Number of Factions & Geopolitics

[Mindfire]

Just a quick question really. Looking for opinions on what might be the minimum necessary number of factions to create a believable world. The obvious answer to me is "more than two". But how many more than two?

The upper limit of the number of factions in a given work depends somewhat on how much data a reader is willing to put up with, but as seen with works like A Song of Ice and Fire, some readers- more than one might expect- are willing to put up with quite a lot if they enjoy the story. Consequently, I think the true limiting factor is that author's will to keep track of and remember all the details, something that more or less manages itself. But the lower limit is almost entirely dependent on the reader's sensibilities and what they are willing to accept. And I'm guessing that the vast majority of readers will not readily accept a world in which there are only two factions (e.g. The Good One and The Bad One). And having only one faction (World of Hats) is out of the question unless perhaps you're writing dystopia (and even then whether that's truly a single-faction world is questionable since inevitably someone will oppose the established order, otherwise there's not really a plot). Thus the question: assuming two is too few, what's the minimum bar you have to clear? Avatar does pretty well with four, but it was largely aimed at children. Interestingly, the sequel, Legend of Korra, added more factions to the mix and involved more complex politics.
Opinions?

EDIT: Just realized this may more properly belong in the worldbuilding forum. May need to be moved.

 

[CupofJoe]

I can't speak to an actual number but I'd go with an odd number... 3, 5, 7 or 9. For me that gives a dynamic unevenness in any alliances or pacts...
And some how double digits seems to many... so I wouldn't got for 11 or more

 

[Laurence]

Seveeeeen.

 

[skip.knox]

I don't see how this can be answered in the abstract. Everything depends on the story you want to tell. If it's how A triumphs over B, then two should serve nicely.

Then again, what's a faction? In my WIP once could say there are two: The Empire and the invaders. Within that, though, I have Romans and barbarians and goblins. Within the barbarians I have a divide between "normal" tribesmen and exiled magicians. Beyond that, I have various POVs and mini-stories that further the plot from different angles.

And I'm not sure I would call any of those factions. That word to me conjures up what's happening back in the capital city, where there's a faction loyal to the Emperor, there are the aristocrats who are mainly looking out for themselves, and there's the common folk who are just hoping to make it through alive.

What sort of factions are in your world?

 

[Mindfire]

When I first drafted the post I had the word "state" or "nation" in place of "faction". Which makes things a bit more clear. But I changed it to "faction" because I can think of groups in some stories, like the Equalists and Red Lotus in Legend of Korra, the Grey Wardens of Dragon Age, or the billions of Houses in ASOIAF, that are not necessarily states unto themselves, but still function as more or less discrete political entities. And there's a fine line here because I don't consider opposing political parties or groups within the same nation to really count, per se. There's a threshold of autonomy that has to be met. E.g., Starks and Lannisters count as "independent political entities" while Democrats and Republicans do not. So I guess what I'm saying is how many such entities, whether these be countries, city-states, or orders/organizations do you need to keep things from feeling overly simplistic? At present my world has four such entities, all of them nations. But for historical reasons nation A and nation B are closely linked, likewise for nation C and nation D. On top of that, nation A is pretty reclusive and tends not to get too involved in outside matters. Consequently, the whole thing boils down to only two sides that waver between open conflict and nominal peace/Cold War bitterness. Three sides if/when the alliance between C and D fractures. While I will introduce a couple foreign/lost cultures later on, I worry that the current dynamic might feel too simplistic and stale. I'm considering adding one or two other neutral/ambivalent cultures to fix this.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

Mindfire simplistic isn't necessarily a bad thing. Take the Hunger Games for instance. The notion that 13 districts each have their own separate sphere of influence and only do the things they are assigned is simplistic to the extreme. It's so simplistic that if one were to sit down and really think about it they would realize how foolish such a scheme really is. The story in this case needs to drive the building.

However, instead of going broader consider going deeper into the factions. Meaning that instead of creating more factions get deeper into the politics of the factions. What are the sub-factions? Who are the movers and shakers? What happens if one of the subbies decides to make a power play? How will that affect the faction? What if a smaller sub-faction suddenly became more powerful? Who would be displaced? Or consider the economics of these factions as going deeper. Sure at a high level the factions may hate each other but what about the merchants, artisans, and craftsmen. Do they care or do they just pay lip service and go about doing what they do? (For a modern day equivalent look at the normal people of Iran or North Korea. Lots of lip service very little actual belief)

 

[skip.knox]

States works as a term because that covers anything that is independent or quasi-independent. So with that in mind, I'd say multiple your main players by at least two, maybe even three or four.

Why? Because states need allies. They don't have to be major allies; they don't even need to step on stage. But they would still be there. If you had a world empire, along the lines of Rome or China, then the arithmetic changes, but when its multiple states like Europe, then I hold to the original.

As others have indicated, you can still write a story in which only two figure. Or eight. Whatever your *characters* need as a stage. But for worldbuilding background, having twelve states is not unreasonable and it gives you room to have bit players, surprise heroes, or dramatic traitors without disrupting the main story line.

 

[ArenRax]

create as many as you need just dont go overboard.....probably no more than 12 but then it also matters if theyre all in the same region/city or spread out.

 

[2WayParadox]

There's a very old framework that answers this question.

First of all I suggest you find a version of the Arthashastra. It's really old, so it's public domain. It's written by Kautilya, a brilliant state advisor to one of the few real empires in Indian history.

He adresses this issue in what he calls 'The Circle of states'. I advise you to read the pdf in the link below:
http://www.sdstate.edu/projectsouthasia/upload/Book-VI-The-Source-of-Sovereign-States.pdf

He recognizes allies, doubtful allies, enemies and bribable enemies. Apart from that, geography is also important. Allies/enemies can be in the flanks or backs of friends/enemies. There are also those neutrals that are powerhouses withing your circle of states. It is important to keep on good terms with these or to try and make them allies.

I'm being very brief here, but to me, Kautilya has a very practical take on Politics in ancient settings (although some of his proposals are really quite modern).

Draw up your states, arrange the circle of states for each one according to the connections (political and geographical) between them, and you will naturally see a political landscape form. (This is coincidentally what Kautilya advises rulers to do in order to guide their policy decisions)

 

[WooHooMan]

As far as political stories with ideology-driven factions, I'd go with five: two extremes, two moderates and a middle ground.

In my big political story I had the proudly fascist Civil Insurgence, the quasi-communist Central Collective, the moderate but militant Neoroyalists, the democratic-capitalist Bureaucratic Reform, and the anarchist National Forum.
The Civilists and the Nationalists were the extremes (one authoritarian, one libertarian).
The Reformists and the Centralists were the "moderates" (one conservative, one liberal).
Finally, the Neoroyalists were the middle ground (and the villains, more or less).

The story I got going on now is kind of Game of Thrones-inspired and the factions are built around characters rather than ideologies. So I made a family tree and based on that, I decided that there would be four major factions within the family. The factions outside the family (churches, guilds, military and so forth) don't really need to be counted or strictly defined; they overlap with and serve the family factions.

So, those are the two approaches: ideology-driven and character-driven. With the former, I'd say the ideal number is 3 or 5 (maybe 7). The latter depends on how many characters there are and what their relationship to one another is. And of course, you can have multiple faction conflicts within a single story.