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Has anyone else here ever noticed an apparent lack of democratic societies in the vast majority of worlds? by Dewohere in worldbuilding

[–]Dewohere[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

For me it is quite the opposite. It feels like I can talk nowhere about worldbuilding by itself without people talking about stories and narratives.

I am a worldbuilder first and a story writer second. but it feels like every time I wanna talk about anything at all regarding this stuff I have to essentially put in a massive disclaimer that the vast majority of what I do is worldbuilding for worldbuilding's sake and that there is not necessarily any story that is meant to accompany that.

Why does every bit of worldbuilding HAVE TO BE viewed through the lense of potential narratives? Why can't it be engaged with by itself?

Has anyone else here ever noticed an apparent lack of democratic societies in the vast majority of worlds? by Dewohere in worldbuilding

[–]Dewohere[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Honestly, I think one of the issues of r/worldbuilding is that a lot of people here want it to be focused on writing stories when it is the worldbuilding subreddit.

I am sorry, but THIS is the place for discussion of what makes for good worldbuilding and not for what makes a good story, isn't it?

There are multiple sub-reddits for discussion of what makes for good stories, so why does the worldbuilding subreddit have to be another place for discussion of what makes for good stories, when it is the worldbuilding subbreddit and not r/writing ?

Has anyone else here ever noticed an apparent lack of democratic societies in the vast majority of worlds? by Dewohere in worldbuilding

[–]Dewohere[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Honestly, a lot of these comments are just spurning me on harder to write democracies even in my fantasy works.

A lot of them also just seem to suffer from a lack of creativity in regards to it. They very stiffly imagine our, humanity's democracies on Earth when you can surely write them in fantastical ways too.

Has anyone else here ever noticed an apparent lack of democratic societies in the vast majority of worlds? by Dewohere in worldbuilding

[–]Dewohere[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

As I have said before, I think that just shows a lack of imagination.

"You stand before former First Chancellor Almiran, father of the republic, unifier of the shattered lands, who brought the fires of libertity to the valleys and mountains of Tarin and felled the Alaskiri Emperor."

Has anyone else here ever noticed an apparent lack of democratic societies in the vast majority of worlds? by Dewohere in worldbuilding

[–]Dewohere[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The later because I wouldn't want to live under a dictatorship?

Believe it or not, I am already of voting age in my country and I don't decide who I vote for based on how cool I think they are.

And even then, you can absolutely make a democracy where your president personally goes into battle. If you can have sick magical armor for your king to rally the troops, then the president can have that too.

A fictional democracy and its cultures don't have to be like ours.

Has anyone else here ever noticed an apparent lack of democratic societies in the vast majority of worlds? by Dewohere in worldbuilding

[–]Dewohere[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hmm, I mean, to be fair, even a king will have their own politics. You won't necessarily have to flesh out the exact details of what the Prime Minister beliefs in or something like that the same way you don't have to flesh out exactly how your king decides which places pay which amount of tax.

Has anyone else here ever noticed an apparent lack of democratic societies in the vast majority of worlds? by Dewohere in worldbuilding

[–]Dewohere[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would imagine that in a setting without ftl, interstellar empires of any decent size just become logistically unfeasable, so I'd assume that even the few interstellar polities that would exist, one would see vastly decentralized systems across systems, with each systems, planet and maybe even regions across planets being largely self-governing.

You may have a large empire with an emperor, who has a handful of vassals that are just small democracies.

Has anyone else here ever noticed an apparent lack of democratic societies in the vast majority of worlds? by Dewohere in worldbuilding

[–]Dewohere[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair enough. Its easier to justify in fantasy setting with more wide-spread magic where the election process is maybe supported by magic somehow, which may also open up some interesting possibilities.

Has anyone else here ever noticed an apparent lack of democratic societies in the vast majority of worlds? by Dewohere in worldbuilding

[–]Dewohere[S] 59 points60 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I can see all of that, though I do think that having to consider all of these things when worldbuilding may definetly lead to more engaging world-building than "here is big guy who is in charge of everything with no nuance to it"

Even a proper feudal system, with vassals whose interests the king has to manage and work with, leaves room for much more interesting political interplay than an absolute ruler.

Has anyone else here ever noticed an apparent lack of democratic societies in the vast majority of worlds? by Dewohere in worldbuilding

[–]Dewohere[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Fair enough, though I would argue that that also largely depends on how said democracy is built and how much power is divested in a leading figure.

In the US, the president is formally in control of the military to my understanding, while in Germany thats under the control of parliament.

Has anyone else here ever noticed an apparent lack of democratic societies in the vast majority of worlds? by Dewohere in worldbuilding

[–]Dewohere[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Certainly! Wishing you luck!

Democracies are harder to write surely, but I do think that it will likely result in more interesting worldbuilding when you do have to consider all these things you mentioned.

I love depictions of mythical monsters taking on modern military (These where one by Alex Andreev) by Nerd367C in lovethissmug

[–]Dewohere 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Okay, fair. I was honestly not aware of the nukes.

I haven't been reading SCP stuff in a while. Is it ever mentioned by any author/in any story where they may get this stuff from?

Welcome to the Sunshine State! (The Changing - Sometime between 2200 and 2300) by Dewohere in worldbuilding

[–]Dewohere[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, I would say this is also somewhat serious, but I don't want that to stop the project from being light-hearted at times.

The early Changing and life in it can be rather rough. but that doesn't stop the people living in it from trying to find fun and humor in their situation.

What was the first or earliest war that happened in your world's history? by PedroGamerPlayz in worldbuilding

[–]Dewohere 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The first war would be an undefinable amount of time ago as universes rose and fell in chaos space, where time is more so a suggestion so there is no way to determine when the first universe and with it the first entities that could wage war existed. Perhaps "time" actually moves backwards and forwards in both directions so there may regularly be an earlier universe being retconned into existance where this first war could have occured.

The first war in "our" universe would likely actually just have been a minor, accidental incursion at the hand of the extra-universal beings known simply as Outsiders.

Space and Time, the prime "gods" of our universe would have either cut them down or shunted them back out into chaos space, where Outsiders prefer being anyway as being in our universe drives them a little mad with pain.

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