“Stereotypes almost always have a foot in fact. No matter how false or cruel, for a stereotype to occur someone had to see a member of that race do something that made them think of that stereotype. Take the Mishmahigan Christians of Inesea. They are stereotyped as fat cat factory managers and the Evil Capitalist Bankers. And yes, many Mishmahigan Christians owned the banks and factories. But the MCs also staffed and worked at those factories while their Catholic and Orthodox brethren took government handouts. There's always a reason, no matter how true” –Julis Kreig, The History of the Modern Day Mishmite Union.
New Nahuatl, Republic of Inesean Commonwealths
January 15th, 1906
Food Riots. A term many Ineseans had consigned to barbaric Promethian Tribes. They never once considered the Breadbasket of Zhao could ever not have food. Yet, here in the year 1906, there was simply no food for the populace to consume. Yet Government records had predicted a bumper crop and all the State Radiocasts and Newspapers proclaimed bountiful harvests in Cuzco and Allasad. Sailors and Lochsmen(the operators of Inesea’s intricate canal and irrigation system), told tales of barges and tankers filled to the brim with bushels of apples, wheat, and corn. Cuzco Farms Incorporated had posted a sales and production growth of 138% in the past year. All the papers said so. So where were the crops? Why was an apple 500% more expensive than in ’02?
Because of several contributing factors, that’s why. One was the fact that the War of Tschowan Aggression had accumulated a large governmental debt. And then the no holds back restoration and emergency supply efforts to the Sri Islands, which were not paid back and not expected to be paid back. And then there was the sheer devastation wrought by Typhoon Novaris. 25,000 dead, millions in damages, the Promethian RR effectively closed. The resounding economic effects lead to the start of an economic regression. And on top of all that was a crushing debt incurred by solely funding the Eastern Canal. To settle off these debts, the Republic of Inesean Commonwealths drew heavily on the largest corporations through a special Large Company Wealth Distribution Tax. This in turn caused the companies, specifically Cuzco Farms Inc and Allasad Agriculture, to start to bump up production of export and cash crops in favor of sustenance crops. The drop in sustenance crop production coupled with the increase in exporting food to more lucrative markets lead to a continuing drop in total food crops available in the Commonwealths. This was, for several years, alleviated by the National Agriculture Reserve, but in 1906, food simply ran out. People were beginning to starve. To starve in Inesea, the home of corn flakes and Oreos! And so the people took to the streets.
Proclamation Square, New Nahuatl, Republic of Inesean Commonwealths
January 16th, 1906
Proclamation Square was an ancient public area in the middle of New Nahuatl. Normally droves of consumers and merchants filled the square, harking and and buying various foodstuffs and trinkets. But those food stands were gone, along with the merchants who left when they ran out of wares. But the consumers were still here. And they were hungry. And mad.
Thai Mung Nok was a middle class Inesean baker. He had two sons and a daughter, along with a happy wife. He had, however, come on hard times as the farmers no longer had wheat for him to bake. He needed this wheat.
Ming Kao was a lower class seamstress. She had a single daughter and no husband. Times were normally hard for her and her daughter, but the sharp increase and food was starving her. She and her daughter had to alternate eating days.
Xing Nomura-san was an upper class Steel Baron. He owned the largest steel mill in New Nahuatl and in the Western Lakes region. Even he could not afford food for his large family. He needed food.
These people represented every level of the social stratum of the city. And, from poor to rich, they were starving. And, as history states over and over, angry hungry people tend to congregate in large groups around places they thought had food. In New Nahuatl, they congregated in a mob of 6,000 outside the Commonwealth Congress located off the square.
Captain Hue of the NNC Garda ducked behind a Police barricade as a rock soared through the air where his head had been. The rioters had started congregating in Proclamation Square around mid-morning. Around past-noon they had reached their current number and started truly rioting. Most of their hate was focused against the Commonwealth Congress and other governmental buildings and offices. NNC Riot Police cordoned off the Square, but were simply outnumbered. The Garda, Inesea’s Commonwealth-Level Police Force, was called in to support the faltering Police forces. And so here was Hue, commanding the Garda Company in front of the Commonwealth Congress. And there was no end seen to this mob.
Captain Hue called out, “Superior Officer Zhu! Take a Mounted Troop and clear the area in front of our Company! These rioters need to disperse!” Hue grabbed a speaking tube and called to the teeming mob. “This is your last chance to disperse! Vacate the Square through the NNCP Checkpoints or suffer the full consequences!” As before when asked to disperse, the rioters ignored him and went on clashing against the Police and Garda Riot Troops. Hue signaled to SO Zhu that he was to go ahead with the Mounted Crowd Dispersion.
A Mounted Troop was the last resort before bringing out machine guns in Crowd Dispersal. One hundred mounted men with batons. The Riot Police holding back the rioters in front of the Congress made a final push on the rioters. Then they closed ranks and made a pass for the Mounted. The Troop rode through and into the crowd. Horses ran down people, hooves cracking bones as the Troop plowed through the people. Garda reached over and cracked heads with batons. In the wake of the Troop, Riot Police moved in and beat down the shocked civilians. Though they were outnumbered, these were civilians. Bakers and seamstresses, not trained and unequipped. They broke against the Mounted. Other Captains at other points in the Square saw the effect of the horses, and sent in their own Mounted Troops, if they were present. Pretty soon it was apparent that the riot was broken. People ran in every direction, fleeing into homes and offices, only to be hunted down and arrested by the Police. Thousands of arrests were made, several dozen deaths occurred. Among them were 13 children, the Bloody Thirteen. News of the riot and its brutal put down spread through Inesea, despite official disclaimers and reports of only minor action. Days later, similar riots took place in Camjarca, Cuzco, New Nahuatl, Tlaxcatl, and Allasad. The Police and Garda put them down. More riots sprung up again, rioting for food and in protest of the brutality of the regime. Like Khamul they said. Police were overwhelmed in some cases. The Army was called in in those cases. Social order in Inesea began to breakdown. The first secession was in Tlaxacatl. The Governor declared himself “The Glorious Father Leader of the Great White North” and used the Garda and Militia units loyal to him to expel the army. In less than a month, the riots had become an open Civil War.
