STS Hierarchy
From Cassiopedia
For a system where all participants seek to maximize their own power and position, a pyramidal hierarchy is the natural resulting configuration.
Self-serving beings, such as humans, realize that in order to more effectively serve themselves, they must cooperate with other similar beings. This cooperation is based on an idea of opportunistic alliance if direct domination is not possible.
Also, the necessity of hierarchy is in such a system explained as the only alternative to a state of anarchy where each exclusively serves their own short term advantage. In such systems the most ruthless and opportunistic elements rise to the top. Cultivating a code of clan allegiance with progressive gradation of social position is a typical stabilizing mechanism in such a system. This may be coupled with a personality cult.
Having fought out an internal pecking order, the STS hierarchy turns to the outside for sustenance and plunder. It must feed itself by absorbing more 'food,' which may be, depending on the case, temporal or spiritual power, wealth, new members etc.
Examples of such organization are found everywhere, from organized crime to military, government, secret societies, street gangs and so forth.
These organizations always suffer from a degree of internal entropy and the participants only seldom work seamlessly together, since they at least in principle stay on the lookout for a possibility of double crossing another or being double crossed themselves.
According to Cassiopaea and Ra, the 4th density STS overlords of Earth exist as so-called STS social memory complexes, which are hierarchies where the members share a certain common pool of knowledge and otherwise have individuality. These organizations suffer from the normal dissent and crossed purposes typical to STS but may hold somewhat together due to a telepathic transparency typical of 4th density. Thus they may see more point in absorbing energy from the outside than in fighting among themselves, specially since any change in relative position may only come from energy acquired through new conquests.