Monday 29 April 2024

Tale of the King and the Judge

The outpost's name, "VOTE GIGX FOR C S M XIV" refers the Council of Stellar Management. The elections for CSM XIV took place in YC121. This Gigx was no candidate then, rather he was a deposed barbarian king. The constellation had been part of his kingdom "Circle of Two" just a year before, in YC120. 

According to legend, Gigx built his vast kingdom by being uncompromising, deceitful and brutal. He commanded absolute loyalty from his murderous troops. He reigned as a god, and his soldiers worshiped him, fueling his narcissism. Rumors have it that he started to believe that he was indeed a god, or at least an equal to the Amarr Emperor. Divine punishment was inevitable. Beneath the veneer of fearful worship, discontent was growing in his kingdom. 

It was growing also at the royal court, in the dark heart of the Judge, a member of the king's privy council. This judge was often ridiculed by the king, even though he was a great diplomat. The king took joy in the downfall of those whose success became threatening. So, he used the judge's diplomatic skills and reputation to gain the trust of the neighboring kingdoms only to betray them more effectively. Humiliated, the judge vowed to take revenge. 

For years he schemed and prepared the biggest heist ever recorded in the outer worlds. The king, believing all his followers were fearful worshipers of his godhood, had left the judge in charge of the treasury and of the keys to the main keep. One fateful day, when all preparations were done, the judge set his plan into motion. He stole 1.5 trillion ISK, and handed the keys of the keepstar over to the enemies of the realm, who slaughtered a large portion of the royal fleet. 

Though it was a hard blow, the king might have recovered from it, were it not that the judge had still prepared a final act in the theater of his vengeance. One from which the king, and his kingdom, would not recover. He had installed hidden cameras to record the king's temper as he heard the news of the theft and the lost ships. Oh, how disgracefully the king raged and frothed at the mouth! How he wailed in despair and panic as a little child! The judge streamed it all, so all his subjects could see it. The image of the God-King was shattered, and his followers scattered, demoralized. It was the end of Gigx's reign: he was forced to flee, never to be seen again, and his lands were divided up by his foes. 

Yet he must still have had some staunch supporters that believed in him, as this graffiti from a year after Gigx's fall from grace shows.


((ooc comments: I found the station and its name on Dotlan, and that is what led me to look up Gigx and find the tale of a heist that actually took place in Eve, which you can read about here. Of course, I can make no claim to know what really happened, nor do I know any of the persons involved, so beware: Theo's romanticized story must not be interpreted as an accurate portrayal of events or persons involved!))