Sketching Out States in Fantasy: Two Cases from Avlis

Nob Akimoto

Nob Akimoto is a policy analyst and part-time dungeon master. When not talking endlessly about matters of public policy, he is a dungeon master on the NWN World of Avlis

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2 Responses

  1. Murali says:

    Why is it often taken for granted that magic users of all sorts won’t unite and overthrow their more mundane overlords? Its not like the priesthood is actually hostile to mages right?Report

    • James K in reply to Murali says:

      In some settings they are hostile, but then that just raises the question of why the Church and wizards don’t fight it out for control, leaving the Muggles to be ruled by whoever wins.

      In our own history political power was tied to land ownership because owning land gave you the ability to maintain an army. Political power was connected to the ability to marshal violence because if the brokers of violence aren’t part of the power structure, they’ll tear that structure down and take over.

      Landowners would still probably be powerful (depending on how easily and cheaply magic can create food), but any major wizard would need to be bought off with political power just to keep them from bringing down the system. Equally the Church should be much more powerful than it was in Europe’s own history – after all these priest actually have a verifiable connection to the divine.Report