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So you’ve decided to spend some time constructing your fantasy society. There’s a lot to do which can make it feel overwhelming, nevertheless you want to take your time to flesh it out. One of the most important aspects of building the society in your world is establishing a fantasy social hierarchy. How you do this will dictate how your characters from different classes interact with one another.
Why should you bother in making a social hierarchy if it’s just for an imaginary world? Look at all of the worlds in the genre and you’ll notice they feature different characters from different parts of society. The class they grew up in will determine how they perceive the world and people outside their class. Otherwise, it would be a boring world if there was only just one social class.
There are three components in building a fantasy social hierarchy. The first one is to make it feel realistic. That is, it needs to feel natural both for the world and the plot. The hierarchy plays a key role in shaping how your characters make decisions as well as the reasons for said decisions.
The second part is to showcase the different parts of the hierarchy. No story ever explores just one, it dives deep into the various classes that comprise it. This enables the audience to learn more about the framework of the world and how it functions beyond what they see or read.
And thirdly, the fantasy social hierarchy you make needs to fit in your world. There are a number of factors that influence it. Factors such as a nation’s political form, its economic form, and its citizens’ way of life drive it to take the shape as it is seen in the plot. Taking into account these factors go a long way in ensuring it fits right in your world!
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As you go about fleshing out your social hierarchy, you must always keep it in the back of your mind that it ought to feel realistic. This enables your audience to easily identify with your characters since the hierarchy in many fictional worlds largely get their cue from the real world. This also heightens their chances of immersing themselves into your world.
You might be wondering, how do you go about bringing a sense of realism into your fantasy social hierarchy? One surefire way is to look at the ones in the real world and see how people of different classes interact with each other. These interactions can even be used as inspiration for your characters and how they are with people outside their class.
Sometimes some creators like to take all the disparate classes and pool them together in a document where they create the hierarchy. Usually the powerful and wealthy sits at the top with the peasants and the poor right at the bottom with the rest filling out the middle. This is a great starting point and the best part of it is, you can easily refer back to this document when you need to.
An excellent strategy to use when crafting your fantasy social hierarchy is to give a bit of descriptions for each class. You can include information like the type of clothes members of said class are likely to wear, their style of speaking, how they see the world, and so on. This gives you an idea of how the typical member of a class acts. You can use this as a template in creating new characters since you have all the pertinent info you need; you just need to customize it for them.
Another way to add a splash of realism in your hierarchy is to give each class an unique personality trait that is used when interacting with people either higher or lower than them. For instance, the rich and powerful tend to be arrogant and more willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals as opposed to those on the bottom where they’re struggling and working hard just to make ends meet. These traits fuel how characters make decisions and treat other people.
A hierarchy is comprised of different elements and the same is true of society. It is a complex entity, full of various classes that each have their own objectives and plans. Thus, many stories like to go deep into the classes, exploring how each views the world and their role in it.
It is precisely for this reason why pretty much all stories feature characters from different classes. This enables creators to showcase the various parts of the fantasy social hierarchy and how each one of them functions. As a bonus, this also gives them more options when making plot lines since they’re working with characters who are from different parts of society.
The best part of doing this is you can designate a character or more to be representative of a specific part of the hierarchy. This gives your audience insight into how people from a particular class are likely to perceive the world around them. For example, a character who’s a warrior could be from the lower class and is using his superb skills in fighting to make money for his family back home. He could also have a strong sense of morality, as opposed to his wealthy counterpart, who believes that just throwing money at the problem will solve it.
Part of exploring the different elements of a fantasy social hierarchy is to show each class’s lifestyle. For instance, the powerful are fond of living glamorous lives, wearing extravagant clothes, and hosting lavish parties. They have servants from the lower classes who view them with envy since they’re living the lives they dream of but know it will never happen for them.
An important part of the social hierarchy is that it provides the framework in which characters make decisions. The class they’re in influences how they make decisions as well as the reasons why. For example, a sailor might be torn between sailing or spending time with the love of his life who want no part of being on the water. His desire for adventure will clash with his desire for love, giving the audience a glimpse into how he sees the world and what he values more of.
You’ve poured in hours creating the perfect social hierarchy and now you’re ready to put it in your world. After some time, you start to get the feeling that there’s something quite not right with it. Somehow, it just doesn’t seem to jive with it. Before you go any further, you need to fix it so that feels just right in the world.
Why should you bother about ensuring that the fantasy social hierarchy and the world you created be in harmony? Because the two will affect each other in a number of ways, some you planned out and some that’ll take you by surprise. There are several key factors that will shape the hierarchy and you must always keep them in mind.
A driving factor in the hierarchy is the a nation’s form of government. Republican regimes have more free societies, thus making the hierarchy more loose since it’s easier for people to move from one class to another, a stark contrast to that of totalitarian societies where it’s nearly impossible to change classes. Matching the hierarchy to the form of government helps make it feel natural, making it easier for your audience to immerse themselves into your world.
Besides the government form, the type of economy also influences the fantasy social hierarchy. Capitalist societies generate more wealth and goods, making the hierarchy more loose since more people have the opportunity to move up the ladder whereas controlled ones severely restrict what people can do, making them unable to reach a higher class. Be sure to use the right one for the story you want to tell that fits in the vibe of the world it’s set in, using the wrong combination can alienate your audience so shy away from doing that!
Part of the hierarchy is seeing what people in each class does in their free time. The upper echelons have more leisure time than those on the lower end, leading them to do activities like going to the park or hosting get-togethers with their family and friends. By giving them activities that make sense given where they are in regards to society, it enables your audience to see their lifestyle which makes the characters in your world and society feel more real.
There are many dimensions of constructing an imaginary world from scratch. Creating a realistic social hierarchy is one of them and one you shouldn’t gloss over. In fact, you should spend some time fleshing it out, for it’ll affect your characters and plot lines in ways you won’t necessarily foresee.
When developing a realistic social fantasy hierarchy, it’s best to look to the real world for inspiration. Seeing people from different classes interact with each other and how they do so goes a long way in helping it feel a tad more real since your characters will span the classes you’ve made. The social class they’re in will often dictate how your characters see the world and so on.
Part of creating a social hierarchy is establishing the different classes that comprise it. The ability to explore its different classes leads to great storytelling since you have a bevy of options to choose from. Characters from different classes are more likely to have a difference of opinions on a great many things due to their position in society, providing plot lines that can strengthen their friendships or destroy them outright.
There are several factors that shape the contours of a social hierarchy. The type of government, the type of economy, and so on all provide the framework in which the hierarchy operates. Using the right combination of these factors helps you create one that fits exactly in both your world and the story you’re going to tell.
Are you ready to make your own fantasy social hierarchy that your audience will want to learn more about?
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