Well done. Yes, it's a bit long, but the deep aristocracy is longer. I'm surprised no Barbara Tuchmann showed up.. A good coverage as far as I can tell. I haven't been writing because everything comes out too doomey, and I think that's the problem with discussing the real state of the System of systems. I'm sure there's a way to lay out something more spread over good and bad processes, but I never seem to find it. The deep Aristo system may have built good things or prevented even worse things, but the lack of transparency or direct info leaves only the dark force stories interesting.

The good histories are 90% propaganda, and the facts are either boring or guilt-ridden. The tricky bit always comes down to what civilization does to the places its descendants depend on. The whole picture of power elites is about extraction and systems they use to exxtract power. If people lose interest in unnecessarily dying and starving, then no amount of scheming will get power from them.