The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2
Chapter 81

Part 13

"When the bubble ends at its scheduled time in eighteen years, it'll only be a month and a half later out in the world, and we'll be far more prepared to become Prince and Princess of The People of Life." "Certainly, that seems both wise and practical." Alilia nodded with a smile.

"Some of us would like to leave Hiliani in a year, if the time-bubble indeed does go down temporarily." Senior Dolimatbene stated. "Understanding that we would have to swear the binding vows sworn by other Sylvan in The Just Alliance, would you allow us to go?"

"Sure." Mark nodded. "You haven't sworn allegiance to me or to Hilia, so you're free to do whatever you want, so long as you keep the peace between us and train as hard as you can to fight the demons. And i I did have the right to prevent you from leaving, I still wouldn't. I don't see any reason to keep you here if you want to go. However, if we have to fight the demons, I'd ask you to fight with those you've trained with here. There's no use training you all together as a unit if you're not going to fight with the people and procedures you're familiar with. That means we'd ask you to come back here to help defend the place i the demons attack here, and that you re-join your platoons if the Hiliani Sylvan are assigned to fight elsewhere."

"Ah." Dolimatbene said as she accepted some deserts from a tray that was being passed around. "Our god brought us here so that we wouldn't be enslaved by Zarkog, but that's a moot point now. And it seems that what our god wants with us will also need to be determined, though that may now be moot as well, as you've said. When the time-bubble goes down, our god will learn of what's happened here, we'll learn what he thinks about it, the rest of the gods will learn about him, and we should shortly know where we stand.

"But many of us want to see and experience the great world out there, which is something we could never do before The Just Alliance took over. And many of us would like to go back to Serminak, for at least a visit. The younger of us have never seen their ancestral homeland, and of us elders, most have only seen the small part of it that our god kept hidden for our use before Zarkog conquered the continent.

"And beyond all that, so far as I know, I am the eldest living Sylvan, and one of the most powerful and capable. I may very well be the most powerful and capable Sylvan, and I am very much looking forward to testing myself in the great Game of Status." she finished with a grin that was matched by the other elders.

"So am I." said a voice behind Mark's shoulder. He turned to see that it was Zayobod, informal leader of The Valiant Glory Seekers.

"Oh?" Dolimatbene asked with a chuckle. "I'd have thought that all elves were temperamentally unsuited to such an endeavor."

"Evil is stupid." Zayobod flatly declared. "It's the motto of The Just Alliance, and I believe it with all my soul. Evil is stupid, and me and a few of my friends intend to prove it. We'll enter The Game of Status and compete equally against those like yourselves who choose to use underhanded means, without using any unjust methods ourselves. We'll defend ourselves against the machinations of the other players of course, but other than that we'll play without using violence, and without lying or cheating in any way, and we intend to inspire as many others as possible to do the same. After a sufficient amount of time we should be able to statistically prove that over the long run, unjust methods reduce productivity and advancement compared to just methods."

"How can you say that?" Dolimatbene laughed. "I can guarantee that I'll pay less taxes than you will, I'll have the advantage over you in every interaction because I'll withhold every bit of crucial information I can while feeding you disinformation, and if you really get in my way I'll just do away with you!"

"You're living in a fantasy world." Zayobod stated dismissively. "There are conditions under which evil can thrive, but you won't be facing those conditions! Under a corrupt or incompetent government, it might be profitable to cheat on your taxes, but in a just society with competent auditors you will get caught at it sooner or later, and when you get caught, the fines and penalties for cheating the taxman will cost you more than what you saved by cheating. Furthermore, evil only works really well in secrecy; when you can act with evil against the unsuspecting while pretending to be good. But you'll have to declare that you're in The Game of Status, and everyone will know it. No good people will do any business with you at all if they can avoid it, and if they have to do so, they won't trust a word you say.

"The Game of Status had already become a completely separate economy within The Just Alliance for that very reason, and within just three days of it's inauguration too. The people in the game don't have anything to offer that the good people can't get among themselves, so the good people have no reason to risk dealing with the players, and they have the right to refuse to do business or to associate with anyone for any reason.

"The Game had only been running for a few weeks when we came here, but it was already obvious that it was a far less productive economy than the rest of the Alliance. The Game is an economy with a few big winners and a lot of losers, and only the division of the game into ten leagues of varying skill levels prevents the top ten or twelve players from controlling everything. Whereas in the just society, everyone just keeps on winning, because we don't let anyone lose.

"If a good man gambles his business on a shipload of iron and it's lost in a storm, we'll help him get back on his feet again, and he and his family won't suffer from deprivation. The poverty rate in The Just Alliance is zero, and since most people who are sensible don't tend to take big risks, only a very few of them have suffered any setbacks at all. Almost everyone just keeps getting more successful and more prosperous, steadily gaining in status as they do so.

"The poverty rate among players in The Game of Status is seventy percent, and like I said, it would be a lot worse without the ten leagues. Many of the players don't tend to produce anything if they can avoid it they spend all their time trying to get what others have produced. Much of the wealth and resources that players do produce is lost to destruction, since players will destroy their rivals' works and possessions if they can't steal them. Everything that gets destroyed is a waste, and when a person is killed, all the time and effort they spent gaining skills and abilities is also wasted. Destroyers and killers are parasites on the productive, and most of them live in poverty and squalor or get killed because the people they've wronged and their friends always try to get revenge.

"And the sheer inefficiency of distrust is staggering! When you deal with untrustworthy people, or if you're even just faced with the possibility of untrustworthy behavior, you immediately have to start wasting an incredible amount of time and resources on security and on checking what people say for truth. You can't do any transactions without constantly having to check everyone for cheating! The profit and benefit of everything you do is hugely reduced.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐

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