Pyramid: Election Day: Electoral Ideas for Fictional Democracies

Election Day

Electoral Ideas for Fictional Democracies

by Michele Armellini

Peaceful times are boring. Adventurers need restless turmoil! Why not exploit a suitably volatile ruling system for providing that? A Fantasy or a Space campaign could support democracies. In a Fantasy setting, cities might develop a degree of self-rule in the way of Italian medieval communes. In Space, any planet may have a democratic system. While the standard ruling system in Fantasy campaigns is feudal, local government can be democratic, up to a point (see pp. F16, TR6). Several government forms are listed on p. CII185; many of them may feature voting as a major part of the mechanism.

But how does the system actually work? How can it become interesting for adventurers? Here are a few ideas plus adventure seeds.

Voters

Who can vote? The answer to this question might well change the definition of the ruling system. If only Status 3+ men vote, this isn't exactly a democracy; it's an oligarchy. Historically, suffrage has seldom been universal. Here are some limitations.

Sex. Women were one of the last groups to obtain suffrage on Earth. A realistic democratic Fantasy setting will be recognizably familiar if women can't vote. OTOH, no sex discrimination would make for an unusual Fantasy system, while it's probably the norm on Sci-Fi planets . . . and a matriarchy is always interesting!
Adventure Seed: if Aristophanes could (mockingly) conceive a bid for power by women, why not the GM? . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.

Article publication date: July 5, 2002

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