What is the key reason behind the recent surge in popularity of science fiction and fantasy genres? The authors can reveal truths about society and politics when direct expression is suppressed by an unfavorable political and religious environment. Science fiction genre is a mirror image of fantasy (sword & sorcery) established from current time reference. The book is science fiction is when you're depressed about the future, fantasy is when you're depressed about the past, and literature is when you're depressed about the present. Similarly, fantasy is when the technology the characters use is magic and sci-fi is when the magic the characters use is technology.
Common fantasy themes that readers easily recognize include resistance to tyranny, prophecies guiding destinies, hero-centered stories, journey to distant land and rags-to-riches journeys. I will not help the readers on these familiar themes of struggle, hope, and love that form the backbone of many beloved fantasy worlds. To create a rich and believable fantasy world, author can take inspiration from real-world examples and weave them into your story. The author has to make sure all these elements fit naturally with the culture, technology, and magic of your world. This helps readers feel like they are genuinely entering a new and exciting place.
This first exploration contains 25 pointers for the foundational elements that give fantasy worlds believability and depth upon which all other elements of your fantasy world must rest:
1. Geography: Start with creating map of the imagined land. Natural features such as mountains, rivers, deserts, and forests will shape political boundaries, defense strategies, and trade routes. For instance, mountainous and fragmented terrain like in Greece led to decentralized city-states. Inca Empire (South America) stretched across diverse Andean terrain—from coastal deserts to high plateaus to rainforests—requiring strategic administrative centers like Cusco positioned to oversee these distinct regions. These geographical realities drive everything: where cities can flourish, which territories can be defended, where trade routes must inevitably concentrate.
2. Primary Occupation: In a fantasy world, primary occupations could include agriculture, animal husbandry, mining, hunting, weaving, trading, and mercenary work. These occupations reflect a balance of survival, economy, and social structure that makes the fantasy world feel authentic and lively. Access to fertile land and water resources will be vital for any conflict situation in the book.
3. Climate Change: Dependence on rains made kingdoms vulnerable to droughts, floods, famines, and crop failures, which could lead to widespread peasant distress and riots, as variability in rainfall and soil degradation often intensified social and economic crises. The Mali and Songhai empires faced periodic droughts and floods that devastated the Niger River region, causing famine and peasant revolts.
4. Administrative Systems: Kingdoms had centralized or decentralized political structures with feudal lords or chieftains often wielding significant autonomy, sometimes undermining royal authority and complicating efforts to establish unified governance under evolving written laws and taxation systems. The Inca maintained a highly centralized bureaucracy with the Sapa Inca as absolute ruler, dividing the empire (Tawantinsuyu) into four provinces (suyus) governed by appointed regional governors (Apus), often family members. By contrast, the Mali Empire operated with more decentralized authority, where regional kingdoms retained autonomy while acknowledging the Mali emperor's supremacy.
5. Feudal Loyalty and Betrayal: Feudal bonds were complex, where loyalty could be bought or broken, with vassals switching allegiances based on personal gain, fear, or ambition. The Balkans saw constant vassalage shifts, with Serbian and Bulgarian kingdoms oscillating between Ottoman and Habsburg allegiances.
6. Court Politics: Noble lords jostled for influence in the royal court, with competing princes and their mothers vying for power, alliances shifting frequently and making the court a hotbed of intrigue and betrayal. Rulers often prioritized family honor and petty rivalries over collective welfare, leading to disunity and weakening alliances among kingdoms, making them vulnerable to outside enemies. In Ottoman courts (Balkans), competing princes and their mothers orchestrated elaborate intrigues for power. The Delhi Sultanate saw frequent court conspiracies, with generals and nobles assassinating sultans and installing puppet rulers.
7. Wealth Spendings: Extravagance of ruling elites and political instability drained royal treasuries, reducing resources available for effective administration and military defense, weakening the kingdom's ability to respond to external threats. The Ottoman sultans (Balkans) maintained expensive imperial harems and palace hierarchies that strained state budgets.
8. Wealth Distribution: Wealth was concentrated in aristocratic landowners and temples, with limited economic growth; trade disruptions often affected royal revenues and governance capacity, while administrative reforms created tensions among citizens regarding the fairness of taxation and resource allocation. Chinese dynasties concentrated wealth among imperial family, bureaucrats, and landowners, creating resentment among peasants and merchants excluded from trade monopolies.
9. Dependency on Astrologers and Sacrifices for Key Decisions: Major state affairs, including battles and coronations, relied heavily on diviners and rituals to legitimize rulers and appease perceived supernatural forces, with kinship and lineage being the core of authority claims. Indian rajas consulted court Brahmins for auspicious planetary alignments before major decisions.
10. Gender Roles and Power: While patriarchal, some kingdoms allowed women significant behind-the-scenes influence or rare direct political power, shaping plots of intrigue. Islamic Caliphates witnessed powerful women wielding influence through palace networks—mothers of caliphs, wives with access to treasure, and concubines gathering intelligence. In Imperial China, eunuchs managed the imperial household and were involved in state affairs, often wielding significant political power.
11. Trade Dominated by a Class Causing Resentment: Trade and commerce were often controlled by merchant classes or minority groups, sometimes causing resentment among the land-owning aristocracy and peasants. Ancient families often clashed to secure monopolies over trade, turning legacy into a battlefield of dominance. In Mali, the merchant class (often Mandinka speakers and Muslim traders) monopolized the trans-Saharan gold and salt trade, while indigenous animist populations resented their commercial dominance and Islamic conversion pressure.
12. Currency: Early forms of money included commodity money and metal bars; coinage facilitated trade and taxation but also wealth concentration. Mali minted its own gold coins and used commodity money (gold dust, salt bars) for large transactions. Chinese dynasties used both coins and paper money, with counterfeiting severe punishments.
13. Legal Systems and Corruption: Justice could be brutal, arbitrary and corrupt, with trial by ordeal or combat accepted as legitimate. Mali's Islamic legal system (Sharia) was administered by qadis (Islamic judges) appointed by the ruler, creating potential for corruption. Punishments included amputation for theft and execution for serious crimes, applied inconsistently based on status and bribes. Alongside Islamic law, traditional dispute resolution involved ordeal testing (drinking poison, trial by water) to determine guilt, blending Islamic and indigenous justice systems.
14. Constant Existential Threat by Neighboring Kingdoms: Kingdoms existed in a state of perpetual tension and occasional warfare with neighboring realms, always preparing for invasion or retaliation. The Inca faced constant threats from unconquered Amazonian tribes and rival pre-conquest factions seeking autonomy.
15. Buffer of Small Kingdoms Between Large Kingdoms: Smaller kingdoms often served as buffers or pawns between larger powers, their loyalties shifting according to immediate survival needs. The Balkans saw the Serbian Kingdom (under Stefan Dušan) and others act as buffers between Ottoman and Hungarian empires, their survival dependent on playing rivals against each other.
16. Relationship by Marriage to Neighboring and Enemy Kingdoms: Political marriages served as tools for alliances, peace treaties, or deceit, interlinking royal families across often hostile borders. Chinese dynasties married princesses to hostile tribes' leaders to secure temporary peace (like Han princess marriages to Xiongnu leaders).
17. Problem Groups: The socially marginalized were labeled as problematic mainly because they threatened the power structures, not necessarily due to inherent problematic behavior. In Ottoman Balkans, Christian populations were classified as dhimmis (protected but subordinate minorities), labeled as potential troublemakers.
18. Migration and Refugee Influx Due to War: Warfare in neighboring kingdoms caused displacement, with refugees flowing into more stable realms, adding strain to resources and social order. The Mamluk defeat of the Mongols—especially the famous Battle of ʿAyn Jālūt (1260)—was indeed strongly aided by refugees, particularly Khwarazmian, Kipchak, and other Turkic steppe migrants fleeing the Mongol invasions.
19. External Invasion: Glory and Trauma: The threat or onslaught of a powerful, nomadic conqueror reminiscent of Genghis Khan radically altered the political, social, and psychological landscape of affected kingdoms. The memory of such overwhelming conquest lived on in folklore, shaping hero myths, and ongoing cycles of vengeance or submission. Similarly, Franks under Charles Martel stopped the Umayyads at the Battle of Tours (732).
20. Rise of Cult Movement: Religious/Magical cults gained traction by promising salvation, divine favor, or power to disenfranchised populations and soldiers, especially amid instability. The cult's leaders sometimes claimed exclusive access to divine truth, thereby labeling rivals as heretics or enemies. From the Roman perspective, Christianity was the cult.
21. Schisms and Patronage: Competing sects or heretical movements challenged established religions, sometimes sparking wars or secret alliances. Rulers often used religious patronage to legitimize their rule, while diverse and sometimes conflicting religious movements influenced social cohesion and political alliances. The Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church broke communion during the East–West Schism of 1054.
22. Pilgrimage: Pilgrims traveled vast distances to sacred sites—holy shrines of legendary saints or deities, or places believed to possess miraculous powers. These journeys created distinctive political dynamics that enriched narrative possibilities. Pilgrimage could serve as cover for political refugees or criminals seeking absolution and new identities. Even, Mali's Mansa Musa's 1324 pilgrimage to Mecca became legendary for its extravagance and political importance, with his journey establishing Mali's legitimacy in the Islamic world.
23. Non-Violent Movements: Historical societies also developed sophisticated non-violent resistance movements that challenged power structures through spiritual authority, moral witness, and organized non-compliance. Buddhism emerged in ancient India as a direct challenge to Vedic Brahminical hierarchy. Buddhist monasteries (sanghas) became alternative power centers, attracting millions of adherents including lower castes, women, and merchants excluded from Brahminical privileges.
24. Ancient Ruins and Forgotten Knowledge: Lost civilizations and ancient artifacts provided mysterious power and motives central to quests or conflicts. The Inca deliberately incorporated pre-Conquest Inca ruins (like Tiwanaku temples) into their ideology, claiming to inherit mystical power and legitimacy from earlier civilizations. Machu Picchu and other Inca sites were believed to hold astronomical and spiritual knowledge guiding imperial decisions.
25. Religious Transformation and Temple Destruction: Across world history, religions and empires have often replaced each other’s symbols or sacred sites. Iconoclasm is the belief in the importance of the destruction of icons and monuments, often for religious or political reasons. Hindu populations under Islamic sultanates-maintained temple worship and ritual practices despite official pressure for conversion and destruction of sacred sites.
