McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
A Monarchy done right?
The Deposed King:
Sounds like you've got some pretty firm Ideas already. Go forth and conquer!
The Deposed King
knnn:
Have you read the Drageara series? It's got an empire that has lasted for hundreds of thousands of years (except for the recent Interregnum), and the 17 houses of the empire follows what you describing in a rough manner.
I think the key there is that while the empire itself is pretty stable, each of the houses has a slightly different philosophy of ruling so that the actual style of rule changes in a (relatively) stable cycle every 8*17*17*17 = 40000 years or so.
Other key points:
- The emperor get his funds from the major houses. These impose their own taxation (though the taxation rules appear to be pretty uniform).
- The emperor control one of the ultimate powers in the world -- in a sense, the emperor is almost divinely chosen.
- A powerful outside enemy that (at least) the house leaders are very much aware of.
Quantus:
--- Quote from: The Deposed King on May 25, 2012, 07:52:53 PM ---Sounds like you've got some pretty firm Ideas already. Go forth and conquer!
The Deposed King
--- End quote ---
I have fairly firm Ideas for the Magic system and how it ties to the Astrotheology of the land, its only as I am kicking the idea around with you fine folks that I am getting a clearer picture of the House dynamics. Thanks for your help :)
Quantus:
--- Quote from: knnn on May 25, 2012, 08:41:51 PM ---Have you read the Drageara series? It's got an empire that has lasted for hundreds of thousands of years (except for the recent Interregnum), and the 17 houses of the empire follows what you describing in a rough manner.
I think the key there is that while the empire itself is pretty stable, each of the houses has a slightly different philosophy of ruling so that the actual style of rule changes in a (relatively) stable cycle every 8*17*17*17 = 40000 years or so.
Other key points:
- The emperor get his funds from the major houses. These impose their own taxation (though the taxation rules appear to be pretty uniform).
- The emperor control one of the ultimate powers in the world -- in a sense, the emperor is almost divinely chosen.
- A powerful outside enemy that (at least) the house leaders are very much aware of.
--- End quote ---
Taxes will flow directly up the authority tree, so the King will get his "federal" funds from Taxes collected from the Major Houses. I was thinking he could also get some directly from Captial City, but in retrospect I think it would make more sense for the King so simply appoint a local Noble (politically chosen, likely from his house), but let the taxes come as part of the standard Pyramid system.
The more I think about it the more I think making the King a mystical linchpin to some defense system makes more and more sense. It also fits with a minor scenes I had written where the King activates an Heir's Artifact that the Prince wears, which marks him as the invested Heir. The purpose of such a device would be to ensure that there is no gap in rule should a King die, which makes more sense if an empty throne is a more immediate vulnerability.
I definitely need an Enemy I think. I dont want it to be a political enemy, and I dont really want to go so far as a natural disaster sort (like Thread from the Pern novels). So monsters seems to be the way to go, I just need to figure out where to put them, and what the personality is like. They wont be a constant pressure in that I dont want the society to be too militaristic as a whole, so a more looming threat from the past, something that comes once a generation or less...
Quantus:
All commerce, industry, and technology are based on magic of one form or another (Clocks, plows, stoves, looms, etc. are all some form of magical device). Magic is divided into the Circles of Six and One, which comprise the 7 Guilds that specialize in each Circle. All magic is based on the same fundamental ability to send your mind into something external, ie "Casting". Theologically their is one Circle for each of the Planets in the Solar System, six other planets and Earth(ish) as the One, which is mastery of your own Body rather than enxternal Casting. In practice, the Circle in which a person can Cast is determined by their psychological inclinations. Because it takes different and often incompatible psychologies to Cast in different Circles, crossover is possible but not common. So a Mind Mage who is used to absolute control of his working may have difficulty with the surrender required for Seers to Cast into the Sky, or with the guiding the quantities of primal energy that the Elemetalist channel.
The Circles of Six and One are as Follows:
-Seers - Rare, they cast themselves into the skies, and gain knowledge from it. Monastic, typically preside over Birthing in order to calculate a proper Sky-name.
-Elementalists - They cast into one or more of the Four Elements, the Primal energies. One of the oldest known circles
-Druids/Shaman - Cast into the Living World, ie. Plants and Animals
-Blood Mages - Cast into other Human Beings; Healers. Requires blood to blood contact to facilitate the connection.
-Artificers - Can create Magic items with permanent Connections (as opposed to the Charged items most other circles can make), required in the most powerful of Artifacts.
-Mind Magic - Symbolic "Pattern" Magic. Most "scientific" and urban of the Circles. Uses layers of abstraction and modular patterns to create complex and intricate effects.
All people have some level of potential for casting, so it is not a purely hereditary talent, but rather a skill that still requires effort to train and develop, even if you are born with innate talent. A Noble house or Major house is not powerful because they produce more innately powerful Casters, rather they are powerful because they are old enough to have accumulated their Power in the forms of land, influence, magical secrets, and powerful artifacts. Children born to the nobility have the advantages wealth typically brings, such as more indepth education, heirloom magical artifacts, trade secrets held by the family, and the freedom to pursue personal development that you get when you dont have to work to put food on the table. But a tradesman that works a particular magic every day as part of his job may well become just as powerful a caster as a Noble that spent all day in training exercises. And such powerful tradesman would have a good chance of being adopted into a Noble House, or even of founding a smaller one of his own.
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