One of the rules that the government on Durus set forth in regards to the
Ladytown outpost was that Aljabarans would be allowed to visit whenever they
wanted. As it stood, this had never actually occurred. The condition was
there to make it so that they could enter the town limits in case they ever
needed anything from the townsfolk, not to encourage camaraderie and
community. For any Aljabaran to leave the city, for any reason, they needed
explicit permission from someone pretty high up in the ranks, and no one had
ever been granted this permission in order to travel to Ladytown. So while
life was difficult in the outpost, and the Republicans had made numerous to
destroy them, they were generally free from prying eyes. This all changed in
the year 2140. A psychic spy sought audience with a government official, and
claimed to him that he had heard the sound of crying babies through a
vision. Now, he was only a mage remnant, and not a very good one at that, so
no one believed him without question, but it was enough to spark an
investigation. A team was sent to visit Ladytown, to see if it was true.
This visit turned into a raid, and although they saw no actual babies, they
did find signs of young life; cribs and the like. It was a miracle that they
didn’t find the stolen books, or combat training paraphernalia. It would
seem the psychic was telling the truth. Having been built on top of the old
town of Hidden Depths, there were a lot of secret passageways the
Ladytowners could use to keep their secrets protected, but that wasn’t going
to be good enough forever. The government was going to send more goons, and
they knew that it was only going to get worse. They were right.
A second team came through with a life signs detecting mage remnant, who
found the babies for them. Without orders from on high, this team attempted
to abduct the children, and the women were forced to show their skills by
fighting back. No one was seriously hurt, but the proverbial shots were
fired, and unless a remnant was born with the ability to reverse entropy,
the bullets were not going back into that gun. This changed everything.
Whereas before, they were training to defend themselves, now they were
training to actively work against their oppressors, and drive real change
for women on Durus. When Ladytown was founded, people just wanted to live
how they pleased. And when the men were wiped out, they just wanted to
prepare for the worst. But the government was forcing their hand, and
building a real rebellion was the only response at this point. The town
itself still needed to be preserved, however, so they could no longer
maintain a base of operations there. Many would stay behind, in case another
team came by to threaten the children, but the rest would move away. They
set up shop so far from Hidden Depths that the government could not make any
reasonable connection between the two groups. They could no longer live in
houses, for they were too easy to spot, and impossible to move when one area
became too dangerous. They lived in the wild, and scrounged for food
wherever they could find it. When one campsite lost its value, or the
government was too close to catching them, they packed up, and headed to a
new location. Most of the planet was now covered by a sea of plant life that
had always been referred to as the thicket. So this was what the insurgents
decided to name themselves. This was the start of The Thicket Revolutionary
Faction.
No comments :
Post a Comment