Assessment: IV The Emperor* Local deity and supreme authority in a remote primitive region. The Emperor maintains his position by operating beyond the moral norms of his parent society.
The Emperor formerly went by the name Mr. Short. He was specially chosen by The Company and placed in charge of a resource extraction operation in a remote equatorial region. The Emperor found that the conventional methods of negotiation with the locals were not achieving expected goals. Steadfastly committed to company appropriation ideals, he adopted irregular methods to manipulate the locals in order to meet resource exploitation targets. The locals have since deified him. The Emperor achieved this status by shrouding himself in an invented cult of mystery which was injected into the culture to integrate his position in local mythology. The Emperor uses graphic savagery to prosecute resistance and generously rewards cooperation. After coercing key individuals he became an unchallengeable authority and is seen to have absolute power over life and death by the regional peoples. To these locals he is god-like and is worshiped, feared, and loved. The Emperor is perceived as a caring and generous ruler who is also capable of delivering horrific episodes of punishment.
Application
When the Emperor’s influence is felt it is time to assess your methods of approach to life. A harsh but fair attitude might be advised to deal with problems. Alternatively, it may be that you have been too stubbornly adhering to strict ideals. If this is the case then it might be useful to step down from your high position and relax your grip on your world. There is an indication you have isolated yourself from reality and placed yourself in a lofty, foggy world where it is hard to assess the way forward.
The Literature
In Heart of Darkness Mr. Kurtz** is sent by The Company from the civilised world up a river into a remote primitive region to extract resources for profit. Tempted by the absolute power over primitive peoples, he turns to unconventional and immoral methods to work the locals to achieve quotas. Mr Kurtz’s world is hazy. The perpetual fog and his own mythic presence permeate the river region he controls. The fog is a device used to show how thin a layer civilisation is over our own primitive savagery.
The Art
The Emperor is performing a grand smoke and mirrors act as he hovers over his watery forest domain. The art of The Emperor is intentionally hazy and analogous to the fog in Heart of Darkness. His mask is a false image covering civilised society, while, ironically, civilisation is a thin veneer masking our own brutal savagery. The other devices The Emperor holds and wears add to his created mythology and are the means by which he wields his authority. *The assessment is written from the perspective of an alien anthropologist studying and reporting on exceptional human behaviour. In this case The Emperor turns up as Subject IV, a pivotal archetype of human behaviour and influence. This assessment may be part of an exceptional reporting series by the alien anthropologist on the human condition. The whole series of reports would match the Major Arcana.
**Kurtz is German for short.