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The underwear on the outside was a nice touch.
If I can’t amuse myself, then what’s the point?
Am I the only one to notice that State did not originally have a helm and cape?
“Obstacles preventing the population from easily escaping state authority by moving elsewhere” – what is state authority in this context? I always assumed that you had some sort of viceroy who ruled the city and if you got into trouble you could just move two cities over and start a new life.
I can’t say if it’s true for every culture and era, but to the best of my knowledge: For the few percent who could reasonably be called wealthy, they could generally throw money and power around to make the trouble go away. And if it was bad enough that this didn’t work, they’d be important enough to be hunted down. They would have to go a lot further than “two cities over” – outright exile is the best they could generally hope for.
For the few percent who could reasonably be called “middle class”, this could often work, though they’d be giving up a lot to do so.
For the vast majority who were poor… the poor have *never* really been able to just get up and leave, at least on the individual or family level… and in some places/eras it would have been even harder than it is today. And as Nathan points out, entire communities packing up and leaving is a lot harder in Nation State than in earlier forms of society/government.
7d is going to be interesting when most large historical states have been hegemonies rather than true nation-states, and thus often didn’t try to bring their vassals into the overlord’s narrative.
As for mobility, generally it’s pretty easy to keep sedentary peoples from moving away freely – you hold the land (especially the land their ancestors are buried in) so moving away from your control will be a major sacrifice that the average poor person with *some* stake in the system won’t be willing to make.