My players set up a republic please help

They couped a king and declared a republic then I called it for the night

>invading armies
>famine
>disease
>taxes
>revolution
>farmers revolt because they aren't getting enough government subsidies to run their farms, and the only way you can give them more funding is to cut funds to the guards and army, which you desperately need to fend off the surrounding nomadic tribes raiding the villages on the outskirts
>floods devastate all the towns near waterways, which is all of them
>petty squabbling between officials and nobles leads to them cutting off each other's trade routes
>a recent philosophical book has been making its way around the men of thought and the men of gods, stating that nature and life is innately cruel and evil, and now the majority of clergy refuse to give sermons and give repentance to the sins of the commoners. The lack of centralised belief systems has lead to unrest and a few lesser faiths have begun resurfacing, which focus on individuality instead of respect for authority.
>the common folk no longer see their right to rule as canon, as they are used to kings being given their authority from God. Several bands have begun to search for the true heir to the throne.

I dunno how much this republic is intended or annoying. If it's annoying from a DM perspective, either tell them no, or make what they have to deal with so petty that they decide for themselves to quit. If it's more part of the intended gameplay, give them stuff more like natural disasters and wars, maybe some political intrigue.

>several assassination attempts on your nobles and councilmen has revealed that an ancient lich has finally made his way out of his prison, and is trying to take back his ancient kingdom that covers 2/3 of their republic, and 3/4 of a neighbouring kingdom. Either work together, or throw your nemeses under the bus.

Mostly agricultural and trade for economic. Demographic is mostly humans with small amounts of most everything else scattered throughout.

Then they haven't "set up" a republic at all yet. They still have to survive the power vacuum of a headless monarch.
What did the population think of the king? Of the king's heirs, if he had any, or his wife/consorts? What about the military establishment or nobility? Do they have weapons? Do they want to rule the country? Was that a stupid question?

You've actually been given a bit of an asset here. The players have told you, the GM, that they want to set up a republic. All you have to do is provide the appropriate obstacles, and following a coup d'état there should be plenty of those.

So a democratic republic?

Also, at the risk of meme'ing here, I honestly have to ask: what is their tax policy?

>read the news
>any democratic country
>especially any African ones
Boom. Done.

1/10 coins or bags of wheat was last I knew

>killed a king and say "I'm the ruler now!"
>"They set up a republic"

Congratulations, you rule the entirety of a throne room. You and the few number of guards that apparently are on your side are against, quite literally, the rest of the country. Nobles allied to the royal family who had a stake in his rule, the generals under his command, etc. Have fun fending that off and trying to seem legitimate in the short hour or two you have until your incredibly painful deaths.

Well.... I suppose that "set up" may have been a.... but of a strong term... perhaps "Declared a Republic" may be more appropriate.

>implying PCs can't just kill anyone who tries to attack them

Well, why not go full "patrician republic" route-
ugh

Between the necromantic wonder twins, the wall of iron with a sword, the sneaky elf and, the bard who convinced a bandit lord that HE was the REAL bandit lord.

Your probably right.

Let good intentions pave the way to hell, then. Plenty of scenarios you could adapt from real life.

Incremental disparity of rich/poors over time until a rebelion explodes and destroys the country in a civil war, after which a dictatorship starts and spans several decades.

Also like it happened in france neighbouring kings might try to avenge the king and reinstate a monarchy or simply try to steal some land. That state the PCs couped is fucked at best.

Unless paper is easy to make and they have a printing press things will be REALLY slow moving.

Also just killing the king? Lmao, just do what happened in France, they either start mass executions of nobility and royal sympathisers or run away. In France the peasants were very sympathetic to the monarch, it was the wealthy non-nobility that wanted to rise in the world.

They will also need to murder political rivals that want a different type of government. Also all the monarchs around them now want them dead, you can't just have a monarch deposed as executed.

Reminder that after the French Revolution there was:
>counter revolutions
>civil war
>foreign invasions
>reign of terror
>military coups

France is currently on its 5th Republic. The monarch was still extremely popular despite the starvation and economic collapse in France so I hope your players had a good reason for killing your monarch.

Honestly the most vibrant examples you are going to get are from Roman history adapted to your setting.

Here's a few things you need to figure out as far as who is who in your setting:

1) Who has the armies? Are the armies levied from the peasantry a la feudalism? Do people have personal demesne from which they can levy troops? Do the surrounding nations/tribes have standing armies? This would be remarkably rare in a feudal setting (aside from a city or household guard).

Why does this matter? Whoever can convince men to die for them is going to have a position of power to bargain from. And through all of human history: might makes right. "Pay your taxes" comes with the hidden implication, "Pay your taxes or I'll kill you".

Plots:
- Particularly charismatic generals who are competing for a powerful position. Their armies and the men they lead are more loyal to them than any other organization. The players will need to win these generals over or risk collapse to autocracy.
-For added complexity, there's more than one charismatic figure. One is more interested in winning over the popular opinion of the vast majority of people (usually the poorer, less influential social class), the other is interested in supporting the traditional aristrocracy (similar to Gaius Marius vs L. Cornelius Sulla situation)
-For even more added complexity, the group that's in control right now is terrified that their bright new military leader off on campaign has grown too famous and will return to take away your newly found democracy. (Will he? Up to the GM. For best results, have him abuse the rhetoric of democracy "I am merely here to fulfill the will of the people and fight against your unjust accusations to restore my honor" while simultaneously vying for autocracy). This is pretty similar to one G. Julius Caesar.

TBC

2. Who makes up this democracy? Is it one tribe or group of people? Is it a confederation? Different ethnic groups? Different languages and customs?

Why does this matter? A shared nationalistic identity is not a new phenomenon, but it's very malleable. People from relatively similar geographic locations (e.g. the Samnites and the Romans) might be BITTER rivals and hated enemies while other countries (e.g. the concept of "Germany") are built out of a similar national identity but might be varied in geographic location, custom, religion, or even language.

Plots:
- A minority ethnic group within the faction desires more of a voice. As democracy tends to do, the largest voice comes from the ethnic majority. Unfortunately, because the seat of the republic is well within the territory of the ethnic majority, minimizing the number of representatives of the minority. No longer bound to some central king, the minority is looking for more autonomy or, worse, independence. For complexity, this desire for balkanisation is happening when the country needs the resources of this minority the most!

-The minority are actually in control. The vast majority of the territory come from some other group or several different groups of people (e.g. the majority of Italians weren't "Roman Citizens" until after the Social Wars). The players need key figures for the republic to work, say... the powerful minority are in control of government, the military, and economy; they have no desire to share their vote with "non-countrymen".

-The majority of a certain culture oust the leader of some powerful ethnic minority. Descendants of the dynasty are assembling at the fringes of the territory to press their claim. "We must return the rightful heir of House XXX to the throne!" is on the lips of many hidden dissenters of this new, unusual government.

TBC

Communism

3. Who has the money? Is there a division of social classes? Are they divided between land owners and serfs? What about a middle class? What about a more complex system of Slaves->Freemen->Plebian->Equites->Patrician that you get with Rome?

What do the people with the money want? Does their wealth buy them influence? Armies?

Republics tend to mean rights, freedoms. Usually whatever benefits the poor is going to injure the wealthy, powerful, and influential.

Plots:
- Civil strikes as the poor in the nation demand equal opportunity to wealth to their former masters. More complexity, they don't just want equal wealth, they want payment for lost wages. They want the heads of the businessmen and treasure divided between the worker class.

-The merchant class, unable to levy armies (for what ever reason) fund those who can, manipulating them into positions of power as puppet kings. For added complexity, the idea of "power behind the throne" is an intriguing one. The players, trying to rouse the republic to do what they want find stiff opposition from legally elected representatives/senators/elders. What players don't know (or learn) is that these votes are being bought or manipulated by the wealthy.

-The wealthy threaten to leave, taking their treasure, taking their resources, taking their infrastructure out of the country. This collapse of economy would set back your country by centuries. Is there any way to convince or coerce them to stay? What bargain could you strike with the wealthiest men?

- The war for freedom has plunged your characters or the freedom fighter leadership into deep debt. Maybe it's a neighboring nation that opposed the autocracy that lead your country before (e.g. France supporting the US to fuck over UK). Now the debt collector is coming due. How much do they want? Your forces? Your treasure? Do they expect your new nation to become a vassal state? Can your nation afford to say no?

TBC

4. Belief, Personalities, and Divine right.

A lot of ways that people would unify consists of a mutual devotion to a religion or religious concept. Perhaps they worship the same pantheon. Perhaps there are competing pantheons. Is there a priest caste? What sort of sway do the religious have over politics?

Plots:
- Was the last king a "divine appointment"? Perhaps his heirs have a claim to the throne not from man, or force alone, but from the Gods! This would go a long way to inspire a superstitious population.

- What sort of expectations, especially extra-judicial do the religious class expect from this democracy? A secular democracy would be incredibly rare and likely to earn the ire of any of the pious.

- Your republic is lead by one or maybe several important "founders" of course. What if one tried to seize power? What if one was appointed a "president for life"?

-Who has the right to vote? Maybe some class, ethnic group, or gender is not provided the right to vote. Can slaves vote? Can only people born in the land vote? This could lead to strife.

Anyway, there's a good dozen or so ideas to work from. I hope this helped.

Holyfuck say thank u op

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