While the material foundations examined in Part 1 provide the scaffolding for mediaeval fantasy worlds, this second exploration with 21 pointers delves into the intangible systems that actually hold societies together and tear them apart:
26. Weak Espionage and Intelligence: Inadequate spy networks left kingdoms exposed to manipulation, surprise attacks from rivals, and internal conspiracies, undermining state security. The Delhi Sultanate frequently fell victim to surprise invasions (particularly Timur's 1398 raid) due to inadequate intelligence gathering leading to entire populations killed or enslaved.
27. Prostitution and Urban Underworld: Prostitution is a common and tolerated feature of city life. The lives of sex workers intersected with the criminal underworld providing vital networks of information and serving as intermediaries for espionage, blackmail, and political intrigue.
28. Secret Societies and Guilds: Various secret orders, merchant guilds, and assassins held invisible influence in politics and trade. Chinese cities maintained secret societies (triads, gangs) controlling trade monopolies and operating parallel power structures to official government.
29. Bandit Problems: Lawlessness in the countryside was widespread, with bandits and roaming armed groups threatening trade routes and rural safety. The major cause of banditry can be traced backed to lawlessness, peasant revolution and taxation. Balkan mountain regions harbored bandits who sometimes became leaders of anti-Ottoman resistance movements.
30. Language Diversity: Kingdoms managed populations speaking multiple languages and dialects; scribes and officials skilled in various tongues were essential, though this sometimes-slowed administration. The Ottoman Empire administered populations speaking Turkish, Arabic, Greek, Serbian, Bulgarian and other languages
31. Military Strategy: Warfare employed formation-based infantry, cavalry charges, chariots, and sieges. Strategic formations like the phalanx provided advantages, but terrain often dictated tactics. Hit-and-run raids and scorched-earth policies were common in fragmented political landscapes.
32. Army Conscription Methods: Military manpower was often raised by feudal levies, conscription of peasants, or service owed by feudal lords, with varying degrees of effectiveness and morale. Indian sultanates conscripted local populations with limited loyalty, often requiring military nobles to maintain private armies. Chinese dynasties employed both conscription and professional standing armies with complex ranking systems.
33. Military Weapons: Spears, swords, bows, chariots, and siege devices were primary weapons, with innovations influencing dominance. Chinese armies pioneered gunpowder weapons and employed cannons, rockets, and sophisticated siege technology.
34. Animals in War and Domestic Use: Horses were vital for cavalry, communication, and chariot warfare; war elephants by Indians were also used where terrain allowed, impacting battlefield dynamics.
35. Siege Warfare and Fortification: Castles, walls, and fortified cities were focal points of defense, sieges could last years, severely affecting civilian populations. Chinese dynasties invested heavily in Great Wall construction and city fortifications. Cities like Constantinople (1453) endured legendary multi-year sieges.
36. Mercenaries and Foreign Soldiers: Kings often hired mercenaries whose loyalty was bought, bringing instability and opportunities for betrayal. These mercenaries persecuted by the enemy kingdom often brought intelligence from their homelands, creating security vulnerabilities but also expanding military capability. Islamic Caliphates hired Mamluks (enslaved warriors) and foreign mercenaries.
37. Outright Defeat Had Catastrophic Consequences: Cities faced destruction and pillaging; defeated clans lost political control or were assimilated, causing long-term decline. The Mongol conquest of Baghdad (1258) under Hulagu Khan resulted in complete city destruction, massacres, and cultural devastation.
38. Stalemates Resulted in Prolonged Fighting: Sieges caused resource depletion and population suffering, disrupting social order and triggering migrations without immediate massacres. The Han-Xiongnu Wars (133 BCE–89 CE) resulted in prolonged stalemate with neither side achieving decisive victory, causing century-long resource depletion, garrison fatigue, and peasant suffering.
39. Slave Capturing and Trading: Warfare and raids often resulted in capturing slaves, who were traded or forced into labor. The term slave has its origins in the word Slav. The Slavs, who inhabited a large part of Eastern Europe, were taken as slaves by the Muslims of Spain during the ninth century AD. Ottoman conquests in Balkans involved systematic slave capture, particularly of young males recruited into janissary units.
40. Looting Other Kingdoms When Crops Failed: Crop failures sometimes drove armies to raid neighbors for food and resources, sparking cycles of violence and revenge. When Mali faced periodic Saharan droughts affecting crop production, armies raided neighboring territories for food and resources.
41. Magic and Mysticism: Even in mostly low-magic worlds, folklore, superstition, and secret occult knowledge impacted decision-making and daily life, often controlled or feared by ruling classes. The influence of ancient texts, scrolls, or magical artifacts often played key roles in legitimizing rulers, preserving knowledge, and shaping cultural or religious identity.
42. Plague and Disease: Widespread diseases like the plague ravaged populations unpredictably, causing social collapse, labor shortages, and shifts in economic power. Plague spread along the Silk Road, devastating Central Asian cities and Chinese populations during the Tang Dynasty.
43. Urban vs Rural Life: Tensions existed between ruling elites in fortified cities and rural peasants, who bore the brunt of taxation and military conscription. Inca Sassanid Persian Empire concentrated administrative wealth in capital cities while rural populations paid heavy taxes.
44. Festivals and Games: Grand seasonal or religious festivals and games punctuated life, serving as occasions for political maneuvering or popular unrest. The Delhi Sultanate conducted elephant fights, polo matches, and hunting festivals as occasions for elite competition and public spectacle. These festivals displayed the sultan's magnificence and military strength while crowds gathered for gambling and entertainment. Chinese dynasties conducted elaborate seasonal festivals synchronized with agricultural and cosmological cycles displaying the emperor's connection to heaven.
45. Education systems: Knowledge seekers—wandering scholars, ambitious youth, and desperate individuals hoping education would transform their circumstances. These dynamics created both stability (educated elites served state interests) and instability (educated individuals sometimes challenged established authority or created parallel power structures). Islamic centers of learning (like Baghdad's House of Wisdom) attracted scholars seeking access to preserved knowledge—mathematics, astronomy, medicine, philosophy. However, access depended on patronage; scholars needed rulers or wealthy patrons.
46. Prophecy and Relic Trade: The market for holy relics—bones of saints, fragments of sacred objects, or magical artifacts—created networks of dealers, forgers, and black markets. Stories of legendary heroes, chosen ones, or prophecies often drove through relics. These items often became central to power struggles or quests, much like historical relics such as the Holy Grail or the Egyptian pharaohs' burial treasures, which inspired worship, conquest, or exploration. Magical scrolls or texts in fantasy settings can parallel real-world grimoires
47. Rise and Fall of Dynasty: Ibn Khaldun comes was a 14th-century Islamic philosopher provided an insight based on the history of his native North Africa, was that there was a rhythm to the rise and fall of dynasties. Desert tribe members, he argued, always have more courage and social cohesion than settled, civilized folk, so occasionally, they will sweep in and conquer lands whose rulers have become corrupt and complacent. They create a new dynasty — and, over time, become corrupt and complacent themselves, ready to be overrun by a new set of barbarians.
48. Search for Natural Resources: Natural resources have always been central to economic development and political power. Control over valuable resources like minerals, timber, or fertile land fuels trade, wealth, and technological progress, but also competition and conflict. Mining in fantasy worlds can be enriched by incorporating unique magical and alchemical theories about the formation of precious metals and ores. Consider a mining setting inspired by the Almaden-Puertollano Mines in Castile-La Mancha, Spain, where intensive mercury mining during the Middle Ages was crucial for silver extraction using amalgamation.
49. Innovation and Conflict: The invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century revolutionized the spread of knowledge and ideas but also triggered conflicts. The democratization of information challenged established religious and political authorities, such as during the Protestant Reformation when printed vernacular Bibles undermined Church control over scripture.
50.Impact of explorers and foreign envoys: The impact of explorers and foreign envoys on ancient kingdoms was profound in shaping political alliances, cultural exchanges, and economic opportunities. Explorers often opened new trade routes and brought back knowledge of distant lands, which could strengthen a kingdom's position or introduce new threats. For example, the journeys of Marco Polo to the Mongol Empire in the 13th century enhanced European knowledge about Asia, impacting trade and diplomacy.
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When writing fantasy, make the world feel real by deciding how these things affect daily life, like how people travel or what they eat. Focus on the parts of the world that matter most to your story and show how the environment influences your characters and the challenges they face.
The genre is brilliant in depiction as it subtly critiques real-world issues like power, corruption, and injustice through its depiction of societal decay, class disparity, and the challenges faced by outsiders against established orders. Happy writing!
