Editing Phase Q/Leading

The struggle continues.

The leadership of the remaining Trad population enters their bunkers.

They had especially prepared a number of bunkers to preserve the people they valued highly: adept liars, jokers, killers, and babymakers.

The underground bunkers hold stores of digestible energy, and paraphernalia for activating happiness chemicals. The remaining people consider themselves an elite group in temporary exile.

The bulk of the Trad people are dead. These included mechanical laborers, organizers, and the crude designers and users of symbols.

In the bunkers, despite all the chemicals and symbols and other gear for happiness, a dour mood prevails. People bicker, like they did aboveground.

After some time elapses, a few of the survivors – particularly the killers – reproduce themselves with some of the babymakers.

The bunkers – which the Fyuchees keep around for entertainment – become dens of animal struggles. The offspring of the original inhabitants have traits selected for vicious raw survival or light entertainment, depending on the perspective.

In a show that would put previous Trad symbol dramas to shame, the Trad descendants fight for the few remaining places, using their teeth, claws, and capacity for deceipt. Just like the old days.

The Fyuchees get off on watching the brutal show, placing wagers on the winners. The survivors get off on the brutal struggle for survival, living their evolutionary roles.

Video footage of the deathmatches, set to catchy music, go viral on the tubeworks. Spreading freely through the digital vols, the games top the charts.

A direct descendant of a line of successful Presidents proves quite a draw. With a combination of cunning and strength, he conquers many other males, and forcefully impregnates many females. His signature move is to eat his defeated opponents.

A number of cultural norms arise in the bunker arena. Despite the massive amounts of bloodshed, it is widely considered in bad taste to appear in front of other denizens without a genital covering. Also, it is considered vile, in the worst possible taste, to state openly one’s beliefs about the situation outside of the bunker.

Due to the close biological connectedness of the entire population – too small to maintain an effective genetic diversity over the long run – many issues arise among the “family.” Elders enforce a kind of leveling effect among their offspring princes, in which they level their children with a solid hit, and devour their more delicious children.

After some time, the survivors have developed many fine recipes. Also, their ceremonial fighting gear, and their ceremonial gear for wishing themselves out of the bunker and back into power, have exquisite aesthetic features.

The family forms a cult of belief, whose precepts are never explicitly spoken or written down. It basically supports the genetic interests of good fighters and liars. Any deviation from the cult is considered a sacred offence, resulting in immediate punishment by death and eating. The killers and eaters then celebrate with the highest honors in the bunker.

{{Phase Q}}