I headcanon that White Star is not as genius as some may think he is. What he is is a persistent, resource-rich, and average whose greatest advantage is time.
He had 1000 years to achieve what he needed to and still got fked over by Cale in less than 3-4 years of that man coming into Nameless 1.
And no, this is not only because Cale had the power of future knowledge with him. White Star had much more context and strings to so many countries that started their roots in his own organisation.
The only reason he was able to achieve those was because of time, that is what I headcanon.
But when you strip that advantage away, White Star makes a surprising number of mistakes that make him lose everything he gained over the past 1000 years.
And that includes his habit of underestimating people and the inability to see that people can and will think differently than him too. He seems to have been surrounded by only like-minded people so much so that others baffle him, like Cale.
White Star keeps searching for the hidden chess moves and motives because that's how he thinks.
He assumes Cale is following him for centuries, thwarting his plans now after years of preparation because that is what HE did.
WS just doesn't realise that half of Cale's victories happen because Cale's plans go horribly wrong and he adapts outta his ass.
Whit Star's biggest weakness is that he stopped learning and understanding people.
After centuries of success, he became convinced his worldview was correct. He relied on the same assumptions over and over because they had worked for hundreds of years.
And that is why KRS!Cale's skill of adaptability became WS's worst enemy.
Since when everything changed, KRS did so with it. But after 1000 years, WS had forgotten how to.
