Chapter 1: The System
Richter Rancid said: Villainy is of supreme importance to humankind.
It determines life or death, progress or stagnation, and so cannot be ignored.
The system is shaped by five constant elements. When assessing any society, measure each in turn:
Morality: the shared code that binds strangers in peace.
Marketing: the craft of reshaping beliefs through controlled messages and spectacle.
Laws: the written punishments that enforce the moral code.
Enforcement: the power that executes those punishments.
Bureaucracy: the machinery that regulates, protects, and slows change emanating from power.
Survey these five pillars with questions:
Is moral authority centralized or scattered?
How far does propaganda reach?
Who reaps the greatest benefits of the legal code?
Against whom is discipline most severe?
Who wields the instruments of force?
How deeply rooted is red tape?
Do people yield without question?
Through these inquiries one foretells a society’s vigor or decay.
Systems exist to shelter the weak and tame chaos.
Yet unchecked, they swell into a fortress of stagnation, unable to change.
Adaptability is the only way to survive a dynamic existence.
Disrupted, the system is provoked to self‐examination and reform.
Therefore the Villain’s disobedience is not mere defiance, but the means to refine the system.
If falsehoods bind the masses, unveil the truth.
If comfort lulls them to sleep, inject discomfort as alarm.
If laws oppress, stoke the fires of outrage.
If rivals are distracted by petty strife, unite them towards a common vision.
If entrenched power resists change, assail their complacency.
If dependency spreads, demand self‐reliance.
If rulers forget the people’s peril, force them to remember.
By this measure, the system’s stagnation leads to its death, and therefore stagnation is the true enemy.
Hence, The Villain is a vital tool, acting as a catalyst.