Worldbuilding a Future State: Exploring a Sci-Fi Government
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
Within my sci-fi universe, I’m creating a company that’s quietly acquiring universal influence. The narrative is flowing nicely, but it needs a bit of backstory.
How do I turn a small enterprise into a galactic power?
This is how I’m worldbuilding a planetwide government that nurtured a behemoth.
Rather watch a video?
Check out the YouTube version of this blog post.
Building a Foundation: Designing a Government Type
“Originally a manufacturing company, IndServ gained power through the support of the United Barpadai Nation.”
That part, I knew pretty early on. But my plot’s expanding, so I need to figure out what, exactly, the United Barpadai Nation, or UBN, is.
Let’s start with what I know: The planet of Barpadai is dominated by two species: the batlike tadaribrae and the leopardlike pentapardi.
Tadaribrae civilization is very old, so they already have many established cultures.
Meanwhile, pentapardi are much younger and only formed a loose community to facilitate commerce with tadaribrae.
Realistically, we’re talking about a bunch of different societies that have a common interest in space travel.
For this group of Barpadi to unite as a nation, I’m going to need a governance style that can bring disparate groups together.
I can tweak a couple real-world examples to get started.
The United Nations is a good foundation since one of its primary purposes is international cooperation. If my UBN is going to back widescale space travel, cooperation is essential.
But instead of the “international peace and security” mission of the United Nations, the UBN will promote cooperation in service to technological advancement and territorial expansion.
As it turns out, a lot of the United Nation’s structure is workable for the UBN. So, I’m going to steal it.
Couple reworks, though. Power. And representation.
The tadaribrae have several sects, and their population is in the trillions. Individuals show their alignment with social philosophies by joining a sect that espouses their beliefs. And individual realignment is very common. The idea that each culture would only get one vote under these circumstances feels uneven to me.
Additionally, the United Barpadai Nation needs enforcement powers over every decision.
I can’t use the UN model here since General Assembly resolutions are recommendations and not legally binding. The United Nations commonly relies on consensus to give their decisions gravitas with each member state.
For the kind of power I need to spark galactic domination, the UBN must have full planetary consent.
That’s where Switzerland comes in.
Switzerland’s executive body is a council of seven called the Federal Council. They receive mandates from the lower governing bodies.
Using this idea, the UBN will be the highest executive authority on the planet. And it will work through issues brought forward by tadaribrae sects and the Pentapardi Alliance.
So that’s the power piece. What about representation?
Switzerland’s three largest political parties each hold two seats on the Federal Council, while the fourth largest party holds one seat.
I want to balance this out a bit more towards population representation, so I’ll change Switzerland’s magic formula to a 3:2:1 ratio for the tadaribrae.
And pentapardi will have three delegates total. This assemblage will give them a chance to represent diverse beliefs despite not having formal political systems.
Okay. Foundation built.
Now, what is the United Barpadai Nation responsible for?
Adding Some Details: Designing a Fictional Civil Service
Now that I have a baseline, I can work on answering some government worldbuilding questions. Like what levels of government exist and what they do.
Since this is a planet-wide government with more localized governments below it, the UBN council will only be responsible for matters of critical planetary importance—leaving most decisions and management to localities and individuals.
So, what’s considered important from a planetary perspective?
Well, pentapardi like large individual territories. And tadaribrae populations are so large that they need a lot of space. So resource management is necessary to ensure no one encroaches.
As a result, the government will need to settle arguments between groups of tadaribrae and / or pentapardi.
To simplify–and include other types of squabbles–I’ll say the UBN resolves disputes that threaten the overall wellbeing of planetary citizens.
Ultimately, the citizenry’s need for resources will lead to a desire for expansion. That’s where space exploration comes in.
Responsibility three: Define and manage extra-planetary endeavors. That includes expansion, categorization, commodification, and commoditization.
And, since the United Barpadai Nation will need to support space exploration mandates, the council will also approve and contract new technology for the good of the planet’s citizenry.
Notice I said, “contract”.
Like other governments, the UBN will authorize third-parties to execute on their decisions. This is how I’m finally able to work in the galactic expansion of Industrial Services, better known as IndServ.
As IndServ becomes increasingly adept at creating space-faring technology, their services will become more valued. Eventually, their contract will be so big, they’ll become the premier supplier of space tech.
From there, it’s still a bit of a leap to make them a galactic power, but I think I can do something about that.
Finishing Touches: Designing a System for Power Maintenance
To bring this worldbuild to a close, I want to legitimize the governing body.
This means it needs to be relatively effective, competent, and procedurally just.
Its competence and effectiveness is taken care of since its contractors are very reliable and adept,
What I need now is to make the United Barpadai Nation procedurally just.
For this, I’ll come back to the idea that the top three tadaribrae sects have representation. To lend a sense of fairness to their selection, I’ll let each sect decide who will represent them and how representatives will be selected.
So, before the end of each term, the UBN council will agree on the makeup of the following term’s council. Then, each council member will approach their respective governments to determine who the next term’s representatives will be.
This all seems pretty orderly, but there is a complication.
Pentapardi are solitary by nature. And the ideas of community and government don’t come as easily to them as they do to tadaribrae. Selecting representatives is difficult enough. Getting those representatives to come to regular meetings? That’s a different story entirely.
That’s why I’ll include two figureheads in this build. And I’ll call them the Grand Two. One pentapardi plus one tadaribrae whose primary responsibilities are ensuring that the council meets regularly and keeping conversations focused.
Not coveted, but necessary. This role will be the faulty glue that allows IndServ to gain power.
Because the council’s cohesion is so tenuous, more and more citizens–and spacefarers–will look to IndServ to solve their interstellar problems.
Causing UBN’s influence to slowly shift to their most successful contractor.
But until then, the United Barpadai Nation’s council will carry out their work and ceremonies diligently.
Speaking of ceremonies, I think there should be one to anoint the Grand Two. The To-Be-Two, if you will.
Sounds like Aaron has a couple symbolic garments to make.
Until next time, stay curious.
