They Ran a “Fair” Lottery to Exterminate Worlds—Humans Rigged the Draw | HFY Stories

When humanity joins the galactic Celestial Synod, they discover a chilling truth: every few decades, an ancient machine called the Karmic Weave selects a star system for total annihilation. The galaxy calls it *balance*—a necessary sacrifice to prevent chaos. Most species have learned to accept it with reverence.

Humans remember a different lesson from their own blood-soaked history.

When the human colony of Emberfall appears on the lottery's list, Admiral Ruan Suresh faces an impossible choice. He can watch his people burn under the weight of a "fair" system, appeal through channels that have failed for centuries, or do something the galaxy has never seen: *cheat*.

What follows is a desperate infiltration of the Weave's core, a virus called Ghostseed, and a gamble that will either expose the lottery as a rigged game—or doom humanity to the consequences of cosmic treason.

Sometimes the most human thing you can do is look at an ancient, impartial machine of death... and decide it's neither ancient nor impartial enough to deserve your obedience.

They called it balance. Humanity called their bluff.

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0:00 Synod's "balanced" lottery system culls worlds
1:33 Humanity's rapid expansion and historical memory
2:31 Admiral Ruan witnesses lottery ceremonies
5:07 Mirela discovers statistical irregularities in Weave
7:37 Mirela and Selene find founding world immunity
8:58 Hana reveals Emberfall on risk index
14:21 Six humans activate Ironveil Protocol
22:54 Three-strand infiltration plan takes shape
24:15 Life continues on oblivious Emberfall
25:53 Team infiltrates Rampart Station successfully
28:56 Final preparations before lottery day
29:39 Lottery ceremony officially begins
30:51 Team reaches Karmic Weave Core
32:03 Weave selects Emberfall; Ghostseed intercepts
33:14 Sterilization wave redirected to empty space
35:27 Security lockdown forces dramatic escape
40:01 Aftermath spreads; Ghostseed continues work
42:00 Patterns emerge; Cabal grows nervous
44:11 Emergency Synod session confronts humans
45:59 Ruan admits tampering; reveals data
49:41 Evidence exposes Cabal's manual overrides
54:01 Weave failsafe triggers second Emberfall attack
57:59 Second wave intercepted using Quiet Veil
1:00:10 Galaxy witnesses Emberfall still alive
1:01:41 Synod votes to dismantle Weave
1:03:13 Orbis Union faces sanctions and division
1:04:03 Kiri reflects on human intervention's legacy

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