Magic Rules! 7 Unboring Governments for Fantasy Realms
Sick of your usual monarchies, undead emperors and military dictatorships? Here are seven alternative (that is, better and more interesting) forms of government for your fantasy realm:
Democratic monarchy
In a typical Western democracy, people vote for political parties.
In a faux-medieval setting, they could vote for royal families. Whichever family wins the most votes earns the throne.
Monarchies are a stable form of government whose biggest weakness is a lack of accountability. Kings and queens rule with absolute power. Not only does this corrupt the monarchs, it closes off peaceful avenues for transitioning leadership.
If murder is the only way a third son of a king can rule, he’ll at least consider it.
Democratic monarchies, like all democracies, force the leaders to be at least somewhat popular, while providing ambitious rivals with peaceful ways of attaining the throne.
The downsides are the usual for democracies - they rely on an informed populace who are eager to defend their rights. There’s also the tendency for royals to marry their children off to each other. What happens when the lines between the families blur?
Democratic theocracy
Many fantasy settings have a pointlessly unwieldy list of gods.
Cleric: I worship Whogivesadamn, the goddess of shoelaces.
Fighter: Wait, I thought Yetanothermeaninglessname was the god of shoelaces.
Cleric: Haha, no, Yetanothermeaninglessname is the elven god of shoelaces, where I worship the dwarven shoelace goddess.
How tedious is that? In Discworld, that’s played for laughs. In the Forgotten Realms, you’re expected to know this crap. It gets even more fun when the orcish god of war is the same as the dragon’s god of war, but they have completely different names.
Yawn.
That’s why my pantheons usually have seven gods in them. Seven is a manageable number.
And there are no race-specific pantheons, because I can’t think of anything more pointless and uninspired than giving each race their own suite of gods. Deities are supposed to be above mortal concerns, not heavily invested in their skin colours.
Anyway…
Seven deities gives you seven priesthoods - each of which compete for your vote.
And why not? The high priests of the God of War and Justice will rule differently from the Goddess of Love and Secrets, who will differ from the God of Magic and Music…
You get the idea. Each priesthood is like a political party, with its own values, experience and perspectives. That would make for some fascinating elections.
The flaw with this is obvious. In America, there’s red/blue tribalism. In this system of government, there’d be ROYGBIV tribalism, backed by divine vengeance.
Divinocracy
The biggest problem with governments is that humans are fallible.
Democracy rests on this principle: people make mistakes, so we need to hold our leaders accountable.
If people weren’t so flawed, we wouldn’t need all these rules. We’d simply choose the best person to be a dictator and get out of their way.
That’s not going to work, but here’s the next best thing.
Rather than trusting mortals - with their biases and corruptibility - why not let the fates guide your policy?
Put the most capable divination wizards in charge. Then, when they need to decide whether to raise taxes or cut spending, they search for omens and make the decision that way.
This could be an incredibly transparent form of government, if they conduct the rituals under the public eye and have independent wizards verify their interpretations.
The downsides? Many a story has been written about prophecies coming literally true in unexpected ways. Imagine a bureaucracy that runs on ironic wording.
Arcanocracy
Mighty wizards and sorcerers will likely take over your kingdom eventually. Why not simplify things and make that part of the government?
Whoever is the strongest spellcaster in the land gets the throne.
The cleanest test is an annual fight to the death among wizards. If you don’t want to be routinely killing off your best strategic assets, there are non-fatal alternatives. Maybe the candidates must construct and enchant golems who fight on their behalf. Or you could have a series of spontaneous challenges, like the Triwizard Tournament.
As for the downsides, that should be obvious.
Wizards rely heavily on theory and book-learning.
Sorcerers were born into power.
Warlocks sold their souls for greater magic.
None of these people are qualified to be leaders of anything.
Oblivious republic
After one-too-many coups, a government official seeks advice from an eccentric wizard. They want a form of government, backed by magic if necessary, that makes coups impossible.
The wizard tells the official to return in exactly a month.
When the official returns, the wizard presents him with a series of identical crowns.
“Whenever the senate is in session,” the wizard explains, “have the senators place a crown upon their heads. None shall speak until all are encrowned. The crowns must remain on during the session. The crowns must not be worn outside a session.
“The first duty of the first session will be to elect an emperor. Then, conduct votes and discussions as usual. Record all motions raised and the vote tally for each on parchment, but do not write the emperor’s name, or specifically who voted which way.”
The official was confused, but he swore to agree to the mad wizard’s rules.
After the first session, the senators were also confused. The last thing they remembered was putting their crowns on - then nothing until they removed them. Even so, the day had passed and they had the results of many votes.
Votes none could remember casting.
None of the senators know which way they voted. They don’t even know who the new emperor is.
It’s a great way to prevent coups. Why overthrow the government when you might already be in charge?
The problem is that no one was accountable for their actions while under the crown. Given full power and no accountability - even to themselves - the senate devolved into debauchery.
But there were no more coups.
Katadikocracy
Under a katadikocracy - or “government by the damned” - anyone can become the emperor.
Whenever there’s a vacancy, any merchant, farmer or beggar can decide to take on the mantle.
All they need to do is sign a contract first. That contract sells their immortal soul to a demon, in exchange for wisdom, courage, perspective and compassion.
The system works well. For one thing, it keeps anyone but the most selfless away from the throne. For another, it consistently produces capable, enlightened leaders.
Katadikocratic nations flourish.
The problem?
People wonder what the demons get out of it. One measly soul? That’s hardly their style. The demons must, so neighbouring kingdoms whisper, subtly corrupt the entire nation.
Katadikocratic nations struggle to develop trade with their neighbours, despite having a wealth of goods to offer. They rarely join alliances, despite having capable armies.
Wise philosophers wonder if maybe this distrust between kingdoms was the demons’ goal all along…
Hermit anarchy
Hermit anarchies are rare - the result of powerful fey curses gone wild.
Under a hermit anarchy, no one can become too powerful, wealthy or famous. If they do, they turn to stone or are driven mad.
Government is a concentration of power and therefore impossible in such a land.
Most people live alone, rarely trading with or even talking to their neighbours. You never know when a piece of good advice or some well-made bread will bring unwanted attention and commerce your way.
Such nations are weak, since no one innovates, inspires or leads anyone else. They’re impossible to invade, though. What general would be dumb enough to lead an army into it?
If you like thinking outside the box like this, I have the perfect thing for you:
The problem with many fantasy, scifi, cosmic horror and surrealist stories is the non-human characters are too damn relatable. Pick a random episode of Stark Trek or Doctor Who - you’ll see aliens who look and act like humans.
Why?
Well, partly because writing for non-humans is hard.
Unless you have Call of the Gods, that is. This guide has a simple framework and plenty of examples of how to make aliens… well, alien.
It’s easier than you think and oh-so rewarding.
Find it here: