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@cassandraia

Okay, well first off I’m going to recommend watching some of Hello Future Me’s great video essays on fantasy governments on Youtube. They’re really great. 😉

And secondly, I’m going to echo Evelyn for a moment. Values. Values are possibly the single most important thing of a government – because in essence, a government is a group of people attempting to uphold their own values. Even if those values contradict those of the people, or harm the people below them – that’s what a government does. They uphold the values of those who run it, or those who created it, or those who control it.

Think about it. What does the American government uphold? (Or at least, what did they attempt to uphold?) The values of the founding fathers – values based on the Bible. A final and absolute truth of equality of all men, upheld and overseen by an all-powerful, all-knowing, and loving God. In the beginning, that was the purpose of the American democratic republic – to provide a nation in which people can live and be free as people, and still be confined under the truth. Obviously, it’s strayed since then, but at the very basis the purpose of our government was to uphold the values of freedom and justice. Other governments uphold the values of money, or the values of revenge, or the values of family. What a people value is the single defining characteristic that can determine the use and authority and power of any government, and just how far they will go to uphold this value.
The thing that makes many fantasy governments cliche is that they are not based off the values and wants of the people, but the idea that there must be government to create order. Government is often seen as an opposing force in many novels, but it’s simply an organization of destruction rather than a government made to uphold the values of people – even if it’s only a select few people. Government is not an organization – it’s created by people to gain something. It doesn’t matter what that thing is – it may be protection from enemies, it may be money, it may be power – but there’s always something being sought after by someone in the process of the government. You cannot have a government without people, and the people will define the government.

So my best advice – create your people. Create your culture. Define what matters the most to these people – are they a rich people? A poor people? Do they value revenge or family? Are they nomadic and tribal, or are they centrally organized and tightly bonded in patriotism. People like to belong to something – a smaller part of a bigger whole. Determine what that bigger whole is, and you can determine what the people will create to oversea that bigger whole. For oppressive governments, it’s slightly backwards – it’s the will of a few that determine the values and wants of the whole. A king might come and conquer a smaller country, and then rule with an oppressive hand, looking to gain money and food. Meanwhile, the people will be looking to gain freedom and survive. There will always be a goal in mind, a thing that is valued above all else. Look for it, and when you find it, you’ll have your government. Base the freedoms and restrictions over what is valued by those who rule the government. The people often have different goals and values than the rulers – use that, and make it a point of tension.

Lastly, but certainly not least – don’t create the perfect government. Unless whatever you’re writing is heaven, there is no perfect government. It’s impossible. You cannot create peace out of the chaotic wants and needs of sinful people – there will never be a perfectly functioning government that pleases all people or provides for all people, and if there is, there’s a twist. The wants of the many override the needs of the few, and the values of the powerful override the cries of the people.