Sunday, November 9, 2014

CH2: Homecoming, Part 9

The Observatory Refugees

Following the destruction of the Elysium Mons observatory in 5,021 AD, Ermon Vigili, Mara, Dee Vigili, and other junior staff fled into the northern wastes to evade capture. They found shelter in a network of Architect ruins on the border of Elysium and the neighboring city-state of Lucky Strike. At the time, Lucky Strike and Elysium were at odds, with Lucky Strike supported by the Amazonis Bloc. The revolutionaries supported themselves by preying on Elysium convoys and mining operations in the area, then escaping retribution by falling back across the border, selling or trading their loot at remote exurban facilities. Since they refrained from attacking Lucky Strike facilities, the authorities turned a blind eye to their activities.


The goals of the revolutionaries were laid out in the text file “Revolutionary Manifesto”, by Commander Ermon Vigili, released 04/10/5022 into underground data networks Mars-wide. In the “Manifesto”, Vigili explains that their ultimate aim is the unification of Mars under a single government, followed by a search for other human survivors in the solar system, all in support of the ultimate reconquest of Earth. Vigili explicitly disavows any fixed political or economic program beyond this. This disavowal would later be known as the “Paramount Aim” doctrine, holding that the Revolution can turn down no source of potential support, nor reject any tactic or ally that can aid in achieving the Paramount Aim. This would be of great importance later, since, unlike the early Zealot movements that explicitly called for the destruction of existing elites, the Republican revolutionaries had no compunction against recruiting from their nominal enemies. The “Manifesto” also included the first written record of the Revolutionary Oath, and spread widely throughout the underground networks of Mars, usually accompanying extracts from the observatory imagery.

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