Should a King be Monogamous or Polygamous?

Discussion in 'Author Discussions' started by AIm21, Nov 5, 2018.

  1. AIm21

    AIm21 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2016
    Messages:
    1,221
    Likes Received:
    862
    Reading List:
    Link
    In my previous post about royalty and the rules for succession.

    Many had argue that the rules I put in place is destabilizing and that the Kingdom I created would not last, but what you all probably didn't know about is that history had already shown that conflicts arises from the Rules of Succession can last as the Ottoman Empire use to practice fratricide(killing of one's brothers) at the heights of power and it was only when they stop did they begin to decline.

    Watch this video on it.


    So no my Kingdom would be fine even with the Monster threat to there neighbor, in fact a King forge in fire is usually better then one made from peace in the situation of my kingdom, and so don't argue with me about the survivability of my Kingdom.

    As the Roman Empire was not forge in peace and had more then ten times the Civil War most nation can sustain yet last as one the longest of all empires.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_civil_wars_and_revolts

    Now what you can argue with me is which form of marital practice is better for a Royal family such as mine? Polygamy or Monogamy?

    As the Royal family of the Kingdom in my world has a law that made it so that all Nobles must send there daughters to be Wed to the new King after he had ascended, if they don't have a daughter then they must send there successor son to stay in the Capital as the Kings man or basically a man of the King entourage. But if they have neither son nor daughters then that noble is either a non-hereditary noble or will be made into one if they don't adopt someone into their family to perform the task.

    This is to prevent Nobles from forming alliances by wedding there daughter and sons together as well as building a relationship with each of the next chosen successor of the nobility. As well as keep the royal family from inbreeding as there are only three states like I said on the Dark Continent that my Kingdom is located and the others great power in my world live an ocean away.

    Now naturally not all of my Kings are polygamist as they can just not follow the law because they are the king and the king is the chief enforcer of the law, so they can just choose not to follow the law with no reprocussion. But many of them are and the rules of successions kept the Kingdom from having many backstage political battle from occurring and then bleeding out on the open stage by formalizing there potential conflicts into different social events to be view as a spectacle for the public that only lead to the contestant in the event becoming the king of there country.

    While a monogamous king did have stable transition of power... They usually produce a weaker kings that led to the throne of Damocles having to turn them into a puppet to become a marionette king.

    So is it better to have a marriage that lead to lead to one apparent heir or one that lead to multiple heir candidates following the rules of succession?
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2018
    Kuro_0ni and Lianna like this.
  2. Robbini

    Robbini Logical? Illogical? Random? Or Just Unique?

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2015
    Messages:
    2,886
    Likes Received:
    1,749
    Reading List:
    Link
    There's actually no guarantee a polygamous ruler would have more children than a monogamous ruler, although statistics prove it more common
     
  3. Bakaturq

    Bakaturq Tell me, what do you see?

    Joined:
    May 28, 2018
    Messages:
    2,160
    Likes Received:
    5,586
    Reading List:
    Link
    It is not about which one is better or will last, but about how you make it last or fall. Story crafting is about making the impossible possible and vice versa
     
  4. Lonelise

    Lonelise Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2017
    Messages:
    378
    Likes Received:
    261
    Reading List:
    Link
    no matter what just produce offsprings as much as possible, it's better for them to kill each other atleast they can maintain their lineage as long as possible rather than producing one offspring then got killed and usurped by the branch family.

    also with polygamy you can please and control the surrounding noble families which is a common practice for eastern empire.

    also no kingdom last forever, no matter how glorious they were, they are either reduced into history textbooks or they just lost their power.
     
  5. PedoBear Version 2.0

    PedoBear Version 2.0 「 Lvl. 69 Legendary Pantsu Hunter !」

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2018
    Messages:
    718
    Likes Received:
    674
    Reading List:
    Link
    "Ughhh...politician and
    their politics.... Huh?
    My head hurts..."
     
  6. AIm21

    AIm21 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2016
    Messages:
    1,221
    Likes Received:
    862
    Reading List:
    Link
    I love politics especially for that political complexity.
     
    Femme Fatale likes this.
  7. Lianna

    Lianna Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 7, 2017
    Messages:
    82
    Likes Received:
    76
    Reading List:
    Link
    It's so true. Vicious concubines often killed off unborn or newborn babies.
     
  8. PedoBear Version 2.0

    PedoBear Version 2.0 「 Lvl. 69 Legendary Pantsu Hunter !」

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2018
    Messages:
    718
    Likes Received:
    674
    Reading List:
    Link
    "Uhhmm ok go on,
    Im satisfied being a peasant..."
     
  9. Yunchii

    Yunchii Best Waifu - Tamamo-no-Mae

    Joined:
    Nov 15, 2015
    Messages:
    3,145
    Likes Received:
    3,040
    Reading List:
    Link
    There's a few things you need to consider. 1st in ancient time ruling is usually monarchy, not like now where's commoner hold the power. So in order for those monarch to be monogamy they need to hold everything from economy, politic and military. the main reason why most monarch is polygamist is simple, they need power = political marriage.
     
  10. chencking

    chencking [Daolord Grammar Nazi]

    Joined:
    Aug 1, 2016
    Messages:
    6,075
    Likes Received:
    4,160
    Reading List:
    Link
    Monogamy. If the queen fails to give birth the king can annul their marriage and wed his mistress.
     
  11. WeaselLord

    WeaselLord Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 22, 2017
    Messages:
    209
    Likes Received:
    161
    Reading List:
    Link
    Um........... yeah, about those romans...
    Decimation is commonly used as if it meant complete destruction, but in fact its original meaning is back in the roman empire, if a squad rebelled or deserted, they wold decimate the squad in order to instill discipline without losing a bunch of soldiers (most other armies just executed all the rebels and all the deserters). So they would have all the soldiers in the squad line up, then count them. Every soldier that got a number divisible by ten (10, 20, 30, etc) would be killed. They used this method because it instilled discipline and kept a lot of soldiers at the same time... to me that means that if they just executed all the rebels/deserters, then they would have a problem with the number of soldiers remaining (as in they wouldn't have enough soldiers left to go destroy another country to enslave its soldiers to replenish their supply of cannon fodder).
     
    AMissingLinguist likes this.
  12. AIm21

    AIm21 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2016
    Messages:
    1,221
    Likes Received:
    862
    Reading List:
    Link
    My king still need people to help govern his Kingdom so the nobility are mostly state administrators or sometimes military officials.
     
  13. AIm21

    AIm21 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2016
    Messages:
    1,221
    Likes Received:
    862
    Reading List:
    Link
    It is fine the Kingdom is an immigrants open country for anyone that want to flee or start a new life in a different continent.
     
  14. Kutaifa

    Kutaifa Pokémon trainer

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2017
    Messages:
    717
    Likes Received:
    828
    Reading List:
    Link
    Does that mean your kingdom favors the execution of all siblings of the ascended king?

    And monogamous seems to me, at least, to be the best option.
     
  15. Warlock Of The Void

    Warlock Of The Void Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 29, 2017
    Messages:
    717
    Likes Received:
    506
    Reading List:
    Link
    I don't know what kind of story u r writing so I can't tell which is better but it depends on u . A kingdom/empires life depends on many factors not just the rules of succession , there is no guarantee that the king won't be impotent so there will be no heir or the nobles won't plot to make him one. Plus people tend to forget that the rules of succession also depend on the populace . A king does not rule a land he rules people and they r an important part of the decision to choose the ruler and not just in democracies. U have to understand no matter how totalitarian or dictatorial a ruler is one way or another the people will influence the rule. U need to consider this as well, Rome did not fall to enemies it fell to it's own people and so did many more
     
    Raobihr likes this.
  16. AIm21

    AIm21 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2016
    Messages:
    1,221
    Likes Received:
    862
    Reading List:
    Link
    Um... The last time I recalled the Roman Empire fell from the barbarians sacking Rome and the Eastern Roman Empire fell from the invasion of the Ottoman... So no the Roman Empire did fell to outside invasion. As while they might weaken from internal struggles, they did not fall to there own people.
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2018
  17. AIm21

    AIm21 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2016
    Messages:
    1,221
    Likes Received:
    862
    Reading List:
    Link
    No of course not that was why the 7th rules were put in place.

    As once one of the apparent heir ascended to the throne he will no longer care about his brothers or sisters as they either married to a commoner or adopted into a new noble family using there surnames and discarding there royal name. While the other two options left is either they commit suicide for not wanting to give there royal name or be sent on an expeditionary mission to obtain land in the wilderness to start a new noble family if successful or possibly die there if they fail.

    All in all the new King holds no moral responsibility for the death of his rival siblings.
     
  18. AMissingLinguist

    AMissingLinguist [Not Here][Blank Sect][Nuffian #N]

    Joined:
    May 15, 2016
    Messages:
    2,297
    Likes Received:
    6,383
    Reading List:
    Link
    More English grammar practice would be great for your story.

    As for your question on a king/queen's relationship, it matters. You're basing it on America, right? Which historical reference of America is it? Is it only American from your thoughts on what America looks like? Are you sure you meant American and not Canadian, Mexican, Brazilian, etc.? Many modern countries have monogamy as the basis for marriage. If you're looking to make America a monarchy, then I suggest polygamy. Traps and reverse traps are possible. Polygyny: 1 man with more than 1 wife. Polyandry: 1 woman with more than 1 husband.
     
  19. Kutaifa

    Kutaifa Pokémon trainer

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2017
    Messages:
    717
    Likes Received:
    828
    Reading List:
    Link
    Execution seems easier in my opinion. Marrying into a noble family doesn't on the surface make ones family and lineage disappear, they could still be used to incite civil war. It just seems idiotic to place a member of a royal family into the hands of the powerful nobility. Who would even choose the other options? And why should the nobility host a former member of the royal family, wouldn't that alienate the nobility from the monarchy if they tasked with taking care of pampered youths?
     
  20. Raobihr

    Raobihr Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2016
    Messages:
    262
    Likes Received:
    253
    Reading List:
    Link
    They fell because they let the barbarians in, so that can count as falling because of their people.

    There are no benefits for a polygamous King, only disadvantages.