An hour before the start of the ceremony, Eliza led Ves and Lucky to a grand reception chamber where thousands of councilors and other high officials had gathered.
Each of them were expected to lead the relatively small but highly promising superorganization that may one day gain parity with the Red Association and the Red Fleet.
They had to do a lot of work before they could turn this dream into a reality, and Ves certainly did not make their jobs easier by introducing the most groundbreaking chs since the start of the Age of chs!
This resulted in a rather ambivalent response towards his arrival.
On the one hand, Ves single-handedly made it possible for the Red Collective to co into existence.
Nobody forgot that Ves had castigated the chers and the fleeters for their failure to address the needs of the common folk and created a political opening for the rise of a third superorganization.
Groups and individuals who previously saw no way to climb to the top of the hierarchy of human civilization eagerly pounced on this rare and precious opportunity to reform the current order!
Yet not everyone supported Ves because of that. His past accomplishnts could not be denied, but his future actions may lead the Red Collective to greatness… or utter ruination.
The release of Carmine chs was not a good sign, and reminded everyone that he did not always have the best interests of the RC at heart.
Though Ves already provided a valid and perfectly acceptable excuse to Eliza Mo Ragadan, not everyone may be as accepting as his chief of staff.
Still, he remained unrepentant. Not only did the Evolution Witch force him to introduce Carmine chs to the public in a hurry, but Ves genuinely believed it was for the best for everyone.
As a Senior ch Designer, he took his duty to his race and civilization seriously. He needed to retain and strengthen this mindset if he wanted to advance to the ranks of Master and Star Designer one day. There was no way he would compromise his bright future in this profession in order to prioritize selfish gains.
A few monts of silence passed as everyone acknowledged that Ves had arrived. Then they resud their conversations as if nothing had happened. They had already shown the proper level of respect to the 'founder' of the Red Collective.
A familiar figure garbed in a similar but slightly plainer version of Ves' elaborate red robes approached from the side.
"Hierarch."
"Temple-Commander Jackarie."
"I have already resigned from that position after the Pantheon of Modern Gods has completed its consolidation." Oson Jackarie stated. "I occupied an enviable position in the Temple of Destruction, but I eventually managed to beco selected to represent the PMG as its senator in the Upper Council. My relationship with you has played a decisive role in my success. You have my gratitude for all of the aid that you have provided so far. I would have gone down with the Temple of Falsehood without your intervention."
It only took a slight amount of effort for Ves to put in a good word for the forr temple-commander, yet it was literally a career saver for the opportunistic fellow.
The soon-to-be upper councilor therefore owed a huge debt of gratitude to Ves! This ant that the high-ranking mber of the PMG had beco one of his strongest allies and confidantes in the Upper Council!
As far as Ves was concerned, he had earned an insane amount of profit from this 'transaction'!
The thought of that put him in a good mood. "The PMG made the right call. I do not know many people, but from what I can tell so far, you are alright. I am quite confident we can get along and cooperate well with each other."
"My thoughts are identical." Councilor Jackarie said in an obviously flattering manner.
The two slowly started to walk across the grand reception chamber.
"ow."
Lucky felt tired of being carried around. He hopped from Ves' arms and began to sniff about by himself.
Ves was pretty sure that no one was allowed to bring any chanical pets with them, but no one paid the gem cat any mind.
It was nice to enjoy the privileges of power.
While Lucky embarked on an unknown adventure, Oson Jackarie gently brought Ves up to speed on matters that were not too sensitive to wait until they could speak in private.
"The Red Collective's factions have solidified. Several ones that you used to be familiar with have collapsed. Others have taken their place and attracted enough councilors to gain their own weight in the Upper Council."
"Which ones are there right now?" Ves inquired.
"Well, our Coalition of Faiths and the Guardian Order are still the sa as before. We constitute the two largest factions, though we also boast the lowest amount of cohesion due to gathering councilors from a large variety of states and organizations. Still, as long as we are strongly around a cause, we can amass a formidable amount of voting power."
"I see. What else?"
"There are the usual four suspects. There is a faction for the Red Association, the Red Fleet, the Terran Alliance and the Rubarthan Pact. Do note that there are councilors who are a part of the Coalition of Faiths or the Guardian Order that are also mbers of those four aforentioned factions. Councilor Astrid Jason of the Red Fleet is a good example of that. None of the factions has prohibited dual mberships, partly because the factions need all of the councilors they can get, and also because none of the factions possess a particularly strong identity at the mont."
Ves shrugged. "I can't bla the councilors for that. The councilors from the Terran Alliance can never ignore the superstate that they are supposed to represent. It is still nice if we can count on them to help our Coalition of Faiths whenever possible. We can keep track of every councilor's degree of support and reward them accordingly."
There was little else they could do about this. Factions did not constitute parties within the Lower and Upper Councils because every councilor got elected or appointed to their positions based on individual rits, and not due to any party affiliations.
The factions therefore served as fairly loose clubs where councilors with shared interests could convene and better coordinate their joint proposals and political actions.
"How is the League of Minor States doing?" Ves asked.
"The League is also diverse, but it has experienced remarkably little upheaval. The councilors of many third-rate and second-rate states know that they are too weak when they are scattered. They do not have egos as strong as their first-class counterparts, so the League of Minor States has the strongest reason to remain united. One factor that you need to take note of is that the League has a much greater presence in the Lower Council."
That made sense. Second-raters and third-raters held little power in today's society. The Lower Council existed to provide proper representation to their citizens, but that helped little with regards to the composition of the Upper Council.
This ant that the League of Minor States still managed to beco a political heavyweight in the Red Collective. It did not matter if they were lacking in upper councilors. As long as their lower councilors were nurous enough, they could block the passage of all sorts of bills!
"Over there are the councilors that have chosen to form the Collective Authority." Oson Jackarie gestured to a group of councilors that had gathered in a secluded corner. "As the na suggests, the Collective Authority believes in strengthening the Red Collective and centralizing as much power as possible. This faction is where the old authoritarians, centralists and wannabe empire builders have gathered. It has already built up a radical reputation due to its strong opposition towards dual mberships."
"I see."
The Collective Authority sounded like trouble. A large majority of stakeholders did not support centralization unless all of the power got concentrated in their direction.
Since there were so many groups that had a significant stake in the Red Collective, it was impossible for one of them to monopolize all of the benefits!
This should result in an equilibrium where no one could effectively gain decisive control over the Red Collective.
The policies supported by the Collective Authority threatened to overthrow this tentative balance and introduce a lot of uncertainty.
"Any other factions that I should know about?" Ves inquired as he politely nodded his head to a few familiar faces that aligned with him in the past.
"No. There are half-a-dozen minor factions, but they usually consist of two or three individual councilors. They are small interest groups at best and it is doubtful whether they will persist in a few years. They may be worth cooperating with if we are missing a number of crucial votes in the Upper Council, but you can leave them alone outside of that. The fact that there is only room for 150 senators limits the degree of splintering."
"Mhmm. I understand. From our perspective, which factions will we cooperate with the most according to your judgnt?"
"It is too early to tell." Oson Jackarie shook his head. "We should be able to gain the cooperation of the Terran and Rubarthan Factions in any proposals that weaken the power of the Red Association and the Red Fleet. Aside from that, we do not have a strong synergy with the other factions. The Collective Authority is strongly opposed to our Coalition of Faiths because we are in favor of decentralizing the Red Collective. Please keep that in mind."
"I will not forget."
Ves had mixed feelings about that. The Collective Authority could actually increase Ves' authority if it had its way.
Yet any form of centralization would weaken the sects, of which many different religious organizations planned to transition into. There were too many advantages to gaining the status of sects, most notably a legal way to gain power and a license to spread their influence over human society.
Giving more power to sects would result in greater diversity in thought and practice, but it would also shift a lot of focus and important resources from the Red Collective itself.
A balance needed to be found between the two sides. Neither of them could be allowed to gain all of the power.
As Councilor Jackarie continued to explain the most up-to-date power dynamic within the Upper and Lower Councils, a chi suddenly sounded.
A pair of massive double doors slowly parted open.
Just behind the door stood a man with a military dress uniform.
The sergeant at arms loudly bellowed his instructions with augnted lungs.
"ESTEED COUNCILORS, PLEASE ENTER THE SHRINE OF LIGHT AND TAKE YOUR ASSIGNED PLACES. KNOW THAT YOUR EVERY WORD AND DEED WILL BE RECORDED IN THE ANNALS OF RED HUMANITY, SO BE MINDFUL HOW YOU ACT!"
The councilors all fell silent and began to exit the grand reception chamber in an orderly fashion. It was rather impressive to see them all move so harmoniously despite the fact that they had already made enemies among themselves.
"ow."
Lucky returned to Ves' side and chose to hover next to the ch designer as if he was a floating fashion accessory.
His appearance looked quite out of place among all of the solemn-faced and formally dressed councilors, but Ves actually liked how the cat caused him to stand out from the crowd.
As soon as Ves passed the threshold and entered the Shrine of Light, he imdiately learned why it got its na.
The rays of light emitted by Yernstall's trinary stars shone through the crystalline materials that made up the Astral Octagon and illuminated the most central and sacred hall with astonishing rays of light.
A combination of beautiful white light rays and a scattering of dispersed rainbow color rays all shone and reflected on the bright and crystalline floor and furniture.
Though the people who were more sensitive towards light than usual had to dim their vision, Ves thought the Shrine of Light looked enchanting.
There was a strong concentration of extraordinary energies, and they did not solely originate from the three stars that powered the Yernstall Central Star Node.
There were a bunch of other strong energy sources buried beneath the crystal floor. Ves could sense their threat and potency much clearer now that he had co close!
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