Hello historians,
I'm a developer working on a concept for a game where the main themes are influence, scheming and intrigue. Think influencing a parliament, corrupting officials and working your way up to ruler. I'm looking for interesting political systems of the past that could fit well with the theme or that I could use as a source of inspiration. I am more or less uninterested in systems where assassination is key (it's really not exciting if you can just kill your opponents) but rather where influence is key and where you can climb your way through the ranks. I was looking at Sparta, since it has the perfect "scope" (it's a city state) and an interesting system. I've done some research but wasn't able to exactly find out if intrigue was really a part of the political life. Do you have anything to recommend on the topic of Sparta or any other examples of systems that could fit my needs?
Many thanks!