[09] Kingdom building or territory development
[09] Kingdom building or territory development
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/)
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
- Developing a dungeon/core (see my other list: https://www.novelupdates.com/viewlist/10742/)
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
171 Followers

Created: Jun 1st, 2020, Updated: Mar 19th, 2023
Created Jun 1st, 2020
Updated Mar 19th, 2023

689 Chapters Every 466.5 Day(s) 24125 Readers 348 Reviews 09-25-2017
The epic of this genre, modern Chinese guy goes back to fantasy world in the middle of witch hunts and liberates the oppressed serfs to create a progressive kingdom with lots of awesome tech while also developing magic.... more>>

111 Chapters Every 109.2 Day(s) 2276 Readers 54 Reviews 03-21-2023
This has some of the most complex (somewhat contrived) politics and plots in the genre, or even in NU. Great series, if slow and sometimes hard to keep on reading. But it's rewarding if you do, whether it's from a perspective of characters, magic system, politics, lore and world building, everything is ultimately epic and well done, just sometimes ponderous and slow to get to.... more>>


593 Chapters Every 67.2 Day(s) 3044 Readers 65 Reviews 07-01-2020
If you've seen any of my lists, you've probably noticed I love Black Iron's Glory despite everybody else thinking it's horrible. The hiatus for an ending certainly doesn't help it...... more>>

598 Chapters Every 104.9 Day(s) 11446 Readers 154 Reviews 12-19-2018
The military campaigns, very first romantic arc in the story, politics, territory development are all top class. Read it for the kingdom building.... more>>

176 Chapters Every 47.5 Day(s) 12851 Readers 158 Reviews 02-12-2023
Cute, fluffy, laid back, brings lots of modern lifestyle to a medieval world. It's another template Japanese reincarnation novel, except the characters are actually good.... more>>

335 Chapters Every 63.7 Day(s) 16725 Readers 142 Reviews 01-17-2021
Average spearmen reincarnates and rises through the ranks to become a noble and make a super modern territory. Why the MC can make modern territories? Slightly contrived... but anyway, the kingdom building is still decent, when it comes.... more>>

52 Chapters Every 198.5 Day(s) 6007 Readers 12 Reviews 07-27-2019
The other classic of this genre. It does have a lot of the great elements of kingdom building with details of behaviours, crops, politics, etc. Definitely worth giving a try if you're into this genre.... more>>

45 Chapters Every 87.3 Day(s) 1064 Readers 15 Reviews 01-13-2020
For the Release that witch fans out there, this is the closest series (but read 1632 first - see the description - it's also similar and much higher quality, or you can save best for last?). Complicated religion, bringing socialism to upend feudal issues, adoration of the MC by all (if no real romance, so technically not a harem... but spiritually one).... more>>

#10Log Horizon
0 Chapters Every 32.2 Day(s) 3008 Readers 5 Reviews N/A
Great series about getting stuck in an MMO with consequences. There's a society of NPCs to meet, many gamers who develop into fixtures of the gaming world and some kingdom building as the gamers establish themselves and do politics.... more>>

416 Chapters Every 3.7 Day(s) 23542 Readers 190 Reviews 06-23-2020
Shoujo, but still has a lot of the elements of a novel any audience would enjoy. The characters are not amazing, but they're still decent.... more>>

60 Chapters Every 60.3 Day(s) 2175 Readers 29 Reviews 01-25-2019
Great kingdom building elements in this series based on systems and quests. Like Amber Sword, this one also has the guild territory and all the cool MC driven advantages to his territory. It also gets quite into the lore of the kingdom and it's neighbouring enemies and how the kingdoms face off against each other.... more>>

3 Chapters Every 654.7 Day(s) 800 Readers 5 Reviews 11-06-2017
[have not yet read] Another interesting novel that seems to have elements of 1632, Black Iron's Glory and Release that Witch, but with less magic.

733 Chapters Every 1.5 Day(s) 2907 Readers 48 Reviews 03-21-2023
[not yet read] but good ratings and looks interesting!

2477 Chapters Every 0.5 Day(s) 9954 Readers 167 Reviews 07-01-2021
Amazing! ... For the first 300 chapters.... more>>

863 Chapters Every 3.4 Day(s) 34221 Readers 540 Reviews 03-20-2023
This novel has lots of thrills from being an arrogant can-do-no-evil reincarnator in this 'tr*sh count's heir's body. In terms of kingdom building, there is... more>>

40 Chapters Every 255.7 Day(s) 6662 Readers 182 Reviews 12-14-2018
Great series, but kingdom building is not really the main thing going on here. Still, there are some minor kingdom building elements so you can... more>>

#18Reincarnator
133 Chapters Every 1.2 Day(s) 14271 Readers 185 Reviews 06-19-2016
The MC keeps world hopping, so the kingdom building is always somewhat distant and introduced as an afterthought between arcs. But it is an important... more>>

55 Chapters Every 151.2 Day(s) 23373 Readers 312 Reviews 11-26-2017
Territory building is not the main element in this one, but it's a good, dramatic story (at least for the first arc).

205 Chapters Every 1.6 Day(s) 11332 Readers 105 Reviews 06-07-2018
Kingdom building is not the main element, it's more focused on action and epic post-apocalyptic adventure. Kingdom building does become more important later on, when... more>>

92 Chapters Every 171.8 Day(s) 5492 Readers 15 Reviews 05-29-2016
Hmm, I liked the premise, the fact he reincarnates into a married man and is in a farming village. It kind of reminds me of Utawarerumono in terms of the immersive medieval fantasy village atmosphere (go play the game Utawarerumono though, it's better than Seiun - original is 18+, but the PSP version is for all ages, with extra game features like special moves).... more>>

41 Chapters Every 67.7 Day(s) 2436 Readers 9 Reviews 07-21-2022
[have not yet read] - looks solid, good ratings, classic oda nobunaga warring states period time slip setting, and has a manga that's been rec'ed... more>>

60 Chapters Every 76.3 Day(s) 567 Readers 13 Reviews 02-16-2020
Well, this was exceedingly disappointing... I love the setting, reincarnation premise, time period and historical details... But it's just info dump after info dump with... more>>

2 Chapters Every 1037 Day(s) 1346 Readers 4 Reviews 07-20-2017
[have not yet read]

#25Sevens
0 Chapters Every 2000 Day(s) 19279 Readers 146 Reviews 10-06-2015
[have not yet read] - some people love this! Cover looks very shounen, so I'm assuming this doesn't concentrate on the kingdom development? Don't take... more>>
Comments (41)
Haloo , i cant write english well, but im highly recommended the defeated dragon, its have the best kingdom building or territory development that i have read so far, it dont have great action or sword and magic like novel but i think the territory build is soo good.
And thank you for the list i really love this kingdom build or territory development genre of novel
Ps : sorry i dont know how to tag the novel name so you can just click it name and go to the novel page, so just search for the defeated dragon
Thanks so much Wholesomepanda! I'll add it to the list and definitely take a look as soon as I have a chance.
Thanks for following and leaving a comment! Hope you find some novels that let you scratch that kingdom building itch!
Actually, taking a look at the defeated dragon novel page, it appears I put it on my to read list long ago and forgot about it... I should catch up on my old saved titles...
Hard to read beacause of slow translations, I first read it a year ago but it stopped translating and when I read it again I forgot most of the names and alot of minor events. It is a novel that is quite boring if you read it again.
Holy Roman Empire is translated by webnovel so if it dosent get popular enough it wont be translated further than 60 chaopters
@Marcus Thanks for leaving the comment about Holy Roman Empire! Definitely looks promising but good to caution on waiting a bit before picking up a slow to translate series.
Oukoku e Tsuzuku Michi has a lot of development so you should nlot worry about it focusing too much on war or romance, it fits just right althought the romance is a bit too much if your looking for a novel without too many women
Doom Lord is not boring, it only has slow updates which kinda makes it boring but still it is quite fine especially how it works
Thanks for the constructive comment Marcus! Appreciated!
I'll have to disagree somewhat on doom lord... I enjoy Doom Lord and do recommend it as well. But there's something somewhat bland about it, and not just because of the update speed. I do admit it's a bit hard to put my finger on though, since the system is well developed, the world is interesting, the characters are decent, the main city's management is neat... it's just somewhat grindy perhaps in the details? For others looking for a series though, there you have it... Might just be me, so give it a try and tell us what you think.
And good to hear the second opinion on Oukoku e Tsuzuku! I do have to give that one a try.
Seriously recommend Magus of Genesis. The entire premise is about development of a whole civilization, from caveman age, because MC is kinda immortal. It is quite slow pace and not really involved politic (how?, when other polities are basically other races, with either vastly different niches or are self-sufficient and isolationist). The only arc about political conflict is pretty much the worst arc, politic is a real weakpoint so it's good that it wasn't focus. Because it start at stone age, MC have to introduce many basic concepts already accepted in general medieval stories, including math, language and whole agriculture. Magic development is interesting because MC is learning along with other characters, with most breakthroughs credited to other and MC is just refine them.
Bad points of this series are, as mentioned, politics, and MC is borderline annoying in many cases, too hesitating, too soft heart, and of course, dense. The worst thing so far is that TL is hiatus, or may be taking long breaks frequently and unpredictably. And raws is hard to read with MTLs.
Speaking of MTLs, Ascending of bookworms is very MTLs friendly. And I agree with you on it ending.
Edit: NPC Town-building Game, so far, is not really town development but more like village governing. Well, the residents counts just stepped on 2-digit counts in recent chapter so it might change.
Oukoku e Tsuzuku Michi is more of action/tactic/wars strategy adventure and harem making. Town development so far mostly involve defense industries and tactics, along with logistics and a bit of taxes/recruitment policies. You can say it is approximately 50% wars, 30% romance, 15% politic and 5% development.
Also recommend Risou no Himo Seikatsu, my top politic-focus WN so far. Soooo politic that detailed on why MC must choose this wording over that than what this new product effect this world.
Wow, awesome! Thanks so much Kalamel!
My reading list says I tried Magus of Genesis and dropped it, but I can't remember it at all. I'll add it into the list on your recommendation and give it another go.
Risou no himo seikatsu, however, I have on my wish list, so I haven't tried it before. I think I was a bit leery of the comedy tag... so few good comedies. That's a high recommendation though, so I'm looking forward to it!
@tallrice Thank for reception.
Magus of Genesis: Many dropped it after the s*upid display of MC in arc2, which is really s*upid, but consistent with character of MC. Other might drop it far earlier, as it's slow pace as hell. Multiple time skips, generally in seasons to a decade, between volume skips are on few decades/centuries scales. And MC is not in hurry at all, directly opposite from RTW. If I must describe him rudely and harshly, he is an epitome of beta (I hate this term, but can't find better) until push comes to shove. There is an obvious reason why it was not tagged with OP MC. If you can't tolerate this beta of MC, without development in foreseeable future, and can't ignore him despite other good-designed characters, safe your frustration and ignore this series.
Risou no himo seikatsu, What!? I just saw the comedy tag, who tagged that? Probably from manga, but most comedy are in extra chapters of each volume, you can try extra of v1 without spoiling anything except basic premise. Other than that there are just few skits and some monologue jokes, very rare. If I give it score it is 40% slice of life, 40% romance, 10% magic, 10% introducing Earth tech, no comedy or about 1-2% at most, with ubiquitous politics overlap on everything, because every single active (named) isekai non-infants characters are politically-involved in some degree. Starting from youths from nobility to foreign royalty. Only commoners actively mentioned are servants, employees, or one-time-off POVs. Author probably can sell LN about daily life of a modern councilman.
Nice selection of stories here, but knight and magic is not a kingdom building story, it a mecha building fantasy
more JP novel please !!!
kingdom building so fun
Did you mean you know some other JP novels that fit this genre? Or that I should read more JP novels?
If you know some good ones, please tell me!
Hope you found some things you like on this list!
good jp novel and some good kr novels:
Black Corporation: Joseon
Napoleon Bonaparte
Goblin workshop in me
Thanks for bringing that feedback back! I've bumped I am the God of Games up a bit so it appears on the first page of the list (and up a bit on my to read list).
I don't see your review though, either on the series page or in your review history... Did you forget to hit publish?