Questions tagged [empire-building]
For questions about the conglomerations of areas or nations under the rule of one person or entity.
84
questions
1
vote
1
answer
43
views
How Much is Too Much Land for One Province?
The Aurean Dominate is a sort of federated elective monarchy that rules all of the Planet Aurea (an approximately Earth-sized world but one where all the land is in the southern hemisphere and the ...
3
votes
3
answers
311
views
Could a Preindustrial State Control an Entire Planet?
The Aurean Dominate is an empire controlling the entire planet Aurea and a scrap of the neighboring planet Awal (known as the Exarchate of Tifinagh). Aurea is around Earth-sized (although all of the ...
9
votes
6
answers
541
views
Using a Royal Harem as a Bureaucratic Corps
Scribes and other literate administrators were a hot commodity in the ancient world. Whether they were Confucian Scholar-Gentry or Catholic Monks, the pre printing press world made whole social ...
2
votes
4
answers
261
views
Could an empire be built around a desert?
I'm trying to make an empire that has a large (almost as big as the Sahara) desert in the middle of its boundaries. The capital would be found in the north near a mountain range, and the empire ...
6
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Could mass production of guns be possible by slaves?
I'm imagining a setting with 16th-17th century tech level. In this era, there's the rise of guns and blackpowder, and slavery too.
Slavery was used mostly for agricultural reasons, but there were a ...
15
votes
9
answers
3k
views
What is the safest and most extravagant place for an interstellar emperor to make his palace?
Every evil galactic empire has an emperor’s palace. From the Goa’uld to the Sith Empire to House Harkonnen, every emperor has one extremely lavish but heavily defended structure they call home.
My ...
5
votes
6
answers
1k
views
How can an interstellar empire prevent its subjects from obtaining advanced computer technology?
My interstellar empire, the Dynasty, draws some inspiration from the Gao’uld of Stargate. Encompassing the entirety of the Hyades cluster, it is ruled with an iron (or platinum) fist by the Sovereign-...
6
votes
10
answers
311
views
How can human skin be the preferred material for the recording of daemonic texts?
The Sarkic empire was the superpower of the ancient world, spanning the globe across multiple continents and subjecting their people to their benevolent rule. Although they were an authoritarian ...
1
vote
3
answers
206
views
Is it feasible to have enormous boarding schools to educate a world empire's children?
In my fictional world, humanity lives underground in a planet that is not Earth. The underground is solid rock with "burrows" of large size that house all life on this planet. Think of it ...
2
votes
2
answers
135
views
What would two planets connected by traversable wormholes trade that is worth the travel risks?
I've posted here before about the realism of my wormholes and such, but I feel this question better fits the forums context of how it wants questions.
I have multiple wormholes that are within the ...
15
votes
15
answers
5k
views
Why would mechs be used in underwater combat but not on land?
In my world, the planet (which is not Earth, but is suitably Earth-like) has been besieged by deadly monsters for about 1000 years. Their initial attack lead to an apocalyptic scenario which took ...
1
vote
6
answers
167
views
How could a world empire prevent rebellions with minimal bloodshed?
In the world I've thought of, monstrous beings more or less ended civilization on my planet. From the fires of this apocalyptic event, the world empire arose. It took over territory either by force or ...
4
votes
2
answers
193
views
Is this space empire plausible? What flaws are most obvious? How can it be improved? [closed]
Humanity has access to a stargate of unknown origin. Each gate leads to a solar system from which other gates can be accessed, creating a kind of highway spanning some 300 systems. The travel time in ...
4
votes
9
answers
456
views
How do I determine which areas of my empire would be richest and poorest? [closed]
In my book series, the Aurean Empire spans an entire Earth-sized world called Aurea (however, all of the landmass is on the southern hemisphere, so only that part is inhabited). Overall, the planet's ...
1
vote
2
answers
178
views
Does This Geopolitical Power Balance Make it Look Like I am Promoting Colonialism? [closed]
The book series I'm working on can basically be summed up as a science-fantasy series that starts out leaning much more on the fantasy end of the spectrum (the first few books could best be described ...
20
votes
11
answers
4k
views
Which geographic areas within an empire produce the best soldiers?
In my book series, the Aurean Empire is a vast entity spanning an entire planet. I'm kind of wondering what parts of my empire would the Aureans draw their best soldiers from (for example, the Roman ...
4
votes
3
answers
254
views
How Should Cuisine Vary Across a Geographically Diverse Empire?
The Argentolian Empire is a massive land that spans a region roughly the size of the continental United States. Located in the southern hemisphere of its planet, the north is generally tropical, the ...
5
votes
3
answers
182
views
Rebuilding a collapsed empire
I am making a galaxy where humans have reached an age where everything is peaceful and paradise, like spanning thousands of planets. However, a disaster happened that caused all the worlds to be ...
3
votes
4
answers
313
views
Modern-day Roman Empire [duplicate]
Before asking the question, let me give you some background. I am a big fan of Roman history, everything from the gladiators of the Colosseum to the writings Seneca, and the other day I was thinking ...
7
votes
4
answers
667
views
Could a regularly erupting volcano create fertile soil for a fantasy empire to thrive?
I have recently learnt about the flooding of the Nile and the irrigation around it, enabling plentiful crops by depositing nutrient rich silt during bronze age Egypt. I have also learnt about volcanic ...
6
votes
5
answers
982
views
How do you make a Roman-esque style army more adaptive to situations even if they've never confronted them?
So in my fantasy world, my Emperor has recently come into control of a declining empire and managed to restore its control over the continent he lives on. This empire, a continuation of previous ...
2
votes
2
answers
186
views
What events caused the formation of the 18th century Dutch-Scandinavian Republic?
I'm in the early stages of an alternate history novel (and at a push a light fantasy) in which I like the idea of a unified Scandinavian Nation/Republic to compete with Britain and France for control ...
8
votes
9
answers
2k
views
In a decadent galactic empire with instantaneous communication, how would the most remote planet gain their independence?
In a very large and decadent galactic empire (think of Asimov's foundation empire), a new technology leap allows planet's government bodies to communicate instantaneously across the galaxy. It can be ...
5
votes
7
answers
269
views
Convince happy nomads to settle down
The population of my world is well fed and water can be plentifully scavenged from the plant life. We live in a wonderful tropical utopia that boasts a large nomadic population. The weather systems ...
2
votes
1
answer
1k
views
What drastic changes would occur if an architect went to ancient times [closed]
My character Ray was transported to the most fertile region of Africa about 569 B.C.
He was born in into a small farming family and learned about the history and evolution of farming because his ...
2
votes
6
answers
419
views
Establishing an empire in a world with flying ships
In What would an age of sail flying ship look like?, my answer suggested ships that fly using 'keels' that utilise a difference in physics to that of our own world to achieve flight.
Now, I am trying ...
13
votes
8
answers
2k
views
How could a imperial dynasty keep a loose collection of pirates, raiders, etc unified?
The Artarkan Star Empire is a loose confederacy of stellar warlords, pirates, slavers, and other groups lying on the edge of known space. While most of these groups hail from one common culture (...
-1
votes
1
answer
110
views
Post-apocalyptic war between two empires isolated for 2 centuries with a vast ocean.How would it play out? [closed]
In fictional world, a nuclear apocalypse has destroyed old nations and ravaged civilization. Refugees (and colonial settlers from before) from the mainland fled to unaffected Africa and North America/...
3
votes
2
answers
380
views
Demon Empire annexs North America. How would the world react in 1972? [closed]
I had an urge to make an alternate history, which is an alien space bats scenario.
Here some worldbuilding that I made.
In another dimension, a planet is divided by 4 space filling empires. Theis ...
2
votes
3
answers
523
views
How to build a plumbing system in a magic world? [closed]
How do I build a plumbing system in a magic world? Because a lot of stories seem to completely ignore this and I don't want to make my story like that.
The magic in this world allows you to create ...
5
votes
10
answers
978
views
What's an appropriate title for a person who deals with conflicts of an Empire? [closed]
What would be a good title for someone who works closely with an emperor, is skilled in diplomacy, deals with different factions and individuals in the Empire's capital city to resolve issues, while ...
11
votes
8
answers
2k
views
Could an empire control the whole planet with today's comunication methods?
I remember watching a documentary some time ago and at one point they were talking about how empires were limited to a certain size since there was no way to communicate across the empire quickly and ...
3
votes
2
answers
938
views
Possibility of an alliance between Rome and China
For plot reasons, I need there to be global-ish peace by the 1700's. Obviously, the easiest and best way to do this, is union under the system of Pax Romana.
However, at this particular time (about ...
1
vote
5
answers
465
views
how can I replace the center of power in Christendom from Rome to Constantinople?
I, Emperor Lucifer the 1st, am the undisputed ruler of the Byzantine Empire, better known as the True Roman Empire. To secure my dominance, I plan to cement myself as the ruler of all Christendom in ...
2
votes
4
answers
174
views
Emperor that nominates a council: ensuring status quo among the members
Great questions bring great answers... and also more questions. This one is a follow-up on Emperor that nominates a council that nominates the next emperor by Timst.
I suggest, before answering, ...
7
votes
5
answers
468
views
Emperor that nominates a council that nominates the next emperor?
As part of the political making of a country I'm working on, I was imagining the following structure:
The country is ruled by an emperor/king, who has near-absolute authority over the land.
The ...
19
votes
10
answers
4k
views
How can I prevent semi-independent royal families from rebelling against the empire?
This global-spanning empire is divided among five royal families, each headed by a prince. The emperor himself leads the empire, with the five princes serving under him. While they owe fealty to the ...
22
votes
13
answers
6k
views
Ways to keep a fantasy cold war between dragons and knight sorcerers cold?
So here's the scenario. I have two rather large and evenly matched empires: one led by human knight sorcerers with bloodline based magic and another by dragons, who are fairly similar to the dragons ...
5
votes
8
answers
961
views
How likely is it that an interplanetary empire could exist in the future?
I'm building a world with an interplanetary empire (with an emperor as head-of-state), but I wonder how realistic it is for one to even exist.
An empire, according to Google, is defined as:
an ...
0
votes
3
answers
290
views
A Theocratic Megacorporation? [closed]
Imagine if a televangelist somehow managed to amass a devoted global following and used the funds from the offerings he gained from them to turn his cult into an N.G.O. superpower. How exactly would ...
9
votes
7
answers
3k
views
Why does my island nation start building bridges? [closed]
I’ve got a fantasy world in which the landmass is essentially a large series of archipelagos and island chains. For a real world comparison, think the Hawaiian islands in range of size and distance ...
0
votes
1
answer
88
views
Could a loose galactic alliance be dismantled in a quick coup? [closed]
In my book series (link here), the planets of Aurea, Ishgabangaloodoo, and most of the eastern half of the galaxy have entered an alliance against the Tatian Empire (Caput Tatiium and most of the ...
-1
votes
1
answer
150
views
If modern civilization collapsed, what impact would a lack of trade and industrial base have on the next civilization centuries later? [closed]
Let's say that civilization ends due to non-globally destructive means. For instance, a rising tide that destroys ports and trade wouldn't scar the landscape of Denver the way nuclear war would. ...
1
vote
3
answers
443
views
Mapping Stellar Empires? [duplicate]
Any nation needs to have a firm understanding of its borders and controlled territories. How might a empire with FTL technology spanning multiple planetary/stellar systems make a map of their ...
4
votes
1
answer
579
views
What are the 'pacifist-spiritualist' galactic empire be like?
Sorry for my bad english.
I have been playing Stellaris for a while, and I found it very interesting to have a pacifist-spiritualist in my sci-fi story.
But I have difficulties in understanding what ...
11
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Imperial Kingdoms?
I am writing a fantasy story where a vast Empire has been weakened, and the previous (inept) emperor allowed the feudal lords to act nearly autonomously. Once he died, the lords that ruled their ...
5
votes
2
answers
286
views
Rules of a puppeted nation/State
For a world I'm building I would like to have a nation that is a puppet of a larger empire. I know that a puppet state is a state that is supposedly independent but is in fact dependent upon an ...
4
votes
1
answer
258
views
How to Construct Politics of Nations?
on a way to prepare to create the politics of the kingdoms and empires in my novel I want to begin. I want my novel to take place in a sort of 1700s-1800s timeline, what could I do to make these ...
3
votes
3
answers
530
views
Could an empire like this survive?
I am wanting to know if an empire with a continental size, lots of biomes, and a lot of diversity could survive. Might be good for the start or the middle of a story.
Size
Basically what is in this ...
5
votes
5
answers
521
views
Rebuilding an Empire
Scenario:
The world has suffered from near apocalyptic cataclysm from the new birth of a God. The nations of the world have teamed up and defeated the Evil God and have formed a new Alliance of ...