#governmental systems
there are tons of different types of governments - mostly, as a pattern in fantasy, the government is either in the form of a monarchy or extremely corrupted. so i’ll be sharing some cool methods to write this, again, its just the way I want, do your own research if you want more in-depth info. (also, not a historian, these are things ive studied in history class!)
#1. Totalitarian states
These governments are extremely right-wing (conservative) usually, and impose strict censorship laws and usually have a very active secret police and intelligence systems made up of informants, militants and spies. A lot of the time, they also tend to brainwash their people into believing them using propaganda and silencing dissenters. They often use terror tactics like making the entire population distrust each other, as no-one is sure who is working for the government. Its using systemic terror and the fear of not knowing who to trust that creates very efficient (and terrifying) government systems.
#1a. Revolutions & Freedom of Speech
The reason why a totalitarian states rules in the first place is often because of having a great amount of military power, which subdues the people and is an efficient way to take away rights without having a massive protest or revolution. The only effective way for a totalitarian government to be taken down is if the head of state or an important general is murdered, throwing the lower governmental ranks into chaos. That usually culminates in a breakdown of the economy and politics and the chance for a new government to take power.
#2. Monarchies
A monarchy is a form of government where there is Monarch at the head of it. There are a bunch of different ways it can be organized, but usually there is a council of ministers in charge of different things (i.e Defense, Health, Education, etc) that meets and consults with the monarch, who is in charge of all the ultimate decisions. They monarch also deals with important foreign relations - meeting with monarchs or heads of other governments would be their job with advisory from the Foreign minister. Monarchies are more old-school, and also have no democratic election system.
#2a. Puppet rulers
A lot of monarchs in history - and in fiction, have been puppets controlled by a much more powerful person behind them. Whether this be because they’re old and powerless, or are blackmailed into it, they have no actual autonomy and are overridden by the person controlling them. Puppet rulers are especially useful as plot twists in fantasies, because the person who was built up to be the “big bad enemy” was actually being controlled by AN EVEN WORSE ENEMY⁉️
#3. Some questions to ask yourself about your governmental system
- Is it corrupted? To what extent?
- What factions exist within it? (eg: conservatives, liberals, etc)
- What do the people support/think?
- If there was an emergency crisis at the same time as a war was being fought, would the government prioritise its people or its soldiers/territory?
- Who was the previous government? How did the current government succeed it?
Not all of these require long answers, even a couple of lines to understand how the government did xyz would be enough context! hope this helped <3
