Cockaigne

Most realms were either located on the Planet Olympus or on another planet hidden within the universe.

The gods were not immune to war. Like all wars, the gods fought over resources, mainly faith points and money.

A god's power was directly related to the number of Faith Points they earned. And like drachmae, Faith Points could also be used as currency.

It was not uncommon for gods to send their followers to war, conquer new followers, or raid another god's planet for resources.

Before humanity, gods fought and killed for superiority.

One of the reasons the gods planted so many planets with humans was to increase their followers and decrease wars in Olympus.

Plutus's realm was called Cockaigne.

Cockaigne was a land of plenty, a medieval myth, an imaginary place of extreme wealth, luxury, and ease where physical comforts and pleasures were always immediately at hand.

This was also true on the Earth to which he was banished, well technically Earth 225. But this was a common myth spread on every human planet.

How? Plutus and his followers spread the message to increase his follower base and earn more Faith Points.

Inevitably, humans longed for a utopia free of their home world's harsh realities. And people would put their faces in mythical realms such as Cockaigne, Atlantis, and El Dorado; thereby earning their gods Faith Points.

To collect Faith Points some gods chose to build temples or churches, or idols but Will preferred banks, auction houses, or casinos.

For Plutus banks, auction houses and casinos were temples of wealth. Palaces were built for people to worship wealth and untold riches.

While Plutus had over 100 billion Faith points, he was not the strongest!

The primordial god and the 12 original Olympians were the strongest. There were also strong titans.

Over the eons, humans across the universe gave the strongest gods different names.

For example, Zeus had the most names, some would call him Thor, Jesus, or Jupiter.

On the other hand, some gods had one name for all eternity such as Gaia, Aether, Nyx, and Pontus.

The primordial gods were the strongest but chose mostly to hide themselves away searching for new planets.

For which they appointed Zeus chair of the Divine Council. Moreover, 12 senators were elected to oversee the Divine Council Chair.

The 12 senators were the strongest gods who often bribed the gods with Faith Points for their vote. And Plutus was fortunate because his mother served as a senator.

Before his fall, he was considered untouchable. He let his status get to his head, and his flagrant disregard for others was the reason why the Divine Council, especially Zeus banished him.

Will stepped onto his planet and felt rejuvenated and empowered. His planet functioned as a giant Faith Point receiver. All his Faith Points from across the universe flowed to his planet sustaining and empowering his existence.

If a god stopped receiving Faith Points or was killed by another god, they phased out of existence. Cronus was such an example.

Yet Plutus, even in his absence, could feel his Faith Points had continued to steadily build.

Plutus observed his planet. Cockaigne resembled a mesh of New York City and Macau.

Large opulent skyscrapers and casinos dotted the impressive skyline. Cockaigne was the city that never sleeps, there was always something to see or do.

The front entrance to the casino, banks, and auction house was on Olympus, just like Dionysus' restaurants, and Hephaestus forge. However, neither gods nor patrons were allowed to step foot on Cockaigne.

Cockaigne was a planet built for business and pleasure. His staff of workers managed his galactic business empire. He held a monopoly over the galactic marketplace.

One of his closest business partners was Hermes. Like Plutus, Hermes also held a monopoly on parcel shipment. Nothing crosses the universe unless it was on Hermes' ships.

For millennia, Will and Hermes battled for majority control of parcel shipment. Large space battles, the likes of which, only appear in Space Operas were common occurrences.

Eventually, they settled, and Plutus was given 12% percent of Hermès' Universal Parcel Service.

Plutus always enjoyed his planet productively. His urban planet was responsible for managing his Faith Points, commerce on evolving human planets, and intergalactic commerce.

His planet differed greatly from his mother's and grandparents. His mother's planets were covered almost entirely with crops, his grandmother's planet was just geological climates, and his grandfather's planet was just a castle in the sky.

His planet was different not just in being urban, but also in his governance.

His planet, not surprisingly, is governed by a plutocracy. A plutocracy is a government system that is, ruled by the wealthy.

Similar to Gadreel's, a plutocracy allowed public and private entities to exercise their power through both the law and the market.

Gadreel's city governance where Trade Commissioners and Kurosawa's City Administration worked together was archaic, compared to Cockaigne's modern, cosmopolitan, metropolis.

While wealth was sufficient to gain access to the current plutocratic class, what mattered most was having a philosophy of consumerism.

Consumerism is the economic philosophy that increasing the consumption of goods and services within the market is a desirable goal.

Moreover, consumerism contributes to consumers' overall well-being and happiness.

Economically and philosophically, consumer spending is the key driver of any economy no matter whether it's ancient, modern, or postmodern society.

Encouraging consumers to spend should be a major policy goal. That's why having a plutocratic philosophy of consumerism was important on his planet because consumerism fuels economic growth.

However, some planets and societies demonize plutocracy. Critics argue plutocracy is polemic.

They argue against plutocracy because they see it as an argument to justify stopping state-sponsored reallocation of wealth. These critics want to reallocate wealth from the wealthy to create a socialist utopia.

Unlike these critics, plutocracy argues wealth is not the problem. Any society where citizens are free to buy, sell, own and dispose of their property shall always result in inequalities.

Anyone who studies political economy must keep one vital principle in mind: power tends to expand and consolidate.

If you lose sight of that fact, everything else will go out of focus. Political and economic philosophers have long understood this axiom of power.

The greatest critics of plutocracy, come from thinkers living in a democratic society.

Democracy and plutocracy, while not mutually exclusive, are not the best pairing. Plutocracy works best when power is sufficiently consolidated such as within an oligarchy or a dictatorship.

And make no mistake Cockaigne was a dictatorship. Plutus was a benevolent, libertarian dictator. His citizens enjoyed freedom with very few rules.

Most of his citizens were content to invest and manage their ever-expanding galactic properties in the human world.

Wealthy humans on planets were simply apostles of his citizens and were contractually obligated to worship Plutus and only Plutus, for all eternity and spread his faith.

Yes, Plutus' Faith Points were the result of intergalactic multi-leveling marketing. It was an ever-expanding system where his wealthy citizens, appointed apostles, some of those apostles would ascend to Cockaigne, and be forced to appoint new apostles to expand their intergalactic businesses.

Unlike some gods that were personally forced to continuously build their faith base, Plutus had only to sit back as the Faith Points rolled in.

He was often considered one of the strongest gods outside the 12 divine senators and routinely listed within the top 25 most powerful gods.

As long as the gods continued to plant new human colonies, he felt comfortable that his power would expand infinitely.

Despite Cockaigne's perfect spring weather, lavish living conditions, divine cuisine, and massive vault in the planet's core; he felt lonely. He missed his wives on Earth and Terra.

After searching, he found his first wife died almost 10,000 earth years ago. But he could still see Elizabeth.

Although a day hadn't passed, the day after his death progressed. He saw Elizabeth crying, later his master consoled Elizabeth, and finally, he saw his mother splash tea in his face.

Seeing her and Helen's sadness moved his heart. He could tell they were depressed at his passing. They had no clue he was safe, and what truly happened after death.

Even if he was human and died, he'd live forever in Elysium where the great heroes of lore lived for eternity.

In his golden palace, with hundreds of servants, surrounded by opulence, all he could think about was Elizabeth, Camille, Edward, Liam, Lily, and Huang, his Terran parents, siblings, friends, and disciples.

The more he thought about them, the stronger the desire he had to return. At first, he wanted to return and let them know he was safe. But then he realized he wanted to see his children grow up and grow old with Elizabeth and Lingling.

That's when they decided to return to Terra. The anticipation of returning lifted his spirits and gave him a renewed sense of purpose.

He quickly made his way to his grandfather's realm to tell him his wish.