General Domestic Issues

[musashisamurai]

Growing up, the Queen was especially close to cousin Princess and later Empress Eliza. Pen pals at a young age, and the two monarchs even visited each other to hold summits to discuss the state of international monarchy. She was quite worried to hear that a pretender had seized the throne, as we know Prince Dmitri was dead sadly, but was even more distressed when she heard the news of Eliza's death during the disgusting Communist revolt on Venus. Although it cost political capital, the Crown immediately moved to offer sanctuary to her Venusian relatives, their vassals and their retinue. Princess Livia was the de facto leader of this group of exiles, though of course her 'uncle' Dmitri remained official head-of-state of the Venusian Empire in-exile. Rather than focus on material concerns and politics, Princess Livia would dedicate the rest of her life to matters of the spirit, preaching the Church of the Great Pantheon to any who would listen. Although few were willing to join the strange foreign religion, largely staffed by these Venusian exiles, Covenanters and a small fraction of Polynesian paganists would convert and hybridize the religion into the Pacifican culture and way of life with the small handful of believers present in Burma and Cambodia.

Still a minority religion, the new Church of the Pacific is an offshoot of the Church of the Great Pantheon. Some beliefs have been changed, in some ways quite considerably-Venus is no longer the sole 'mother' but one of many; the true 'mother' is Sol-and whose leadership is independent of the Venusian state apparatus. Other gods from the Polynesian mythology were added; Maui has largely supplemented Spoad as a trickster god and champion of its believers, while the gods Tūmatauenga, Tāwhirimātea and Tāne are both protectors and testers, challenging us to become better. From India, tenets of Bhakti Hinduism have influenced the religion to become noticeably more spiritually-focused than perhaps the original faith.

This religion has had its greatest growth amongst the handful of nobility who have married exiles, for both the added prestige and to claim (though now-defunct) their titles and add them to their house.

[beadsman]

The Cyon Imperium is very pleased to welcome the beautiful Princess Miranda as the newest member of the Justinian Dynasty. She will be welcomed at a gala party in the old Imperial Palace, the traditional estate of the Cyonian Royal Family.

It is confirmed that Princess Olivia Justinius Alba, one of the Imperator's own daughters, was also betrothed to Crown Prince George III. It is the sincere wish of the Cyonian people that the union will be a happy and long one.

[beadsman]

We are now dividing our Star Armada into two distinct types of fleets: Defense Fleets and Expansionary Fleets. We currently have one of each, with the 1st Starfleet now a defense fleet (100% devoted to Space Combat) and the 2nd Starfleet now designated an Expansionary Fleet (with some resources devoted to planetary invasion/landings).

The Imperium now immediately commences the creation of another Defense Fleet, with estimated production lasting 10 years (RL Sep 14, 2018)

[narwhalwarlord]

Responding to the crisis on the homeworld, the Venusian Outer Reaches have responded by threatening to secede unless Levin resigns and reinstates Imperial authority. The ORA may be in a state of financial and social catastrophe, but the only positive for its budget being cut is that the homeworld has less direct pull over it. Mass marches of regime loyalists have occurred in several major planets, and a petition signed by fifty million offworld farmers to the central government begging for the restoration of stability and order was presented to the Department of Homeworld Affairs for transmission to the regime.

The situation for the people of the Outer Reaches seems grim. High Commissioner Altus Von Nar, a distant and extremely inbred cousin of the prestigious homeworld lineage, has vowed to "preserve the heritage of the Venusian race from leftist degeneracy and perversion" and abrogated the treaty with Mattibea guaranteeing the right to operate for socialist parties. As part of this purge, he has met with the hidebound planetary governments and commenced a vast anti-leftist purge targeting major organizations of both the peaceful and violent pursuasions. Particular targets are the broad-church Venusian Worker's Party, the Mattibean-aligned Venusian Union Communist Party, and the more social-democratic Freedom Alliance. He has pursued anti-monarchist splinters of the True Citizens and the notorious New World Brigades with less success, as these groups are well-hidden and were already illegal and persecuted. A fund has been drawn from Von Nar's vast personal fortune to attract disaffected SSC officers and military commanders fleeing the homeworld to the defence of the outer worlds, and several other powerful aristocrats have chipped in.

In conjunction with these efforts, High Commissioner Von Nar has also legalized the True Citizen's Combat Front with the understanding that it will defend the national polity and its Venus-centred order. Chapters of the "Patriot Front", another barely-tolerated fascist group of reactionary military officers, nobles, Venus-aligned businesspeople, and bureaucrats have become increasingly active as well. There are serious rumors that all of these groups are being handed hundreds of thousands of guns, as well as detailed instructions on how to infiltrate the homeworld now that the SSC is in chaos. An age of terror and chaos threatens to dawn.

This is not to say, however, that his purges have gone unopposed. The ORA is now alone. It has no control over the fleet, and the people are thoroughly against it. A major economic crisis is undoubtedly about to hit, leaving many who might normally support it in doubt. Reformist aristocrats and businesspeople, along with small business owners, farmers, and some more cautious workers have combined to found a new party, the Union for Democracy. This group supports a moderate socialist reorganization of society, along with the protection of a Venusian cultural identity and a place for the old high society. They have won support by advocating a moderate land reform, funds for nobles to improve agricultural efficiency and standards of living, work for the poor, protection for the different constituent nations of Venus instead of obsessive focus on Cytherian-Argentine racial supremacy, and free trade between Venus and its far-flung colonies. Their gamble is that the average colonial would probably be a moderate in any other situation, and that the ORA won't last long. Once the promised new confederation is put in place, they will have the financial and political resources to bring together a billion votes and send Venus down the track to a conventional liberal democracy. There are many low-key mutterings of support from even the most fanatical of reactionaries, who recognize that their cause is hopeless.

The Left has also responded by redoubling its efforts. Commissar Levin promised to allow the people the right to fight against oppressive governments wherever they could be found, and for many that means the ORA. The People's Front, which includes the socialist Worker's Party, the Communists, the social-democratic Freedom League, several syndicalist unions, and the covert People's Independence League, has called for a general strike in all sectors and mass protests in the streets. The people have respected this, and the economy has ground to a halt. Even several major businesspeople (mostly of the self-made colonial class, rather than the Venusian-born elites and their aristocratic descendants) have respected this specific call, imposing a capital strike and dipping into their fortunes to fund their workers instead. The Independence League has also had great successes in convincing underpaid civil servants, specifically from the Ministries of Law and Economics, to feed information to the people's movement. Although violence has not been specifically endorsed, the Union Communists have sent their fighting groups into the streets of the big urban worlds to fight with (and usually beat) the reactionary thugs. On more isolated worlds, the unions and left organizations have risen up, killed their oppressors, and declared political independence from Venus.

The People's Front has declared its intent to overthrow the ORA, create a federation of independent planets, and then form an equal union with the Venus-based Universal People's Federation. "Unless we claim our own dignity first", stated the Front's General Secretary Ashem Aziz, "we colonials will always be seen and known as second-class. We acknowledge the victories of our brothers on Venus, who are leading on a great revolution under the same banner as us and through organizations which are the mighty children of ours. For all that, though, we must not repeat the mistakes of history. We must form our own movement, complete our own historic tasks, implement a socialist transformation - and then unite with our Venusian brothers as a single great confederacy without all the old racial, class, and planetary prejudices. This is our goal."

This is a rather nuanced political line, but what it really speaks to is an attempt to reach out to the most radical forces in the colonies - the New World Brigades. The Brigades are notorious terrorists whose theory is that only a general colonial revolution can fully topple capitalism, whether it's Cooperative corporatism, PPA bourgeois democracy, or Mattibean state-capitalism. By liberating the colonies from the homeworld and severing the link to the outer systems, the Brigades propose to provoke an economic crisis and free all of humanity. Their positions are extreme, but nobody can deny their fighting strength. The Brigades have already pointed to a correlation between the political chaos and economic collapse of the colonies and the boiling-over of the homeworld. In an uncharacteristic moment of inter-sectarian charity, they have even acknowledged that the homeworld was carried by revolutionary ideals spawned in the colonies. Finally, the offer from Levin to allow revolutionary activities against other nations to go unchecked is certainly tempting, as being able to plan terror and revolt behind the adamantine wall of the Venusian fleet is certainly tempting. Should they agree, the colonial revolution will be almost guaranteed a victory.

[musashisamurai]

Mobius offers Support Independence to these oppressed peoples.

[narwhalwarlord]

Mobius offers Support Independence to these oppressed peoples.

wait, but which support independence?

like, the socialists?

or the fascists?

you can't back the particularists and the noble rebels at the same time, u goon!

[Zander]

Mobius offers Support Independence to these oppressed peoples.

wait, but which support independence?

like, the socialists?

or the fascists?

you can't back the particularists and the noble rebels at the same time, u goon!

Not with that attitude you can't.

[Subotai45]

Commissar Levin and the Federal Soviet of the UPF offer their support to the People's Front, whose intellectual efforts in the field of socialist thought spread to Venus and inspired the August Revolution on the homeworld. While the Federal Soviet is unable to offer any concrete assistance at this time, all available resources of the fledgling state being devoted to preparation for victory over the corporatist, misnamed pretender state that calls itself the "Cooperative." However, the hearts and minds of the revolutionary people of the Universal People's Federation are with their extrasolar comrades, and they promise to come to the aid of people's movements not only in the extrasolar territories, but anywhere they find themselves in conflict with reactionary and anti-worker elements such as the Outer Reaches Administration.

Workers of all the worlds, unite!
Commissar Levin, State Security Commissariat, Defender of the Revolution
Chairman Guerrello, Federal Soviet, Representative of All Peoples

[musashisamurai]

The Crown has announced an orders-in-council that will merge Branch Athena and the Praetorian Order into one unit (as of yet unnamed). Members of this order will receive the training and technologies of both, acting as the Crown's elite bodyguards, advisors, law enforcement, and elite special ops units.

[musashisamurai]

In breaking news, the Imperial Armada has indicated it plans to send a fully operation battle fleet to Athmosos later this month. There are fears that Communist Venus might try to seize control over the neutral star system, and the fleet is a sign to King Dmitri Shah that Mobius will continue its support of him and the Order of St Alsharp. Diplomats are also en route with the fleet, (HFPE so far) authorized to negotiate with Venus and Athmosos to come to an agreement respecting its neutrality between the nations. Our diplomats have been told to consider leveraging democratic reforms on Athmosos or changes to the current Neutrality Accords to ensure this. They've also been authorized that if the offer comes up, to "buy out" the rest of Athmosos and add it to Pacifica as a protectorate like Burma or Cambodia. Other diplomats have been sent to the other Dmitri Shah, as a representative of the true Venus)