The Rise of the Black Plain

If Harvey successfully called a Divine Conclave, he could ensure that his faction would be in charge of the temple for the next century!

Though much would change in the meantime due to the presence of Minos in Julian's faction, the growth of the Black Plain Empire and its treaties, and the changes to the organization caused by the ice age, Harvey would still have his faction at the top of the organization if he succeeded today.

As such, when Julian heard Harvey, he clenched his fists in anger at that level 99 Demigod because that was the one thing he didn't want to happen today.

As long as his faction could grow stronger over the next 20 or maybe 40 years, he was confident of taking over the leadership of the temple at one of the next two membership meetings.

'Damn it, Harvey!'He thought as he looked at the old man with the white beard and mustache standing there while everyone muttered about the point.

But since the older elders had the privilege of speaking and making suggestions, Julian couldn't say anything right away while everyone began to discuss whether a Divine Conclave was necessary at the moment.

Aarav stood up and said. "I don't think this is a good idea. A Divine Conclave is necessary for the ice age. But we will meet again in 20 years, at the beginning of this crisis. It would be better to use this mechanism that time when we'll have better information about what will happen to the Spiritual World in the future."

"That would be too late." Harvey replied to Aarav's words: "In 20 years, we won't be able to do anything about the ice age. Everything that needs to be decided will have to be decided in the meantime. years, we won't be able to do anything about the ice age. Everything that needs to be decided will have to be decided in the meantime. But is it a good idea to risk changing factions in the organization's leadership at that time?" He said, looking at the most powerful people at the table.

"I don't want to see our organization go to absurd lengths for the next 20 years so that a new faction can take control of the temple in 20 years and change everything we've done."

There were three major factions in the temple, and it wasn't uncommon for power to alternate between the two strongest factions.

Harvey's speech wasn't necessarily because he felt threatened by Julian's faction. He simply recognized the possibility of a change in leadership that could affect the temple at the beginning of the ice age.

Another high-ranking member of Harvey's faction stood up and said. "This is true. We can't risk changing the direction of the organization in 20 years. Better to decide now on a faction to lead the temple for the next 100 years."

The Pantheon of Honor was an organization that usually decided together how it would function for years to come. However, every organization needs people to run it and decide what to do in emergency situations.

You couldn't rely on votes every time you did something. That could slow down problem-solving too much.

So, to quickly resolve "minor" matters such as strategies, access to resources, sending experts, accepting new members, managing resources, etc., a group elected at such meetings would resolve these matters.

Unless something severe happened that could affect the entire Pantheon of Honor, the chosen group could handle these and many other matters with almost complete autonomy.

That obviously gave such a group a great deal of leverage, which was worth a lot to the faction that remained in that position.

A corrupt group could use such a position to divert resources. But even an honest group could use such a privilege without breaking the organization's rules.

For example, if there is a service to be developed, the group in charge of these administrative matters might decide to hire the services of people who are related to them and who might give them other favors in return.

Such a thing would not be against the rules and could create a win-win situation for the administrative side and the organization itself.

Another example was a member of the administration faction giving subordinates access to the resources of the Pantheon of Honor and even their Spatial Kingdom, which was obviously beneficial to both sides.

Anyway, there were infinite possibilities for whoever was in the position of being the regular administrator of the Pantheon of Honor, which is why there were factions that fought over such things at meetings like this every 20 years.

All the members there began to talk to their faction partners through mental communication, trying to understand what they could do to be the 'winners' of this decision.

'In a crisis like the one we're about to face, the group in power at the beginning of the crisis is usually the one that has been in control of the Pantheon of Honor the longest.' Aarav told his faction members. 'Such a group is also usually the least weakened of all and the one with the fewest casualties during the crisis.'

'That is the point.' Julian remarked with a rueful expression. 'So we have to try to get that position. We're not doing so well now, but if we don't do it today, it will be challenging in 100 years, even if young Minos grows a lot with his empire.'

If a Divine Conclave wasn't called, Julian was sure his faction would be in charge of the temple in 100 years with Minos' help. But with another faction in power for an entire century, even with Emperor Stuart on their side, he wasn't sure he could change anything in 100 years.

In this case, it was all or nothing now!

Either they achieved this position today, or they would probably be under the leadership of one of their rival factions for the next few millennia!

While they were talking among themselves, the people from the other factions there were also preparing themselves, wondering who would have the upper hand today, how they could get new supporters, etc.

The two main factions didn't have that many members. So, they depended on the election of the factionless members to decide who would take the top position in the temple.

Of the 76 members, 15 had no faction, while 11 were from Julian's faction, meaning they wouldn't vote for either of the other two factions. The strongest faction had 26 members, while the weakest had 24.

The chances of Julian's faction winning were slim. Still, if everyone without a faction voted for them, they could tie with Harvey's faction and have the council of elders decide the winner!

That was Julian's only hope, while the other two factions didn't care about it.

...