On Worldbuilding: How do Empires Work? [ Fire Nation l Roman l Mongols ] PART 1 

Y'know, I never quite estimate how much sleep making videos this long will cost me. Is it worth it? Always. If you'd like to support this sort of educational content and join my Discord community, I'd love your support over on Patreon for just a couple of bucks per month

"Spanning across planets or galaxies, or whole continents." Wow, not just planets, not just galaxies, but ENTIRE CONTINENTS. These are some big empires.

nah, this is too complicated. i'l go back to writing big guys in black spiky armor whipping peasants for not paying the the new tax.

'wyh do you guys support the empire?' -'we like the uniforms and the dramatic music which plays out of no where once in a while. '

9:53 In the novel for A New Hope, Luke and his friends are shown to be considering joining the army. The reason for doing this, despite the fact that the Empire is already shown to be a bit evil or at least antagonistic at this point, is that they otherwise wouldn't have access to any higher (think: college) education, if I remember correctly. So in short, the Empire gets its soldiers the same way the US does. Fun stuff!

he who controls the spice controls the universe.

"The Dark lord evil empire shall last an eternity!!' "WHY?" "WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHY?!" You get a like just for that.

I find the Inca empire very fascinating and often overlooked, what I like the most about them is the very sofisticated administrative system for everything going to resources distribution to messaging, and the fact than they really tried to assimilate as full citizens the conquered cultures into the empire rather than enslaving them. I often like to think than they were trying to civilize south America as the Romans did with Europe.

You are a saint, I'm working on worldbuilding a war on an alien planet and this is extremely helpful to help me work through how one particular country rose to so much power in the first place. Thank youuuu

Hello future me: people don’t like being enslaved Cliche evil empire: whaaaaaaat

”Planets, galaxies and even continets”

My favorite historical empire was the Roman Empire. I’d like to mention that in addition to roads, they also used the Mediterranean for trade, travel, and communication as well.

The Mexica empire, Tenochtitlan, now Mexico city. The flower wars were a very interesting series of organized battles(like a sport in a way) to capture neighboring tribes warriors for sacrifice. The more you captured the higher in rank you rose allowing you to wear more extravagant clothing. They had potchtecas, who were merchants who would travel long distances bringing precious objects to other tribes. They had roads with messengers at checkpoints (kinda like a baton race ) who would sprint to the next checkpoint and pass on information. It's one of the most underrepresented cultures of history and honestly one of the most interesting! Hence why I'm making the first Mexican fantasy universe with The Legend of Polloman my graphic novel series.

Those Age of Empires references were just perfect.

"Plants, Galaxies, or WHOLE CONTINENTS!" I feel like you did the wrong order there haha.

24:40 This was my biggest issue with the new Star Wars movies. My impression was that the First Order was smaller than the former Empire and had to rely on asymmetric advantages like Starkiller Base, the equivalent of ISIS getting its hands on nukes. Th

I felt like Dragon Prince was alright as Callum's first instinct was to run from the scary elf assassin, and didn't really change his tune until she explained to him why they were there, at which point he's given a crisis of faith between his romantic interest being the "good guy with a gun" in the room and Rayla, who he realizes to be misunderstood.

"if you haven't researched husbandry..." those poor aztecs never stood a chance. f

"No flag no country" Ah yes, the establishment of empires through the cunning use of flags, as devised by the british empire :P I was not expecting an Eddie Izzard reference here but I was happy to hear it :D

This is why I'm so impressed by the Incan Empire. They did so much of this without a written language and without horses, oxen, or steel!

The incan empire is one of the most fascinating and unique. Inhabiting almost solely mountains and one of the only ancient empires to be vertical rather than horizontal, it has a number of unique problems and solutions

There is one thing about empires that i've found remains VERY consistent: Grow too big, too fast, and you fail. Most of those empires that gained massive territory and a short time fell not long after. Look at the Mongols: They took *everything.* And then they collapsed. Meanwhile, look at Rome, which survived over two thousands years. Early Roman history is a NOTORIOUSLY slow burn.

The Assyrians caught my attention in my early undergrad history classes. Despite being active for a relatively insignificant period of time, their military might and terrifying propaganda fascinated me. Not to mention, they were basically the embodiment of "the best defense is a good offense." Are your enemies pressing in on every side? Conquer them! Are there now more enemies pressing in on every side? Conquer them! Is the home city no longer under the direct threat of anyone because your buffer states are massive? Why stop when you can CONQUER EVERYONE. Just some good, old-fashioned "my chariots are cooler than your chariots" warfare and sieges upon your fellow city-states. And if that doesn't sell them, check out their artwork. They carved reliefs directly into the walls of their buildings and cities. I don't know about you, but when's the last time your evil empire fave carved a horse into a wall?

15:30 The more I watch the news, the more I realize that strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is actually a good system of government. Also, Excalibur didn’t grant him legitimacy- it replaced the sword of the stone, which did. One of the many reasons Excalibur is superior to Holy Grail, as well as showing many answers to the questions posed in this video.

Why the Dai Lee siding with Azula is so satisfying

3:36 "As feminine plague struck..." xD

The British Empire is actually pretty fascinating. It’s about as morally ambiguous as any empire in history, and it had unique solutions for economic, cultural, and political problems, all on a scale hitherto unknown to human history. So many people were affected by the efforts of British empire-building, easily over half the people on this planet, that it’s honestly hard to look back on it objectively. But it’s clear they had a profound effect on the world order, and humanity wouldn’t be the same without it. EDIT: For better or for worse.

I’m working on an empire based a bit on the early Portuguese Empire in that “it’s pretty much just forts on coasts” kind of way. They rule the Known Sea pretty much just by facilitating trade. It’s also like, 10 years old, so it’s got that new empire energy

"For the grace, for the might of our lord For the home of the holy For the faith, for the way of the sword Gave their lives so boldly"

> Finish video > Tim uploads > *HAIL MISHKA*

BOUT TIME 40k gets mentioned!!! FOR THE EMPEROR!!! BRING IT UP MORE!!!

I have to be honest. I stumbled on these videos by accident, but they're definitely helping with my writing for a few short stories I've done for classes. This has to be one of the most helpful channels I've subscribed to in the last 5 years.

Hey Tim, it's awesome to see someone I once studied politics with putting that education to good use. Congrats on the success of the channel and all the great content you've made, including this video especially. It's interesting to hear your take on fictional empires and how they compare with historical ones, as well as areas that the concept is under-developed in fiction. I'm looking forward to watching part 2

People forget that past empires didnt just conquer and enslave everybody Rome especially use to enslave a population but after a certain time they began to add them to there ranks and finally make them bolive that they are Roman dosent matter what race or nation you where you are Roman That way people kept paying taxes and a revolt was harder to implement, becouse why would you go to war against "your" Empire You are not going to revolt if you have the same rights as any other person in the Empire

The Covenant is such a great empire because it's almost entirely maintained through their religion. And ones their religion turns out to be fake, the whole empire breaks apart (within every class/species) and collapses.

Sauron was really effective in this. He controlled the powerful agricultural center around Lake Nuln, convinced many of the Easterling Factions through extensive propaganda against the West, and personally had an army of orcs that was loyal to just him. I say his empire is pretty effective.

Came to learn how to write. Left with a master plan on how to seize power and create my new empire. The world can thank “Hello Future Me”!

Honestly, the Mongols are my favorite historical empire because while they didn’t last long, they created the largest land empire in history in less than a century, and were one of the most open-minded “barbaric” cultures ever. Genghis Khan, despite being widely demonized in his own time as little more than a monstrous barbarian warlord, invited scholars and bureaucrats from across all his conquered territories to a centralized location so they could work out how best to unify the empire and start developing a proper infrastructure. One tale tells of how a scholar who was visiting with the Mongols was brought before Genghis because the Khan was looking for immortality; when questioned, despite being in the same room as the most dangerous man on the planet, the terrified scholar said that he knew of no way of achieving immortality, and anyone who claimed to have one was probably lying. Instead of having the scholar killed for being useless, the “barbarian emperor” thanked the scholar for his honesty and for being brave enough to stand by his own beliefs, and sent him on his way with a gift of gold. And let’s not forget the saying from the period that said a lone woman could walk from one end of the empire to the other with a gold plate on her head and never once be attacked, because the Mongol military was so effective at stopping bandits and curbing crime. If Genghis hadn’t had so many sons and grandsons to squabble over the empire after he died, I’d argue that it could easily have become a highly advanced and stable Empire, better even than Rome, and would likely still exist today.

You should definitely get Blue in on this one ;) Or you know get him to do an additional 'how are empires hystorically maintained' video or something.

Edo Period aka Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan is the most fascinating empire for me. Influences me to write a lot of empires. The amount of control and sometimes lack of control that Edo had is fascinating to me as a historian.

Personally, I think the reason that Callum and Ezran didn't hate the elves is because they were raised by King Harrow, a man who knew that no side was all good or all bad.

It's not historical, but I find the Nilfgaardian Empire from the Witcher books/games to be extremely fascinating.

So... Essentially the EU is a decentralized trade empire? Interesting food for thoughts. (Also perhaps a good real world example for a commerce heavy empire?)

So you're telling me.... Empires actually do change? 0_0

The Ottoman Empire is my favorite empire. Its journey from being a small Beylik to become one of the most powerful Empire in human history encompassing three different continents before going on a decline under a single continuous dynasty is amazing. I can also pretty much say that the Ottoman Empire is one of the most accurate example of an Empire, being a massive heterogenous political entity ruled by a single dynasty for hundreds of years. Unlike their contemporaries, the Ottoman Empire are also incredibly tolerant for their time with high level of social mobility. A slave in the Ottoman Empire can become the Empire's Grand Vizier. You don't see that often in other empires.

Great video. I think a brilliant example of a fictional Empire working well is in A Song Of Ice and Fire with Aegon Targaryen’s conquest of the seven kingdoms. It’s often said in the books that Aegon and his sisters conquered Westeros with dragons. And their dragons and the power they held did play a huge part in allowing the conquest to be successful. They were used to control battlefields and scout ahead, to intimidate and destroy enemy castles and fleets. But there was more to it than that. Aegon and his family were foreigners from Valyria but he used Westerosi traditions like heraldry and was anointed by the leader of Westerosi religion to show that he wouldn’t rule as a foreign overlord but a Westerosi King. Further he didn’t simply destroy all of his enemies with dragon fire. He always offered mercy and peace. He allowed his defeated foes to keep their old lands and titles as long as they bent the knee and swore fealty. He helped establish trade between the different kingdoms allowing for a better sharing of resources so food could be transported from areas where it was more abundant like the Reach to where it was scarcer like the North which during the long winters was especially important. Aegon brought fire and blood to Westeros but afterwards he gave them peace, prosperity and justice.

Here is a very good way to show how powerful propaganda is. Almost everything that people think that know about Sparta and The Spartan is basically either completely wrong or very embellished. More then 2000 years we have been telling ourselves lies and for so long that they have became truth.

the fact that you referenced a Larry Niven novel does my heart so much good... It also proves that youre not just a nerd, youre a hyper nerd.

“Planets and Glaxies..... *AND WHOLE CONTINENTS”*

I'm with you, the roman empire is something I've always found super interesting, honestly empire's across the board are usually my favorite systems to look into. It interesting to observe how culture spreads, through force and otherwise

I'd say that my favorite empire is the Byzantine Empire. Mostly because of how bad they were at dealing with their numerous problems (with some rulers and leaders being the exception) and yet managing to outlive its western counterpart by a thousand years, dying a very slow death. Its history is a really interesting thing.

Since I'm planning to establish my own Empire in the Future this Video was really useful to me. Thanks for that

the amount of work that went into this video is just amazing, you could tell that a lot of passion was a big part of the creation of this video

This video was so amazing! I love Empires both fictional and historical (my most personal favorite in fiction being the Covenant Empire from Halo, and for historical being the rather obvious Roman Empire), and how they truly work is so facanating to me. I can't wait for the second part to this great video! :)

The Protoss empire was so solid becouse of Khala. They were able to communicate telapathicly and thus their actios were usally synchronized. Also they had this caste system that was clear and noone would question it. The protoss who didn't fit had 2 options. Either start fitting in society or join other factions like Nerazim or Tal'Darim. Aslo yeah, warp gates helped them a lot with transport and communication b Khala, Succesors and the history of their people was what made them effective. The Succesors rememberd entire history of Protoss and they could say when they were repeating same mistakes as their ancestors.

I'm not even five minutes in and I've already made loads of notes to help build my empire for my novel. I've actually put this book off for three years because I realized how difficult this part of it was and I had no idea where to start. This video is amazing. Your video on monarchies helped me loads as well. I'm signing up for your patreon! PLEASE continue these!

Thanks for making these incredible videos about writing. I am writing a story and these have helped so much. They give me so much useful information incredibly fast, I love how deep you go into the backstory and behind the scenes because that makes a great story, I also love making things as realistic as possible even in fantasy sci-fi settings so everything that isn't made up feels more real and more believable. I love how you do so much in-depth research into all of these topics and present it in an easy way to the average person in an overview of all the most important bits. I love your videos, I have been a long time fan of the channel.

I would have like to see you touch on communication among the common folk being suppressed or hard to spread. Look at modern day North Korea. One reason it's so easy to keep the people oppressed despite hellish and often fatal living conditions is because they've made it extremely difficult for towns to communicate between each other, or for the people to communicate to the outside world. Even in China, a fairly open and modern country, filters information the public can view by blacklisting search terms or entire sites, and through controlling what is or isn't legal to broadcast on television. In Fahrenheit 451, the burning of books and demonizing of them is what began the huge loss of knowledge and push for education in the masses. An educated and well-informed public is one that is more likely to be self-aware and rebellious. (Also in Bradbury's book, the integration of television for mass consumption and especially the ability for the viewer to take a role in the televised shows was a way of integrating the public into cultural norms.) Information isn't just about how fast the central government can send it out, it's about how limited the available communication and education is to the public at large.

tl;dr: what was Aragorn's tax policy? XD

Wonderful video, I would highly recommend the Malazan Empire and Erikson books for your future videos. I think your videos are severely impoverished without this series. Erikson's experience as an Archeologist makes his world building, magic system and empire building one of the best. He even gets philosophical about empires and often makes them run into each other.

The Age of Empires 2 segments were surprising but welcome.

WH40K is also a good example of importance of trade and communication in the empire. (Quite ironic since it can take a century before they notice they lost a system) Holy Terra's greatest purpose is keeping the Emperor barely not dead and thus keeping Astronomican functioning. Without it _safe_ passage through the warp would be impossible and second Age of Strife would begin. Also it's home to biggest and most influential of Navigators Houses and its close proximity to Mars, the greatest Forge World, makes it natural capital to all humanity. No matter how inefficient and decentralised The Empire is, it's still the best choice.

You know, what you said about allowing conquered lands keep their rulers has a modern example. When the U.S.A. conquered Japan, one of the conditions the Japanese people insisted on was that their beloved Emperor stay in power. He did. And the occupation went “relatively” smoothly.

Thanks, Tim. I'm currently writing a novel series with two empires, one of which is strongly inspired by the Roman Empire. I've been struggling to find a way that it is clearly roman, and yet is unique at the same time. This video has given me a lot to think about.

I love this channel, I love you, and I’m a new subscriber. This channel is a godsend for me as a writer (who hasn’t written any sort of story since starting college/grad school) and as a fair critic of the literature I love. Can’t wait to binge these as I write the final pages of my dissertation!

Fantastic video!!! My favorite Empire is the Persian Empire. After listening to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast, King of Kings and hearing about Cyrus the Great and how the Persians allowed the lands they conquered to keep their religion was fascinating. I highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in ancient societies and empires. With that said, the Mongols are a close second because of their sheer military prowess. Their impact on the entirety of Asia and parts of present day Europe is staggering and the fact that their "Emperor" was constantly on the move, setting up mini capitals wherever was convenient, is so interesting to me.

Instant sub right there. I'm not a writer, and have no plans on ever doing anything relating to that, but the information you provided in this videos are really interesting anyway. Especially for someone really into history and loves to better understand and judge the fictional worlds they enjoy (like me, duh). Wonderful work!

I love your channel, I was just watched two back to back. And I had so many ideas for my world building project I'm making time in the next few days to sit down go back and take notes as I remember my ideas and form new ones! Thanks so much for these amazing in depth videos!!!

(Sorry headed for the bad english I tried to correct it but something must have slipped through the cracks.) Tim you forgot the 3 types of domination that creates legitimacy according to Weber. Charisma: An exceptional leader(s) can hold a strong sway over the populace, but if something happens to the leader this legitimacy can be questioned. Legal/Rational: Simply put an effective bureaucracy and fair treatment can convince the populace that the ones in power know what they are doing an shoud continue doing so. Tradition: If a goverment has ben stable and relatively prosperus for a long time then people are more inclined to be loyal out of custom and a general fear of change, according to Weaber this is one of the strongest types of domination. Weaber also said that that to perpetually expert legitimate power over a state you need a combination of any of these types of dominion.

Age of Empires... Childhood of Empires for me. Anyway, here are some points about historical empires. The Romanization of their empire did work for a lot of nations, though a remarkable exception was Jewish culture having such a strong sense of identity that they even survived the sacking of their homeland in the 1st century. While this next one is fairly well known, it is something to think about in context of worldbuilding, Roman citizens could join the Roman Legion while those who weren't could join a parallel military group called the auxiliaries and one of the perks of service was that if an auxiliary survived their service, they and their children would become Roman citizens. It should also be pointed out that in the seas surrounding Britain, it has been those with the best ships who ruled, from vikings to Normans (who were vikings but based out of a region of France), and the fact that after the halt of the Anglo-Saxon Invasion before all they started, the Celts who ruled non-Germanic England managed to form a colony in France which was called Brittany (no kidding) shows how good ships can aid in empire-making. Oh, and after the British eventually did manage to repel an invasion from the mainland and keep them at bay with only ships; how else would you fight the invincible army of Napoleon? This is really long, so I'll stop.

This video showed me, yet again, that the world of the Expanse is amazing. The empires, both really and late, include these aspects and the story influences them.

This is so helpful in building a believable living changing world for my tabletop games. Thank you for giving me much to consider with the larger governing bodies I want to include in my worlds

Sargon of Akkad always requires a 'Not that one' after it

I really glad that you brought up economics point. It's in my mind pretty much why the American-EU partnership works. America for all it's ills provides safety and security to world trade which the EU greatly benefits from so in return they politically align or tolerate america's foreign policy. Additional with america effectively save guarding and policing the world the EU nations are free to send what would go to that on social welfare and reforms. I think it would be really cool if someone took this dynamic and had fun with it in a fictional medium.

Such a fantastic watch and so many ideas. Been writing for my gaming group for years and for whatever reason never though about the kingdoms and their inner working. Definitely going to be doing some evaluations!

I love your long videos, never apologize for giving them the effort you do :)

I’ve always loved ancient Egypt their religion and culture has always fascinated me

The Empire of Man is Eternal.

Thank you so much for all the videos, but this one. This one is probably my favorite so far. I needed that insight!!

Cool video! That was really interesting stuff - not something I had given much thought to. This is very useful for framing one's ideas with regards to the national background of their central character. Even if the story isn't centered around changing their entire nation, and is more local, it's still quite useful to provide that kind of background. It really adds depth to the story. Thank you very much for such an interesting and informative video!

As for my favorite empire it is Roman Empire or, to better say, it's continuation as Byzantine Empire. Also I found a couple more things important to Empire to achieve. One thing is that Empire must be slow growing. As history showed us, any Empire that was maken fast (Mongol, Arabic, Charlemagne's etc.) didn't lasted long. The best example of this is empire of Alexander the Great. His Empire expanded too quickly and he didn't had the time to consolidate his Empire due to his premature death. Alexander also failed to secure the most vital thing that brings the fast-maden Empire together - the heir! You see, fast maden empire's are always maken by those brilliant individuals like Alexander or Ghengis Kan. The problem is that one that makes huge empire fast, must pass it to at least capable ruler. But the rulers often fail to do that. In the worst scenarios, like in Alexander's, a clear successor doesn't exist and the empire is torn apart between various generals or other powerful figures. Thus for the empire it is very important to always have a good and well established line of those who would inherit it. Also it is vital that heir were capable. Thus the dynastical system is very risky, because you must to give throne to your relative (son, brother, daughter,...) even if he/she isn't capable of managing an empire. The best solution for this problem was found in Rome in the so called age of "Five good emperors". In that time Romans realized that the best way to manage empire is to not establish dynasty, but to every emperor chooses one man with extraordinary skills (usually general or governor) to adopt him and declare him heir to the throne. But Romans would go further and make heirs adopt another men with great skills to become "heir of the heir"! Unfortunately for Romans once one of those adopted emperors, Marcus Aurelius, put his own son, Commodus, to be the heir. And it turned out that Commodus was bloodthirsty lunatic! Then he was killed by his not so loyal Pretorian guard and left the throne without heir. And then you know.......... *CIVIL WARS!* So that's it. I could talk about many more things that keep empire together, but if you guys are interested more we could start some discussion in comments of this comment. 😉

LOVE the AOE references! Great game! Wololo!!!

Extremely info-packed, and crystal clear. Your videos are a model, thanks a lot!

*Hears constant AoE references* *Leans back in throne* Yes, this pleases me.

I figured you'd have to have seen the CGP Grey video before!

Once again at the one point I really need it. Thank you!

I love how 40k has the propeganda and religion and production but it’s so terrible uprisings happen all the time but it’s also SO HUGE they just wipe out everyone even near a rebel just like “see that mountain range we made just to house people? PURGE IT”

Incredible video and insights! You are one of the best content creators of this area.

If you are looking for 2 good examples of well established empires in fiction, I would suggest the Mallorean Empire, found in David Eddings' Belgariad and Malloreon series, and the Tsaurani Empire, found in Robert E Feist and Jany Wurtz's trilogy Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire, and Mistress of the Empire. Both empires are presented with complex histories and significant influences by both military and economic forces. Neither are truly represented as 'evil' empires, though the presented image of the Mallorean Empire is initially that and it is only through the characters' travels through, and growing familiarization with, the empire that this perspective changes. Both the good and bad aspects of the empires are fairly presented, the presence of corruption, the influence of outside nations/peoples, and the way the empires have changed through the course of their histories. Many of the points brought up in this video are well represented, including propaganda, communications, economies, unifying forces, threats to stability, etc.

I love this video, in the fantasy novels I wanna write there's been some thoughts on how I'll write something on larger scale. I'm unsure if I wanna explore too much into the depth of empires, but I feel atleast there should be something in the background so that even if things are written more vague from a character's perspective, outside of them it all lines up. One idea of a major empire I had in mind is that it's ruled by an immortal entity fused with two people and an ancient being. This multi-person being has understood that beyond the normal realms lies far greater things to worry about, unknown things that can threaten everyone, unlike normal fantasy settings though I've had the idea that whatever these threats are, they may never be fully resolved, it's not an evil army led by a dark lord like Sauron but more supernatural things that are akin to forces of nature, which can be prevented and minimized, but not removed. Hence this immortal entity has a big interest in getting everyone together as one for means of survival, and ofcourse, through time he manages more and more. Some people revere him as a savior and God, though alike WH40K's God Emperor he believes he cannot be a center for religion and continuously battles against it whilst accepting that to fully connect everyone, he might have to. I wanted to mention this cause I had the idea that from the rest of the story and main character's perspective, he's an evil dictator who does terrible things (mostly things in desperation to conquer everyone so he can protect them and things to stop this menacing force) and rules through fear. But later as the story goes the characters come to realize that perhaps he's right and it's the others who tries to appear as saviors and rebels who are in the wrong, believing he's only using propaganda against them when in reality it's the truth. This is a lot in how you mentioned that barely any story has you going from the typical underdog good guy rebel, to actually joining this "evil empire" and there's a layer of understanding that, even if this empire has some questionable practices, this might be the right way for the world to adapt into and that things need to change. It's kinda like if you had Sauron but what if he was only conquering to protect all the races and nations from something that's even beyond him to stop or control. On another note, this part of the plot is something that I thought would lay low for most of the story and the story is more about the small things in the world and the other nations, empires and kingdoms since it starts further away from this threat and there's different wars and conflicts going on that take more immediate attention. All these kingdoms and nations would be less unique as the above so all this information was amazing in getting ideas on how these would run and how they may fall through the story. Ofcourse there's a lot more detail to things and the world itself that needs to be ironed out or mentioned, but since I have some interest in empire building (having grown up with strategy games and playing grand strategy games today) I really like this information and look forward to the next video. There's a lot I've thought about, elements I love (such as the part about empires continuously changing and there's remnants of the past lingering around) about stories that I wanted to incorporate into my own without knowing its significance in an overall concept, which now I do a bit more and it makes me more excited in coming up with things that has more of a reason than "This is cool".

This is the first video of yours that I’ve watched and the first part was so funny and everything was so well organized that it gave a really good impression

I do realy like how you look at so many details that i would never have thought about on my own.

Switzerland just sitting there: "Its fine"

So well, an amazing job. Gotta love the StarCraft inclusion. It's weird how all of those empires seem homogeneous at first, but then you see the splintering and slow shift in each. I'm really in awe at the amount of Canon you're working across. I have no idea how you keep it all cordoned off so well and neatly.

I cannot emphasise enough how awesome this video is. It helps me a lot with what I'm writing now. So thanks a lot! You're awesome! (Also the cabbage economy video was awesome.)

You have to admire the imagination of the authors who make these stories. I don't even think I could make a story like they do.

One example of propaganda i love is the spanish inquisition. It was one of the most benevolent courts (if you weren't jewish). The major part of the criminals were self presented, the civil criminals usually say blasphemous things too make the inquisition look at them. They would only tourure you one time, and without hurting, plus confesion under tourture wasn't valid. They give free food (civil prisions no) and clothes for the cold and never burn anybody, in spain only twelve women were hanged for witches, in Germany were more than 20.000, and killed with fire. What happened? The english empire made a lot of propaganda against the imperial spain, too make the people prefer be english, and even today, even in spain, the people belive that propaganda. Fucking 500 years later.

11:02 Love the use of the Mote in God’s Eye as an example! It’s especially interesting in that all the stuff about the Second Empire, as detailed and richly imagined as it is, is essentially just backstory to the main plot about the Mote. Also, it’s a Niven and Pournelle collaboration, and is set in Pournelle’s universe instead of Niven’s. Gotta give some credit to Jerry Pournelle, man.

This is so fascinating! I may use this and the trilogy for future reference as I'm working on a bit of a project that involves a LOT of empires. Thank you!

Dude, these world building series have been so awesome for helping me develop my DnD campaign world...