Worldbuilding: Economy & Government

A week’s hiatus from this project to take care of work deadlines has left me feeling a bit off, but it’s better to jump back in than just sit around trying to think up the next thing. So this time, I’m picking some items from the Worldbuilding Magazine Checklist, and just brainstorming a bit. Let’s take a look at some economics and forms of government.

Image by klimkin from Pixabay

The continental countries along the meridian of the rotated map are the most wealthy, engage in lots of trade, and have enough food resources to survive on their own. Hard woods are more plentiful in the north, so buildings there can be made of wood. Cities in the south of this section will have stone buildings, built from the quarries in the mountains. Towns might have some buildings made of stone, but others made from bricks. This is a feudal area, with most of the wealth in the hands of nobles, although there is a fairly wealthy merchant class as well. Most people in the countryside are serfs, working for the nobles, while those in the city, while free, are beholden to nobles or merchants. The feudal system likely implies smaller kingdoms with shifting alliances.

The island kingdoms on the eastern edge of the rotated map have an even more disparate division of wealth. The nobles of each area control the ships (and perhaps the magic?) and live in luxury, while the rest of the population is scraping by. Perhaps the entire area is ruled by an emperor, with their extended family and hangers-on ruling smaller duchies. They would probably be interested in trading with the central kingdoms, and there might be pirates and smugglers along the coasts between the two areas. I wonder of this empire might also make use of flying mounts?

Image by Daniela Dragonetti from Pixabay

The city in the far north will be a Viking style location, with wealth pretty evenly distributed among the inhabitants. The city south and a little west of there is a free city in a fairly tame region. Perhaps this area also has more evenly distributed wealth, and is either democratic or guild-run in structure. The city furthest west on the map controls the entire sea, and is the seat of a totalitarian and militaristic government, likely the result of living on the border with the wilder lands to the west. The people are pretty poor, but the military rulers are also austere; money goes to funding the fortresses to the west and the navy.

The city on the southern continent is built on the remains of the capital of a once-great empire that ruled that entire continent. Since it is largely separated from the other large/powerful cities, this area needs to be fairly self-sufficient, so there is not a huge wealth disparity. I can also see this as an oligarchy, run by the temple.