This is a really good question. A while ago I decided to write a story about two fantasy cultures meeting. The first I made generic-ish pseudo-medieval-English monarchy by default. I wanted to the other to be as different to that as I could manage and it was really hard getting my brain out of the same old fantasy society ruts. I eventually decided to base it mostly on ancient Athens, and the more I read of their history the more I wished other people based stories on it, because their democracy was this fascinating mix of the familiar and the bizarre. (I wish this even more now that my story has died of writers block :))
As I recall the Mirage Makers series by Glenda Larke mixes magic with a thinly veiled Roman Empire vs Middle Eastern tribes, I didn't get that far into it so can't say for certain that neither group had anything resembling a monarchy. Hmm. I feel like I should be able to think of examples, it's disturbing that I can't!
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-04-11 12:35 pm (UTC)This is a really good question. A while ago I decided to write a story about two fantasy cultures meeting. The first I made generic-ish pseudo-medieval-English monarchy by default. I wanted to the other to be as different to that as I could manage and it was really hard getting my brain out of the same old fantasy society ruts. I eventually decided to base it mostly on ancient Athens, and the more I read of their history the more I wished other people based stories on it, because their democracy was this fascinating mix of the familiar and the bizarre. (I wish this even more now that my story has died of writers block :))
As I recall the Mirage Makers series by Glenda Larke mixes magic with a thinly veiled Roman Empire vs Middle Eastern tribes, I didn't get that far into it so can't say for certain that neither group had anything resembling a monarchy. Hmm. I feel like I should be able to think of examples, it's disturbing that I can't!