Social Structure (CSC)

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When sentient, social beings congregate in any number, they inevitably find ways to stratify themselves into social classes and then arrange some sort of arcane system where members of the upper social classes—the wise, the powerful, or the wealthy—can either wisely guide, subtly manipulate, or cruelly suppress their supposed inferiors. It happens in our world and, speaking realistically, it should happen in the DM's new world.
==Social Class==
A person's social class is his standing in society, a measure of both his personal wealth and the accident of his birth. If we ignore religious classifications or the belief that some people are born to lead others and focus on economic classes, we find three broadly defined social classes.
The poor, which includes peasants, fanners, laborers, soldiers and those who are even less fortunate form the bulk, the "unwashed masses It of nearly every society. They have little money, no influence (unless they riot or revolt), and can rarely think of anything but survival.
The middle class consists of merchants, craftsmen, lesser priests and government officials. They handle most of a society's money, yet keep only a fraction of it. They live comfortably, yet are rarely well off. Most adventurers will come from this social class.
The rich include the nobility, elite landowners, merchant princes, and powerful priests of the land. Even in countries that espouse democratic representation, the rich will often have control. The DM should note that even if the PCs become wealthier than kings, they will rarely (and then only grudgingly) be accepted into the ranks of the elite.
DMs may wish to have the PCs arise from one of these social classes, letting them further identify with their world. While it is possible for peasants to become adventurers, it may be more likely that middle class and the lower ranks of the rich would be potential heritages for wizards and priests, since these folk customarily have money available to apprentice their children. Thief and druid characters would more likely have a poor social background, the former as city dwellers, the latter coming from the countryside. Warriors may hail from any background, but paladins would only come from the upper crust of society. The offspring of nobility will rarely be adventurers, and when they are, it should be expected that only younger children follow the adventurer's path, not heir apparent.
==Countries==
Just as there are numerous peoples in the DM's world, there will be numerous political organizations called countries. Most of these will be small, sometimes nothing more than relatively large walled cities, and usual1y represent the reach of a single ruler's influence. Some will be larger, either as the territory of a large cultural group, or the unified efforts of one or more of those smaller countries.
===Where Do Countries Come From?===
Countries form when leaders within a people declare their control over a geographic region to be supreme and exclusive of all other influence. Establishing the boundaries of that region is another matter altogether.
Any area that is physically isolated win tend to be politically independent (at least initially). Its boundaries will extend as far as the geographic features that cut it off from the rest of the world. High mountain valleys, islands, and peninsulas are potential examples of this. In a similar manner, the lands on opposite sides of a vast desert will usually not belong to the same country, since it is difficult for a central government to exert its authority across so large an expanse of desolate terrain.
Rivers, more than any other geographical feature, often serve as political boundaries. With rivers, there is no doubt where one country ends and another begins. Islands in the middle of rivers are a problem though. High mountain ranges can serve as boundaries also, but deciding on actual borders can be somewhat ambiguous and easily disputed.
Begin drawing in country borders on the world and regional maps. Leave a few borders indefinite and disputed, keeping in mind that the countries on either side of those borders will probably be at odds about it.
As a side note, the higher the culture level of a people, the greater the chance that they will extend their reach to place surrounding peoples and lands lU1der their control. Also, remember that in more primitive cultures (including most fantasy worlds like the FORGOTTEN REALMS® world), there are few hard political boundaries. Most states will have only a vague border which can be easily disputed.
===Name-calling===
Now it's time to give the countries names. Use any naming system that works, but avoid silly or punny names. The joke quickly becomes old and the DM is stuck with a stupid name and his players have a much harder time suspending their disbelief. Adapting the names of countries with similar names from our own world works quite wel1. The DM may cal1 his barbarian lands the Confederacy of Czevakia, invoking a central European flavor, while nomads might take their names from totem animals, like Tribe of the Wolf.
===Wars and Rumors of War===
A world without strife seems a glorious goal, but it makes for lousy adventure gaming. Conflict between nations can provide a tense, exciting backdrop for the activities of the PCs. It sets up the opportunities for them to join in spy missions, BATTLESYSTEM™ rules conflicts, border patrols, raids, political intrigue, assassinations, diplomatic missions, and rescue attempts, all at the behest of one feuding government or another.
Deciding who doesn't like whom requires a little imagination and a bit of common sense. Using a hypothetical situation, we find that country A doesn't like country B because B insists on sending all of its refined iron ore eastward into country C. It doesn't seem to matter that A and B are separated by a nearly impassable mountain range.
Meanwhile, country B sells the ore in return for weapons that it sends to troops stationed near the border with country A.
Country D watches the interplay between its neighbors and secretly builds its own military strength. It sees the possibility of either A or B moving around the mountain range to attack.
In three short paragraphs the political situation in one region is summarized. Details can be added as the nature of these disputes coalesces in the DM's mind.
==Governments==
Each country win have rulers of some sort. As mentioned earlier, government is an inevitability. Fantasy adventures invariably evoke imagery of kings and queens, princes and princesses, evil barons, proud emperors, wise caliphs and all the other trappings of governments based on the divine right of kings to rule over lesser men. Yet even in a fantasy world, countries need not all be run by nobles. Within the space of less than a century, pre-imperial Rome was first a republic, then a dictatorship, an oligarchy, and finally an autocracy, while the Vatican City in Rome has been a theocracy for more than a millennium. Even so, a substantial difference in type of government is usually a catalyst (or excuse) for neighboring countries to be at odds with each other.
The following is a list of government types which may be found in a typical AD&D® game.
* Autocracy: Government which rests in self-derived, absolute power, typified by a hereditary king or emperor.
* Bureaucracy: Government by department, ruled by the heads of those departments and conducted through layers and layers of lesser administrators.
* Confederacy: Government by an alliance or league of lesser governmental bodies or social organizations.
* Democracy: Government by the people, that is an established body of citizens, either directly or through elected representatives.
* Dictatorship: A nonhereditary government whose final authority rests in the hands of a supreme ruler, who is often of a tyrannical nature.
* Feudality: Government of a feudal nature, in which each successive layer of authority derives its power from the layer above and pledges allegiance in return.
* Hierarchy: A typically religious government similar in nature to Feudality.
* Magiocracy: A government of wizards.
* Matriarchy: Government by the eldest or wisest females.
* Militocracy: Government by the leaders of the military and enforced by military might.
* Monarchy: Rule by a single sovereign, usually hereditary. May be an absolute ruler (see Autocracy) or with power limited and delegated in some form, such as through a council of lords.
* Oligarchy: Government by a few (and usually absolute) rulers who each have equal authority. Patriarchy: Government by the eldest and wisest males.
* Pedocracy: Government by the learned, the sages, and scholars.
* Plutocracy: Government by the wealthy.
* Theocracy: Government based exclusively on religious teachings, usually headed by the most powerful clerics of a specific deity.
* Syndicracy: Government by a body of syndics, that is, representatives of various business interests. Such a state may, in fact, be a confederacy of criminal cartels working together to provide for their own interests.
It is important to keep in mind that these governments are not mutually exclusive. If one considers the current state of affairs in the United States of America, we find that it contains many of the features typical to a democracy and a bureaucracy. Further, there are those who might claim that is also something of a plutocracy. As you can see, there is room for debate and an endless variety of potential combinations.
==Economics and Taxation==
===The Cost of Living===
Admittedly, the price lists for items given in the AD&D® game rule books do not reflect historical, real world prices. The prices listed for goods and services to be had reflect an inflationary economy, one which has seen the influx of vast amounts of gold and silver, the booty of countless forays by worthy adventurers. In this cash-rich economy, the prices charged for items has cycled upwards to its current rate. Those with coin buy what they need. Yet for those without ready access to gold, barter has become a way of life, exchanging goods and services for other goods and services.
For the most part, the DM should assume that these prices will remain stable. Yet, should a war or drought ravage a land or its neighbors, prices will rise steeply as demand increases and supply decreases.
In a similar manner, some items will be radically less expensive or more costly away from large population centers. The cost of food and untrained livestock should be cheaper, only a tenth of the big city prices; while good quality swords and metal armor, much rarer far from the weapon shops of the city, might cost 10 times as much-if they can be found at all.
While it may be easier to use the price lists in the rule books, DMs should modify prices to represent the costs in their own worlds.
===Taxation===
Governments exist and thrive through taxation. The larger (or more incompetent or unscrupulous) the government, the more it taxes the population. If it seems reasonable that something could be taxed without causing a population revolt, it will be taxed. The most common rate for any particular tax is 5% of the basic value of the taxed iteln. As an example, an adventurer would pay the government 5% of the value of his castle, lands and livestock each year. Furthermore, he may also have to pay a tax on the goods produced by his lands.
Taxes are generally paid upon property that a character owns, not what he earns. Thus things like castles, inns, farmland and livestock are assessed while gold taken from dungeons is not.
How the DM wishes to tax his players is a personal matter, but in all fairness, try to downplay this all-too-real facet of life. Limit taxation to easily calculated taxes. Figuring and paying taxes is not fun, whether or not it takes place in a real or fantasy world. On the plus side, heavy taxation could be the impetus for a revolt against the evil ruler scenario and unscrupulous tax collectors always make wonderful villains.
==Good & Evil Societies==
This final consideration has a great deal to do with the level of fantasy in the world. In complex, real istic societies, both good and evil exist and battle within the bounds of the same society. Do any of the countries have a specific alignment with the forces of good and evil? While such societies are admittedly unrealistic, they allow the players to identify friend and foe with relative ease.
It is, of course, possible to draw a historical basis for a nation which is utterly eviL Consider the actions of Gennany in the second world war. Genocide, unchecked aggression, and tyrannical rule are, without a doubt, evil. But was the average foot soldier a violent fiend? Probably not. Although it was greatly overshadowed by the actions of the government as a whole, there were good people caught up in that evil society.