5281 The Smokestack Prince

Ves spontaneously offered to create a kinship network based on Clixie for specific reasons.

Before he met with the Inferno Spear Prince, he had learned a lot about the Rubarthans.

It was one thing to negotiate with a party that he just met, but if he was about to hold an important discussion with a party that was well-established, he would be a fool if he did not study his counterparts in advance!

With the help of Minister Shederin Purnesse, Ves had quickly developed a good understanding of the internal dynamics of the Rubarthan Pact.

At first glance, the first-rate colonial state was organized in a similar manner to the Terran Alliance.

Both of them were founded by extremely powerful superstates from the Milky Way. Both of them were effectively divided into multiple different territories and provinces founded by numerous powerful Terran and Rubarthan groups.

The Terran ancient clans held the most sway in their own colonies. Although their level of investment in the Terran Alliance varied due to individual circumstances, they were roughly comparable in power. None of these powerful clans held greater sway over the others, and there was an implicit agreement that none of them should ever become powerful enough to dominate the others.

This was also one of the reasons why General Axelar Streon faced an uphill struggle in his attempt to reform the Terran superstate. His proposals led to greater centralization, accountability and the removal of several rights that the ancient clans had taken for granted. No one wanted him to boss everyone around!

The Rubarthans were quite different in this regard. Unlike the modern Terrans, the Rubarthans had always grown up under a central authority. Their entire empire was set up in a way that not only encouraged every citizen to accept the authority of the Star Emperor, but derive pride from the fact they were governed by such a powerful leader!

Of course, the New Rubarth Empire was too large and expansive to be ruled by just a single leader, so most of the actual governance fell onto his many offspring.

The thousands of princes and princesses all had an opportunity to assume greater responsibility and be in charge of the many arms of the state.

This model of governance also spread to the Rubarthan Pact, which the Imperial Household treated as a backyard of sorts at a time.

Even though the Rubarthan Pact was separated from the Milky Way Galaxy by hundreds of thousands of light-years, the connectivity offered by the greater beyonder gates and the galactic net reduced these problems into speed bumps. The authority of the Star Emperor still shone brightly on the colonies!

It was a pity that the Great Severing produced a figurative and literal schism in this model.

The Rubarthans who resided in the Red Ocean suddenly got cut off from the Milky Way Galaxy!

Even though the Rubarthans still possessed a few special channels that enabled the Star Emperor to remain in contact with his subjects in the displaced dwarf galaxy, many people already figured out that the new situation couldn't last.

Empires rose and fell for various reasons, but the most common ones were usually related to weakness and instability at the top!

With the Star Emperor no longer able to effectively impose his authority in the distant colonial superstate, the Rubarthan princes who had chosen to relocate to the Red Ocean quickly recognized the opportunity this situation presented!

None of the princes ever had the guts to contemplate a takeover of their superstate. Their father loomed too large in their minds.

It was hopeless to wait until he grew too old to persist any longer because the Rubarthans definitely mastered high technologies that could extend the powerful ruler's lifespan through exorbitant and maybe even alien means!

However, a situation had arisen where the princes actually saw hope of becoming the emperor of a new colonial superstate that was ripe for the taking!

As the direct descendants of the Star Emperor who had established a strong enough base in the Rubarthan Pact, they possessed many of the qualifications needed to assume its new throne!

While the Rubarthan princes still respected and obeyed their father's distant authority on the surface, they had already begun to make their moves in a power struggle that was bound to break out sooner or later.

Unlike the Terrans who were content with maintaining a stable oligopoly, the Rubarthans were naturally driven to seek succor from a supreme authority!

Since the Star Emperor could no longer fulfill this role, it was natural for the Rubarthans to look up to one of the current princes instead!

Due to various circumstances and developments, numerous factions had sprung up in the Pact.

The Imperial Household was not short on princes, so many of them scrambled to build their own powerbase in order to compete for greater rights and privileges.

Not all of the 150 or so Rubarthan princes set their sights on the newly constructed throne.

Plenty of them possessed enough self-awareness to know they could not defeat their betters. This was why they offered to back the ones that had a better chance and merely participated in the game in order to earn an important posting.

There were only a handful of leading princes that had a real chance to become the supreme authority over the Rubarthan Pact.

The Inferno Spear Prince was impressively one of them. His greatest dependence was his friendship with the Destroyer of Worlds. The implicit approval of a god pilot was enough to propel him into a serious contender, and the fact that he was one of the rare Rubarthan princes that had worked hard to become a senior ace pilot also earned him a lot of popularity!

While he wasn't considered the favorite due to his lack of influence outside of the military, the adoption of the Deep Strike Plan had suddenly caused his chances to shoot up massively!

The Fist of Defiance wanted to reshape red humanity into a civilization that put its martial leaders ahead of civilian leaders.

The Inferno Spear Prince happened to match the ideal of a warlord the most out of all of his competitors, so his chances of winning the struggle for the throne had shot up drastically in the last week!

Still, as much as the Inferno Spear Prince appeared to be the most suited prince to lead the Rubarthan Pact in the changing times, he was not the actual favorite.

Prince Titus held that contention.

As the 476th Prince of the New Rubarth Empire, he had lived considerably longer and built up a much greater network.

If not for the fact that he had become embroiled in a controversial affair more than a hundred years ago, he would have remained comfortable in his home state!

As it is, the so-called Smokestack Prince had laid low for a long time. He only grew to prominence again when he went all-in on the Rubarthan Pact!

The Smokestack Prince invested all of his assets into building up a powerbase in the new colonial superstate. He founded many companies and became involved in a lot of colonial industries. His favorite move was to invest in various businesses and attain a minority stake in each of these vital engines.

This effectively allowed him to get his hooks into every sector and prosper as long as the Rubarthan Pact's entire economy was booming!

As the head of the Rubarthan Industrial Council, the Smokestack Prince possessed the greatest influence and control over the colonial superstate's economy than any other prince!

He had become the dead favorite to win the throne shortly after the power struggle had begun.

While his great prominence meant that he also attracted a lot of opposition from the other princes, this was not a crippling setback.

His rise would have been more assured if not for the fact that the implementation of the Deep Strike Plan completely changed the rules of the game!

It was no longer enough to be rich or have a lot of friends. Unless a leader earned the qualifications of a warlord and seriously committed a lot of resources and assets in the escalating war against the aliens, there was no pathway to victory!

Still, the New Elites Program did not cut off the chances of the Smokestack Prince and many other ambitious princes.

It was not necessary for them to participate in a deep strike expedition in person, though they would find it a lot harder to earn war merits and promotions as a consequence.

Those who only contributed from a distance were only entitled to earn 10 percent of the rewards compared to participating in person!

While this sounded as if the Smokestack Prince was never able to become as good as the Inferno Spear Prince, the former actually amassed so much wealth and assets that he could raise a lot more deep strike forces than any other Rubarthan prince!

So what if the Smokestack Prince only earned 10 percent of the rewards?

If he sent out dozens of deep strike fleets at once, he would still amass a gigantic amount of war merits, all without personally risking his life!

This was not the extent of his revised strategy.

It was pretty much an open secret in the Rubarthan Pact that the Smokestack Prince was gearing up to develop a closer relationship with the Spacelock, the original god pilot assigned to guard over the Rubarthan Pact.

As long as the Smokestack Prince gained the backing of Divine Camden Everard, his advantages would become so comprehensive that it would be difficult to interrupt his momentum!

What was interesting here was the dynamic between the two god pilots. The two were not direct opponents to each other, but they possessed a lot of stances that were different from each other.

The Spacelock was an older god pilot who had long earned the trust of the Rubarthan Imperial Household. He had been assigned to guard over the Rubarthan Pact for good reasons as he strongly revered the Star Emperor and vowed to guard the life of his many offspring to the best of his ability.

Divine Camden Everard also had a reputation for being a traditionalist who believed in maintaining the supremacy of the Rubarthan Imperial Household. Only the Star Emperor and his blood relatives were capable of maintaining the stability and prosperity of the Rubarthan superstate!

These traits made the Smokestack Prince a good fit for the Spacelock. Even if the two only shared a casual acquaintance in the past, their shared interests might cause them to join forces in the near future.

Compared to the native Rubarthan, the Destroyer of Worlds did not hold as much respect for the Rubarthan Imperial Household.

As a former citizen of a second-rate state, the Destroyer of Worlds had climbed her way to the top from humble beginnings. She possessed much more sympathy towards the common folk and believed in the meritocracy that the New Rubarth Empire was known for. Without enough upward mobility, there would be no way for excellent talents to gain the opportunities they needed to realize their enormous potential!

While that sounded great, this stance also made it difficult for the female god pilot to respect a lot of Rubarthan princes. Most of these rich and pampered scions owed much of their prosperity and status to their high birth and not much else. Even if they were geniuses who performed well in their various professions, that was only because they had access to the best augmentations and education that the Rubarthans could offer!

This led to the fact that the Destroyer of Worlds enjoyed more support from the grassroots than in the upper society of the Rubarthan Pact.

While there was no one who was brave enough to reject the Destroyer of Worlds in public, it was clear that a lot of Rubarthan princes and their dependents would rather back the god pilot who was committed to protecting their interests!

All of this had caused the political dynamic in the Rubarthan Pact to morph into an invisible competition between its two god pilots.

The funny part about all of this was that the Destroyer of Worlds and the Spacelock weren't even present all of this time!

Both of them had fallen out of contact shortly after the Age of Dawn had commenced. Perhaps they were still ignorant that they had become the unwitting protectors of two rising Rubarthan factions!