Table of Contents
- Government Structure
- National Economy
- Legal System & Crime
- Foreign Relations
- National Politics
- Military & Warfare
- Country Profile
- National Magic Policy
- National Infrastructure
Government Structure
What is the basic form of government in this country?
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What services does the government or head-of-state provide?
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Are schools, wells, courts, and the army paid for by taxes?
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What local or private services are provided by the government?
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What services do people expect from their government?
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What do people owe their government?
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Do people pay their government in taxes, in labour, in crops, in military service?
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Who has the right to levy taxes?
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For what purposes are taxes (or new taxes) levied?
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On what or on whom are taxes levied?
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Can taxes be paid in-kind, or do certain things always require money?
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Who provides support services for the head of state and what are they called (examples: councilors, ministers, secretaries, viziers)?
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Are offices hereditary, elected, or appointed?
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Can a government office be a career choice?
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Is the relative power of a country or ruler usually measured by the size of the army, the number and ability of the wizards, or the amount of money and trade flowing through it?
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Who will take over running the government if the current head-of-state is incapacitated?
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How is succession determined?
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Is there an heir apparent (either actual or political)?
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What happens if the heir is a child?
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Who is responsible for protecting the head-of-state?
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What safeguards does the head-of-state have against assassins, poison, assault, and magical attack?
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Who can give orders (to the military, to the tax collectors, to the civil servants, to ordinary folks on the street)?
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How are the people with the power to give orders chosen?
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Are any activities licensed or certified (driving, dog ownership, being an attorney or a physician)?
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Who does the certification or licensing?
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Is it merely formal (pay a fee, and get a license), or are there qualifications to meet?
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Can licenses or certifications be revoked, and if so, how?
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National Economy
What goods are produced in this country and where are they produced?
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What are the major trade goods?
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Are there trading centres?
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What economic systems are used?
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Are there banks?
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Do people barter or use money?
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If money is used, is it valuable itself or is it fiat currency?
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If there is fiat money, who guarantees it?
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What are people’s attitudes toward money?
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What are people’s attitudes toward poverty?
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Are there generally acceptable standards for coins?
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How easy and common is counterfeiting?
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What does this country import? Export?
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How important is trade to the economy?
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How is currency exchange handled, and by whom?
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What is monetary system used, if any, and who mints it?
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Legal System & Crime
What are considered normal and legal ways of gathering evidence and determining guilt?
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Are torture and magic part of the legal system?
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Are arbitrary judgements by a lord or landowner allowed, or is there a standard that they are supposed to follow?
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Is there an appeal system?
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How high can a case go in the system before it is finally settled?
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Is everyone tried in the same courts or are there special courts for special classes of people — for example, are mages tried in specialized wizard’s court?
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Are there separate courts for civil and criminal matters?
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Are there separate courts for magical and non-magical matters?
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Are there separate courts for humans and non-humans?
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Are there separate courts for religious matters?
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What things are considered truly serious crimes and why (example: a trade-oriented culture might consider counterfeiting or bootlegging a death-penalty crime while in a place where life is cheap murder might be something that only results in a small fine)?
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What are the punishments for serious versus minor crimes?
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Are there prisons, or are people punished and released?
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Are there degrees of punishment such as fines, branding, public whippings, removal of body parts, executions — or do they just hang everybody regardless of the crime?
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Who is responsible for catching criminals?
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Who pays the thief takers?
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Who pays for prisons and jails?
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Who supplies food to prisoners?
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How are law enforcement officers organized?
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Are there independent precincts, overlapping districts, or separate jurisdictions?
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Can law enforcement be hired?
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Are there lawyers or advocates?
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Who can afford legal representation?
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Who trains the legal experts and are they certified?
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Are people guilty until proven innocent, innocent until proven guilty, or does it depend on the mood the bench is in when the case comes in front of it?
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Are there assumptions made about how an accused criminals will be treated?
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Are there judges other than the nobles or gentry?
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How are judges paid and by whom?
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How often are remote areas likely to see a judge?
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Is mob justice common? Is it legal?
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How is mob justice viewed by society?
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Are highwaymen, muggers, bandits, or pirates common or rare?
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What sorts of crimes would the average citizen be likely encounter in their lifetime?
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Who can make or repeal laws?
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How are alleged criminals treated before their trials?
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How are convicted criminals treated?
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Do the police, military, or city guard make a practise of roughing up suspects?
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Are there laws forbidding certain types of people (peasants, wizards, priests, women) from carrying arms?
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Are there laws requiring certain people to be skilled with certain weapons?
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Are certain spells (as opposed to magic generally) illegal?
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How would a criminal magician be detected? Apprehended? Punished?
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Foreign Relations
Which nations have formal relations with this country?
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Who can be ambassadors and envoys?
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Are there standing embassies and consulates, or are envoys sent only when something specific comes up?
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How are treaties arranged?
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Are there any significant ones currently in force or coming up for signing?
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How much do official attitudes toward other countries affect commerce and trade?
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Do merchants pretty much ignore tensions between governments as long as they can make a profit, or will this get them into trouble?
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How much formal spying and intelligence gathering is normally done by governments?
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How much spying is done by the military?
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Do merchants (or companies) engage in espionage?
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Who has the best information gathering system?
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Which countries are traditional allies?
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Which countries are traditional rivals?
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How do these traditional alliances and rivalries affect foreign policy?
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Which heads-of-state are related by blood or marriage?
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How important are political marriages?
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How do ties of blood and marriage affect foreign policy?
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Who are the rivals or enemies of this country?
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How close are they physically, and how powerful are they?
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Who are the neighbouring countries and people and what are they like?
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What forms of government are used in neighbouring countries, and why are they the same or different?
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National Politics
Does the level of technological advancement match the level of social and political advancement?
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What are the major political factions at present?
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How long have the current political factions been around?
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Which factions are allies and which are enemies?
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Are there any potential new forces on the political scene?
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How much influence do special interest groups (such as merchants, wizards, or religious sects) have on politics?
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How do interest groups exercise their influence?
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What political positions are considered conservative?
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What political positions are considered liberal?
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Are there political positions that are unthinkable?
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Are there any shaky political alliances between disparate groups?
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Why were the current alliances formed?
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How long before current alliances fall apart, and, when they do, what will the effects be?
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What ancient rivalries and hatreds still affect current attitudes and political positions?
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Are magicians a force in politics?
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Are there national politics that revolve around magic or wizards?
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Military & Warfare
Which peoples, countries, and races have been in conflict with this nation in the recent past?
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What caused recent conflicts?
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When was the last war and what was it about?
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Who won the last war?
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Are there ongoing tensions from the most recent war?
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What major weapons of war are available?
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How much has the presence of magic affected strategy and tactics?
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Do army commanders have to use specific formations or techniques to deal with possible magical attacks?
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How can magic be used as part of a battle plan?
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How are armies usually structured?
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Are command structures formal and independent or is everybody officially under the command of the lord who brought them to army?
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If there is a formal structure, what are the various ranks and titles?
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Who can call up an army?
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How are the ranks filled in times of need?
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Are there professional soldiers and mercenaries?
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Is a career in the army possible, or would one have to be a mercenary in order to make a living as a soldier?
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Does the army accept volunteers?
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How large is a typical army?
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In an army, what percentage of the soldiers will be trained and what portion will be untrained recruits?
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Are recruits and conscripts given training, or are they expected to learn on the battlefield?
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How is the army supplied?
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Are soldiers allowed to live off the land and peasantry, or do they pay for what they take?
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How are supplies handled during long campaigns?
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How many days worth of supplies can the army haul along with them?
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What are the accepted conventions for making war (examples: only fight in winter when nobody is busy with crops; don’t make war on civilians; only certain kinds of weapons are used)?
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Do the accepted conventions vary by race or region?
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How does the presence of non-humans affect strategy, tactics, and battles?
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Are special weapons required if an army is facing certain kinds of non-human armies?
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How would non-human soldiers turn their physical differences from humans to their advantage?
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Are particular non-human races traditionally better with certain weapons? If so, why?
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Are particular human groups traditionally better with certain weapons, and if so, why?
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How do the weapons of this country compare with those of surrounding nations?
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Have there been recent innovations that may upset the balance of power?
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How much as the presence of magic affected military strategy and tactics in general?
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Country Profile
Who are the heroes and villains of each country’s history?
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Why are these people heroes, and what does this say about the country and people?
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How accessible is this area?
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What natural features mark the country’s borders?
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Why did people settle in this area in the first place?
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Is the country in a strategic location, on a trade route, in a good place for a harbour, rich in minerals, good for farming?
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Have things changed much since people entered the area, or do people still depend on whatever brought them there in the first place?
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How diverse is the population of this country?
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Are people immigrating to or emigrating from the country? Why?
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How much of this country is farmland? Forest? Desert? Mountains? Plains? Swamp?
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How much of this country is arable?
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What are the primary crops?
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Which crops are any grown mainly for export or for trade?
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What crops can not be grown here because of the soil or climate?
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What water resources are available here, and for what uses?
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What wild animals live in this area? Are any of them potentially useful or dangerous to the population?
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Which animals are commonly domesticated in this area?
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National Magic Policy
Is magic legal in this country?
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Is all magic legal, or only some types?
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Do laws about magic vary widely from city to city, or are attitudes generally similar?
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How has the presence of magic and magicians affected law and government?
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Are wizards barred from certain kinds of government posts?
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Do some positions require that their holder be a wizard?
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What effect has magic had on law? On art? On technology? On entertainment?
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How are illegal magicians apprehended and punished?
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Is the apprehension of illegal practitioners the responsibility of the magician’s guild, or do ordinary law enforcement agencies have to deal with it?
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Is healing usually a magical process?
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Is forensic magic possible?
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Can forensic magic be used to investigate only certain types of crimes (and if so, which)?
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Are the results of forensic spells admissible in court as evidence?
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National Infrastructure
How are roads built in this country?
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What state are the roads in?
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Who pays for roads?
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Who maintains the roads?
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Are there good roads? Who builds them?
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Are there tolls?
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Are roads guarded or patrolled?
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Are there magical means of transportation?
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How does magical transportation compare in speed, safety, and expense to non-magical means?
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Is there a public or private postal system, or does everyone of importance have to send messengers?
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How fast can news get from one point to another?
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Are there magical means of communication? How common and reliable are they? How expensive?
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How are books produced?
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Are books common or are they valuable hand-written objects?
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Is there freedom of the press? If not, who controls or censors it, by what means, and for what purpose?
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This nation-level guide focuses on the political, legal, economic, and military structures that define countries and kingdoms within your fantasy world. Use these answers to create distinct national identities and governance systems.