While the United Technocracies' caste system is well-established, the upper ranks of the Pendulum class are fluid and de facto leadership over the entire United Technocracies is transferred among various high-ranking officials. However, within Technocracy propaganda and even among the Pendulums, there is one figure that remains supreme: the First Citizen.
History[]
The origin of the First Citizen is unknown; even Technocracy propaganda is vague on the origins of what is perhaps the most important figure within that nation's political cult. All that is established is that the First Citizen was the founder and first member of the Technocratic Union, the predecessor to the Party which runs the entirety of the United Technocracies' political apparatus. He is also said to have led the young United Technocracies to victory against the invading Conseil, making him the Technocracies' first head of state. Apart from what Technocracy propaganda provides, nothing is known; rumors that the First Citizen was a woman, an alien or a fabrication by the Ministry of Truth are common throughout the galaxy, although even acknowledging the existence of such rumors is punishable by death within the United Technocracies itself.
A political cult has formed around the First Citizen, whose visage adorns every room and streetcorner within the United Technocracies' vast interstellar empire. While he is not considered to be divine, unlike the Conseil Systems' General Secretaries, near-divine powers are attributed to the First Citizen. Omniscience is the First Citizen's greatest and most feared attribute, leading to the saying "The First Citizen Sees All." This statement has been adopted by the Ministry of Love and Truth in their propaganda, referring to the extensive surveillance they carry out. Unofficial cults, which do revere the First Citizen as divine, are allowed but closely watched, in case they turn against the United Technocracies for not executing the First Citizen's will.
To further confuse matters, some powerful men have claimed to be the First Citizen himself, or have taken up his mantle. While the historical First Citizen would be nearly three centuries old by the 2700s, those claiming to be the First Citizen usually explain that they are his mind, uploaded to a complex tabulator system which was recently reactivated, and exclusively communicate electronically. While this ruse rarely works on the very top of the Pendulum caste, the pervasiveness of the Technocracies' propaganda machine allows individuals with enough political capital within the Ministry of Truth to fool even members of the Technocracies' intelligence services.