Government

In this post we’ll discuss worldbuilding governments, how and why different types are established, and how a state expands to form an empire.

Hey everyone, my name is Matthew, at least according to my appointment within the state, and this post is part of a series where I will be going through a science-adjacent worldbuilding process step-by-step. For today’s discussion, we’ll be looking at governments, discussing the difference between government for nomadic and settled societies, which types of government are most likely to be established early in a civilization’s history, and how those governments evolve over time into federations and empires.

Government refers to a system within a society that is used to manage and oversee the individuals within it. In modern times, the term ‘government’ is often used synonymously with the term ‘state’. Although the definition of a state is not formally agreed upon, a state in political terms generally refers to the centralized organization that imposes and enforces rules over the population within its territory. However, while in the 21st century we often pair government with state concepts, for a huge portion of history many societies existed without a state, but still certainly had their own governing bodies.

In this way, we can separate societies into ‘state’ societies and ‘stateless’ societies. State societies have centralized and organized authorities, that are usually clearly defined with measures in place to preserve the system over time, such as a monarchy where the monarch’s powers are written into law, and an inheritance system that allows power to be retained after the monarch’s death. Stateless societies on the other hand have less concentration of authority, with positions that are generally not permanently held or sustained, such as a tribal society where a leader is self-appointed but can be challenged for their position by others, and the extent of their powers more loosely accepted. Importantly, states are present only within settled cultures, while stateless societies are almost always nomadic. The settling process inevitably leads to the development of a state over time, as a dedicated centralized authority becomes required to manage the larger population of a settled culture.

To begin with, let’s look at stateless societies. The two simplest stateless societies are called ‘bands’, usually consisting of a kin group of extended relatives called a ‘clan’, no larger than 30 to 50 individuals, and ‘tribes’ usually consisting of multiple clans that have come together. Bands and tribes have a loose organization and a power structure that is often egalitarian, prioritizing social equality for all members. For much of prehistory, societies would most often be bands and tribes, and their emphasis on egalitarianism meant that there was usually no strict ‘leader’, and therefore no governance.

The stateless society we’ll be focusing on, however, are ‘chiefdoms’, which consist of multiple kin-groups called ‘houses’ that come together for mutual benefit. Within a chiefdom, a clear hierarchical structure is present in the form of the chieftain or chieftainess, who wields authority over decision making for the chiefdom, and whose house are usually afforded greater status and luxury over the others. If you are worldbuilding a non-settled society with a dedicated government, there is historical evidence on earth of chiefdoms forming independently across the globe, with a similar hierarchy and structure of authority. As worldbuilders there is a huge breadth of diversity for you to create a chiefdom-style government for the stateless societies you are working with, though it is important to remember that the government of these decentralized societies is only as strong as their leader.  

Also importantly, the presence of these stateless societies is likely to remain for quite some time, and the switch to settled state societies across the globe is a relatively modern phenomenon, with nomadic hunter-gatherers in stateless societies of complex bands, tribes and chiefdoms having been present right up to the 19th century and are in fact the norm rather than the exception in most ages prior to the modern era.

Let’s now look at state societies, and the different government types that form within them. Importantly, discussing every single type of government across the ages would be an exhaustive task, and far beyond the scope of this video, so instead we’ll be discussing the establishment of government, as well as the common governments early in history. In modern times, while government types are certainly still complicated and diverse structures, their categorization has simplified to a sliding scale between democracies and totalitarian regimes. All more modern governments from technocracies, to republics, to dictatorships, fit along this scale, though we’ll revisit these modern governments in the future.

For states established by early societies, structures and values present within a chiefdom were adapted and expanded upon, with all states that formed in the early ancient era on earth establishing a monarchy, a system in which the monarch, who is a person, is the head of state for the duration of their life, unless they choose to formally step down, a concept called abdication.

Another similarly early type of government is a theocracy, wherein a deity or group of deities are given authority over the state. In a theocracy, government will be made up of religious representatives, such as a church. If you are worldbuilding a world where deities are real and involved with the world, theocracies are almost guaranteed to be the most prevalent system of government, with deities able to enact their authority over civilizations directly.

Otherwise, on worlds where deities are either not real, or do not directly involve themselves with mortal affairs, a religious culture is likely to adopt a combination of monarchy and theocracy, called a theocratic monarchy, which very simply infers that the monarch is being enforced by ‘divine law’. In fact, the earliest state and therefore state government on earth within ancient Sumer was a theocratic monarchy, with the monarch being a priestly governor. In this type of government, the monarch is viewed either as a representative of a deity, or even as a deity themselves, like the ancient Egyptian pharaohs, though while this belief expands their authority among those who follow the same religion, their authority is at risk if belief in the religion they are representative of declines.

Also present early in state history are Aristocracy, Oligarchy, and Timocracy, three similar systems wherein a small group of individuals wield power over the state. In Aristocracy, government is made up of a ruling class of the ‘best suited’ individuals, and in its original intention appointed individuals based on merit. Oligarchy in contrast retains power within the ruling class through inheritance or internal appointment, with no inclination towards the ‘best suited’ individuals for the task. In this way, Oligarchy is sometimes considered a corrupt form of Aristocracy. Timocracy very simply puts the power of the state in the hands of property owners, and like Oligarchy does not consider social or civic responsibility for those with power.

Finally among early governments is democracy, and though early democracies do bear some differences from modern democracies, the premise of having government elected from the general population with a focus on representation remains the same. Across history, we generally don’t see state societies start with democracy, but rather see democracies emerge following revolution from other types of government, especially following tyranny, which in political terms refers to any system in which rulers are unrestrained by law, or who have seized power illegitimately. Tyrannous governments, and the tyrants within them, are often cruel and oppressive of the population they have power over. The concept of tyranny can be applied to any of the aforementioned governments, such as a tyrannical monarchy or failed democracy. As mentioned however, tyrannous governments often result in revolution, which is a fundamental and sudden change in political power wherein the population rises against the government. While tyrants and tyrannous governments are unfortunately common, they tend to be short lived, with longer, more successful governments ruling through other more legitimate means.

This short list of types of government were the most common throughout early history, though this is by no means an exhaustive list, and combinations such as theocratic monarchy were very common. In fictional settings, a type of government often referenced is a ‘magocracy’, wherein a society is ruled by the magical elite, such as wizards and sorcerers. However, this system still falls within the constraints of other government types, and a wizard who is a sole ruler is still a monarch, a council of wizards are still an Aristocracy or Oligarchy, and a magical religious leader like a cleric would still fall under a theocracy.

Before we apply these governments to our worldbuilding projects, let’s quickly discuss government powers, and how federations and empires are formed. A state with any type of government that operates on the highest jurisdiction over a territory, with no authority higher than itself, is considered a ‘sovereign state’. A sovereign state can be unitary, meaning that it is governed as a single entity, federal, meaning that multiple states have voluntarily formed a political union, which creates a new umbrella state that now has sovereignty, called a federal state or simply a federation, and finally a sovereign state can be imperial, meaning that it has imposed its rule over another state, a concept called ‘annexation’, taking over sovereignty of the other state and creating an empire. In this way, the unitary state of Texas was a sovereign state until 1846, when it voluntarily joined the federation of the United States of America, which has been the sovereign power of the region to date. In contrast, the United States took control over the Hawaiian kingdom in 1898 by force, imposing rule over Hawaii and creating an imperial state, making the United States of America an empire, until Hawaii joined the federation of the United States of America in 1959.

Now that we’ve discussed the different types of government, let’s look at how to apply governments to your worldbuilding projects. This is the map of Locus, with its early major and minor societies marked on the map. Given that Locus at this stage of our worldbuilding is still within the ancient era, we can very simply expect that all major settled locations will develop state systems, while all others will be stateless. To begin with, let’s follow historical precedent and have the earliest settlements each establish monarchies to start, and expand from there. Thuchus and Lindale each follow a major monotheistic and polytheistic religion respectively, so we can expect that they would each develop theocratic monarchies.

As we discussed when we built the religions of Locus, the humans of Lindale’s polytheistic religion primarily revere a fire goddess called Flumeria, and their theocratic monarchy will follow a similar structure to that of their divine pantheon, with a female monarch and inheritance determined by familial ties. The royal family are exceptional mages, particularly specializing in magic involving fire. A prominent Lindalian queen of the ancient era was Lera the Everburning, who famously cast a firestorm of such power that an otherworldly creature called a breacher was summoned. Lera survived the encounter with the breacher, claiming the goddess herself sent the creature to check her power, and that she had passed the test, ascending to godhood herself. Lera’s royal lineage continues to maintain power within Lindalian government, using a combination of religious backing and magical power to keep the theocratic monarchy intact.

The reptilian Silarin of Thuchus on the other hand, establish a theocratic monarch who is far more prominently a religious figure, rather than one who is simply religiously backed. The “gudizith” refers to the high priest of the Thuchushian faith, called ‘Dugatho’, and the government of Thuchus would more heavily focus on religious life and rituals. The gudizith is said to be the voice of Gudizho, the deity of the Dugathian religion. The expansion of Thuchusian influence is therefore unsurprisingly driven by religion, with the nearby nomadic peoples converted.

The Thuchusians however are not alone on their continent, and the parasitic octopus-like Na’qwuil of Tarna’qwua are poised to expand. Within Tarna’qwua, the first constitutional monarchy is established, with the monarch, called a ka’ngug receiving powers in accordance with their constitution, an established legal framework. Among na’qwuil, government is relatively egalitarian, and the powers given to the ka’ngug do not elevate them far above the common na’qwuilian. The na’qwuil however view other sapient species as subservient, and as they expand to annex the nearby areas, any systems of governance in place are totally replaced, though the species they have dominated and parasitize are in no condition to rebel, their lands and holdings consumed into the na’qwuilian domain.

The humans of Norford and bear-like Urakan of Senanagru each independently start as monarchies, though their dependency on each other, as well as their rising positive relations, diminishes the idea culturally of an absolute ruler, with Norford expanding their monarchy into an aristocracy. The Senanatgru, in admiration of the Norfordian’s progression, gifted them with a large council table made of wood, called ‘The White Table’, infused with symbolic magic that reveals illusion and holds back darkness. The ruling council of Norford has thus come to be called ‘The White Table’, appointing through merit the most suitable candidates for government. After decades of positive trade and cooperation, an Urakani was appointed to the White Table, a move which invariably is viewed as the critical moment that led to the subsequent federation of the two cultures, now called Kalandria, named after the mountain that feeds rivers to both major settlements. In time, Balthorpe would agree to join Kalandria, expanding the federation.

Kathochusho, the western Silarin settlement, while being religious, would instead develop a stratocratic monarchy, meaning that the monarch is a military figure, such as a general, and their advisors within their government would be made up of other military personnel. Young Silarin within Kathochusho would receive dedicated military training, which the Kathochushians call “hestosa”, a program which is required for citizenship. The ‘Zho’, the king or queen of the Kathochushians, is the most militarily accomplished individual, and succession does not follow inheritance, but rather will pass to the next most accomplished individual when the Zho dies or abdicates. Unsurprisingly, the Kathochushians are one of the first to launch large scale warfare on Locus. Sahakuth, despite having its own governing body, falls under the rule of Kathochusho, which becomes the first empire on Locus.

Sahakuth however not only bears great wealth, but is geographically quite far from Kathochusho, and in an entirely different climate band, inevitably leading to the Kathochushian hold over it to be revolted against. Unable to retain its hold over Sahakuth, Kathochusho loses its status as an empire, and Sahakuth regains its sovereignty. A refuge for humans who have been oppressed, as well as Silarin who seek an escape from the military regime of Kathochusho, Sahakuth becomes a haven of progression, and the state that is re-established implements values of representation, introducing the first democratic government. Sahakuth refuses to join Kalandria, instead standing tall on its own, re-establishing trade, and connecting the previously disconnected world of the Silarin to the other sapient species.

So, to recap, government is a system in place to manage and oversee a society. Societies can either be stateless societies, which are usually non-settled, and include bands, tribes, and chiefdoms, or they can be state societies, having settled and established dedicated centralized governments. Most states establish monarchies as their first type of government, though this can quickly expand to feature many different types of government, from theocracies, to oligarchies, to democracies.

Join me next time when we’ll discuss militaries and warfare, looking at how militaries are established, and how they are utilized by states in order to expand and achieve their goals. And until next time… stay awesome!