Later that night, Lilith, all the Parallels, and Kali sat down in their bedroom to talk about Amelia’s offer. “So, you wanted to discuss Amelia’s proposal?” Lilith asked. “I’d like to hear why you think we shouldn’t just dismiss it out of hand.”
“I mean, as much as I don’t want to accept, Kali’s got a point.” Eve said. “If this is something that would significantly increase our chances of winning this war, then we have to consider it. If the effect is only minor, though, we absolutely reject it. I’m not sure I’m ready for a poly relationship, much less one with people I don’t love in that way. Well, love yet, if we accept then it won’t be an issue, but you know what I mean.”
“I agree with Eve.” Pandora said. “I don’t want to do this, but we are against something bigger than us. Though…I would point out that we’re kind of in a poly relationship already.”
“It certainly feels that way to me.” Kali chuckled.
“I mean, it feels weird to call it poly when I have memories of every single thing Kali’s done with any of us.” Eve said. “But I get the point. Besides, that’s just semantics, my point stands.”
I’d rather not enter into this relationship. Nuwa added. More so than any of you, I think. Personally, I believe there are better ways we can increase our chances of winning, and we should only take it if we end up thinking that we’re way behind where we want to be.
I have no opinion either way. Mae said. Do as you will.
“And, for the sake of completeness, I’m with Nuwa on this. This should be last-resort only.” Lilith said. “That being said, if you have persuasive arguments, I’m willing to change my opinion.”
Kali shifted uncomfortably. “Honestly, I would really rather not accept, but I thought it’d be a mistake to just say no without properly thinking it through first.”
Lilith nodded. “In that case, does anyone have a concrete advantage we would get from accepting?”
“Unity.” Eve offered. “If we join the swarm, we’ll add our planes to the swarm, and that would make things significantly more harmonious. Plus, the swarm has a great deal more coordination than most armies when it comes time to actually fight.”
“Counterpoint, doing that involves irrevocably changing the bodies and minds of our people, and that’s morally bankrupt.” Lilith replied. “We’re supposed to be watching over the mortals, not twisting them into something else entirely.”
“To be fair, in terms of personality, they’re mostly the same.” Pandora said. “Their morality and loyalties shift, but morality’s a social construct in the first place. Few things are intrinsically wrong.”
“And altering people’s minds is one of those things.” Lilith said flatly. “It’s preferable to letting them die or get conquered by tyrants who don’t care for them, but that’s absolutely a last resort.”
“Yeah, that’s fair.” Eve replied. “But if we have other reasons to accept the offer, this comes into play. It’s not close to worth it on its own, but it is a factor.”
Alright, name another benefit, then. Nuwa challenged.
“It’ll make the system transition a lot easier.” Pandora supplied. “We’ll dodge the problem of whether or not we want to design a system around the idea of a single sex world, and when everyone becomes part of the swarm their system changes anyway, so it’ll make our lives a lot easier.”
“That’s also not worth it on its own.” Kali pointed out. “Even if it is convenient for us, that’s all it is, and convenience isn’t worth too much consideration in this discussion.”
By the way, I wholeheartedly support Amelia’s single sex world idea. Nuwa said. I have some plans to make the transition easier for Earth and Haven while not forcing anyone into anything.
“We’ll talk about that after this.” Kali said. “Back on topic, one thing it will do that we can’t easily replicate is greatly shake up how our system works. Obviously we could try that anyway, but it would be really, really taxing on the people and would permanently damage our reputation. They’ve been conditioned to think about magic and systems in one broad way for a long time, and the swarm provides an opportunity to change that in a safe way.
“I made a lot of mistakes in system design, and while most of those can be rectified, the general shape of the system can’t be. I’m rather fond of the whole evolution thing the swarm has going on, and I would like to be able to replicate that here, but we can’t just drop that on people with this new system update, not without throwing the world into chaos.”
“The societal benefits are nice too.” Eve said. “We’d take a huge bite out of discrimination and inequality, and war and hunger would basically be a thing of the past. And that’s a concrete thing that we just couldn’t get otherwise.”
There was a silence for a few moments. “I…don’t think that’s enough.” Lilith said. “Does anyone disagree or have more benefits?”
“No, I don’t disagree and I don’t have any more benefits.” Pandora said.
“Yeah, same.” Eve replied. “Kali?”
“Sounds like we’re not accepting that offer, then.” Kali said. “Onto our other topic of discussion, a single-sex oriented system. Nuwa, you seem passionate about this, care to explain?”
Well, it seems pretty straightforward. The whole two sexes thing is just culture among Administrators, it’s not any more ‘natural’ than there only being one sex, not when we decide what’s natural. The only downside with it is when we update our current system to match, but there are ways to handle that and no ways to replicate the increase in system efficiency.
“I don’t like telling half of the population that we effectively consider them to be less important.” Lilith said, frowning. “If we weren’t in a situation where we have to take our current planes into account, then yes, I would have no issues with a single-sex system, but right now it feels like it goes against the equality I’m supposed to promote.”
Well, to an extent, it kind of does, but there are a lot of ways we can soften the blow, with the eventual aim of everyone being…well, I’m assuming we’re going to go with female as our single sex, just because that’s what Amelia’s most familiar with, but which we pick doesn’t really matter.
So, to start laying the groundwork, with the system update we just make it so the Y chromosome isn’t passed on, and remove any magic that would make someone male. And, of course, we make a built-in way for two women to have kids. That alone would mean that over time the population ratio would dramatically skew towards female, but it still doesn’t solve that issue you brought up.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
So, we be honest and tell them that we’re anticipating a multi-universal war in the future and that this is the best way to increase the odds that they come out of it safely, since it lets us make a stronger system. Then, we just flat-out bake the option to change yourself into the system. The change would make your base form that of a biological woman if it wasn’t already, change your gender identity to female, and make you attracted to women if you weren’t before.
Of course, most people won’t take that deal, so we sweeten the pot. A complete rejuvenation the moment you choose to change, any injuries or problems you had with your body, gone. If you’re older than twenty, your body is now twenty. We even make it so you get to pick what you look like, species, looks, height and weight, everything.
And, finally, we level all their current stuff up by a lot. Max the levels of their Skills, increase the starting level of their first Class or Job or whatever we’re calling it in the new system, and buff all their stats by a bit. This will also slow their aging by quite a bit, so it’s a huge win in basically every way. I’m sure that’d make a lot more people take the deal, especially women. And the people who don’t…well, we gave them the option, they can’t complain too much. The only real downside is that it’ll be quite Worship intensive, but I think it’s worth it.
“You underestimate the capability of people to complain.” Eve grumbled. “We could give all of that to them without any of the changes to their sex or mind and some people would still whine about it. But that being said, I like it a lot. I’ll throw my support in behind that idea.”
“Me too.” Pandora said. “I mean, it really is best for our future, and if Jerry thinks we’re gonna be one of the powerhouses of our faction, we’re gonna wanna get the most outta our system that we can.”
It does seem optimal. Mae agreed.
Kali nodded. “I think it’s a good enough compromise.” She said. “Lilith?”
Lilith gnawed on one of her knuckles, thinking deeply on it. “I really, really don’t like this.” She said. “Even if we give them the option to change, it feels like we’re telling them ‘we don’t like you as you are’, and I don’t think most people are going to understand or fully believe us when we say that having a single-sex oriented system is optimal. It’ll damage our reputation a lot, even if we try and soften the blow. And, even that aside, did we not just reject the idea of transforming our mortals entirely when we decided not to accept Amelia’s proposal?”
“That’s different, and you know it.” Eve said. “The important element here is choice. If people choose to stay male forever, they can do that. If they want to transform, that’s entirely up to them.”
Kali laid a comforting hand on Lilith’s arm. “And we’re not getting out of this without damaging our reputation in some way,” She said, “just changing the system again will do that. But remember that at the end of the day our reputation is only a means to an end. It makes our job easier to be perceived positively by the public, but we can still do just fine if they hate us.
“It’s kind of like being a parent, when you think about it. Sometimes we have to do things the mortals don’t understand, and they might get mad about it, but we’re doing it for their own good. This sort of situation is why Administrators usually keep themselves in the shadows and use gods as their public front; people are generally less upset with someone who is an object of worship.”
“To be fair, I know of at least three large religions that worship us.” Eve said. “It’s amazing what having an actual physical presence will do for belief.”
“But it’s not big enough.” Kali replied. “And, unfortunately, my mismanagement has ended up taking the option of normal gods away from us, so we’re going to have to deal.” Kali gave a sigh. “I wish I had spent more time with Amy instead of rushing off the moment I could.”
“Well, I’m glad you did.” Lilith said, slinging an arm over Kali’s shoulder. “If you didn’t, we never would have met.”
“That is quite the silver lining. But, back on topic, don’t worry so much about our reputation. It’s going to take a hit, and doing this won’t be that much worse.”
Lilith gave a sigh. “Fine, you all have convinced me. We’ll go through with it, but I’m not happy about it.”
So…who’s gonna tell Amelia? Nuwa asked.
“I will, tomorrow.” Lilith said. “No need to tell her right away. Anyway, I’m a little stressed after that talk, what do you say we go relax and watch some TV?”
----------------------------------------
Tess shifted nervously in front of the door to Lilith and Kali’s room. This was the first time she was meeting her after getting her memories of the party back, and things just felt…different. She hadn’t actually had proper time to get over her younger self’s sense of awe about Lilith, what with forgetting about the encounter afterwards, so the emotion was still somewhat fresh in her mind, despite her not feeling anything of the sort just a few hours prior.
“Ah, if it isn’t three of my favorite nieces!” Kali said happily, opening the door and giving each of them a hug. “Come on in!”
“It’s good to see you too, Aunt Kali.” Maven said. “You’ve got a little time to talk, right?”
“For you three? Always.” Kali motioned for them to follow her inside, then led them to some couches towards the side of the large room. “What’s up?”
“Well…Amelia proposed to us.” Tess said awkwardly, silently thankful that Lilith wasn’t there. “And she said she proposed to you guys too? Have you, um, decided yet?”
Kali frowned. “Tess, are you okay?” She asked. “You’re acting oddly.”
Tess sighed. “Yeah. Getting my memories of the party back is just messing with me, I keep getting these feelings from my younger self, I just need a little more time to work through them so they’re not so…fresh. Give it a day or two and I’ll be back to normal.”
“I’m sorta getting the same, to tell you the truth.” Ellie admitted. “Mostly in regards to Eve. I remember getting thrashed to an embarrassing extent, and even though it was when I was fifty or sixty years younger, it still kind of feels like the me of now. I mean, I’m sure I’d still lose to her, but I think I can at least give her a fight now.”
“You certainly would.” Kali replied, giving her a smile. “If you’re still feeling like this after a day or two, let us know and we’ll take another look at our magic and make sure we didn’t make a mistake.”
“I doubt you did, but we’ll keep it in mind.” Maven said. “Anyway, we got a little off track. So, have you decided?”
Kali gave her a nod. “Yeah. We’re not taking her up on it. There’s not enough benefit to justify essentially assimilating our planes into the swarm, regardless of whether or not we’re part of the swarm’s leadership.”
Tess shot her a relieved look. “That’s good to hear. We’re going to decline too, but we were thinking of reconsidering if you guys were going to accept.”
“You were going to reconsider? Why?”
“Well, you guys would probably have a good reason for accepting, and also it’d be slightly awkward to be the only ones left out” Ellie explained. “We were ninety-nine percent sure you wouldn’t accept, but just in case…”
“By the way, where’s Lilith?” Maven asked curiously. “Usually, she’s here for stuff like this.”
“She’s off breaking some news to family and the dungeon residents.” Kali said. “While we didn’t accept Amelia’s proposal, she suggested that having a system designed around a single sex would be more efficient, and after some deliberation we agreed. So, in a few years here once we’ve worked out all the kinks in the new system, we’re going to implement that new system in our current planes and give people the option to switch sexes along with some heavy incentive to do so.
“By this point, most of our family and the dungeon residents are either women or have a female form that they spend some amount of time in, so I imagine most will just decide to go full-time now. The only one we’re really concerned about is Siph’s father, but…well, I’m sure his wife will get him to come around.”
“Huh. You’re…sure about this, right?” Maven asked.
“Mostly.” Kali sighed. “According to Amelia, it’s a roughly three to five percent increase in power, and considering the sheer scale of the war we’re going to fight that’ll probably translate to tens of billions of lives saved. It’s…not an easy choice by any means, but if Jerry thinks our planes will become powerhouses thanks to Lilith and Amelia, then a boost that large is not something we can ignore. At worst…well, our planes are only about ten billion strong at the moment, and five billion people getting inconvenienced and having their feelings hurt is just not worth the lives we can save.”
“I understand.” Tess said. “Kind of an annoying decision to even have to make, but I get it.”
“Well…enough about that for now. Since you guys are here, why don’t we hang out for a bit? I was just about to head to bed, but I haven’t had much social interaction what with watching over the new plane, so I can spare an hour or two of time if you guys can.”
“That’d be great.” Maven said. “What were you thinking?”
“I dunno, something active like mini golf or bowling or something? I’m mostly just sitting around all day so it’d be nice to move my body.”
“I’m feeling mini golf.” Ellie volunteered.
“I think mini golf sounds fine.” Tess said.
“Mini golf it is, then.” Maven confirmed. “Come on, let’s go!”