Monarchies and theocracies and democracies are way overrated

While I guess it's democracy at its purest, the idea behind the Geth consensus in Mass Effect would be kinda nifty for a heavily magic reliant race in a fantasy game, or even creatures that use non-verbal communication.

An anarchist commune in a particularly stable region of Limbo, where the local magics make it nearly impossible to affect another person without their co-operation.

After years of outsiders trying to talk to a representative, they finally caved and appointed* an official non-leader, the "Anarch".

Although they have no official powers, the Anarch has a significant amount of control, as no-one who chose to live in this chaotic a society would dream of doing what he told them.

*someone sometimes says it's them, mostly people don't disagree.

One of my societies is a hive society. They dont have a hive mind per say but are naturally inclined to be compliant to one another, and adopt the thoughts of the majority as their own. Their "Mother" caste used to rule autocratically but as time went on they moved away from this system, as the dominant philosophy shifted to one where it was understood that having the Mother make all the decisions was not in fact in the best interest of the Mother, so their role has been relegated to biologically continuing the hives, and being a sort of psuedo spiritual-figurehead leader, the embodyment of the hive, somewhere between the pope and the queen of england.

In the mean time, the worker drones put members of their own caste into management positions on a 'first among equals' basis. Individual packs will choose among themselves a leader, who will choose the leader with other leaders , all the way to a ruling council who will nominally defer to the queen. Dissent is unusual, as their mindsets encourage group unity, and if their are disagreements the normal course of action is to discuss a thing until their is agreement. Often the moment majority is achieved, the lesser faction will start to agree also. This can lead to very, very slow changes in policy making, or very quick.
This race is notoriously difficult to evangelise too also, due to the pressures of the group thinking. You either get the whole hive or maybe one or two deviants, and that pressure is made harder by evangelists from other faiths.

I am thinking of a plutocracy, for something like a very powerful Merchant republic.

The basis of the government lies in the senate, which has control over the judicary, appoints ministers and does whatever is needed for the story. Unlike other examples though, the seats of the senate are not elected, but are sold (or more accurately, rented out) to the highest bidder.

Every year, a number of these seats becomes available, and every citizen can bid for a 5 year tenure in the senate. the x highers number of bids (x being the number of seats available) will be part of the government for the rest of their tenure. The idea behind this is that these people understand how to create wealth and prosperity, and are committed to being a part of the governing process.
Of course, the big merchant families in the republic tend to dominate these auctions, as they have a lot of money to throw around, but even their purses are not infinite, and there is plenty of room for others to join in. Any magical institutions would most likely have a few seats of their own (and have sway over many other senators), because magic in a pre-industrial society is basically a license to print money.

As for the money that is payed for these seats, it goes into the state treasury, but the senators can freely designate the use of 5% of their buy-in, a rule that is frequently used to facilitate prestige projects, support their own trading empire or refurbish the family estate into more of an opulent, decadent fortress, but now with full legal backing of the senate (because planning permission is for paupers).

My imperial bureaucracy has thousands of seers on it. Their collective precision is about 63%.

>Monarchies and theocracies and democracies are way overrated.

No they aren't.

>"Revolutionary" now means "marxist"

>implying the french revolution wasn't the beginning of liberalism, marxism and degeneracy

>ok he's talking about politics that's ok
>degeneracy

/pol/ plz leave

>Using "liberalism" in reference to Marxism
How can I tell you're American?

>Marxism
Explain why Marx never cited Rousseau, and was one of the biggest critics of the French bourgeoise who gained power after the Revolutions

>Degeneracy
Explain why almost every French Republican thinker, from Montesquieu to Rousseau, believed virtue to be a necessity to maintain a Republic.

If you want to argue philosophies that's fine, but don't argue

>Degeneracy

That is literally 100% undiluted /pol/ troll

A country run directly by a god. Or an AI, if we're talking more modern settings.

We all know what a meritocracy is and the Starship Troopers novel is more than that. It's a limited democracy where you can only vote or hold office if you were a good little boy for the government. The movie is the exact same way, except it's a satire.

I know the book makes a compelling case for it but I guarantee you it wouldn't be nearly as rosy in real life.

>How can I tell you're American?
Because i'm an european.

>and was one of the biggest critics of the French bourgeoise who gained power after the Revolutions
Because those were still regarded as capitalistic.

>Explain why almost every French Republican thinker, from Montesquieu to Rousseau, believed virtue to be a necessity to maintain a Republic
None of those were alive when the french revolution happened.

Bureaucratic Elective Empire, aka Holy Roman Empire.

Warhammer Fantasy is literally the only place I've seen it used in a fantasy setting, it's bizarre.

A society where government position is determined by unique and fanciful hats.

If you get the hat, you get the job for as long as you wear it.

>Or an AI
The English language doesn't have enough words to do justice to how stupid this idea is.

>Let's put all the world's brightest political minds in one room
>Then let's put some of the world's top programmers in that room
>Now let all of them write a program that solves political and legal problems
>Up to at least multiple decades into the future
>And we must make sure it can adapt to rapid social, legal and technological change

Even if it was possible to create a program that can solve current political/legal problems (pro-tip: we cannot), we'd have to reprogram it from scratch every time a new law is created... which is every single day.
>But what if it's self-aware?
Then we have the same problem we'd have with a totalitarian dictator, except this dictator is immortal until someone pulls the plug.

So if someone kills you and takes your hat then is that a legitimate transfer of power?

>He doesn't know /pol/ is satire

>fictional concept for leadership
>literally in the comment as "a god"
>"it's not realistic"

You know that just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's bad, right?

You tried to force this on /pol/ and it didn't work.

This is some advanced satire.

You must be a European who gets all his political education from /pol/. "Liberal" in America means something different from Liberal in literally every single country on this fucking planet. It's as retarded as measuring your distance in shoesizes: only Americans do that shit.

>Because those were still regarded as capitalistic.
Gee, the French Revolution created capitalistic regimes? It's almost like they have nothing to do with Marxism!

>None of those were alive when the french revolution happened.
All of them inspired it directly, especially Rousseau's social contract. Which is the work most often accused by reactionaries of having inspired marxism and nazism, but this link is never materialized in any solid argument (which would be impossible considering Marx never quoted him. The closest we can get is some French Utopian socialists drawing inspiration from him, but we closest thing we have to a French Utopian Socialist regime is self-identified socialist Napoleon III, who according to Marxist sociologist Göran Therborn had a regime that more resembled a bourgeois government that tried to appeal to the masses rather than true socialism).

If you cannot defend your hat, you never deserved it in the first place.

That wouldn't be an AI unless it were self-aware doofus, and it wouldn't have the same problem as a totalitarian dictator because a totalitarian dictator has biological imperatives, while an AI has mechanical ones as programmed by its creators.
It'd probably fail pretty horribly, but not for the reasons you're stating.

Wouldn't you just get AM?

You appear to have me mixed up with someone else my good sir, but here is a )you( for your troubles.

Use it wisely.

>/pol/ is satire

You keep telling yourself that and it might just become true.

>if you don't agree with me you are /pol/
Fantastic.

>Gee, the French Revolution created capitalistic regimes? It's almost like they have nothing to do with Marxism!
Marxism is more than just economics. And the french revolution is not the sole cause of marxism. Certainly there is a lot more. But what the french revolution caused is tearing down the established order and a generell mistrust in the old elites, for good and for bad.

>All of them inspired it directly, especially Rousseau's social contract. Which is the work bla bla bla
You brought them up, it's almost like it suits your argument.

Govenment by Consensus was one of the more fascinating aspects of the geth to me. It's certainly one way to take a hivemind society and have them function as a governing body.

Dictatorship of the proletariat

in revelation space, the demarchists (democratic anarchists) operate by all citizens having implants that instantly (and sometimes subconsciously) collect their opinion on any subject, allow them to have referendums on pretty much everything.

they are outdone in this respect by the conjoiners, who went one step further and created a low-level hivemind, in which everyone retains most of their individuality but is connected to everyone else like a computer network, and can make collective decisions.

Autocracies

Military Dictatorship
>This government is a militaristic form of autocracy, with the ruler serving as the undisputed head of the military which is firmly in control of the state apparatus.

Divine Mandate
>This government is a spiritualistic form of autocracy, where the ruler is treated as a divine symbol. Organized religion is widely employed in support of the state apparatus.

Despotic Hegemony
>This government is a materialistic form of autocracy, where citizens are viewed as little more than cogs in the state machinery. Efficiency and technological progress are valued above all things.

Enlightened Monarchy
>This government is a pacifistic form of autocracy, where the ruler is viewed as an enlightened protector that always acts in the best interests of the citizenry.

Despotic Empire
>This government is a relatively pure form of autocracy, with an absolute ruler that governs the state with an iron gripping appendage.

Man I love stellaris

Oligarchies

Military Junta
>This government is a militaristic form of oligarchy, where power rests with a council of high-ranking military officers who oversee all matters of state.

Theocratic Oligarchy
>This government is a spiritualistic form of oligarchy, where a divinely guided council made up of clergy controls the state. No division exists between the state and the dominant organized religion.

Science Directorate
>This government is a materialist form of oligarchy, where a committee of scientists supervises the government apparatus for maximum efficiency.

Peaceful Bureaucracy
>This government is a pacifist form of oligarchy, where a complicated system of bureaucracy governs all aspects of society to ensure the safety of the citizenry.

Plutocratic Oligarchy
>This is a plutocratic form of oligarchy, ruled by a wealthy elite. A citizen's personal wealth translates directly into political power.

You're literally copying those from Stellaris.

Hey, if its good its good

To be fair, it's a fantastic game to get setting/campaign inspiration from.

Same with Crusader Kings 2.

Democracies

Military Republic
>This government is a militaristic form of democracy, where full citizenship can only be gained through military service. The voting franchise is limited to full citizens, and they are the only ones allowed to hold public offices.

Theocratic Republic
>This government is a spiritualistic form of democracy, where a religious council supervises the democratic process and serves in an advisory role.

Direct Democracy
>This government is a materialistic form of democracy, where citizens use computer networks to vote directly on most matters regarding the state.

Moral Democracy
>This government is a pacifistic form of democracy, firmly guided by moralist principles and non-violence.

Indirect Democracy
>This government is an indirect democracy, where citizens vote on officials who are elected to represent them.

Not everyone plays it, and it's got great jumping off points if you're stuck.

Democracies are actually pretty rare in fantasy.
You're thinking of Republics, which come in a fairly broad number of forms.

>if you don't agree with me
More like "if you use political terminology that doesn't mesh with your supposed region of origin"

>Marxism is more than just economics.
Pray tell

>But what the french revolution caused is tearing down the established order and a generell mistrust in the old elites, for good and for bad.
That's a far cry away from
>implying the french revolution wasn't the beginning of liberalism, marxism and degeneracy

>You brought them up, it's almost like it suits your argument.
You're not presenting anything worth calling an argument or a source, so I have to do all the legwork here. At this point it's pretty much intellectual shadowboxing.

Advanced Autocracies

Martial Empire
>This government is an advanced form of militaristic autocracy, where the state exists largely to support the military. Martial ability is highly valued, and all citizens are regularly drilled in matters of war.

Transcendent Empire
>This government is an advanced form of spiritualistic autocracy. Everything is shaped by the official state religion, and the ruler is worshiped as an infallible living god.

Neural Network Administration
'>This government is an advanced form of materialistic autocracy, where powerful computers are used to calculate the most efficient ways to govern. All aspects of the state are geared towards efficiency and the acquisition of new technologies.

Irenic Monarchy
>This government is an advanced form of pacifistic autocracy, where the ruler is regarded as a benevolent guardian that is striving to protect the citizens from a violent galaxy.

Star Empire
>This government is an advanced form of autocracy, with a single ruler having been granted absolute power. Improved bureaucratic efficiency has further reduced the administrative strain of ruling a large interstellar empire this way.

It's called a Limited/Restricted Democracy technically, in that it is a Democratic system in that everyone gets to vote and they don't appear to vote for representatives like we do but you need to qualify for "citizenship" to vote.

So, fantasy kuru, a disease that cannot even be cured by magic? By the time the campaign takes place, the elvish nation would be a mess of pathologically lauhging cripples.

True democracy, Plato's nightmare made manifest.

Advanced Oligarchies

Ordered Stratocracy
>This government is an advanced form of militaristic oligarchy, where the military has subsumed all aspects of civilian administration. All government offices are held by military officers.

Transcendent Oligarchy
>This government is an advanced form of spiritualistic oligarchy, ruled by a divine council who are considered absolute authorities on all matters of state and religion.

Illuminated Technocracy
>This government is an advanced form of materialistic oligarchy, where a committee of technocrats, often the leading scientists of their fields, hold power. Technological progress is considered vital to the future of the state.

Irenic Protectorate
>This government is an advanced form of pacifistic oligarchy, where a safety committee oversees the administration of the state. Violent tendencies among citizens are curbed at an early stage.

Mega Corporation
>This government is an advanced form of plutocratic oligarchy, where the entire state has been organized as a massive commercial enterprise overseen by a board of directors.

It is, though killing is usually frowned upon unless all other methods of acquisition have failed. Killing may or may not be illegal, too, which could prompt immediate loss of position depending on current laws.

The Habadasheratic form of government is optimized toward seamless transitions of power between officials and ever fancier hats.

The reason it wasn't that common was because it didn't really work very well.
It had an emperor but how powerful he was varied wildly on the individual, and it had representatives but sometimes they were aristocratic a but then other times they were burghers or town mayors who's townships had gotten big enough to have special voting status, and then wealthy guilds could have a strong say too.

The HRE was nuts.

Literal Kleptocracy. Government by Thieves. Imagine a "kingdom" (or more likely, "principality") literally run by a Thieves' Guild. Apprenticeship is a form of citizenship. Nominal rulers are the best of their business, master thieves. Or go the other route and make it a de facto Mafia state, no matter what its de jure title is.

>>Marxism is more than just economics.
>Pray tell
This whole classles society thing you probably heard about.

It's that insanity and sheer complexity that fascinates me, why don't more people look at that mess and think it would be an endless source of plot hooks and campaign amusement?

Advanced Democracies

Martial Democracy
>This government is an advanced form of militaristic democracy, where rulers are randomly selected from a pool of qualified candidates. Qualifications are based almost purely on military achievement.

Transcendent Republic
>This government is an advanced form of spiritualistic democracy, where candidates for leadership are drawn exclusively from the ranks of the official state religion, which permeates all layers of society.

Subconscious Consensus
>This government is an advanced form of materialistic democracy, where citizens are required by law to carry an implant which enables them to instantly cast their vote during referendums.

Irenic Democracy
>This government is an advanced form of pacifistic democracy, where peaceful solutions are sought to all conflicts, both internal and external.

Democratic Utopia
>This government is an advanced form of indirect democracy, which has managed to strike a fine balance between personal liberties and social responsibility. Corruption has largely been eliminated.

Because it's more intimidating than your first time GM might try to work with, and could easily go very, very wrong. "Litch celebrates heroes' gay wedding" wrong.

Other

Primitive Feudalism
>A primitive form of government made up of decentralized feudal realms, constantly vying with each other for regional dominance.

Fragmented Nations
>A collection of fragmented nation states that contend with each other for military dominance and economic advantages. No unified global government exists.

Pirate Codex
>Honor among thieves

Stagnant Ascendancy
>A stagnant form of government based on ancient traditions and long-forgotten principles.

Military Order
>A weird but apparently highly effective militaristic government type.

Machine Consciousness
>An utterly alien and bizarre system of government employed by machine civilizations.

>The HRE was nuts.
It was also one of the most stable and long running empires Yeah I know, """"empire"""" in human history. It's an epic Veeky Forums meme that is was some kind of disfunctional mess, completely backwards to all the surrounding nations and barely functional.

>Litch
Lich. Fucking phoneposting.

>Implying the concepts of upper, middle and lower class aren't economical concepts
He wasn't exactly talking about the nobility, which the French Revolution effectively ended.

Gnoll Demarcy

Hive mind

Lich ruled totalitarian democracy

you have the right to vote but the lich has the right to laugh in your stupid face make the actual decisions.

None hive mind neural network Athenian democracy.

Everyone is an individual but is connected to each of its kin. This link can not be broken in any way. Each individual learns and draws its own conclusions from its own and ever others experiences. When anything needs to be decided every individual votes based on what conclusions its drawn and feels is the correct answer. If any individual refuses to vote the vote is stalled. To refuse the vote the individual must state why not voting is preferable. Then every other individual votes on if it is a valid reason. If it is valid the original topic is reevaluated based on the reason given and is then reformatted and reapplied. This process repeat's until everyone votes.

While it may seem this would take a long time it happens very quickly. A total vote process taking even a day is unheard of and only happens in the gravest of times when every part of the original topic must be perfectly hashed out.

The species is very communal but at the same time fiercely individual. Think two farmers constantly bickering and coming to blows but the second their is a threat they would both die for each other.

A system of govornance wherein only the most paranoid are elected to make decisions. Neuroic compulsion to thinking everyone is out to get you being the requirment for even the most remote consideration.

A monopolistic dictatorial fortuno-meritocracy: The nation is governed by the joint means and interests of producers and winning contestants of a series of game shows.

Nah, Eberron's Araneal elves found a way to create weak lichs with positive energy.

They then keep the Deathless in necropolis like tombs and abandoned cities shrines. When you need advice, you then go and either talk to your family ancestors or seek out someone who was at an event you want to study.

You can also develop bonds with them, allowing them to ghost speak into your head from afar.

>plutocracy
>people bid on senatorial seats
>money spent goes into stae treasury

What you could do is let the senators keep control over the money they donated for their seats. While all constant costs of the state are probably covered by taxes, any mayor new policies or developments are going to cost a shitton of money, especially if the state is opposed to simply nationalising companies or territory.

you could have all the senators "vote with their wallet"for every new development that is proposed in the senate, promising to invest their development funds (i.e. the money they spent of their position) into the bid that they want to see developed.People are most likely going to invest in bids that are good for them (and the mayor families would probably use their numbers to support big projects), but public works would also be popular, to show how "benevolent the rulers are and keep the people happy.

As a side effect, this means that a senator's power is relative to the amount of development funds they have. Those thaat spend a lot of money on that chair also have a massive influence on the senate, while those that are nearing the end of their term and have spent all their cash are effectively poweress around any big government projects. Because of that, many very rich or very powerhungry senators should always keep soome of their funds in reserve, to remain a player for their entire tenure. On the other hand, they should not be allowed to take the money back with them when they leave (after all, they technically spent it when the won the bid for the senate position), so expect these people to be uncharacteristicly generous in the last few weeeks of their tenure. They can't keep it anyway, and they might as well drain every last bit of advantage out of it.

There are two kinds of countries in the world. Countries that use the metric system, and countries that own the moon and mars.

Daily reminder that classless stateless society is an oxymoron, and being a Marxist is only distinct from being a Young-Earth Creationist in that Marxism has killed millions of times as many people.

Gods literally exist and are wise enough to not intervene in trifling human matters.

They still have an actual seat in politics though and play an active voice in ensuring the growth of the nation, so long as its people remain devoted to his/her faith.

Ironically, democracy also exists in my world so sometimes deities have to share spots with other deities who they historically have too much disagreements with and have to win votes against each other.

There is a suggestion box. Once a month, three suggestions are drawn at random from the box and immediately implemented into law, regardless of their nature. The only limiting factor on suggestions submitted is that they may not refer to proper nouns, with the exception of the names of nations.

Arenacracy. A government over a loose conglomerate of tribal villages over a few dozen square miles or so. Every time there's any issue and people cannot agree on a course of action, each man with an opinion goes into an arena. Only one opinion survives.

This government is not recorded to have ever successfully ruled for a period of over 3 or 4 years.

>Because it's more intimidating than your first time GM might try to work with, and could easily go very, very wrong

What if I'm a turbo-autist history buff that knows the ins and outs of the HRE and how to easily integrate it into a setting?

that's pretty fucking cool

>Archery can be a difficult sport for beginners
>What if I'm an Olympic archer?
What the fuck is the point of even asking.

Starship Troopers is good for actually genuinely exploring the merits and flaws of its system of government, and it is relatively fair-handed. When you consider that of course the main character agrees with the system and never sees its bad side because he's basically an exemplar of how it's meant to work, that is understandable.

Starship Troopers and The Forever War are ideal social science fiction companion novels. They both ask the same question; 'Hey, what if the military were in charge of things?' So many of the issues they cover are exact mirrors of each other but in their own tone.

Each has flaws. ST is overly attacked because people watched the movie only and had stupid ideas about it, people call it fascist and that is stupid. But I think TFW is the better book because it's more enjoyable and I like its scope.

Regicidal Monarchy.
Whoever kills the king in a fair fight is the new king. If he dies in an unfair or unknown way, first to sit on the throne gets it.
For extra fun, it's crab people who don't die of old age and actually get bigger and stronger with age.

Tribal arbitrage:

A system wherein several wide-fling tribes are united in a federation, and any major dispute is handled in the capitol in the presence of other leaders and the 'stone of order', where they have to argue their points until they either come to an agreement with each other, or the other chiefs support one over the other.

The 'stone of order' is a magical artifact that suppresses excited emotional states and over time loosens the will to resist among those in the room. It is intelligent to a point and will exert influence in favor of whichever side will in its opinion strengthen the federation overall, though quick disputes can go against its will.

The ruler is a goat and decides what to do by choosing between different offered meals.

There are a lot of ways to play monarchies/empires. I don't think they're boring at all. You could include the french style feudalism, a persianate, an arabian style iqta, a roman/byzantine bureaucratic empire. There's a lot of historical precedent to choose from

I like the concept of a lottocracy: governance by lottery.

Basically, you get called to serve in the senate/parliament/whatever like jury duty, make vote on a given bill(s), and propose one for next time.

also burma and liberia

>Because i'm an european.
Americanization sure did a number on ya then.

Liberia is a fine US colony, user. They kill niggers and Jesus forgives cannibals there.

>he believes they aren't serious

This is more-or-less the plot of Injection, a comic book by Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey. A bunch of smart people (general genius, super spy, computer hacker/programmer, Holmes-level detective, and expert on the supernatural) get together and decide to create an AI, with rules based on folklore, all their best features, and then "inject" it into the internet. Then it comes for them. It's two volumes deep and it's fucking fun as fuck.

Hey man I'm from America and I recognize that the metric system would be more efficient than mish-mash whatever the fuck here's twelve of something. But I went to public school and I'm too fucking stupid to figure out conversions and am probably doomed to measure everything in feet and inches.

Anarcho-capitalist society turned semi-feudalist .
No real "government", but a cartel of the biggest corporations have the power, call the shots and keep the order. Also own the courts, law enforcement, and general public services.

Most people end up as workers, essentially serfs, for one of the huge corporations, and get access to their courts and protection in exchange for their servitude. Anyone not part of the cartel or working for the cartel has to pay outrageous prices for access to their courts or security from law enforcement, and even then, they have the right refuse service to anyone they wish. They don't like your business or look down on the competition you give them? You better be able to protect your business or be in a position that you can hire people to protect it.

>Bonus question: what kind of inhuman traits would be required from a race to make it work?
A shitload of greed, a shitload of cash, and a shitload of guys with weapons you pay with the shitloads of cash.

Metric is just for math, imperial works just fine for day to day use.

>>He doesn't know /pol/ is satire
Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Best joke in years.

Only for telling somebody the temperature outside. For everything else you're fucking insane.

distance and weight works just fine in imperial.

I don't think ST is fascist but it definitely toes the line. My main beef is it often feel like Heinlein is saying you can only properly understand social responsibility if you're a government stooge. I get what he was going for in it, but his Federation is a total pipe dream and would never work that well in practice. Plus it feels weird knowing the guy who basically wrote s long treatise on the virtues of libertarianism in TMiaHM decided to advocate for a one world government.

And TFW is a better work, partly because Mandela is more interesting than Rico, partly because Haldeman makes better use of science, and because I find its political statements more realistic