Let us have a look at the skeleton of each Pyramid. A pyramid is a solid figure with polygonal base and triangular faces meeting at a common point. To keep Pyramid Land simple, we assume a square base sitting on the ground, culminating towards a small tip touching the sky. Each Pyramid is built with elements. To get a better picture: Each element is comparable to a single stone block used to built one of those famous Egypt pyramids. In modern Pyramids, each element represents one resident with an equal share of might. The most important property of might is that it can be given away intentional, but also can be taken away by force. Groups of layers close to each other belong to larger units called segments. Each segment represents a social class with many nuances, depending on the layer an element really belongs to.
With these premises in mind, we have a construct representing segments of social stratum on top of each other, getting smaller and smaller with increasing distance from the base. Opposite to an ancient pyramid, built with millions of stoneblocks, elements in sociopolitical Pyramids can move horizontally as well as vertically. While horizontal mobility, also known as 'flexibility', is a common property, vertical moves are quite limited and mean a downgrade in most cases.
The paragraphs above describe the prototype of a sociopolitical construct named Pyramid Of Might (I dislike abbreviations, so I save you from remembering something like POM for the remaining text). Reading through all paragraphs, one question was not answered at all:
"What has this to do with reality?"
To answer this question, we have to go back to the beginnings of the Human 'Race' (I dislike the term 'Race' - it was abused too often). Stone Age tribes were organised similar to now, but the distribution of might was not concentrated in a few hands. Even if there were four segments - a leader, his/her staff, the hunters of the tribe (also acting as warriors if required) and the remaining tribe (children, women and old ones) - might was equally distributed between all segments. If the leader made a wrong decision, s/he had to be aware that the tribe might not follow her/his command any longer. This system resembled something like real democracy, where all members were free to influence any decision directly (each voice counted equally).
With growing population, sparsely scattered tribes had to look for more supplies to provide sufficient food for all of their members. Under changing environmental conditions, it was just a matter of time that tribes expanded their territory until they hit the territory of another tribe. Few tribes found a peaceful solution and merged to a larger tribe. Most times, the typical human lack of reason took over and a war reduced members of both sides, until there was no one left on the losers side. Whoever won a war had no reason to be satisfied with its results. As a side effect, bloody annexations introduced the first step towards inequality. Members of the conquered tribe neither had any might (it was taken by force) nor had they a right to partake in making any decision.
In the next few thousand years, peaceful merging of tribes and less peaceful annexions led to an unavoidable concentration of might in the hands of a few lords, who claimed all rights to make decisions for themselves. At the bottom, conquered tribes got the state of slaves. They were property of regular members of the Pyramid with absolutely no rights, not even a right to live existed - if the owner was in the mood, he could kill a slave like a sheep. Together with the concentration of might, the male gender became dominant, while women lost most of their rights as well as their might.
To be continued...
Bernhard Schornak
