Help with reasons for rebellions against my oligarchic/Philosopher kings inspired empire [closed]
Closed by System on Oct 16, 2018 at 22:20
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The government of this (fantasy) world is made up of a small group, randomly chosen at birth and representing maybe 0.5% of the population. The group are tutored in their homes with their families for 5 years, then retain some contact whilst in specialist academies until the age of 18 when they assume full voting rights as part of the Assembly, and travel to various government buildings/courts to vote in the affairs of the state. I am aware of the problems any empire may have (religious differences, clashing cultural identities etc.), but I want opinions on what other reasons groups might rebel against this empire. For example, the one reason I already have is that it is slow (takes 18 years) to add representatives of other cultures. It also occurs to me that gerontocratic tribes may have trouble excepting 18 year olds as their representatives, as to start with the empire likes to work with representatives of the old structure.
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The big reason for rebellion is simple, the leaders are not delivering what they are supposed to: safety, prosperity (whatever that means to your culture, it may be as little as Food and water, or if they are more sophisticated, high tech, health, education, etc).
It doesn't make a difference WHY they don't deliver or if it is due to circumstances beyond their control. There is an apocryphal saying, "No country is more than three meals away from revolution". (Or "from anarchy", or "from barbarism", whatever strikes your fancy).
Empire after empire in history collapsed due to simple droughts or crop failures leading to famine, Ireland was pretty much destroyed by the potato famine.
Your second cause of failure is when hard times come, the people in power use their power to ensure they remain comfortable while their people suffer. Same thing here, nobody gives a crap about "philosophy" and "intelligence" and "education" (and I am PhD with five college degrees saying that) when their children are starving. They say screw your laws, I'm going to take a gun (or a knife or a sharp stick if that's all they can have (and everybody can have a sharp stick!)) and go take some damn food before we die.
When that collides with your police force, the populace will overwhelm them. But your police force is starving too, so ...
As long as people are reasonably surviving and have the basics they have come to expect in terms of food, shelter, health care, jobs (at some given level of effort), entertainment (much more important than most think), and lack of oppression (in taxes, physical harm, taking of property, being jailed or punished), they are unlikely to revolt. When they start losing what they have become accustomed to, that is when resentment sets in, and eventually revolution.
But things have to get pretty bad to make most humans choose to risk actual death. They will try many less consequential things first, and those must fail.
Revolutions are about saving your life.
That sounds paradoxical, but they are seldom about ideals or principles. People risk death for a better life, seldom for an idea. Revolutions are about fighting intolerable oppressions, taking of property, killings, rape, or about hunger, shelter, etc. Revolutions are about not being slaved, or not starving or dying of thirst, or not becoming homeless or you or your family or children dying of curable diseases.
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