The entity that tells the best story gets the most power.

Power is largely based on the beliefs of others about who has power.

People then make decisions on how to act based on who they believe has power, which gives the people they believe have power actual power.

Viral, interesting, distinctive stories spread further and transmit more power.

In Nonzero by Robert Wright, he talks about the game theory of over-the-top punishments in a world of chiefdoms.

When a given chief vanquishes a rival, if they do it in a memorable and over-the-top way, the story is more likely to travel.

"Did you hear about the chief who [did some terrible, over-the-top thing to his enemies]? Can you believe it? If it's true, I'd never want to cross him…"

The story is naturally viral. People feel compelled to share it because it's interesting and shocking.

It's not even necessarily that chiefs did this on purpose; it's just that the ones who did had their stories spread wider, and therefore were more powerful, and that phenomena became more common.

The ones who didn't do anything spectacularly over the top faded into obscurity.

Pirate ships worked the same way.

These examples are horrifying and immoral, but the phenomena is amoral. A similar virality occurs in other contexts as long as it's a good story.

"Did you hear about the founder trying to raise $7T? Can you believe it? Maybe he knows something I don't…"