The Kingdom of the Shepherds
In Ordera, Shepherds pose as guardians, manufacturing crises to expand authority. Steward Companies claim to manage public resources but hollow mountains, pollute rivers, clear forests, and funnel wealth upward, hiding behind ethical rhetoric. Scholars, Heralds, and Record Keepers validate this with reassuring reports, triumphant narratives, and inflated statistics while ordinary lives shrink. Critics are told to wait and trust. Compliance, self-interest, and apathy turn small corruptions into the kingdom’s foundation. The weak bear burdens; the powerful speak of sacrifice. Ordera decays not through villainy but through persuasion: chains are safeguards, surveillance is care, dependence is security, obedience is virtue. As people realize institutions are tools, not virtues, and authority is not proof of justice, the system’s legitimacy is challenged. Understanding this threatens the future.