New Orleans
From ThreadsWiki
See Also:
Pre invasion NOLA - The original City and Thread Information, before the Invasion by Apophis
Provisional Government of New Orleans - the Government in Exile
Contents |
Details of the Invasion
Politics within the Sovereign State Government
New Orleans has no real laws other than “humans are not citizens, unless they are.” The city is full of rooms to rent, and indeed it proves hard to contact anyone about setting up a residency because nobody knows who owns buildings or who to pay.
Most visitors end up dealing with a vampire with a foreign-sounding accent who has been established as the diplomatic liaison. He goes by the name Alexandru, and while he gives the appearance of a Strigoi, he says he is from Romania. In casual conversation he describes a state ([Ceausescu Romania]) where Nicolae Ceausescu reigns over a state where all birth and life is rigidly controlled, and most children sent to “orphanages” to be bled to death for the vampires who run the bureaucracy. “We will have that level of control here but…there must be changes. Apophis’ is…primitive.” He controls the Secret Police and the fledgling Security Police, but he lacks staff and resources.
Being in diplomatic circles in NOLA takes a stiff upper lip. The entertainments run towards Grand Guignol, and they are not simulated. Taking a cue from Nero, a garden party is lit by human torches. On the other hand, it is no worse than being a diplomat in many medieval states where torture is a spectacle for entertainment.
It becomes clear that there is a political “tide” in New Orleans, which could be termed roughly “conservative” and “liberal.”
Liberal
"Liberals" want to create a modern state of sorts, albeit one more like Ceausescu Romania, where humans are third class citizens with no rights, and non-humans reign in tiers over them. But their state would have more order and the fundaments of an economy and organization.
It seems that Ishtar is one of the driving luminaries behind the “liberal” faction with some suggestion that Ba’al and Dagon support her.
Conservatives
Espouse a sort of Pharoaic absolutism. Humans should be food and slaves. There should be no reading, writing, stores, culture, etc. The Palace and nobles around it should be served and some craftsmen and soldiers should live well outside the Palace being given the best of spoils. With zombies to do much of the work, humans have only a small place in this scheme, as meat and slaves to do somewhat more complicated work. And the makings of zombies.
The leaders of the “conservative” faction are harder to place since they seem to be as much forces of nature as beings that manifest frequently. Pazuzu is said to be one. Another is called Ishnigarrab, though you also hear talk of “Pan” and eventually come to believe this is the same being or another coextant manifestation. You eventually see Pazuzu on one of his rare processions. At least as he manifests on parade, he stands about two stories high, a huge lion figure, with wings that extend upwards four stories when ruffled. His head is human and beautiful. He is proceeded by a throng of female dancers wearing brightly colored skirts with archaic gold jewelry, who carry scourges and drive everyone and everything from his path. A phalanx of bald eunuchs carry lances and horns to signal hisapproach. Pausing in the street a slave is dragged out and he reaches down, snapping the man’s body in half in a human mouth twenty inches wide. His wings wipe the blood from his mouth after his claws have dug the delicate parts out of him and he has devoured them. The body is left in the dust as he passes.
It is clear that the “conservative” faction is feared because it holds many of the artifacts and the strength of will that defend NOLA. And there is much argument that they make things better. The discussions at evening entertainments fall down to two questions.
Independents and Political Debates
There is also a lot of talk about Lammashtu and “where she stands.” It is unclear if Lammashtu is actually a being present in NOLA, or is instead an outsider whose support NOLA is seeking. Lammashtu is seen as important to the overall picture, that much is clear.
a) We are better off as things are now. We are not attacked, cursed, bound, and treated as diabolical beings by unthinking humans. Western Humans (and there is little reference to the east) are disposed to hate “devils and demons” with unthinking prejudice and hatred, and most do. A good place is a place where they have no sway or say, and little presence.
b) The situation is unsustainable. In the end unless the place is to be a desolate mountain where a few sad Gods commune with each other, there must be the lesser beings and if there are Vampires and Lycans, there must in the end be humans. Before the Tetragrammaton, before the rise of monotheism we lived in peace with them and they worshipped us. We should work to rebuild that society in an orderly fashion. When the “old powerful ones” withdraw into themselves, or lash out because they have nothing left to rule, we will be in the way. It is only a matter of time before we fall on ourselves again if we do not create a stable society.
The Lycans
While they may not be happy under Apophis, the Lycans are probably better off than they were. Under old NOLA law, killing was murder and just because you happened to be a large wolf while doing it didn’t make that any better. Not all Lycans were pack hunters but some were, and most have some predatory instincts.
The area to the south of the river is its own nearly autonomous region, under their control. It is one of the few areas where life largely goes on for normal humans. They’ve never been rounded up. The area was dirt poor to begin with and is worse off now, but aside from the possibility of being stalked by werewolves things are fairly normal. The various Lycan leaders have adopted blocks and zones and protect certain family members or people. Everyone else is at less risk than they would be from slavers north of the river, so nobody runs away.
The Lycans periodically sell skilled slaves to individuals on the North side. For example if Ishtar wanted a cobbler she might very well ask the Lycans, since the northern city is a gutted ruin.
Until recently Apophis was fairly popular, because if he hadn’t made things great, he had given the Lycans their own quasi-autonomous state. The outbreak of the Texas War has divided the population. Some see it as an opportunity. Despite not enslaving the Lycans, Apophis hasn’t exactly enriched them. Gold and wealth are not pouring into NOLA, and the fragment of a city they are left with is doing good to produce basic survival goods. Texas could provide rich spoils and a way to get a leg up and fulfill a destiny as superiors and conquerors. Others see it as being sent to die in a foreign war that they have no part in and no real interest in. The jury is still out, but early casualties from Texas were high enough that there is some caution and consternation.
The Human Underground
Societe Dumaine
Held together by a powerful Houngan, the Societe Dumaine seems to have some pretty formidable supernatural powers. They have a territory of about eighteen blocks. They survive and ward off attack by acting as slavers. Their rules are simple. Whites and suspiciously light-skinned blacks are fair game to be captured, dragged to the slave markets and sold for meat. They seem to be one of the best organized fighting forces in the City, having probably about four thousand troops and a decent supply of rifles and pistols, as well as improvised weapons. They have a treaty with the Church of the Tribulation, but are at constant “war” with the Consolidated Fire Companies. Their long term dogma calls for a city “cleansed” of whites, who brought the curse of Apophis upon the city. They call the invader deities the “white gods.” They have no knowledge of the “French Doctor” Voudou, but have their own strange subcults which suggest they have developed connections outside of the Loa. Their rituals are dark and they conduct some sacrifices of their own.
Upsides: Numerous, moderately armed, well organized, already connected to the Lycans, good supernatural abilities
Downsides: Slavers, genocidalists, and black magicians.
The Church of the Tribulation
The Church is just trying to survive three and a half years. Their policy is that they will take in anyone, black, white, or otherwise. They live together in bands and it is an obligation to give hospitality to all who are members of the Church. The Church believes that the time from the severing to the fall of NOLA was the first period of the Tribulation (which was supposed to be three and a half years, but they’re hazy on that). During that time, Finn was the Antichrist. The fall heralded the second phase of the Tribulation and is a “joyous event” because the Whore of Bablylon (Ishtar/Inanna/Astarte) and the Serpent (Apophis) are reigning over New Orleans, the New Jerusalem. In three and a half years time (or according to pessimists 45) Jesus Christ will Return and cast Apophis into the bottomless pit in the Cathedral and reign for a thousand years, after which armageddon.
The Church holds that anyone who sells others for meat or consorts with the rulers of the city, human, vampire, or lycan, is a follower of the Antichrist and the Serpent.
The Church is pacifist. Members are taught that it is better to go to death in the slave market and go to heaven than to raise a hand against another and be drowned in the lake of fire with the followers of the Serpent when Jesus returns. Members are sent to scavenge at the piles and draw lots to see who will risk the slave hooks to scavenge food.
When they are desperate for food they cast lots “as was done for Jonah.” According to their laws when they have decided that they are on the point of starvation they must go “sundown to sunset praying” and after that the one chosen by lot may be taken to the market and sold for food.
The Church tries to stay out of the way of the other groups. It is dominated by Catholics, though Protestants are admitted without question, and the group proclaims that it is part of the “one true Catholic Church of the endtime.” The absence of any ecclesiastical authority and the endorsement of some Priests have made the group popular.
Upsides: Numerous, moderately well organized, and not slavers
Downsides: Pacifists with no military resources and few food resources
The Consolidated Fire Companies and the KKK
The other major force on the ground in NOLA is a loose alliance made up of the remnants of several Fire Companies (which were also NOLA National Guard Units) and organized by the KKK. The Klan is sort of the coveted “inner circle” of the group and may hold some esoteric power, possibly having some of the original Masonic or other leaders at its core. The group is very strictly regimented on military lines. Females are held in “stockades” to protect them from the outside. The group considers breeding the white race to be imperative, and there’s every suggestion that these are baby factories where the chosen among the group are granted sexual privileges. Since the women are fed, given the overall conditions it is hard to put a strong moral judgment on the situation since others who are on the street might well be captured and eaten.
The group is well organized and nomadic, using sentries and scouts to dissolve away from any incursion in force. It tends to dominate the white suburbs near the edge of the thread.
The Consolidated Companies were responsible for some of the early resistance actions against the invaders, though they stopped after the doctrine of retribution became firmly established. They now promote a “rebuilding time” and plan a new campaign in the future.
To join as a private, which gives few rights other than protection against slavery, one must swear that one “follows the law of Jesus Christ, rejects the Roman Pope, has no negro blood, nor truck with demons nor devils, nor any unnatural beast of any kind”
The Consolidated Companies teach secret words and symbols to everyone who joins. Anyone who is not eligible to be a member is “fodder” and is sold at the Slave market. It’s worth noting that they don’t particularly call for genocide of the negro race or all Catholics, just “putting them in their place.”
The Companies control at least a half a battery of cannon which are hidden or buried. They have fairly large stocks of rifles, gunpowder, and bombs. They are capable of defending themselves against a surprise attack though they prefer flight. They have about 2000 men under arms.
Upsides: Strong, well organized, and have the best military capabilities left in the Thread including some heavy weapons.
Downsides: Slavers, racists.
The Krewe
As far as anybody knows this is an outgrowth of the Secret Carnival Society. In the last year it has become militant and Catholic and its military arm is known as the “Krewe Patria.” The Krewe is organized much like the Consolidated Companies, and drew in most of the Catholic soldiers and Fire Companies. They consider anybody who isn’t a member of a “Krewe” to be an enemy. They have safe-houses each with its own patrons, symbols and signs, and maintain some small farms and growing areas, as well as some livestock. They are aggressive slavers, and in the past year have come to consider anyone who is not Catholic as “unchosen” and will sell them upon capture. At the heart of the Krewe’s attitude is a series of incidents and the doctrine of “Just War.” It’s unclear how much of the Priesthood actually supports the Krewe, but clearly they have ecclesiastical figures in their leadership.
The Krewe does not appear to have as strong a military arm as the Fire Companies, and clearly does not have a big supply of rifles or ammunition. There are hazing rituals to get in, and you need to be Catholic to try.
While it is not that hard for Catholics to lie about being Protestant and join the Fire Companies, it is very hard for Protestants to pass as Catholics, so the Krewe is probably the most exclusive of the groups. This is useful because it’s pretty big and if it were any more popular it wouldn’t have much prey.
Upsides: numerous
Downsides: slavers
Summary: It is useful to note that not all these groups got to be enemies overnight. But the stories of atrocities against blacks during the evacuation and preferences for whites fired the Societe, and the early defeats of the Fire Company turned them into cowardly extremists. In each case a deteriorating cycle of relations was accompanied by an imperative. The Slave Market is the only place to get food easily and if you want food you come up with excuses to capture slaves.
Most of the groups are willing to work with “like minded” outsiders. All require more food than they can get by imports smuggled through the Hive Embassy, and none want to risk the slave hooks getting it themselves, so they are unlikely to forswear slaving, though none are particularly proud of selling other humans to Monsters . In practice it’s clear that the Societe is at least blasé about “feeding white men to the white men’s Gods,” and some of the Fire Company men seem to honestly enjoy hunting down blacks and the occasional Catholic, and dragging them screaming to the market.
A Report of the Conditions in the City
I will give a short foreword to this report. I have been asked by General Sykes to share the details of our mission with the JET, but I will caution those who are interested that the details are quite gruesome. Editing this account, making it more palatable, will only serve to diminish this threat, and I'm not willing to do that. If you are likely to be disturbed by the things said here, and have no need for this information, please do not continue to read this.
In order to reach New Orleans we had to pass through many other shards. The details of these are immaterial.
Our guide was Orias, we believe he has reasonably high standing in New Orleans. Without his aid we would never have made it into the city. Be advised, this means that if any further missions are sent to New Orleans, we will need a guide of a similar caliber. Later in our stay it was made clear that our entrance into NOLA was not unnoticed, we would need to be even more careful in the future.
We had rooms in the French Quarter.
The city itself was largely intact. Some blocks were blasted, and it is clear no real rebuilding has taken place. There were signs of disrepair and neglect. Blessed with light weeds grow wildly through every crack, and the streets in the day time seem carpeted with moss and grasses growing between the cobbles.
There was very little commerce. The level of activity was far below what we would have expected for New Orleans. Few local humans seemed to have positions of authority. There were occasional humans who are liveried servants, mostly very large blacks, though there are a few menacing types of every color and hue. Most human collaborators seemed to have jobs that were the very lowest of those available. The overseers were for the most part goblineseue half-men. The biggest exception were occasional tribes of voodoo-folk who went through the streets unmolested, and strange tribesmen painted all in pale chalk or clay that danced naked in the streets. We saw them bring a struggling boy of about seventeen into the middle of a street and strip him, then cut his organs out and use them as decorations in a orgiastic dance. We knew that we could not help him without bringing our mission into jeopardy.
We saw a splendidly arrayed man in a vast robe and headdress of feathers being carried through the streets on a litter, accompanied by dozens of cringing slaves. The best we could tell they were perhaps Aztecs or Incans, but none of us could be certain. He was naked and had spines of some sort driven through his cheeks, nose, ears forearms, chest, and even his cock. Some of the piercings were fresh and there were lines of blood on his body. He was surrounded by overseers who whip his slaves with a merciless frenzy.
Another group of humans were women, naked except for some flowers in their hair. We passed them in the street in a drunken mob about twenty of them laughing and wrestling with each other. They seemed fair skinned and looked caucasian...they could pass at an American High School. They spoke a tongue I did not recognize though it sounded Indo-European, and they were crusted with dried blood that didn't seem to be their own. (Perhaps these are Maenads? I don't know enough of languages to recognize if their speech could be a precursor to Greek.)
There were human corpses hanging for sale in the French Market. Human beings were consumed as meat here, unambigiously and without apology. In fact, Orias suggested that we make a show of a shopping trip. It was clear that we should expect to always be observed and judged. They were selling coffee as well, and the scent of human blood and coffee was overwhelming.
The City is a place of commerce, sport and culture to Demons, Monsters and people too exotic to be bothered by its inhumanities. Other than the consumption of human flesh, the goings on seemed similar to those that seem (based on what little history I've read) common in Medieval times.
Human slavery was ad hoc, and did not seem to follow any strict regulation. Humans were simply beneath consideration. They occupy most of the city. Bands of slaves, monsters, and wolves passed into the streets in hunting parties and dragged back meat. There were still enough humans to make hunting easy.
"Tame" humans seem to be ineligible for eating. They are marked with a brand on their shoulder. While not eligible for hunting, they could be killed for any other reason, including generally having pissed someone off. Most of the ones we saw were men, or older women. They seemed the dregs of society, those who had cozied up to the new hellish overlords to serve them in return for being spared. They were supposed to be members of a church that worships Apophis, but we didn't see much evidence of it having much influence and the overlords don't seem to care much about maintaining it. They were probably treated not much better or worse than the majority of African-American slaves during the time of slavery, most of whom were laborers and not house slaves. A few favored did have those roles, often evil looking foul smelling men in pretty coats, who walked with fear in their eyes.
Organized tribes managed to avoid some of the hunting parties, but they are clever and large. They did not hunt a street singly but went into a six or seven block zone and surrounded it, drawing a net slowly in. It was clear that the locals sometimes fought back, but they did not appear to have any great store of weapons left. Those that fight in an organized fashion are crushed and tortured on the spot, so that their screams can be heard for days as they are boiled to death or burned or slowly crucified. The lesson is simple "run, don't fight." Running is not penalized by anything but death, but fighting is punished with a fate that if not worse than death makes it substantially less appetizing.
There are two ways that humans get food. The first is "feeding points" Waggons or sledges full of food are drawn out into some of the public squares. Everyone is allowed to come and take their fill. In some manner or another a few are selected to be taken away and eaten, usually no more than one in ten or one in twenty. Most of these miserable points are filled every day with hollow eyed people. We managed to see one of the closer feeding points and were appalled at the number of children. We do not know if they are orphans, sole survivors of a dead family, or if, their parents may have forced them to come in their place to bring back a few days rations.
The food is terrible...rotten vegtables and fish mostly. Sometimes even parts of human carcasses. Those were always taken too. Sometimes the humans fought each other for the food but mostly they didn't because apparently the guards tend to pick the martial ones. In one place we saw guards walk around with nets and suddenly throw them over someone. If they struggled the other humans nearby rushed in kicking them or throwing cobbles at them to help the guards to subdue them. Sometimes the guards threw the "helpers" a heel of bread or some dried meat.
Good human meat, is sold to market. There are surrender points around the districts, and if there is a need for meat they pay for it in food. The food here is good. There are chalkboards where prices are written in arabic or roman numerals, and scales where food is weighed out. A party that brings in a hundred forty pound middle aged man can be paid three or four weeks worth of food, and can barter some of their wage for beer or jerky. It is clear that there are well armed and organized slaving parties in the city, and they seem to be organized along racial lines. We saw blacks dragging in whites and vice versa. The slavers bear scars, some recent, and we suspect clashes between parties are not uncommon. Humans "sold in" are taken to special houses where they are fattened up for slaughter.
We learned that of those who voluntarily surrendered themselves, originally one in twenty was let go. The reason was to induce others to come voluntarily, sparing the work of catching them. But apparently, in order to make this plan less attractive, the policy became to slaughter anyone known to have escaped. Whether because it set a poor example for the other humans of the city or because it made work better for the slavers we.
There are special prices for women. When they are brought in they are locked in cages until something more or less human can come and inspect them. If they are "attractive" they are paid double or triple. Their meat is very expensive, and mostly they are used as courtesans. A fair number die, but as many more are used up and are destined for the "breeding houses" which are little more than warehouses with better feeding.
Some rudimentary analysis yields the following: NOLA had about 1.2 million citizens, and something around 300,000 of those escaped, leaving about 900,000. At a look no more than a hundred thousand are active collaborators. The other eight hundred thousand are starving to death eating rinds and bread around the periphery of the city. Probably they also eat each other and do some subsistience farming. Some likely live by lot, selecting occasional members of their group to sell for food. The overlords apparently have maintained the farms upriver, in order to feed their meat locker.
The waste is appalling. There is no real distribution system so probably everyone is sick, and many of the people we saw looked emaciated. By having the fattening pens the overlords make it easier to fatten their meals, but in the long run a city of 900,000 is probably shrinking by the year. .The overlords eat maybe 100,000 a year, and perhaps are content to have the city fall back to that smaller, easier to handle size. But the preservation of a few women, a great number of whom never make it through their initial "use" to become childbearers, is not going to make up for the rate of death. The overlords are killing the goose that laid the golden egg. But the goose is so big it may take two decades for the folly to show.
The City seems to have few defenses. We estimate hat there are no more than 25,000 various monsters in the city, with maybe five or six hundred of those being really major menaces. The rest are mostly half-men, garou, etc. There are another 10,000 or so odd humans of various other origins, at most.
The various lesser monstrosities drill as an army, though they don't seem especially good. They are mostly ferocious but may not hold up for long against a determined assault. The great strength of the city is the dead. They are said to lie in rows in houses, in churches, in great buildings...all unmoving...ready to issue forth when called. Maintained by the will of Apophis.
The Esoteric defenses of the City center on Jackson Square. The Cathedral of St. Louis has been turned into a charnel house. A pit was dug in the floor of the chancel to open it to the catacombs below, which are choked with the unholy dead. The living are occasionally cast in as sacrifices to Apophis, who threw the crucifix into the hole and set up a throne on the altar. There are periodic unholy ceremonies that combine royal receptions with religious services.
Each of the four buildings surrounding the Cathedral has been sealed, guarded and warded - the Cabildo is the Ministry, presided over by Demons. The Presbytere is where the human magi who caused the ruin of New Orleans have their ministries. The two Pontabla buildings host the Diplomatic Corps and financial exchange, and the "House of Pleasure" which functions as the chief dining hall and brothel of the elite.
In each building there is said to be a guarded room, with a single entrance written with deadly sigils and wards, all capable of felling a man. Inside that room is an artifact which is key to the isolation of the sphere of New Orleans. Each is said to have a Demonic or Demon-like Lieutenant who is in charge of it, but we learned only the name of only one, Ba'al King of the East. It is not clear if Baal is actually resident in the City or merely invoked as a patron though. It is unclear that the other guardians follow the precise Goetic lineup, but Orias remarks that "some of them have come on board."
The Ward of each guardian is invoked daily, weekly and monthy by its planet, metal, incense and color.
Once the wards are passed, each artifact lies on a deadly seal which is particular to the artifact.
Both the outer ward and the Artifact ward would need to be overcome, roughly simultaneously on at least three of the four locations, to actually collapse the ward and allow free gating into NOLA and presumably re-open the Penn State gate.
I visited the Prebytere to meet with Tom Anderson and barely left with my life. His patroness, Ishtar, spoke with some of you at the Manhattan deployment. Apparently they wanted a message sent out, that the age of man is over.
On the final day a strange visitor came to our suites. Everyone fell into place, pretending to play at dice and drink. The figure was in a red robe, and wears a beaked bird's mask of the sort worn by medieval physicians. It's bearing and conduct are such that you strongly suspect it has some official purpose. It wandered around the room, peering at things and not speaking. It was transparent to everyone that it was not human. We knew it would be foolish to attack it.
It scrutinized both myself and Georgiana. We both had a sensation of a vile unclean presence. It left without speaking to us. Orias sent us a message to leave and met us at the gate, smiling broadly and gave us the parting gift of the torso of a young girl, in front of the guard.
Those of us who went on the mission are all still reeling from the experience. I am sure that Dmitri, Georgiana, Rom and I will be willing to advise anyone wanting to do any further work in New Orleans. It should be made clear, however, that Georgiana and I were not invisible enough not to be noticed, and that great care should be taken in the planning of the next mission. Anyone who would lose their life there, and not make it out to communicate what they have found, will just be another body to add to their abattoirs.
Post Reunification Attack Press Release
For Immediate Release
Sovereign State Trade Consulate
Havana, Cuba
Several days ago the Sovereign State of New Orleans carried out a defensive strike on the Silicon-Valley Berkeley Technology Sphere in the interest of defending the commonwealth of all entities.
The attack was carried out in alliance with several other powers, including the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and forces sponsored by the profound religious figures which oversaw the development of human culture and faith.
The Sovereign States launched its attack only after the Technosphere had begun an offensive strike aimed at the destruction or eventual annihilation of numerous Threads.
Termed "Reunification," by the Technosphere and "Forced Unification" by most other powers, this effort sought to alienate massive amounts of power in the Universe to the Technosphere and its allies, through a ritual involving human sacrifice on a hitherto unprecendented scale.
While presented to its allies as a positive, this ritual had only one purpose. In a Universe where the energy to exist is uncertain, the ritual seized that power for the Technosphere and its cadre of allies, and created a Universe in which it is harder for any Thread that did not choose to have its policies dictated by the Technosphere would find it increasingly difficult to exist outside of the Forced Unification.
In making the decision to interfere with this ritual, the Sovereign State weighed heavily the intent of the Technosphere.
- The Sovereign State Trade Representative in Los Angeles was able to
confirm from the Ambassador for the Republic of Axa, that information on Reality Weapons - a technology similar to the Technosphere Reunifcation Technology and explicity designed to attack threads with an energy type arbitrarily termed by the Technosphere as "unreal," was stolen by operatives of the Technosphere as determined by their use of a travel method called "Tween Walking" which was developed by and is largely exclusive to the Technosphere.
- The Republic of Axa was subsequently destroyed in an attack by the
Midwestern States. While the facts of this attack are clearly known to the Allies of the Technosphere, no word of condemnation has been forthcoming. This was an act of blatant and raw aggression aimed at destroying Axa (a large and populous state) so that its energy could be used by the Midwestern States (an ally of the Technosphere).
- At the Final Negotiations for inclusion in the Reunifcation, it was
transparently the case that the Delegates were willing to turn a blind eye to and endorse the annihilation of the Dutch East Indies so that the energy liberated from a general massacre of the population there could be used to aid in the Forced Unification effort.
Based on these atrocious actions, and in consultation with other allies the Sovereign State undertook its responsibility to stand as a representative of all those independents whose "sigma" shows that they do not conform to the Technosphere's concept of what reality should be like. That the Technosphere should be a self-appointed arbiter of how reality should be is abhorrent to us, and a threat to all but a tiny core of Threads - the Technosphere seeks to exclude from reality everything which does not suit it.
Because of our mercy and attempts at reason, the attack was launched too late to prevent substantial damage to the structure of reality. The Attack by the Technosphere was created, and much energy was stolen by the Technosphere out of the free universe and locked into the structure of its chosen allies. In this, the leader of the Sovereign State, Lord Set, protector of those in the distant and harshe places, failed in his duty. The Government of the Sovereign States recognizes that this error was one of mercy and will not repeat the mistake.
The Technosphere was, in the end, destroyed. We ask all of those whose existence is threatened by this fiat of the Technosphere to join with us in beginning the process of dismantling and erasing the arbitrary juggernaunt of stolen energy alienated to the allies of the Technosphere. We stop short of a declaration of War on all those powers, hoping that chagrin at their hypocrisy and selfishness will lead them to join with us in undoing the harm that has been done to all of the Universe.
The Technosphere and its allies have set a dangerous precedent that is anathema to all thinking beings. They have determined that:
- The final form of the Universe should conform to their image and ideals of
what is real and that "Good" and "Evil" are determined by how far one falls from their vision of the universe that should be.
- That while decrying "atrocities" committed out of necessity by others,
when it comes to accomplishing their design to impose their own image on how the universe should be, no atrocity is too great.
- That the inherent right of a people or being to exist is determined by how
far it falls from their vision of what the universe should be, setting the precedent that any party which declares itself to be "Real" because it conforms to its own vision of how the universe should be has the inherent right to steal energy by whatever means necessary or to destabilize the universe and make existence harder for others, and that this selfish action should be lauded as "Stabilizing."
The time for fence-sitting has passed. The Technosphere and its Allies have placed a knife at the Throat of every thinking power which wishes to see a Universe like the one that they know, rather than the abstract ideal the Technosphere would impose on them. The physical buildings of the Technosphere are destroyed, but in seizing the only major functional gate for Interdimensional Travel, the Technosphere and its onerous ally the Midwestern States have set themselves up to play God and recreate the universe in their own image.
Any powers which wish to oppose this alarming threat which falls equally upon all who do not fit their definition of "Real" need to form an alliance, and quickly, to fight this unprecedented attempt at human Godhead. While Lord Protector Set has indeed been called a "God" by some, he has never pretended to be other than a powerful leader and entity who has extended his protection to those who embraced him, and at the summons of human beings come to grant his protection to their cause. The Technosphere while carefully avoiding any terms such as "God" has set itself up to play God and this is a threat that the Civilized peoples of the Universe must not tolerate.
Representatives of the Sovereign State and its allies will meet at Caracas, Venezuela in December to form a new Alliance. All of those who oppose the Forced Unification and seek to find avenues to reverse its iniquities are welcome.
