[Helloooooooo everybody! My dear finalists, welcome to the beautiful main surface of Planet Yzmar! And welcome to everybody already tuned in, too!]

[This is it. The moment you’ve all been waiting for. The traditional final game of the Great Survival Competition: The Game of 10,000 Thrones!]

[But before we begin the finals, let me first offer my congratulations one more time to our 10,000 finalists! In my book, you’re all already winners just for getting this far!]

[And I mean that quite literally! For you see, whether you led your team to victory in our previous game, , held on and somehow squeaked into the top 1,000 teams, or got admitted via wild card to fill the place of a deceased member of those teams, you have now been awarded...]

At this point, a drumroll played. A literal drumroll. It lasted for ten entire seconds.

[Your very own kingdom! Every kingdom in this game contains a total of 100 square miles of land, and comes complete with your very own military force, workers, and even servants to fawn all over you and see to your every need!]

[These ‘NPCs’ have been drawn from the losing survivors of the previous rounds. And while they may resent you for succeeding where they failed, don’t worry. We your Game Masters have arranged it so that their disobeying, betraying, or attempting to assassinate their new ruler is completely impossible!]

[Well, impossible at first, anyway...hehehehe. So you’d better give some thought to ruling them well.]

[Your objective, as usual, is to score points. But this time, finding treasure and killing monsters won’t cut it. This time, there are two types of objects you must capture to score points: Territory Flags, and Crowns.]

[Each 100 square mile territory in the game has its own Territory Flag, and every Finalist has their own Crown. You should each see these two objects placed upon the velvet throne in front of you. Each of you must place your Crown upon your head, and insert your Flag into the recess on top of your throne, in order to begin play.]

[Each Flag, representing a territory you control, is worth one point. Every Crown you possess, your own as well as any you take from other finalists, is worth three points. Simple, right? But if you manage to take a Crown alive from another player, you have the option to use it to make them a Governor under your control, allowing your team to control more Territory. However, by doing this, you lose the Crown, and the points.]

[And do bear in mind that, like the previous round, this is a team competition. Your score isn’t just dependent on your own Crowns and Flags, but on those of your teammates in their neighboring Kingdoms to yours as well. Be sure to use the Game Screen’s new Team Chat feature to coordinate your efforts.]

[At the end of 30 days, the ten teams with the highest scores will be crowned the Victors of the Great Survival Competition! Fabulous prizes, enhanced social status, and eternal fame and glory await!]

[There’s one more thing I need to mention before we get started. The Victors shall be crowned at the Kingdom of Elysium, which is under the control of our professional military forces. Should a team actually manage to conquer Elysium, the game will immediately end, with that team being acknowledged as Ultimate Victors and gaining positions in the Imperial Court!]

[Of course, in the history of this contest, reaching back over 2,000 years, the number of teams to accomplish this feat is...zero. So encroach on THOSE borders at your own risk.]

[That about wraps it up. The details on how to run your Kingdoms are all in the new Game Manual section of your game screens. Now...let the Game of 10,000 Thrones BEGIN!]

[Mission Selected]

[Ensure your team ends the game as one of the 10 Victors.]

The crown was very small, though it looked sufficiently like fine jewelry, and the flag looked like an ordinary pennant. I had put on the crown, which affixed itself to my head just behind my Psionic Amplifier Helmet, which only covered half of my head, and placed the pennant before the explanation was half over. Then, by sitting on the throne and opening my Game Menu, a large variety of new options appeared.

One of the new options was the Game Manual that the emcee mentioned, but I didn’t need it. It had been reproduced in Area 1 in its entirety, and under Arvallei’s supervision I’d read everything inside it several times until I knew every rule by heart. At some point, someone had even made a video game and VR simulation game of the Game of 10,000 Thrones. It was a popular way for people to prepare for the 4th Floor, and there was even a small competitive gaming community around it in Area 1.

Instead, I went straight for the Team Chat feature. While it was impossible for the copious NPCs to try to backstab me as long as I maintained their Morale stat, it was extremely possible for my own teammates to shift allegiances. The way the game was set up had me as the “king” but with my “noble title” still at the lowest rank of Baron. Upgrading your Noble Title was essential in this game—it dictated the cap on everything from the maximum number of soldiers in your army and the maximum number of territories you could control, to the max level of your resource generators and and outer walls, to even how far you could advance your kingdom’s tech tree.

To win, I’d need to upgrade both my title and tech tree early and often, which would require increasingly obscene amounts of game gold and other resources. But by far the biggest obstacle to winning was going to be none other than my own teammates.

[Lheticus: All right ladies and gentlemen, roll call. Who’s ready to play to win?]

[Barnett: Hold on, I’m studying the game manual.]

[Lheticus: Ok, but just get the basics for now. If there’s anything more advanced you need to know right away, I can tell you. That goes for everyone else too.]

[Caleb: Don’t make talk that you can’t back up. The moment our team starts looking strong, we’ll get ganged up on. We should focus on survival.]

[Anders: He’s right. In this game, if you focus on defense and stay small, you’re almost guaranteed to survive. It’s the ones who stick their necks out, going for the win without the strength to back it up, who get killed.]

[Darril: I hate to admit it boss, but it doesn’t make any sense to go for the win. The showrunners will never acknowledge you as a Victor even if we pull it off.]

[Mardan: Even if we COULD pull it off, some of us will definitely die in the process. You can’t threaten us into performance, knowing that.]

[Betty: Yeah, I don’t care how strong you are, I’m not dying so that you can meaninglessly win this game!]

So far, this was going completely according to script. When Arvallei reached this point, he basically had to win on his own, which he just barely pulled off, squeaking into 10th place at the last minute. Mewi had, with Bruzigan’s help, come up with a strategy broken enough to satisfy his teammates that they could win without dying.

As for me, one area where I was almost completely talentless was developing broken strategies. So, I was going to do it Arvallei’s way...but with a twist. I activated Aura of Intellect and Imbue Persuasion.

[Lheticus: You all seem to be forgetting that I’m not ACTUALLY a bloodthirsty pyromaniac. By all means, build your defenses as best you can. Make sure not to neglect your resources, since you’ll need lots to strengthen your forces as much as possible.]

[Lheticus: I’m the only one who needs to attack. All of you can just sit on your asses and build up. We’ll STILL win.]

[Lheticus: In fact, seeing as I AM going to be attacking—and a lot—it's best that you guys build up as much defense as you can anyway. Wouldn’t want you to end up dying, right?]