The revolution was not televised, but rather, digitized. The people of Lrae-Epsos did not stir, or even blink as their electronics were suddenly taken over by an unknown and clearly malevolent force. The craggy old face of a man well past his 60s did little to upset and instill fear into the young and connected hive of Ladaerans. "The revolution is here" he said stoically, looking out from his screen with no clear expression that could be registered by the electronic ants. They were electronic ants, of course, as they blandly stared back into the old man's face. They were captured by the lights and colors of their computer and television screens, by the music and sounds from their radios and cell phones, and yet all the while they hardly even knew what this man was saying. It was like they were entrenched in their digital world but blind and deaf to it at the same time.
"The revolution is finally here" he said again, "We have arrived to liberate. We have arrived from our stasis to free the minds of the innocence masses of Lrae-Epsos. We are here to replace the tyranny of an absolute ruler with the option of election and the loving-kindness of an elected savior. A savior who does not claim to be god, but a brother. We are your brothers. We are the Western Brotherhood and this...This my friends, is the revolution."
And as the screen faded to black, the hive looked up from it's addictive substance to look at the sky. And for those in the city of Kessic, nestled snugly between the Allelisine Hills of the western fields, their sky happened to be grey and red. Smoke filled their sky, clogging the lungs of the hive and sending them into a rabid frenzy as they ran from the licking flames of "revolution". Dark, crimson, evil flames of revolution exploding from the bottles thrown by their western brothers. The city was theirs.
"The revolution is finally here" he said again, "We have arrived to liberate. We have arrived from our stasis to free the minds of the innocence masses of Lrae-Epsos. We are here to replace the tyranny of an absolute ruler with the option of election and the loving-kindness of an elected savior. A savior who does not claim to be god, but a brother. We are your brothers. We are the Western Brotherhood and this...This my friends, is the revolution."
And as the screen faded to black, the hive looked up from it's addictive substance to look at the sky. And for those in the city of Kessic, nestled snugly between the Allelisine Hills of the western fields, their sky happened to be grey and red. Smoke filled their sky, clogging the lungs of the hive and sending them into a rabid frenzy as they ran from the licking flames of "revolution". Dark, crimson, evil flames of revolution exploding from the bottles thrown by their western brothers. The city was theirs.
***
"What the bleeding fuck is wrong with this country?" It was a rather common sentiment among the councilmen as they gathered around the large wooden tables. What the bleeding fuck was wrong with the country? No one knew exactly what was wrong with it bu for now it seemed to be under siege by this "Western Brotherhood" group. It was rather worrying, the state of internal affairs in Lrae-Epsos and all.
The Eastern High Council was a recent addition to the political scene of Lrae-Epsos. The current king, Oedipis Ilah Ehyeh, had instituted it when he figured that one man couldn't watch, dictate and guide a country successfully alone. Despite it's good intentions, however, the EHC was rather...sketchy. Boasting a stone-strong process of election, it always ended up being "who has the most money? Let's invite him to the party." with these type of people and it was frustrating to the few politically active citizens of the kingdom. And even though they were five crusty old men in business suits and the occasional robe, they felt they truly were connected to the pop-culture crazy youth of the day. It was... embarrassing.
"My King" began one such man, one Alister Stane, his skin floppy and wrinkled, pasty from lack of sunlight and his eyes small and beady, magnified behind his giant circular glasses. "I feel we should take action quickly against the Brotherhood. They've made it rather known that their base and main force is somewhere near Kessic. We should mobilize a force at once and wade them out."
Oedipus looked at him, rubbing his chin and letting his mind wander into a field of imagination and fiction. He was a young sapling among ancient oaks, and yet for such a young man ruling a country had obviously aged him. He looked stressed and strained, older and more masculine than someone his age should look. His fingers were calloused and rubbed his neatly trimmed golden blonde beard slowly, letting the motion massage his mind and send it on a journey across time and space. "Why not just bomb it all? By now they must've either captured or killed the Kessites."
"No, no! They've made it abundantly clear that they wouldn't dear kill the inhabitants off; it'd go against their image." The man was on the verge of shouting, but then again Mr.Orrag was always turned up to ten for some reason unknown to his fellow councilmen. "I suggest working this out diplomatically. Setup contact with the Brotherhood and then try to get them to settle down peacefully. Perhaps register them as a political party?"
"If they wanted to be registered as an official party they would've done so. These people are terrorists, Mr.Orrag and terrorists respond to one thing: Force." King Ehyeh smiled and stood up from his chair, pulling over his slim suit jacket and buttoning it neatly, combing back his hair with his hand in one quick motion. "And now, if you excuse me gentlemen I have a date. Can't keep the Misses waiting, after all. Call Kadenn, have him set up the operation. We'll hit these people hard and fast, end this before it even begins. Meeting dismissed."
They gawked at him and grumbled as he smiled, nodded and quickly disappeared into the city streets. What was the point of a council if he wasn't going to use it, they wondered? He was brash and hardly even listened to them. Either way, he was their king; they had to obey. They took up the phone and connected to the hive. "Hello?" Force with force, fire with fire. It would be quick and painless. Hopefully.
The Eastern High Council was a recent addition to the political scene of Lrae-Epsos. The current king, Oedipis Ilah Ehyeh, had instituted it when he figured that one man couldn't watch, dictate and guide a country successfully alone. Despite it's good intentions, however, the EHC was rather...sketchy. Boasting a stone-strong process of election, it always ended up being "who has the most money? Let's invite him to the party." with these type of people and it was frustrating to the few politically active citizens of the kingdom. And even though they were five crusty old men in business suits and the occasional robe, they felt they truly were connected to the pop-culture crazy youth of the day. It was... embarrassing.
"My King" began one such man, one Alister Stane, his skin floppy and wrinkled, pasty from lack of sunlight and his eyes small and beady, magnified behind his giant circular glasses. "I feel we should take action quickly against the Brotherhood. They've made it rather known that their base and main force is somewhere near Kessic. We should mobilize a force at once and wade them out."
Oedipus looked at him, rubbing his chin and letting his mind wander into a field of imagination and fiction. He was a young sapling among ancient oaks, and yet for such a young man ruling a country had obviously aged him. He looked stressed and strained, older and more masculine than someone his age should look. His fingers were calloused and rubbed his neatly trimmed golden blonde beard slowly, letting the motion massage his mind and send it on a journey across time and space. "Why not just bomb it all? By now they must've either captured or killed the Kessites."
"No, no! They've made it abundantly clear that they wouldn't dear kill the inhabitants off; it'd go against their image." The man was on the verge of shouting, but then again Mr.Orrag was always turned up to ten for some reason unknown to his fellow councilmen. "I suggest working this out diplomatically. Setup contact with the Brotherhood and then try to get them to settle down peacefully. Perhaps register them as a political party?"
"If they wanted to be registered as an official party they would've done so. These people are terrorists, Mr.Orrag and terrorists respond to one thing: Force." King Ehyeh smiled and stood up from his chair, pulling over his slim suit jacket and buttoning it neatly, combing back his hair with his hand in one quick motion. "And now, if you excuse me gentlemen I have a date. Can't keep the Misses waiting, after all. Call Kadenn, have him set up the operation. We'll hit these people hard and fast, end this before it even begins. Meeting dismissed."
They gawked at him and grumbled as he smiled, nodded and quickly disappeared into the city streets. What was the point of a council if he wasn't going to use it, they wondered? He was brash and hardly even listened to them. Either way, he was their king; they had to obey. They took up the phone and connected to the hive. "Hello?" Force with force, fire with fire. It would be quick and painless. Hopefully.
***
Kadenn wasn't particularly used to being called "sir" on such a regular basis. Somehow in the span of weeks he had gone from a common detective to the highest military authority in the nation, and despite the fact that it had all happened so quickly and nearly a year ago to date, he felt so ill-suited for the position. He was a common man with a wife, a kid, a dog and a house. He wasn't suited for this line of luxurious and upper class work. He was a knight now, a general as well and with a word he could ensure that half of Lrae-Epsos was charred in smoke while the other half drowned in it's own blood. It was too much power for one man. He felt like a king and it sickened him.
He kept his problems to himself though as he walked onto the makeshift raised platform. It was unnaturally cold on the Epsonian fields today and as he looked at Kessic in the distance he couldn't help but observe the fact that he could see his breath in the air. That was a rare thing, especially since he spent most of his time in the south nowadays. He had to be about 4 miles away from Kessic now as he peered at it, his assistant to his side and the field commander of this operation right behind him. He turned to the rather masculine looking blonde-woman and smiled, shaking her hand. "Fill me in. What's the word?"
Her grip was unnaturally firm as she shook his head back and yet her voice was soft and feminine, hardly a match for her well-built physique. "The word, sir, is bombing. We've been ordered to bombard the surrounding area, scare the Brotherhood into surrender. Everything in a three mile radius is going up in flames."
"That seems, uh...excessive, don't you think?" It was excessive, but that was exactly how the Lrae-Epsonian government worked, he had found. Over-the-top, unnecessary and excessive nearly to the point of being ridiculous. "Besides there's like...two, maybe three small towns surrounding the city. If you turn it into a no-man's-land you risk fucking those up. How are you going to handle it Miss...?"
"Irin. Colonel Irin. And I've already handled it by evacing those few townsfolk out of the area. We're set to commence the bombardment in the next...thirty minutes, or so. Once we're done here, you and your men take over with the extraction of any civilians and liquidation of any hostiles. King wants to capture at least a few of these Brotherhood nuts, so...yeah."
He gave her a puzzled look. She was doing an awful lot of commanding, especially for a colonel. He was the Elder General here. She was just a colonel. If he was his brother he might've slapped her and called her out on it, but no, he held himself and only nodded. "Well thank you for your effort, Colonel Irin. Just do what you need to do. I'd rather have a bloodless victory, so maybe they'll give up once the bombs start dropping. ETA of the artillery?"
"Right now" she turned and pointed as large self-propelled 155mm artillery vehicles rolled into the makeshift camp. Their were around fourteen of them and they roared as they rolled through the grass and dirt of the field. They moved past the camp and lined up neatly in front of it, the line so close to the raised platform that Kadenn felt a little intimidated. "They're mostly just for show. The real firepower is coming through in the form of a wing(12) of B-52s coming through and just flattening the place. And like I said, thirty minutes."
She laughed triumphantly, saluted and walked off the platform. Kadenn sat there for awhile, his hands folded behind his back. It was all rather excessive. He didn't like it. He kept quiet though as he began to hum to himself. He did enjoy fireworks, however.
He kept his problems to himself though as he walked onto the makeshift raised platform. It was unnaturally cold on the Epsonian fields today and as he looked at Kessic in the distance he couldn't help but observe the fact that he could see his breath in the air. That was a rare thing, especially since he spent most of his time in the south nowadays. He had to be about 4 miles away from Kessic now as he peered at it, his assistant to his side and the field commander of this operation right behind him. He turned to the rather masculine looking blonde-woman and smiled, shaking her hand. "Fill me in. What's the word?"
Her grip was unnaturally firm as she shook his head back and yet her voice was soft and feminine, hardly a match for her well-built physique. "The word, sir, is bombing. We've been ordered to bombard the surrounding area, scare the Brotherhood into surrender. Everything in a three mile radius is going up in flames."
"That seems, uh...excessive, don't you think?" It was excessive, but that was exactly how the Lrae-Epsonian government worked, he had found. Over-the-top, unnecessary and excessive nearly to the point of being ridiculous. "Besides there's like...two, maybe three small towns surrounding the city. If you turn it into a no-man's-land you risk fucking those up. How are you going to handle it Miss...?"
"Irin. Colonel Irin. And I've already handled it by evacing those few townsfolk out of the area. We're set to commence the bombardment in the next...thirty minutes, or so. Once we're done here, you and your men take over with the extraction of any civilians and liquidation of any hostiles. King wants to capture at least a few of these Brotherhood nuts, so...yeah."
He gave her a puzzled look. She was doing an awful lot of commanding, especially for a colonel. He was the Elder General here. She was just a colonel. If he was his brother he might've slapped her and called her out on it, but no, he held himself and only nodded. "Well thank you for your effort, Colonel Irin. Just do what you need to do. I'd rather have a bloodless victory, so maybe they'll give up once the bombs start dropping. ETA of the artillery?"
"Right now" she turned and pointed as large self-propelled 155mm artillery vehicles rolled into the makeshift camp. Their were around fourteen of them and they roared as they rolled through the grass and dirt of the field. They moved past the camp and lined up neatly in front of it, the line so close to the raised platform that Kadenn felt a little intimidated. "They're mostly just for show. The real firepower is coming through in the form of a wing(12) of B-52s coming through and just flattening the place. And like I said, thirty minutes."
She laughed triumphantly, saluted and walked off the platform. Kadenn sat there for awhile, his hands folded behind his back. It was all rather excessive. He didn't like it. He kept quiet though as he began to hum to himself. He did enjoy fireworks, however.