Welcome, Sovereigns of planet 7042-189-D. You have claimed your planet back from the Ratkin Conglomerate, and you are ready to join the cosmos. However, you are first required to choose a method of ruling planet 7042-189-D. Please peruse the list before you make your decision.

So this was really it? They were finally free of the ratkin and now making their entry to the wider universe. By the fact they were only D rank, he supposed they would hardly make a big splash. Still, given the tutorial and the general System guidance, it was likely their introduction to the cosmos would be gentle and protected, as otherwise, the System would have wasted all this time leading them up here when it could have outright enslaved them from the start. Silas sighed and saw that the others around him were focused on their System screens. Following suit, he opened his own screen and clicked through to the new section, Rule 7042-189-D.

Autocracy

Democracy

Oligarchy

Opening Autocracy, Silas looked through.

Autocracy - choose a single entity to rule planet 7042-189-D.

Then Democracy.

Democracy

Demarchy - randomly chosen electors who decide on the rules. Control variants include number of electors, length of terms, term limits, eligibility of individuals for the pool.

Direct Democracy - all organisms gain equal voting power and the ability to raise/discard legislation for voting.

Electocracy - eligible citizens vote for governments to rule planet 7042-189-D. Control variants include eligibility of citizens for voting, requirements for the formation of a government, length of terms, term limits.

Representative Democracy - eligible citizens vote for representatives to rule planet 7042-189-D. Control variants include eligibility of citizens for voting, requirements for representatives, length of terms, term limits.

And finally Oligarchy.

Kraterocracy - rule by the strong. Limited voting positions which can be passed to another through death or voluntary offerings. Control variants include number of voting positions and minimum requirements to hold a voting position.

Meritocracy - rule by the meritorious. Parameters set for the System to decide on the most meritorious to rule planet 7042-189-D. Control variants include parameters, number of voting positions, minimum requirements to hold a voting position.

Aristocracy - rule by the nobility. Control variants include initial noble families, method of passing power, minimum requirements to hold a voting position, limits for number of voting positions per family.

Originally from England, Silas’s mind immediately set to the democratic options before he considered it further. Say that they picked one of them, what was to say that one race wouldn’t have an overwhelming population which they could use to bully the others. If that was humanity, he was fine with it, but what if it happened to be one of the other races? Perhaps the others could even cheat, for example, perhaps the prophet’s mycelia creations counted, and only God knew how many of them the prophet could make.

And once one of the other races was in control, who knew what they would try to do. Silas already knew from all the races he had encountered so far that none of them thought like humans. Some had outdated conventions which they stubbornly stuck to, while others simply thought in a foreign manner.

To him, it made far more sense to go for an oligarchy option, potentially one which chose the Sovereigns as that was both fair on the surface but also gave humanity a massive advantage over all the other races. No one could reasonably complain that humanity had too many positions when they had all earned it through power. Even though Silas wasn’t too sure on what they would vote on, he knew it would have to be important things for the System to kick up such a fuss about it so early.

Silas only briefly considered autocracy, deciding against it as it gave too much power to a single person and because it would be impossible to convince the other Sovereigns to pick it as well.

You can now put forward your decisions. All Sovereigns will need to agree on it for it to be employed as the initial method of ruling planet 7042-189-D.

The first option to pop up on their screens was Kuraim’s.

Autocracy - Kuraim Jaffer for autocrat - Kuraim Jaffer (human)

This was immediately followed by another.

Autocracy - Kuraim Jaffer for autocrat - Zafeera Bazzi (human)

And several more.

Autocracy - Shrjkle for autocrat - Shrjkle (shambler)

Autocracy - Lucian Grimes for autocrat - Lucian Grimes (human)

Autocracy - Svobald the Scourge for autocrat - Svobald the Scourge (dragon)

Autocracy - Miurl the Mountain for autocrat - Miurl the Mountain (dragon)

Representative Democracy - Baerl of Time (drakkar)

Representative Democracy - Peyrn of Dragonfire (drakkar)

Representative Democracy - Dying Light (drakkar)

Representative Democracy - Broken Scale (drakkar)

Representative Democracy - Folding Winds (drakkar)

Representative Democracy - Klope of Rain (drakkar)

Silas smirked at the sight of messages flowing down his screen and joined in.

Meritocracy - Silas Wycliffe (human)

Aristocracy - Fiona D’Alaesa (shaerd)

Autocracy - Kedlllt for autocrat - Kedlllt (hydra)

Meritocracy - Elisha Luna (human)

Kraterocracy - Shamu (blue whale)

Kraterocracy - Azhtha-M’egnis (kraken)

Autocracy - Lucian Grimes for autocrat - Sophie Chandler (human)

The messages finally slowed down as the remaining sovereigns regarded the situation. Some tried to attack others, but it turned out the holographic effect wasn’t exclusive to Shamu and Azhtha-M’egnis since no one could touch another, their limbs passing right through. Once this fact was established, the Sovereigns turned from violence to persuasion.

Kuraim earnestly spoke to Dahlia, while Zafeera stood by them and watched their surroundings like a wary guard dog. Lucian stayed in one spot with Sophie, the Demolitionist and one of his captains, a confident smile on his face as he waited for others to approach him. All six drakkar pleaded with the two dragons to join them, claiming that they would pick Svobald and Miurl as their representatives, but the dragons stubbornly kept to their choices, glaring daggers into each other.

On the opposite side of the circle, Princess Fiona looked down her non-existent nose at Alair, the other shaerd here. Where Fiona was large and ebony purple, even darker than Princess Amara, with five giant, limp horns which flowed down her head like hair, Alair was slight of frame with cracks through his dusty brown skin and a pitiable horn on his head. The very sight gave Silas déjà vu, reminding him of Amara and Nicon. Of course, there were notable differences here which he couldn’t ignore, chiefly the fact that Fiona didn’t look nearly as helpless as Amara had been, if anything looking more like a stronger Laerdya.

Shamu the whale had finally realised that it wouldn’t die from being beached on land and stopped bouncing around, instead considering its surroundings through its giant, wrinkled eyes. Still, Azhtha-M’egnis continued its efforts to kill Shamu, not at all losing motivation from the fact that its tentacles couldn’t touch the whale’s flesh.

Kedlllt the hydra hissed threats to Shrjkle the shambler, who responded by opening its cavernous maw to drip holographic saliva onto the ground. The oak tree, which had been watching Shamu and Azhtha-M’egnis until now, had somehow relocated to behind these two, all without Silas seeing it move as well.

The giant floating eye was now sitting (or the holographic equivalent of sitting) on the phoenix’s back, which flew over the circle of Sovereigns. It seemed the two of them were fast friends already, surveying the grounds together.

The four-foot dwarf, which Dahlia had been licking her lips at, walked in Silas’s direction, raising an open hand for greetings. “How d’you do, Bobby? Been a while since I last saw you.” The dwarf was stubby with a thick brown beard and long braided hair. His skin was tanned, and although he wore heavy armour, this didn’t seem to inconvenience him at all.

“Hokul,” the pygmy troll beside Silas greeted, offering a nervous smile. “Who would have thought all of us would be brought together like this?” He cleared his throat. “A few worrying faces here.”

“You can say that again,” Hokul said, coming to rest beside Bobby and gazing around. “Not the happiest company to be in.” He then looked at Silas and nodded. “Nice to meet you, lad. Name’s Hokul. Meritocracy was an interesting option,” the dwarf said, raising his eyebrows.

“I thought it’s the one that makes the most sense. If we say you need to be a Sovereign to vote, then all of us here gets a voice,” Silas replied, wishing he could sense Hokul’s and Bobby’s auras right now.

From the side of them came Aengus and Ajit. “Yer right there, laddie,” the Master of War said, peering in at the dwarf. “Yer a wee one, ain’t ye?”

Meritocracy - Aengus Abercrombie (human)

Meritocracy - Ajit Ghost (human)

“Big enough to knock you out,” Hokul growled, shaking a menacing fist towards Aengus’s face.

The man-giant guffawed and slapped his knee, gently shaking his head.

Ajit, on the other hand, grinned at a discomforted Bobby, his golden grillz on full show. “I still can’t believe you ran away. You’ve got to admit, it was a bit rude.”

“And I would again if I saw you out there,” Bobby said with a heavy shrug. “Not too fond of dying.”

Vivienne walked over to the group with a smile, interrupting their individual conversations. “Well, if I were to choose any group here, this would be the one.”

Meritocracy - Vivienne Durant (human)

“Hey, I haven’t agreed to a single thing,” Hokul argued back, turning his shaking fist to the Beastmaster.

“Yep,” Bobby agreed, warily glancing at all the humans who now surrounded him.

“Yeah, but you will,” Ajit said, stepping away and waving his hand at the rest of the Sovereigns in the circle. “Who else would you go with here? One of those autocrats, so they can fuck you the second they get into power.”

“That’s exactly what you’re going to do as well,” Hokul accused.

Ajit winked. “Yeah, but it’ll be a gentle fucking.”

Other Sovereigns began to notice the growing commotion around Silas, and some made their way over. Elisha, who until now had been simultaneously trying to pacify the three stingtails and convince the drakkar that electing the dragons as representatives was a bad idea finally gave up and came over. Across from her, Emmanuel too came to the group with Katerina loyally following him like a dog.

“Good day, fellows,” the Alchemist said with a professional smile.

Meritocracy - Emmanuel Baasch (human)

Meritocracy - Katerina Ivanova (human)

Still undecided, Freddie, the Dreadnought, frowned at his peers, meanwhile Lavanya, the Monster Bane, considered the surrounding non-humans with glittering eyes. Beside her stood Stefan, the Chronicler, whose jaw hung open as he stared around at the protagonists of his book, Heroes and Villains of the First Age.

Sandip, the Windwalker, meditated on the ground, seemingly taking no interest in the ongoing event, meanwhile Zhang, the Barbarian, looked between Kuraim’s and Lucian’s camps, listing their plus points on his hands. Eventually, after much consideration, he strode over to Kuraim’s, offering Zafeera a grin which she snorted at.

Autocracy - Kuraim Jaffer for autocrat - Zhang Bao (human)

Hou, the Artificer, who too was from Zhang’s city, watched the Barbarian walk away with cold eyes. He glanced over his shoulder at Silas’s camp, then smirked to himself.

The prophet passively stared at Lucian, who graced the action with one of his own.

You have not all chosen the same method of ruling. For this, you will be briefly teleported back to planet 7042-189-D. Take note that none of you can proceed until you all decide on one method of ruling. To help you come to an agreement, from hereon you will have the locations of your fellow Sovereigns visible to you at all times. You are recommended to discuss your plans amongst yourselves as soon as possible.

“And what if we kill them instead?” Dahlia shouted out, her voice hoarse and guttural.

Then you will have fewer Sovereigns to convince.

All of a sudden, the baby blue sky, the gentle wind, the swaying grass, and the other Sovereigns disappeared and Silas opened his eyes to his living room again.

“Oh, shit.”