killed thousands, and was brought about by the laissez-faire goverment of that nation and the dubious sexual / hygenic / dietary practices of its people.

Anything that keeps the people afraid of the terrible things that happen in 'those other countries,' will keep them clamoring for stricter rules (and tending to 'cop' their fellow citizens by turning each other in at the drop of a hat, or even lynching people they consider dangerous or immoral) and from protesting rules that even a blue dragon would consider draconian.

While such a nation doesn't have to be evil, a traditionalist system keeps those in power from ever giving up that power, and rewards those who have waited long enough with the inheritance of power from the previous generation, instead of selecting leadership by any sort of merit or worthiness, resulting in an increasingly older generation of leaders, often befuddled and knee-jerk reactionary about anything they don't understand, whose primary 'qualification' to lead the country is that 'it's their turn' and that they 'haven't died yet.' (A few real-world nations, who were right on the cutting edge in the '50s, have the same leaders they had in the '50s, and these aging leaders have grown resistant to change and are holding their nations back.)

In a fantasy nation, where a leader could be an elf, or a lich, and cling to power for *centuries,* growing ever more dismissive and (although they'll never admit this) afraid of the rapidly changing world around them could stagnate an entire culture. As nations around them change leaders, change governments, change names, change dominant cultures, etc. the traditionalist leader would see *each* of these changes as chaotic and confusing and unwelcome, and just the sort of shenanigans they will not tolerate in their country. They willl attempt to prevent the language from drifting or evolving into something unfamiliar to their ears. Plays and stories that are interesting retellings of classics will be comforting to them, while new plays or stories will be seen as confusing or even subversive. Nomadic peoples, like the Roma, may be seen as toxic, crossing borders willy-niilly and bringing unwanted cultural detritus and contamination from nations that wildly and lawlessly allow themselves to be diluted by foreign concepts and anarchic philosophies.

In a real world application, such a nation will have styles and equipment and architecture decades behind neighboring countries, poorer health, a crappier economy, etc, etc.

In a fantasy world, where 'ancient magics' are sometimes flat-out superior to 'modern' magics (such as the Mythals of the Realms), the traditionalist country with a centuries old legacy, frozen with no 'progress' at all, might actually be more potent than expected, in magic, at least. Their army might use bronze weapons and armor, but if they can call down an Invoked Devastation or Rain of Colorless Fire, the younger, 'healthier' nations around them might not want to provoke the stodgy old fear-mongers!

Aux-Ash
2011-06-19, 04:20 AM
I would really like some help with this one,


Basically the race thinks about order and survival at all costs. What type of government would they have. I am at a total dead stop here and would really like some help with this if you guys feel up to it.

It really isn't enough information to go on. Most nations come across a situation where they think order and survival at all costs are a focus at, at least, one point in their histories.

This is as true of monarchies, republics, tribal federations, oligarchies and theocracies.

What else can you tell us about this race? What kind of a people are they? What is their recent history (relative to how long they live)? What threats are they facing?

Serpentine
2011-06-19, 04:39 AM
I would really like some help with this one,


Basically the race thinks about order and survival at all costs. What type of government would they have. I am at a total dead stop here and would really like some help with this if you guys feel up to it.We really need more information on this. What does "order" and "survival at all costs" mean to them, exactly? And Hell, this might ultimately not even be relevant - I have a city where hierarchy and racial competition is extremely important, and yet it's (at least nominally) a council-run democracy.

Have a look here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_forms_of_government) for some ideas.