I have no idea where to even start in creating a government for one of my societies. like the government never really came up because the character I wrote about were from the other society but like, its kinda important for worldbuilding purposes and I have no Idea what kind of government would work or where to start.
please help
I just realized, I should probably mention that the society I cant figure out how to govern is a generic group of the people left behind from a worldwide war who all convene on the only part of the planet that isnt too destroyed and that they can use to rebuild society from while the rest of the world slowly becomes more inhabitable and the environment rebounds from the damage.
Well if they have to rebuild society, they would be making their own government, right? That seems like a good side plot, or possibly main plot- that the government they created is dysfunctional somehow. The best thing to do would be to put yourself into your characters' shoes, figure out their ideal government, have them create (or attempt to create) it, and then ask yourself what could go wrong (with governments, you should have no trouble doing that). You don't need to make a flawless government; instead, embrace and magnify the faults.
that would work out great….. if my story wasnt set like 2,000 years after the government starts to reform
I do like that idea, it would be a really cool way to write a prequel! I might outline that after I finish the current story.
that would work out great….. if my story wasnt set like 2,000 years after the government starts to reform
Ah, okay then.
The creation of the government still applies, however. I assume you're outlining the history of your world, and the people who started the new govt. would still have ideals about how a government should be. If you've lived in anarchy your entire life, you'd probably want a stable government with a strong hold over law and order, so the govt. may have started out with possibly too much power.
In early world history when governments were being formed from basically nothing, the most powerful people were the people who had the most resources, which led to monarchies, oligarchies, and dictatorships (I believe Athens, which came later, was the first major democracy but don't quote me on that.). If someone wanted power, they could take it and become a warlord. Or maybe your world has a council that may or may not be corrupt. The government would probably change a lot over 2,000 years, and what it ends up as is up to you. The "best" form of government depends on the role it plays in your story, which is different for every world. Maybe some more details about the setting, plot, and what you intend the government to do would help?
On the opposite side of the spectrum, after they realize that the gov't has way too much power, they could LIMIT the gov't too much. The Articles of Confederation is a fantastic example, it was basically the American system of gov't just after the Revolutionary War but before the Constitution was drafted. Basically, every representative met once a year, they had absolutely no power to raise a military or taxes, and they all had to come to a unanimous decision for any law or other legislation to get passed. It was… pretty garbage, so that could help set up the second part of your government phase before they find the Goldilocks solution (Ooh, that could be a cool name!).
okay, im just gonna tell you what I have about the history/ setting of the story and add some details/ a tldr at the end.
( this story takes place on earth and follows the same general rules of human deveopment as a society)
the third world war breaks outin the year 2055, it is both a nuclear war and a typical war fought with a mixture of drones and humans. the war ends with all the governments being destroyed and humanity deciding that continuing the war is no longer worthwile. (year 2200)
this is when the people left behind from the war all convene on the only part of the planet that isnt too destroyed and that they can use to rebuild society from while the rest of the world slowly becomes more inhabitable and the environment rebounds from the damage.
in the middle of the 3rd WW in the year , a hole is ripped in the fabric of reality because of all the nuclear bombs. This hole begins small and becomes larger overtime not noticed by humanity until all the people who were safe to be around had left. by 2208, all fantasy creatures and races have come through the hole and come to earth. those who attacked the humans that were left on the continent due to radiation were banished by the wizards who were the first to come as they were the ones to first sense and discover the hole in their reality. over the next~1000 years, the humans pair up with many of the humanoids who had come into our world. this led to there being plentiful amounts of hybrid species.
eventually, the hybrids realized that they were no longer suffering from high levels of radiation and that they could potentially reintegrate with their human ancestors. so a few of them who were the best with the outdated technology sent a signal to the humans, saying they want to meet old relatives and be included in society.
when the humans received this message they immediately put a team in charge of discovering if these people were actually safe to be around and if they could be reintegrated into society. Meetups were arranged and after several months it was decided that the hybrids could 'once again' join humanity. They were aware that there were wizards and elves and dwarves and such with them, but they believed that all to be hallucinations. that is until two years after first contact when they began the process of reintroducing them to society and discovered that indeed, they were not fully human and some werent even human at all. this sparked tension. many 'mythicals', as they became known, were discriminated against and given bad positions in society, laws were put in place to prevent this but were poorly executed. eventually a leader rose to power who was openly against the mythicals. at this point, many had retreated from human society and formed a colony of their own. a peaceful democracy that grew fast. when that human leader was put in charge, he declared open war on the mythicals by sending a strike to hit the democratic city they had established outside of the humans borders.
immediately all the Mythicals rallied together and fled the city in droves, going to the democratic city and helping them rebuild and starting an army to defend themselves.
The war went on for twelve years until both sides decided they couldn't maintain the war, an armistice was signed and treaties for contact created. but some mythical POW's were unable to escape completely. they were integrated into society, able to hide themselves. sometimes they would secretly find each other and such but many children suddenly found themselves being different in a society that hated them and no idea why it was that way. many of these people ended up as outcasts and were rescued by Scale (the society of mythicals) and given a home, food, and a job.
many years later the leader of scale comes to the conclusion that the humans are limiting their ability to live and thrive. they decide that they want to renew the war between the humans and the Mythicals. so over the next few years, they amass an army and many deadly weapons so when they strike, they will strike such a devastating blow that the humans wont be able to recover. they decide to kill all the humans.
this is where my story begins. it features 4 mythicals who go on an adventure to stop Scale from destroying humanity and sparking yet another war when most of them had lived through the previous one
I cant figure out what to do for the human government. I know it isnt super crucial to the story but when the protagonists travel through a human city I should at least have them know SOMETHING about who enforces laws and how to hide and maybe have them curse using the leader's name or something so society at least appears organized
tl;dr—– two societies, human and not human. the human one develops separate from the not human people and I kinda need them to have government so I can write the scenes that involve my not human protagonists going through a town and have the government at least seem structured.
sorry for the wall of text, I cant figure out how to indent or anything. I dont even know if thats an option.
So you mention unenforced laws and a leader rising to power, which makes me think of a poorly designed representative democracy. If you want the leader to have unlimited or barely limited power, you can have the govt. be like a monarchy, but instead of inheritance of power you could have the people elect a ruler and council every ___ years (should probably be a lot of years if you want the leader to have lasting power to do whatever they want).
Another option is a dictatorship where the strongest person/organization simply takes the power, but you would have to keep in mind that civilian life in a dictatorship is vastly different from life in a democracy or even a constitutional monarchy.
Whatever govt. you decide on, there would still be laws and structure to society, and there would still be problems and conversation topics that aren't govt. or politics related (which writers with very developed governments seem to struggle with sometimes).