Worldconjuring #02 - Building places with silly methods

Let's build a nation!

Hello again fellow bathroom-reading wizards!
We are here once again to tackle worldbuilding. In our previous episode of Worldconjuring we have described how to defeat the demon of “starting out”, and with a healthy dose of “JUST. DO IT” we may have even been able to get some words on paper.
Now comes another challenge: how do you build a nation, a settlement, or a simple village?
Fear not dear warlocks, I have a method with a silly and barely safe for work name that is going to help us build all kinds of places.

Building Places
Okay, you have a major concept for your setting, like “robots invading a medieval world” (wink wink product placement), now you have to build a place where to set those adventures. It might be a nation, or even a simple village.
But where do we even start?
I have a method (that I have learned through Dael Kingsmill’s fantastic videos), that has …quite the name.
Let’s say you wanna check the room before scrolling.


Ready?

Okay, let me tell you about the…

S.P.E.R.M. method
Before you even begin with the 5th grade jokes, it is a real writing prompt, and it stands for:
Society
Politics
Economics
Religion
Military.

Whether you are creating a state or a small settlement, by describing each one of these five aspects you will have a very comprehensive delineation of the place you are worldbuilding.
These may serve you as prompts to worldbuild your first settlement, so let’s check them out one by one.

Society
This may sound like the most vague one, because it is the one that gives us more freedom, and it’s influenced greatly by the other four prompts.
What is the society like in this settlement? Is it a kind and open-minded society? Or is it a suffering society that through the harshness of war learned to never trust strangers?
Society can be influenced by an incredible number of factors, like its history or ethnic groups, and of course by Politics, Economics, Religion, and Military aspects.

Politics
What kind of government rules the place? Is it part of a kingdom? Is it a democracy? Or maybe dystopian rulers imposed themselves on a weak and fragile population, and now rule a dictatorship?
The political aspect of a settlement greatly influences the way its society works. A Kingdom is less prone to political debate, but if the King or Queen don’t rule with the favor of their people, malcontent may lead to a revolution. In a dictatorship, that’s basically just a matter of time. Shape the political aspect, and don’t just stop at these three examples, there’s a plethora of government typologies out there!

Economics

A pretty easy one in my opinion, is deciding how the settlement or nation generates income and sustains itself.
A Dwarven fortress in the mountains may make most of their income through exportation of gems, but maybe lacks food resources, and so it needs to trade with the Geniculus humans in the valley. That may mean that both settlements traded some habits along their resources, and this may have influenced their societies as well.

Religion
Religion, or lack of it, may be a great influence on the people of this place. What is the main religion worshiped in this settlement?
Do they have a pantheon of gods, each of every aspect of life? Or they completely shunned religion like Rapture from the videogame “BioShock”, to emphasize humans’ power on their own fate?
As all previous aspects, the presence or lack of religious influence in a society greatly shapes the society itself.

Military
Almost all types of settlements have a peace-keeping (or war-mongering, you decide) force to ensure some interests are well guarded.
Does this nation have a strong military, dedicated to conquering neighboring countries? Maybe it has an ancient military organization bent on defending a place from all sorts of supernatural dangers, like the Night’s Watch from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Or, a group of militiamen is all your tiny village needs?
Militaries greatly influence a society and its evolution, and can even influence a settlement’s technological and political advancements.

Okay, you now have all the frameworks to build a complex nation, or settlement. You don’t have to flesh out every single detail of every aspect, but feel free to indulge more on some points you think serve better your storytelling.
Time to build some new worlds!