Fantasy Guide to Writing Believable Politics
In most fantasy settings, politics is a large part of worldbuilding and a chunk of the plot, as how the world and culture runs from top down, will effect your characters, certain events and often effect the run of your story. In writing politics, you are shaping both the opportunities and limits, the impacts of morality and power on your world which will always come back to bite your characters on the ass.
Lasswell defined politics as the who gets what, where, when and how. It is the string of protocols and events that dictate the rules and structures of society, framing the values and core ideals of the nation - or at least, the values of the ruling class. Poltics is not the government, politics is the process of argument, discussion, choice and question of how the government is run. Think of government like a football player and politics as the ball and the goal and the field.
It would be foolish to think that poltics is an agreed, unilateral process. No government can exist on one idea, one thought process. Even in a totalitarian regime, there will be those that disagree or lobby for change, even in a totalitarian”utopia”, there will be those that disagree. It is human nature to argue. Left, right or central political factions exist because there is no system on any earth where any decision is made without pushback. And it would be a mistake to think that only the ruling class can effect politics, other and even marginalised classes have a pull on politics especially if they are in the majority. Poltics is often deterimined or at least influenced by popular opinion even in dictatorships, playing to the crowd either by distraction in the form or reward and entertainment or giving into some of their needs. Even powerful parties must work to convince factions from the workers who can be with or without vote - even voteless masses can influence politics, through violence or threat or strike action -or even the head of state who makes final decisions, it is all one performance to win popular opinion to their side and way of thinking. The use of political factions in your story can allow you to frame the what is and what could be in your world or limit the opportunities of characters creating more conflicts or barriers for characters to butt against. Political figures themselves will either be lauded or despised in turnk with the media and the people weighing in.
What Politicians, Heads of State and the Common Man/Woman could discuss when talking about Politics
Enter any bar, restaurant, family home, school or any sphere of conversation, politics is a common subject. Even if heavy topics aren’t tackled, most people operate on a “no politics at the dinner table” way of thinking, politics related topics will arise. There aren’t enough job opportunities, some items are hard to find or expensive, the healthcare and education system is lacking and too general, that politician broke their word, that head of state can’t seem to control the government, the government did this, said that and can you believe that? Politics effects life: healthcare, education, housing, freedom, the economy, justice and ways of thinking about foreign relations and the nation’s sense of pride. Politicans would run on platforms dedicated to change how one of these things or protect them, they would debate these things in government either successfully or unsuccessfully. They would discuss it with one another even in private, for example if they back a stance with all they got, would the other faction or their ally make it worth their while. A head of state would be counselled on the matters of housing, food, healthcare etc by the government and would often instruct the government to focus on a certain point causing potential breaking points with the population and would cause greater issues. There will also be those that struggle against the status quo and current politics due to ideas that the current politics either ignores them or backs them into a corner, protests, demonstrations and strikes would be apart of even the most peaceful of places. It is human nature to struggle and insist to be heard. Even amongst families and friendgroups will squabble or disagree over politics or how things are run or the success of the government.
No One Else Was in The Room Where it Happened
Not all politics is discussed in the grand halls of government, deals and agreements are made in the houses of the powerful, or in restaurants or even seedy nightclubs and bars. It is all about exchange of support for one thing for another favour another day, the head of state might ask the government to focus on one issue due to strain on one issue over other pressing issues. A law might be passed that protects the hands that grease the wheels of government, a wealthy tycoon is more likely to get off a tax charge than the man on the street. A politician might agree to support a political rival if they back a policy they are planning to implement. Politics is underhanded, because there are so many cogs working behind the scenes and it is doubtful that even the government fully knows what was going on which can lead to the public seeing their government and its politics as shady figures.
How your Head of State would handle state affairs
I’m often asked how kings/queens/ruling figures handle politics. Depending on what system your monarch has to work within, either absolute or bound by a constitution, they will either have the right to make choices without government or be advised, informed by the head of government and have an advisory role rather than an active one but at the end of the day it is in the monarch’s power to sign a law or an order or bill into effect. The head of state has to be informed of all situations and decisions, underhanded politics may not be mentioned but the outcomes certainly will be. A head of state might attend government sittings or they may have private condensed discussions with a council made of politicians or nobles assigned to cover certain issues. The head of state may get involved in the nitty gritty of politics or they may chose to act as an adviser or referee but they have to be informed of what is going on at all times. This means they will often get dispatches of state papers to read and then sign off on, such as proposals, transcripts and minutes of meetings, letters from ambassadors and reports from the borders, or abroad or within the cities or countryside or literally everything that happens in the country at any given time. No monarch will take kindly to being left out of decision making or discussions as it is a challenge to their power or an attempt a coup.
