water empire

Water empireis a concept of totalitarian government where the dictator(s) control a resource so vital to human existance, it makes them an absolute ruler(s). In the most basic form this can be clean, pure water for a population, their livestock, and foodstuffs. Rebellion to the authority is punished with denial of the essential resource and death. Note that the element must not be available in free form for the empire to exist. Substituting the controlled resource may be possible, but usually has extreme drawbacks to the controlled element. Philosophy argues that water empires are long-lasting and stable due to the absolute control they require.

Examples in Science Fiction:

Destiny's Road by Larry Niven (1998): "speckles" are a missing nutrient in the planet's normal biosphere; withdrawal causes stupidity. (Similar to the thallium oxide requirement for the virus found in tree-of-life in the Ringworld series, but more absolute.)

The Sten Chronicles series of books by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch (8 books): Anti-Matter Two is a safer, more controllable form of anti-matter, and only the Eternal Emperor knows the manufacturing process and is zealous in its' sale and use.

Frank Herbert's Dune series: the spice mèlange from sandworm corpses is essential for prolonging human lifespan, faster than light travel, and precognition esper ability. "He who controls the spice, controls the universe!" Withdrawal causes death.

This article contains content from Wikipedia. Current versions of the GNU FDL article Water empire on WP may contain information useful to the improvement of this article

WP