Is there any Fantasy setting where there is region that was similar to HRE

[Akisa]

I was wondering if any Fantasy setting where there exists a nation similar to HRE?

[The Glyphstone]

The Empire in Warhammer Fantasy is almost a direct copy, down to having Electors.

[Aneurin]

Assuming you mean the Holy Roman Empire:

Vampire: The Masquerade has its Dark Ages supplement, which I believe does cover the Holy Roman Empire. It certainly covers Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire.

Warhammer Fantasy, as The Glyphstone has said, has the Empire which very much is a copy of the Holy Roman Empire during the Renaissance.

Zweihander's setting is very similar to that of Warhammer Fantasy, since it's more or less a retroclone of WFRP2e.

7th Sea might have an equivalent, though I don't actually recall off the top of my head.

[Akisa]

The Empire in Warhammer Fantasy is almost a direct copy, down to having Electors.


Assuming you mean the Holy Roman Empire:

Vampire: The Masquerade has its Dark Ages supplement, which I believe does cover the Holy Roman Empire. It certainly covers Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire.

Warhammer Fantasy, as The Glyphstone has said, has the Empire which very much is a copy of the Holy Roman Empire during the Renaissance.

Zweihander's setting is very similar to that of Warhammer Fantasy, since it's more or less a retroclone of WFRP2e.

7th Sea might have an equivalent, though I don't actually recall off the top of my head.

Thanks, yes I was referring to the Holy Roman Empire.

[CoreBrute23]

The Alerans from Codex of Alera by Jim Butcher are explicitly descendants of a Roman legion that got lost in a magical world. It's as similar to the Roman Empire as it can be with magic elemental powers.

[awa]

holy roman empire is not very similar to the regular roman empire

[Chauncymancer]

Lamentations of the Flame Princess takes place an an alt-history of Europe. So you have the actual Holy Roman Empire.

[Mechalich]

The Holy Roman Empire was extremely complex, unstable, and difficult to work with. It's a world-building nightmare. Most fantasy authors have (wisely) chosen to stick with better defined kingdoms rather than a discordant chaos of competing micro-states with ever shifting structures. The immense complexity of the HRE makes it resistant to narrative streamlining, which makes it extremely difficult to tell a story about such an area.

[War_lord]

The Holy Roman Empire was extremely complex, unstable, and difficult to work with. It's a world-building nightmare. Most fantasy authors have (wisely) chosen to stick with better defined kingdoms rather than a discordant chaos of competing micro-states with ever shifting structures. The immense complexity of the HRE makes it resistant to narrative streamlining, which makes it extremely difficult to tell a story about such an area.

I don't agree that it's a world building nightmare. I think the problem is that most readers aren't historians, assume that modern nation states is how these things have always worked, and it's very difficult to break them out of that.

[Eldan]

The Holy Roman Empire was extremely complex, unstable, and difficult to work with. It's a world-building nightmare. Most fantasy authors have (wisely) chosen to stick with better defined kingdoms rather than a discordant chaos of competing micro-states with ever shifting structures. The immense complexity of the HRE makes it resistant to narrative streamlining, which makes it extremely difficult to tell a story about such an area.

I've also rarely seen kingdoms that are portrayed with any kind of realism. How often do fantasy kings really worry about laws, and how many of them are absolute or near-absolute rulers? How many kings can just execute or pardon people? Or all the apparently existing royal standing armies.

[Delta]

The "New Empire" in The Dark Eye (huge german fantasy RPG, newest edition is being published in English too by Ulisses North America) is in its current incarnation very much inspired by the HRE, with a travelling court of the current Empress and the different imperial provinces having a large amount of autonomy and so on (up to and including two of them going to war, one of them seceding when the Empress' brother wasn't happy and wanted to be Emperor himself and so on, all the good old Imperial shenanigans, happening within the last decade), the guy who wrote the latest source book on the Empire very explicitly based it on different periods of the HRE.

[Anonymouswizard]

I've also rarely seen kingdoms that are portrayed with any kind of realism. How often do fantasy kings really worry about laws, and how many of them are absolute or near-absolute rulers? How many kings can just execute or pardon people? Or all the apparently existing royal standing armies.

Fantasy does have a shocking number of absolute monarchies, with the rulers not paying attention to the needs of their kingdom. I'm still shocked how rare a constitutional monarchy is, or even an equivalent of the Magna Carta.


The "New Empire" in The Dark Eye (huge german fantasy RPG, newest edition is being published in English too by Ulisses North America) is in its current incarnation very much inspired by the HRE, with a travelling court of the current Empress and the different imperial provinces having a large amount of autonomy and so on (up to and including two of them going to war, one of them seceding when the Empress' brother wasn't happy and wanted to be Emperor himself and so on, all the good old Imperial shenanigans, happening within the last decade), the guy who wrote the latest source book on the Empire very explicitly based it on different periods of the HRE.

We talking about the Middenrealm, right?

It makes a lot of sense that a German game would base it's big nation on the HRE, seeing as how many English language games base theirs upon ~1200s England (at least in theory).

[Delta]

We talking about the Middenrealm, right?

I actually have no idea what the specific english names are since I don't own the english versions of the new edition books. But yeah, that sounds correct, the german name is either "Mittelreich", or "Neues Reich", aka New Realm as opposed to the "old" Realm of Bosparan that preceded it and was more based on the actual Roman Empire (another parallel of the HRE-inspired realm being raised out of the ruins of the Roman-inspired one)

[Mechalich]

I don't agree that it's a world building nightmare. I think the problem is that most readers aren't historians, assume that modern nation states is how these things have always worked, and it's very difficult to break them out of that.

It's an issue of sheer numbers. The HRE, at its simplest, contains more polities than most highly developed fantasy worlds do in their entirety. The Wheel of Time, for example, is super detailed, but contains only ~20 major polities/cultural groups and already has to conglomerate several (turn four nations into 'The Borderlands') for management purposes. Trying to recreate the HRE simply involves too many names and locations to manage effectively.


I've also rarely seen kingdoms that are portrayed with any kind of realism. How often do fantasy kings really worry about laws, and how many of them are absolute or near-absolute rulers? How many kings can just execute or pardon people? Or all the apparently existing royal standing armies.

It's actually very common in half-way decent and better fantasy for rulers (whether kings, emperors, or something else) to worry about laws, norms, and upsetting their subordinates. Intricate fantasy legal systems and cultural norms occur with some commonality. Royal standing armies aren't that much of an anomaly and aren't universal in fantasy (though fantasy series do tend to gloss over issues of mobilization, but so does almost any fictional war series).