Hundred Man Chess

Thats what they used to call it. Amusing, I guess that was before “Stratego” or “Risk” was invented.

Hundred is a joke, too… we flux between 30 and 50 now, eliminating players as quickly as new ones pop up. Truth be told, it certainly is more like chess than either, I have to think as I sit here in the Caymans waiting for my meeting.  And really, there are only ten at the top.

Its a decent, unobtrusive bar, and in my yuppie uniform of khaki shorts and a polo, I blend easily with” the little templars” as I like to call them, useful pawns of wealth and power more fleeting than they could possibly understand. Billionaires are a dime a dozen, and as expendable as the rest. At least the ones here are a level up from those American “The Family” guys; most of them are useful ideologues we let act unrestricted for a while… but Good Lord, they travel with entourages and such obvious, tacky excess the real players hate to even meet with them.

They absolutely cream themselves, preening and posturing when they come to our Palaces officially, and would walk by me right now, sit and boast loudly at this bar in their suits and gold, ignoring me, their very creator.

They wouldn’t even see my contact, with his print shirt and dark skin, they would just see two middle aged men, lessers, unworthy of notice.

This meeting is important. My colleague needs convincing about the unrest in his Country. What he doesn’t understand is how in the last three years I let another take vested control of my largest companies there. He has become one of the top ten of us.

Prompting my watchdogs to incite unrest was easy.

God, ideologues and the religious are easily manipulated, and now a Populist has risen to almost power. I have to convince him to put up a convincing fight, then let them win. You see, all those companies will be crushed, nationalized and our little third party friend will be dust. Out of the running.

In the meantime, with his import abilities, which I do not have, and my infrastructure, that National economy will plummet. I hold most of the credit in that war, by yet another company.  Call in the debt, raise interest, kabboom. Backfire, new regime.

Five years down the line, we will buy it all back for nothing. And we will be nine at the top. Nine.

Fuck, look how it worked in Poland. We made gazillions off of that. Lech this, baby.

It will be easy, this area is full of fear, our best weapon, and we haven’t even broken out the Israeli threat yet. The insane and paranoid are the easiest to control… feed them propaganda, they do your bidding thinking its their own idea.

He is beginning to get it, after all he has played with us for years, even fucked me once in Argentina. But this is his back yard, and hmmmmm, his father was far more, shall we say, practical about that. I think he will be the next one down. You cannot be queasy about the minutia. His people? Weak ass. Wait.

He’s in.

Cool.

After all, money and power are the only Gods we hundred have ever known, and conscience is only for the weak. Countries are temporary constructs, and there are no governments, no parties, nothing but our game. We have been playing this since we stopped hunting and gathering. We have created religions, created States, created dictators, monsters, democracies and communists. Its the long game, always the long game.

These are the end games, and winner takes all. We are fewer and ever fewer.

I have to meet with someone else very soon, this one is weak, even though malleable, the fact that I had to even see him for this is telling. We can eat him alive. Perhaps we can call in a few cards.  We can set it in motion for about 5 years from now. We can convince the Americans to take out our next puppet. After all, they will see it as natural, that following communism, the next guy is too brutal. Cakewalk. A windfall, ours.

We had worried the instantaneous-ness of telecommunication would hamper us. That was the wrongest we have ever been.

The eaters can convince the beaters to kill them without even a nudge from us.

Its laughable.

Nice Pina Coladas here… despite the bragging assholes at the bar. Useful their noise, I just learned we need to manipulate the market a bit. These energy commodity guys dabbling in carbon credits could tap our pockets. Jesus, what big mouths.

Funny I still use “Jesus” as an explicative. We pushed his ass to power too… just to cull the Roman market. Who would have thought taking him out would start a cult?

Politics, parties, theism, loyalty and patriotism? Not the last vestiges of scoundrels, as they say, but the basic chess moves of the game.  Heh. I forgot greed. I forgot ego too, but those last two while apparent in the pawns, only really hold any move power at all among the actual players.

Not only is there no spoon, motherfuckers, we are all that is, and all that will ever be and you? You exist only on the board because we let you.

Man, that waitress is young and firm, I should take this country, buy her and all like her.  Restraint, restraint. That’s why we win.  Why I win.