Worldbuilding 104: Rules for Rulers
Greetings and scaphoid! ...You know, we all could use a cruise. Anyway, welcome! It is I, your favourite alien Limax, Vivian!
Have you ever wondered how it would be to be a ruler? To decide everything in the country? How to do everything better? Of course you do, and you can do it! But to do that, you need to know something important: the Rules for Rulers! In case anyone wonders, this is indeed inspired by CGP Gray. But with, of course, my incredibly charming and alien spin on it.
The rules
First, we might as well get into the rules! And yes, I will explain what keys are, never fear! Rawr! Shall we?
No one rules alone: You have to have people do work for you.
Keep your keys happy: A happy key is a helping key!
Never have too many keys: The fewer the keys, the larger portion of the pie they can get.
Not all keys are equal: If you have to piss off a key, piss off the less relevant one.
Don’t take from the keys: Whatever you take from them, someone else can promise to give back.
It is not a terribly long list, but it is a vital list of rules that makes certain you stay in power.
No one rules alone
You are the king, queen, emperor, empress, supreme ruler, premier, president, whatever title you so want! Now that you rule the country, a road needs to be built… Do you know how to build a road? Can you operate the machines to do it? Divinum, now it all sounds like a whole lot of work for you to do all on your own!
What about defending the country? Sure, you might be fit, know how to wield a weapon… You are a walking one man army! Oh wait, shit, this is not Shounen anime or the likes. Yeah, you cannot best a ten thousand man army, let alone drive around a tank alone.
Well, at least you can enjoy all the money your taxes are bringing in! If you use fiat money, this is not accurate, but that is a post for another day (though I preview it in my post on currency). All that glorious 💰! Well, how do you get it to your huge fancy vault? Go out and knock on doors demanding they pay their taxes? You can try, but given you are alone, they can likely beat you up and be tax free!
Boy, being a ruler is hard when you are all alone! If only you could get some other people to do these things so you could have knowledge, power, force, abilities, and more in your system! But that is a dream… or is it? This is why no ruler rules alone no matter the title. There are entire systems underneath you that will take your will and spread it out so it becomes reality.
The job of any ruler is not to do the things they want but to be able to get other people to do what you want! Your will is their command, if you have done your job well.
The key to power
You cannot rule alone, so you need others, but you cannot have companies and workers for road-making directly under you. That is still too much work and too many details for you at the very top! Besides, then you still have to keep lots of info in your head, and your head is going to explode. So you need people that know how to deal with specific parts of the government directly under you.
These people are the “Keys” to your power. They believe in you, they do as you say because you’ve done your job and managed to convince them that listening to you is a great idea! When you say what you want, off they go to make it happen to the best of their abilities, and it is like magic! Things happen, militaries expand, roads are built, schools educate, all the power!
One thing to remember, though, when it comes to the keys, they hold power because they can make things happen, so disgruntled keys will diminish your power. As long as the majority of keys are quite happy and think you are a great lad or lass, disgruntled keys can often be dealt with, and you don’t necessarily need to execute them or replace them. I will come back to dealing with keys a bit later, but the main point here is that those who make certain you have power are the same people with power.
Keys and power are fractal
You have your keys, YOU HAVE THE POWER!
But it is not going to just be your keys because they are not the ones doing the direct work. They have people underneath them that are closer to the action, then people below that, and people below that, and so on and so on. Eventually we reach the people at the base who are the ones doing all the physical work, and those above organise all the parts involved.
This, however, means that your keys have keys of their own. Subkeys! These subkeys have similar things, subkeys of their own, and each layer has keys that allow them to have some power over those below. This means that power is constantly distributed with more and more people, but each layer down has less power than those above despite being more numerous.
A thing to pay attention to is that each layer brings something to the table that those above and below are incapable of doing, generally. If the system is extremely corrupt, which it can be, you can have superfluous positions that essentially do nothing. Divinum knows the Soviets did this a lot. However, superfluous positions weaken the structure overall due to those people not contributing, and limited resources like funding are wasted. How to handle this will come up in a bit!
The gist of this is that the game you play with your keys is the same game your keys play with their subkeys, and it continues on.
Autocratic keys vs Democratic keys
When it comes to keys, they come in different flavours depending on which government system you’ve picked.
Autocratic keys
While I have talked about keys as if they are people, that is because, well, in an autocracy, they generally ARE people. Specific individuals. Yes, that means there are a handful to about a dozen people underneath the autocrat who are the keys to their power. One interesting aspect to the autocrats' set of keys is that it can contain keys that won’t exist in democracies.
Everyone needs taxes and the military and the likes, but who cares about school? OFF WITH THE HEAD! But you know what an autocrat needs instead? Well, they need… Propaganda! So you can have someone do Propaganda! Oh hell, Göbbels! And then we have of course the pesky problem of people maybe dissenting. So a secret police is needed, and who is in charge of that? Not Himmler, he is dead.
As you can see here, you can actually create new keys that you are not used to! I will go into that in a bit.
Democratic keys
In his youtube video on rulers, Gray talks about how the population can be divided into groups of people with similar interests. And it is true! Farmers can be seen as one voting block, and thus are a key if you want to get voted into office. Why do you think farmers often get a lot of subsidies all around? Because it is a way to buy their vote! It is not election tampering if it goes through the legislature 😏
So yes, The voting people are very valid because they are the ones who dictate who sits in office, whether person or party. Anyone who knows me knows I absolutely detest the UK and US voting systems of voting for people directly instead of by party. But if people vote you in, you still have to do stuff! This is where I add something: the institutions! Unlike autocracies, democracies have institutions that do the jobs. It's not the individuals within that matter, but the institution as a whole. It does jobs and makes certain with its own rules to maintain itself and continue to do its duty to the state.
While most institutions, thanks to their larger number of people and loyalty to the system rather than to a person, will accept whatever the outcome of an election is,and thus continue to serve whoever is now elected, that is not a guarantee. Institutions can become corrupt, start to go rogue, and even plan things as a whole if they start feeling slighted. You can imagine what the Tax Agency can do if they are slighted: stop being as diligent, ignore obvious signs of fraud, and use malicious compliance. So institutional keys still need to be treated well.
Keys and peace
So we have the keys; you are ready to rule! You of course want a long and prosperous life for yourself where you can rule and do everything you want. But alas, that may not be so. The keys have to be happy one way or another, for they keep you in power. How do you do that?
Well, by placating their interests! This is often in the form of money in autocracies. Make certain your keys are well paid. This is very important because as I said, keys are fractal. The money you give them, they have to pay themselves and all the subkeys that help them stay your key. This is why benevolent dictators are so rare: all the money you wish to be benevolent with has to come from somewhere, and you either pay it yourself or use money meant for your keys. What this leads to, I will explain in the next section.
Notice here that I keep saying keys; whether people are happy or not is entirely irrelevant. Look at North Korea–the people are miserable, and no matter how brainwashed they get, they are NOT happy! And a thing to remember for autocracies is this… Sometimes a nice purge is a good way to keep the more relevant keys happy. A useless key doesn’t contribute, and other keys will want to increase their share.
Fortunately for democracies, the key to long rule (HAH!) is the people itself! So rulers have incentives to keep the people happy and content. This is why democracies are generally better places to live for people as there is a direct connection between the ruler's ability to rule and the well-being of the people. Of course, exceptions have existed.
Losing the keys
Okay, maybe you are not the best ruler, maybe you are autistic like me and kinda bollocked it up by being socially clumsy, and now some keys are really displeased with you. Why did we have to ask what their favourite underwear colour is? Eh, what is the worst that can happen?
In a democracy, this is unlikely to be the answer, unless you REALLY screw it up! You’ll just get voted out, prosecuted, and worst, end up behind bars. If you are an autocrat… 😬 Yeah your head can start rolling and won’t be alone.
The keys kept you in charge, but with whatever you’ve done–kept money away, slighted their partner, anything–they have started putting on a facade to make you and the others happy. But when your back is turned, they are looking for other alternatives. Sure, they won’t abandon their comfy job and the lots of money they get… but you’re not necessary for their job position. Just a ruler that they can work for.
Coups and many revolutions happen just because of this. Whoever was in charge pissed off enough keys that the keys thought someone else was a better choice. If people start charging your residence, and you call for the guard, the military, anything to stop them! …And then nothing comes… You know you pissed off those keys because they are letting this happen: you are better gone.
Making your own keys
As I said, you can make your own keys for your own society, but in order to do so, you need to consider many factors. But the big one is if it is autocratic or democratic. If you are going for autocratic, the key is generally a singular person with influence within the field, while democratic ones are groups of people who share something or an institution.
Here’s a list of typical keys, though not exhaustive:
Taxes
Military
Navy
Airforce
Infrastructure
Education
Economy
I already said for autocracies you can throw in propaganda or secret police, but what if we wanna do MOAR!? Well, for that, sit down and think about what is very important to keep a functional society. Functional of course does not mean pleasant, just so that you the supreme ruler do not get toppled. We could go with the classical fantasy key, namely, mages! Or warlocks and witches, honestly I like those words better.
Anyway! They are clearly going to be important if not everyone can do magic, as they become a group that possesses innate abilities and powers that can be utilised, but they can also have special interests because they might suffer from special conditions or many other things that make them into a voting group. If you are an autocrat, you want that power on your side, so a good warlock or witch becomes an important key for you! If they have special needs like I said, they become a good voting block for democracies. You might even get an institution for them because they need to be kept track of so they can get the help they need–alongside not exploding people.
If you go with scifi space opera as I do, each species becomes a voting block as well! Which, interestingly enough, is why member species of my faction “Commonwealth of Worlds,” actually have a special chamber of legislature where multiple species discuss things. Anyway, I will go into that another day. This can be enhanced even more if a species within the empire, or republic, or whatever, has special tolerance for an environment that contains something extremely good that is an absolute must. Think like FTL fuel, spice, etc. The species that can mine it then becomes a significant key, and whoever their ruler is, is a key you have to keep happy.
One key which is slowly becoming an actual thing in our world but is always available in scifi is a cyber key. That is an individual or institution that deals with cyber-related stuff. Keep data safe, ruin your enemies like that, etc.
Characters as keys
Most stories have a spunky character who will change the status quo being a nobody, then somehow manage, through natural or incredibly contrived means, to change everything. But what if they are not as powerless? Actually, let’s explore the ability for a nobody to use the keys!
The nobody finds keys
Oh no, you’re a nobody and want adventure! Well, that can be fun; my character Jules sure would want nothing else! The glorious adventure is on its way, and you fight dragons, sandworms, or pirates–you know, you fight too much, dear reader! Anyway, no adventure is done alone but with a team to help, and even then, it is even less alone as you encounter people left and right in taverns, inns, pubs, bars, casinos, gambling dens–Anne am I missing some place? (Anne: You can meet people just wandering the woods at night!) Thanks, not a classic, but yes.
When you walk in a tavern maybe looking for a drink, maybe your next gig as a mercenary–I mean adventurer!–you find the usual ruffians, but then there sits a person entirely out of place. Clothes that no one else here can afford or would wear; clearly a person of class! You can go there and get a job that will pay handsomely. You do the job that seems harmless enough… Oh crap, you are now stuck in the plot to remove the current leader, and that was one of the keys! Maybe it is for the best?
Or maybe through happenstance you happen to rescue the (checks a thesaurus) bachelor in distress, and it is the child of one of the keys who now owes you a debt. Just make certain you get some dirt on them to blackmail if they… decide the debt was repaid, even though nothing happened!
But now you have a connection, which means you might be able to get to know more keys, which can in turn open even more doors for you! If you need an audience with the great leader themselves, having one of their keys on your side will help! Even if you have a subkey down the hierarchy on your side only, that is still a source of power that you can leverage to help in your adventures.
You are the key
Bah, who needs a key on their side when you are one of the keys! Power is yours, even if not as much as the top dogs! Well, you still need to be kind enough to your fellow keys because if they get really annoyed, they can still work to replace you, and if they support your removal, your supreme leader can get rid of you without much issue!
But now, what kind of stories can you do with your protag being a key? Well, given I have explained it all as means to maintain power, it falls into two large categories: Mr. Protag can either be the one working to prevent other keys from ruining the status quo, which is a good status quo, but about which a large number of the keys are getting disgruntled and want to change. Or Mr. Protag is a less pleased or pissed off key and starts working to actually get rid of a ruler they do not like. (Anne: Mr. Protag can also be Ms. Protag or Mdr. Protag! Everyone can protect or destroy the status quo!) Damn English not having an omnititle for all people! So glad we Swedish got rid of these titles.
In the latter example, there has to be a logical reason why they change to wanting to disrupt the status quo. You usually don’t want a morally repugnant protag, but they can work, and these stories fit more toward the autocratic forms of keys where it is not institutions doing work but individuals. So maybe it used to be good and now turned into garbage because the child of the previous rulers took over. But that is kinda trite if you ask me–how about instead, your protag is a key and has been living well and genuinely thought the status quo was good, but then something happens to shock their system, and what their eyes never saw before becomes glaringly obvious? There are far too few of these stories if you ask me.
And please, no divinum damn teenagers! You can technically do New Adult (18-25 years old), and it makes some sense, but 30 years old is a good place to set the age for your protag to be a key. But maybe you can justify being younger, and if you can, go ahead! It is all about a believable justification.
Summa Summarum
Power is a fickle thing, and rulers on any level need to be careful in how they handle it. A slight mistake can escalate quickly if it is not nipped in the bud. But that makes for stories that are more fun. My friend and sister Anne sure loves people failing at this, which, if the person is too bad at it, reveals that author's ignorance and poor writing (Anne: Not me obviously!). Obviously! But I am the opposite of her! I love using these rules to create systems that can work. But of course I also throw in bad ones, cause we need action! 🔫 PEWPEW!
So take these rules and thoughts into account in how you create the structures in your mediaeval fantasy kingdom, fascist-equivalent dictatorship, or good people’s federation of democratic republics. They all obey these rules and reasons. Enjoy worldbuilding, and come up with some great new story variants. If you come up with some alien space opera keys, let me know! I’d be happy to hear how they work!
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Copyright ©️ 2024 Vivian Sayan. Original ideas belong to the respective authors. Generic concepts such as the rules for rulers are copyrighted under Creative Commons with attribution, and any derivatives must also be Creative Commons. However, specific ideas such as the character Jules and all language or exact phrasing are individually copyrighted by the respective authors. Contact them for information on usage and questions if uncertain what falls under Creative Commons. We’re almost always happy to give permission. Please contact the authors through this website’s contact page.
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