Editing Monarchy (section)

== Monarchy in Fiction ==
Monarchy tends to be represented a lot in speculative fiction. Largely because it's an easier thing to write about. People can more easily relate to a King or Queen or whatever who tries to grapple with issues than with a Parliament with hundreds of members each with their own constituents, party alignments, agendas, various degrees of hardness and softness on certain issues and the internal Horse Trading as they work out a version of a bill which at least half of them can give at least begrudging approval to.

=== Monarchy in Fantasy ===
Monarchy is the norm in Fantasy. So much so that people have argued that a lot of Fantasy can come off as Monarchist Propaganda. for instance there are a lot of fantasy stories in which the resolution of a kingdom's issues is the return of the ''True King'' and the toppling of a Usurper. The truth is probably closer to the fact that most fantasy writers have no idea about medieval republics like Italian states, German free cities or Novgorod. Still, some fantasy series were indeed written by monarchists (like [[Tolkien]] or [[C. S. Lewis]]). There is also the fact that the old legends and stories that fantasy draws upon often has a rather blunt monarchist bent: see the whole Arthurian mythos for this at its most overt. But also the fact that if you live in a situation where you live in a monarchy and monarchy is the default form of government monarchism tends to worm its way in.

Monarchies in fantasy tend to be extremely barebones, the sovereign seemingly usually running an entire country by themselves with nobles being basically anyone who hangs about their court sipping wine. The monarch seems to handle everything going on in the country, from settling minor peasant squabbles to directing the building of roads and bridges. If an adventuring party enters a country they'll usually try to get in direct line with the king, despite the fact they'll most likely deal with the [[Local Lord]] first before even seeing a whiff of the sovereign. Largely this is because there is only so much time you can put into a story and unless the story has court affairs front and center even an imaginative writer has to economize.

=== Monarchy in Science Fiction ===
While not as prominent as it is in fantasy, Monarchy shows up in Science Fiction quite a bit. From alien Princesses to a future in which Crowned Leaders have come back into fashion for humanity, like in [[Dune]] and [[Battletech]]. As for reasons why monarchies might have made a come-back, you might have planets colonized by monarchists or there might have been some major social disruption in which strong men establish dynasties. Or (going Doylist again) it may simply be easier to tell a story about powerful factions fighting each other when they’re represented by a single, autonomous individual, than by trying to do the same with a committee or faceless bureaucracy (just like how it’s easier to depict different planets as being a single, iconic biome rather than trying to be more realistic with a more nuanced biosphere that makes it harder to distinguish one planet from another).

Since this is a Sci-Fi setting we are talking about, the crowned leader gets to stay in power even longer than those in real life with the power of [[Imperial Truth|SCIENCE]]. Compared to the ancient monarchies in real life, the monarchies enhanced by scientific knowledge has are much superior and thus smarter. Unlike those piss rotten ancient monarchy who died at the age of 30 something because they've caught a bubonic plague, sci-fi monarchies were able to utilize medical technology like rejuvenate treatments to help them live longer, and owned many fine doctors with advance surgical device to save them from just about any disease. With the power of technology, monarchies has accessed to better security (to find traitors and prevent assassinations), and advanced weaponry (to put down rebellion) to prevent their [[Peasant|ruling subjects]] from dethroning them. Still, the possibilities of [[Nagash|usurpers]] still remain if there are nobles or high-ranking officials having more power than their rulers, not to mentioned their usual backstabbing schemes is something that has existed since ancient past, and may have been also enhanced with the arrival of technologies. And the ruler can still be easily dethroned if they are but an incompetent hedonist idiot who wants nothing but experience pleasures and often made stupid decisions that gave away their powers (because human behavior is something not even technology could fix). In summary, despite having the power of science, the crowned ruler still needs to rely on themselves if they wish to stay in power.