Socialist Commonwealth
Establishing Nation
"We have presented your ultimatum to the union, general. They haven't replied yet."
The general nodded and dismissed his aide. His ultimatum demanded a return to work of be considered insurgents. Beckman wasn't sure they'd accept it, he had seen similiar ultimatums be rejected in the past, when he was still with General King in Orashi. He remembered a village in particular that had been suspected of aiding rebels. As punishment, King had issued a general provision ordering two months of punitive labor. The villagers had expressed their rejection of the terms by torching the rubber plantation they were supposed to work in. It fall to Callahan to subdue the village by force and, from what Beckman had heard, his comrade had been thorough.
Despite such vivid memories of defiance from the locals, Beckman also knew that the policy was an overall success. In Port Calabar he had spoken to businessmen praising the approach, remarking, when Beckman pushed them on acts of vandalism, that the damage done by insurgents was far outweighed by the free labor done by the Orashians in compensation. Faced with the prospect of penal labor or open combat against the military, most chose to bow their head and comply. The general was expecting the same from Kents textile workers and if not, he'd have them all arrested and they could go to work wearing chains around their ankles. He would not allow them to flaunt his authority.
Beckman would have been happy had that been the only crisis he had to pay attention to, but something else had been brewing across the horizon.
The state of Kent was predominantly catholic and in that, it was unique amongst all Implarian states. Like most of the rest of the country, General Beckman was a protestant, though not a particularily religious one, he still shared a certain disdain for the catholics and their pope. When the news came of the trouble in Remion, the flight of the pope and the dispute over the existence of a papal state across the Thaumantic, he considered that a meaningless squabble. Still, he knew that catholics would see it differently and he had to be prepared.
Atwood was due to return the next day; law and order in Kent were still the generals sole responsibility. He knew his friend the governor wasn't a religious man either, nor was he catholic. The priority had always been to maintain calm in the state, to supress public unrest in order to recommend Kent and by extension its governor as an example to follow in all of Implaria.Governor Atwood, the general figured, would want him to move swift and forcefully to contain any unrest, just like he had done with the eviction of the Hartvilles.
He was about to give the order to mobilize the National Guard, when a telegram arrived. It was Atwood, whose intentions the general had thoroughly misjudged. The governor knew his old friend better than the general knew Atwoods political strategy, it seemed. Preempting any rash actions by Beckman, the telegram told him to meet with catholic leaders of Kent and ask for their support in keeping the peace in the state, while Beckman was ordered to stand by and tolerate public protests despite the contested, but still active emergency measures banning protests in the state.
Atwood needed the catholic vote, he could not rule Kent if he was seen moving against the church. Beckman wasn't about to disobey the governor, but he still wondered what impact such flagrant display of hipocrisy would have on the socialists and how they would react to his ultimatum after witnessing the state tolerate angry mobs of religious fanatics on the streets.
The general nodded and dismissed his aide. His ultimatum demanded a return to work of be considered insurgents. Beckman wasn't sure they'd accept it, he had seen similiar ultimatums be rejected in the past, when he was still with General King in Orashi. He remembered a village in particular that had been suspected of aiding rebels. As punishment, King had issued a general provision ordering two months of punitive labor. The villagers had expressed their rejection of the terms by torching the rubber plantation they were supposed to work in. It fall to Callahan to subdue the village by force and, from what Beckman had heard, his comrade had been thorough.
Despite such vivid memories of defiance from the locals, Beckman also knew that the policy was an overall success. In Port Calabar he had spoken to businessmen praising the approach, remarking, when Beckman pushed them on acts of vandalism, that the damage done by insurgents was far outweighed by the free labor done by the Orashians in compensation. Faced with the prospect of penal labor or open combat against the military, most chose to bow their head and comply. The general was expecting the same from Kents textile workers and if not, he'd have them all arrested and they could go to work wearing chains around their ankles. He would not allow them to flaunt his authority.
Beckman would have been happy had that been the only crisis he had to pay attention to, but something else had been brewing across the horizon.
The state of Kent was predominantly catholic and in that, it was unique amongst all Implarian states. Like most of the rest of the country, General Beckman was a protestant, though not a particularily religious one, he still shared a certain disdain for the catholics and their pope. When the news came of the trouble in Remion, the flight of the pope and the dispute over the existence of a papal state across the Thaumantic, he considered that a meaningless squabble. Still, he knew that catholics would see it differently and he had to be prepared.
Atwood was due to return the next day; law and order in Kent were still the generals sole responsibility. He knew his friend the governor wasn't a religious man either, nor was he catholic. The priority had always been to maintain calm in the state, to supress public unrest in order to recommend Kent and by extension its governor as an example to follow in all of Implaria.Governor Atwood, the general figured, would want him to move swift and forcefully to contain any unrest, just like he had done with the eviction of the Hartvilles.
He was about to give the order to mobilize the National Guard, when a telegram arrived. It was Atwood, whose intentions the general had thoroughly misjudged. The governor knew his old friend better than the general knew Atwoods political strategy, it seemed. Preempting any rash actions by Beckman, the telegram told him to meet with catholic leaders of Kent and ask for their support in keeping the peace in the state, while Beckman was ordered to stand by and tolerate public protests despite the contested, but still active emergency measures banning protests in the state.
Atwood needed the catholic vote, he could not rule Kent if he was seen moving against the church. Beckman wasn't about to disobey the governor, but he still wondered what impact such flagrant display of hipocrisy would have on the socialists and how they would react to his ultimatum after witnessing the state tolerate angry mobs of religious fanatics on the streets.