Sovereignty: A Polity Generation Procedure

02 Feb, 2025

This is a procedure for generating planetary governments for Stars Without Number and other Traveller-alike games.

I like the planet generation procedures in SWN for what they are, in their own context. However, it did leave one thing to be desired, and that was support for large-scale political, military, and economic conflict that I think is such fertile ground for roleplaying.

Unlike Traveller, SWN's explicit and implied setting is a sector (or universe) where star systems, politically, mostly keep to themselves. Star empires are possible, but they are rare, and they operate much more like the barely-held empires of 18th century Earth. This setting is grand, because it means that each planet can be detailed and individual, and the universe can feel big without being ten thousand light years across and full of empty space.

However, another element of the setting is that while space travel and FTL travel are relatively easy, mass transport of humans and cargo is difficult. There are no hundred-thousand-ton cargo ships plying the starlanes. Cross-system military invasions are logistically difficult and impossible against a well-armed world. This is perfectly fine as well - it is a logical consequence of the setting's assumptions, several of which make it more "adventure-able."

However, this means that as-written big, inter-polity conflicts between systems are rare. Two star systems next to each other don't share a border, they share an ocean, a massive gulf that takes effort to cross. There's none of the tension or opportunity you find in the real world when two polities are bumped up against each other. There's no tense standoffs that might erupt into land wars at any moment, there's no upheaval from trade and cultural diffusion, and there's no friction as neighbors diverge ideologically. Which is a shame, because these elements provide the exact sort of drama that players can latch onto and which fuels a good RPG session.

If the game is going to include those elements, it means there will have to be systems where more than one political entity exists. SWN does not support this very much. There are few tags that reference political conflict on a world (like "Warlords"). Most of the tags in the other books assume the population of a world/system is politically united, with fragmented systems as rare exceptions. Nowhere is provided a procedure to actually divide up a system into polities, nor to give them characteristics that can be used by the players or GM in a session.

I knew what I had to do. I set out a procedure that would take a star system and its population, and divide it up politically, grouping them into polities that could come into conflict with each other, or generate the sorts of military, economic, and political conflict I thought the implied setting was missing. The result of that is the procedure below.

I'm hoping to make this the first in a series, because this is just the generator for the polities. In other posts, I'll go over generating the military, generating a player-facing economy and trade profile, and generating laws and law enforcement.

Procedure

Perform the following steps to generate the sovereignty on a world, the number of Major Polities on a world, and how much of the world each polity controls.

1. Generate a planet or system, including the population of the system.
2. Roll to determine the Sovereignty of the planet or system.
3. Based on the Sovereignty, determine the number of Major Polities, and how much of the population or economy of they control. Note if there is any remainder controlled by Minor Polities.
4. For each Major Polity, determine the Tech Level and Standard of Living.
5. For each Major Polity, roll to determine the Government, via the Regime and Administration. Name each Major Polity, taking inspiration from the Regime and Administration.

Systems vs. Planets

This procedure should be usable for both systems as a whole, as well as individual planets. It was written under the assumption most star systems will only have one habitable world; therefore, all the major political powers will be there, making the distinction academic. However, if you have a system with multiple habitable/inhabited planets, feel free to run this process for each habitable planet, or even for semi-habitable zones like orbital habitats around a gas giant. Be sure to determine the population of these individual worlds or areas ahead of time.

Sovereignty

When generating an inhabited world or system, roll a 2d6 for the Sovereignty on the planet:

Add a +1 to the roll if the planet has hundreds of millions of people. Add +2 if the planet has billions of people. Record the result for the world. This indicates the current division of power (if any) across the planet.

Anarchy

Anarchic planets have no Major Polities. Anarchic worlds can have both a variety of government types and societies, even on the same planet. Anarchic worlds may be sovereign manor-villages, warlords unbound by feudal ties or alliances, clanholds, tiny city-states divided by harsh terrain or a patchwork of all those and more. In all cases, no legal, political entity on the planet is able to muster any great amount of resources. This state of affairs usually does not last for long unless forced by the planet itself or some outside power. Eventually, determined governments, criminal bands, or economic powerhouses will begin to extend their control, resulting in the formation of larger countries.

Players in an anarchic system generally don’t have to worry about system-wide repercussions to their actions. Local authorities are incapable of calling upon backup from other regions. However, communities will be close-knit and trusting. They will easily identify and dispatch outsiders who make trouble.

• Enemies: A family leader or notable who sees outsiders as a threat to the anarchy; a reformer seeking to impose a government (coincidentally, with themselves on top); bandit who exploits the lack of centralized response
• Friends: Local free spirit, welcoming family matriarch or patriarch, offworld refugee
• Complications: The anarchy is being maintained by a natural phenomenon, an enterprising leader is beginning to centralize power, the guardians of the anarchy are collapsing
• Places: grand moot or allthing where everyone in a region arrives to settle disputes, a clanhold manor that houses dozens, the single privately-owned and run spaceport

Balkanization

Balkanized planets are sharply divided by a number of sovereign powers, with almost no person on the planet independent from any of them. Balkanized planets tend to have a small number of extremely divisive cultures or religions, with each firmly situated in its own nation-state or theocracy. This can occur naturally, or as a result of colonization of a single planet by multiple other planets.

On a balkanized planet, players can expect to become immediately associated with one sovereign power. Changing this “loyalty”, even if it was given accidentally, is difficult. However, no matter who the PCs irk, another power on the planet will be willing to take them in, if only to spite the other.

• Enemies: Fervent nationalist who hates offworlders as much as other nationalities, warmongerer who drums up hate, hooligan who exploits the cultural divides
• Friends: Refugee fleeing "nation-building", person from a stateless minority group, lovers caught in a Romeo-and-Juliet situation
• Complications: One nation is actually a shaky state shared by two cultures, a major population center in one polity belongs to the culture of a different polity
• Places: Tightly-controlled border stations on opposite sides of a demilitarized zone, the sole melting pot metropolis on the planet

Unified

Unified planets are fairly common in the post-Scream universe. A unified planet has a single sovereign power, and they claim all inhabitants as their citizens or subjects. Many Unified planets have less than a million inhabitants, or concentrated populations in small habitable zones. On larger planets, only stable, effective governments are able keep full planetary control.

There is no legal way evade the authority of a unified planetary government. They have the incentive and ability to punish lawbreakers or drive them out of civilization. However, a single unified government is also generally less paranoid about external threats to its authority, and so tends to treat outsiders a little more lightly.

• Enemies: Overconfident and self-assured system law enforcement officer, monitor of internal dissent
• Friends: Cultural or political holdout, particularist local in need of offworld help
• Complications: Clear political or cultural fault lines in the polity are beginning to widen, the unified power is complacent about internal and external threats
• Places: Massive edifices erected for the central government's regime, outlying cities and habitats where unified control is less firm but harsher

Hegemony

Hegemony is the most common situation on most post-Scream worlds, where a single Major Polity (the hegemon) controls the majority of the population and acts as the effective planetary government. A hegemonic system hosts a patchwork of Minor Polities in the hinterlands, which may range from rogue states, communities on marginal land, or groups given legal independence by tradition or convenience. Planetary hegemons who don’t control a supermajority of the planet often have another reason they remain in control, such as access to a rare resource, the only space navy, or cultural supremacy.

Player characters can escape the power of the Hegemony, but it will be a close thing. There are cracks and gaps, especially when the hegemon doesn't control the majority of the population. However, most hegemons do maintain control of the military and space in their system, making resisting them or escaping them a daunting prospect. The players will need to exploit those cracks and gaps, because often a hegemon is still bound by diplomacy - its laws are not universal.

• Enemies: Hegemonic officer determined to crush challengers to the hegemon, resentful and destructive magnate from the hinterlands
• Friends: Local politician who wishes to preserve other cultures and societies, offworld liaison with lots of connections in the central government
• Complications: The hegemon is undergoing a period of decline, the citizens of the hegemon are reluctant to take full responsibility for the system
• Places: Hegemonic capital studded with monumental architecture, hegemon's office in the hinterlands that's half-embassy, half-government to a local Minor Polity

Duopoly

Duopoly occurs when two competing sovereign powers take control of the majority of the planet. Other entities on the planet are either overtly non-aligned, or are mere pawns in the Great Game. Because an open conflict between two powers would likely be ineffectual and devastating, most of the conflict plays out through espionage, intrigue, and brush wars in the Minor Polities. This does not preclude direct tensions rising and falling, and more than one civilization has collapsed after a duopoly resulted in a catastrophic conflict - often referred to by interstellar sociologists as a Final Confrontation, after the devastating war that occurred on Stravon.

Much like a balkanized planet, player characters will not be able to maintain their neutrality for long, as each side will want to at minimum deny an asset to the other. Getting into or out of the system will require getting through at least one of the space navies, and landing on the planet will likely result in them entering one side's territory. The players need not swear allegiance forever, but changing sides is a delicate process that requires building lots of trust. If they must run from their chosen Major Polity, the other side may not always welcome them with open arms - just in case it's a trick. Their only hope might be for the existence of a non-aligned movement where they can take refuge.

• Enemies: Double-agent spy, armsmaster seeking every weapon for their side's arsenal
• Friends: Cosmopolitan intellectual dissatisfied with both sides, politician from a non-aligned country
• Complications: Tensions have reached a breaking point and the Final Confrontation is imminent, the PC's side believes them to be spies or plants due to a political rival
• Places: Secret military base where the weapons of the Final Confrontation are stored, spy-riddled and embassy-filled Minor Polity capital

Multipolar

Multipolar planets host multiple sovereign powers, each jockeying for control and to play the others against themselves. Each of the Major Polities has a reason it rose above the rest. Some may control strategically important resources or key pieces of terrain. Some may have just been the first to build spike drives and exploit the resources of the rest of their solar system. Regardless, each Major Polity is diverse and strong, and in theory, one of them could come to dominate the planet. In time, Multipolar sovereignties tend to collapse in Duopolies, as fate and fortune take their toll. In rare cases, a rapid ascendance of one power might result in a Hegemony or unification.

Unlike on a balkanized world, Minor Polities still exist, and can survive or even thrive as the great powers jockey for position. Also unlike a balkanized world, PCs will not be assumed to be associated with one faction immediately, and if they fail to woo one government, another will not take them automatically. Travel between different Major Polities may be legally complicated. PCs can also expect the laws of one of the powers to follow them into the Major Polity's independent allies.

• Enemies: Cunning politician using the players as international patsies, militarist looking to conscript the PC's into a shooting war
• Friends: Guarded diplomat looking for interstellar allies, emigrant from a Major Polity seeking a better life elsewhere
• Complications: A Minor Polity is destabilizing the situation by rising in power and influence, tensions between two Major Polities are being stoked by a third
• Places: International organization headquarters, cosmopolitan metropolis

Tribalism

Where tribalism dominates, no power exerts major control or can even contend for dominance of the planet. Instead, the population has grouped into small Major Polities, much more uniform and strictly organized than those found on other planets. Tribalism occurs on fertile low-tech planets or where governments struggle to assert their sovereignty outside a specific nation or "tribe". Each Major Polity will be effectively a nation-state, though rather than culture or race the "tribes" or nations of the planet might cluster around ideology, religion, or something more esoteric like gender. Control and power shifts rapidly with population

Tribalist planets are often the best for PCs looking to make trouble. It is difficult (though not impossible) for the Major Polities to project their power and chase the PCs through the entire planet or system. However, gaining favor with a Major Polity or almost any polity will require entering that tribe, not a cheap trick.

• Enemies: Devoted cultural supremacist or ideologue, slippery business owner or criminal exploiting all sides
• Friends: Welcoming but sensitive evangelist for their tribe, curious youth who wants to experience other cultures
• Complications: The Major Polities are actually unified on external relations, the Major Polities are working together to carve up and conquer all Minor Polities
• Places: Vibrant national cultural center, arena for international competition and tribal glory

Major Polities

Each Sovereignty generates a different number of Major Polities. While governments vary in size and strength, those of interest to the sector at large (and the PCs) will be the Major Polities of a planet. These are the governments who by any means command the loyalty of a large or important chunk of the planet’s population. They are generally strong enough to hold themselves together and ward off hostile takeovers by any other government on the planet. Major Polities make and enforce the laws and norms that the PCs will encounter on any well-settled planet. Major Powers usually monopolize the construction of spike drives, own the markets used by Far Traders, deploy space navies, and deploy planetary armies.

The maximum number of Major Polities in a system or world is determined by the Sovereignty. Each Major Polity controls a certain proportion of the population of the planet or system.¹

Start with the first Major Polity. Based on the Sovereignty, randomly generate the percentage of the system's population that is controlled by this polity, as indicated in the "Control Per Polity". Then, if there are additional Major Polities, roll for the percentage of the population controlled by the second Major Polity, third, and so on. Continue to generate the share controlled by Major Polities until the number of Major Polities is reached, or the total controlled population is equal to 100%. The total percentage of population controlled by Major Polities cannot exceed 100%; if necessary, reduce the randomly determined control of the last Major Polity to make the total equal to 100%.

If there is any percentage of population uncontrolled by Major Polities after generating the maximum number, the remainder belong to Minor Polities.

Standard of Living and Technology Level

When generating a system or a planet, generate the Technology Level in the system you're using.² If preferred, roll for tech levels for each Major Polity, rather than for the system overall. Then, generate a Standard of Living for the planet or system:

Optionally, for each Major Polity, roll a 1d6. On a 1, its Standard of Living is 1 step lower; on a 6, one step higher; otherwise, it is the same as the general Standard of Living. You can also do this for the Tech Level.

Divergent Tech Levels

Divergent tech levels in a system are tricky, and divergent tech levels on a planet even moreso. Different polities at different low tech levels (0-3) might exist at once, but they are likely to be in transition, each society responding to the other. A postech TL4 polity in a system with TL0-3 polities is an even less stable arrangement.

If the polities are in contact, the economic production and military power of a postech polity will create pressures on the societies at other tech levels. Even if the postech society is not oriented towards conquest or imperialism,³ the lower-tech polities will undergo transformations in response to these pressures. It may result in them advancing tech levels; it may result in their societies collapsing.

If there are Major Polities with different tech levels in the system, think about how this may affect their relations. This may be a new situation - one or a few polities having pulled ahead of the others in a technological arms race. Perhaps the higher-tech society is a colony from another system, recently established. In these cases, the liminal spaces between societies will be points of friction and transformation, where players are likely to see strange sights of the space retrofuture. Those that cross the boundaries might be saints or scoundrels, but there will be plenty of opportunity to help or hinder people trying to navigate the consequences.

If the situation is more permanent, think about what sort of arrangement brought this about. Perhaps the higher-tech society has a cultural understanding that it should protect and preserve the lower-tech polities - a sort of Prime Directive. Perhaps a higher-tech polity is held back by a treaty with another high-tech polity. Or, perhaps the locals are well-adapted enough to extreme conditions that struggling for control of them just isn't worth it.

Alternative Method: Economic Control

The above method is workable and straightforward, but will tend to only produce a few large-population Major Polities. If some variety (and additional complexity) is desired, instead of determining the proportion of the population controlled by each Major Polity, the proportion of a system or world's economy can be used instead. This will be able to create worlds with stark divisions between rich-but-small polities and poor-but-large polities that can be sources of additional conflict and intrigue.

Generate the world or system's Standard of Living and Tech Level. These two statistics are used to derive the Gross System Product or Gross Planetary Product (GSP and GPP respectively. GSP will be used going forward, but the same process applies for GPP.)

GSP is calculated as follows:

Population * GSP Per Capita * Tech Level Multiplier = GSP

The Population is just the population (in number of humans or aliens) of the system. The GSP Per Capita is based on the system's Standard of Living, as shown below:

The Tech Level Multiplier is shown below:

Once GSP is calculated, roll to determine the number of Major Polities and Control per Polity. However, this will be the share of the GSP they control, not the population.

Once the control of GSP is established, determine if any of the Major Polities have a higher or lower Standard of Living.⁴ Divide the Major Polity's GSP by its particular Tech Level Multiplier and its own GSP Per Capita to determine its population. Take the GSP controlled by Minor Polities, and divide that by the system's Tech Level Multiplier and the system's GSP Per Capita to get the population controlled by Minor Polities. Sum the populations of the Major and Minor Polities to get the new, true total for the population of the system.

Minor Polities

Minor Polities are those countries, states, and other political entities that are too small to stride onto the planetary/system stage and swing their weight around. They typically control less than 5% of the planet's population (or economy), typically much less than that.

On a planet, a Minor Polity might be a group or area that is granted legal self-government for historical, cultural, or economic reasons. Generally, the populations of these areas will dispersed, difficult to govern, and have low economic productivity. They will often be on marginal land or in secluded regions. Typically, they will have some arrangement with the hegemon or a Major Polity to provide proper military defense, but even small groups of 10,000 people can maintain breaker guns and quantum ECM to ward off the worst of postech weapons.

Many Minor Polities will be on the less-habitable parts of the system, off of the main planet. Habitats, space stations, moon arcologies, and aerostats have a much easier time maintaining independence, either through providing a valuable resource or by being too much of a pain to take over. Some larger ones might even be self-sufficient. Many will mount starship-class weaponry to ward off pirates or invaders. Some might even be pirates themselves. However, these "orbitals", as they're typically referred to, exist in a precarious state - plenty of other habitats, space stations, moon arcologies, and aerostats in a system will belong to Major Polities, and it would only require a dedicated effort to bring them in line. These Minor Polities almost always lack dynamic economies.

Regardless of where they're situated, Minor Polities don't have space navies, their defense forces are likely closer to a militia or gendarme, and their economies are small enough to be irrelevant to a space trader.

In other words, if the players are pirates, smugglers, conquerors, or Far Traders, a Minor Polity does not offer any meaningful problems or solutions.

However, Minor Polities can still be quite important to other sorts of space travellers, as well as common adventurers. Minor Polities are areas where the laws of the Major Polities do not reach; players on the run from the consequences of their actions might find refuge there. Minor Polities can be formed to explore weird ideologies (perhaps a Radical Ideology) or to exploit key resources. Minor Polities will have problems a band of 3-6 intrepid space weirdos can solve, and earn allies in the process. And an alliance with a Minor Polity can still be meaningful - even the smallest polities can provide services and resources well in excess of those typically available to your average adventuring party. A small Minor Polity is still equivalent to a corporation or small city. A Minor Polity can ease access to a planet or other object in a system; it can provide abundant fuel, repairs, or upgrades for a starship; it can provide medical services or fabrication services, or even just act as a safe haven; it can be a potent source of information; and against common adventuring threats like mercenary bands, criminal gangs, or corporate goons, a Minor Polity can still provide serious muscle.

The aspects of Minor Polities should be developed as-needed during the game, depending on where the players decide to go or what they wish to interact with. Even a system with a single hegemon could have hundreds of Minor Polities, most of which will be irrelevant to the players. Therefore, it's not worth it to pre-generate these groups. If you want to randomly generate Minor Polities, I suggest using the Community tags and Court detail tables from Worlds Without Number. Alternatively, if the Minor Polity is situated in one or more outposts or orbitals, you can use the tables from Distant Lights.

Governments

Each Major Polity has a government. If you already know how you want the polity's government to work, write down a description. Otherwise, generate a government by combining a Regime and an Administration in the chart below.

For any polity that is actually a tightly-controlled colonial holding by a stellar empire or another polity, use "Colonial" as the Regime.

If a result of "Vestigial" is rolled, roll twice again for Administration, ignoring any further rolls of 6. The first roll is the “official” Administration, but it is largely a ceremonial remnant of the past and holds no power. The second roll is the real Administration.

Regimes

Bureaucratic

The regime is run by unelected clerks and officials, who may be appointed to positions through merit or connections.

• Enemies: Obstructionist administrator, paperwork pirate pilfering via forged bureaucratic actions
• Friends: Friendly backdoor dealmaker, forward-thinking and vigorous department director

Colonial

The regime is subordinated to some greater polity or other power. The regime may include natives, but ultimate control will always rest with foreigners.

• Enemies: Imperious administrator, native collaborator
• Friends: Resister against colonial authority, sympathetic offworlder or colonist aiding natives

Corporate

The regime is run by or like a business. While internally these might be shadowy megacorps, worker co-operatives, or guild cartels, their only external focus is profit from others.

• Enemies: Middle manager hiding cutthroat depravity with a smile, board member willing to burn the world for profit
• Friends: Beleaguered corporate ombudsman, freelancer corporate attorney/consultant

Federal

The regime is built from a collection of multiple subordinate jurisdictions, each layering on each other in a way that (ideally) protects its citizens, protects rule of law, and strengthens their bonds. Sub-governments might have meaningfully different laws and rules from one another, though they are typically have freedom of movement, share defensive burdens, and have a united economic zone.

• Enemies: Swing representative with inflated ego, administrator favoring their own region
• Friends: Local sub-jurisdiction booster eager to court the PCs, internal diplomat with connections across the polity

Feudal

The regime is made up of cities and fiefs, tied to each other through webs of personal obligation and loyalty. Local chiefs, magnates, lords, knights, nobles, senators, or burghers have control over day-to-day life, with their individual ties determining how power is structured and shared between them. Most also have laws and customs governing when vassalage can occur.

• Enemies: Scheming seneschal with impeccable personal connections, imperious nobleman "big fish" in a small pond
• Friends: Landless noble searching for glory, wise and fair chieftain (or burgher)

Military

The regime is entirely run by the military, and all other concerns are subordinate to military needs. Membership in the regime is strictly limited to soldiers, and in stratified societies, might be limited only to officers. In other societies, citizenship in the polity might require military service.

• Enemies: Bloodthirsty colonel eager to start a war, incompetent and stubborn general heading a civilian ministry
• Friends: Civilian subordinate and liaison, honorable sergeant who just wants to protect their soldiers

Republican

The regime is composed of representatives from different segments of the population. Each republican power will have its own way of allocating representatives among its population: typically geographically, but there could be representatives for different classes, occupations, or even internal political divisions. These representatives are typically organized into a legislature.

• Enemies: Representative selling out their constituents, insular clique leader
• Friends: Pragmatic horse-trader representative, sharp lobbyist for hire

Revolutionary

The regime has just emerged from some struggle for justice, equality, peace, or possibly something odious instead. It is inexperienced but full of fervent believers. Its institutions are still roiling and flexible, working to build a new order, and not yet settled into stable routines. A revolutionary regime typically limits its members to those that participated in the revolution. The insecurity of the new regime compels it to harshly punishes members of the old regime, or those that might form alternative structures of power.

• Enemies: Paranoid administrator of a bloody terror, minister chosen for revolutionary zeal and loyalty over competence
• Friends: Bright-eyed reformer for a better tomorrow, chameleonic diplomat who survived the old regime and the new

Technocratic

The regime is composed of scientists, engineers, or other scientific and technological experts. Entry into the regime is often restricted by education or material achievement. In a stratified society, this regime might devolve into a "nobility of the book", where the current members pick and choose who gets to receive the education necessary to join the regime.

• Enemies: Preening academic minister with no time for practical concerns, cold-hearted engineer paving over organic humanity
• Friends: Brilliant junior researcher chafing in administration, engineer who came up "from the trenches"

Theocratic

The regime is subordinate to one religion or religious order. The spiritual leaders of the religion are the leaders of the polity, de facto or de jure. Non-believers are at best tolerated, but often expelled or worse.

• Enemies: Corrupt pontiff exploiting faith for a great work, firebrand preacher who calls for nonbeliever oppression
• Friends: Worldly and kind priest-mayor, temple layman in need of friends

Tribal

The regime is made up of a ruling clan, who promote from within. For less homogenous powers, additional clans may be included in governance, or may form subservient castes who are delegated specific tasks. Power is restricted to one’s bloodline in any case.

• Enemies: High-ranking, insulated, and myopic official, ruling tribe member who sees offworlders as exploitable rubes
• Friends: Clever and thriving outcast tribe member, local who is only half-descended from the ruling group

Administrations

City-State

The government is extremely local, usually centered around one city and its hinterlands. All administration occurs in this city. The nature of this government means that those in the city (even the poor or subaltern) have outsized influence, and the rest of the population is held either through military occupation or colonial dependence. Day-to-day city affairs often take precedence. The administration gains its legitimacy due to the city's pre-eminent economy or military, and because it respects certain privileges of lesser urban areas and the hinterlands.

Democracy

The government’s administrators are chosen by the citizens of the polity. The legitimacy of the administration is derived from the consent of the governed. Some powers might claim to be democratic while having an extremely restrictive definitions of “citizen”; actual democracies generally allow most or all adult natives and resident aliens to participate in governance. Unlike other administrations, government officials often have few legal privileges over the common citizen. Democracies can still be compromised by interest groups, conspiracies, or internal discord.

Dictatorship

The government is administered by a single individual and their henchmen. Dictatorships derive their legitimacy from the loyalty of one or several institutions that side with the dictator (indicated by the Regime.) These institutions receive favored treatment, often becoming bloated and corrupt, but highly active. Successful dictators also try to maintain popular support.

Monarchy

The government is administered by a royal individual or family. Unlike a dictatorship, monarchies are usually well-established and embedded in their culture, often being attributed supernatural importance and treated legally as a higher being. Monarchs derive legitimacy from the support of a segment of the population, such as the nobility, the clergy, peasants, or the bourgeoisie. True monarchies invest extraordinary political power in the person of the monarch, making them vulnerable to incompetent rulers, deaths, and succession crises.

Oligarchy

The administration is restricted to some group, whether that be hereditary nobility, robber barons, a circle of generals or something more esoteric. While the group generally excludes others from the levers of power, internally, they treat each other as equals. Oligarchies derive their legitimacy from some sort of preeminence of the members - ideally, an aristocratic "rule of the best", those able to dedicate themselves to ruling virtuously. In practice, this preeminence often comes from wealth, institutional control, or hereditary titles. Oligarchies are rampant with intrigue, as all members are keenly aware that if one of them gains power, they will seize control and destroy the rest.

Polity Name

The government of a polity often has an influence on the official name for that polity. Very few peaceful, well-developed federal democracies wish to be known as the Dread Empire of Agony. Conversely, a monarchy will choose a name that flaunts their power, not something humble or anodyne.

First, generate a Core Name for the polity. This can be the name of the planet, system, a particular location, an ethnicity, a group name, or just the unique name of the polity. Then, combine the Core Name with one name based either on the Regime or Administration, depending on whatever feels most appropriate. Sample names are provided below:

Note: for governments with the Revolutionary Regime, append the Regime name to the name from the Administration. For Bureaucratic Regimes, always use the Administration name.

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