How would you bring technology into a fantasy world? Make sense of the magics? Feed people and get rid of the corrupt nobles? This is specifically on developing a city or territory, not:
- Developing a dungeon/core (see my other list: https://www.novelupdates.com/viewlist/10742/)... more>>

First, a few worthy mentions that aren't on NU:
1. Castle Kingside (rewrite) - a lot of inspiration from Release that Witch, imo improved! Warning: it's slow. Kingdom only begins around c60ish.
2. The iron teeth - although territory development comes late in the story, it's well done and exotic, being based on a goblin kingdom
3. 1632 (published book) - an American village goes back to the 30 years war. It's much less fantastical, but has a lot of similar elements to other kingdom building novels.
4. The Eagle's Flight - highly intricate fantasy webnovel
5. Defiance of the fall
6. Randidly Ghosthound - neither Randidly nor Defiance of the Fall focus on kingdom building, but they both have elements related to setting up a post-apocalypse system city - complete the quest to get the village crystal/coin!
7. The Expansion (Legend of the Arch Magus) - [have not yet read] - recommendation from Hitexh in the comments
8. Enlightened Empire - weaker than the others <<less

*RECOMMENDED!! MUST READ.
*I'm Sharing my list, for those who like this kind of setting, genre! :) 
*not in any particular order... more>>

*list include: done reading, Currently reading and dropped but will read again since not all chapters are translated (tried MTL) 

*Will add more

*MOSTLY BL

*PRIMITIVE

*ANCIENT

*MODERN

*ABO

*APOCALYPSE

*REBIRTH

*TIME TRAVEL

*TRANSMIGRATION

Note: I also added Stories not available in NU on the comment section below :) they are easy to read.  <<less

Novels which are still in MTL (high-readability, guaranteed minimum brain cell mortality) and not yet translated:... more>>

- Bulgarian Empire (same author of Holy Roman Empire)
- Holy Roman Empire (60 chapters translated, the rest just go to MTL, high quality MTL is the reason translators didn't bother to translate it in the first place)
- Rise of Rurik (thank you Zurdonx for recommendation)
(More will be updated later) <<less

For recommending female protagonists that don't immediately lower their IQ and EQ when a (ML) man enters the picture. Strong is also used somewhat lightly. This recommendation list will be more geared towards female leads who's actions/words are pivotal in the story. Due to the landscape of light novels with female protagonists, this list will not be completely romance free, but stories recommended will either be slow romance or the story itself will not pivot around the male lead's actions/story.... more>>

Order added as I recall them. Some I haven't read in a while so my thoughts aren't necessarily accurate. If you have a recommendation, please leave a comment of what I should try out! <<less

Novels with high-quality translations and plots that give a satisfactory face slap (the list is not in any particular order)... more>>

- Predominantly BL (with Happy Endings)

- Any non-BL that I find interesting 

- Binge-worthy  <<less

A list of novels with women/girls who know what they want, how to get it, and stand up for themselves. ... more>>

Note: the novels in this list are not in any particular order! My favorites are noted with two asterisks (**)! <<less

A really good kingdom building book isn't really about simple making bigger buildings. It's about improving the lives of the people the MC cares about... more>> around them and in doing so improving a nation. There's this heart felt way of doing it so that's what I want out of these books. Some of them do have harems but the female characters are done in such a way that they are fully develop human beings and it's classy or I just enjoyed it. It's really hard to find kingdom or development books like that in this space so I wanted to highlight them when I found it. <<less

As a man, I am not interested in shoujo novels in general... However, there are some that I've dared to try out that I've quite enjoyed. Here's a list!... more>>

Some I've admittedly not yet tried but soon intend to do so since they look like they would appeal, so my confidence level in the appeal is high for the first 15 titles, and... more experimental for the following...

Also, check out:
- The calamity of a reborn witch on RRL, it's a really great novel

I welcome thoughts and comments, particularly on ranking, additions and unsuitable novels for this list. <<less

These are the novels I had a hard time stopping from reading so I could sleep or work. Ironically some of these I didn't finish... more>> right about when I was almost at the end. <<less

The isekai here is pointed to another world, but not only to the usual Jpn isekai with reincarnation/rebirth/transmigrate MC. It can be the world that's totally not in the earth, and maybe it's not a reincarnation/transmigration and MC is from that world. ... more>>

My ideal isekai novel is the one with the world building as its central theme and the romance is non existent, even if there's romance element in it, usually it's slow and just as unnecessary side dish.

NO HAREM for me. Tho few of them has harem and romance tags, for me there are those that are not romance and harem, so I'll explain in related description instead. 

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Basically my list of all the new stars of the genre! Happy reading :D ... more>>

Rating:  ❤️❤️❤️ To-die-for      ❤️❤️ Greatly entertaining                       ❤️ Enjoyable 
The novels are not all historical though.

For more, my all times "Best historical novels" list is here: https://www.novelupdates.com/viewlist/19039/ <<less

MC rebuilds or create his own Organization or his own Kingdom.

Novels with yummy descriptions of delicious food that readers could maybe create. ... more>>

All novels featuring cooking, eating and descriptions of delicious food, whether made from real ingredients or fantasy are welcome.

List will include Slice of Life, Martial Arts, Cultivation, Transmigration, BL, yuri and more! <<less

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the title's self-explanatory, right?
not in any particular order because the lot of these are painfully mediocre

https://forum.novelupdates.com/blogs/ancient-times.4152/... more>>

I advise all those who like Chinese history to read these articles

https://multimedia.scmp.com/infographics/culture/article/3016607/history-of-the-forbidden-city/index.html?src=arcade
#Ancient China

Imperial court/Imperial harem/Wuxia-Jianghu/Murim/daily life in ancient timesFengshui

The four arts (四藝, siyi), or the four arts of the Chinese scholar, were the four main academic and artistic accomplishments required of the aristocratic ancient Chinese scholar-gentleman. They are qin (the guqin, a stringed instrument, 琴), qi (the strategy game of Go, 棋), shu (Chinese calligraphy, 書) and hua (Chinese painting, 畫), and are also referred to by listing all four: 琴棋書畫; qínqíshūhuà.

“ 男子有德便是才，女子無才便是德 ”    “Men’s talent lies in his virtue, women’s virtue lies in her not showing off her talent”
#Ancient Japan
manga de yomu genji monogatari -> Manga "Tale of Genji"

Another favorite manga ->   fushigi no kuni no bird   or  Isabella Bird in Wonderland

Introduction to yokai -> http://yokai.com/introduction/ <<less

Some novels I thought were a bit better or just unique enough to give them a chance to read. I tried to do a rough... more>> sort on the list, but this does not mean all the novels are good. <<less

Just as the name of recommendation list sais. Realistic Isekai/transmigration novels.

A list containing novels with female mc's.

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Stories of people focussed on creating and/or maintaining a kingdom or any industry (usually businesses). Most often they become influencial.... more>>

 Some may have romance, others it's not a focus at all. <<less

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