Victor Graves, King of the Gravers. Yes, king. That’s how he referred to himself once the Gravers had established the dens, the halls, the crypts. There was a crowning ceremony, of course. At first, he either used a burger king crown or that popular plastic crown, the same one that Biggie Smalls was photographed wearing. A very basic one.

  So, a king, eh? In a democracy? Yes. They were trying to be conquerors, after all, but specifically 21st century conquerors. Not military people, not dictators. They weren’t opposed to the idea of democracy by any means, even though they had just denied it to large swaths of the Gravers by enacting a rule that allowed the pair of them to choose the Gravers’ leaders.

  Democracy was a fine thing to have for a country, they said, for local governments. They weren’t a government, though. They were an institution, to be sure, but they existed like a corporation. They needed to be able to compete with other corporations. They needed to not get bogged down with red tape and bureaucracy and the petty political squabbling that democracies are known to develop. It is for this reason that the Graver Institution was owned wholesale by V&G, its organization was entirely at the whims of the pair.

  “Now, this isn’t to say that we mean to say ‘kneel,’ and you kneel, of course. This is a Balancing act that we’re engaging in. We want you all to feel like we’re doing things in the Proper Way. We want you to have a voice on how we run things, to make sure we’re being as efficient and effective as possible in making this the best social club that’s ever been. But give us a little room to try things out, that’s all we’re asking here.”

  Again, the Graver Nation was new and interesting, so its members went along with things for the most part. Besides, it wasn’t all that radical. Business owners could run their business as they see fit, after all. If the employees didn’t like it, they could leave. Good businesses, though, knew to listen to their employees. Not that they were employees, of course, Graver Nation was a different king of thing. But there were similarities.

  That and it was enchanting to have a king. It was like out of some fantasy book. Lord of the Rings. Aragorn. Sure, Victor could call himself a king, that would be fine. King of the Gravers. Gloriana Graves, queen of the Gravers. Long may they reign. And who were the Gravers in this fantasy world? They were the knights. And their knights needed their armor.

  Soldiers needed a uniform. We’ve already discussed how there were three teams within the Graver organization: the orange Pumpkins/Wolfmen, the purple Vampires/People Eaters, the green Goblins/Witches (remember, things have multiple names in Gravesianism, as the name is not the thing, just the sign that points to it). Victor and Gloriana Graves contracted with a middle of the road clothing company to make shirts for the Gravers to wear. Black shirts with green, orange, or purple accents, bedecked with a skull and crown on it. Only Gravers were allowed to purchase the shirts from the online store, it requiring a special login code from the Graver App to purchase.

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  And the Gravers had to purchase it themselves, which is why they chose a middle of the line clothing company to host the transaction. But it wasn’t a mandatory purchase, not at first. V&G knew what it was like to be without access to cash. They encouraged another method of getting a uniform, too. Getting a black shirt from a thrift store and then decorating it with a skull and crown by bleaching it, turning the bleached area into a nice orange-ish color. You can Google this style of shirt bleaching online, it had become a popular thing when I was originally conceiving of the Gravesverse.

  Another thing we should talk about is the masks. These aren’t features of every version of the Gravesverse, though. This gets a bit hazy, here, as masks are closely related to the Jackverse, but masks originally began as part of the Gravesverse, if I remember right. And what’s the Jackverse? Just another maladaptive daydream world I had created. It started out as an outgrowth of the Gravesverse but turned into its own thing. That’s where I get my penname, but we’re getting a bit out of scope here.

  Masquerade masks. To add onto the Halloween theme. In some versions of the Gravesverse, every Graver was expected to wear one during official functions, where it was allowed by law. Remember, Graver Nation was an identity movement. It was identity politics. However, it was an identity one could put on or take off at one’s leisure. Being a Graver was something completely voluntary, you see. They’d choose their own names as part of their new identities, too. Good Gravesian names, in the same style as ‘Victor’ or ‘Gloriana.’ Gothy names. Halloween names. Death dealer (from Harry Potter) names. V&G published a list of examples. This wasn’t to be their ‘new’ name, by any means, simply their ‘Graver’ name. And, to reiterate, a Graver was an identity that was voluntary, and one that didn’t require you to sacrifice any parts of your other identities to be.

  There were rules that came with being a Graver. Rules based in the Gravesian philosophy. No politics, for one. Gravers weren’t expected to completely disregard politics in their real lives, of course, it was just asked that at official functions, when you donned the mask, when you put on the Graver face, that you’d keep your political views inside and focus only on Graver business. There were other rules, as well. But we’re at our one thousand words for right now, so we’ll talk about them later.