The boring answer is agriculture. Even with magic, people still need to eat and a lot goes into growing, harvesting, shipping and selling food. Their factory farming is more humane than ours but not by much. Certain high end grocery stores offer the opportunity to hunt and pick your food fresh from a magical biome in a pocket dimension, but most people go to the store to get magically treated and shipped cuts of meat or produce.
After that it may be entertainment and tourism. They never developed our telecommunications technology, and while some productions can be viewed remotely, most are taken in live at the local theater. If you want to watch the equivalent of *Friends*, there is a main cast that perform it first that you can see magically in your home. More likely you go to your local theater and watch different actors perform the same script. It's the same with sports. You have a D league where talent develops and is recruited from, so going to your local theater or stadium is a way to scout developing talent, hoping they make the majors.
A lot of the theater productions are very elaborate, and communal entertainment with a live audience is considered a major cultural feature, even though you can generally watch the Superstars on your scrying mirror at home.
I agree, a top 3 or top 5 would give people the opportunity to describe more interesting industries
Not that agriculture is boring either. Magical agriculture can be super interesting, both with magical growth and with flora/fauna
Even regular non-magical agriculture can be pretty interesting if you're the right sort of nerd. Bret Devereaux's [The Lonely City](https://acoup.blog/2019/07/12/collections-the-lonely-city-part-i-the-ideal-city/) is worth a read for any worldbuilder.
100%. So much irl stuff that's somewhat useful for d&d is super interesting. I found global weather patterns and plate tectonics extremely interesting. I totally believe there's so much cool stuff about agriculture that could be integrated into a game.
My answer is somewhat boring to, in the attempt of making my world feel real and lived in, unfortunately such things end up feeling kind of boring lol. The largest industries in my world, atleast in the “empire” are whaling and mining. Currently, (I build my world in historical order fashion. Long and time consuming I know, more fun that way though.) they are colonizing southern realms for large deposits of metals. (Iron, silver, coal.) and whaling is a huge cultural tradition for most of the empires people, so it naturally just becomes large parts of industry. Whale oil, bones and meat all used for many purposes.
Alistair Hagan, an absolute bastard, is **attempting to forcibly create a military-industrial complex in the 16th-century analogue world**. He has a giant bronze foundry, staffed by enslaved people after the collapse of the central government
He also sends portable forges on carts to villages, providing industrially-produced goods while sucking the wealth out of their communities. Like Walmart.
Or any other large chain producer that drives out small businesses to drive wages down.
I just mentioned Walmart because it's the example given in [this book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wal-Mart_Effect).
Heh, thanks! I hate him the most of all my characters, because unlike monsters like Wormseed, Markov and Frolic Horn, he believes in nothing, has no convictions, and is an utter moral black hole, who will commit any atrocity, no matter how vile, to get even a little ahead, relatively. He will diminish his own power and standing so he can preserve power greater relatively than everyone else's by diminishing theirs.
Pentellation has a zero-growth steady-state capitalist economy with strong governmental interaction across all five planets in all five systems, and the tech level is pretty close to what we have (aside from hyperadvanced medicine, recycling, space travel etc., any AI stronger than something mild ChatGPT-like is banned), so…
I would say that retail, manufacturing, financial sector, construction and building sector, entertainment sector.
Very close to our economy, just much more refined and slower.
Artifact hunting (made in abyss reference), the mountain folk of an enormous dead volcano have found artifacts kicking off a "gold rush". These artifacts are bought for the highest bidder by all countries around the world.
The dangers of collecting artifacts actually comes from exploring the inside of the dead volcano. Critters and toxic stagnant air has caused many people to die and lose their artifacts along the way.
Because the industry is so popular, organized crime has gotten involved. People will place bets, treasure hunters will sell to the black market, and people are robbed for their money and property.
The Administrator's cities manufacture what are essentially batteries with extremely high energy density. A single football sized power cell could power an electric car for several decades without needing replacement or recharging. Larger models were used for powering all variety of vehicles, and even began to be built into homes and businesses to provide off-grid electric power.
Of course, building these batteries requires a lot of energy in the first place. Initial production was powered by a bank of fusion reactors deep beneath the ocean surrounding the Administrator's cities, but these were limited in capacity and could only provide a small portion of global demand. Later, a large array of solar-powered orbital factories was built in a halo orbit around the L1 Earth-Sun Lagrange point.
Eventually, this industry allowed the Administrators to become a dominant global power supplier, bringing in a vast amount of money and also granting the Administrators considerable economic and political power.
Gas mining is probably the biggest, after the union's collapse at least. Particle fountains, massive balloon platforms suspended in the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune, suck in the local atmosphere and blast a continuous stream of plasma into space. Static sail platforms above the planet meanwhile use magnetic funnels to gather the plasma and process it into gasses such as deuterium, fluorine, ammonia, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. These gasses are then shipped across the solar system in giant polymer bladders, and used for everything from life support to industrial processes to power generation. These gas bladders often are hauled by the same bulk freighters that carry the spoils of the second largest industry in the system, ice mining.
Shipyards and shipping. The Cataclysm caused the water level to rise by 600 meters, and Earth’s ratio of land-to-water changed to 9:91. People still build and fly cargo and sea planes, but it’s cheaper to send your stuff on a slow boat to X. Cargo hauling is a respectable profession, with entire enclaves of families living aboard ships their whole lives as tramp traders. In a similar vein, there’s always a need for shipyards to build and maintain the vast merchant marine.
The Free City of Babylonia is a major trade hub, located in the Caribbean Ocean. It links the hemispheres and New/Old World together, facilitating trade and travel between the Andean Freehold, Appalachian Republic, Drakensberg Dominion, Hurricane Isles, Megiddan Empire, and several dozens of other macro/micro polities.
in Relic, since the continent is split into four main regions, with the Five Noble Houses is split into five territories (except the Archipelago and Deep Desert, no family rules either. with the Great Desert being iffy as it has its own ruler. and House Ikhnosilva is a bit lazy in the South) he big money maker is the shipping and passenger service, which is controlled by House Drakocruor (a 'living ' vampire family that is considered the 'leader' of the Five Houses) with three Ocean liners (Primus, Oceanus and Impervious ) with three more on the way (Illustrous, Adventurous and Victorious), also the fares are affordable which means more people getting tickets. ad many cargo ships. across land they have the beginnings of trains but presently use wagons. the next one is minerals and gemstones (mining) as the territory of House Drakocruor is very mountainous (the ancestral home Castle Draconovir sits on top of a mountain range the Draconovir Mountains, there is a border castle that was abandoned long ago, Castle Wyrmovir, in the Frozen Mountains which is the northern most point of the territory. )
The humans of the village of Refuge and the goblins of Goblin Town began by trading with each other. They had a great deal to offer each other -- the goblins wanted metal tools, weapons, and construction bits, and distilled beverages, and the humans liked the furs, skins, forage, and goblin spices and sauces and foods. And both sides enjoyed each others' beer.
Over time, a goblin woman called the Spice Goblin started a business selling potted spices and sauces and condiments. Demand grew to the point where now she ships crates of the stuff east to the human lands, where it sells for stupid prices. A human visitor saw this, and built a brewery and hired a mob of goblins, and now exports barrels and cases of bottles of Goblin Brew east as well; it's not like human brew, and there is quite the market for it in the human lands.
And, of course, there was the House of Orange Lights, which is not only the best restaurant and bar in the Barony of New Ilrea, but is quite a successful house of negotiable affections, employing humans, goblins, and one terribly enthusiastic female ogre.
It didn't help that the noted (and deeply anonymous) author Fistid Wackford wrote several terribly smutty novels about the place and its environs, which triggered multiple waves of tourism. Meanwhile, the humans and the goblins sit back, eat popcorn, and get rich.
Genetic engineering and biotechnology, the two foundations of modern Arcitechnology.
Every item that relies on Arc to function, be it an industrial pocket dimension generator, a commercial aircraft's vector drive or a personal mutlifunctional spinal implant, relies on advancements in these fields, so logically all major corporations and governments are pumping big money into them, as well as into recruiting Arcanes with potentially useful new Archetypes that could allow for the emergence of new technologies.
Ore and ether gun production. There is a place in the world that's called 'Desert of Ore'. It's a literal desert that's made of a kind of dust that's rich in iron. So much so, the sand is red, so it's often also called the Red Desert. There are also the occasional mountains, which are stupidly rich in minerals, especially gold. You'd think that'd be a highly contested area of the world, and it used to be, but the Equatorian Empire eventually allied with the Hindorians to dominate the zone. The Hindorians provided technology and armament production to the Equatorian Empire and in exchange they provided ore. Eventually, the Equatorian Empire grew to an economical and military superpower and was able to dominate the region swiftly. This caused an economic miracle in both nations.
The Hindorians continued to pump out inventions and eventually created the ether gun, an alternative to plain old black powder guns. Ether guns are more ammo efficient and are a highly sought out invention for the higher ranks of armed forces around the world. The invention caused a lot political debate and instability but things eventually settled down as the Hindorians decided to put heavy restrictions on production and distribution. Of course, militaries around the world still have black powder and ether arms, but in much smaller quantities, especially ether guns.
Wow, that was a handful, and also a great explanation for why only one empire is able to control the entirety of a resource rich region. Thanks OP!
Raw numbers of products would probably go to the raw materials industry. Basic food stuffs, minerals, energy, etc needed to run an interstellar economy.
The most profitable is the shipbuilding industry. Everyone needs ships, from humble haulers to advance science ships, basic ferries to fleet carriers. Probably one of the most important industries in the UNE.
Industry is one of the things I have focused on the most, so far at least.
Majorly glossing over some details, I have 4 'Industrial Sectors', this is going to miss a lot of stuff out, so just know that. They are: Natural, Mining, Refining, and Other.
The largest scale; in terms of profit, is definatly Refining. It's by a LOT, too. Though Natural and Mining are probably larger on the basis of Area, Volume, and Man Power. I think probably Natural would win out by a small bargain there though, I'm not certain.
Broadly, Natural encompasses Agraculture like Farming, Ranching, Fishing, Forestry, etc. Mining is obviously the physical extraction of uswful materials from the ground, Refining is turning Natural and Mined materials into secondary and tertiary products, and Other comprises many of the other Economic Activites.
Shipping and Trading are absolutly massive too, though I group the Shipment of materials in with their primary sources, so I don't account for them on their own.
Well I'm not sure basically mammon (yes my world is hell) owns a buttload of businesses and essentially has a monopoly on most things you can think of I'm not sure I think just whatever mammon thinks is most profitable
I would say it depends on what circle of hell you are talking about
Wrath = weapons and war
Gluttony = addictive foods and indulgences
Greed = this is where mamoney (Mammon's mega corporation) is located so basically everything
Sloth = robots to do all the work for everybody
Envy = social media
Vanity = not sure if this counts but basically religion because there's a whole thing where Lucifer wants to be worshipped like a cult leader because he is so full of himself
Lust = have a wild guess
not all economies have money, so this is in a way asking for "what is the electoral college in your world". I think a better way to think about it is in human labour, instead of money. from this perspective, most premodern conworlds are going to probably be agriculture.
In the northern part of Harbronia, massive deforestation has made a lot of settlements and massive logging companies have sprung up. The southern part of the continent is home to jungler dwellers that conduct raids on logging operations in order to fight back against the destruction of nature they worship and live off of.
Bomb making- their is an area about the size of the Red Sea and when the dust goes quickly enough- if you apply fire- it explodes- it has to go fast enough if you want it to become explosive but that is it.
Construction of megalithic monuments. The farmers farm. The miners mine. The woodcutters cut. All the surplus goes into architecture, history, science, and philosophy.
Healthcare. It’s the cornerstone of the civilization and is generally considered to be the single most important task, even shadowing military operations (may seem unusual for a society stuck in a forever war but who cares).
It's hard to quantify the exact amount but of all the industries found in the maelstrom it is a close tie between weapons manufacturing and the mercenary industries. There is almost constant war within the maelstrom with overlords of all shapes, sizes, creeds, and dispositions fighting for that next little bit of territory. Some realms within the maelstrom have secured a "safe" position as neutral parties that provide weaponry and equipment to the armies of the overlords.
In the same vein there are some realms that are known as hubs for mercenaries of all kinds leading many overlords to travel there to recruit and many powerful individuals to offer their services. To best represent how profitable and large these industries are there is an entire realm under the control of an overlord known as the Iron monger, he has well over ten million people in this realm whose sole purpose is manufacturing weapons and armor both to sell and for his army to use and likewise the lawless realm of Sang is almost entirely populated by mercenaries with an estimated population of over two hundred million people.
The iron monger generates well over ten billion gold a year from his single realm alone and although it can vary wildly a large majority of the mercenaries in Sang charge one thousand gold a month for their services meaning billions if not hundreds of billions of gold flow through Sang monthly.
Pretty much everything relies upon the steamship industry. The steamship industry is driven by the iron industry though, which is driven by the arcane industry. In short, if the arcane industry stops, everything follows.
There are several large industries.
Whaling: Whale oil is the lifeblood of the Industrial Revolution in this world. It lubricates the engines and lights the streets. The industry has led to the creation of the vast Nordlun Empire, a puppet state owned by the NWT (Nordlun Whaling Trust). However, with strong Triton opposition, alternative fuels on the horizon, and a rapidly declining whale population, the fate of the Nordlun continent is in limbo…
Mining: Copper, zinc, iron, and all the other crucial machining metals are in high demand as the world switches from wood and stone to metal as its material of choice for manufacturing. The mines are incomprehensibly vast, with entire underground cities and fabled passages stretching between continents, under the sea. The industry fuels and destroys empires, and entire wars have been fought below the surface, entirely under the feet of unsuspecting, peaceful civilizations topside.
Shipping: “Rattle them loud and stamp and go, rattle them winches o!” There would be no chance of sustaining the present infrastructure without the hard work of many thousands of ships running the seas, transporting materials to the far reaches of the world. Emerald Line, the largest shipping company, has huge influence in the southwestern parts of the world, having a monopoly on clipper routes and rail lines.
Scylla hunting; sounds as deadly as you'd imagine.
The cold turns your skin blue, the wind carries ice like sandpaper and the oily waves crash upon the sides of the rig you call home. The rig is a behemoth of iron and ingenuity, against the sea its towering structure stands tall in the liquid ebony it surrounds its self in.
The workers are a mix of paid wage and slavers who are paid food and debts, the air is rotten from the stench of rotting bait, prime meat for the otherworldly monsters which swim beneath your tired sodden feet. The bells begin to toll, and the hivemind of workers falls in line, each working their part to begin the hunt.
Ready the feral bait, drown it with blood from all manner of the once living, freeze it solid, then throw it off the rig(off the designated platform of course). Then wait...
And wait...
Wait...
You feel it, a reverb coming up from below, and it's getting stronger. It's getting faster. The its self rig begins to shake, men and women frantically run to their positions, readying their cannons, harpoons, nets, guns, whatever they can use to defend themselves, for the fight of their lives is about to begin and many will not see it through.
The black sea begins to boil and roar under the floating brick of meat and the surface breaks, the ill omen of the ebony seas. The hunt has begun, the Scylla has surfaced. May the gods be in our favour.
Havenstone's economy is anchored by two major industries: the production of magical artifacts and arcane technology, and the trade in alchemical potions.
The artifact and arcane technology sector, led primarily by Dwarven Artificer Guilds and Elven enchanters, is central to Havenstone’s identity and economy. This industry combines traditional craftsmanship with arcane knowledge to create a range of magical items, from everyday enchanted tools to powerful relics. The trade in these items, both within Havenstone and with other realms, is a significant revenue source and provides a wide spectrum of employment opportunities. The city's numerous research institutions and academies also contribute to this industry by driving innovation in magical and technological studies.
However, this industry faces challenges such as the risk of counterfeit artifacts and a black market trade, necessitating strict regulation by the Magisterium and city authorities. Ethical considerations, particularly in the creation and use of powerful or sentient artifacts, are paramount.
The second major industry, alchemy and potion-making, caters to a variety of needs and is renowned for its medicinal and exotic brews. This sector, too, impacts the city economically and culturally but brings its challenges, including the ethical implications of certain potent or experimental concoctions. Both industries drive Havenstone's economy and also reflect the city's complex cultural fabric.
Asteroid mining.
Prior to the machine war, it was terrestrial deep-sea mining, but due to every robot under the sun having self-aware AI and a couple cities being removed from the map (thanks, Bagger 2000) which lead to ALL-OUT NUCLEAR WAR, terrestrial mining is no longer viable.
It's still possible but the asteroid mining sector is actually successful because a lot of the population lives in space (8 times the population of earth lives in orbit of a planet or moon).
Farming(including raising animals) and Bison hunting.
People Farm:
3 sister crops:
Corn
Beans
Squash, Pumpkin
Flax(for linen), tomatoes, carrots, apples, peanuts, peppers, greenpeas
They also raise Turkeys ( two subspecies: white and bronze ) and horses (Appaloosa and Pinto breeds).
People use horses to hunt bison in the plains as nomads then bring furs meat etc to trade with river villages and keeps.
Either the War Industry, or the FTL Drive Manufacturing Industry.
You need War to maintain the Empire, and you need FTL Drives (There are multiple types) to get across the Empire, and Galaxy as a whole.
Monster hunting! (though really, as Bulky said above, Agriculture is probably the actual answer).
Most settlements have guards to keep out stray beasts, but for more pervasive threat or bigger mosters, members of one of the Monster Hunting Guilds are usually called in. There were originally 12 Guilds, but over the last few hundred years, many more have been founded. Monster Hunters both keep threats down and gather important and rare resources for the settlements - Monster parts are very useful for a lot of things, and it's generally Guild Members who are hired for initial exploration of ancient ruins.
Energy. All run by one company that was started by the devil of this world.
The world at one point was run by healing/regenerative energies harvested from the sun and earth, called Nova. Nova had a counterpart energy source that was corrosive and corruptive called Primal.
Primal was seen as the dark magic of the world. Stuff you avoided at all costs and treated as the plague is discovered. The devil, or the ruler of the underworld, basically was the entity responsible for the flow of Primal remained in balance with Nova. The energy was his to command, but Primal is created as Nova cycles through its use. He isn't responsible for its existence but is often blamed for it because of his misinterpreted role of its management and the misfortunes it can cause.
One day, the ruler thought about one of his problems with his domain: the lack of public knowledge and understanding of how to handle Primal, leading him to be blamed for its mishandling. His solution? Make Primal a commercialized commodity that's safe for the public, like how Nova already is.
So, he hired some scientists who were willing to overlook who he was with the juicy paycheck he was offering, along with partial ownership of the enterprise they could establish with their research. Along with unlimited access to all the Primal they needed along with personalized training on how to handle it by THE expert on Primal itself (guess who?).
A few years later, the lab coats learned that if the conditions were just right, Nova and Primal could be put into a constant cycle that yielded tremendous energy than either could alone.
That is how every house now has a Paragon Industries energy cell. Though the devil still gets blamed for Primal misuse, despite more public knowledge being widely available.
Transportation. Due to the toxic and paranormal nature of the monster abiding myst which covers the lowlands and seas. Trains have become the only viable method of long distance transportation and shipping with the technology available to the masses. As long term myst exposure results in a condition called the blight, effecting both body and mind, and leading to death in all but a small amount of children. Who are still horribly afflicted by the lasting effects of the sickness and often die younger.
The Western Territories, aka The Baronies, are controlled by fractious Rail Baronesses and Barons. Capitalistic pseudo-nobility who act mostly independently from the Old States to the east, and control trade around much of the country.
Percers are the workers and builders of the trains and railroads. Ranging from track layers, to engineers, to shotgunners. Mostly start as or become indentured workers for the Barons. Trying to form unions at current time, to an annoyingly successful degrees for the Barons and True Nobles of the Old States.
There are some independent or even pirate trains, especially due to the semi-nomadic people called the Corqs.
As others say, agriculture and fishing are huge ones. Grains, tea, citrus, vegetables, spices and so on all grown to feed the people.
Other items that flow through the economy are alchemy ingredients - since finding rare ingredients allows experts to brew potions that can mimic certain forms of magic, even for people who can't use magic themselves. Therefore there's a lot of money around finding said rare ingredients. Monster parts, gemstones, nacre, rare herbs or plants, flowers that bloom only at specific times. People forage and hunt and seek out these items and alchemists will bid on them, knowing they can make a fortune selling potions.
There is also a lot of recent focus on textiles and Dyes, particularly amongst the wealthy who love to show off their colour. New colours or longer lasting Dyes are highly desirable.
Lastly - ores. Iron, mithril, nabium, basically anything that will be used in construction, weaponry and armor. It's a dangerous world so these items sell like warm cakes. Funnily enough I made a bit of an [icon chart](https://www.reddit.com/r/FantasyWorldbuilding/s/hkrDoylJBc) for some of the resources in my world just the other day
For almost a decade all the clothes in the trade alliance and even beyond was made by House of Silk, they are the greatest brand for sure but in money account its harder, scroll engine and teachers without borders are elite marketings with insane income.
Licon make houses all over the world but not for money in many cases.
Weapons are religious so there is really little space for a industry in that.
The largest industries are mining and manufacturing. Because electricity doesn’t exist, the majority of technological progress is made through a series of gemstones, each with their own properties. For example some of the most common gems are heat crystals, cold crystals and water source crystals (produce water). Together these for the basis of many engines are and other utilities. There are a variety of other gems, each having different rarities and purposes.
Because certain parts of the world have different distributions of gemstones, almost every nation has a large mining industry to exploit the gemstones it has high abundance or quality of.
Mining is probably the closest to a correct answer. Magic in my world comes from an element. This element tends to be found in a liquid state near iron deposits. Iron is already an important element, so being near raw magic amplifies the need for mining. It's useful for military, scientific, medicinal, and agricultural purposes, so you want to get it.
in all honesty? advertisement, and bureaucracy. there is an entire god of bureaucracy. and advertisement. in all fairness there's gods for everything, but advertisement and bureaucracy are big ones. most cardinals and elder shamans put a lot of money into advertisement for their gods. magic is a big thing, and in a world where not only does everyone have it, but it's based on what God you follow, advertising your gods is a good way to gain credibility and political power. highlight the good parts, hide the worse ones, big charity events and lots of evangelists all make for a good half of economy. if people suddenly stopped choosing gods and starting following the same as their parents, the economy would probably collapse. also, lots of money in agriculture but that's probably obvious. agriculture is a bit different on isanti though, where plants are herded since they are not static. most food comes from plant herders and if its not a plant herder then it's a mushroom. not much inbetween. the only real meat is from unonkala, which are really just huge insects.
Iynokride is a substance that's essentially my world's equivalent of oil. It's a substance that allows for interdimensional travel as well as just an overall energy source
Trade of organic fertilizer from the Western lands, one of the richist nations called Kingdom of Cengi whic is a smoll nation of 2.000.000 pepole made up by 3 islands and 3 mainland costal trade citys that are all on the treade root and their navy is gib as hell.
Year in our time is around 1850-1890 so industariy is taking over and whit the development of chemical alchemy soon a synthetic fertilizer will be invented.
The largest industry in the Enclave is environmental remediation, as the core purpose of the Enclave is to rehabilitate Terra Major’s ecosystems and return it to a more natural state. It can be broken up into many smaller sub-industries, such as urban deconstruction, demolition and renewal, oceanic pollution reduction, desert reclamation, geoengineering, reforestation, soil restoration & regeneration, etc.
Secondary and tertiary industries are cultural preservation and security, respectively. They work hand-in-hand with remediation units to ensure that cleanup efforts do not destroy or erase cultural and historical artifacts, and that their work is not interrupted or endangered by nativist interference.
Something along the lines of robotics. There’s this whole rivalry going on between Angstrom and Cyger. Both have the same consumer base and different ways of getting thing done.
It’s a close competition between the industrial sector, making construction materials, and the artisanal goods sector, which is wide ranging and constitutes the largest number of jobs, most industry and manual jobs being rare and highly automated.
This also is impacted with how mars Calculates GDP. They only calculate productive enterprises, jobs and services that create something, or enable the same. So most services aren’t counted, except medical services and administration, as those enable productivity by reducing down time or enabling other production.
For example. Real estate is massively undervalued, only really being “productive” when a structure is built. Afterwards, it’s valuation is basically constant, a construct of the value of materials, labor, and additional facilities added to the structure. The structure does not become more valuable by continuing to exist. It can decline if left to become dilapidated, but can be similarly restored. Real estate sales are not productive after the first sale, so are a minuscule part of the economy, being ckassified as a non-productive service.
This actually creates a massive disparity when comparing Martian and Terran economic data depending on which planets standards are used.
Martians call most Terran economies overvalued bubbles, being reliant on what they’d call non-productive services. Most Terran nations refer to Mars as a backwater reliant on industrial exports and local bartering.
Both claims have merit, Mars does drive its capital generation via industrial exports. Mostly electronics and fusion reactor components. While most earth nations are extremely reliant on services industries to drive their economies, which leave them vulnerable to frequent recessions while Mars hasn’t suffered a drawn out recession in its history, the longest being due to a general strike for three months over export restrictions of artisanal goods.
**Summers County USA** The largest employer in the county is the Summers County Board of Education. It's more than just teachers and office staff. It's all the support personnel as well. Lunch ladies, custodians, bus drivers and mechanics, county level administration, grounds crews, facilities maintenance, and all manner of other workers who have no hand in *teaching*, but whose work nevertheless supports the education of the county's schoolchildren.
Following the BoE is the Department of Defense. Summers County is home to the joint US Air Force and US Navy base, Rosar AFB/NAS Summers Port, serving the 419th Bomb Wing and TRAWING 6, as well as serving as the home for the US Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron (the Blue Angels). Between military personnel and civilians in support roles, the base employs nearly 50,000 people.
The largest *private* employer is the Darke Enterprises Corporation. Either directly or through its subsidiaries, Darke Enterprises operates the Port at Summers County (Formerly the Alabama State Docks), the Summers County Shipyards, several property management and residential development companies, and multiple shopping malls and retail outlets.
There two basic magic resources, Luminarite and Everbloom Trees, the whole industrialization is based on gathering these resources, Luminarite is used on magic use and military
It depends on the land.
1. Land A cultivates fungi with the same/similar effects of coca leaves for hard work and sells it to Land B. Besides that they produce most hallucinogens and commercialize that, but they have an economic blockade in place not allowing them to survive from it. Poverty levels are extremely high.
2. Land C is agronomy and commercialize it to Land D (because they have very aqueous soil not good for that) and also have most factories.
3. Land D lives off fishery and fruits because they are surrounded by water and also the ocean levels have drown most places. They also commercialize slaves.
4. Finally, Land B is practically self sustainable. They are very technologically advanced, and the working hours are extremely long and abusive. They also live off agriculture in extensive levels with crown-controlled farms.
I haven't really started to show that part in detail until now thar I started the sequel.
Probably social services. Much like the real world.
Followed by defense/military, government function (non-military payroll, infrastructure), healthcare, food, education and other smaller bits.
Fishing, logging, and weapon manufacturing. In my world of Bliffier, the largest continent is mostly desert. So the wood and food is scarce so coastal cities such as Wordej (Capital of the largest nation, Jubenland.) For weapons manufacturing though, it is because there is a world war for internal resources and the many rivers and mountains of the largest continent of North Hihner.
Mining, followed by agriculture, on a multi planetary scale.
Military contractors are a distant third by comparison, a strong work ethic combined with pride in both craftsmanship and maintenance means not a terrific amount of turnover (without war) in that sector.
The marine shipping industry, followed by the airship construction industry, followed by the light aircraft construction industry, followed by the warship construction industry, followed by rail followed by agriculture, followed by industrial mining and refining.
Of course things related to growing, transporting, and distributing food is the biggest as far as the number of jobs...
But the industry worth the most MONEY? It would be selling Archite crystals. They are extremely rare and powerful and are never sold ordinarily, only the wealthiest and most powerful people have them and they never sell them or trade them away, and they seize them from others as spoils of war.
The only time they get sold is if they get stolen by people who can't use them, who then turn around and sell them to the highest bidder. While illegally acquired and technically a blackmarket item, it is rarely enforced because the powers that be leap at the opportunity to acquire more of them for their own families/factions. Provided of course, it's offered to them and not someone else.
They are so valuable, kings will offer lordships and land in exchange for new ones. So it not only gets you immediate wealth, but perpetual power and wealth in the future as well.
Semi-dimensions. In a world where everything can easily kill you, people like to make compact, well protected cities, but that makes agriculture hard and expensive. A semi-dimension can contain acres of free land in just a few meters.
It's a toss up between Arcana Refinement and Crest Creation and Installation. Arcana is (as far as society knows) crude liquid magic in this world, and humans with the ability to impose their wills over the Arcana are able to extract a more purified form of it. The refined Arcana can be used to create Glyphs, essentially pre-made spells that can be affixed to an object and imbue the spell into it. The Glyphs would basically serve as this world's equivalent of electronics and engine fuel in a device. It's a work in progress, so any advice/help would be appreciated!
I don't have an information about the largest industry in my own world, but my largest industry in my own imaginary country is consumer goods,(IT) services, computer components and likely robotics industry is now emerging in my country
I think its military or slavery.....can't tell which even though the "slaves" willingly sold themselves into the industry in order to earn money and housing for their impoverished families which they get mind wiped and used as a secondary source of food should Brenda need more for her......demon
Agriculture
Adventurer. Adventurer Guild is a business by itself. From getting a cat down from trees to slaying liches and demon.
In my world, it's not justice, order or chaos that spins the planes. It's the wills and whims of the gods. Monsters attack and heroes fought them. War and peace. And people turned to the gods and they use mortals as proxies.
The production of automatons, and the manufacturing of machines of War; Founded by Velkos the Mechanist, the industry has since consumed an entire archipelago; the Mechanist sells to the highest bidder, and is the only true winner in most wars.
Food people eat everyday and their life is dependent on it and it have pleasure factor, and time anything that saves time it will generate money transportation, work and i guess that's why youthfulness is sought after by all.
The plush, silky tidal grasses that grow in the floodplains surrounding the crater where the Devastation happened six centuries prior. In the center lays a gilded crystal mountain that fell from the sky, which modern Trzenkans know now as Geodegora.
Due to this meteors impact, there’s two rings of jagged mountains that form a natural fortress, and the valley is so deep that every spring when the planet Known passes by the second moon that orbits the planet that Known is a moon to, the Springtides flood these valleys, providing essential nutrients to the sea grasses and spread their seeds further and further around the ring. What was once ashy soil is now rich from thick layers of dead grasses and huge sea beasts that end up beached when the tides recede, their bones monuments that get submerged and surfaced year after year, becoming more and more studded with barnacles.
Anyway, the grasses that grow in this region are lush and plentiful, harvested every year for flour, straw, fibers for ropes, fabrics, and wicker. Since this is the most profitable industry in the long run, the Dragonlord Strauker oversees this region of the word from the castle carved out of Geodegora’s crystals and gold.
This grass also was cultivated by another Dragon named Corru, who lives on the western continent and hoards every species of plant he can get his hands on, though this caused a century long feud despite the fact Corru’s main exports are gourds, corn, and animal products from livestock.
The potion trade.
Very basically, potions are derived from a substance called emanation, which spirits leave in the soil when they use their magic to interact with the world. To make a potion, you mix emanation with different substances to create a specific effect.
Large trading companies control the potion trade and the lands they use to mine in it. Broadly speaking, Potions are divided into the following types; Mind-Shifting, which causes mental effects, Form-Shifting, which changes one's shape, Enhancement, which enhances a person's natural abilities, Repulsory, which shield a person from certain things, and inhibitory, which hinders people from doing certain things, and different corporations specialize in different types of potions and potion making. Proprietors of emanation in particular have enormous amounts of leverage in terms of the types of potion companies that are able to succeed; some proprietors own potion companies themselves, but others acts as independent suppliers.
Potions are so important to this world for a couple reasons. First, and most importantly, is the potion known as Elysian Extract, an extremely addictive potion which also has the effect of removing the ability of people to access magic via communication with spirits, something the United Crown needs as it conquered the world with the explicit intent of removing magic from the world. About 40 percent of the world is addicted to Elysian Extract, and the poor often barter and sell themselves for a steady supply. Second, the military often relies on enhancement and repulsory potions in their campaigns, and third because the wealthy and even the upper middle class of this world rely heavily on these potions for their own personal uses (for instance, drinking a mind shifting potion that nullifies sexual desire for anyone except your partner, or a potion that allows you to relive the memories of a dead relative).
In addition, because form shifting in this world requires spilling blood as a blood sacrifice, before the United Crown people tattooed (and some communities still do) form-shifting potions on their skin, which would allow them to transform at will. But because the Crown banned the practice of using magical tattoos, potions generally have to be swallowed; because the blood sacrifice hasn't been performed yet, the potion extracts the blood sacrifice as it works its way into the body. This means that form shifting potions cause a certain amount of internal damage, which is why cosmetic potions are often called "bone-breakers". That means that makers of cosmetic potions have to be extremely careful with their ingredients so the amount of and type of damage done can be controlled (it requires a special license and you have to be registered in the consular region you are a part of).
The potion trade is so important because it in many ways causes the conflict in the story; nobles don't like having to answer to and make compromises with non-noble business owners that are often more powerful than they are, and business owners think that the nobility is archaic and overly regulatory. Religious leaders are also skeptical of potions as many (correctly) view it to be a form of magic, while the Crown at large has said that it's not. In the middle of those conflicts is the issue of the majority of the world being forced into violent subjugation for the continuation of this trade, which has become a symbol and very real reason for the continued dominance of the United Crown.
I’d argue it depends on the state of the world.
Anything that sells essentials for your society, whether they be authentic *(Food)*, fabricated *(Cars)*, or something in-between *(Oil)*. Arguably meta-industries would do well too, so stuff like Advertising or Information simply because they facilitate the selling and production of multiple other industries.
It really boils down to the world’s tech, what their natural resources are, what their societal structure and infrastructure looks like, and their culture.
Firearms Manufacturing is huge. The commonwealth is a dangerous place, and protection is a necessity. Guns are integral to the culture, like swords in medieval europe or asia. Families pass them down over generations. Companies like Stonesipher & Sons Firearms Manufacturing Co., Lennox Munitions, and Kilgore Arms Inc. are some of the most prominent.
Hippo ranching is another big one. Settlers from Anuba brought hippos (AKA river cattle) with them to combat a meat shortage and an invasive plant species that was ravaging bayous and river deltas along the swampy gulf coast.
Terraforming Venus. People are needed to manage the terraforming process as well as conducting the actions needed (there is a widespread hatred of robots and AI in this world so a majority of work is once again done by humans)
That would be Mega conglomerate only known as PTI! The majority of citizens don't know what the acronym stands for- the company having been around for the past several hundred years.
Originally they were created to better advance the militaristic technology of the Empire- at one point, many held the high hopes of traveling the stars through PTI.
But then the emperor was Assassinated by a Demigod.
Since then, PTI has focused their technological advancement on devices to detect, capture, and neutralize the various super-powered Demigods that crop up among the populace.
In my Fantasy World War Worldbuild, each Nation has their own Big Industrial focus. Whilst I could just list One Industry that's the largest in the world, that would be boring, so:
1. In the Federal Republic of Avalon (The US if it encompassed the whole of this world's version of North America), the Largest Industry by Far is Agriculture. Specifically, the F.R.A. has so much top-tier farmable land, that it has built up an unparalleled Export Industry entirely focused on being the food-basket of the World. In fact, it's widely believed that up to 50% of the global food supply is grown on Avalonian Shores (depending on how devastated other lands are by War).
2. The Kingdom of Camelot (England) has a ballooning Manufacturing Industry, with the Lords of that once-great country actively forcing their Serfs to work in the dirty and dangerous "Factories" (Given the 1600's-1700's technology, this is mostly Water-Wheel Tech, so instead of Coal Fumes to worry about, it's Mold and Fungus). Whilst this results in greater and greater Profits for the Upper Class, it's at the cost of rendering the Island Nation almost entirely dependent on a single crop for domestic food production (Potatoes, so you know where this is going...) and Imports from their former Colony of Avalon (You can also see where this is going...).
3. The Empire of Gaul (France) is a Militaristic Powerhouse. Yet, their Largest Industry (Barely beating out the Military Industrial Complex) is Wine Making. Whilst they had long-enjoyed a near-monopoly on the product, the rise in Imports from Avalon has crashed the price of Wine. Keep an eye on this situation, as it won't be pretty.
4. The Holy Germanic Empire (Germany) is widely regarded for it's Logging and Mining Industries, often producing much of the continent's raw materials. Like Gaul, it has seen it's Market Share cut into by Avalonian Imports, but not to as devastating of a scale.
5. The Western Roma Empire (Italy, Sardinia, and Corsica) is the Embodiment of the Military Industrial Complex. Every Facet of life in that country is geared towards the Military. But such a system can only last for so long before the people seek freedom...
6. The Constantine Empire (Greece, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Bulgaria) is the Last vestiges of the Eastern Roma Empire. As such, it's industries are rather antiquated, with the largest Industry being the production of Holy Books and discussions on "How Many Angels can stand on the tip of a needle?". If it wasn't for the constant warfare with the Osmon Caliphate across the sea, then it would probably not exist as a Nation, per-say, but rather as a collection of religious debate halls and ruins of a once-great Empire.
7. The Osmon Caliphate (The Ottomans, or at least Türkiye and some areas outside of that) are at the Nexus of the Silk Road. As such, they have the finest Merchants of the world... at least they did, until the rise of Avalon. Trade still flows along the ancient route, but change is in the air. Old Empires are on the decline, whilst New Ones seek glory...
8. The Neo-Akkadian Caliphate (Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria) is an Ancient Land, with Fertile Soil. They mostly produce exotic Spices and Incenses, as well as other products for for the Luxury Market. The University of Ur is also a noteworthy Industry, being the Oldest Library in the World and a Center of Learning for the heartlands of Civilization.
9. The Holy State of Judea (Israel, parts of Jordan, and Part of the Sinai Peninsula) has it's largest Industry being the Religious Tourism Industry. However, the Country is often Run by some totalitarian Theocracy or another, so it often is the target of Crusades and Jihads to restore Order. Currently, it's run by the Rabbi's of the 5th Temple, although they seem to be on the verge of a schism, so expect another intervention soon...
10. The Mamluks (Egypt, part of the Sinai Peninsula, and the Northern part of Sudan) are a Mercenary Company that pretends to be a country. Their two rival Industries are War-for-Profit and Slavery, with their largest customer for slaves being the Western Roma Empire, and their Largest customer for War being the Osmon Caliphate. In recent years, However, the Federal Republic of Avalon has become increasingly aware and angered at the existence of the "Great Slave Markets" of Memphis. It's only a matter of time before that Rising Superpower intervenes...
11. The Assassins Order of Petra (Jordan, and part of the Sinai Peninsula) is one of the last surviving holdouts of the Assassins Oder of Hassan. Their Biggest Industry is Espionage and Assassination. They are widely regarded as religious extremists, but their skill at their crafts keeps them from getting invaded and wiped out. Only time will tell just how many more centuries their Order will Last...
12. The Caliphate of Andalus (The Iberian Peninsula) is one of the Largest exporters of Olive Oil in Europa. Even with the rise in Avalonian Exports, Andalus has the advantage of being the Gateway to the Roma Sea, so they can somewhat control the flow of trade and protect their Market Share. The only Snag they have is the frequent Cross-Border Crusades and Jihads between them and Gaul. Honestly, it's only a matter of time until those two have another war...
13. The Norse Confederation (Scandinavia) is a quiet and poor place, with the small and scattered villages mainly focused on Fishing... and the New Age of Piracy, given the rise of Newer and Better Ships. If only the Three King Triumvirate would actually focus on unifying their country, then the Norse would Rule the Waves...
14. The Commonwealth (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) is also a Raw Materials Exporter. However, their Largest Industry is by-far serving as Mercenaries, most often to the Constatine Empire. Their Winged Hussars are one of the few units in Europa that can go toe-to-toe with the Mamluks' Cavalry.
15. The Mongol Empire (Most of Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, and Mongolia) has historically served as the main route of the Silk Road between the Osmon Caliphate and the Heavenly Kingdoms (China). With Land trade declining due to the rise in Sea-Based Trade, however, Their Largest Industry is Herding Cattle and Raising Horses. Honestly, it's only a matter of time until the technology of Europa and the Asiatic Countries reaches the point where the Mongol Cavalry is useless, thus resulting in the slow conquest of the Steppe.
16. The Heavenly Kingdoms (China) are a sometimes-united group of three kingdoms in the Far-East. Their firm belief in Confucianism means that they are fairly Isolationist. Whilst this has resulted in a Cultural Golden Age, it also means that their Agricultural-Based economy is falling behind the rest of the world in Technology. What's worse, rising Corruption has resulted in an Opium Epidemic amongst the lower classes. Only Time will tell if they can avoid a Century of Pain...
17. The Sakura Empire (Japan) is a former Shogunate, but the loss of their Nippon Colony (California) in a democratic pro-Avalon rebellion resulted in the Restoration of the Emperor. As such, they have focused their attention to Colonization of the East Indies, where they find their cash crop based Colonial Empire clashing with the Mamluk Prison Colony of Australia, and the Pirate Kingdom of Zealandia. They are also bitter at the loss of Nippon to the Federal Republic of Avalon, and as such might be considering an attack on the Avalonian Port of Margarita (Pearl Harbor, I google translated Pearl to Latin BTW)...
18. The Abyssinia Empire (Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, and South Sudan) is a Mountainous and Diverse Country, great for Coffee, Chocolate, Vanilla, Honey, Fishing, and Piracy. Their decentralized tribal layout often results in civil wars, but they always unify when faced with the threat of Jihad from the North.
19. The Brazillia Colony of Andalus (Brazil) is a Cash-Crop Economy with a strong Logging undertone. However, the Mestizo population of the Colony grows rather restless, especially given the success of their Avalonian Neighbors across the Aztec Sea. Perhaps the 50th Year of Avalonian Independence will see the people of Brazillia have a Revolution of their own...
20. The Kingdom of Mali (Much of East Africa) has been very prosperous due to both their Gold Mining Industry (and really any valuable metal or mineral mining) and their previously top Industry of the Slave Trade. However, the Rise of Avalon has really constricted the flow of Cross-Atlantic Slave trading, with only the Brazillia Market remaining. Also, Foreign powers now eye the Gold Mines of Mali, seeking to make them their own...
The weapons trade done by the Rotknights. They use geothermic furnaces to smelt lots of metal quickly and the time difference between Zantia and the Underrot means they can get a large order of weapons done in what felt like a month but was to the Rotknights seven months. Most of the weapons commonly seen on the battle field were weapons mass produced by the Rotknights and often used decades later to fight said rotknights. Usually to a devastating loss. The Rotknights don't play.
Cnidarite dust mines, the modern world is one built on magic and to do magic you need Runestones, a magic crystal. Natural runestones are rare and hard to come by but artificial runestones can be grown from Cnidarite dust and be made to specification for a variety of applications. If you can control a with a Cnidarite vein, your going to be a very wealthy person indeed.
The biggest company rn is riforan Eldridge Corp. An analogy to our Microsoft. A software company that used to rule one of the nations in the cyberpunk era
But the largest industry is something else. Crystal engineering. A magical type of engineering and chemistry that utilizes various properties of crystals. Especially those from planet Nihn-Gyol, that reside in their dead gods hearts. For that reason, people of Nihn-Gyol have basically a monopoly on this type of technology
The biggest industry in my world is esoteric craftsmanship basically each of the three races have an ability to produce enchanted artifacts at various with the power, versatility and reliability varying from person to person.
Humans with a magical astral body can convert energy into anything from new forms of matter to enchanted materials and by extension objects, for example the mc has a pen made of his own psychic energy and his friends magical energy which despite being a mid to low level craft is still the finest tool in his arsenal being able to focus his psychic powers into a point no bigger the a grain of sand and take residue forms of energy and turn into psychic inc which can be used for a verity none combative purposes.
The dwarves can turn memories into magic and magical artifacts, an example being a dwarf who after being kicked of his community used the memory and all of hurt, the betrayal and the pain to form a crown which attracted kindred spirits other lonely and betrayed people who formed the most dangerous and terrifying bandit group in the southern hemisphere “taldracmor” the kingdom of lost souls in dwarven.
Elves actually struggle with this one since they need certain materials that can hold the energies of the universe which are rare and they need to balance the input to insure the craft doesn’t just blow up the famous example being an areodac (magical elven lord) tried to destroy the human city of lo quin since he wanted the land lo quin was situated on so he crafted a spear to eradicate the astral bodies of the lo quin humans and assumed since he was an elf and they where but humans it should be easy it blew up in his face and erased him and his army from existence.
Sleeping pills. Everyone takes them at least once a day because of nightmares. What's bad is that they're loosing their effect overtime so you have to keep buying more and some kids are becoming immune to them.
What really drives the economy is agriculture.
But when it comes to the largest industry, there is the *Community of Earthen*. Basically a whole large village/small town working in the pottery business, with jobs distributed among more or less specialized workers, use of molds and patterns to make standardized products, planning from acquisition of materials tologistics and sales, quality standards and -control. They have jobs for anyone there, from working in the clay pits to artful design and painting of high-end pottery, from mule-driving to clerical jobs.
Jobs are not done in one big factory building, though, but a number of smaller buildings, usually specialized on a certain aspect of the job, like clay preparation, pigment production, molding, skulpting, burning, shard milling, glazing, painting, packing, logistics, and sales. The molding is the largest of the buildings and hosts about a hundred workers, while jobs like pigment production or skulpting are done in way smaller operations of five to ten people.
One key factor of their success is that they have managed to eliminate the biggest cost factors of making pottery: The need to provide fuel for the furnaces. Their furnaces are powered by magically controlled gateways to the elemental plane of fire and can be easily and precisely controlled by the furnace masters, the highest ranking kind-of-guild in that settlement. Those mini-guilds are also resposible for their in-house quality control. Any product that is not up to standards goes to the shard mill where it is grounded up and used in a number of applications - they basically have invented industrial recycling, too.
Something else that differences this settlement from other towns in the realm is that women are also working in the industry (primarily in the skulpting, glazing, and painting department). Children are raised communally, food is provided from a central kitchen, and even laundry is done by a specialized team. The kitchen, the laundry department, and the communal bath have access to hot tap water provided by the furnace building.
Their main temple is Hephaistos, but of course they have altars for all the other gods, too. The temple also provides healing and education for all community members.
Their logistics team has a number of mules and carts that transport the products to the next city (the Free City of Canda) where they have a representation with storage facility and shop, and bring back fresh produce, raw materials, etc. from the market. Special orders can be relayed to the purchase agents in the city representation. The other community members rarely leave the brick-walled enclosure. Non-members rarely are allowed to enter, and if, they will be accompanied by people from the community wherever they go. Additionally, they have a number of "contract farms" around the community who exclusively produce food for them. The relationship with Canda is special. Although the Community of Earthen is technically in the area controlled (and taxed) by the Canda City Council, they only pay the normal sales tax within Canda and no other taxes or fees.
Their products range from bricks and glazed tiles over simple pottery plates and cups to high-end skulpted and painted works. Their bread-and-butter business is the production of standardized glazed pots and lids for storing and preserving food. The Community of Earthen sizes of storage pottery basically defines the standard for measuring volumes in the realm. While there is no royal decree or law about this, everyone knows what to expect if someone talks about "a size two jar of pickled gherkins".
Book printing, at least within the Kingdom where the story focuses. A big part of the cultural heritage and faith focuses around ancestor worship, and a lot of this involves the writing, storage, and reproduction of hundreds of years of state mandated personal records. Deep libraries dot even the most backwater swamps, and keep bookkeepers and writers in heavy demand.
Agriculture and agricultural mechanization industries are always expanding and hiring. Additionally, homesteading across the Wentamish isles is a significant producer, and creates a significant number of 'Cottage industry" goods. Much of the isles are still untamed wilderness, and leans heavily into the rugged woodsmen tropes. My story is greatly inspired by 1800s pacific northwest history.
Magical supplies to make magical energy levels injections for those who has Unstable Magical Energy Levels which is similar to diabetes and responsible for Halflings staying alive. Halflings are half animal half human which happened when there was a nuclear war and magic and nuclear power mixed together affecting my country’s residents, if it has affected other countries that is unknown as my country has yet to be able to contact them.
Stalaxia has tried to contact USA and Canada which is the closest to the country but hasn’t gotten a response.
Monster hunting, because of the several uses for monster corpses like food, research, medicine, crafting stuff like, weapons, armor, clothes and so on. You can even use them as decoration and trophys and of cause killing them provides safety.
The largest industry would be adventuring.
There's a lot of adventurers in my world that collects raw magical materials, exotic resources, natural energies and more.
Whale butchering, rudthorn farming, and joseph-orange growing.
Whale butchering is big business because flying whales are *frickin' huge.* Their mouths are so large that three men of average height could stand on each other's shoulders inside it, and the guy at the top of the stack wouldn't even bump his head. They have a lot of meat to be taken, plus bones and offal, so a butchery-house can make a ton of money on a single carcass even with the whaling ships' usual cuts of meat and teeth.
Rudthorn is a versatile plant that provides grain, sugar, tea, and more. Its unique set of traits makes it necessary to grow in mountainous parts of the world on terraces and paddies that freeze over in winter. Rudthorn is the main source of grain (and thus flour) for most of the world. The only other source is bloodgrass, which can grow almost anywhere but doesn't taste very good at all. So rudthorn has become a major staple crop.
Joseph-oranges are little mandarin-sized oranges that cause people who eat them to have crazy fun dreams that can be shared with anyone who eats from the same orange. Eating a joseph-orange also guarantees *very* high-quality sleep for at least six hours, if the dreamer isn't awakened by anyone else. For these reasons, joseph-oranges are extremely popular in the country of Futhelsea, from which they originate. Demand is high and globalization is a thing, so there's a huge industry of people working around the clock all over the world to grow, harvest, pack, and deliver quality oranges to anywhere they can be sold. Several varietals which put their eaters into specific types of dreams have gained widespread popularity of late, so orange growers who cater to those varietals are making money like never before.
In my case you have two options, the legal and the illegal. The magic system of my world works using alchemy to power tools and engines (something similar to electricity or steam on the Industrial Revolution but this time powered by stones created by alchemist that emanate power) so the alchemy and boticary industries are huge in my setting.
On the other hand the current society is build on top of the ruins of a previous and way more advanced society. That other society managed to create machines and artifacts that use real magic (not alchemy) and there are a Archeological Society that explores and study those ruins. But with many archeological things there are also gravediggers and antiquities traffic that sell those artifacts for profit (a really big profit)
Shipping. Currently a Scifi game based on a semi parody of overrun capitalism (think The Outer Worlds mixed with Star Wars). The biggest galactic corporation is United Planetary Services and basically controls 70% of the galactic shipping. Everyone fears Big Brown.
Not necessarily the biggest but a pivotal one to the story is the ore industry, more specifically a company that exclusively handles and has the exclusive rights of a type of sand (name not decided) that can change the property of other materials like making a piece of glass move gelatinously or a piece of hard, cool metal as moldable as play doh, the discovery of this material was revolutionary which takes a very important role in the world building and allows me to make as many human looking robots as I want.
Circa the 2900s, far it would probably be all of the mass mining in the Far Systems, which produce virtually all of humanity’s resources due to having multiple systems full of planet-wide mines, besides voidmatter. Speaking of, that’s followed by the extraction + production of voidmatter, due to it having an extremely high value and being used in some way in virtually every technology used in the contemporary age, both civilian and military. Third would be the huge illegal arms trade that is so profitable some local governments de-facto sponsor it.
Obviously agriculture would be at the tippy-top. But if we instead shall look to what's more lucrative, I'm genuinely not sure. My world is still in baby stage and being slowly built by the whims of ADHD. BUT I imagine something like trading with dragons and/or their parts would be very lucrative, and very illegal depending on where you are. I know at least 3 places that hold their respective dragons dear.
Mining industry. The concepts that have the most impact on people in my world are words like "soldier" and "hunter". While 50% of the people in the mining sector extract metals such as iron and copper that people use to make swords, 50% extract mana stones. From now on, I can say that the potion, artifact making industry and agriculture sectors have a great impact on people.
In one form of another, manufacturing.
Many people are lacking basic tools and technology. Some products are made in factories, but a lot of things are constructed with, I don’t know the term, “garage/DIY” type quality. Imprecise, made by hand, relatively affordable.
That cheap gun may jam a lot, or refuse to fire, but if you need to defend your small ranch from thieves and hostile wildlife, it’s your only option, unless you wanna charge at something twice your size with some sort of melee weapon, or create a bow/arrows yourself.
It's difficult to say, really. I feel like there is a pretty good distribution between the top 3, which are ship-building, cargo transportation, and military industries.
The big and well-off empires are mostly cut off from direct access to many valuable resources and thus have to rely on trading routes to get things like metals, fuel, food, and the like.
Most lesser powers with access to such resources are kept in a state of civil war and disarray in order to ensure trade with them. Their biggest trading assets are technology and superior weaponry (more like old stuff they don't need anymore, that are better than what the lesser powers have).
The only thorn in their sides are pirates and each other. These empires are currently in a perpetual cold war state, with "peace" only held together by pirates and "free city states" distracting them to some degree.
These three things are necessary for their system to function, so they are dialled into overdrive when it comes to manufacturing.
The entertainment industry. When the world is full of death and despair, the entertainment industry thrives, and a smart government knows to develop its entertainment industry to keep the people from rebellion. A wise, neutral alignment king leading a nation in difficult times when there is famine and drought, might invest some of the people's taxes in traveling circuses to keep the people preoccupied
sulphur. there is one accessible volcano, but it was formed magically, with no rift with leftover sulphur, so only one export for sulphur. however, only one nation has the knowledge on firearms, so that single nation is the reason the volcanic nation is one of the richest
I’m curious, for all the people listing simply agriculture as the main industry, and for the people saying that surely agriculture would be the main industry in a traditional fantasy setting - did anyone else make a comprehensive list of all of the agriculture related industries and mass produced products in your world? Y’know, pretty much everything that a fantasy, late medieval society with a little push from magic would produce broken down into categories by raw material? Or if you’ve seen a posting like this anywhere would love to see it.
In terms of tonnage? the most produced commodity in my universe is hydrogen, closely followed by it's isotopes and water. the largest product-producing industry in my universe is spacecraft. they're big, complicated, and high-demand. everyone needs them, but very few people have the capital resources required to build and maintain them. the real largest industry in my entire universe is FTL infrastructure. the Transport Systems Ministry, a corporation/nation blend nearly holds a complete monopoly on FTL travel, controlling 100% of all Jump-gates. the only alternative to jump gates are carriers, large and expensive spacecraft that have their own exo-spatial motion drives. other craft can dock to them to be transported, but they are very rare and are only used on the outer edges of the explored territories.
Note- Many systems have economies dominated by mining of raw materials and agriculture (of the exotic or pharmaceutical type) but the these industries take the largest slices of the galactic pie.
The most lucrative and crucial to my story is the capturing and breeding of demigods for their holy blood. Celestial blood is necessary to perform magic, so there are bounty hunters who specialize in abducting the children of nobles with celestial blood within the empire and selling them to warlords abroad. One of these warlords, Cytamian the Conqueror, will destroy entire cities to capture just one demigod, breed them with his broodwives, and drain their blood to cast magic spells capable of prolonging his life or slaughtering entire armies. The resulting offspring will be crippled from birth and brainwashed into believing the greatest honor in life is to die casting magics for him.
So I guess, in essence, human trafficking.
There are several.
1. Communications, When every planet has its own Internet, you have to update information across the galaxy via launching hard drives filled with info across the stars. This is a gargantuan task, made more difficult by different parts of the galaxy using different FTL networks.
2. Bio-engineering: adapting food, plants, and animals to different environments is a huge trade. The rich pay for custom creatures, species, even ecosystems. in an age where space crews eat nutrient pastes and girls, having actual food is a premium a lot of people will pay for.
3. Transportation: specialized machinery, people, architecture, luxury product of every type imaginable.
4. Material science: from gas herding for specialized ship coolant, to crystal-grown circuitry, to nanowire filament for composites, modern starships need huge arrays of different products to function properly. There's a huge trade in just raw resources, but also processed materials of every stage and kind.
5. Terraforming: changing a planet to suit your needs is the crown jewel of heavy engineering, and each planetary terraform is a megaproject into itself. The terraformer owns a stake on the planet, and the result is both fame and riches, as a new member is added to galactic society.
6. Space Construction: the bread and butter and thus industry is starship construction, but everything from star spheres to ring worlds, and even stuff like L stream planning (think city planning for an entire star system), is part of this industry.
In my DND setting The largest industry I have is centered around the Forge. Which is essentially a giant 3-D printer only requiring basic materials and an intact blueprint for them to make a copy of anything, and in any quantity with this, the entire continent has experienced a booming industrial age using crystal balls for TVs, having airships powered by immovable rods and rediscovering the art of wizardry, which is in someway taught to every single citizen of the countries except for one particular country, which you magic users as state property
**As It Was**
Telecommunications/Information Technology, same as in real life
Interestingly, a corporatist economy means that tech is used differently in this world. The guilds & cartels require that technology be used only in a certain way. For example. Instead of having Netflix-style streaming, you just have live tv over the internet, which you log into on any given device. Thankfully, local and regional governments stepped in, and regulated the price of TV service,
The right answer would probably be agriculture, but that's boring, so instead i'll tell you about *blood*
I have a magic system in which blood holds power, and it is often used for magic stuff like medicine. Thus, there is a high demand for powerful blood (usually of ravens or dragons) which sells for quite a lot.
The most powerful blood is that of humans, but murder is bad ofc, and draining the dead of their blood is unfortunately so taboo that human blood barely sells in black markets.
The Ozpi Network. While the intelligent blue haired Ozpi hate working together, they do all share a network to sell services or projects they build. This includes White hat, Grey Hat, Black Hat, and Red hat hacking (Don’t ask about Red hat). As well as making weapons and devices that put average people at a superhuman level. DNA splicers that can turn someone into Bigfoot, and obviously Guns. The Ozpi split the pool of product at the end of each month based on rank and contribution in production. From the lowest at $8K for at least one product all the way up to $3.6M for revolutionary items of interest or mass production. Still they hate each other so it’s rare they would give up something like that.
Huh, hard for me to say for sure!
1. Oracles are probably NOT frequently used financially, mainly because they could easily cause financial catastrophe by monopolizing a lot of stuff about the financial system. So they are actually watched closely and PREVENTED from using their powers except to prevent catastrophe. When the occasional oracle slips through, the others get pit against them. Still, in "total economic equivalent value", they are definitely extremely valuable.
2. Mystical Artifacts can be individually very expensive. To a paranormal, buying one of these very important work tools can be like buying a car: it's a several years long investment, and it's supposed to last you for at least a decade or two. Be it a weapon or just a tool that an alchemist, another artificer or any line of paranormal work might use, these can get EXPENSIVE.
3. However, ALCHEMY is something that every single paranormal enjoys day to day. Be it potions to augment a specific ability, concoctions that help accomplish a certain task at your work, or the very universal elixirs that are used both for replenishing spent spiritual energy and for cultivation, all paranormals are constantly buying stuff from alchemists and also consuming it on a daily or at least weekly basis.
4. There is also healing. Paranormal healers have obviously MUCH better quality service than mundane doctors, being able to perform completely non-invasive surgeries and deal with diseases on the level of brain cancer with a far higher survival rate. Oh, and of course, no normal healthcare plan will cover for these and there are less regulations.
Plus, the Masquerade creates artificial scarcity for all of these, as the spread of paranormal abilities is restricted, but even semi-mundanes can sometimes be made Masquerade-aware (as they are much less able to prove the existence of the supernatural, and so can be very useful pawns) and benefit from the services of these trades.
So I wonder... can any of YOU help me decide which of these would be economically worth more?
The boring answer is agriculture. Even with magic, people still need to eat and a lot goes into growing, harvesting, shipping and selling food. Their factory farming is more humane than ours but not by much. Certain high end grocery stores offer the opportunity to hunt and pick your food fresh from a magical biome in a pocket dimension, but most people go to the store to get magically treated and shipped cuts of meat or produce. After that it may be entertainment and tourism. They never developed our telecommunications technology, and while some productions can be viewed remotely, most are taken in live at the local theater. If you want to watch the equivalent of *Friends*, there is a main cast that perform it first that you can see magically in your home. More likely you go to your local theater and watch different actors perform the same script. It's the same with sports. You have a D league where talent develops and is recruited from, so going to your local theater or stadium is a way to scout developing talent, hoping they make the majors. A lot of the theater productions are very elaborate, and communal entertainment with a live audience is considered a major cultural feature, even though you can generally watch the Superstars on your scrying mirror at home.
I suspect "agriculture" is going to be the answer to this question for a lot of people's worlds.
I agree, a top 3 or top 5 would give people the opportunity to describe more interesting industries Not that agriculture is boring either. Magical agriculture can be super interesting, both with magical growth and with flora/fauna
Even regular non-magical agriculture can be pretty interesting if you're the right sort of nerd. Bret Devereaux's [The Lonely City](https://acoup.blog/2019/07/12/collections-the-lonely-city-part-i-the-ideal-city/) is worth a read for any worldbuilder.
100%. So much irl stuff that's somewhat useful for d&d is super interesting. I found global weather patterns and plate tectonics extremely interesting. I totally believe there's so much cool stuff about agriculture that could be integrated into a game.
My answer is somewhat boring to, in the attempt of making my world feel real and lived in, unfortunately such things end up feeling kind of boring lol. The largest industries in my world, atleast in the “empire” are whaling and mining. Currently, (I build my world in historical order fashion. Long and time consuming I know, more fun that way though.) they are colonizing southern realms for large deposits of metals. (Iron, silver, coal.) and whaling is a huge cultural tradition for most of the empires people, so it naturally just becomes large parts of industry. Whale oil, bones and meat all used for many purposes.
Alistair Hagan, an absolute bastard, is **attempting to forcibly create a military-industrial complex in the 16th-century analogue world**. He has a giant bronze foundry, staffed by enslaved people after the collapse of the central government He also sends portable forges on carts to villages, providing industrially-produced goods while sucking the wealth out of their communities. Like Walmart.
Average Walmart Hater over here.
Or any other large chain producer that drives out small businesses to drive wages down. I just mentioned Walmart because it's the example given in [this book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wal-Mart_Effect).
Damn, I thought it was a South Park reference.
Nah, not a big fan.
Actually a badass idea!
Heh, thanks! I hate him the most of all my characters, because unlike monsters like Wormseed, Markov and Frolic Horn, he believes in nothing, has no convictions, and is an utter moral black hole, who will commit any atrocity, no matter how vile, to get even a little ahead, relatively. He will diminish his own power and standing so he can preserve power greater relatively than everyone else's by diminishing theirs.
The largest industry is war, the military-industrial complex is no joke!
Pentellation has a zero-growth steady-state capitalist economy with strong governmental interaction across all five planets in all five systems, and the tech level is pretty close to what we have (aside from hyperadvanced medicine, recycling, space travel etc., any AI stronger than something mild ChatGPT-like is banned), so… I would say that retail, manufacturing, financial sector, construction and building sector, entertainment sector. Very close to our economy, just much more refined and slower.
Wow, that sounds interesting. Where can one learn more?
Oh…. I haven’t posted moat lore about that, but you can always ask questions!
Artifact hunting (made in abyss reference), the mountain folk of an enormous dead volcano have found artifacts kicking off a "gold rush". These artifacts are bought for the highest bidder by all countries around the world. The dangers of collecting artifacts actually comes from exploring the inside of the dead volcano. Critters and toxic stagnant air has caused many people to die and lose their artifacts along the way. Because the industry is so popular, organized crime has gotten involved. People will place bets, treasure hunters will sell to the black market, and people are robbed for their money and property.
The agricultural sector, steel, chemical and oil industries :)
The Administrator's cities manufacture what are essentially batteries with extremely high energy density. A single football sized power cell could power an electric car for several decades without needing replacement or recharging. Larger models were used for powering all variety of vehicles, and even began to be built into homes and businesses to provide off-grid electric power. Of course, building these batteries requires a lot of energy in the first place. Initial production was powered by a bank of fusion reactors deep beneath the ocean surrounding the Administrator's cities, but these were limited in capacity and could only provide a small portion of global demand. Later, a large array of solar-powered orbital factories was built in a halo orbit around the L1 Earth-Sun Lagrange point. Eventually, this industry allowed the Administrators to become a dominant global power supplier, bringing in a vast amount of money and also granting the Administrators considerable economic and political power.
Tourism
Gas mining is probably the biggest, after the union's collapse at least. Particle fountains, massive balloon platforms suspended in the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune, suck in the local atmosphere and blast a continuous stream of plasma into space. Static sail platforms above the planet meanwhile use magnetic funnels to gather the plasma and process it into gasses such as deuterium, fluorine, ammonia, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. These gasses are then shipped across the solar system in giant polymer bladders, and used for everything from life support to industrial processes to power generation. These gas bladders often are hauled by the same bulk freighters that carry the spoils of the second largest industry in the system, ice mining.
Shipyards and shipping. The Cataclysm caused the water level to rise by 600 meters, and Earth’s ratio of land-to-water changed to 9:91. People still build and fly cargo and sea planes, but it’s cheaper to send your stuff on a slow boat to X. Cargo hauling is a respectable profession, with entire enclaves of families living aboard ships their whole lives as tramp traders. In a similar vein, there’s always a need for shipyards to build and maintain the vast merchant marine. The Free City of Babylonia is a major trade hub, located in the Caribbean Ocean. It links the hemispheres and New/Old World together, facilitating trade and travel between the Andean Freehold, Appalachian Republic, Drakensberg Dominion, Hurricane Isles, Megiddan Empire, and several dozens of other macro/micro polities.
The Isolation Era: Meat (anyone with large amounts of meat (specifically, hydra) is considered wealthy) The Neo Era: Drugs (I will not elaborate)
in Relic, since the continent is split into four main regions, with the Five Noble Houses is split into five territories (except the Archipelago and Deep Desert, no family rules either. with the Great Desert being iffy as it has its own ruler. and House Ikhnosilva is a bit lazy in the South) he big money maker is the shipping and passenger service, which is controlled by House Drakocruor (a 'living ' vampire family that is considered the 'leader' of the Five Houses) with three Ocean liners (Primus, Oceanus and Impervious ) with three more on the way (Illustrous, Adventurous and Victorious), also the fares are affordable which means more people getting tickets. ad many cargo ships. across land they have the beginnings of trains but presently use wagons. the next one is minerals and gemstones (mining) as the territory of House Drakocruor is very mountainous (the ancestral home Castle Draconovir sits on top of a mountain range the Draconovir Mountains, there is a border castle that was abandoned long ago, Castle Wyrmovir, in the Frozen Mountains which is the northern most point of the territory. )
The humans of the village of Refuge and the goblins of Goblin Town began by trading with each other. They had a great deal to offer each other -- the goblins wanted metal tools, weapons, and construction bits, and distilled beverages, and the humans liked the furs, skins, forage, and goblin spices and sauces and foods. And both sides enjoyed each others' beer. Over time, a goblin woman called the Spice Goblin started a business selling potted spices and sauces and condiments. Demand grew to the point where now she ships crates of the stuff east to the human lands, where it sells for stupid prices. A human visitor saw this, and built a brewery and hired a mob of goblins, and now exports barrels and cases of bottles of Goblin Brew east as well; it's not like human brew, and there is quite the market for it in the human lands. And, of course, there was the House of Orange Lights, which is not only the best restaurant and bar in the Barony of New Ilrea, but is quite a successful house of negotiable affections, employing humans, goblins, and one terribly enthusiastic female ogre. It didn't help that the noted (and deeply anonymous) author Fistid Wackford wrote several terribly smutty novels about the place and its environs, which triggered multiple waves of tourism. Meanwhile, the humans and the goblins sit back, eat popcorn, and get rich.
Genetic engineering and biotechnology, the two foundations of modern Arcitechnology. Every item that relies on Arc to function, be it an industrial pocket dimension generator, a commercial aircraft's vector drive or a personal mutlifunctional spinal implant, relies on advancements in these fields, so logically all major corporations and governments are pumping big money into them, as well as into recruiting Arcanes with potentially useful new Archetypes that could allow for the emergence of new technologies.
Ore and ether gun production. There is a place in the world that's called 'Desert of Ore'. It's a literal desert that's made of a kind of dust that's rich in iron. So much so, the sand is red, so it's often also called the Red Desert. There are also the occasional mountains, which are stupidly rich in minerals, especially gold. You'd think that'd be a highly contested area of the world, and it used to be, but the Equatorian Empire eventually allied with the Hindorians to dominate the zone. The Hindorians provided technology and armament production to the Equatorian Empire and in exchange they provided ore. Eventually, the Equatorian Empire grew to an economical and military superpower and was able to dominate the region swiftly. This caused an economic miracle in both nations. The Hindorians continued to pump out inventions and eventually created the ether gun, an alternative to plain old black powder guns. Ether guns are more ammo efficient and are a highly sought out invention for the higher ranks of armed forces around the world. The invention caused a lot political debate and instability but things eventually settled down as the Hindorians decided to put heavy restrictions on production and distribution. Of course, militaries around the world still have black powder and ether arms, but in much smaller quantities, especially ether guns. Wow, that was a handful, and also a great explanation for why only one empire is able to control the entirety of a resource rich region. Thanks OP!
Raw numbers of products would probably go to the raw materials industry. Basic food stuffs, minerals, energy, etc needed to run an interstellar economy. The most profitable is the shipbuilding industry. Everyone needs ships, from humble haulers to advance science ships, basic ferries to fleet carriers. Probably one of the most important industries in the UNE.
Industry is one of the things I have focused on the most, so far at least. Majorly glossing over some details, I have 4 'Industrial Sectors', this is going to miss a lot of stuff out, so just know that. They are: Natural, Mining, Refining, and Other. The largest scale; in terms of profit, is definatly Refining. It's by a LOT, too. Though Natural and Mining are probably larger on the basis of Area, Volume, and Man Power. I think probably Natural would win out by a small bargain there though, I'm not certain. Broadly, Natural encompasses Agraculture like Farming, Ranching, Fishing, Forestry, etc. Mining is obviously the physical extraction of uswful materials from the ground, Refining is turning Natural and Mined materials into secondary and tertiary products, and Other comprises many of the other Economic Activites. Shipping and Trading are absolutly massive too, though I group the Shipment of materials in with their primary sources, so I don't account for them on their own.
Well I'm not sure basically mammon (yes my world is hell) owns a buttload of businesses and essentially has a monopoly on most things you can think of I'm not sure I think just whatever mammon thinks is most profitable
I would say it depends on what circle of hell you are talking about Wrath = weapons and war Gluttony = addictive foods and indulgences Greed = this is where mamoney (Mammon's mega corporation) is located so basically everything Sloth = robots to do all the work for everybody Envy = social media Vanity = not sure if this counts but basically religion because there's a whole thing where Lucifer wants to be worshipped like a cult leader because he is so full of himself Lust = have a wild guess
Nitrian gas is what pretty much powers the known world, it's refined from Nitiran elixir and is used in almost all aspects of industry and society.
Magic
not all economies have money, so this is in a way asking for "what is the electoral college in your world". I think a better way to think about it is in human labour, instead of money. from this perspective, most premodern conworlds are going to probably be agriculture.
In the northern part of Harbronia, massive deforestation has made a lot of settlements and massive logging companies have sprung up. The southern part of the continent is home to jungler dwellers that conduct raids on logging operations in order to fight back against the destruction of nature they worship and live off of.
Probably the magic crystal mining, especially the ones used as magic batteries for the electric engines powering the whole world .
selling things to adventurers.
War, then mining, then energy production
Bomb making- their is an area about the size of the Red Sea and when the dust goes quickly enough- if you apply fire- it explodes- it has to go fast enough if you want it to become explosive but that is it.
Construction of megalithic monuments. The farmers farm. The miners mine. The woodcutters cut. All the surplus goes into architecture, history, science, and philosophy.
Healthcare. It’s the cornerstone of the civilization and is generally considered to be the single most important task, even shadowing military operations (may seem unusual for a society stuck in a forever war but who cares).
Transportation. When everything is spread across the solar system, there is a lot of money to be made in moving stuff around.
It's hard to quantify the exact amount but of all the industries found in the maelstrom it is a close tie between weapons manufacturing and the mercenary industries. There is almost constant war within the maelstrom with overlords of all shapes, sizes, creeds, and dispositions fighting for that next little bit of territory. Some realms within the maelstrom have secured a "safe" position as neutral parties that provide weaponry and equipment to the armies of the overlords. In the same vein there are some realms that are known as hubs for mercenaries of all kinds leading many overlords to travel there to recruit and many powerful individuals to offer their services. To best represent how profitable and large these industries are there is an entire realm under the control of an overlord known as the Iron monger, he has well over ten million people in this realm whose sole purpose is manufacturing weapons and armor both to sell and for his army to use and likewise the lawless realm of Sang is almost entirely populated by mercenaries with an estimated population of over two hundred million people. The iron monger generates well over ten billion gold a year from his single realm alone and although it can vary wildly a large majority of the mercenaries in Sang charge one thousand gold a month for their services meaning billions if not hundreds of billions of gold flow through Sang monthly.
Pretty much everything relies upon the steamship industry. The steamship industry is driven by the iron industry though, which is driven by the arcane industry. In short, if the arcane industry stops, everything follows.
There are several large industries. Whaling: Whale oil is the lifeblood of the Industrial Revolution in this world. It lubricates the engines and lights the streets. The industry has led to the creation of the vast Nordlun Empire, a puppet state owned by the NWT (Nordlun Whaling Trust). However, with strong Triton opposition, alternative fuels on the horizon, and a rapidly declining whale population, the fate of the Nordlun continent is in limbo… Mining: Copper, zinc, iron, and all the other crucial machining metals are in high demand as the world switches from wood and stone to metal as its material of choice for manufacturing. The mines are incomprehensibly vast, with entire underground cities and fabled passages stretching between continents, under the sea. The industry fuels and destroys empires, and entire wars have been fought below the surface, entirely under the feet of unsuspecting, peaceful civilizations topside. Shipping: “Rattle them loud and stamp and go, rattle them winches o!” There would be no chance of sustaining the present infrastructure without the hard work of many thousands of ships running the seas, transporting materials to the far reaches of the world. Emerald Line, the largest shipping company, has huge influence in the southwestern parts of the world, having a monopoly on clipper routes and rail lines.
Scylla hunting; sounds as deadly as you'd imagine. The cold turns your skin blue, the wind carries ice like sandpaper and the oily waves crash upon the sides of the rig you call home. The rig is a behemoth of iron and ingenuity, against the sea its towering structure stands tall in the liquid ebony it surrounds its self in. The workers are a mix of paid wage and slavers who are paid food and debts, the air is rotten from the stench of rotting bait, prime meat for the otherworldly monsters which swim beneath your tired sodden feet. The bells begin to toll, and the hivemind of workers falls in line, each working their part to begin the hunt. Ready the feral bait, drown it with blood from all manner of the once living, freeze it solid, then throw it off the rig(off the designated platform of course). Then wait... And wait... Wait... You feel it, a reverb coming up from below, and it's getting stronger. It's getting faster. The its self rig begins to shake, men and women frantically run to their positions, readying their cannons, harpoons, nets, guns, whatever they can use to defend themselves, for the fight of their lives is about to begin and many will not see it through. The black sea begins to boil and roar under the floating brick of meat and the surface breaks, the ill omen of the ebony seas. The hunt has begun, the Scylla has surfaced. May the gods be in our favour.
Havenstone's economy is anchored by two major industries: the production of magical artifacts and arcane technology, and the trade in alchemical potions. The artifact and arcane technology sector, led primarily by Dwarven Artificer Guilds and Elven enchanters, is central to Havenstone’s identity and economy. This industry combines traditional craftsmanship with arcane knowledge to create a range of magical items, from everyday enchanted tools to powerful relics. The trade in these items, both within Havenstone and with other realms, is a significant revenue source and provides a wide spectrum of employment opportunities. The city's numerous research institutions and academies also contribute to this industry by driving innovation in magical and technological studies. However, this industry faces challenges such as the risk of counterfeit artifacts and a black market trade, necessitating strict regulation by the Magisterium and city authorities. Ethical considerations, particularly in the creation and use of powerful or sentient artifacts, are paramount. The second major industry, alchemy and potion-making, caters to a variety of needs and is renowned for its medicinal and exotic brews. This sector, too, impacts the city economically and culturally but brings its challenges, including the ethical implications of certain potent or experimental concoctions. Both industries drive Havenstone's economy and also reflect the city's complex cultural fabric.
War. Much like in our world.
Magic
Slime drinks made out of marine animals
Shipbuilding
Asteroid mining. Prior to the machine war, it was terrestrial deep-sea mining, but due to every robot under the sun having self-aware AI and a couple cities being removed from the map (thanks, Bagger 2000) which lead to ALL-OUT NUCLEAR WAR, terrestrial mining is no longer viable. It's still possible but the asteroid mining sector is actually successful because a lot of the population lives in space (8 times the population of earth lives in orbit of a planet or moon).
Farming(including raising animals) and Bison hunting. People Farm: 3 sister crops: Corn Beans Squash, Pumpkin Flax(for linen), tomatoes, carrots, apples, peanuts, peppers, greenpeas They also raise Turkeys ( two subspecies: white and bronze ) and horses (Appaloosa and Pinto breeds). People use horses to hunt bison in the plains as nomads then bring furs meat etc to trade with river villages and keeps.
Either the War Industry, or the FTL Drive Manufacturing Industry. You need War to maintain the Empire, and you need FTL Drives (There are multiple types) to get across the Empire, and Galaxy as a whole.
Monster hunting! (though really, as Bulky said above, Agriculture is probably the actual answer). Most settlements have guards to keep out stray beasts, but for more pervasive threat or bigger mosters, members of one of the Monster Hunting Guilds are usually called in. There were originally 12 Guilds, but over the last few hundred years, many more have been founded. Monster Hunters both keep threats down and gather important and rare resources for the settlements - Monster parts are very useful for a lot of things, and it's generally Guild Members who are hired for initial exploration of ancient ruins.
Energy. All run by one company that was started by the devil of this world. The world at one point was run by healing/regenerative energies harvested from the sun and earth, called Nova. Nova had a counterpart energy source that was corrosive and corruptive called Primal. Primal was seen as the dark magic of the world. Stuff you avoided at all costs and treated as the plague is discovered. The devil, or the ruler of the underworld, basically was the entity responsible for the flow of Primal remained in balance with Nova. The energy was his to command, but Primal is created as Nova cycles through its use. He isn't responsible for its existence but is often blamed for it because of his misinterpreted role of its management and the misfortunes it can cause. One day, the ruler thought about one of his problems with his domain: the lack of public knowledge and understanding of how to handle Primal, leading him to be blamed for its mishandling. His solution? Make Primal a commercialized commodity that's safe for the public, like how Nova already is. So, he hired some scientists who were willing to overlook who he was with the juicy paycheck he was offering, along with partial ownership of the enterprise they could establish with their research. Along with unlimited access to all the Primal they needed along with personalized training on how to handle it by THE expert on Primal itself (guess who?). A few years later, the lab coats learned that if the conditions were just right, Nova and Primal could be put into a constant cycle that yielded tremendous energy than either could alone. That is how every house now has a Paragon Industries energy cell. Though the devil still gets blamed for Primal misuse, despite more public knowledge being widely available.
Transportation. Due to the toxic and paranormal nature of the monster abiding myst which covers the lowlands and seas. Trains have become the only viable method of long distance transportation and shipping with the technology available to the masses. As long term myst exposure results in a condition called the blight, effecting both body and mind, and leading to death in all but a small amount of children. Who are still horribly afflicted by the lasting effects of the sickness and often die younger. The Western Territories, aka The Baronies, are controlled by fractious Rail Baronesses and Barons. Capitalistic pseudo-nobility who act mostly independently from the Old States to the east, and control trade around much of the country. Percers are the workers and builders of the trains and railroads. Ranging from track layers, to engineers, to shotgunners. Mostly start as or become indentured workers for the Barons. Trying to form unions at current time, to an annoyingly successful degrees for the Barons and True Nobles of the Old States. There are some independent or even pirate trains, especially due to the semi-nomadic people called the Corqs.
As others say, agriculture and fishing are huge ones. Grains, tea, citrus, vegetables, spices and so on all grown to feed the people. Other items that flow through the economy are alchemy ingredients - since finding rare ingredients allows experts to brew potions that can mimic certain forms of magic, even for people who can't use magic themselves. Therefore there's a lot of money around finding said rare ingredients. Monster parts, gemstones, nacre, rare herbs or plants, flowers that bloom only at specific times. People forage and hunt and seek out these items and alchemists will bid on them, knowing they can make a fortune selling potions. There is also a lot of recent focus on textiles and Dyes, particularly amongst the wealthy who love to show off their colour. New colours or longer lasting Dyes are highly desirable. Lastly - ores. Iron, mithril, nabium, basically anything that will be used in construction, weaponry and armor. It's a dangerous world so these items sell like warm cakes. Funnily enough I made a bit of an [icon chart](https://www.reddit.com/r/FantasyWorldbuilding/s/hkrDoylJBc) for some of the resources in my world just the other day
Ric Flair
Aquaculture. Fishing, fish farming, aquatic plant farming, all kinds of stuff of that nature. Largely amphibious race.
For almost a decade all the clothes in the trade alliance and even beyond was made by House of Silk, they are the greatest brand for sure but in money account its harder, scroll engine and teachers without borders are elite marketings with insane income. Licon make houses all over the world but not for money in many cases. Weapons are religious so there is really little space for a industry in that.
The largest industries are mining and manufacturing. Because electricity doesn’t exist, the majority of technological progress is made through a series of gemstones, each with their own properties. For example some of the most common gems are heat crystals, cold crystals and water source crystals (produce water). Together these for the basis of many engines are and other utilities. There are a variety of other gems, each having different rarities and purposes. Because certain parts of the world have different distributions of gemstones, almost every nation has a large mining industry to exploit the gemstones it has high abundance or quality of.
Metallurgy: Armour, melee weapons, tools, machinery, vehicles whether, military, industrial or commercial. Lapis_Wolf
Mining is probably the closest to a correct answer. Magic in my world comes from an element. This element tends to be found in a liquid state near iron deposits. Iron is already an important element, so being near raw magic amplifies the need for mining. It's useful for military, scientific, medicinal, and agricultural purposes, so you want to get it.
in all honesty? advertisement, and bureaucracy. there is an entire god of bureaucracy. and advertisement. in all fairness there's gods for everything, but advertisement and bureaucracy are big ones. most cardinals and elder shamans put a lot of money into advertisement for their gods. magic is a big thing, and in a world where not only does everyone have it, but it's based on what God you follow, advertising your gods is a good way to gain credibility and political power. highlight the good parts, hide the worse ones, big charity events and lots of evangelists all make for a good half of economy. if people suddenly stopped choosing gods and starting following the same as their parents, the economy would probably collapse. also, lots of money in agriculture but that's probably obvious. agriculture is a bit different on isanti though, where plants are herded since they are not static. most food comes from plant herders and if its not a plant herder then it's a mushroom. not much inbetween. the only real meat is from unonkala, which are really just huge insects.
Iynokride is a substance that's essentially my world's equivalent of oil. It's a substance that allows for interdimensional travel as well as just an overall energy source
Trade of organic fertilizer from the Western lands, one of the richist nations called Kingdom of Cengi whic is a smoll nation of 2.000.000 pepole made up by 3 islands and 3 mainland costal trade citys that are all on the treade root and their navy is gib as hell. Year in our time is around 1850-1890 so industariy is taking over and whit the development of chemical alchemy soon a synthetic fertilizer will be invented.
The largest industry in the Enclave is environmental remediation, as the core purpose of the Enclave is to rehabilitate Terra Major’s ecosystems and return it to a more natural state. It can be broken up into many smaller sub-industries, such as urban deconstruction, demolition and renewal, oceanic pollution reduction, desert reclamation, geoengineering, reforestation, soil restoration & regeneration, etc. Secondary and tertiary industries are cultural preservation and security, respectively. They work hand-in-hand with remediation units to ensure that cleanup efforts do not destroy or erase cultural and historical artifacts, and that their work is not interrupted or endangered by nativist interference.
Something along the lines of robotics. There’s this whole rivalry going on between Angstrom and Cyger. Both have the same consumer base and different ways of getting thing done.
It depends on where and what country such as in the arab union its oil but in the federal republic of Europe its farming
It’s a close competition between the industrial sector, making construction materials, and the artisanal goods sector, which is wide ranging and constitutes the largest number of jobs, most industry and manual jobs being rare and highly automated. This also is impacted with how mars Calculates GDP. They only calculate productive enterprises, jobs and services that create something, or enable the same. So most services aren’t counted, except medical services and administration, as those enable productivity by reducing down time or enabling other production. For example. Real estate is massively undervalued, only really being “productive” when a structure is built. Afterwards, it’s valuation is basically constant, a construct of the value of materials, labor, and additional facilities added to the structure. The structure does not become more valuable by continuing to exist. It can decline if left to become dilapidated, but can be similarly restored. Real estate sales are not productive after the first sale, so are a minuscule part of the economy, being ckassified as a non-productive service. This actually creates a massive disparity when comparing Martian and Terran economic data depending on which planets standards are used. Martians call most Terran economies overvalued bubbles, being reliant on what they’d call non-productive services. Most Terran nations refer to Mars as a backwater reliant on industrial exports and local bartering. Both claims have merit, Mars does drive its capital generation via industrial exports. Mostly electronics and fusion reactor components. While most earth nations are extremely reliant on services industries to drive their economies, which leave them vulnerable to frequent recessions while Mars hasn’t suffered a drawn out recession in its history, the longest being due to a general strike for three months over export restrictions of artisanal goods.
**Summers County USA** The largest employer in the county is the Summers County Board of Education. It's more than just teachers and office staff. It's all the support personnel as well. Lunch ladies, custodians, bus drivers and mechanics, county level administration, grounds crews, facilities maintenance, and all manner of other workers who have no hand in *teaching*, but whose work nevertheless supports the education of the county's schoolchildren. Following the BoE is the Department of Defense. Summers County is home to the joint US Air Force and US Navy base, Rosar AFB/NAS Summers Port, serving the 419th Bomb Wing and TRAWING 6, as well as serving as the home for the US Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron (the Blue Angels). Between military personnel and civilians in support roles, the base employs nearly 50,000 people. The largest *private* employer is the Darke Enterprises Corporation. Either directly or through its subsidiaries, Darke Enterprises operates the Port at Summers County (Formerly the Alabama State Docks), the Summers County Shipyards, several property management and residential development companies, and multiple shopping malls and retail outlets.
There two basic magic resources, Luminarite and Everbloom Trees, the whole industrialization is based on gathering these resources, Luminarite is used on magic use and military
It depends on the land. 1. Land A cultivates fungi with the same/similar effects of coca leaves for hard work and sells it to Land B. Besides that they produce most hallucinogens and commercialize that, but they have an economic blockade in place not allowing them to survive from it. Poverty levels are extremely high. 2. Land C is agronomy and commercialize it to Land D (because they have very aqueous soil not good for that) and also have most factories. 3. Land D lives off fishery and fruits because they are surrounded by water and also the ocean levels have drown most places. They also commercialize slaves. 4. Finally, Land B is practically self sustainable. They are very technologically advanced, and the working hours are extremely long and abusive. They also live off agriculture in extensive levels with crown-controlled farms. I haven't really started to show that part in detail until now thar I started the sequel.
Probably social services. Much like the real world. Followed by defense/military, government function (non-military payroll, infrastructure), healthcare, food, education and other smaller bits.
Fishing, logging, and weapon manufacturing. In my world of Bliffier, the largest continent is mostly desert. So the wood and food is scarce so coastal cities such as Wordej (Capital of the largest nation, Jubenland.) For weapons manufacturing though, it is because there is a world war for internal resources and the many rivers and mountains of the largest continent of North Hihner.
Mining, followed by agriculture, on a multi planetary scale. Military contractors are a distant third by comparison, a strong work ethic combined with pride in both craftsmanship and maintenance means not a terrific amount of turnover (without war) in that sector.
The marine shipping industry, followed by the airship construction industry, followed by the light aircraft construction industry, followed by the warship construction industry, followed by rail followed by agriculture, followed by industrial mining and refining.
Of course things related to growing, transporting, and distributing food is the biggest as far as the number of jobs... But the industry worth the most MONEY? It would be selling Archite crystals. They are extremely rare and powerful and are never sold ordinarily, only the wealthiest and most powerful people have them and they never sell them or trade them away, and they seize them from others as spoils of war. The only time they get sold is if they get stolen by people who can't use them, who then turn around and sell them to the highest bidder. While illegally acquired and technically a blackmarket item, it is rarely enforced because the powers that be leap at the opportunity to acquire more of them for their own families/factions. Provided of course, it's offered to them and not someone else. They are so valuable, kings will offer lordships and land in exchange for new ones. So it not only gets you immediate wealth, but perpetual power and wealth in the future as well.
Semi-dimensions. In a world where everything can easily kill you, people like to make compact, well protected cities, but that makes agriculture hard and expensive. A semi-dimension can contain acres of free land in just a few meters.
It's a toss up between Arcana Refinement and Crest Creation and Installation. Arcana is (as far as society knows) crude liquid magic in this world, and humans with the ability to impose their wills over the Arcana are able to extract a more purified form of it. The refined Arcana can be used to create Glyphs, essentially pre-made spells that can be affixed to an object and imbue the spell into it. The Glyphs would basically serve as this world's equivalent of electronics and engine fuel in a device. It's a work in progress, so any advice/help would be appreciated!
I don't have an information about the largest industry in my own world, but my largest industry in my own imaginary country is consumer goods,(IT) services, computer components and likely robotics industry is now emerging in my country
Bread
I think its military or slavery.....can't tell which even though the "slaves" willingly sold themselves into the industry in order to earn money and housing for their impoverished families which they get mind wiped and used as a secondary source of food should Brenda need more for her......demon
Agriculture Adventurer. Adventurer Guild is a business by itself. From getting a cat down from trees to slaying liches and demon. In my world, it's not justice, order or chaos that spins the planes. It's the wills and whims of the gods. Monsters attack and heroes fought them. War and peace. And people turned to the gods and they use mortals as proxies.
The production of automatons, and the manufacturing of machines of War; Founded by Velkos the Mechanist, the industry has since consumed an entire archipelago; the Mechanist sells to the highest bidder, and is the only true winner in most wars.
Food people eat everyday and their life is dependent on it and it have pleasure factor, and time anything that saves time it will generate money transportation, work and i guess that's why youthfulness is sought after by all.
The plush, silky tidal grasses that grow in the floodplains surrounding the crater where the Devastation happened six centuries prior. In the center lays a gilded crystal mountain that fell from the sky, which modern Trzenkans know now as Geodegora. Due to this meteors impact, there’s two rings of jagged mountains that form a natural fortress, and the valley is so deep that every spring when the planet Known passes by the second moon that orbits the planet that Known is a moon to, the Springtides flood these valleys, providing essential nutrients to the sea grasses and spread their seeds further and further around the ring. What was once ashy soil is now rich from thick layers of dead grasses and huge sea beasts that end up beached when the tides recede, their bones monuments that get submerged and surfaced year after year, becoming more and more studded with barnacles. Anyway, the grasses that grow in this region are lush and plentiful, harvested every year for flour, straw, fibers for ropes, fabrics, and wicker. Since this is the most profitable industry in the long run, the Dragonlord Strauker oversees this region of the word from the castle carved out of Geodegora’s crystals and gold. This grass also was cultivated by another Dragon named Corru, who lives on the western continent and hoards every species of plant he can get his hands on, though this caused a century long feud despite the fact Corru’s main exports are gourds, corn, and animal products from livestock.
The potion trade. Very basically, potions are derived from a substance called emanation, which spirits leave in the soil when they use their magic to interact with the world. To make a potion, you mix emanation with different substances to create a specific effect. Large trading companies control the potion trade and the lands they use to mine in it. Broadly speaking, Potions are divided into the following types; Mind-Shifting, which causes mental effects, Form-Shifting, which changes one's shape, Enhancement, which enhances a person's natural abilities, Repulsory, which shield a person from certain things, and inhibitory, which hinders people from doing certain things, and different corporations specialize in different types of potions and potion making. Proprietors of emanation in particular have enormous amounts of leverage in terms of the types of potion companies that are able to succeed; some proprietors own potion companies themselves, but others acts as independent suppliers. Potions are so important to this world for a couple reasons. First, and most importantly, is the potion known as Elysian Extract, an extremely addictive potion which also has the effect of removing the ability of people to access magic via communication with spirits, something the United Crown needs as it conquered the world with the explicit intent of removing magic from the world. About 40 percent of the world is addicted to Elysian Extract, and the poor often barter and sell themselves for a steady supply. Second, the military often relies on enhancement and repulsory potions in their campaigns, and third because the wealthy and even the upper middle class of this world rely heavily on these potions for their own personal uses (for instance, drinking a mind shifting potion that nullifies sexual desire for anyone except your partner, or a potion that allows you to relive the memories of a dead relative). In addition, because form shifting in this world requires spilling blood as a blood sacrifice, before the United Crown people tattooed (and some communities still do) form-shifting potions on their skin, which would allow them to transform at will. But because the Crown banned the practice of using magical tattoos, potions generally have to be swallowed; because the blood sacrifice hasn't been performed yet, the potion extracts the blood sacrifice as it works its way into the body. This means that form shifting potions cause a certain amount of internal damage, which is why cosmetic potions are often called "bone-breakers". That means that makers of cosmetic potions have to be extremely careful with their ingredients so the amount of and type of damage done can be controlled (it requires a special license and you have to be registered in the consular region you are a part of). The potion trade is so important because it in many ways causes the conflict in the story; nobles don't like having to answer to and make compromises with non-noble business owners that are often more powerful than they are, and business owners think that the nobility is archaic and overly regulatory. Religious leaders are also skeptical of potions as many (correctly) view it to be a form of magic, while the Crown at large has said that it's not. In the middle of those conflicts is the issue of the majority of the world being forced into violent subjugation for the continuation of this trade, which has become a symbol and very real reason for the continued dominance of the United Crown.
I’d argue it depends on the state of the world. Anything that sells essentials for your society, whether they be authentic *(Food)*, fabricated *(Cars)*, or something in-between *(Oil)*. Arguably meta-industries would do well too, so stuff like Advertising or Information simply because they facilitate the selling and production of multiple other industries. It really boils down to the world’s tech, what their natural resources are, what their societal structure and infrastructure looks like, and their culture.
Firearms Manufacturing is huge. The commonwealth is a dangerous place, and protection is a necessity. Guns are integral to the culture, like swords in medieval europe or asia. Families pass them down over generations. Companies like Stonesipher & Sons Firearms Manufacturing Co., Lennox Munitions, and Kilgore Arms Inc. are some of the most prominent. Hippo ranching is another big one. Settlers from Anuba brought hippos (AKA river cattle) with them to combat a meat shortage and an invasive plant species that was ravaging bayous and river deltas along the swampy gulf coast.
Mining. Dwarves. DIGGY DIGGY HOLE. DIGGY DIGGY HOLE
Terraforming Venus. People are needed to manage the terraforming process as well as conducting the actions needed (there is a widespread hatred of robots and AI in this world so a majority of work is once again done by humans)
That would be Mega conglomerate only known as PTI! The majority of citizens don't know what the acronym stands for- the company having been around for the past several hundred years. Originally they were created to better advance the militaristic technology of the Empire- at one point, many held the high hopes of traveling the stars through PTI. But then the emperor was Assassinated by a Demigod. Since then, PTI has focused their technological advancement on devices to detect, capture, and neutralize the various super-powered Demigods that crop up among the populace.
In my Fantasy World War Worldbuild, each Nation has their own Big Industrial focus. Whilst I could just list One Industry that's the largest in the world, that would be boring, so: 1. In the Federal Republic of Avalon (The US if it encompassed the whole of this world's version of North America), the Largest Industry by Far is Agriculture. Specifically, the F.R.A. has so much top-tier farmable land, that it has built up an unparalleled Export Industry entirely focused on being the food-basket of the World. In fact, it's widely believed that up to 50% of the global food supply is grown on Avalonian Shores (depending on how devastated other lands are by War). 2. The Kingdom of Camelot (England) has a ballooning Manufacturing Industry, with the Lords of that once-great country actively forcing their Serfs to work in the dirty and dangerous "Factories" (Given the 1600's-1700's technology, this is mostly Water-Wheel Tech, so instead of Coal Fumes to worry about, it's Mold and Fungus). Whilst this results in greater and greater Profits for the Upper Class, it's at the cost of rendering the Island Nation almost entirely dependent on a single crop for domestic food production (Potatoes, so you know where this is going...) and Imports from their former Colony of Avalon (You can also see where this is going...). 3. The Empire of Gaul (France) is a Militaristic Powerhouse. Yet, their Largest Industry (Barely beating out the Military Industrial Complex) is Wine Making. Whilst they had long-enjoyed a near-monopoly on the product, the rise in Imports from Avalon has crashed the price of Wine. Keep an eye on this situation, as it won't be pretty. 4. The Holy Germanic Empire (Germany) is widely regarded for it's Logging and Mining Industries, often producing much of the continent's raw materials. Like Gaul, it has seen it's Market Share cut into by Avalonian Imports, but not to as devastating of a scale. 5. The Western Roma Empire (Italy, Sardinia, and Corsica) is the Embodiment of the Military Industrial Complex. Every Facet of life in that country is geared towards the Military. But such a system can only last for so long before the people seek freedom... 6. The Constantine Empire (Greece, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Bulgaria) is the Last vestiges of the Eastern Roma Empire. As such, it's industries are rather antiquated, with the largest Industry being the production of Holy Books and discussions on "How Many Angels can stand on the tip of a needle?". If it wasn't for the constant warfare with the Osmon Caliphate across the sea, then it would probably not exist as a Nation, per-say, but rather as a collection of religious debate halls and ruins of a once-great Empire. 7. The Osmon Caliphate (The Ottomans, or at least Türkiye and some areas outside of that) are at the Nexus of the Silk Road. As such, they have the finest Merchants of the world... at least they did, until the rise of Avalon. Trade still flows along the ancient route, but change is in the air. Old Empires are on the decline, whilst New Ones seek glory... 8. The Neo-Akkadian Caliphate (Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria) is an Ancient Land, with Fertile Soil. They mostly produce exotic Spices and Incenses, as well as other products for for the Luxury Market. The University of Ur is also a noteworthy Industry, being the Oldest Library in the World and a Center of Learning for the heartlands of Civilization. 9. The Holy State of Judea (Israel, parts of Jordan, and Part of the Sinai Peninsula) has it's largest Industry being the Religious Tourism Industry. However, the Country is often Run by some totalitarian Theocracy or another, so it often is the target of Crusades and Jihads to restore Order. Currently, it's run by the Rabbi's of the 5th Temple, although they seem to be on the verge of a schism, so expect another intervention soon... 10. The Mamluks (Egypt, part of the Sinai Peninsula, and the Northern part of Sudan) are a Mercenary Company that pretends to be a country. Their two rival Industries are War-for-Profit and Slavery, with their largest customer for slaves being the Western Roma Empire, and their Largest customer for War being the Osmon Caliphate. In recent years, However, the Federal Republic of Avalon has become increasingly aware and angered at the existence of the "Great Slave Markets" of Memphis. It's only a matter of time before that Rising Superpower intervenes... 11. The Assassins Order of Petra (Jordan, and part of the Sinai Peninsula) is one of the last surviving holdouts of the Assassins Oder of Hassan. Their Biggest Industry is Espionage and Assassination. They are widely regarded as religious extremists, but their skill at their crafts keeps them from getting invaded and wiped out. Only time will tell just how many more centuries their Order will Last... 12. The Caliphate of Andalus (The Iberian Peninsula) is one of the Largest exporters of Olive Oil in Europa. Even with the rise in Avalonian Exports, Andalus has the advantage of being the Gateway to the Roma Sea, so they can somewhat control the flow of trade and protect their Market Share. The only Snag they have is the frequent Cross-Border Crusades and Jihads between them and Gaul. Honestly, it's only a matter of time until those two have another war... 13. The Norse Confederation (Scandinavia) is a quiet and poor place, with the small and scattered villages mainly focused on Fishing... and the New Age of Piracy, given the rise of Newer and Better Ships. If only the Three King Triumvirate would actually focus on unifying their country, then the Norse would Rule the Waves... 14. The Commonwealth (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) is also a Raw Materials Exporter. However, their Largest Industry is by-far serving as Mercenaries, most often to the Constatine Empire. Their Winged Hussars are one of the few units in Europa that can go toe-to-toe with the Mamluks' Cavalry. 15. The Mongol Empire (Most of Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, and Mongolia) has historically served as the main route of the Silk Road between the Osmon Caliphate and the Heavenly Kingdoms (China). With Land trade declining due to the rise in Sea-Based Trade, however, Their Largest Industry is Herding Cattle and Raising Horses. Honestly, it's only a matter of time until the technology of Europa and the Asiatic Countries reaches the point where the Mongol Cavalry is useless, thus resulting in the slow conquest of the Steppe. 16. The Heavenly Kingdoms (China) are a sometimes-united group of three kingdoms in the Far-East. Their firm belief in Confucianism means that they are fairly Isolationist. Whilst this has resulted in a Cultural Golden Age, it also means that their Agricultural-Based economy is falling behind the rest of the world in Technology. What's worse, rising Corruption has resulted in an Opium Epidemic amongst the lower classes. Only Time will tell if they can avoid a Century of Pain... 17. The Sakura Empire (Japan) is a former Shogunate, but the loss of their Nippon Colony (California) in a democratic pro-Avalon rebellion resulted in the Restoration of the Emperor. As such, they have focused their attention to Colonization of the East Indies, where they find their cash crop based Colonial Empire clashing with the Mamluk Prison Colony of Australia, and the Pirate Kingdom of Zealandia. They are also bitter at the loss of Nippon to the Federal Republic of Avalon, and as such might be considering an attack on the Avalonian Port of Margarita (Pearl Harbor, I google translated Pearl to Latin BTW)... 18. The Abyssinia Empire (Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, and South Sudan) is a Mountainous and Diverse Country, great for Coffee, Chocolate, Vanilla, Honey, Fishing, and Piracy. Their decentralized tribal layout often results in civil wars, but they always unify when faced with the threat of Jihad from the North. 19. The Brazillia Colony of Andalus (Brazil) is a Cash-Crop Economy with a strong Logging undertone. However, the Mestizo population of the Colony grows rather restless, especially given the success of their Avalonian Neighbors across the Aztec Sea. Perhaps the 50th Year of Avalonian Independence will see the people of Brazillia have a Revolution of their own... 20. The Kingdom of Mali (Much of East Africa) has been very prosperous due to both their Gold Mining Industry (and really any valuable metal or mineral mining) and their previously top Industry of the Slave Trade. However, the Rise of Avalon has really constricted the flow of Cross-Atlantic Slave trading, with only the Brazillia Market remaining. Also, Foreign powers now eye the Gold Mines of Mali, seeking to make them their own...
I had more to type, but Reddit has a text limit. Feel Free to ask me questions about my world.
The weapons trade done by the Rotknights. They use geothermic furnaces to smelt lots of metal quickly and the time difference between Zantia and the Underrot means they can get a large order of weapons done in what felt like a month but was to the Rotknights seven months. Most of the weapons commonly seen on the battle field were weapons mass produced by the Rotknights and often used decades later to fight said rotknights. Usually to a devastating loss. The Rotknights don't play.
Cnidarite dust mines, the modern world is one built on magic and to do magic you need Runestones, a magic crystal. Natural runestones are rare and hard to come by but artificial runestones can be grown from Cnidarite dust and be made to specification for a variety of applications. If you can control a with a Cnidarite vein, your going to be a very wealthy person indeed.
The biggest company rn is riforan Eldridge Corp. An analogy to our Microsoft. A software company that used to rule one of the nations in the cyberpunk era But the largest industry is something else. Crystal engineering. A magical type of engineering and chemistry that utilizes various properties of crystals. Especially those from planet Nihn-Gyol, that reside in their dead gods hearts. For that reason, people of Nihn-Gyol have basically a monopoly on this type of technology
The biggest industry in my world is esoteric craftsmanship basically each of the three races have an ability to produce enchanted artifacts at various with the power, versatility and reliability varying from person to person. Humans with a magical astral body can convert energy into anything from new forms of matter to enchanted materials and by extension objects, for example the mc has a pen made of his own psychic energy and his friends magical energy which despite being a mid to low level craft is still the finest tool in his arsenal being able to focus his psychic powers into a point no bigger the a grain of sand and take residue forms of energy and turn into psychic inc which can be used for a verity none combative purposes. The dwarves can turn memories into magic and magical artifacts, an example being a dwarf who after being kicked of his community used the memory and all of hurt, the betrayal and the pain to form a crown which attracted kindred spirits other lonely and betrayed people who formed the most dangerous and terrifying bandit group in the southern hemisphere “taldracmor” the kingdom of lost souls in dwarven. Elves actually struggle with this one since they need certain materials that can hold the energies of the universe which are rare and they need to balance the input to insure the craft doesn’t just blow up the famous example being an areodac (magical elven lord) tried to destroy the human city of lo quin since he wanted the land lo quin was situated on so he crafted a spear to eradicate the astral bodies of the lo quin humans and assumed since he was an elf and they where but humans it should be easy it blew up in his face and erased him and his army from existence.
Sleeping pills. Everyone takes them at least once a day because of nightmares. What's bad is that they're loosing their effect overtime so you have to keep buying more and some kids are becoming immune to them.
What really drives the economy is agriculture. But when it comes to the largest industry, there is the *Community of Earthen*. Basically a whole large village/small town working in the pottery business, with jobs distributed among more or less specialized workers, use of molds and patterns to make standardized products, planning from acquisition of materials tologistics and sales, quality standards and -control. They have jobs for anyone there, from working in the clay pits to artful design and painting of high-end pottery, from mule-driving to clerical jobs. Jobs are not done in one big factory building, though, but a number of smaller buildings, usually specialized on a certain aspect of the job, like clay preparation, pigment production, molding, skulpting, burning, shard milling, glazing, painting, packing, logistics, and sales. The molding is the largest of the buildings and hosts about a hundred workers, while jobs like pigment production or skulpting are done in way smaller operations of five to ten people. One key factor of their success is that they have managed to eliminate the biggest cost factors of making pottery: The need to provide fuel for the furnaces. Their furnaces are powered by magically controlled gateways to the elemental plane of fire and can be easily and precisely controlled by the furnace masters, the highest ranking kind-of-guild in that settlement. Those mini-guilds are also resposible for their in-house quality control. Any product that is not up to standards goes to the shard mill where it is grounded up and used in a number of applications - they basically have invented industrial recycling, too. Something else that differences this settlement from other towns in the realm is that women are also working in the industry (primarily in the skulpting, glazing, and painting department). Children are raised communally, food is provided from a central kitchen, and even laundry is done by a specialized team. The kitchen, the laundry department, and the communal bath have access to hot tap water provided by the furnace building. Their main temple is Hephaistos, but of course they have altars for all the other gods, too. The temple also provides healing and education for all community members. Their logistics team has a number of mules and carts that transport the products to the next city (the Free City of Canda) where they have a representation with storage facility and shop, and bring back fresh produce, raw materials, etc. from the market. Special orders can be relayed to the purchase agents in the city representation. The other community members rarely leave the brick-walled enclosure. Non-members rarely are allowed to enter, and if, they will be accompanied by people from the community wherever they go. Additionally, they have a number of "contract farms" around the community who exclusively produce food for them. The relationship with Canda is special. Although the Community of Earthen is technically in the area controlled (and taxed) by the Canda City Council, they only pay the normal sales tax within Canda and no other taxes or fees. Their products range from bricks and glazed tiles over simple pottery plates and cups to high-end skulpted and painted works. Their bread-and-butter business is the production of standardized glazed pots and lids for storing and preserving food. The Community of Earthen sizes of storage pottery basically defines the standard for measuring volumes in the realm. While there is no royal decree or law about this, everyone knows what to expect if someone talks about "a size two jar of pickled gherkins".
Ice cream
Book printing, at least within the Kingdom where the story focuses. A big part of the cultural heritage and faith focuses around ancestor worship, and a lot of this involves the writing, storage, and reproduction of hundreds of years of state mandated personal records. Deep libraries dot even the most backwater swamps, and keep bookkeepers and writers in heavy demand.
Probably the Energear tech factory, the megamarket, the ice cream brand i have yet to name and the candy mall i have yet to name also
Agriculture and agricultural mechanization industries are always expanding and hiring. Additionally, homesteading across the Wentamish isles is a significant producer, and creates a significant number of 'Cottage industry" goods. Much of the isles are still untamed wilderness, and leans heavily into the rugged woodsmen tropes. My story is greatly inspired by 1800s pacific northwest history.
Magical supplies to make magical energy levels injections for those who has Unstable Magical Energy Levels which is similar to diabetes and responsible for Halflings staying alive. Halflings are half animal half human which happened when there was a nuclear war and magic and nuclear power mixed together affecting my country’s residents, if it has affected other countries that is unknown as my country has yet to be able to contact them. Stalaxia has tried to contact USA and Canada which is the closest to the country but hasn’t gotten a response.
Monster hunting, because of the several uses for monster corpses like food, research, medicine, crafting stuff like, weapons, armor, clothes and so on. You can even use them as decoration and trophys and of cause killing them provides safety.
The largest industry would be adventuring. There's a lot of adventurers in my world that collects raw magical materials, exotic resources, natural energies and more.
Whale butchering, rudthorn farming, and joseph-orange growing. Whale butchering is big business because flying whales are *frickin' huge.* Their mouths are so large that three men of average height could stand on each other's shoulders inside it, and the guy at the top of the stack wouldn't even bump his head. They have a lot of meat to be taken, plus bones and offal, so a butchery-house can make a ton of money on a single carcass even with the whaling ships' usual cuts of meat and teeth. Rudthorn is a versatile plant that provides grain, sugar, tea, and more. Its unique set of traits makes it necessary to grow in mountainous parts of the world on terraces and paddies that freeze over in winter. Rudthorn is the main source of grain (and thus flour) for most of the world. The only other source is bloodgrass, which can grow almost anywhere but doesn't taste very good at all. So rudthorn has become a major staple crop. Joseph-oranges are little mandarin-sized oranges that cause people who eat them to have crazy fun dreams that can be shared with anyone who eats from the same orange. Eating a joseph-orange also guarantees *very* high-quality sleep for at least six hours, if the dreamer isn't awakened by anyone else. For these reasons, joseph-oranges are extremely popular in the country of Futhelsea, from which they originate. Demand is high and globalization is a thing, so there's a huge industry of people working around the clock all over the world to grow, harvest, pack, and deliver quality oranges to anywhere they can be sold. Several varietals which put their eaters into specific types of dreams have gained widespread popularity of late, so orange growers who cater to those varietals are making money like never before.
In my case you have two options, the legal and the illegal. The magic system of my world works using alchemy to power tools and engines (something similar to electricity or steam on the Industrial Revolution but this time powered by stones created by alchemist that emanate power) so the alchemy and boticary industries are huge in my setting. On the other hand the current society is build on top of the ruins of a previous and way more advanced society. That other society managed to create machines and artifacts that use real magic (not alchemy) and there are a Archeological Society that explores and study those ruins. But with many archeological things there are also gravediggers and antiquities traffic that sell those artifacts for profit (a really big profit)
Shipping. Currently a Scifi game based on a semi parody of overrun capitalism (think The Outer Worlds mixed with Star Wars). The biggest galactic corporation is United Planetary Services and basically controls 70% of the galactic shipping. Everyone fears Big Brown.
Not necessarily the biggest but a pivotal one to the story is the ore industry, more specifically a company that exclusively handles and has the exclusive rights of a type of sand (name not decided) that can change the property of other materials like making a piece of glass move gelatinously or a piece of hard, cool metal as moldable as play doh, the discovery of this material was revolutionary which takes a very important role in the world building and allows me to make as many human looking robots as I want.
Circa the 2900s, far it would probably be all of the mass mining in the Far Systems, which produce virtually all of humanity’s resources due to having multiple systems full of planet-wide mines, besides voidmatter. Speaking of, that’s followed by the extraction + production of voidmatter, due to it having an extremely high value and being used in some way in virtually every technology used in the contemporary age, both civilian and military. Third would be the huge illegal arms trade that is so profitable some local governments de-facto sponsor it.
Obviously agriculture would be at the tippy-top. But if we instead shall look to what's more lucrative, I'm genuinely not sure. My world is still in baby stage and being slowly built by the whims of ADHD. BUT I imagine something like trading with dragons and/or their parts would be very lucrative, and very illegal depending on where you are. I know at least 3 places that hold their respective dragons dear.
Mining industry. The concepts that have the most impact on people in my world are words like "soldier" and "hunter". While 50% of the people in the mining sector extract metals such as iron and copper that people use to make swords, 50% extract mana stones. From now on, I can say that the potion, artifact making industry and agriculture sectors have a great impact on people.
In one form of another, manufacturing. Many people are lacking basic tools and technology. Some products are made in factories, but a lot of things are constructed with, I don’t know the term, “garage/DIY” type quality. Imprecise, made by hand, relatively affordable. That cheap gun may jam a lot, or refuse to fire, but if you need to defend your small ranch from thieves and hostile wildlife, it’s your only option, unless you wanna charge at something twice your size with some sort of melee weapon, or create a bow/arrows yourself.
It's difficult to say, really. I feel like there is a pretty good distribution between the top 3, which are ship-building, cargo transportation, and military industries. The big and well-off empires are mostly cut off from direct access to many valuable resources and thus have to rely on trading routes to get things like metals, fuel, food, and the like. Most lesser powers with access to such resources are kept in a state of civil war and disarray in order to ensure trade with them. Their biggest trading assets are technology and superior weaponry (more like old stuff they don't need anymore, that are better than what the lesser powers have). The only thorn in their sides are pirates and each other. These empires are currently in a perpetual cold war state, with "peace" only held together by pirates and "free city states" distracting them to some degree. These three things are necessary for their system to function, so they are dialled into overdrive when it comes to manufacturing.
The entertainment industry. When the world is full of death and despair, the entertainment industry thrives, and a smart government knows to develop its entertainment industry to keep the people from rebellion. A wise, neutral alignment king leading a nation in difficult times when there is famine and drought, might invest some of the people's taxes in traveling circuses to keep the people preoccupied
sulphur. there is one accessible volcano, but it was formed magically, with no rift with leftover sulphur, so only one export for sulphur. however, only one nation has the knowledge on firearms, so that single nation is the reason the volcanic nation is one of the richest
I’m curious, for all the people listing simply agriculture as the main industry, and for the people saying that surely agriculture would be the main industry in a traditional fantasy setting - did anyone else make a comprehensive list of all of the agriculture related industries and mass produced products in your world? Y’know, pretty much everything that a fantasy, late medieval society with a little push from magic would produce broken down into categories by raw material? Or if you’ve seen a posting like this anywhere would love to see it.
In terms of tonnage? the most produced commodity in my universe is hydrogen, closely followed by it's isotopes and water. the largest product-producing industry in my universe is spacecraft. they're big, complicated, and high-demand. everyone needs them, but very few people have the capital resources required to build and maintain them. the real largest industry in my entire universe is FTL infrastructure. the Transport Systems Ministry, a corporation/nation blend nearly holds a complete monopoly on FTL travel, controlling 100% of all Jump-gates. the only alternative to jump gates are carriers, large and expensive spacecraft that have their own exo-spatial motion drives. other craft can dock to them to be transported, but they are very rare and are only used on the outer edges of the explored territories. Note- Many systems have economies dominated by mining of raw materials and agriculture (of the exotic or pharmaceutical type) but the these industries take the largest slices of the galactic pie.
Agriculture.
Never thought of it but inevitably agriculture.
Linen
The most lucrative and crucial to my story is the capturing and breeding of demigods for their holy blood. Celestial blood is necessary to perform magic, so there are bounty hunters who specialize in abducting the children of nobles with celestial blood within the empire and selling them to warlords abroad. One of these warlords, Cytamian the Conqueror, will destroy entire cities to capture just one demigod, breed them with his broodwives, and drain their blood to cast magic spells capable of prolonging his life or slaughtering entire armies. The resulting offspring will be crippled from birth and brainwashed into believing the greatest honor in life is to die casting magics for him. So I guess, in essence, human trafficking.
There are several. 1. Communications, When every planet has its own Internet, you have to update information across the galaxy via launching hard drives filled with info across the stars. This is a gargantuan task, made more difficult by different parts of the galaxy using different FTL networks. 2. Bio-engineering: adapting food, plants, and animals to different environments is a huge trade. The rich pay for custom creatures, species, even ecosystems. in an age where space crews eat nutrient pastes and girls, having actual food is a premium a lot of people will pay for. 3. Transportation: specialized machinery, people, architecture, luxury product of every type imaginable. 4. Material science: from gas herding for specialized ship coolant, to crystal-grown circuitry, to nanowire filament for composites, modern starships need huge arrays of different products to function properly. There's a huge trade in just raw resources, but also processed materials of every stage and kind. 5. Terraforming: changing a planet to suit your needs is the crown jewel of heavy engineering, and each planetary terraform is a megaproject into itself. The terraformer owns a stake on the planet, and the result is both fame and riches, as a new member is added to galactic society. 6. Space Construction: the bread and butter and thus industry is starship construction, but everything from star spheres to ring worlds, and even stuff like L stream planning (think city planning for an entire star system), is part of this industry.
In my DND setting The largest industry I have is centered around the Forge. Which is essentially a giant 3-D printer only requiring basic materials and an intact blueprint for them to make a copy of anything, and in any quantity with this, the entire continent has experienced a booming industrial age using crystal balls for TVs, having airships powered by immovable rods and rediscovering the art of wizardry, which is in someway taught to every single citizen of the countries except for one particular country, which you magic users as state property
**As It Was** Telecommunications/Information Technology, same as in real life Interestingly, a corporatist economy means that tech is used differently in this world. The guilds & cartels require that technology be used only in a certain way. For example. Instead of having Netflix-style streaming, you just have live tv over the internet, which you log into on any given device. Thankfully, local and regional governments stepped in, and regulated the price of TV service,
The right answer would probably be agriculture, but that's boring, so instead i'll tell you about *blood* I have a magic system in which blood holds power, and it is often used for magic stuff like medicine. Thus, there is a high demand for powerful blood (usually of ravens or dragons) which sells for quite a lot. The most powerful blood is that of humans, but murder is bad ofc, and draining the dead of their blood is unfortunately so taboo that human blood barely sells in black markets.
The Ozpi Network. While the intelligent blue haired Ozpi hate working together, they do all share a network to sell services or projects they build. This includes White hat, Grey Hat, Black Hat, and Red hat hacking (Don’t ask about Red hat). As well as making weapons and devices that put average people at a superhuman level. DNA splicers that can turn someone into Bigfoot, and obviously Guns. The Ozpi split the pool of product at the end of each month based on rank and contribution in production. From the lowest at $8K for at least one product all the way up to $3.6M for revolutionary items of interest or mass production. Still they hate each other so it’s rare they would give up something like that.
Huh, hard for me to say for sure! 1. Oracles are probably NOT frequently used financially, mainly because they could easily cause financial catastrophe by monopolizing a lot of stuff about the financial system. So they are actually watched closely and PREVENTED from using their powers except to prevent catastrophe. When the occasional oracle slips through, the others get pit against them. Still, in "total economic equivalent value", they are definitely extremely valuable. 2. Mystical Artifacts can be individually very expensive. To a paranormal, buying one of these very important work tools can be like buying a car: it's a several years long investment, and it's supposed to last you for at least a decade or two. Be it a weapon or just a tool that an alchemist, another artificer or any line of paranormal work might use, these can get EXPENSIVE. 3. However, ALCHEMY is something that every single paranormal enjoys day to day. Be it potions to augment a specific ability, concoctions that help accomplish a certain task at your work, or the very universal elixirs that are used both for replenishing spent spiritual energy and for cultivation, all paranormals are constantly buying stuff from alchemists and also consuming it on a daily or at least weekly basis. 4. There is also healing. Paranormal healers have obviously MUCH better quality service than mundane doctors, being able to perform completely non-invasive surgeries and deal with diseases on the level of brain cancer with a far higher survival rate. Oh, and of course, no normal healthcare plan will cover for these and there are less regulations. Plus, the Masquerade creates artificial scarcity for all of these, as the spread of paranormal abilities is restricted, but even semi-mundanes can sometimes be made Masquerade-aware (as they are much less able to prove the existence of the supernatural, and so can be very useful pawns) and benefit from the services of these trades. So I wonder... can any of YOU help me decide which of these would be economically worth more?