Hi!
I’m working on a larger piece on power in both worldbuilds and storytelling. While the examples mostly pull on feudal fantasy, I think it applies across genre and setting1.
This is a part of that on writing characters who hold power2.
Let’s call them BARONS.
how barons work
BARONS are individuals, but POWER lets them command the efforts of other individuals. BARONS themselves may deny, ignore, or misunderstand everything mentioned below.
DOMAINS are the social worlds they rule (eg. Kingdoms, Companies, Institutions),
SERVANTS have an official relationship to them (eg. Knights, Clergymen, Advisors),
FOLLOWERS have an unofficial relationship to them (eg. Believers, Partisans),
PEERS are other barons in their social system (eg. Heirs, Allies, Vassals)
and SUBJECTS live under their power (eg. Serfs, Citizens, Employees).
Even if a BARON’S individual skills make them a threat in-person, they’re rarely used. Their status as famed warriors, casters, and so on often puts them in power and then later helps legitimize their worthiness to rule.
That’s fine though, because no BARON can be everywhere in their domain all the time. Few living under a BARON will ever see them in person. So subjects don’t fear harm from BARONS and their skills directly. Their power instead becomes real through the actions of servants and followers (eg. The queen herself won’t stab me, but her guards might).
Because of this, BARONS are also blind. They rely on systems to get information about their domains and send back their commands. SERVANTS and FOLLOWERS mediate these systems3. Every step of information is ripe for misunderstanding, interpretation, and deception.
BARONS who shape culture, faith, and knowledge systems can better shape this flow of information. Through culture, BARONS shape what others think is possible, moral, and legitimate, using their POWER to express and enact it4.
Their rare appearances matter too— they may organize speeches, parades, and ceremonies. They may tightly control their image, spread myths of their deeds, and attach themselves to existing narratives5.
how barons fall
Let’s review— BARONS can’t be everywhere at once, know everything right away, enact their orders right away, or expend all their power at once. That’s a lot of weak spots.
So BARONS can be vulnerable to—
SERVANTS misinterpreting and failing to execute orders (eg. I’ll just let our allies through the quarantine gates this one time),
SERVANTS mistranslating and distorting information (eg. The judge doesn’t have to know about this),
FOLLOWERS perceiving them and their servants badly (eg. Orinn’s enforcers are needlessly cruel to Southsiders),
Other BARONS attacking, being incompetent, or deciding they’re no longer useful (eg. Archmage Willem lambasts the kingsguard during a national holy ceremony),
Changes in culture, faith, and knowledge systems (eg. Lord, scholars now question the official translation of your line’s Heavenly Mandate).
A few shifts at a time can be absorbed and dispersed. But a full assault on public image, loyalty, physical control, and information systems could be a BARON’S demise.
That also applies to the social system all BARONS draw power from. Too many shifts in a short time can spiral into permanent change. BARONS jockeying in a power vacuum may destabilize things beyond repair, finding themselves unable to manage their new reality.
your campaign
I think some prompts are in order.
For every BARON—
Who are their SERVANTS? Are they content and loyal?
Who are their FOLLOWERS? How do they treat SERVANTS and other SUBJECTS?
Are they rising or declining, and are they aware?
If your players are BARONS, these work for their peers, rivals, and predecessors. If your players aren’t, throw 2-4 BARONS in a room together for a quick political powder-keg.
Here are some archetypes—
BUTTERFLY— A charming host who’s loved by all and trusted by none. Their praise makes and unmakes careers.
CAPTAIN— Beloved by their servants. Renowned in the field but easily blindsided by politics.
CHAMPION— From a lower social class. Beloved by subjects and followers, maligned by other barons.
CLIENT— A young rising star. Deeply indebted to their patron, whose legacy they draw from and extend.
DEFUNCT— Gripping to power long past their prime and relevancy. Culture, servants, and allies are rapidly outgrowing them.
DOORMAT— Nakedly incompetent. Useful to other barons simply because they keep someone better out of power.
FIGUREHEAD— Beloved by subjects and followers, despite effectively being powerless. A lesser-known baron or servant makes use of their visibility and station.
FIXER— Brought in to clean up a futile mess. Some think they’re the only one capable, some think they’ve been set up to fail.
GOLDIE— Kind, old, and perhaps naive. Beloved by followers and begrudged by more ambitious servants.
HEDON— Mired in scandal and pleasure. Nobody can afford to expose them, not yet.
HEEL— From a lower social class. Proved themselves to other barons by distancing themselves from their roots, often violently.
MOLERAT— A cruel and dysfunctional leader. Few servants are willing to tell them the truth.
OPPORTUNIST— Eagerly climbing through and spurring on chaos, hoping to come out on top. Somehow believes only they will manage to survive.
PARIAH— Outcast or maligned by barons, but beloved by a growing movement of followers.
SECOND FIDDLE— Loyal but constantly overlooked.
USURPER— Recently forced their way into power. Distrusted, feared, and envied by other barons.
ZEALOT— Beloved by a fanatical group of followers. Tension simmers between their more level-headed servants and new zealous recruits.
Our worldbuilds reflect our worldviews.
So this is also me grinding my axe against “Great Man History”. Are there good kings? Maybe. But their goodness probably isn’t why they’re kings.
BARONS are, ultimately, just people. They draw power from the people around and below them, channeled through social systems. Those systems set the stage for our stories. BARONS have massive influence over those systems, but everybody involved has agency6 too. Guards panic, advisors scheme, and subjects change their minds.
I think history hinges not on any individual BARON’S choices or personality, but on shifts in their power’s foundation. In VERMIN (d66) for example, each emerging BARON uses shifts in the world’s religions and cultural identity to gain power7.
Instead of planning tax rates for every fiefdom, I like worldbuilding this way. Start with some great men, sketch out the structure empowering them, then shade in the cracks.
Stay warm!
Note to the future! I’m writing this after an exhausting year of US elections news. Power, who holds it, and why are unavoidable right now.
Basing this on Goblin Punch’s guide to Ghosts! I love how it describes the trope in useful TTRPG terms (as themed puzzle-traps), and I want to do that here with Barons.
That includes how everyone perceives anything done in their name, most of which isn’t directly ordered.
One can imagine a CEO that doesn’t directly order employees to work overtime, but creates a culture that indirectly demands it.
This part really excites me. How do BARONS attach or distance themselves from the larger themes on the public’s mind?
They might present themselves as saviors of a lost tradition, the face of something radically new, and so on.
From industrial worldbuilding (d10)—
TENSION: Conflicts might resolve but tensions always exist. They might be negotiated, suppressed, or directed.
TRANSITION: Something came before and something will come after.
Sometimes transitions overlap and amplify each other.
AGENCY: Every system is designed and implemented by people.
People re-interpret their roles and orders every day.
MARGINS: People exist at the margins of every decision. Exceptions and contradictions at society’s margins can surprise us.
HOPE: Collapse and recovery are ongoing processes. Even the worst conditions must be maintained, adapted, and passed on.
Carrian the Owl is bitter about the Acorn Wars, and violently seeks to avenge the Blackwood in a new war. Old Maarva uses the celebrity of her client (Joan the Lark) and the Skuun’s desire for unity after a civil war. Grimm Barley escalates tensions with the Isles while betting that the Pygmil kingdoms will fail to protect Redcastle again, igniting the Reformation.