Tuesday, April 9, 2013

H Is For Hierarchy...

We're one week into the A to Z challenge! Good on you all for keeping up the posts. Thanks to all who have dropped by and commented.

Also, a quick thanks to all who came by and got their free copy of my book over the weekend. It was sort of spur of the moment, but I shall do it again someday, so keep an eye out.

My theme for the challenge is world building from a to z. Feel free to leave me comments. And now that I have my link figured out, I make sure to leave it there when I comment on your blogs.

We're talking the pecking order of things here. Who rules the roost? Who does the grunt work? Who really holds the power in society?

When you are thinking of the hierarchy of any given state or kingdom, you can follow the traditional rules or make your own.

There are Kings and Queen, Princes and Princesses, Dukes and Duchesses, Earls, Counts and Countesses, Marquis, Marquesses... oh the list goes on! Lots of research if you are so inclined.

If you have a king and queen, who inherits the throne? Eldest son or eldest daughter? Or just eldest child no matter the gender? Perhaps the family is given lands and titles upon the King's passing and a new one is voted in by the commonwealth. Perhaps there is a huge festival during which Knights compete for the crown.

Of course, there is always the old favorite of starting a war and invading a kingdom to take over. Doesn't always work out so well for your soldiers, though.

These are things to think about when structuring a society in fantasy world building. Do you have a matriarchal or patriarchal society? What's the difference? Matriarchal is run by women, patriarchal is run by men. If you have more than one kingdom and each society is different, how do they maintain the peace? Do they look down on each other for their ways of doing things?

Only you can answer these questions. You'll know who holds the true power in your world!

9 comments:

Unknown said...

For the last book I wrote, I ended up doing a lot of research on hierarchy and the list really does go on and on. There's so many more options than I ever realized.

I'm still such a girl though. Princesses will always be my favorite.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Great post on world-building.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Mine is run by elected council members, sort of like Star Trek although probably not quite as efficient. Well, that's how the Cassan society works. I have several...

Misha Gerrick said...

This is definitely one of the interesting parts to worldbuilding for me. Especially since I have multiple political structures in my story. :-)

Mel Chesley said...

All the ranks and titles of the hierarchies can be confusing. But it is fun to research. :D

L. Diane Wolfe said...

If you look at real medieval hierarchies, it was quite complex. Creating your own takes some time.

Mel Chesley said...

Absolutely. Just like everything else in fantasy world building. Time and patience. :D

Anonymous said...

Mine has a weird hierarchy. But the traditional fantasy is more traditional - a king and his peers.

Unknown said...

One thing I tend to forget is the use of hierarchy in my ideas. Apart from a village chief/local king, the rest is pretty egalitarian ... though that might be laziness on my part :)

Jamie @ Mithril Wisdom