Tell me something about your favorite intrigue scenarois. I'm working on a traditional fantasy novel and I want to include political/court intrigue. The ideas I'm sketching out aren't as twisty and complex as I'd like so I'd like to hear about your favorite kinds of political or court intrigues.
I felt like starting with some definitions.
Politics is the process of group decision-making, the authoritative allocation of values, and also the means of distributing authority and power. Intrigue is a covert or deceitful scheme, so a political intrigue is a deceitful scheme that manipulates power, values, or influences decisions. This gives a huge variety of story opportunities
The usual political intrigues I see in stories are about government (e.g. Graves'
I Claudius, or Deighton's
Game, Set and Match series), but there are also corporate intrigues (e.g. acquisitions, contention for positional power such as those in the TV-series
Dynasty), intrigues about ideology and dogma (such as can be found in the histories of science and religion), inter- or intrafamily rivalries (e.g. in Puzo's
The Godfather).
Here's what I think you need for a good political intrigue:
- A crucible - a place in which the intrigue will occur
- Rivals - two or more groups competing for power
- A balance of power - some starting state that preceded the particular intrigue
- An issue - a point over which to fight. It arises from a change in the balance of power, and triggers the reason for the intrigue
- Overt/Covert stakes - why they say they're competing vs. why they're really competing
- Overt/Covert methods - how they appear to be pursuing their ends vs. how they're really doing it
- A countdown - either limited time or a limited range of options to force matters to crisis
Here's a hypothetical example constructed from my list above.
The Crucible: The fantasy city of Lur - old, dark and decadent, ruled by a theocracy of ancient gods.
Rivals: Priests of the gods Thog and Gar. Each god is old and largely indifferent to the Lurites but the priests know how to appease them, and wield their powers to impress the denizens of Lur. The Thoggites and Garites vie for power over a weak aristocracy and a sullen peasant class.
Balance of power: Priests of the frog-god Thog have influence over water and waterways - the rivers, sewers and the rains. Those economically dependent on water tend to support the Thoggites. Priests of the lizard-god Gar have influence over stone and minerals. Those economically dependent on mining, stonecrafting, and metals generally support the Garites.
The Issue: Following a recent disaster, refugees from Tesh have begun to flood the emptier districts of Lur. Teshites have no god, but are hard-working and economically very productive. They're changing Lurite society and therefore threatening both Thoggite and Garite priests.
Overt/Covert Stakes: Thoggites say that they're trying to help the refugees but in fact they just want converts. Garites say that they're trying to protect the economy but in fact they want the Teshites out of Lur.
Overt/Covert Methods: Thoggites are setting up accommodation, schools, work offices but in fact are separating Keshian children from their parents to indoctrinate them. Garites are increasing patrols 'for the safety of Lur' but in fact are fomenting dissent and riots.
Countdown: An already surly peasant class already has ideas of overthrowing the aristocracy and creating a new social order.
This doesn't create plot, but environment in which plot can occur. To turn it into plot, you need some specific characters and objectives. Then you tangle the objectives up in the intrigue and use the countdown to create a risk of disaster. So here's an example:
When the body of beautiful philanthropist Tolma is found gruesomely mutilated in a canal, Officer Bomen has only days to offer the mob of Lur a culprit before riots break out. But when his investigation incurs the wrath of both the Frog Temple and the Scaled Sepulchre - and with a whiff of revolution in the air - can he keep both his job and his head?
This is a log-line for the story, but doesn't really do more than sketch the highlights. Also along the way we'd expect to see things like:
- Seduction - e.g. an offer of payment from the Thoggites to look the other way
- Deception - e.g. a Garite priest sends Officer Bomen on a wild goose chase
- Betrayal - e.g. the Thoggites frame an innocent for the murder rather than reveal their true intentions; Bomen's assistant is actually working for the Garites
- Corruption - public offices betrayed by greed, lust and vice
- Threat - e.g. threats against Bomen's job, family and life for his investigation
- Unlikely heroes - e.g. a fire-breathing peasant revolutionary turns out to be compassionate if blunt and misunderstood
- The High Brought Low - at least one High Priest ruined
- The Virtuous destroyed -- perhaps Tolma's philanthropic reputation is ruined, and the revolutionary leader is martyred on his own idealism
Hope this helps!
