Creating a setting after a long break

[Ghostman]

The government (or at least the parts of it that does all the planning and decisions) should be composed of the long-lived/immortal species, or people magically altered to be such. That way it's much more believable for it to enforce a millennia-spanning stasis.

[Seraph]

There will be a sort of arcane INS, if you will, that tries to monitor everything all the time, but it will obviously be flawed.  We can't have the antagonist knowing everything, now can we?  And no, the state trusts no one.  The people are divided, as I stated a bit earlier in the post.

Maybe the evil and overreaching "Big Brother" kind of government is inefficient due to infighting and backstabbing among its own employees. You work for the powerful rules-everything organization because you desire power, and that means you desire advancement within its ranks, the upper hand over your colleagues, etc. Maybe your rationale for why the government doesn't just always crush the players is that Minister A has one piece of the puzzle, Department B has another, and even though they work for the same cause, they hate each other so they keep their secrets.

And this kind of this happens in governments ALL THE TIME.  Whether it be inter-agency rivalries, or cross purposes.  Say the Ministry of Commerce wants to find out where some money went, but National Security funneled it towards something top secret, and stonewalls them. 

The show NCIS does a good job of illustrating the way different government organizations can make life difficult for one another.  They regularly butt heads with the FBI, the CIA and so forth.  It might be a good source of inspiration.

[lightseyasylum]

Wow, you guys have taken this idea and brought it to lots of wonderful places!  I love the ideas I'm reading, and I hope that when all is said and done I will have a world that you all will have just as much fun with as I will.  I'm going to keep working on everything, and will post some more soon.  Keep the ideas coming, and thank you to each and every one of you!!

[Lmns Crn]

Champagne cocktails all around, then!

[Magnus Pym]

The 5000 years idea paints your world's societies as ultra-conservative. Ultra might not be the word, and a suitable word may not exist. Furthermore, it may point to a lack of innovation of said societies.
It may prove to be interesting, nonetheless.

Good luck!

[Steerpike]

If pretty much everyone is bound within walled cities, where do they get their food?  Gigantic greenhouses?  Golems tilling the fields?  Zombie farmers?  Meat-trees?  Do the spellcasters just conjure it into existence?  This issue probably bears some thinking about.  Cities need a ton of food.  Food shortages would almost certainly lead to popular uprisings (and general anarchy/cannibalism/crime), so if things have been kept stable for such a long period the food situation must be pretty much settled.

[Lmns Crn]

The 5000 years idea paints your world's societies as ultra-conservative. Ultra might not be the word, and a suitable word may not exist.

"Calcified."

[Matt Larkin (author)]

The 5000 years idea paints your world's societies as ultra-conservative. Ultra might not be the word, and a suitable word may not exist.

"Calcified."

Particularly in respect to a dystopian society. I'd find the idea of a utopian society lasting for millennia easier to buy (albeit not nearly so interesting as a setting), as there would be less forward drive.

[Ghostman]

Another thing regarding the sufficiency of food supply: they would need some ways to monitor and control population growth. An Orwellian police state probably wouldn't have any qualms about using drugs, poisons, alchemy and/or magic to reduce the fertility of the citizenry. They might even offer limited "breeding rights" as rewards for particularly obedient subjects, for those who report their peers for suspicious/revolutionary activities, etc.