Feudal Future: Difference between revisions

* While the post-apocalyptic United States in ''[[Julian Comstock]]'' is still nominally a democratic republic, in practice it's government is morphed virtually beyond recognition into a blend of neo-feudalism and serfdom. Though the re-emergence of an industrial working class is beginning to challenge said serfdom.

 

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' ran across these in ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S16/E01 The Ribos Operation|The Ribos Operation]]'', ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S16/E04 The Androids of Tara|The Androids of Tara]]'', ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S16/E06 The Armageddon Factor|The Armageddon Factor]]'' and on many more occasions. See also the system spanning version.

** What the {{spoiler|vampires}} set up in ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S18/E04 State of Decay|State of Decay]]''.

* There are a few Feudal Lords (barons, dukes, etc.) on different planets in ''[[Firefly]]''. In one episode, Mal goes to a party full of aristocrats and winds up fighting one of them in an old-fashioned sword duel.

** It makes sense, since even the society of the core planets of [[The Verse]] have a lot of visible throwbacks to 19th century culture. While the outer rim planets [[Space Western|have a definite Western feel]], the members of high society on the core planets evoke [[Victorian Britain]] and the American Reconstruction and Gilded Age eras (contemporaries of pretty much [[The Wild West|the whole Western mythos and its tropes]]).

* In ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', Lwaxana Troi is a [[Try to Fit That on A Business Card|daughter of the Fifth House of Betazed, the Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, and Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed]]. Betazed is the name of her ''planet'', and may therefore imply quite high ranking nobility. However, the series did never elaborate on the extent of the actual political power of Lwaxana's family, so for all we know, all this titles might not even impress other Betazoids that much anymore.

*** Manticore was initially established as a ''corporativist'' society not unlike Beowulf or Mesa, but it had to fall back on feudal structure after [[The Plague]] that wiped out more than half of its entire population shortly after the colony foundation. Faced with a need to quickly import a huge number of fresh immigrants, and fearing the erosion of their original investment, the original settlers developed the current feudal system as a way [[Sleazy Politician|to ensure their political and economical domination]]. A comparison would be an expanding corporation making a new stock issue but protecting the old interest by giving them first chance to buy preferred shares.

***To be fair it had been their own planet before and one might at least allow them some claim to have the right to set terms in which to invite immigrants. Furthermore there was no fraud or undue pressure, the terms of the immigration were not intolerable in themselves and while they did establish an ascribed hierarchy they retained rule of law, and a constitutional government. And in any event later immigrants could and did have descendants ennobled for achievements, or married or adopted into noble families, sometimes a noble would resign from the Lords to run in the commons. This could happen when there was a factional clog and was a strategy used on one occasion in the book; coincidently it is often known in the real British system (especially as the Commons have more power in real life), the royal consort always had to be common born and in general there was enough "churn" to make the system livable.

** ''Empire of Man/[[Prince Roger]]'' series, by [[John Ringo]] and [[David Weber]].

** Also Weber's ''[[The Excalibur Alternative]]'' in passing, but there it's justified by the Emperor being an English noble born in the 14th century(yes, it's sci-fi - it's a rather odd story).