How stable would a Kingdom be if a King like this dies?

Discussion in 'Author Discussions' started by AIm21, Nov 7, 2018.

  1. AIm21

    AIm21 Well-Known Member

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    In most fantasy I rarely hear of these two concept, the Central Bank and State Capitalism, being thrown around, even if they are fantasy stories like the Koreans that occur in modern day.

    Which is understandable because it seem in almost every Korean story capitalism or crony capitalism is an enemy to be overcome and banks has been the public enemy number 1 since its inception. But I find them too fascinating to not be apart of any fantasy world that is going to take place in the Modern Era

    So I am planning to implement them in my web novel and below are my notes to make it happen in the most unrealistic sense possible that leave little room for imagination. But these two concept will allow me to resolve two annoyances of me having to deal with, Democracy or the will of the normal people and Economic Growth in a society where state to military affairs are mostly controlled by a ruling class under the control of an Absolute King.

    So let say the King implemented everything I said below after he has decimated his nobility prestige and power that would be a threat to him in his kingdom.

    Just how stable would it be if a King with this much power dies?

    As the King control of the Central Bank and the appointment to its high position means that the whole states internal resource and money supply & circulation is in his control.

    While his rule over the military and the power to appoint high military positions give him unfettered control of the arm forces and enforcer of state justice that would make him the Supreme Justice of the Land as well as the Commander in Chief of the Kingdom.

    So all Judicial to Martial Courts below the King are all under his control and he holds the power to remove or place any Justice he desire at will and if a legal case was to make it all the way up to him then the King words would be the final interpretation that will set the precedence for that legal case in the law and every other case will have to follow that precedence he set.

    Than lastly with his Throne of Damocles giving him near Godlike power and nigh Omniscient in his Kingdom that would allow him to claim divinity and instill a state religion to serve him and his family name as if they are God's on earth, but with real supernatural power that ordinary people can believe in to receive help in times of need either for there own situation or get rid of corrupt Nobles.

    All can be solve in the peoples mind if only they can get the King to hear there grievances.

    Which will make him be like a God on earth in his Kingdom.

    At this point he can implement any policy and reform he wishes with no opposition to stop him otherwise they can say hello to this worlds incarnation of stalin gulag after being put on a show trial and drag away.

    So with this much power he can implement state capitalism to help fuel the economic growth of a Middle class for his citizens to generate more wealth plus if one of his ordinary citizens become exemplary under these reform he can give them noble titles to ennoble them to enter the nobility as new crown loyalist and the old nobility can do nothing, but watch as they lack any resource or power to defy the King in the entire kingdom beside there stations that was only given to them by the King.

    The only thing the King does not absolutely control is the legislation of laws that govern the land or regional administration's running the land.

    As that power can best be left to the local & regional governments in conjunction with the National Parliament of the Commons & Lord's. But even then for them to implement laws they must adhire to three major rules and those would be that it must not threaten the Kings nor royal family "majesty"(Which can be anything the King deems to be), laws that inhibits or go against the rights of the people granted by the royal degree(As only he could do that), and he must sign & stamp laws for them to be in effect if those laws have to do with national affairs(Of course he can't allow them just pass anything behind his back or in his sleep.)

    So if a King like this was to pass away with those rules of succession posted on this forum in place to take over once the old is dead to decide the new King... How stable would the Kingdom be to have such a centralize figure of power dying suddenly and power has to be transfer to the next generation?

    P.S. No one say the Kingdom will collapse because while not everything last forever, it won't disappear as long as I want it to not disappear. So what I am asking is the extend of stability will be lost not total collapse okay?
     
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  2. PoopyDoopy

    PoopyDoopy Well-Known Member

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    The initial days, weeks would be quite chaotic as the share holders and major businesses would be taking a big wave of economic uneasiness but a quick appointment of a legitimate successor would take down all of that. Economy (interests) is stronger than what it may look like from outside.
    PS: On the other side if the isn't any direct successors, an internal strife of people striving to take what they can of the pie can easily drown decades of hard work. Stability and chaos aren't but sides of the same coin named Greed.
     
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  3. gumshoe

    gumshoe Active Member

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    i would imagen a civil war between the remains people of power. if a king has this much power he would have to be acting himself rather than dubbing out power to other figures meaning he has little in the way of system underneath himself.
    you might want to look into the Persian royalty for this story i believe they have some cases that would help. mostly about a king so consumed with keeping power that he basically exiled all his airs to the thrown in a small location
     
  4. grish99

    grish99 [Pelican Hater] [Hater of Face-Slapping]

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    Daym that long.
    This Throne of something give godlike power yes? Then successor can use it and there no problem.
    If successor can't use it then... It depends. and it really depends on people and how much king brainwashed people.
    And people are (mostly) smart and will probably ask themselves "what if the king die suddenly" and they will make laws
     
  5. Salokin

    Salokin Well-Known Member

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    Kinda a vague question. From a government standpoint the King of this kingdom seems to be a Judicial Branch? In that he has no legislative/executive authority but does arbitrate disputes and he also mucks around with the economy. I would argue that it doesn't sound very stable with him alive, but with him gone they would be well advised to seperate his power to a supreme court.

    Of course that depends on if someone is strong enough to attempt to outright replace him in which case its back to destabilization.
     
  6. AIm21

    AIm21 Well-Known Member

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    No he have both executive authority and judicial authority.

    He is like if the American president having both control of his office and the Supreme Court plus the Fed combine. Plus unlimited Veto power...
     
  7. MrSplashy

    MrSplashy Grey Knight

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    If the King still has his heir somewhere around the Kingdom, I am pretty sure that the Loyalist will find some other ways on searching/finding that particular heir as it will drastically improve the stability of the whole Kingdom and at the same time they could also bid time to make preparations for the King's funeral and the subsequent events that will transpire on the following day and that if there's a lot of oppressed groups in that particular Kingdom then there's always(maybe 90%) of people revolting and seeking freedom. With those chaos around, I am pretty sure the oligarchs and the nobles will find way to snatch up profits, territories, and/or even benefits by helping the new King/Queen and with that comes favors that they could use to leverage their position or them getting promoted to a higher standing in that particular Kingdom.

    There's a lot of events and some other ways once the King died.

    EDIT: If the King is like the Ally of Justice and will do everything he can to protect his Citizen and other people from the strong then I am pretty sure that half if not 1/3 of his Kingdom noble will uprise and take some lands for themselves. A lot of ways that they can use.
     
  8. Macrendil Ysmir

    Macrendil Ysmir Well-Known Member

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    That sounds like what happened in France. Louis XIV, the Sun King, had great advisers and help in centralizing power in his hands, and when he died the Empire remained somewhat stable (having nothing but cousins on the surrounding countries's thrones does help in that regard). But, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The remaining people with power will become decadent and arrogant which led us to Louis XVI and the French Revolution.

    It's also important to note that the moment Military, Justice, Economy and Religion meet, it's a guaranteed mess (especially religion, cause #1 for wars and conflict for the past 1000 years or so and a major contributor before that as well).
     
  9. Kutaifa

    Kutaifa Pokémon trainer

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    So basically he's a communist dictator?
    Sounds like absolutism
     
  10. AIm21

    AIm21 Well-Known Member

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    Dictator yes, but he isn't a communist as he supports capitalism...

    I say it would be like he is the Shah of Iran before he was overthrown, but with far more power and his family is the state religion.
     
  11. Hugh Jerection

    Hugh Jerection Well-Known Member

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    Sounds like a power vacuum in the making unless he has a legitimate heir who has his own faction of supporters that can smoothly transition the government towards a new administration. Assuming the heir also has access to the same supernatural powers his predecessor had and he rules over a kingdom of regular humans, then the new king can simply crush any opposition. If not, then I imagine alot of chaos since the King has too much power concentrated to himself as a central authority and should he pass away then the entire system he built around him will collapse unless he planned for the the future succession for the throne.
     
  12. k1nk4

    k1nk4 Sage Verdurous Sea Turtle

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    only read the first half... you should keep in mind that the more powerful a realm is, the more the king needs to distribute power, cause he cant deal with everything alone. The more ppl there are, the more is likely to dissidents and traitors to appear, this in turn will be weakening him. The reason that many rulers have been a headache with the nobles getting more and more power has to do with it, even if its a democracy or other forms of goverment... ppl who got power tend to usually seek more benefits for themself.

    answering what you asked, one of the highest priorities for a ruler is to find a nominal heir asap, if there are many powerful ppl against his heir, is likely the kingdom will be torn to fragments or the heir will lose power.

    if you wish to create a story based in this, I suggest you spend some hours playing "Crusaders Kings II", it mainly about managing a dynasty, vassals and dealing with succession. The game main object is to have your dynasty survive through the years. Even if its not 100% accurate, it will give you a good idea about it, like changing laws, weakening vassals power etc.
     
  13. CyberCypher

    CyberCypher Air Breather

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    You are pretty much asking what would happen if a dictator died or someone like the north korean leader died. The answer it would depend on the middle management

    if the king had a robust middle management and would be loyal to his family i.e your nobles, then it would be stable until the next successor is chosen and the cycle can repeat itself
    if there was discontent or they were corrupt, then it would go to hell pretty quickly as there is no more oversight and the nobles will either secede from the state, defect to a neighboring country, or be continue to be loyal. the first 2 options are more likely the farther away from the seat of power their land is located in
     
  14. youseiki

    youseiki 『Loves Glasses』

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    honestly, the successor can live a decent life under the king's legacy, but the third king would be lucky if he lives and dies naturally, he'll probably face assassination and his successors too
     
  15. AIm21

    AIm21 Well-Known Member

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    Then I guess they will become puppets to the Throne of Damocles than as the new generations come. As that Throne is a sentient weapon made to preserve both the Kingdom and the Royal family by any means necessary.
     
  16. Kutaifa

    Kutaifa Pokémon trainer

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    If he had appointed an heir to his throne then nothing much would have changed, except maybe an attempt to remove the monarchy or try to foil the passing of power so the they (whom ever they may be) consolidates they power and holds a firm grip on the state.

    Would you let go of an opportunity wgere you could remove an absolute monarch that would possessing unrestricted power and stamp out his family line before they regain firm control over everyone? If you had the opportunity then probably yes I believe.
     
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  17. J.R.

    J.R. Well-Known Member

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    This basically sounds like the shogunate in japan.

    But you dont need to worry too much about "democracy" just have the king/mitary class rule everything, with tithe/tribute laws for areas.

    People can "vote" locally on things. As long as the overlords get thier due, no one cares
     
  18. Kutaifa

    Kutaifa Pokémon trainer

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    Then nothing would change. Absolutely nothing. If the throne appoints a monarch and somehow has the ability to prevent a revolution (which it has from the sound of it) then nothing would happen. Absolute power could be passed over smoothly, regardless of the situation.
    EDIT: Basically the perfect plot armor, yikes
     
  19. youseiki

    youseiki 『Loves Glasses』

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    nah, the problem is the process of succession, if the king suddenly dies and only puts a will only citing the heir, the people's expectation and the capability of the heir will become the basis of the stability, but if there's a transition period, in which the king abdicates and becomes a backer of his successor, then all the problem would be solved
     
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  20. campfire

    campfire Well-Known Member

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    Why don't you just read a history book on how things works between the king, the nobels, the banks, the judical stuff. I think the revolution in France -- a bit before Napoleon conquered territory -- is a good reference.