-Break-
Zahhak's training 9: Etiquette
Location: Dragon King of Destruction's Temple, Bushyasta; Wardrobe
Standing in the middle of a large cylindrical tower filled with clothes embedded into each wall, Zahhak stands in the centre with a series of stone blocks placed on his head that reach up to the top of the tower, with each of them perfectly still. Feeling a sensation across the bandages on his forehead, Zahhak moves his hands towards them, causing Garəbra to yell, "NO MOVEMENT!"
He returns his hands to normal, and he says, "But it is so itchy!"
Filled with pride, Garəbra shouts, "THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN MOVE!!!!"
Under his breath, he says, "It cause you hit me too hard."
Smacking him in the chest with her tail, Garəbra says, "NO EXCUSES! Posture must always be perfect, even when you're crying and hungry and just want to go out and play with your cousins. You must keep a good posture instead of doing that or else you will walk and move in an inelegant way. Which could cause you to be perceived as hideous, along with your bony body causing the boy you've been waiting centuries to break up with his woman to reject you instantly, causing tears to fall from your eyes in the same moment, bringing untold amounts of embarrassment that hunts you till today."
Grabbing her heart, she falls to the ground and screams, "WHYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!" As she rolls around.
Zahhak, looking at her, says, "You can be so cool, yet so lame."
-Break-
Zahhak's training 15: Administration
Location: Dragon King of Destruction's Temple, Bushyasta; War room.
Sitting across from Garəbra with a map filled with little wooden pieces scattered across it, Zahhak moves one and says, "I need to fund the new playground for the children, so I will just raise taxes in the 1st city. Is that the right decision?"
Garəbra cross her arms forming and x, then says, "In response to this, productivity in the district goes down by 30% as multiple people move to different cities and countries over the next few centuries."
"Why? I thought they wanted a new playground."
"The 1st city is one of the most productive cities, and produces a large amount of Mount Hara income, so we tend to raise taxes there. But you see, the softening of cultural conformity in the Dragon King of War's territory in the last few centuries has caused them to become a major competitor, as they allowed people from other territories to integrate into their population better. Now, given that information, why do you think productivity goes down by 30%?"
Zahhak scratches his chin, then says, "Think logically!!!!! Wait, what percentage of the population has kids!"
Smiling Garəbra says, "Only 10%."
"I see then it is just a group of loud complainers nagging. Who should be ignored?"
"Taking such an action increases the rate of corruption by 40%, making the amount of money that turns into actual value created to decrease rapidly."
"What? Why?"
"Dragons tend to have extremely predictable reproduction patterns. They tend to spend at least their first 500 years having fun and exploring life, then the next 500 to 1000 years child-free, building up wealth and skills to maintain and control their own families. Many of them who do that, do it in extremely productive cities like the 1st city Aša-zərədā. They tend to build up massive amounts of wealth and then want to spend it having fun with their families. This causes a predictable but known demographic shift every now and then, but it also signals that a massive number of productive people will become unproductive, living off the wealth they have built up.
Many of these people could leave the 1st city, but the Shah's of the 1st city often made it incredibly comfortable to invite new talent from abord making the unproductive Dragons want to stay. These unproductive babies then pass laws that try to make the city of production more comfortable to them, reducing its competitiveness, and usually resulting in higher taxes for younger Dragons doing most of the work. They are essentially living off their wealth, so they don't feel the tax burden. Before, the young had to deal with it, but now that a better option has opened up in the Dragon King of Wars territory, they can just move, making it so now the city needs to pick between answering the calls of the unproductive older babies or the productive younger babies."
"Why do you keep calling them babies? Is it because you're prehis-."
Garəbra glares at him, causing Zahhak to say, "Sorry you're forever 200."
"Forever 200," she responds with a smile. "But ignoring the older babies causes issues, because they both have the time and resources to nag. They often use their wealth to buy other Dragons to help them file ridiculous amounts of complaints, filling up the legal system.
Due to the freedom the Dragon King of Destruction gives each individual, our legal system takes even the lowest of complaints very seriously. This policy is exploited, filling up the system with complaints that are taken on a first-come, first-served basis. This allows many different pieces of filth to start doing less than honourable activities, which takes hundreds of years to even see. And due to the fact that many of the important high-skilled roles were held by the unproductive babies who had stopped working to have children, it becomes harder to catch. Till this day, we are still prosecuting crimes that happened a millennia ago."
"Then we need to fix the legal system, we should just fill it up with judg-."
"Yet again, that won't work. We have the highest qualification needed to be a judge in Mount Hara. It's not something one can reach with at least three millennia."
"Isn't the lifespan of a normal Dragon just over that if they take extreme care of their health?"
"Yep."
"So we can't just increase the legal system. Wait, can't we just change the standards?"
"Freedom and responsibility go hand in hand. If we lower the quality of our judges, we have to lower people's freedoms, and they will complain till they die refilling the system, leading to an endless loop"
"So can't we just consolidate and speed up the education system?"
"Mount Hara has to put it simply, a very spaced-out system. The education quality differs heavily, and since our life spans our so long, people tend to learn most of what they know by interacting with other Dragons. So it would require essentially reworking the entire system within Mount Hara just to slow this issue that affects one city. Many will complain about the changes needed, essentially clogging us up with more requests slowly everything down."
Zahhak smashes his forehead against the ground and says, "THIS IS SO STUPID! One little policy change keeps leading to one issue, to another, to another, to another, to another. Why can't people just shut up and stop being brats!!!!" With Jamshid copying his actions.
Garəbra flicks Zahhak on his forehead and says, "That's just the reality of being a ruler. You must always keep pace with the ever-changing situation around you, even when it's suffocating."
"Suffocating? More like impossible!"
Rubbing his head, Garəbra says, "Do not look at what you are certain of, but look at what is true. Like is made out of a stream of never-ending problems; only one who is willing to do what's necessary will be able to face what's in front of them and overcome it all. And if we still can't find an answer, Mother can just threaten everyone into obedience."
Smiling, Zahhak says, "You're right! Now let's power through this all."
-Break-
Location: Dragon King of Destruction's Temple, Bushyasta; Royal Chambers
In the middle of a giant bed, Zahhak sits on the lap of Indrani, who holds a massive book in front of her. The boy shakes with excitement as she clears her mouth to speak. "It happened in the distant past, back when I was still nothing but a young Dragon leading the few tribes that gathered around her. The Dragon God Drakon, along with his siblings, the gods of the Beastkin, the Seers, the Nephilm, the Yugaku, and the Seraphs, all decided to attack humankind, thus beginning the Great Race War, or Nefílat Ein-Sof. It was unknown why, or what even led to it, but for those who lived during those times their were many theories.
Randomly, unbeknownst to everyone, a new race started to appear along the planet Theophila. We know not where they came from or why they started to appear, but their numbers grew, and soon they became even more numerous than any race individually. Yet no God could be seen amongst them. They had no point of origin, and the other 6 races were filled with fear and animosity by these strange creations. They bore resemblance to all the 6 races but were inextricably different. Many thought they were just a new disguise that demons brought upon this world, and sought to attack them. But one day, a god appeared around them, one they called the Messiah. A being of overwhelming strength and spirit who put an end to their persecution. He guarded the humans, but never attacked the other races who stood against them, treating all who stood close to him as his own children, regardless of their race. And the 6 gods lived in harmony with the 7th until one day they ordered each king under their race to go to war with the humans and their God, staring Nefílat Ein-Sof.
A bloody battle began to rage on for 888 years, with every edge of the planet being covered in screams and blood, forcing demons to rise from below. The humans were the weakest of all the races, yet they stood the strongest despite the war waged against them. With the help of their God, heroes arose among them, empowered by the warriors who once stood in the past to strike down the battles they faced, and in the sight of such actions, the other races began to question themselves. The first to turn was the King of the Nephilim, and the Queen of the Seers, who stood against the destruction of love amongst the races. Then, among the six children of the Dragon God Drakon, one of the six Dragon kings stood up to fight against his rampage, your father, The Dragon King of Truth.
He urged me and the King of War to fight with him, with the King of Enlightenment joining us soon after. We fought against the Dragon God and the two remaining Kings eventually slaying him with the aid of our new allies and the Messiah. Our united battles continued until the six gods were dead. Yet the victory wasn't without losses, the six races combined had been reduced to less than humanity individually through the war, it was debilitating, and for the Dragons, it didn't end as the last two kings still survived and continued their conflict with us through the border. Our despair and will was wavaning as uncertainty clouded our futured and robbed us of the hope we once hand when looking forward, and through it all he stood at the front of us all leading us forward, guiding us towards a new truth, it's the reason why he will eternally be my family, and why he is praised as the greatest of all the Dragon Kings."
Zahhak jumps up filled with power, and says, "FATHER IS SO COOL!"
Hopping and jumping around the bed, Indrani looks at him and says, "Shush. You're making too much noise late at night."
Composing himself, he says, "Sorry, but I always get pumped the more I listen to this story. The idea that my father stood up to the Dragon God is so cool."
"Hey, I did so too."
"Yeah, but I doubt you thought it through since you're a muscle brain."
Grabbing Zahhak by the tail, she rapidly spins him, causing a whirlwind to move through the room, "YOU CHEEKY BRAT!!!"