I have long wanted to be an investigative reporter, and finally I have been given the opportunity. In this article series I shall investigate the behind the scenes portions of some of the many aspects and committees of the Fourth Kingdom. For this particular article, I am investigating the somewhat mythical High Council.

So, what is the High Council?

I started off by asking plain old members of the 4thkingdom what they knew about the High Council - specifically Beta members, because I wanted to know if they'd heard anything about it. Some had, some hadn't, yet not many seemed to know all that much. Then again, I don't think most alpha members knew all that much either. For beta member Pepper2000, they were a group he�d never heard of, and so he reasonably asked if they were like the Illuminati. For alpha members like Temujin and myself, it was simply a group of respected members, and by respected members I mean, a group of people that were so shrouded in mystery we couldn�t help but speculate on them and whether they had a more - well, sinister meaning.

However, I found out that it isn't actually as mystical, or mystifying, as it first seems.

Firstly, it is an advisory board of members who voice their opinions when Four asks for them. It is not often that they actually vote on anything, some say they do sometimes but some say they never have! It is mainly just a matter of them giving their opinions. The members have all been active members of the site for several years, and range from the likes of Samael, Tallman, and Aether, to Sian and Coach Z, the only two non Gold members of the Council.

(For those of you who don't know, the Gold Members were the highest status members on the old 4dgereez. Specially selected, they were given their own board to talk to each other. However, they were never much more than a sounding board for Four's ideas, although they did gain some authority when the Warning system took hold on that site. The Gold Members / High Councillors also were able to test this new version of the site before the rest of us)

Contrary to popular belief, the membership of the High Council is *not* completely static. Once a year or so, the Council will consider adding new members. How do they choose the members? They look for someone who is an active poster, who does not get in many fights, and is generally well respected by the majority of the site.

The current list of High Council Members is: Unattainable. It would seem that the Council members themselves are unable to count their members. However, as they were generally cooperative with me, that is okay.

However, as most all members of the High Council were members of 4degreez/4thkingdom for several years before becoming High Council members, I regret to inform Beta members that it probably will be a while before any of you reach the ranks of the High Council. Then again, in another year or so, some of you will have been active posters for a solid year and a half. So you never know, one day a beta may attain that status.

So what does it mean to be a High Council member?
- It means one has a chance to express their opinions to Four.
- They either only occasionally vote. Or they never vote, and have quaker style discussions. Honestly. It depends who you ask.
- They get their own spoofy board to post on, where they can just be generally silly.
- They watch other members, and see when it looks like some might get into a fight, and try to make sure it doesn't become anything too big. But since 4thkingdom members don't fight too much, they don't have to do that all that often.
- They get a bit more information about what might be in the future of the site ... Before plans become more solidified.
- At times they get to act as "Four's voice" on the boards.
- They get to rate a slightly higher percentage of posts than the rest of us, but not by much.
- And finally, they are expected to do their best to stay out of any petty fights.

In the several interviews I conducted with various High Councillor's, I found that above all they enjoy being silly.

Aether seemed to imply that in the test version of this site, he posted under the names of various Eastern European cities. Now why he would do that, I have no idea, but I guess I can take that to mean that in its original phases, the site was a bit more lax - like 4degreez, about alters.

A few members of the High Council also gave me rather silly "official statements"

"Who controls the British Crown, who keeps the metric system down, WE DO! Who holds back the electric car, who made Steve Guttenburg, a star, we do....WE DO!"

We also rigged the Oscars."
- Piledriver Radio

and

"The purpose of the High Council is to contain Aether, Pez, Nolo, Rashind, Confucious, and DyRE into an easily manageable/deleteable arena."
-Aether

and

"High Council: Camaraderie. Friendship. Loyalty. Quantum Nanobots. Not Status."
-Aether, via Tallman.

and

"I've never had any serious problems from being on the High Council, although I do miss my left testicle. I suppose the men of the HC get it easy, though, compared to the ladies. Judging from the screams, it's a lot more painful to extract the left ovary than the left testicle."
-Rashind.

However, as silly as they may be, they do play an integral role in providing an area where Four feels he can express his ideas on where he wants 4thkingdom to go in the future, and where he can get feedback on these ideas from people he trusts completely.

However, just because they are in this group, doesn't mean they always get their way by any means. Coach Z mentioned a time when there was some controversy dealing with the way some people were selling icons, and how there it wasn't just Four who disagreed with some High Councillor's, but rather the High Councillor's disagreed among themselves. And Rashind tells me that Four has failed to ever change the back ground color of a completed series. However, as Rashind's "complaint" was said along with his "official statement", it must be remembered that it in itself is a silly remark. (But it is true that the background color of completed series is not different than uncompleted series! But its also true it's not a significant issue.

And not only are these people integral in forming the site's future (or so they say), it should appear they are always going to be part of the future.

You see, according to Four Degreez, 4thkingdom is not actually destined to be a pure democracy. The High Council will always be influential, and according to Four "sort of like a house of parliament which chooses its own successors and such." His reasoning for running a government like this? To keep the masses from ruling us all. However, Four does not wish to create a completely elite class, so he is making a hybrid system between democracy and "the chosen" He says in this hybrid, "the balance of power will lean toward the democratic side." And I'm sure that there are plenty of members who will fine this a welcome change from the days of 4degreez when "the Golds ruled all and answered to none", as Four nicely put it.

So this was my first attempt at an investigative article, and I hope you all enjoyed it.

And I think I finally have a series of articles I shall be able to stick to for awhile, and that would certainly be nice for a change!