July Thoughts

I’ve been working on a series about creating royal courts in a fantasy world, and it’s now fully published and available to members of the Just In Time World Building channel. If you want immediate access, you can join the channel, but the series will also release one episode a week over the next four weeks.

While developing this series, I realized that royal courts are essentially a massive exercise in public relations. Their entire setup is designed to create an image—both in their own minds and in the minds of those beneath them—that they are untouchable, and that it is right and just for them to rule the country. This is the big trick they pull: claiming legitimacy through birthright, backed by a bit of military might, and using pomp and ceremony to ensure that everyone believes this to be true.

Of course, nobles have a significant wealth advantage over peasants, and they use that wealth to create a military advantage. A knight can easily overpower a hundred peasants, plowing through them without even slowing down. This gives a “might-makes-right” legitimacy to their rule. However, royal courts try to avoid direct conflict with the peasantry as much as possible. And why? Well, to protect their illusion of power.

I know I sound a bit like Petyr Baelish—“Power is a shadow on the wall.” And it is, and it isn’t. The knight really does have the power to defeat a hundred peasants, but he also risks his horse stumbling and losing the fight. Even if he survives such an event, his reputation and power are damaged, making him vulnerable. The illusion of power is often more substantial than the reality.

Consider current affairs: before the war in Ukraine, it was widely believed that Russia had a massive army capable of sweeping through half of Europe. But four years later, the reality is that Russia is not nearly as powerful as feared. The damage to Putin’s reputation externally is immense. This is worth considering in the context of a royal court. If there’s a rebellion—even an unsuccessful one, or one that simply forces the king to meet with rebels—the court’s power can be fundamentally damaged unless handled very carefully. This damage leads to a reduction in legitimacy, as people stop seeing the court as this untouchable thing chosen by God.

When constructing your royal court, think about the rituals, the honor, and the lifestyle they expect. Pomp and ceremony and ritual aren’t just empty gestures—the bows, the formal conversations, the tradition of standing when the king enters the room. These rituals remind everyone where power lies and create the illusion of overwhelming power that no one would dare challenge.

If you build this understanding into your royal court—the purpose behind the rituals, the pomp, and the ceremony—you’ll create a court that feels both legitimate and real. But remember, all it takes is one foolish act by the king to unravel the illusion of power and start pulling at the threads of legitimacy.