Hello day two of my NaNo Experiment! And day two of NaNoWriMo! I’m really pumped to keep writing this world building series, so I’m going to jump right into it!
Nations divide the world and make it into what it is, government keeps the world running smoothly (or so the attempt it). They turn the world from just a planet into a civilization, something (fairly) organized, and also make the world a lot more complex.
So for a realistic world, you need to know the nations and governments in your world, to built your society around. Because society is built around government, and governments are decided my nations.
Nations
I write a lot of fantasy, so most often I have kingdoms, and you have no idea how long it took me to come up with the word nations, but most likely you’ll have a world divided by nations (because could you imagine having to have one government for an entire planet, that would be a lot of trouble).
A nations is defined (by Wikipedia) as a stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, history, ethnicity, or psychological make up manifested in common culture. A nations is more overtly political than an ethnic group; it has been described as “a fully mobilized or institutional ethnic group”. (Thanks Wikipedia lol.)
Dividing your world into separate nations, whether those are states, kingdoms, countries, empires, city-states, or whatever you’d like to call them, adds depth to your world.
When creating a nation, make sure you are creating it logically. Nations should, as said above, have a common culture that it is formed around, otherwise it won’t make sense.
Keep in mind that often there are natural divides (creating distinct regions which often form natural barriers between nations) created by the land itself that help form lines between nations. Those divides can be mountains, ravines, rivers, oceans, etc. Use these barriers to help form divides between nations.
Make sure there are clear barriers between nations, so there is no confusion as to where is where (unless that’s part of your plot). Give your nations distinctions, to make them stand apart from other nations, and also make sure to give them a name (because every nation has a name, after all).
Nations form for many reasons, but most often because a single leader or group of leaders decided to unite everyone in their part of the land under one banner or name, based on religion, ethnicity, language, or central history. Sometimes they are formed willingly, sometimes nations are formed by force, sometimes out of necessity.
And to make your nations more realistic, you should come up with a history as to why they formed the way they did, once you’ve decided exactly how you want to divide your world (unless it is a united world as happens in many sci-fi stories).
Some questions to ask yourself are:
- Why did the nations form the way they did?
- What unites the nation?
- What are the borders? Does everyone know these borders? Are they constant or always changing?
- What caused the nations to unite? What keeps them from breaking apart?
- What are the relations between kingdoms? (I’ll post more on this later.)
And my last question leads me into my next topic, which is…
Government
Government, as much as I really don’t like it, is extremely interesting. Politics are extremely complex, and often require the most thought when I’m world building.
There are many many different types of governments, but I’ll try to nail it down to a few simple types. (Disclaimer, they are a lot more complex than how I’m explaining them, and I’d recommend learning about them before deciding on and writing about a certain type of government.)
Monarchy: Defined as a government where a single person/family rules, and all power over the nation is in their hands. Absolute monarchy is where the monarch has no or few limitations in political matters. Constitutional monarchy is where the monarch has a distinct ceremonial role but very little actual power.
Democracy: A form of government where the power belongs to the people. Direct democracy is where citizens participate in the decision making of the government, and representative democracy is where citizens exercise their power through elected representatives.
Oligarchy: A form of government where the power resides in a small group of people or a dominant class in society.
And many many more but this is just a start.
To choose a government, you’ll have to find what fits your world and your story best, because government should effect both story and world.
Types of governments are often different per each nation, and have different purposes and connotations. Some have good intentions, others bad, some only care for one group of people.
There is a lot to take into account when forming a government, such as how the government came to be, why they act in the way they do, what their intentions are, how they interact with the rest of the world, and how the rest of the world sees them.
There is a lot to take into account when building a government, and I’m definitely not the person to talk about the mechanics of it all because I know very little about government.
The amount of research and development your government will need is based off how much they will be involved in your story. But at the very least you should know what type of government each nation will have, and what terms they are on with each other and the people they serve (or oppress).
Government is one of those things that varies from story to story so it is hard to give direct advice on it, but be thoughtful, take the time to do research, and remember it’s fiction to it doesn’t have to be entirely accurate.
Check out yesterday’s post on Climate and Geography here.
How did your second day of NaNoWriMo go?
How do you usually build nations and governments?
Thank you for reading!
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