Worldbuilding: Local Area Design: Governments, Population Size and Military Issues

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Government

Each state in the local area will have a government. Note that many governments will be a combination of these types. A government may be a republic where specific people are designated to vote on issues, but it may also be a Plutacracy if only the rich can be these designees or only the rich can vote for the designees. Below is a list of many different forms of government, mostly from the World Builder’s Guidebook:

Anarchy: Lack of any organized government.
Autocracy: Absolute rule handed over through heredity.
Bureaucracy: A government with may layers that is almost designed to get nothing done and to frustrate anyone trying to use its services.
Commonwealth: Although the term is now used in a more generic way, originally a commonwealth designated a government which stresses policies interested in benefiting the common people instead of an aristocracy or other specialized group.
Confederacy: A loose collection of states that give up a limited number of powers to a larger government body.
Democracy: The citizens vote directly on most matters.
Dictatorship: Absolute rule by a single leader, often a military leader.
Feudalism: A hierarchy of lords who owe loyalty to their superiors. At the top is usually a King or Queen and at the bottom are many peasants.
Geriatocracy: Leadership by the elders of a society.
Gynarchy: Government by women.
Hierarchy: A government with many different levels.
Magocracy: Rulership by a group of mages, wizards, etc.
Matriarchy: The women of a society, especially mothers, lead the society.
Militocracy: Rulership by a military group.
Monarchy: Leadership by King, Queen, etc. that is usually passed to the children or next of kin of the current leader.
Oligarchy: Leadership by a small elite group.
Pedocracy: Rulership by the young.
Plutocracy: The wealthy run the government.
Republic: A government where the citizens elect leaders who vote on laws and make policy decisions.
Satrapy: A government which is formally or informally ruled by another country.
Syndicracy: A government ruled by a corporation.
Theocracy: Leadership by a priestly order.

A more detailed forms of government list is available at Wikipedia.

Population Size

Finally the local area’s population size can be addressed. If you want a very lightly populated local area, your 40-50 mile map should include a just a few villages with a total of 1,000 to 2,000 people. A densely populated area will have 10s of thousands of people spread about a city, several towns and 20 or more villages, according to the World Builder’s Guidebook. An average population local area will have about 10,000 people spread among a couple of towns and a dozen villages.

The population size will obviously have a direct impact on which tradesmen and services will be available in a town. As stated above, a small hamlet will have no residents skilled in a trade outside of the hamlet’s one focus, such as farming, hunting, mining, etc. A village might have one blacksmith or an inn with a small staff or a general store or a combination of these. But they are usually still too small to support anything but the most basic trades. They will usually have a stone church with a low level priest.

For medium towns through large cities, the following lists specify how easy it is to find various tradesmen or businesses. Medium villages will have most of the “common” tradesmen and a few of the “occasional” tradesmen. They won’t usually have any “rare” tradesmen. Large cities on the other hand will have all “common” tradesmen, many “occasional” tradesmen and several “rare” tradesmen. Large towns and smaller cities will be somewhat in-between those ranges.

This doesn’t mean the rarer services aren’t available in smaller towns. In many cases a general practitioner will provide the service but the quality may not be as good as what a specialist can do. For example a general store will sell candles and a blacksmith may make weapons if no weaponsmith is available. (The blacksmith may make weapons even a weaponsmith is in town but the quality and prices may be lower.)

Common tradesmen/businesses: Grocery, Inn, Tavern, Blacksmith, General Store, Cobbler, Cooper, Leatherworker, Mason, Miller, Tanner, Woodworker, Boat for Hire (if settlement is near water), Teamster, Stable, Barber, Barrister (Lawyer), Laborer, Priest/Temple.

Occasional tradesmen/businesses: Baker, Boarding House, Brewer, Butcher, Provisioner (explorer’s equipment), Vintner (winemaker), Potter, Weaver, Bowyer/Fletcher, Chandler (candle-maker), Seamstress/Tailor, Cartwright (maker of wheels, carts, etc.), Porter, Saddler, Shipwright, Bounty Hunter, Dragoman (guide, negotiator, interpreter, assistant), Fence, Healer, Interpreter, Linkboy (torchholder), Entertainer, Navigator (if water is nearby), Wizard.

Rare tradesmen/businesses: Poorhouse, Cheesemaker, Apothecary, Armorer, Bookbinder, Clockmaker, Dyer, Fine Clothier, Furrier, Glassblower, Herbalist, Jeweler, Locksmith, Weaponsmith, Other specialty smith, Tilemaker, Alchemist, Astrologer, Barrister (Lawyer), Burgler, Engineer, Physician, Sage, Scribe/Clerk.

Military

The area’s military is a function of the population size and government type(s). But the nature of the government’s neighbors as well as any resources or locations that need special defense are also prime factors for making decisions about the local area military’s size and power.

In the case of a hamlet or a small village, the local populace musters itself to provide for its defense. Every member has a weapon (even if it is just a makeshift form of a farming tool) and when an attack is eminent the community’s members band together for defense.

A manor with a noble will have that noble and several men-at-arms to serve as defenders of the community. Most of these will still be minimal level fighters, but there may be one slightly higher level captain. Larger manors may have two or three captains. The noble will also have agreements with other nearby nobles to increase the men-at-arms at the manor when a threat is near. In these cases the numbers could be 5 to 10 times as many defenders.

Forts and larger towns and cities will have their own militias or city guards. For smaller communities this might just be a group of 10 or so minimal level guards with one or two captains. But larger communities, communities which aren’t naturally defendable, communities with something special to protect (a seat of government, a gold mine, etc.) or communities which sense a threat nearby may have any number of soldiers and guards stationed in the community. Keep in mind that the community must be able to support (food, shelter, etc.) all of these additional soldiers.

In addition to the size and power of a settlement’s military, it may be useful to consider the military’s loyalties. For very small settlements and militaries this is not a significant concern because there may not be multiple leaders to consider. However for larger settlements, is the military loyal to a governing body such as a senate, a particular leader such as a king or to a higher ideal of the state? While this issue may not play into the early stages of a campaign or fantasy story, military forces often are a key ally to one group of leaders or another during any hostilities, whether the hostilities are open or just political. Taking this idea one step further, in a larger military it is not uncommon for different military leaders to be more loyal to different political leaders. Imagine a general who is loyal to the king but another general is loyal to a princess planning a coup.

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