The Ember
23 Apr 2024Argon Shadowstar
It's been a while since my last post. That's mainly because there hasn't been much to report. The campaign progresses steadily and the revolution continues to grow. The Order of the Imperial Knights continues to lose systems, even as their allies try to rally a counter. More and more people are seeing the superpowers for what they are, and taking a stand. In the wake of my operations, I see factions fall, people liberated, and rebellion burn across the frontier. I can only attribute this to like minded individuals following in my footsteps.I am a silent operator, and have little to no contact with these heroes. I suspect they have little contact with each other - though none is necessary. The cause of justice and retribution is clear and plain to see. They do not need a leader to tell them where to strike, when there are plentiful targets to go around. Ours is a cause of righteous fury, like a flame out of control. It needs no hand to guide it. Our foes marvel at the chaos and destruction, having no way to fight it, and gradually calling into question their own alignment. I hear the rumors, the murmurs among the Imperial ranks. Some have begun to wonder if it is worth it: The time and resources they commit to a cause that is already lost, devoted to fighting a war on behalf of those unwilling to match their commitment. I wonder how long they will continue to dedicate themselves to decadent leaders who will never know their name, though they now most certainly know mine. With doubt comes opportunity, and those who hold positions of power among the enemy ranks but turn their support to a greater cause now work to dismantle the efforts of the enemy from within. Slowly but surely, the struggle for freedom and liberty spreads from system to system, and the superpowers take notice, baffling at our reach, unable to understand why more systems fall though their fingers despite their ever tightening grip.
Soon they will learn that the empires they have built upon a foundation of fear and intimidation are susceptible to the flames of rebellion. Like a dry wood house, it will catch and burn as the unquenchable maelstrom of vengeance and retribution approaches. Now they are afraid, and the tables are turned. They used murder and subjugation to quiet the masses for so long, that it is the only solution they know. But now there are agents like myself moving among the masses, bringing weapons and hope, empowering them to realize a better future. And the intimidators have become the intimidated, lashing out with excessive force to strike down those who they fear, and many of their own are counted among the casualties, alongside the martyrs they feared. And so it becomes that those who supported the tyrants now see the error of their ways and seek redemption by joining the rebellion, spurred into action by the deaths of loved ones at the hands of oppression; hands of selfish and dishonourable masters unworthy of the laurels they rest upon.
The Tatuba system has, for many months, been a peculiar focus for the minions of the Emperor. I have watched them flock to this system time and time again to fight in support of a dead faction, devoting excessive time and resources to apparently maintain the status quo against the increasing dissent of the population, driven to rebellion by the rampant miscarriage of justice perpetrated by the very leaders whose job it should be to execute such justice. Now the people turn to the Camorra for justice, ironic as it may be, and yet it has worked. All the while, the blind executors of Imperial subjugation cannot see the forest for the trees and lose ground on other fronts, so obsessed with the relentless perpetration of oppression in this system, for whatever reason. And for all their efforts, it serves only to drive more people to the cause of freedom and revolution. Given this, I suppose it's no wonder that many of them have begun to doubt their loyalties. Were I in their place, I too would find it difficult to continue wasting my time in pursuit of someone else's ambition. But perhaps I simply do not understand their motivation. Perhaps, in their minds, the empty titles and token rewards offered by their superiors are a suitable alternative to the lasting satisfaction of working toward a greater purpose.
Though, if those rewards were really so great, why does it take 30 of them to counter the actions of one who has no such rewards?