Politics



	Wait a minute! Isn't this one of those forbidden topics? Hmm...Not in books! You can talk about politics all you want, and you can even make references to modern stuff! However...Don't expect everybody to get the joke. One of these days in the not-so-near future, there are going to be people who weren't around during Y2K! In fact, there might just be people who have lived through Y3K reading about aliens from planet Zuuk hunting down terrorists who might be on Earth, and thinking "......huh?", and you won't be able to do anything about it. So! Current politics, big no-no (unless you think it's bad enough that people won't be reading it long enough to not understand the context).
	If your world is organized into countries or kingdoms, each one will need its own government. Every government is unique in some way, so you can certainly get creative. However, I would advise basing them somewhat on existing governments, and fixing policies to your liking (which will probably never happen in reality) so that everyone can be (somewhat) happy. Or you can be mean, cruel, and heartless and tax the life and soul out of people. Your choice. Maybe a "civilized" conquering empire, a pacifist kingdom, and a barely-united group of tribal warriors are all sharing borders (and maybe overlapping borders), but that's ok! It's all part of the story.
		The most common form of politics found in fantasy is war. It makes a very interesting story (and if your going for quantity over quality, multiple battles make great fillers! =) and adds an element of suspense to the story, since it's a war, and anything can happen. However, if you're going to be detailing lots of battles, please try to be realistic. A mage who never runs out of magic is not going to be much fun in a long battle, and a sword that cuts through anything is still only as good as the wielder. One possible exception to this rule is the intricacies of the court. If your main character has already made something of a name for himself, it is perfectly acceptable for him/her/it to participate in such ritual-oriented games. However, don't make it the only point of interest in your story. The world doesn't stop and wait for your character to achieve a decent social status. While he/she/it is busy playing pretend with the upper class, everyone else is waiting for him to take action. Who knows? If your character sits around too long, he/she/it might just find himself in the shadow of another hero!