You are the hereditary monarch of a planet inhabited by a race of aliens who have been ruled by your family's monarchy for as long as living memory, which claims you are the descendant of a God. Your planet, which is very resource-poor and technologically not very advanced, regularly suffers from recurring famines and plagues. You have recently made contact with the galactic government, called the Superiority. The Superiority ambassadors tell you that there are a number of habitable, resource rich planets a few light years away that could greatly enrich your civilization, and that they are willing to offer you the faster than light travel technology necessary to make travel there possible as a benefit of becoming a member state of the Superiority. There is, however, one catch. You must abolish the monarchy, publicly renounce your divine right to rule, and take immediate steps to implement a parliamentary democracy to take the place of the previous government.

The “Wealth Games” are a proposed annual competition between the wealthiest twenty-four members of society. These twenty-four individuals are mandated by the state to enter an arena and fight to the death in gladiatorial battles, with all laws suspended while within the arena. The sole survivor is crowned the winner, and assets of the deceased are donated to effective charities.

“Atomic communitarianism” refers to a system of government in which the state is divided into semiautonomous zones, organized on the basis of political philosophy. For example, an atomic communitarian civilization might be composed of a libertarian community with a fully deregulated economy and low taxes, a community that is functionally a Scandinavian-style social democracy, an anarcho-primitivist community where people live in a state of nature with no laws, and more. Each community contributes financially to a central government and military force, whose only duties are to prevent communities from causing harm to each other, ensuring freedom of movement between communities, and preventing unwanted ideological contamination (e.g., keeping televisions and cell phones out of the anarcho-primitivist community, or keeping explicit media out of the fundamentalist Christian community). Inter-community proselytization is strictly prohibited.