The tourist is greeted by a depressing, dark atmosphere of crumbling buildings, dead neon signs, and the impoverished, desperate hordes roaming through the streets. Beneath the hollowed shells of towering office buildings, very little light reaches the ground in the metropolitan area of Elevit, where the occupation government has started to rebuild, and has managed to restore the electricity supply for some of the districts, their unnatural lights aglow again.
Visitors will notice many signs in Arabic lettering, but very few of those written in the neon world of business. It is a testament to the stark inequality of Diyaristani society that neon signs in Arabic are outnumbered by those of a much smaller minority, as here and there, mostly unlit Chinese letters loom over the lifeless streets of Diyaristan's bombed-out cities. Most of the Arabic signs, rather, are in graffiti and contain anti-occupation messages. A few isolated, weathered statements of support for President Hamara, a former leader of the Republic, of Turco-Arab descent, adorn these alleys, but more recently, messages hostile to him have been put up -- and the graffiti has increasingly been replaced by slick political posters in the neglected southern province belt.
At 3:15 AM, Elevit time, an Occupation patrol in the southern city of Burale saw twelve armed gunmen emerge from the eerie, darkened shadows of a city left mostly intact through the past wars, but without a working electrical grid -- and for that reason, all the more frightfully dark. Before they had time to react, four Occupation soldiers fell limp before the last managed to escape and warn his commanding officer. Morning's dim light, filtering through dense, lightless skyscrapers, revealed messages in blue spray cans, saying "Long live the Republic!"
President Hamara, in a press conference, announced the results of his emergency summit with the Sevevillian President to DNSE reporters. "I had gone to meet with President Henry about Imperial policy in our country. The last thing I want is further bloodshed, or a return to the constant, endless wars that have ruined the nation. When I raised the matter, he informed me that the rest of the Empire would not accept a restored Republic, and would pressure him for the most terrible war we would ever face, and reverse the economic progress that peace after all these years has brought. I will ensure peace has a chance for our suffering countrymen, even if I have to go against those who'd provoke us into another war to secure the peace that the people at long last deserve."
President Alamardin, of the Diyaristani Rebel Government, released a response speech to the staff of Diyara Jumihiryat, a nationally syndicated newspaper with historically close connections to the radical wing of the Nationalist Party. "Gen. Hamara and I used to work well together, but lately, he has gone crazy. He has sacrificed democracy to tyranny in the name of peace, but there can be no peace between the two systems. I opposed Baghmetara's coup the last time around, and it saddens, angers, and frustrates me to see Izgar (Hamara) following down his same dark road. Taking numerous polls in my favor as a mandate for President of the legitimate Republic of Diyaristan, I declare we will have liberty from the iron heel of the Empire, or we will have death."
Crucially, the Social Liberals have announced an intention to join the Diyaristani Rebel Government, bringing crucial support and legitimacy from the left to what started as a Nationalist initiative. Representative Alsa Lao, the party's founder and leader, stated, "Mr. Alamardin and I have rarely agreed on anything, but we must turn out as a people united and stand against the greedy war profiteers and right-wing dictatorship of the Occupation. We will be endorsing and joining the DRG."
Notices from DTI International, a private military corporation involved in several previous wars, have stated that they will be helping the Rebel Government out of "regard to our own investments and interests in the future of Diyaristan, and with concern to combating Communist influence inside the leftist SLP".
"I'd guess there's 300 or so of us against 200,000 Occupation troops. About half of them are traitors who don't deserve to be called Diyaristani," said Alamardin to Lao, both former Representatives in the Ijma, now rebels and outlaws in their own country. "I still can't believe Hamara would give up on democracy like that..."
The SLP leader looked over the maps on the table as the hot desert breezes blew around the tent. "I suggest we appeal to everyone in the international community who can help us."
Reports of a strange new movement, growing among the Arab minority, is a mystical Sufi sect, some say a cult, with members claiming to receive visions from Allah. So far, it hasn't done anything to antagonize the Sevevillian authorities.
