The next day was a mad rush. With just over six days until the end of the tutorial, Olympus had lots to do. The pressures were mounting and of course, as with any major project, the deadlines were far too tight. As any good project manager does, Calvin would make it work.
They had a new settlement to integrate, and that meant getting governance in place. Calvin himself can’t control everything in the city, he’d need people to manage the minutiae. He already had Sasha, Liam and Tank managing their defensive forces and he would look to formalize that differently. Sasha and Liam were doing a fantastic job, but Tank really had the battlefield experience they needed. He wanted to make Tank the commander of their forces.
Next, they’d need someone in charge of infrastructure, and Calvin felt like that would be Seth’s job. He was by far the most experienced crafter in the city and his creations were powering their entire way of life including many of their offensive and defensive capabilities.
They needed to spin up agriculture and get sustainable food production going. Foraging has worked fine for now, especially when they kill mountain-sized monsters and harvest the meat from them, but the situation back on Earth could be way different from the tutorial, and getting caught with their pants down was not an option.
With these thoughts raging through Calvin’s mind he summoned Andy.
“Andy, walk me through your suggestions for governance.”
“Certainly. I suspect you’ll want to offload many of the daily tasks to others?”
“Yes, as much as possible.”
“And what of your role or the role of the other founders?”
“We’ll be retaining the top governing positions.”
“Understood. That is a wise course of action, however, you will want to establish a single leader above all.”
Calvin pondered on that for a moment.
“That of course will be Calvin.” Amy said as she approached the duo.
Calvin turned and smiled. “Welcome to the party. Got some exciting government planning going on here. Want to join?”
Amy flopped down into a nearby chair and threw her feet up over the arms, as relaxed as could be.
“Sure I’ll listen in and offer my suggestions. Before you try and shirk any responsibility, I’ve already spoken at length with the others. You’re taking the job.”
Calvin chuckled. A few weeks ago, he would have argued the point. He would have laid out all of the reasons he wasn’t qualified or that someone else would be a better fit. Calvin today though, was a much different person than several weeks ago.
“Makes sense. Ok, so lay it out Andy. What have we got?”
“Olympus is a far greater city already than nearly every city that has ever come out of the tutorial. There have been other tutorial events that have ended similarly, but those are extremely rare, and those cities are places of legend. Many of them are known throughout the multiverse.”
Calvin and Amy listened intently. A surge of pride welled through Calvin. Olympus really was badass. It was good to have it confirmed as extraordinary by Andy.
“You’ll need a powerful government. As I mentioned before, tyrannies tend to fail in system-controlled space. Making too many enemies is a death sentence and any multiverse factions that discover such a place, usually work to end it before it expands.”
“Yeah, not planning on being a tyrant.”
“Opposite that, democracies also tend to fail.”
Calvin’s brow rose at that. Democratic institutions were essentially the mainstay of civilization on earth.
“Explain.” Calvin said.
“A democracy gives voice to the people and lets them elect leaders. This process has a few major points of failure. It’s prone to corruption. People gain power by offering benefits to others if they select them. This often results in filling roles with unqualified or corrupt individuals. The other problem comes from power. The system is ruled by the powerful. It’s eat or be eaten as you would say. If a person is placed in power and unable to defend their position, they could be usurped. You may trust everyone under you now, but things will change.”
Thinking back to Earth, Andy was right. Democracy was rife with corruption. Palms were greased, pockets were lined and the wealthiest individuals could force the wheels of democracy to turn for them and steer the path of entire nations.
“My suggestion is that you establish a governing system that places you as the ruler above a panel of individuals who each control various aspects of your government. Having spent the tutorial with you, I already know your desire to give a voice to the people, so, each settlement that falls under your banner should maintain a council, they will be the voice of the people, but decisive control should fall to the leaders you appoint and ultimately you.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Agreed. Do you have examples of such a system we can build from?”
Calvin noted Amy held back a small smile. There’s something she wasn’t telling him.
“I do have such an example, and individuals from your party have already discussed it with me. I have modified the example to suit the needs of Olympus.”
Calvin felt like he was being played here.
“You already have named your city after the residence of divine beings from your Earth culture. I suggest you lean into this. Your core group is already more powerful than anyone you have encountered, and you are akin to divine beings in comparison. This power gap will only become more apparent, and eventually, you may gain true divinity. You should model yourselves after the pantheon.”
“Like, the Gods? Ha. That’s a little on the nose isn’t it?”
“It may be. But consider this. Your people are building a new society from the ground up. They chose the name Olympus, presumably because of the image of power that name contained. When you leave the tutorial, Earth will have to carve a path to power through the multiverse. As you’ve likely already surmised it will not be safe out there. The dangers are numerous and to survive, you’ll need to earn that power for yourself. Additionally, you’ll have to project an image of such power to the other factions. Plus, as Marshall informed me, it’s fun.”
Calvin’s eyes rolled so hard they threatened to pop right out of his head and drive away.
“Fine. Show me what such a system would look like.”
Amy’s smile grew. She was having fun with this too.
Supreme Leader:
Aegis of Zeus: Overseer of Justice and Order. Acts as the ultimate arbiter, ensuring laws are upheld and guiding the nation's overall direction.
Core Council:
Seat of Athena: Leader of Wisdom, Strategy, and Justice. Heads the Council of Justice, overseeing law enforcement, courts, and upholding fairness within the society.
Seat of Ares: Leader of War, Military Prowess, and Defense. Oversees the Council of Guardians, responsible for the national defense, military readiness, and civil security.
Seat of Apollo: Leader of Healing. Oversees the Council of Health, responsible for healthcare and public health.
Seat of Hecate: Leader of Research and Magic. Manages the Arcanum Council, overseeing research, education, and usage of Magic and Nanite Energy concepts.
Seat of Hephaestus: Leader of Metalworking, and Craftsmanship. He leads the Council of Creation, overseeing construction, city planning, and technological advancements.
“Each of these council seats would have appointed ministers governing additional aspects of your society, including education, agriculture, and diplomacy. Of course this can be modified as needed.”
“I think it’s great.” Amy said, “You should sign off on it Cal.”
“So, I can see clearly already who would be appointed to fill these seats. That much is obvious. Who manages all of this when those people are out adventuring?”
“The ministers of course. You wouldn’t need your council to actively participate in these areas of management. They would appoint the appropriate people to handle the affairs, and they would serve as the final word on any affairs.” Andy said.
“And you already discussed this with everyone?” Calvin asked Amy.
“Marshall may have already changed his name to Apollo and Seth might already be crafting a ceremonial hammer.”
“You all are ridiculous. Let’s do it. Is this some sort of system-managed thing?”
“To a degree, yes. Once you establish the structure and how it would work, each of the appointed individuals would gain additional menus in their base management windows that would help them manage their duties. Of course, I would also serve as an advisor to each of them. Additionally, I can manage administrative tasks such as finance, so I will act as support for all seats on the council. In fact, I will assist in carrying out any policies they define.”
“Alright, get the groundwork set up. Can you get the others over here?”
“They’re already on their way.”
The others arrived in short order. Seth of course, arrived with a drone carrying a crate. Because why wouldn’t he arrive with a drone carrying a crate. Among the group was Tank, Ian, Marshall, Sasha, Liam, Harlon, Marybeth, Craig and of course Freya.
“Amy talked you into it?” Ian asked.
“Didn’t take much convincing really. The structure makes sense. Maybe the names took a little getting used to.”Calvin said, “We can rework those right Andy?”
“Yes, you can change any aspect of this structure at any time. You are the Aegis of Zeus after all.”
Calvin stared at Andy.
“Why would you want to change any of it? It’s awesome.” Marshall added.
“Well, how do we do this? Do I need to sign anything?”
“The structure is created, now you need to appoint the seats.”
“But first!” Seth interrupted as he cracked open the crate beside him.
He withdrew a long black cloak, its fabric flowed smoothly as he unfurled it. Intricate golden runic print adorned its surface, shimmering in the light. As he held it out, a faint metallic scent wafted through the air. Nestled in his palm was a small object, its details obscured to Calvin’s eyes. Seth and Amy approached. With a graceful motion, they draped the cloak around his shoulders, the weight settling against his back. Amy carefully pulled the edges of the cloak together, securing them with a clasp. Calvin examined the clasp, its cool metal pressing against his fingertips. It was slightly smaller than his hand, shaped like a lightning bolt with rings encircling it. In the center, a storm-infused behemoth stone was fastened, emanating a faint hum of energy. Tracing his gaze along the runic pathways on the lightning bolt, Calvin could almost visualize the pulsating flow of power.
“What’s this?” Calvin asked.
“That is a masterpiece is what it is.” Seth said. “The cloak is just a cloak. It’s your uniform now. The clasp on the other hand, does a few things. First, it has a really cool rock in it, and looks quite dashing. There’s a communication function built in,” Seth indicated the crate, “I made one for each of the seats and you’ll be able to communicate through the clasps. It also contains a very small spatial storage, which conveniently is just enough to store the cloak. Tap the essence stone and the cloak will zip right into it. Tap it again and you’ll be dressed for a party.”
Calvin had to admit, as ridiculous as all this felt, the cloak looked pretty damn cool and the clasp was amazing.
“How long have you all been working on this?”
“Like three hours. I can churn those things out of the Aetherforge in like ten minutes, and before you ask, the behemoth stone just powers the clasp. I could have used any old essence stone, but that one looks really cool, right? And it signifies you killed that behemoth. In the future, I’ll likely be able to add more functions to it, but I only had three hours, so you’ll have to be patient.”
Calvin saw additional options appear in his management screen and he dove into the option to appoint seats.
“Alright Seth, since you worked so hard on all these, get over here.”
Marshall grabbed a similar black cloak, this time emblazoned in red runic script, as all the rest would be. He approached Calvin and handed him Seth’s clasp. It was a blacksmithing hammer laid over an anvil. In the center of the clasp was a fire attuned behemoth stone.
Calvin pinned the cloak to Seth. “Do you accept the appointment to the seat of Hephaestus and the responsibilities that title carries?”
“I do.”
Calvin appointed him in the base management window and then moved on to Amy. As expected, he appointed her to the Seat of Athena. Her clasp was a set of scales, with a stone fastened on each side - one fire and the other storm.
Next, Tank was appointed to the Seat of Ares. It made sense for him to be in charge of their military prowess, given his status as their most experienced military commander. His clasp was a large sword adorned with a fire-attuned behemoth stone.
Calvin then approached Ian, fastening his cloak with a small runic clasp. The symbol was ritualistic in nature with a torch laid across the center. The storm-attuned behemoth stone on the clasp caused small arcs of lightning to flow along the lines of the ritual rune, while a fire-attuned stone illuminated the torch. Ian was appointed to the Seat of Hecate.
Finally, it was Marshall’s turn. He would be appointed to the Seat of Apollo. Calvin had expected his clasp to be a lyre, but Marshall had vetoed it in favor of a Caduceus emblazoned with a bio-attuned behemoth stone.
As each of them stood side by side facing Calvin, he couldn’t help but admit that they all looked damn good in their cloaks. In unison, they all kneeled before Calvin.
“Ok, enough of that,” Calvin said. “We’ve got shit to do and you’ve got ministers to appoint.”