When Lilith awoke, she felt a slight but noticeable itch in her mind, and the minds of the Parallels. It was sort of like the sensation of being on the edge of remembering a word or concept, but without having something to remember. It was distinctly unpleasant, but not to the point where she was anything more than mildly annoyed.
“How are you guys feeling?” Kali asked worriedly. “Everything alright?”
“We have this weird sensation in our heads, but otherwise fine.” Eve said. “Is that normal?”
“Yeah.” Kali confirmed. “I felt the same when I was made a Sub-Administrator.”
Do you know when it’ll stop? Nuwa groaned. This is annoying.
“A day or two, if I recall correctly.” Kali said. “I believe Amy said it was something to do with your soul getting accustomed to the new power that comes with being a Sub-Administrator, it’s nothing to worry about.”
“Speaking of, what is the difference between a Higher Being and a Sub-Administrator?” Lilith asked.
“It’s…a little complicated.” Kali said. “The effect is much, much less pronounced now that we have systems and many management tasks can either be automated by the system or can be done via the system by Higher Beings, but you now have the capability to do…basically anything I can do here on our planes.
“It’s mostly just plane management stuff. You can alter the physical properties of planes, mess with their magic and systems, speed up their time, that sort of a thing. Normally whatever changes you make would be sent to me to approve or deny first, but I’ve already given you blanket approval to do anything at any time, so you should see results immediately.”
Kali gave Lilith a happy little smile as she continued. “That makes you effectively a full Administrator when it comes to our planes. The only thing you’re really missing is full independence and the ability to interact with planes we don’t own. You can’t give away planes, accept new ones, or send mortals over to planes that aren’t ours, and I can technically revoke your status at any time, but that’s about it.”
“So, what now?” Lilith asked. “Are we getting to work right away?”
Kali shook her head. “No, we’re going to give it a day or two. Not only to let your soul settle, but to let Jerry get his affairs in order. He needs to work out a schedule with Amelia, make her and her wives Higher Beings, and get a couple of other things ready. In the meantime, I figured I could give you a crash course on Administrator politics, so you understand exactly what’s going on and why this is a big deal.”
“Please do.” Eve said. “We’ve heard bits and pieces, but we’re lacking context.”
“Right, so…I guess we’ll start at the beginning?” Kali said. “It’s a bit of a long story, but it’s probably important?”
“We have time.” Lilith said. “Go ahead.”
Kali nodded. “So, I guess I should say that no one knows who the oldest Administrator actually is. Everyone alive right now remembers someone else older who isn’t around anymore. But, back in the beginning, there were a lot fewer Administrators than there are now, only ten or twenty.
“Of those ten or twenty, the few that are still alive are the biggest names right now, the leaders of the three factions and many of the higher ups. For us, that’s Amy and Jerry, and there are I think…five in total in the other factions? But, anyway, way back in the day things were a lot less civilized than they are now.
“There were only ten or twenty Administrators because people kept fighting with each other, taking over the planes of the Administrator who lost and growing ever stronger. After successfully defending her planes a few times, Amy got fed up with the status quo and got together with Jerry and a couple of their close friends and formed an alliance.
“This alliance proved to be more effective than they had ever thought; though they didn’t go on the offensive, whenever one of them was attacked they all would retaliate and, eventually, they would kill the other Administrator and divide their planes amongst themselves. It wasn’t nice, but they reasoned that that Administrator would eventually seek revenge or attack someone else. The people of their planes were well cared for, of course, but…those Administrators deserved no quarter.”
Kali gave a sigh as she continued. “It was a bad time, and it only got worse once people caught on to the alliance. Other alliances cropped up, and then aggressors began attacking in groups, and things only escalated from there. The smaller alliances were eventually wiped out, and eventually things progressed so that there were only the three major factions remaining.
“And this is where things got really bad. The conflicts became bigger in scale, and while the deaths of Administrators became rarer, mortal casualties rose, and they were treated in distinctly cruel ways. It was like that for a long time, until, finally, Jerry invented the first system.
“See…the thing is, systems aren’t required for things to work, they’re just a tool we use. Given proper guidance, people can learn to harness their innate Mana and produce all the same effects they would get from a system, but it’s a lot harder. In fact, people who learned to do things without the aid of a system are often more efficient with their Mana than someone who has only used a system.”
Kali reached down and grabbed a cup that hadn’t been there before, then took a drink. While she did, Lilith gave her a thoughtful look. “So…systems trade off power for numbers?”
“Exactly.” Kali said, giving Lilith a nod before setting down the cup. “Even with an inefficient system, so many people get stronger that the power difference is overwhelming. With the introduction of systems, our faction gained enough power to strike a decisive blow in the war and broker for peace.
“And that’s how the status quo came about. In peacetime, the population of Administrators grew, the competition for planes became more intense, and we set rules to help minimize the damage. Over time, the other factions came up with their own counterparts to systems, and now peace is held only by the fact that a war between any of the factions would leave both weak enough that the third faction could defeat whoever won, and none of the factions are willing to ally with each other.
Stolen novel; please report.
“With the Elder Gods meddling, the other factions will try something with whatever they get. It’s the best opportunity they’ve had to change things in their favor, and that’s something that would be catastrophic for everyone. The ideologies of the other factions are completely incompatible with ours; they’re much crueler and stricter, and the quality of life for everyone but those at the top is dramatically reduced.”
Lilith frowned. “You seem to have a rather poor view of the other factions. I’m not doubting you when you say that they’re bad, but can you explain why?”
Kali sighed. “They’re bad in different ways, but I think I need to provide more context on us first and why we can’t agree with them. I’m sure you’ve got a vague idea on what we’re about, but to be explicit, our faction is built on the idea that Administrators should help each other, and that mutual cooperation will make everything better for everyone. Of course, we understand that not everyone agrees with this, and as long as you don’t bother anyone, that’s fine too. And, since we are nominally the most powerful, we’re the ones who will step in if neutral Administrators are attacked, though that has only come up once or twice.
“Of the three factions, we’re the middle in terms of size. Amy is choosy in who she allows into the main faction, but not that choosy, and we’re the only faction that uses Sub-Administrators in any significant fashion.”
“Wait, if other factions don’t use Sub-Administrators much, how do they get members?” Eve asked, frowning.
“New Administrators pop into existence every few millennia.” Kali explained. “When their presence is noticed, we attempt to make contact and let them choose what they want to do, as well as make them aware of the potential dangers they may find themselves in. As you might imagine, we think the biggest dangers to them are the other factions, but not everyone sees it that way.
“Of the two other factions, one is clearly much more dangerous than the other; for lack of a better term, we call them the Anarchists. They are essentially criminals, a group of Administrators with bad pasts who are held together only by a desire to return things to the lawless days of old and the knowledge that, as criminals, they wouldn’t be afforded any protections alone. They’re the smallest faction, and they don’t receive new members often. However, the Administrators in that faction rank high in terms of individual power, so they can’t afford to be taken lightly.”
“Does our faction have a name?” Eve asked.
Kali paused, broken out of her flow by the unexpected question. “What? Uh, not technically? None of the factions do, but we would I guess refer to ourselves as the Peaceful or something? The other factions call us…the Anarchists call us “cowards”, and the Empire calls us…Dissidents, I think? Real rich, considering we’re the ones that beat them into submission, but that’s beside the point.”
“I was just curious, sorry.” Eve said. “Continue.”
“Um, yeah, as I was saying, there’s no need to explain why the Anarchists are dangerous; their faction is cutthroat and we’re pretty sure a lot of extortion and the like takes place internally. What they do in there isn’t something we technically have jurisdiction over, so we can’t step in to defend people without starting a war. Even if we could, I doubt the victims would want us to, so it’s not something we worry about.
“The other faction is the Empire, and they’re dangerous in a different way. They’re…basically a dictatorship with a really good welcome package. They take new Administrators, help them get going, then bleed them dry with taxes. They’re the biggest faction, about three hundred strong, but the majority of those Administrators aren’t even as strong as we are, and we’re the weakest in our faction. Only fifty or sixty of them are stronger than us, but those fifty or sixty are pretty strong.”
Lilith frowned. “If conditions are so bad for the ‘lower class’, why don’t they just leave? They’ve already got the aid they need.”
“The ‘lower class’ don’t know how to do anything by themselves.” Kali replied. “Their system equivalents are all set up for them, and they really just report back to their superiors if there’s a problem. Then they’re fed all sorts of propaganda about how the other factions are worse, and it suddenly becomes very scary to strike out on their own. Still, some brave people have, and that’s how we know what’s going on over there.”
Propaganda like what you’re feeding us? Nuwa joked.
“Worse.” Kali said, smirking. “If you listen to them, our faction and the Anarchists are just as bad as each other. They don’t have to exaggerate much for the Anarchists, but it’s a little harder to paint the ‘let’s all just get along’ faction as bad without outright lying. And, I know you were joking, but this isn’t propaganda as far as I’m aware.
“I’ve talked to a few of those Administrators myself, and the story checks out. To tell you the truth, if we were to lose to either faction, I’d much prefer that we lose to the Empire; they may be authoritarian and there’s a good chance most of our faction would be executed, but in the future life would probably be better for those that live. Not good, but at the very least they wouldn’t be in constant war or fearing for their lives. They’d just be…livestock, basically.
“And, even if this was all just propaganda, I have a very hard time imagining a better faction than ours; we’re all just so…willing to help, and we wouldn’t abuse our position of authority unduly.”
“And how would we guarantee peace without doing so?” Eve asked. “If we want to prevent a situation like this from happening again, we’ll have to do some distasteful stuff.”
“I…don’t know.” Kali admitted. “I think the hope is that, once the dust settles, only the non-disruptive elements will be left, and our dominance over the multiverse will be enough that no one feels safe trying to rise up. I imagine the neutral Administrators are rather happy with how things are and wouldn’t want to change things, so I don’t think it’d be easy to drum up enough support to make any sort of actual rebellion happen.”
“But can we be sure they’d stay happy with us if we go on the offensive here? We don’t exactly have any evidence other than ‘trust me, bro’ to go off of.” Eve argued.
“If we were to go on the attack, we could probably get away with attacking the Anarchists, no one likes them and the world would be better off without them.” Kali mused. “No one will blame us for that, and the Empire would probably attack afterwards, so then we can be on the defensive and retain public opinion of us.”
“I suppose that makes sense.” Eve said, drumming her fingers on the nightstand next to her. “This is assuming that we’ll be strong enough to deal with the Empire in the aftermath, right? Can we really be confident of that?”
“I don’t think we can be one hundred percent confident, no.” Kali replied. “But our odds will be better than if we allow either of the other factions to grow stronger.
Eve sighed. “I guess the prospect of being the police for the multiverse just feels…wrong to me.” She admitted. “I know it’s for the best, but it really feels like it goes against what we stand for, if I’m understanding things correctly. We’re supposed to be about peace and harmony or whatever, and doing that by force just seems…hypocritical.”
“Perhaps.” Kali said. “But that is, unfortunately, the choice we have to make. Between there being complete anarchy, a dictatorship, or a benevolent autocracy, I think the only real option is the benevolent autocracy.”
“I suppose.” Eve said. “Anything else we should know?”
“For background info, no. I was sort of thinking I could give you access to my full library, and you could go through and read some of the books on Administrator history and politics. They’re written assuming you know what I just told you, so you should be equipped to read them now.”
Lilith swung her legs off of the bed and fully got up, wincing slightly at the brief intensification of the itch in her head. “Sounds like a plan.” She said. “Let’s go let everyone know I’m fine, and then I’ll get started.”