Castgre

Castgre is a fictional analytical framework used to study caste-based social organization and its ecological and economic consequences in speculative settings. It models a society in which access to land, labor, capital, and political influence is allocated by ascribed status, and where institutions, technologies, and environmental constraints reinforce the hierarchy.

Origin and usage: The term emerged in online worldbuilding circles in the 2010s and 2020s as a heuristic for exploring power structures in sci-fi and fantasy worlds. It is used in scholarly-style essays, game design documents, and fiction analysis to compare different governance schemes and to test how mobility and resource flows affect stability.

Core concepts: Castgre defines social castes, each with specified prerogatives and duties. Mobility between castes requires formal processes or exceptional permission. Resource access (land, energy, education) is tiered, while governance and enforcement are administered by institutions aligned with the caste system. Economic networks, trade, and technology adoption often follow the hierarchy, creating feedback loops that sustain the system.

Applications and examples: Writers and game designers use castgre to shape world histories, legal codes, and daily life. Critics employ it to analyze how real-world caste-like systems are reproduced or resisted in narratives, encouraging careful handling to avoid essentialism.

Related concepts: caste, social stratification, governance, worldbuilding, critical theory.