And today we're all brothers, tonight we're all friends,
a moment of peace in a war that never ends.
Today we're all brothers, we drink and unite.
Now Christmas has arrived and the snow turns the ground white.
A Christmas on the frontline, we walk among our friends,
we don't think about tomorrow, the battle will commence.
When we celebrated Christmas we thought about our friends,
most who never made it home when the battle then commenced.
- Joakim Broden, Christmas Truce
Percy fidgeted awkwardly in the elevator, adjusting his clothes for the eleventh time in about as many seconds.
"Sorry, I never meant for you to be involved in my… work. I know you're hardly a fan of what I do." Percy apologized to the irate woman standing silently next to him.
"That's awfully convincing, considering what just happened. You didn't have to have me stay, you know." she responded frostily. "He told me to leave. You embarrassed him in front of me, and much worse you used my family name to do it."
Percy sighed. "I'm sorry. I needed you to confirm for him that I know your father, and having you leave after would have broken the flow."
Winter rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Oh yes, you just embarrassed my commander in front of me to help the delivery of your less than subtle threat. How romantic."
Percy scoffed "When am I ever romantic? You caught me kinda flat-footed, too. I knew you went here but I didn't intend to involve you in this little trip. The last thing I expected was to see you ferrying me to the man I was here to meet. How exactly did you get a job as the headmaster's assistant? Picking up some 'extra credit'?" he asked, grinning coyly. He caught an elbow to the rib for his efforts, one he didn't bother stopping. It'd only serve to make him worse off later on.
"Jackass." she muttered, doing her best to ignore him.
Percy's smile dimmed. "Teasing aside, what are you doing playing assistant to the headmaster? That's not something a student just picks up."
Winter briefly glanced at him, and hesitated. In those moments the elevators opened with a ding, sliding outwards to reveal the empty entry hall.
They exited the elevator almost carefully, Percy waiting for her to respond and Winter deciding if she should respond. Pyrrha… well, Pyrrha was along for the ride.
"Hey Pyr." Percy said, glancing back at the girl. "Can you head to the front doors? I'll catch up in a minute."
Glancing between the two, Pyrrha nodded solidly and began walking away. Percy, however, remained stock still.
"I… Look, Percy, this can't get back to my father. Under any circumstances."
Percy raised an eyebrow but nodded slowly, now more curious than he cared to admit.
"I'm currently in an apprenticeship under the Colonel to become an officer, and as I'll be huntress trained, a specialist. Percy… I'm joining the Atlesian military."
"A way out of this mess you say, Mr. Wan?" asked the old man at the center of the great families.
"Lord Nero," Shiro bowed to the now identified great lord. "I am honored to be in the presence of nearly the entire aristocracy of the Kingdom of Mistral. You and your family's name serves the Kingdom with prestige. But to answer your question, my lord, I do have a solution. While due to recent events the general public opinion of you all is… marred." Shiro pulled a regretful face, glancing distastefully slightly behind him towards the crowd outside. "Luckily, a new minor house has been recently established. One so new that it has managed to avoid the damage in public perception which was levied on you all."
Nero leaned back and narrowed his eyes as the rest of the hall muttered among themselves at various volumes. "You speak of Perseus, and his house. While it is a small miracle that we've recently established a house which may not fall to this disaster, I fail to see how this may help us."
"Because, my lord, the commoners still have confidence in one noble family. A single one, but a family none the less. And if they trust one family, there lay a road to make them trust all of you again — to trust the system. Without blood."
Alexandros straightened, interest peaked. He had expected Perseus to enter and seize power with guns to their heads. This was playing out… differently. Why?
"What do you propose?" Alexandros interrupted. While tradition and decorum said otherwise, he was still just as much a great lord as Lord Nero. One among equals. He could grant himself the right to speak as much as Nero could.
Shiro turned his attention to Alexandros and locked eyes with him. They stared at each other for a few moments, each attempting to convey their message to the other. Shiro could understand the confusion in Alexandros' eyes clear as day — he had the same confusion at the back of his own mind. But Alexandros had a harder time understanding Shiro's message. He'd met the man a few times, but that did not by any means translate to knowing him well.
"The people will not tolerate the nobility existing as it is in the short term, that much is clear." Shiro lightly gestured to the door behind him. "But with oversight, the masses may be placated."
"Oversight?" one of the younger ones to the right of the bench asked. "And who exactly would provide oversight over us? An elected official? And what 'oversight' would this be, exactly?"
Shiro nodded at the man. "An excellent question, Lord Xanh. I'll answer your second question first, if you don't mind. The oversight needed… well, there are two options. There could be a figure placed in charge of an official council of nobility. It'd be made up of greater families, but likely it'd be demanded that some of the smaller houses be granted seats as well. And later, as the years go on, it would likely be demanded that the commoners have representation as well. Once they do that, well, it's over. Instead of not having a say at all, they'll have a third of the say as almost all of the population. And once they realize that, the nobility is history. But, these reforms would extend its existence more than doing nothing." he said. As if to punctuate his statement a chant began outside, echoing some rather choice words for the second estate of Mistral.
"And either way, the council would be overseen by this person. Each action taken would come to a vote, and they'd all have to be legal, above the board. Influencing the council would be out the window with all of your assets up for scrutiny, the council would be free to move against you, meaning law enforcement wouldn't be quite as adverse to investigating you- you get the point. The only benefit is that you'd still, for a time, retain an amount of control. You, as the great families, would still be able to vote on what to do, this overseer would simply be able to veto you." Shiro had no idea what he was saying, but after a couple hours of trying to talk it through with Percy he'd given up understanding the kid's reasoning. Shiro didn't enjoy not knowing the reasoning behind what he was doing. That wasn't his style, he was used to being a partner, not an underling. But he just… couldn't get why Percy was so insistent that he was right on this one. But Percy had insisted, and so Shiro had done his due diligence arguing with the boy, and when that was over continued on with the plan set before him.
"And the second option?" Lord Xanh grumbled, echoing the mood of many of the other nobles.
"The seconds is… less Valean. A single person, placed not in charge of any entity or council or group, but given the power to reign in lords which are out of control. Lords which have crossed a line, or who would draw the wrath of the masses to the families of Mistral. Instead of an official government position like the last option, this person would be put into power by your own authority. Of course that would be a technicality. If you put someone into this position which the public doesn't like, or if you remove them or limit their ability to keep everyone in line, it may explode. But the difference would still be there. Instead of votes and councils and meetings, instead this overseer would simply be placed in a position to investigate, prosecute, and punish all of the nobility, by the nobility. There is no King anymore, so it falls in line to all of you to create a system to keep each other in line." he said carefully.
Now, this part and the next part he did get. He had to make sure he wasn't implying this new person would be like the King, and he had to word it carefully so that they wouldn't put this person in charge to keep themselves in line, but everyone else. They hadn't done anything over the line. They hadn't done anything that would be stopped by this new overseer. But everyone else? Maybe, just maybe they'd cross the line and bring down the peasants on all their heads. And then wouldn't it be better if they were stopped? He was only repeating a carefully hashed out and rehearsed script this time because he had to get the wording exactly right, not because he had no idea why he was saying what he was.
The din of muttering heightened, but Shiro cut it off before he could be asked another question. "Now, if you choose to pursue either of these routes, there remains the question of who. It's my humble opinion that there's only two options. Either there's an election held for the position itself, or you appoint someone."
Lord Nero leaned forward with a scowl, asking the question which Alexandros realized he already knew the answer to.
"And this appointment, assuming we consider either possibility. Who do you propose?"
Shiro nodded respectfully towards the lord. "Lionheart, the chairman, the entirety of the council, even, are on their way out the door. They have public ire directed at them for cooperating with you, and they don't have noble blood to protect them. So there's no public official currently feasible to put above you which you've worked with before. That removes the possibility of any public official, as all of them will be freshly elected. That leaves a noble, which I'm sure would be preferred anyway. And of all the nobility, the public is willing to trust none of them-"
"Except Perseus." Alexandros cut off.
The steady din of muttering erupted. "Except Lord Perseus." Shiro agreed. "Hence, the opportunity presented by such a new house. He'll be able to keep the nobility in charge, and placate the masses."
"A minor family, being placed in oversight of the entire Mistrali nobility?" Lord Nero asked skeptically.
"Hence why I hesitated to mention it. I would not have, if it were not the only option I see. The house of Perseus would have to be elevated to be a great house. It would be much to ask of Lord Nikos, to lose his only vassal. Then this crisis could be averted with minimal harm to the nobility." Shiro looked to Alexandros again, and they once again locked gazes.
And suddenly, he knew what Shiro had been trying to tell him earlier. In one sentence Shiro had shifted the choice from 'Should we allow Perseus to become a great family?' to 'would Alexander tolerate losing his subject?'. They couldn't very well make Perseus a great lord without Alexandros' blessing. He'd put the ball in Alexandros' court, and now Shiro — as well as probably Perseus himself — were banking on him playing along with their little game. Alexandros didn't miss how they were currently in a room filled with men loyal to Perseus, or how his very own daughter was currently acting as a hostage to make sure that the answer Alexandros gave was the correct one.
"I agree to release the house of Perseus from their oath, to avert this crisis." he said slowly, only barely managing to keep the slightest traces of venom from his voice. If Perseus had simply filled the room with guns Alexandros almost would have respected the play. It was high level politics at its finest. They didn't even have to threaten harm on anyone to make it a threat. All they had to do was stand in-between the tens of thousands of commoners hungry for blood outside, and offer to stay there so long as the nobility agreed to do what they wanted. The moment they acted out, all Perseus had to do was tell his men to step aside.
It didn't help, of course, that Alexandros' family — bar Pyrrha and her mother — were in the room. Perseus hadn't just taken Alex himself hostage, he'd threatened his family as well. That… had not earned him any points with Alexandros.
But then on top of all that, to do all of this while his daughter was staying with Perseus? Someone he'd trusted with his daughter's safety? The only thing keeping Alexandros from lashing out and revealing this whole coup of an operation just to spite him was the fact that if he did, his daughter might not end up all the better for it.
Shiro nodded respectfully. Alexandros wanted to kill the man.
"I leave you to your decision, my lords." Shiro said, bowing to the room at large. "However, I might suggest acting with some haste. The police are popular with the people, but not popular enough to keep them outside forever. Since my departure to assist you all here, I've had some of my men writing up a reform as quick as they're able. Once you've arrived at a decision, I'll present you all with the proper papers to sign." turning on his heel he signalled to two men and walked out of the hall, allowing the gathering of lords to get a last glimpse at the thousands of people who wanted their head on a pike before their vote.
Alexandros grit his teeth. He knew what he had to vote, and he knew what the rest of the nobility would end up voting for as well. There was only one option, as presented by the man in charge of every gun in the room, that would keep the nobility in power. Many were staring into the air with contemplative looks still making up their minds, but Alexandros knew the vote had been decided before any of them had so much as set foot in the room.
"You like her." Pyrrha declared once they were back at Percy's apartment in Atlas.
"Her?" Percy asked, stirring together some instant hot chocolates for the both of them.
"Winter." Pyrrha said, nodding like the most satisfied girl in the world, taking the mug that Percy slid her and looking at him expectantly.
Rolling his eyes, Percy went digging through the cupboards for the mini marshmallows he was sure were somewhere.
"Yeah, sure I like her. She's a bit harsh but you get used to it. You got a point?" Percy asked, returning to the counter and sliding her the plastic container filled to the brim with tiny white balls of sugar.
"Nope." Pyrrha shook her head and took a sip, some color returning to her features. "You like her. You have a crush."
Percy couldn't help himself, he barked out a laugh. Taking a long sip of his own cocoa, he settled for leaning backwards onto the stove. "No, Pyrrha, I don't. Winter and I are friends, that's all."
"Come oonnnnn" she exaggeratedly dragged her hands down her face, as if it was the most obvious thing ever. To her teenage brain, it probably was. "I promise I won't tell, you don't have to lie to me. Besides, she likes you too." she said, straightening in satisfaction as if she'd just laid the world's truths before him.
"Pyrrha, I'm Twenty. If I 'liked' Winter, I'd tell her. And she'd tell me, too. Romance isn't always like it is at your age." he said, though internally he gave it some thought. Did he love Winter? Gods no. He knew what love was, and he did not feel that for Winter. Could he eventually, given the right circumstances? Maybe. He was a bit biased against the whole mortal method of dating and getting to know them and everything. His love life had been decided by fate at least half a century before he'd been born, and even then it had likely been a few thousand years before then. So he kind of had lofty expectations when it came to falling in love. Forget love at first sight, he'd been on a crash course to loving Annabeth before first sight. Before he'd been born, even. But while he was skeptical, billions of mortals had managed to find love without all that much godly intervention, so who was he to say it was impossible.
But that was besides the point. He could imagine himself dating Winter, sure, but that didn't mean that much. They'd been friends for years and sleeping together just as long, but there was really no reason to date. Winter had Atlas academy and soon the military, and Percy had his own goals which he couldn't afford to be distracted from. Dating… it wouldn't do either of them any good.
Pyrrha blinked like an owl. "Really? When you're an adult you just… tell each other? And then you're dating?"
Percy chuckled, beginning to lean forward to tousle her hair but then leaning back when she leaped away at the movement. "It's a little more complicated than that, but yeah pretty much. Dating isn't a huge thing. I can't speak for everyone, but I can say pretty confidently it's not as much of a fuss as when you're in school."
Pyrrha huffed. "But then why don't you tell each other your feelings? It's so obvious!"
"You'll understand when you're older." Percy said in the most serious voice he could, before letting himself laugh goodnaturedly when Pyrrha threw an apple at his head. He caught it and tossed it back, making sure it was at a speed she could catch it at least. Poor Pyrrha unfortunately had combined her teenage fascination with everything being romantic in some way, and the chemistry that Winter and Percy had from their more intimate interactions. It was a little cute, actually.
"Is it obvious, or are you maybe projecting a bit, Pyr? Got somethin' you wanna tell me about any boys at Sanctum?"
The deflection worked, and Pyrrha went into a rapid — if stammered — explanation about why she didn't have a crush on anyone, and why Percy was an idiot for suggesting such.
Percy's good mood dimmed when he felt a buzz in his pocket. Reaching to grab his scroll, he made sure to keep glancing at Pyrrha to keep her aware he was intimately amused by her display. Checking the time and the notification on his scroll letting him know his timer had gone off, Percy sighed.
"Sorry to cut off your incredibly compelling speech, Pyr." she stared at him flatly. "But I have to start heading to my other meeting for the day. Will you be good alone while I'm gone? I might be a while." of course she wouldn't be alone, but she didn't know there was a small army of Mistrali police here, so the point was moot.
"As long as you manage to get back some time in the next 2 years, I should be fine." she shot back.
Percy grabbed his chest. "My heart. You used to be such a sweet little girl. Where did my Pyrrha go."
She rolled her eyes, but she couldn't quite manage to keep the smile out of her voice. "She died when you kicked her in the mouth and then called her too slow to get up, when she was twelve."
Percy threw on his coat and walked over to the door, quickly unlocking and opening it.
"Yeah, but was I wrong?" he asked with a teasing grin, stepping out and shutting the door behind him, making sure to lock it.
Percy shook his head, Pyrrha certainly had changed. He was becoming more and more proud of the woman she was becoming every time he saw her. He just hoped she wouldn't be too upset to speak to him when she got back to Argus and found out what had happened while they were gone.
"It's done, then?" Percy asked, pressing his scroll to his ear with a cold hand while a nearby group of homeless crowded around a fire shot him a dirty look.
"Yeah. It went like we figured. Everything's smooth over here, the document we had written was signed by each of the great lords. I still don't understand though, you had every noble in one room you controlled, and you destroyed the public's support. You had the country in the palm of your hand. As shocked as I am you managed to pull it off, you could have seized Mistral for yourself and named yourself king. Why didn't you?"
Percy sighed, mist appearing where his warm breath met the cold Mantle air. "I didn't have Mistral in the palm of my hand Shiro, the people did. I happen to be liked by the people. If I abolish the aristocracy, there'll no longer be a reason for a king. The people like me, but the moment I stood between them and a free nation I'd be hung in the city square. The only way to put myself in a position of power is to keep the nobility around. What we did was use the people to force the nobility into signing reforms. Those reforms, combined with my popularity, should keep most people calm for now."
"You keep saying that the people would turn on you if you made yourself king, but you haven't explained where you're getting that from. When in history has that ever happened?"
Percy thought back to Earth, all the way from the American Revolution to the Arab spring. Remnant was still emerging from monarchies and medieval systems, and they only had a small handful of nations to look for as examples. But Percy had the advantage of knowing about hundreds of countries, hundreds of revolutions, across hundreds of years. For the countries where the current rulers had been overthrown?
It didn't end well for the nobles.
"Trust me Shiro." he said in lieu of an explanation. "I know what I'm doing, at least with this. Haven't we been working together long enough for you to trust when I tell you something with certainty?"
"I'm not doubting you, Percy. I did as you asked, didn't I? I'm just… confused."
"I understand, and I'm sorry I can't say more. I'll need to get back to you, I have a meeting."
Shiro bid him farewell and Percy clicked his scroll shut, knocking on the heavy wooden door which he'd just arrived in front of, shoving his hands in his pockets to preserve what warmth he could.
A butler came to the door dressed in formal Atlesian clothes, a style he'd become accustomed to from his time spent at the Schnee mansion. He was younger than Percy expected for this kind of thing, maybe in his late thirties or early forties, and just a little on the heavier side.
"Mr. Perseus, I presume?" the man asked. Percy blinked, he hadn't heard 'Mr. Perseus' in a while. It was always Mr. Jackson, or Perseus, or Lord Perseus depending on who he was speaking with. Mr. Perseus was… new.
"I am." he nodded.
Stepping aside, the servant bid him to enter. "May I take your jacket, sir?"
Nodding his thanks and shutting the door to the large house — small mansion, really — Percy stepped out of his shoes when beckoned by the butler. Of all the places he'd had meetings with important people, this was probably the least formal. He'd met in people's houses before, but that was always in the Schnee's mansion, or Alex's Villa. They felt more like offices that you could live in than homes sometimes, especially when he hadn't been familiar with their layout. But this? This was a home.
"You'll find Mr. Foley in the kindling room sir, just down that hall and to the right."
Percy nodded his thanks and walked down the hallway to the room he'd pointed out. He wasn't tense, per se, but he didn't allow his guard to fall. This was… new. From what he'd heard of the man he'd expected some sort of mix of Mistrali opulence and Atlesian grandeur. This was neither.
He slowly rounded the corner to the room and knocked on the opened door to announce his presence. As expected, Foley was sitting in one of the seats in front of the fireplace, a glass of bourbon in his hand. The room was similar to the one he'd sat in with Jacques just a few days before, but much smaller. Cozier.
"Ah, Mr. Perseus," Foley turned his head and greeted him, giving him a nod before pushing out a chair and slowly making his way to his feet. He was an older man certainly, with graying hair and a gaunt complexion. Despite that he didn't quite seem to be on death's door. He was a bit too young, had a bit too much color in him.
Percy stepped forward and shook the man's hand, who gave him a short smile in turn.
"Please, sit. I've been looking forward to meeting you." he greeted, motioning to the other seat. Percy did so, reclining into the comfortable padded chair. A few moments later the butler from before appeared, carrying a fresh bottle of Bourbon. "Can I interest you in a drink?" he offered.
"Please." Percy nodded as the butler opened the bottle and filled his glass before turning to Foley and topping his off.
"Thank you Bobby." Foley smiled at the now identified man kindly.
Bobby nodded back and walked away, leaving Percy and Foley alone. Foley took a sip of his drink and sat it on the table, so Percy followed in kind.
"Did Oz do you the courtesy of telling you why you were here, Perseus?" Foley began, leaning towards Percy on the arm of his chair.
"I've heard an… abridged version. I'd like to hear it from your mouth, if you don't mind."
Foley briefly smiled at him. That same one he'd used a few times already, the one that never reached his eyes.
"Do you know what it is I do, Perseus? Who I am?"
Sighing, Percy decided he wasn't exactly going to be able to hide that he had no idea what he was talking about. It was better not to lie. "No, not really, to be honest. I've heard you're influential in Mantle. That you have the ability to make things happen."
Foley barked out a soft laugh. "That's one way to put it I suppose. But no, I currently run an organization known as the Tammany Hall. Interesting name, I know. Unlike your… kind, I suppose, for lack of a kinder word, I'm no criminal. Everything I do is within the bounds of the law. Unlike the Valean unions which decided to take the law into their own hands, our organization went another route. Why circumvent the law, when you can use it?"
Percy must have looked like a confused puppy about now, because Foley clarified.
"Are you particularly scholared on the history of Remnant, Perseus?" Foley asked.
"Not as much as I'd like to be." Percy admitted, shifting slightly.
Foley nodded. "Well, there's one democracy on Remnant which predates all the others. It predates the great war, the discovery of dust, even the color revolution. That's Mantle. Mistral can hardly be called a democracy even now, as I'm sure you're well aware, and Vale and Vacuo only transferred to having councils after the great war. Mantle, on the other hand, before Atlas even existed, had been a democracy for some centuries. Now, as for how this applies to us, here, now. The Tammany Hall is a political lobbying organization. We gather support among people in Mantle, and back political candidates who are willing to grant certain liberties. In return we work with various businesses and streamline regulations, while also keeping the unions in power to keep the people happy and get ourselves a nice check in the process. Everyone's happy, and we hold all the cards. The unions stop cooperating? They're voted out, or the businesses shut them down. Businesses shut down a union without our blessing? They suddenly find the regulations they'd been passing through easily all this time are costing them millions to adhere to. Politician steps out of line? They're out of office. The people don't vote for who we need them to? All of a sudden, the economy faces a downturn."
Percy frowned. "That works well if only one group might decide to defy you, but what about a few at a time? If the people vote for a politician you don't back, and a business decides to shut down the unions at the same time, then you have nobody to slow the economy and nobody to punish the company for stepping out of line."
Foley drank as Percy spoke, and nodded softly when Percy was done. "That's correct. Which is why there's always contingencies. We always have friends in the right places, dirt on the right people, the right buttons to push. The Tammany Hall has been around since the founding of Mantle's democracy, and over that time you can build a lot of influence. Not the kind someone like you has in Mistral, but a different kind. A kind of influence so rooted in the very crevices of a society that it's all but impossible to remove. When you've been dealing with a company or a board or a union for longer than the person running it has been alive, you can find some strings to pull. And after a few generations… everyone knows how it ends. Nobody bothers stepping out of line anymore."
Percy must have been a bit transparent with his doubt, because Foley took one look at him and started over.
"Now, the Tammany Hall has been around since the founding of Mantle's democracy hundreds of years ago, before any other in the existence of remembered history. And in that time, do you want to guess how many mayors of Mantle have been elected without the endorsement of the Tammany Hall? How many Councilmen? Hell let's include after the country changed to Atlas, how many political positions above the level of school board do you think have been filled by politicians without our endorsement, since the beginning of democracy?"
Percy shrugged. "No idea. A dozen?" He was mostly joking. In hundreds of years there had to be quite a few hiccups. It was probably a shockingly low number, but a dozen was not just shockingly low, it was unrealistic for a city filled with millions of souls.
"None."
Percy blinked. "Sorry?"
"None." Foley repeated. "In the time Mantle has existed, there has yet to be a politician not selected by this organization. Not many know of us, who don't play the game. That's by design. We get to skate under the radar. Atlas knows to respect us, but nobody except the top players in Mantle know quite how deep the rabbithole goes. But if I tell you that someone will become the mayor of Mantle tomorrow, or that the commissioner will resign and someone new will fill his position, or that there will be an emergency election called and every single representative of the city on the council will be replaced, it's as good as already happened."
Percy… didn't really have words. It was one thing to have the kind of hard, oblique power that Percy had in Mistral. But to obtain that level of influence… It made Ozpin's political connections kind of seem like a joke, in comparison. At least, within the scales they worked in. Even the thought of a general or council member being someone that Ozpin didn't want would probably be pretty silly to someone like Foley.
"And that is why you're here, Perseus. Because you're going to be the next head of the Tammany Hall."
So I lied about the update, Merry Christmas and have an early chapters. My other 2 stories have updated today, I'd recommend you at least check Proditione Et Fide out. Otherwise Pat reon and discord are on my profile. The next chapter is already up on pat reon. Below is a rant on the Tammany Hall if you're interested.
So Tammany Hall was based off of a very real and very fascinating political organization in New York. It's one of those secret society things that nobody really thinks exists until they shut down and all of their history is revealed and it's like "oh, ya got us haha". But basically it was just a democratic political party powerhouse which owned the democratic party in new york, and so essentially owned the city. They also had big boy clout in new york state in general, and even put a few presidents in their seats. The DNC has been held there a few times as well. They'd get local positions of power and then use that to put other friends of theirs in power, which would keep them in power — they were the stalin of new york, more or less. They even did that on the federal level, being assigned by a few presidents to a lot of important federal positions in return for political support, which the hall used to expand outside of new york. To me the idea of a secret society founded hundreds of years ago manipulating politics and holding the most powerful person in the world by the balls is actually terrifying and also interesting as fuck. It's actually older than the united states itself and was supported by some founding fathers. It only started to diminish in the 1940s when FDR (the absolute fucking chad he is) became the first person in a very, very long time to gain power in new york without their endorsement. They tried to take him down and failed, so when he became president he just YEETED them into the afterlife. I dont usually go on rants bout this stuff in ANs but thought it was interesting enough you wouldnt mind a little bit of a ramble.
Next Chapter January 15.