List of fictional theocracies

Depictions of a fictional theocratic societies recur in science fiction, speculative fiction and fantasy. Such depictions are mostly dystopian, and in some cases humorous or satirical; positively presented theocracies are very much the exception.

Some fictional theocracies are based on a future or alternate history development of actual religions, in others the religions depicted are wholly |fictional.

The following table is sorted by time of publication (for series, time of earliest publication).

Literature

Title	Author	Publication date	Description
Lost Horizon	James Hilton	1937	Shangri La is a positive theocracy.
If This Goes On—/Revolt in 2100	Robert Heinlein	1940, revised and expanded 1953	The story is set in a future theocratic American society, ruled by the latest in a series of fundamentalist Christian "Prophets". It was revised and expanded for inclusion in the 1953 collection Revolt in 2100.
Gather, Darkness	Fritz Leiber	1943	In the far-flung future where a nuke war has seen a return to Dark Age theocracy. In it religion is powered by long-lost science; ‘miracles’ are performed by machines and computers and used to keep ignorant peasants frightened and in line.[1]
The Lovers	Philip Jose Farmer	1952 novella, expanded to full length 1961, revised 1977	Humans on an alien world trying to learn the culture and evaluate the technology. The humans have ulterior motives, in this case, conquest by a rigid and dour theocracy.[2]
A Woman a Day (also "Moth and Rust" and "The Day of Timestop")	Philip Jose Farmer	1953 novella, expanded to full length 1960.	Same universe as "The Lovers", the previous book's rigid and dour theocracy depicted on its home ground.
Messiah	Gore Vidal	1954	It is the story of the creation of a new religion, Cavism, which quickly comes to replace the established but failing Christian religion. Set in the near future, Vidal’s story is presented as the memoirs of the elderly Eugene Luther who, was the codifier of Cave's gospel, a fairly simple message that has since been corrupted and transformed into the ideological basis of a corporate theocracy.[3]
The Long Tomorrow	Leigh Brackett	1955	Set in the aftermath of a nuclear war, it portrays a world where scientific knowledge is feared and restricted.
The Chrysalids	John Wyndham	1955	The novel features an agrarian theocracy, Waknuk, located in Labrador in the aftermath of nuclear war
The John Grimes novels	A. Bertram Chandler	1950's and 1960's	Include a rare positively depicted theocracy. On the world Tharn, the progressive priesthood of a religion resembling Buddhism actively promotes science and technology and confronts a cabal of reactionary robber barons.
The Ballad of Beta-2	Samuel R. Delany	1965	A fanatic and oppressive theocracy growing up on generation ships engaged on a long interstellar voyage, causing the failure of their mission.
Dune series	Frank Herbert	Started 1965, still continuing past Herbert's death.	The world of Dune is a feudal theocracy. Later on, there is a galaxy-wide theocracy centered on a Divine Emperor who lives tens of thousands of years[4]
Lord of Light	Roger Zelazny	1967	A spaceshipload of humans set themselves up as gods and rulers of an alien race and their offspring.[5]
The Last Starship from Earth	John Boyd	1968	The novel is set in a dystopian society in the very near future in whose alternate history Jesus Christ became a revolutionary agitator and was never subjected to crucifixion. He assembled an army to overthrow the Roman Empire, and established a theocracy that has lasted until the twentieth century. He was killed by a crossbow while entering Rome, so the crossbow becomes a religious symbol similar to the cross in our time-line.
The Goblin Tower	L. Sprague de Camp	1968	An episode is set in the theocratic city-state of Tarxia, dominated by the priesthood of a frog-god who is considered supreme and superior to all other gods, and around whom an elaborate theology is constructed.[6]
The Stork Factor	Zach Hughes	1975	A repressive religious dictatorship rules a stratified, opiated society in America where no man may advance himself except through religious hypocrisy. Suddenly a young priest, sincere in his religion, finds himself the power of spontaneious healing, a power of overwhelming political import in a society whose medical care is reserved for citizens of high status. He is rescued by the underground after fleeing the police, and while trying to develop and control his unique talent, he inadvertently encounters a survivor of a decadent alien civilization and finds his power increased enormously.[7]
Run, Come See Jerusalem!	Richard C. Meredith	1976	An alternate United States defeats a Nazi Germany which came much closer to world domination than in our history, but in the aftermath falls under the power of a ruthless home-grown "Prophet".
The Handmaid's Tale	Margaret Atwood	1985	In the fundamentalist Christian theocracy "Republic of Gilead" in the post-apocalyptic ruins of the United States virtually every thought and action of the protagonist is strictly prescribed by the government.[5]
Noninterference	Harry Turtledove	1987	An illegal interference by Earth agents with a humanoid alien race inadvertently turns a local woman into an immortal, and she eventually becomes the revered Goddess of a planet-wide religion - but all is well, since she is a highly benevolent and good hearted person who makes only a positive use of her complete religious and secular power.[8]
The Shield of Time	Poul Anderson	1990	Alternate 20th Century Europe under total control of the Catholic Church, with all dissent immediately crushed by the Inquisition.
Small Gods	Terry Pratchett	1992	The story of the comical fantasy novel is set in the land of Omnia, an oppressive theocracy that is controlled by a Church that worships the Great God Om and frequently rages war on non-believers. On the Discworld, the power of a God is determined by how many people believe in them and as Om has ignored his believers for ages he finds himself stripped of his divine powers and only able to manifest himself as a tortoise.
Velgarth novels	Mercedes Lackey	1994-2015 (so far)	The land of Karse in ruled by a priesthood. In earlier appearances the ruling priesthood is corrupt and oppressive, but later it is reformed and much improved by Solaris, the first woman to gain the combined religious and secular power in Karse.
His Dark Materials	Philip Pullman	1995-2000	A trilogy of fantasy novels, largely set in a world ruled by a theocracy known as the Magisterium.
Flight Engineer series	S. M. Stirling and James Doohan	1996-2000	The extremist religious group known as The Mission Of Life Lived In Ecclesia (and commonly referred to as "Mollies") are the novel's bad guys, having established themselves in a disregarded part of interstellar space which turned out to have a very valuable mineral resource that the more secular good guys want.
Candle/The Sky So Big and Black	John Barnes	2000, 2003	The universal power over Humanity of the Artificial Intelligence known as One True can be loosely classed as a theocracy.
The Peshawar Lancers	S. M. Stirling	2002	The post-apocalyptic Russian Empire dominated by the Satanic, cannibalistic priests of Chernobog; Theocratic city-states in California.
Emberverse series	S. M. Stirling	2004-2015 (so far)	The Church Universal and Triumphant, a highly malevolent force in the post-apocalyptic situation.
The Accidental Time Machine	Joe Haldeman	2007	Jesus Christ appears in the Oval Office and tells the President that the Second Coming is here - or so the President tells the nation that night. Some Americans doubt that it is really Jesus at the President's side. Jesus tells the President that heretics should be nuked.
Voyagers VI - The Return	Ben Bova	2009	Keith Stoner returns to Earth after more than a century of exploring the stars and faces a changed world that is suffering the consequences of disastrous greenhouse flooding. Most nations have been taken over by ultraconservative religion-based governments, such as the "New Morality" in the United States.[9]

Television/Anime

Title	Produced by	Date	Description
Lexx	Salter Street Films/Channel 5 (UK)	2000	The Light Universe is ruled by The Divine Order, including the collective consciousness of the current living His Divine Shadow and his Divine Predecessors
Avatar the Last Airbender/Legend of Korra	Nickelodeon	2005-2008, 2012-2014	Air Nomads, one of the four nations, has a Unitary Theocratic Senate from which came then-avatar and main Protagonist Aang born. In Sequel the Protagonist's first son Tenzin is now only first leader as 'Air Nation' and now under as unitary theocracy.
Simoun	Studio Deen/Comic Yuri Hime	2006	Follows the clergy, military, and government of a neither dystopian nor wholly positive theocracy.

Games

Title	Developed by	Date	Description
Warhammer 40,000	Games Workshop	1987	The Imperium of Man, administered by the High Lords of Terra in the God-Emperor's name.
Halo series	Bungie	2001-2010	The alien alliance known as "the Covenant".
Age of Mythology	Ensemble Studios	2002	Atlantis is said to be governed by a Theocrat. The politics are not explored, however, and it is not stated how the Theocrat kept himself in power when the gods abandoned the civilization in the expansion pack's campaign.
EVE Online	CCP Games	2003	The Amarr Empire
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones	Nintendo	2004	Pontifex Mansel leads the theocracy of Rausten.
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance	Nintendo	2005	Begnion is a theocracy worshipping the goddess Ashera. It is ruled by Apostle Sanaki.
Sims Medieval	Electronic Arts	2011	Yacothia, a Theocratic city-state, is the holy city/birthplace of Jacobanism, as it's the birthplace of prophet Jacob and the home of the Proxy, run by a High Priest or Priestess. Its military consists of a famous order of Jacoban paladins known as Jacob's Sword.
BioShock Infinite	Irrational Games	2013	In the floating city of Columbia, Zachary Hale Comstock leads a single-party theocratic dictatorship based on the Founding Fathers of the United States and Himself under title as "Prophet of Columbia" and later Her "Daughter" Elizabeth as "Lamb of Columbia".

See also

• List of religious ideas in science fiction
• List of religious ideas in fantasy fiction
• List of fictional religions

References

1. "1943: Gather, Darkness! By Fritz Leiber". SciFi Scentury. 19 July 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
2. "Philip José Farmer, The Best of Philip José Farmer (Subterranean Press, 2006)". Retrieved 28 June 2015.
3. Baker, Susan; Gibson, Curtis S. (1997). Gore Vidal: A Critical Companion. p. 24. ISBN 978-0313295799. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
4. Chorost, Michael. Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human. p. 179. ISBN 9780618378296. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
5. Klein, Sabrina; Tomlinson, Patrick S.; Genesse, Paul. Eighth Day Genesis: A Worldbuilding Codex for Writers and Creatives. p. 245. ISBN 9780985825409. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
6. Camp, L. Sprague de. Time and Chance: An Autobiography. Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. ISBN 9781880418321. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
7. "The Stork Factor". orielisbooks.com. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
8. Wagner, Thomas M. "Noninterference - Review". sfreviews.net. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
9. "SYNOPSIS - VOYAGERS IV: THE RETURN". benbova.com. Retrieved 27 June 2015.