Building a better society

[Winternight]

Hi,
I am playing an LE necromancer on the way to his lichdom.I have stumbled on a plane in which all living creatures have been killed at one moment, unless they were flying. So this plane is more or less inhabitated.
I now want to become maximum supreme ruler of this plane (or at least of a big porpotion of it in case there are some mighter beeings on this plane I haven`t discoverd yet.
My DM has allowed me to hire/invite some new slaves/serfs/yeomen/burghers in my country. (see list: list of hirelings* )
I now need ideas on how to build a society. I can build it up from the scratch.
Some back ground to me
a) I have the leadership feat but my cohort is a trusted sidekick (a simple fighter), but my followers are "unused"
b) I am ruthless and willing to kill but i dislike unnecessary violance.
c) I am religios, I really belive in my godess (shar) so I can`t become godking
c1) I have no (shar)priests I can`t get back on my homeplane (FR)
d) my main goal in beeing the maximum supreme leader is to have SO who mines, who smtihes, who makes nice jewlery and SO who builds bodies which I can use as zombies. (e.g.by birth)

My DM likes story over rule and development over player harrasing. So if i confront him with COOL ideas he might let me beeing SML of Necropolis.

Side-notation
* We have a very nice campaign site made by my DM. Visit it. If you like it drop him an email!

 

[Winternight]

clarification

What kind of society whould you build,
I can build a slavery, a fiefdom/kingdom, a democracy or anything. What kind of laws would you suggest I should pass. I am open to any suggestions.

I can see me in 300 years, no adventuring, no spell resaerch any more just:
ink stained fingers,
"by my hand and seal"
"Sire don`t forget the audience with the members of the clockworkbuilderguild, and there is a wizardguild meeting at 11. There are complains about the illusionists, aggain"

while my former comrades:" we have been in hell and killed Orcus and now have his staff. How was our day?"

 

[Hand of Evil]

First you need to set up your rules, mostly it looks like I am lord and master; do what I say. You need to build the structure of command and you interstructure, it is a class system, feudal, slave state, republic, police state?

One of the problems I see, your people running away from you. You are evil, you take people to a land with no land-based creatures, think you may see a turnover rate.

 

[Winternight]

First you need to set up your rules, mostly it looks like I am lord and master; do what I say. You need to build the structure of command and you interstructure, it is a class system, feudal, slave state, republic, police state?

I think a feudal state with a strong police force would be the securest to establish my reign, but I want them to florish. And I think the feudal system was too inflexible for inonvations.
I wanted your help for about the rules. My DM don`t expect me to out a whole constitution, but some corner post he would like to see.

One of the problems I see, your people running away from you. You are evil, you take people to a land with no land-based creatures, think you may see a turnover rate.

That IS a problem I did`t see. (that there are no creatures).
I have to populate the forrests and stuff. But then the DM didn`t thought about the insect plague, what would be after that holocoust.

I don`t think the people would run away from me. THey didn`t in Nazi Germany (at least the non.jews). THey don`t do that in Thay.
I won`t harras them, as long as they obey me (pay their tax - anything eles isn`t important) . I don`t have that EVIL branded on my forehat. And I don`t stalk thru my city killing babies (though the taste good)

I want to build a new Thay, a better (becuase I rule) Thay. How can I do that. In the FRCS is the political system barley scrached.

 

[clark411]

"I want to rule the plane" should be preceeded by "I want to rule the world" which should be preceeded by "I want to rule the continent"... which should be preceeded by "I want to rule the country" which should come only after "I want to rule the duchy/barony/fief" and that comes only after you finish with the "I want to rule the city."

So... build a city. You say there are few people and you'll be recruiting them. I recommend some policy that makes people want to come to you even if you're ruling with an iron fist and taxing the bejeezus out of them as your previous posts on the matter have implied.

Are you powerful enough to provide a city protection above and beyond what a standard guard can?
Are you the only one offering civilization in your immediate area (100 odd miles)?
Are there people who are regularly victimized by war parties / raiders in the area?

If so, excellent... if not, you're evil, so make it the case. I would, in secret, rally some bandit group and start hitting the local dispersed villages or lone settlements. After that, I would publically offer walls to the people- walls and organized safety in exchange for taxes, much of which would go into maintaining and improving the safety provided them.

You can then apply that formula to the rest of your conquest / ascension. Usually new planes/places have a sort of equilibrium in them- cities are there because they're strong enough to stay there.. long time rulers are there as they've managed to stake out a claim that no one strongly opposes. As a new element from a new plane, it's up to you to shake things up and offer a better existance for these people. It may not mean advancing out of the feudal age (personally I have cringe at players who say "Hey, I think it's time for the McMetagame Industrial Revolution! Here's your mass-produced dwarven sword, and would you like fries with that?") but it will mean altering the current ... sociological equilibrium.

In other words, stir stuff up, come in as the hero offering better, and then fortify your claim by solving the problems that you secretly made. Do this on grander scales until literally the entire plane is at risk and you're the only one that can stop it. That's the best evil in my opinion, the kind that will happily gamble an entire world or plane for its own betterment.

 

[Winternight]

"I want to rule the plane" should be preceeded by "I want to rule the world" which should be preceeded by "I want to rule the continent"... which should be preceeded by "I want to rule the country" which should come only after "I want to rule the duchy/barony/fief" and that comes only after you finish with the "I want to rule the city."

You forgot "I want to rule the hamlet" which it is @the moment :-(
But thanx for that clarification.
Yes I first have to rule the city. But noneless I need ideas on how to rule the city. I could live with an post like the queen in the UK. You are allowed to shake hands with some foreign ministers and if youhave sex with sour zombies than it may apear in the lokal gazetteers. But I still have a lot of income.
The only reson I am not content with that, that I have no control over the income. Anytime the real rulers may say:
"no soup for you".
So I have to reign on my self.

Are you powerful enough to provide a city protection above and beyond what a standard guard can? ]...[
if not, you're evil, so make it the case. I would, in secret, rally some bandit group and start hitting the local dispersed villages or lone settlements. After that, I would publically offer walls to the people- walls and organized safety in exchange for taxes, much of which would go into maintaining and improving the safety provided them.

Nice thought: Masking as Manfred the Robberking and asaulting my own cities to rally all my enemiey behind this banner. To get rid of them in one big strike.
Wait havn`t I heard something like that? Isn`t that in some movie or book? The BBEG (a king/ursupator or so ) is behind the rebel allience?
Dosen't matter COOL idea.

It may not mean advancing out of the feudal age

The problem with that is that the people don`t want to be catapuktet in the 20th century. There is a kind of security in fiefdom. You can`t change the people. But maybe within two or three generations.

That's the best evil in my opinion, the kind that will happily gamble an entire world or plane for its own betterment.

Like Tarkin. If I loose, so what there are other planes which I can conquer or rule.
"Better to reign in Greyhawk then to serve in Thay"

 

[CCamfield]

A completely empty plane? Does that mean the land is there, fertile, and unused?

One would think that there'd be hordes of poor farmers and other people who would grab at the chance of migrating to a place where they could have their own however-many acres of farmland. This was a strategy used to attract settlers to Canada in the late 19th/early 20th century.

The tricky thing might be getting them to stay. If they don't like your rule and the place really is empty, they could start running... really far.

However, if the settlers can't get there without your magics, you could work out some sort of contract binding them to your service. Also maintaining a monopoly on something important would be helpful - like metalworking (controlling the smiths) or something of that sort. Or if the contract was magical... with some sort of penalty for defaulting on it... hehehehehe And maybe a gloves-off approach would be handy too, like don't overtax them. Be "nice" and they may tolerate the fact that executed criminals get turned into zombies.

If you want to maintain control, well, you need to maintain control. Even feudalism has an inherent problem from your point of view - a feudal king appoints lords to govern over his lands, but a lord could use his power over his lands to rebel against the king. With that in mind, you would be better off keeping all the income to yourself, and have salaried government ministers and soldiers to keep the peace.

 

[alsih2o]

1 find resources
2 let people know that the resources are there to exploit
3 exploit whoever shows up
4 rinse and repeat

the vast majority of any populace just wants food, shelter and a job that provides food and shelter.