Nero Walker, Book 3 Ch.52 (167)

Although this was not their first meeting, it was their first attempt at emulating the secret societies they’d all heard about.

The five of them sat around the small table in the dimly lit room, a singular essence spell providing the only source of light. Each of them were still a little uncomfortable in their new robes and hoods. They hadn’t had a chance to enchant them yet, so they were forced to cut holes in the hood so that they could see what was going on. As a result, what was supposed to be a solemn affair, looked shabbily done, if not a little pathetic.

Even though they were all the chosen representatives of their individual groups, with membership numbers ranging from the low 20’s to over 100, none of them were feeling particularly good about themselves at the moment.

“When’s Erik getting here?” asked one of the hooded figures.

“No names, Sarah!” hissed another one.

“Right. Sorry. When’s the illustrious High Arch-knight getting here?” replied the first one, her voice laden with mockery.

Just then, the door to the hastily converted storage room burst open, allowing the ‘High Arch-knight’ to make his presence known.

Stumbling into the room, his new robes causing his steps to catch on the excess fabric, the High Arch-knight said hurriedly, “I’m here! I’m here! Have you guys started without me?”

“We couldn’t start without you! You’re the one that’s supposed to lead the meeting. Everyone agreed that you won the essay contest,” the hooded figure named Sarah replied angrily.

“Right. Good,” he said, taking his seat among the knights.

After coughing lightly into his hand to clear his throat, he said, “Let’s bring to order the first official meeting of the Nero-Knights. We’ll -”

He was interrupted by the knight that had corrected Sarah. “Actually, we haven’t officially decided on the name after the merger. That is the first item to address on today’s agenda,” she said.

The High Arch-knight nodded, and said, “Thank you, Heather. Aft-”

“No names!” three of the hooded figures shouted in unison.

“Right! Sorry,” the High Arch-knight replied, mentally kicking himself for such a stupid mistake.

Trying to regain some semblance of respectability, the High Arch-knight said, “Let’s start the meeting by reciting the declaration we agreed upon.”

Straightening his shoulders, he summoned every bit of his very limited presence and began. His voice sounded almost reverent as he loudly asked, “Why are we here?”

Together, the knights replied, “Because he showed us the path!”

Standing up, the High Arch-knight continued, “What is the way forward?”

The knights stood, joining him, replying as one, “We respect the grind!”

“He has shown us the way,” the High Arch-knight responded as if offering them all a benediction.

Everyone bowed their heads, and joined the High Arch-knight after he began the declaration:

“We follow his ways to further our path.

We live for the grind, everything else is secondary.

We start none, as we don’t want none.

While others are distracted, we remain focused.

Those who choose to stand in our way are to be pitied, but never allowed to succeed.

The bonds we accept are ours to choose, and together we move forward.

We think first, then act with conviction.

This world is what we make it.

He has shown us the way, and together we choose to follow him.”

By the time they finished, all of them were fully in-sync, and a sense of unity pervaded the room. They felt their communal purpose, their communal beliefs reinforcing each other.

As one, they took their seats. All of them feeling much better about their decision to join this budding secret society. Under their hoods, each of them were smiling with pride at how well their dedication sounded out loud.

The High Arch-knight began the meeting, his voice now much more controlled and steady. “What we all knew has finally been acknowledged. The Walker has been put up for ascension to the status of a unique. His greatness has been noticed, and soon he will appear here in Hennings.”

Looking around the room, he tried to impart the seriousness of his next words. “We need to prepare everyone for his arrival. Whether it’s tomorrow or a year from now… the Walker is coming.”

-----

While Vera was droning on about the order in which the kingdom’s cities were founded, Nero nibbled on a cookie and mentally reviewed what he’d learned.

He had been right to equate the kingdom with the good ‘ole USA he’d grown up in. Well, more or less.

Each city was more or less on it’s own. Some cities were absorbed from kingdoms that chose to join Oglivarch on their own, while others were founded by nobles striking and staking their claim. To Nero, it reminded him of the stories of the wild west. The land was so large that creating new cities was like homesteading.

To found a city, a group of nobles would come together and apply for a permit. The populators would then be sent out to clear the area of any major threats, paving the way for the nobles to come in and build their city. The resources would be supplied by the nobles, and there were strict steps they needed to follow, but overall, it was pretty similar to a group of people forming a town after the army had come through and cleared out all the natives. However, in this case, the natives were massive beasts and monsters who’d laid claim to massive tracks of land, the army was the populators, while the people were fancy ass nobles with more money than sense.

All in all, it sounded like more trouble than it was worth. Yet, he could see the appeal if the nobles in charge managed to live long enough. With the crazy-ass lifespans in this world, the nobles could actually live to see the day when all their hard work payed off.

So far, the subject he was most surprised about was the mortality rate among the populous. Looking at the big picture, seeing how many people died every year throughout the kingdom, it all made very little sense to him. To Nero, it was hard to imagine that even with their prolonged life spans, it was still difficult to grow their population numbers. Hearing Vera put the blame on how dangerous the wilds were didn’t clear it up at all for Nero. He’d been in the wilds, and even with a density shift, he didn’t think it was that bad.

Regardless, putting aside the population numbers, he understood the highlights.

The kingdom was the federal government, enforcing the big rules of conduct, while letting the individual cities survive or thrive on their own merit. Surprisingly, the capital didn’t even demand much in taxes. They only asked for tribute and taxes after the cities became self-sufficient, and then it was only as much as they were willing to pay. It was the cities that chose how much they’d give to the kingdom in exchange for tighter ties with the ruling family and the capital.

Interrupting Vera, Nero asked in a tone of disbelief, “So, if one of the cities decided… ‘eh, we don’t feel like paying any taxes this year’, the kingdom would just be alright with that?”

Vera nodded, replying, “Technically, yes. However, keep in mind that all of the benefits of membership would then be revoked. Trade between cities would no longer be sponsored, access to the central archives would be cut off, training opportunities in the academies would be unavailable, and a thousand other things that allow cities to grow into the safe-havens they need to be out in the wilds would be taken away from them. Even more than that, the cities vie on their own ladder to produce more for the kingdom. The more they give, the higher their position, and consequently the higher their standing within the kingdom. All of that is dependent on how much they produce for Oglivarch.”

Nero thought through what she was saying, and in a way it made sense. However, it just seemed so weird. He couldn’t imagine this system working at all in his old world. Then again, back there the states weren’t under the threat of city destroying populators demanding that they stay part of the country, whether or not they received any benefits from the federal government.

‘I can just see Texas saying, we’re not paying shit to you socialist assholes. Then the suits in Washington tell them that they are no longer going to give them any money for roads, or anything else for that matter. In response, Texas says they’ll be fine on their own, but then get hit with a veritable superhero coming down from the skies and destroying whatever infrastructure they’d managed to build up on their own. Doesn’t sound like much the government is actually giving anyone much of a choice to me. Maybe I’m missing something?’ he thought to himself.

“OK. So, the cities are founded and run by nobles, in whatever way they want. However, they still have to follow the basic rules which are the various accords. They independently make deals with the guilds and the various towers to run their local governments, while the center is placed by the kingdom to watch over everything and make sure no one is abusing their positions? Is there any way to completely separate themselves from the power structure, legally that is?” he asked, trying to make sense of their convoluted system of checks and balances.

Vera nodded, and replied, “Yes, that’s right. Theoretically, if the cities wanted to, they could buy off the kingdom’s investment to establish their own kingdom. It would be difficult, but it’s possible. They would have to pay back the kingdom for the initial use of the populators, take on the cost of training and running their own towers, all while providing an alternative for all the services the center offers the citizenry. After that, once verified to still be in compliance with the kingdom’s laws, they’d have to publicly declare their intent to secede, then give their citizens a chance to move out before the official transfer of power. As I said, while it’s technically feasible, it is not something that is likely to happen.”

Cathleen chimed in, “For a while, the Northern tribes successfully broke off from the kingdom. It didn’t last very long though. Barely 2000 years, I think. It just wasn’t worth the effort to be running the governments in parallel. For all their faults, the southerners make good administrators. As the kingdom stays out of most things, there really is no benefit to going it alone.”

Nero looked at the map hovering behind Vera. He was beginning to grasp the bigger picture. Each city was more or less in charge of their own area. They were all self sufficient. Their only ties to each other were that they were all part of the same kingdom, and as such, they agreed on all the major points of how to run their particular slice of paradise. Without any major ideological disputes, he could sort of see it working.

Deciding to move on, he said, “All right, I guess that kind of makes sense. You can continue.”

Vera went on to explain the house system, which apparently, to this day, was constantly under revision. The overall goal being to control and funnel the energies and schemes of the elites toward the benefit of the greater good. By rewarding the houses with tax breaks and positions in response to their efforts for the kingdom’s greater good, and thoroughly punishing any violations with complete and utter ruin, the kingdom effectively lets the nobles run almost everything.

The best education goes to the nobles, while they are rewarded for uplifting the commoners around them. Political positions, social advancements, government grants, and numerous other advantages are exclusively reserved for people with noble titles. As far as Nero could tell, it was almost like two kingdoms running along right next to each other. One for the nobles, another for the commoners.

The nobles killed, schemed, and raced against each other, while the average citizen went about their daily lives without a care in the world. The nobles worked their asses off to prove to the other nobles that they were the best at caring for their commoners. Whoever had the happiest and most productive people seemed to ‘win’ the imaginary game they had all agreed to play.

To Nero, it sounded like a shared delusion that everyone agreed to put up with. In fact, he was hesitant to point it out, wary that he might pull everything down with his common sense. Yet, he just couldn’t help himself.

“Hold up. You’re telling me that no one abuses the system to take advantage of the little guy? There has to be some benefit from just taking the resources directly out of the pocket of the citizenry than waiting for it to be awarded by the nobles and governmental bodies above them. The system as it stands is just begging for someone to come along and abuse the hell out of it,” he said, completely disregarding any kind of assumed sense of responsibility on the part of the nobles.

Vera and Cathleen chuckled, apparently amused at Nero for some reason. Meanwhile, Rose seemed to be silently agreeing with Nero’s pessimism.

Vera folded her hands in front of her as if she were speaking to a naive young man who didn’t understand how the world really worked.

“You have to understand Nero, the people who are at the top of the ladder do not want the system to fail. A lot of them are only a couple hunred generations away from the memory of what the world used to be like. There is stability now. Those at the top can now focus on their own pursuits. Try and think about it from their point of view,” she said.

Cathleen added, “If you were in charge, how would you like the people below you to run your interests? How would you like it if you were up in your tower, studying the mysterious of the magic you like so much, and one day one of your subordinates ran into your chambers explaining that one of your territories was rebelling? Or that they were no longer living up to their agreements? Perhaps, just generally causing a problem that you would now have to deal with?”

Nero blinked a few times, his mind trying to imagine such a scenario. ‘Yup. I’d be pissed. Like, proper pissed,’ he thought to himself.

Vera piled on, by saying, “The system stands as the most tried and true method for allowing controlled growth among the subjects. The stress for growth is there, in any number of forms. Opportunity for advancement is clearly regulated and laid out. No one is held back, and everyone is allowed to work their way up the various ladders. If they don’t like something, there is a clear and accepted method to address it. In this way, the kingdom flourishes, while the people in power are able to go about their lives without the threat of their time being constantly wasted.”

Nero nodded, replying, “Yeah. Money can be made. Resources can be acquired. Everything is up for grabs except for more time. Lifespan is limited, even if it’s on the timescale everyone around here is dealing with. The only way to survive is to level, and how pissed would they be with anything that got in the way of that. I suppose they can’t learn or experience much from the same problems popping up over and over again. Hell, if they didn’t learn their lessons, they wouldn’t be leveling at all, now would they.”

Vera nodded, happy to see Nero understanding why the system was designed to run itself.

Nero narrowed his eyes, still having trouble believing that everything worked the way she seemed to believe it did. “So, there are no rebellions, or conflicts of opinions that result in the system breaking down?”

Cathleen’s stoic presence was disrupted as she snorted in seeming amusement. “Of course there are rebellions and conflicts. People will always try and fight the current power structures that they are forced to operate under. However, after thousands of years, those fights and conflicts are channeled into legal battles. If your house doesn’t like another, you’re free to go kill them all. However, you still have to follow the law while doing so. You wanna go around being a problem for everyone around you? Well, then you better be strong enough to deal with all the people coming for your head. If you manage to survive, you’ll end up part of the system, and then you’ll be stuck enforcing it. Remember, the system isn’t designed to stop people from being themselves, it’s designed to channel their desires and personalities into a positive direction. Anyone who goes against the positive direction violates the law, and therefor suffers the inevitable outcome of their idiocy. Then the ones who eliminated them are then rewarded, and tied more tightly into the power structure.”

Nero was torn. On one hand, the system was all ‘touchy-feely’ and socialist. However, on the other, it was completely savage and Machiavellian. The fact that the government was so twisted that they were willing to use totally corrupt and dastardly means to enforce a society of kindness and general communal goodwill was ironic to the point of insanity.

Shaking his head in amusement. Nero had to admit that it was a pretty novel approach to community service. And the whole thing stemmed from the people at the top just wanting to be left alone.

The more he thought about it, the funnier he found it. Eventually, he burst out into one of the most evil laughs he’d ever performed. He’d never actually been able to pull off the classic, “Muwahaha!” However, in the face of the incredibly evil scheme which resulted in everyone getting along and working together, he was able to finally fulfill his life-long dream to maniacally laugh in delight at the success of well thought out plot’s success.

“You guys are diabolical. I love it. I still think it’s madness, and most likely doomed to failure, but hot damn it’s a clever way to manipulate the masses,” he said, eager to hear more about how the evil overlords ruled their people with social welfare initiatives and free healthcare.