My last ELI5 post turned out to be more like:
Redo:
Once upon a time, there was a mean ol' King who controlled all the money. If anyone wanted money, they had to ask the king for permission.
Please! Please! Please!
They would exclaim.
If the king decided you were allowed to have money, he wouldn't just give it to you for free. You'd have to agree to pay him back even more money later.
The evil king Shadow didn't care about anyone but himself. All he cared about was forcing other people to do things; while he got to do whatever he wanted. Whenever Shadow ran out of money, he just printed more on his magic scrolls.
Everytime Shadow printed more money, everyone else's became worth less-than it was before. This made the townsfolk sad, because now it would be even harder to pay back the money they owed to The Crown.
That's not fair!
The townsfolk protested, but Shadow didn't care!
Get back to work or I'll have you locked up in the dungeon with the rest of them!
Terrified, the townsfolk did what they were told. They didn't have any other options. They were very afraid of the evil king.
No one could figure out how to copy the magic scrolls that created money. Anyone who tried was thrown into the dungeon.
Shadow demanded complete control of all the riches in the kingdom.
Selfish King Shadow wasted money all the time because he could always make more.
One time he burnt his money in front of everyone just because he could.
Everytime Shadow did these things the townsfolk suffered.
Shadow didn't care. The look on their faces as they watched the money burn was well worth the laugh.
One day, a hero named Lighto came to the kingdom of Crowns and offered the townsfolk a solution: He taught them how to create their own magic scrolls! Anyone was allowed to create a scroll as long as they won the mystic lottery that the scrolls were bound by. One by one, the townsfolk took turns creating their own scrolls. This was very exciting! The townsfolk no longer had to beg Shadow for money.
They were finally free.
These new scrolls were worth a lot more than Shadow Scrolls. The mystic lottery didn't allow many scrolls to be made, so the ones that did exist had great value. If anyone tried to create a fake scroll it was very easy to tell.
Shadow found this out the hard way. He licked his lips as he thought of all the things he could buy with these new scrolls. He attempted to ink them, just like he was doing all along, but they turned to ashes in his hands because he hadn't won the mystic lottery.
Now the townsfolk could trade behind the king's back and there was nothing he could do about it.
This development enraged the evil king. He ordered his Black Soldiers to scour the kingdom and find the rebel Lighto. Surely, if he captured the leader of this defiance he could force the kingdom to depend on him once again.
Shadow told everyone that Lighto was the enemy; that the new scrolls were a scam; that they would lose everything if they put their faith in this new system. For once in his wretched life, the evil king pretended to care about the people he lorded over because he was afraid of losing his power.
He painted Lighto in the worst light possible. Lighto was branded a criminal and a thief, and there was a bounty placed on his capture and surrender to the king.
Many citizens believed these words. They were brainwashed by a lifetime of subjugation and torment by the king. Most citizens were so unhealthily dependent on The Crown that it was all they knew. They viewed Shadow as their Big Brother, and they loved their Big Brother, even if he was bad to them.
Still, the elusive Lighto remained at large.
No one could find Lighto. He was gone. Vanished! It was later realized that Lighto was a fake name. Most people felt foolish for not realizing that fact sooner. Still, Lighto's legacy lived on. His magic scrolls continued to annoy the king to no end. Although they currently posed little threat to his power, Shadow could feel his grip on the kingdom loosening.
Shadow issued an edict throughout the kingdom: The new currency, known only as L-Scrolls, were officially banned from use.
Anyone found using them would be thrown in the dungeon.
This caused outrage throughout the kingdom.
They had finally tasted freedom and many wouldn't give that up so easily.
Shadow tried to swing his ban hammer with all his might, but it was hard to tell who was using L-Scrolls and who wasn't.
When one scroll changed ownership to another person, the scroll had to be signed by the owner.
However, the owner didn't have to sign his own name. They would use a secret code that only they knew. For example, Lighto simply signed his scrolls with the phrase,
"You can't beat L."
The Shadow King and his Trusted Advisers soon realized that they couldn't stop the kingdom from using L-scrolls. Instead, they spread their misinformation, half-truths, and outright lies to convince the population that L-scrolls were a worthless currency backed by nothing.
It was obvious to many, including the king himself, that the value of L-scrolls was far greater than anything the kingdom could produce, but this fact mattered little. The king was a master manipulator and was easily able to maintain his position of power using tactics of subversion.
Shadow was the expert of saying one thing and doing another.
He claimed that L-Scrolls were worthless so the price would tank.
This, in turn, allowed him to him to buy L-Scrolls secretly with the intent of hyping up the price later.
He made sure that citizens of The Crown who were on the fence about using L-Scrolls were pushed away from that notion.
If he couldn't destroy the market, he would control it.
It was only a matter of time before the underground L-Scroll society realized what was happening. Now that they knew how to make the scrolls and how to avoid getting caught, different scrolls with different rules started getting created. Shadow would not be able to control all of them. Eventually, the corruption of the Kingdom of Crowns would be its own downfall, and the townsfolk would finally be free to govern themselves.
👑👑👑 The End 👑👑👑
Return from Explain It Like I'm Five Reloaded: The Tale of L-Scrolls to edicted's Web3 Blog
