Based on work by cruinne, modified by Juniper Jones.
Note: This template largely assumes a fantasy setting, and is still being modified for use in sci-fi settings.
For more ideas, see:
Worldbuilding: From Small Towns to Entire Universes by Kevin J. Anderson
Eighth Day Genesis: A Worldbuilding Codex for Writers by Klein, et al
Overview
Capital: XXX, pop. ###
Largest City: XXX, pop. ###
Dominant Culture: YYY
Minority Culture(s): YYY
Area: # sq km (Check here for a comparable Earth country.)
Total Population: ###
Provinces
(Copy this for each province. You may want to link each settlement to their individual entries below.)
Biomes (Include percentages of total land if possible/needed.)
Major Exports:
Major Imports:
Notable Features:
Geographical:
Human-made:
Non-human-made:
Economics
What economic systems are used (i.e., capitalism, communalism, mercantilism, etc.)?
Is this the same throughout the country, or do some areas practice alternative systems?
If so, how do these systems engage in trade?
What goods are produced and where are they produced?
What are the major exports?
What are the major imports?
Are there trading centers?
Are there banks?
Do people barter or use money?
If money is used, is it valuable itself or is it fiat currency?
If there is fiat money, who guarantees it?
Are there generally acceptable standards for coins?
How easy and common is counterfeiting?
Are lines of credit available?
What are the consequences if a borrower fails to pay in time?
Are they only available to specific types of people (i.e., landowners, a specific gender, people of this or that culture, etc.)?
Business
Who can own or operate a business? Do you need a special license?
If ownership is restricted, is it based on institutional bias or cultural prejudice?
If ownership requires a license, who authorizes it? How is it enforced?
Are there any types of businesses that this country is known for?
Any businesses that were pioneered here? (i.e., restaurants in France)
Are magical item shops available? How common are they?
If this is incompatible with your setting, are there high tech specialty shops featuring goods such as bionic enhancements or hacking rigs? Or is there some other niche market?
Is there a black market?
If so, how is it run, and by whom?
If so, what types of goods can one expect to find there?
If not, why not? (i.e., harsh penalties, no illegal items)
Is there trade which is considered distasteful or shameful?
Is sex work legal, and if so, who typically works in this way?
Who avails themselves of these services?
Is slavery or indentured servitude legal?
If so, who typically works in this way, and for how long?
What kind of work do they do?
Why is this method of employment necessary?
How long is a typical workday?
Do workers have a certain number of days off per week? Per season? Per year?
Are there certain benefits to working beyond wages, such as health care or housing?
What rights (if any) do workers have against negligent or malicious employers?
If a worker is injured or killed while working, does anyone (employer or government) have any responsibility to care for them or their family?
If workers are unsatisfied with their treatment by an employer, do they have any legal recourse (i.e., a labor board that may fine or censure the employer)?
GovernmentOverview
What form of governance does this country have (i.e. democracy, dictatorship, monarchy, etc.)?
Are offices hereditary, elected, or appointed?
Can a government office be a career choice?
If so, how is it viewed?
Is the relative power of a country or ruler usually measured by the size of the army, the number and ability of the magic users, or the amount of money and trade flowing through it?
Who is responsible for protecting the leader(s)?
What safeguards does the head-of-state have against assassins, poison, magical attack, etc.?
Who will take over running the government if the current leader(s) is(are) incapacitated?
If this is not a democracy, how is succession determined?
Is there an heir apparent (either actual or political)?
What happens if the heir is a child?
If this is a democracy or republic, how are leaders chosen?
Can leaders only be from a specific economic class, culture, or gender?
Can leaders be removed from office? On what grounds? By what mechanism?
Authority
Who can give orders to...? (Add classes as needed, i.e. nobility, merchants, magic users, etc.)
The military
The tax collectors
The civil servants
Ordinary folks on the street
Who chooses the people who give orders?
Are any activities licensed or certified (i.e., driving, fishing, dog ownership, being an attorney or a physician)?
Who does the certification or licensing?
Is it merely formal (pay a fee, and get a license), or are there qualifications to meet?
Can licenses or certifications be revoked, and if so, under what circumstances?
Citizenship
Who is considered to be a citizen, with the rights and privileges thereof?
What are the rights and privileges of citizens?
What responsibilities do citizens bear?
Can citizenship be revoked? On what grounds?
Are there groups of people or cultures who have fewer legal rights or less recourse than full citizens?
Why do they have fewer rights than others?
Services
What services does the government or head-of-state provide?
What local or private services are provided by the government?
What services do people expect from their government?
What does the government expect of its people?
Who provides support services for the head of state and what are they called (councilors, ministers, secretaries, viziers)?
Education
What education is available, and where?
How much does it cost to get various levels of education?
Is education legally restricted in any way?
Are there people for whom education is illegal?
Are there schoolhouses in every town, or do people have to travel if they want to be educated?
Are there universities?
Private tutors?
Boarding schools?
Monasteries?
How accessible are these for the average person?
What is the literacy level in the general population?
Is literacy considered a useful or necessary skill for nobility, or something only scribes, clerks, or servants need?
What topics are considered absolutely necessary knowledge for a courtier?
For a layperson?
For a member of the military?
For a member of the clergy?
(Insert additional appropriate classes here.)
Who supports educators?
Is there a system of apprenticeship, or various trade schools throughout the country?
Are there anti-intellectual groups? How much sway to they have over policy-making?
Infrastructure
Are schools, courts, and the military paid for by taxes?
What about physical infrastructure like sewers, wells, aqueducts, roads, etc.?
What about service centers like hospitals or disaster relief?
What are the plumbing and sanitary systems like? (This will vary by locale.)
Who builds and maintains the sanitary systems and how reliable are they?
Who do you call when the drains back up?
Taxation
How do people pay their taxes? (i.e., money, labor, crops, military service, public works)
Who has the right to levy taxes?
For what purposes are taxes (or new taxes) levied?
On what or whom are taxes levied (i.e., land, merchants, specific goods,)?
Can taxes be paid in-kind, or do certain taxes always require money?
Crime & Legal SystemLaws
Who can make or repeal laws?
Are there laws forbidding certain types of people (i.e., peasants, mages, priests, women) from carrying arms?
If the country has a democracy, are only certain classes allowed to vote?
Are there laws requiring certain people to be skilled with certain weapons?
Are certain spells (as opposed to magic generally) illegal?
What things are considered truly serious crimes and why? For example, a trade-oriented culture might consider counterfeiting or bootlegging a death-penalty crime, while in a setting where resurrection is cheap, murder might be something that only results in a small fine.
What sorts of crimes would the average citizen be likely encounter in their lifetime?
What constitutes theft, and what can be stolen with few repercussions?
Are thieves organized in a guild, licensed by law, or freelance?
If there is a thieves guild or license, what happens to those who work outside these frameworks?
What advantage does the government gain from allowing thieves guilds or licenses to exist?
How common are highwaymen, muggers, bandits, or pirates?
Investigation
What are considered normal and legal ways of gathering evidence and determining guilt?
Is torture or magic part of the legal system?
Are arbitrary judgments by a lord or landowner allowed, or is there a standard that they are supposed to follow?
Is there an appeal system?
How high can a case go in the system before it is finally settled?
Law Enforcement
Who is responsible for catching criminals?
Who pays the thief catchers?
Who pays for prisons and jails?
Who supplies food to prisoners?
How are law enforcement officers organized?
Are there independent precincts, overlapping districts, or separate jurisdictions? Do they work together or are they competitive?
Can law enforcement be hired?
Do the police, military, or city guard make a practice of roughing up suspects?
Courts
Is everyone tried in the same courts or are there special courts for special classes of people?
Are mages tried in specialized court?
How would a criminal magic user be detected? Apprehended? Punished?
Is there a specialized military court?
Are there separate courts for civil and criminal matters?
Are there separate courts for magical and non-magical matters?
Are there separate courts for humans and non-humans?
Are there separate courts for religious matters?
Are there lawyers or advocates?
Who can afford legal representation?
Are the poor expected to represent themselves or is an advocate assigned to them?
Who trains the legal experts and are they certified?
Are there judges other than the nobles or gentry?
How are judges paid and by whom?
How often are remote areas likely to see a judge?
Is mob justice common? Is it legal?
How is mob justice viewed by society? By the courts?
Are people guilty until proven innocent, innocent until proven guilty, or does it depend on the mood the bench is in when the case comes before it?
Are there assumptions made about how an accused criminal will be treated?
How are alleged criminals actually treated before their trials?
How are convicted criminals treated?
How is a rich person's crime prosecuted differently from a crime committed by someone of a lower class? Are they prosecuted at all?
Is there such a thing as a "victimless" crime?
Punishments
What are the punishments for serious versus minor crimes?
What constitutes a major vs. minor crime? Who decides this?
Are there prisons, or are people punished and released?
Are there degrees of punishment such as fines, branding, public whippings, removal of body parts, executions, or do they just hang everybody regardless of the crime?
Are there certain protected classes (i.e., children) who would be exempt from more severe punishments?
Are more vulnerable classes more frequently subject to severe punishment?
What is considered a cruel or unusual punishment?
Is slavery or indentured servitude a possible punishment? Is military service?
Diplomacy
Does this nation have formal relations with other countries?
What countries have fought, been allies, traded, or traditionally been rivals with this country?
Who can be ambassadors and envoys?
Are there standing embassies and consulates, or are envoys sent only when something specific comes up?
How are treaties arranged?
Are there any significant ones currently in force or coming up for signing?
How much do official attitudes toward other countries affect commerce and trade?
Do merchants pretty much ignore tensions between governments as long as they can make a profit, or will this get them into trouble?
How much formal spying and intelligence gathering is normally done by governments?
How much spying is done by the military?
Do merchants (or companies) engage in espionage?
Who has the best information gathering system?
Which countries are traditional allies to this one?
Which countries are traditional rivals?
How do these traditional alliances and rivalries affect foreign policy?
Are any leaders related by blood or marriage to other countries' leaders?
How important are political marriages?
How do ties of blood and marriage affect foreign policy?
Internal Politics
What are the major political factions at present?
How long have the current political factions been around?
Which factions are allies and which are enemies?
Are there any potential new forces on the political scene?
How much influence do special interest groups (i.e., merchants, mages, churches) have on politics?
How do interest groups exercise their influence?
What political positions are considered conservative?
What political positions are considered liberal?
Are there political positions that are unthinkable?
Are there any shaky political alliances between disparate groups?
Why were these alliances formed?
How soon will the current alliances fall apart, and when they do, what will the effects be?
What ancient rivalries and hatreds still affect current attitudes and political positions?
Warfare
Which peoples, countries, and races have been in conflict in the recent past?
What caused these recent conflicts?
When was the last war and what was it about?
Who won the last war?
Are there ongoing tensions from the most recent war?
What major weapons of war are available?
How much has the presence of magic affected strategy and tactics?
Do army commanders have to use specific formations or techniques to deal with possible magical attacks?
How can magic be used as part of a battle plan?
General & Army
How are armies usually structured?
Are command structures formal and independent or is everybody officially under the command of the authority who brought them to arms?
If there is a formal structure, what are the various ranks and titles?
Who can call up an army?
How are the ranks filled in times of need?
Are there professional soldiers and mercenaries?
Is a career in the army possible, or would one have to be a mercenary in order to make a living as a soldier?
How prestigious is a military career?
Does the army accept volunteers?
How large is this country's army?
What percentage of the soldiers will be trained and what portion will be untrained recruits?
Are recruits and conscripts given training, or are they expected to learn on the battlefield?
How is the army supplied?
Are soldiers allowed to live off the land and peasantry, or do they pay for what they take?
How are supplies handled during long campaigns?
How many days worth of supplies can the army haul along with them?
What are the accepted conventions for making war (i.e., only fight in winter when nobody is busy with crops, don’t make war on civilians, only certain kinds of weapons are used)?
Do these conventions vary by culture, race, or region?
How does the presence of non-humans affect strategy, tactics, and battles?
Are special weapons required if an army is facing certain kinds of non-human armies?
How would non-human soldiers turn their physical differences from humans to their advantage?
Are particular non-human races traditionally better with certain weapons? If so, why?
Are particular human groups traditionally better with certain weapons, and if so, why?
Are there special forces troops for specific tactical missions (i.e., assassinations)?
How common are siege weapons, and have they seen much use?
What kinds of fortifications do various cities have? Towns? Villages?
Are laypeople compensated if their property is damaged or ruined by the military? By whom?
How do laypeople view the military?
How do nobility...?
How do merchants...?
How do mages...?
(Insert other classes here.)
Navy
Does this country have a standing navy?
What types of ships are common for the navy?
What is the relationship between the army and navy?
What types of weapons are common on ships?
What are the typical tactics of the navy (i.e., cannon fire, boarding, ramming)?
How are the ships powered (i.e., sail, steam, rowers, magic)?
History
(This section might be better suited for a world-building masterlist.)
How long have there been people in this world?
Did they evolve, were they created by the gods, or did they migrate from somewhere else?
Where did the civilizations begin?
How and where did they spread?
How was development affected by the presence of magic?
How have the actions of gods (if any) affected civilization’s development?
Which people are the most and least technologically advanced?
Which people are the most and least magically advanced?
LandPhysical & Historical Features
In which geographical areas will the story take place?
How much ground will the story cover?
What are the most striking features of landscape and climate?
If there are sentient non-human inhabitants, are there any areas or features they particularly claim as their own?
Are they confined to those areas, or can they move freely?
If they are confined, by whose authority?
Climate & Geography
Have human (or non-human) activities affected climate or landscape in various regions? How?
How does the setting (multiple moons, suns, etc.) affect the climate in various regions?
How much of this country's land is in each of the equatorial, temperate, and polar zones?
Where are the mountain ranges? The rivers and lakes? The deserts? The forests? The prairies?
If there are mythological animals, how do they fit into the ecology (i.e., dragons, pegasi, etc.)?
How did the mythological creatures come into being?
What do they eat?
How much space and what kind of habitat do they require?
Do they live in a specific habitat or biome, or near a specific location?
Are there sentient mythological creatures?
How common are mythological creatures?
Are there any endangered species of animals or plants?
Is anyone concerned about endangered species?
Have any gone extinct within living memory?
What geological formations affect the weather or the climate?
Are there any natural wonders within this country's borders, and where are they?
Natural Resources
Where are the most fertile farmlands?
Where are mineral resources located?
What kinds of wildlife are common to the country's various biomes (i.e., birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, insects)?
What kinds of wild plant life are common to the country's various biomes (i.e., trees, shrubs, herbs, fungi)? Only include uncultivated resources, such as wild oak trees rather than coppiced or farmed trees.
Have any natural resources been depleted, and in which areas?
Are any resources particularly abundant, and in which areas?
What resources are scarce, and where can they be found?
Are there places with major deposits that haven’t been discovered yet, or where such deposits haven't been fully utilized?
If they haven't been fully utilized, why?
How much conflict is caused by the imbalances in resources? In the past? In the future?
How much active, peaceful trade is attributed to these resources?
What water resources are available, and for what uses?
Is water transported across distances (aqueducts), or plumbed (wells)?
Is water stored for later use (i.e., water towers, reservoirs), and who controls the supply?
Population
How many people are there in this country? See top of document.
How many people are there in the various regions or provinces?
What is considered a small town? A large town? A city?
How diverse is the population (i.e., race, species, culture, religion)?
How many different races (human or non-human), creeds, cultures, and so on normally live in various cities and towns?
In what percentages do these divisions occur?
If populations are shifting, why are they doing so?
Is population shifting from rural to urban? Away from a hazard? Towards an opportunity?
What effects has migration had on the places being left behind?
What effects has migration had on the places that are gaining population?
Is there much immigration to this country? Emigration? Why or why not?
Which regions are most heavily populated?
Which regions are the least populated? Why?
Are certain regions or types of terrain more popular areas for non-human sentient creatures, and if so, why?
How are roads built?
Who pays for roads?
Who maintains the roads?
What state are the roads in currently?
Rural Area
You could repeat this for each rural area that will feature in the story. Replace the title with the nearest village or the name of the province.
(See The Rural Setting Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Personal & Natural Places by Angela Ackerman, Becca Puglisi for more ideas.)
Given the magical and/or technological level of this society, what is an appropriate ratio of farmers to urban residents? Is this ratio being met?
Given the state of the roads and the technology of transportation, how much food is it possible to transport to a given location before it spoils?
Are this country's rural areas primarily farms, forests, fields for grazing, or deserts, swamps, etc.?
In outlying areas where there aren’t many people, how many roads are there?
How consistent is the climate from year to year?
What kinds of catastrophic weather events are most prevalent?
Are there tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, waterspouts, dust storms, sand storms, wildfires, earthquakes, floods, etc.?
How do people cope with adverse weather and weather-caused disasters?
For instance, is crop production relatively dependable, or do people have to cope with regular famines due to drought, floods, or diseases/pests? How do they cope?
Are farming areas divided between humans and sentient non-humans? How is this determined?
What kinds of conflicts are likely between humans and non-humans?
Can common people own their own land, or does it all belong to a local authority figure?
What kinds of rights over land, crops, game, and resources do landowners have?
How are rural houses heated and cooled?
How is food cooked? Is there food preservation (like refrigeration) or must everything be cooked before eating?
Describe or include an image of a typical house for this region, including layout, if possible. (See Writing About Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings & Cities by Alexandra Lange for details.)
Are any kind of public utilities are available (i.e., water, garbage, sewer, magic)?
Are any public event spaces (i.e., grange halls) available? Who maintains them?
How is sewage and wastewater treated or disposed of?
How is garbage handled?
How are country dwellers viewed by city folk?
How do the country folk feel about city dwellers?
City
Repeat this for each major city that will feature in the story. Replace the title with the name of the city.
See The Urban Setting Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to City Spaces by Angela Ackerman, Becca Puglisi and The Routledge Companion to Urban Imaginaries by Christoph Lindner, Miriam Meissner (eds.) for more ideas.
Does the layout of this city reflect some philosophy, such as that the "head" or leadership of the city must be at the center or the highest point?
How was the city initially founded? Was it a wartime bastion, a trading hub, a sacred site, etc.?
Were layout considerations mainly practical or did this city grow organically?
Is this city generally laid out on a square-grid system of streets or are they more labyrinthine?
How wide are the streets and alleys normally?
Are there gathering spaces such as plazas or marketplaces?
Are there any public or private parks in this city?
What kinds of activities take place in parks?
What are the landmarks in this city?
Where are the interesting neighborhoods?
What gives each neighborhood its own special character?
Where do people go to shop? Where do they go to eat?
Are there specialized districts for different activities? (Industrial, processing, merchants, etc.)
Is there an entertainment district? What kinds of entertainment are offered?
Does the city have tourists? What do they come to do?
Is this city known for certain activities or industries?
How are urban houses heated and cooled?
How is food cooked? Is there food preservation (like refrigeration or canning) or must everything be cooked before eating?
Describe or include an image of a typical house for this region, including layout, if possible. (See Writing About Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings & Cities by Alexandra Lange for details.)
How is sewage and wastewater treated or disposed of?