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1182
A.D.: Although at historic lows, poverty and homelessness in Anduruna
are seized upon by the political elite as pressing injustices. Attitudes
begin to shift in the higher echelons of the Towers, as dignitaries
fantasize about how to 'fix' society. Meanwhile, society's technological
abilities are becoming ever advanced, as data-scroll functions multiply,
and begin to include interpersonal communications and image sharing.
1191
A.D.: Emissary Liddo is elected Viscount, in a campaign extolling
the plight of the underprivileged, and the moral imperative for
Central City intervention. In office, Liddo studiously enacts dozens
of ambitious government programs to cure poverty for good. The other
shoe drops, as Sabbaton expenditures double over a seven year period,
and a new 'social improvement' tax is instituted.
After a murder involving powers use is sensationalized in the media
for months, Liddo undertakes additional legislative goals. Namely,
to ensure that no one is ever hurt again, ever, in any way. Anduruna
police and shock trooper units step up their hiring rates and although
it was already illegal, murder is made... even more illegal. While
Anduruna gets 'tough' on crime, its punishments for infractions
mitigate in the interests of social advancement. Criminals are no
longer imprisoned, they are 'rehabilitated', or 'enlightened'. Taxes
are collected to show criminals the softer side of life, and woo
them from their non-socially-progressive inclinations. Crime, oddly,
increases. Additional funding is directed to continually broadcast
public service announcements warning kids of the ‘uncool’
dangers of powers. The only strictly maintained punishment is the
proscription of banishment for aggressive powers abuse - and even
non-aggressive powers infractions face steeper punishments and prohibitions.
1198
A.D.: Viscount Liddo wins his re-election campaign - but by a narrow
margin. Many merchants and citizens find their enthusiasm with the
administration mitigated as Central authority tolls slash their
incomes. However, a stupendously funded media blitz supporting Liddo
highlighted, in excruciating hypothetical detail, the terrors bound
to unfold at the withdrawal of expanding federal initiatives. With
the government portrayed as an inextricable cog in everyday life,
the voters capitulate.
Liddo's improbable reelection proves the point that data-scroll
media support and advertising funding were now crucial aspects of
the political machine in Anduruna. The ability to reach into every
home and cajole every listener places Liddo's power on a higher
level than any previous Viscount.
Originally used mainly for entertainment and public service announcements,
the city's data scroll broadcasts soon found their scope increasing.
Printed news scrolls faced vanishing public interest in the face
of the data-scroll. The data-broadcasting networks - located conveniently
in the Sabbaton Towers - began running their own news programs.
Being owned by the city, however, inevitably tilted the content
and spin of their coverage.
As media took on an ever-expanding role in daily and political life,
it was also the harbinger of celebrities. With the hurdles of talent
and dedication replaced by the hurdle of network approval, single
entertainers and performers could be ubiquitously broadcast and
recognized. Soon, many famed celebrities were famous more as a matter
of arbitrary selection than for any special ability or performing
skill - foremost among them politicians pushing an agenda.
Late 1198 A.D.: Federal programs continue to dutifully conscript
funding, food, and housing to the job impaired, gouging the revenue
from working class incomes. The Sabbaton bureaucrats are surprised
and perplexed when the ranks of the benefit-laden unemployed grow.
This growing unemployment rate affirms to officials the dire necessity
of their interventions, and the need for yet more.
His direction voter-approved, the Viscount translates his moral
mandate to be even more far-reaching. Not just poverty and violence,
but all major problems are slated for Central City administered
cures. Educational achievement, construction safety, regulated hammer
hardness and knife sharpness limits, the diony content of fermentae,
stair height, licensing restrictions on flight for winged dreamkeepers,
regulated sweetness levels in candy, and innumerable other rules
and laws, each with their own dedicated federal division, staff,
budget, and authority. In every case, it is deemed that increased
regulation, legislation, funding, and Central City control are unavoidably
critical.
With funding running desperately short, the government is forced
to find a solution. The Anduruna currency, lucre', is 'revalued'
and reissued by the government. Coins of precious metals are exchanged
for paper bills and plastic coins that are mass produced to accommodate
ambitious budget expenditures.
1199
A.D.: An altruistic young inventor applies at the Towers for a patent
on a new creation - teleportation technology. His work is groundbreaking,
and he hopes to proliferate its cost-cutting use and ease the burden
on hard-hit businesses and merchants. His research is promptly confiscated
by federal agents, and he is arrested on charges of unlicensed research,
tax evasion, extensive regulatory breaches, and failing to file
for permits. After losing the rights to his own innovation, Scinter
is sentenced to a two year prison term.
1199
A.D.: With ballooning federal expenditures straining budgets, the
‘City of Sharing’ media campaign is aired. It highlights
the needy, their growing population, and the myriad of other problems
threatening the city - and justifies a fleet of strident new socially
progressive tax initiatives and regulatory fees. Struggling businesses
and middle class citizens are forced closer to poverty, with a massive
outcry that is distorted in the news. Untaxed ‘black market’
business burgeons, and shock troopers make raids on un-approved
and tax evasive operations. The ranks of the unemployed swell, as
any organizations noble enough to struggle in the legitimate market
find themselves inexorably taxed out of business.
Protests and anti-tax rallies are held across the city, with wage-earners
and business owners protesting the endlessly swelling government
expenditures, garnishments, and entitlements. Concomitant with these
protests, powers infractions and bouts of violence break out. Shock
troopers are dispatched to crack down on the outbursts. In the media,
the bloody actions of the fringe are capitalized upon to create
a vivid caricature of the ’black market bandits’.
1200
A.D.: Forced out of business or co-opted by Central City government
takeovers, a large segment of the population is disenfranchised
and disinclined to partake of the patronizingly sanctimonious federal
poverty benefits. The gutsiest and most freedom-resolved Andurunans
finally decide enough is enough. Thousands of merchants, business
owners, entrepreneurs, and independents decide to leave Anduruna
and found their own settlement - a free settlement. The ‘bandits’,
as the media dubs them, leave the city walls and head for the north.
1201
A.D.: The Anduruna fallguard tournament season goes forward as planned,
in a shower of media attention and rapt audience interest. During
the universally viewed championship game, disaster strikes. An unidentified
dreamkeeper in the crowd unleashes a devastating power attack, butchering
fellow stadium-goers. Thirty-two fans and three athletes are instantly
killed, and scores more suffer crippling wounds. The population
is shocked to the core at the horrific carnage - and shock soon
turns to outrage.
Strong action is promised by Viscount Liddo, and he reassures the
bereaved populace that justice will be served. Any ambiguity the
remaining citizens had about their leadership is swept away in the
polarizing tragedy. Liddo immediately passes legislation mandating
banishment for all powers use - not just for aggressive infractions.
Additionally, all weapons or weapon-like implements are banned from
public possession.
Late
1201 A.D.: Initial investigation, corroborated by several anonymous
tips, points to the estranged ‘bandits’ as having planned
and executed the attack. Viscount Liddo publicly sends an envoy
north from Anduruna, to demand the surrender of the individuals
directly responsible for the atrocity. Several days after the start
of their journey, the entire envoy is found slaughtered and deposited
just outside the Outer Wall. A caustic note left with the bodies
is the final conclusive piece of evidence needed against the bandits.
The first military strike force of modern Anduruna is gathered for
combat.
1202
A.D.: In late winter, a strike force of shock troopers is regimented
and sent north to counterattack the bandit threat, and the Toll
Wars initiate. With their exclusive access to manufactured springer
rifles and other advanced gear, there is expectation of an easy
victory for city forces. However, unexpectedly intense skirmishing
in the dunes north of the city results in shipments of wounded soldiers
home, and emergency reinforcements.
Also this year, the Sabbaton Towers introduce a new feature to the
public - brand new telepads for transit to and from the Towers.
The telepads ferry passengers between the Sabbaton and central District
Towers. In addition to personal use, the pads are presented as a
safe, city-controlled method for shipping merchandise. Shipping
through private companies, or other organizations with suspected
bandit ties is discouraged. Meanwhile, the black market organizations
remaining within the city experience a surge in concerted organization.
1203
A.D.: The shock troopers return from the Toll Wars - historically,
one of the shortest wars of Anduruna. The details surrounding its
engagements are immediately classified, and the returning soldiers
are forbidden from revealing details. Although casualties, kills,
battle sites, and skirmish details remain cloaked, victory is publicly
declared. Victory or not, however, conflict continues. Domestic
powers attacks and murders continue to periodically shock and terrify
the public, requiring increased shock trooper and policing activity
to keep the peace.
Late
1203 A.D.: Igrath Winters, an ex-fallguard player and recent veteran
of the Toll Wars, is elected Captain of the City Guard, and begins
investigating power-related violence in Anduruna.
1204
A.D.: ‘Scinter's Mark’ untaxed black market fermentae
is exploding in popularity. Not only is ‘Scinter's Mark’
sold illegally - and therefore half the price of Anduruna-approved
fermentae - but its unregulated diony content and micro-brewed flavors
far exceed the domesticated competition in quality. The ‘Marks’
become synonymous for black market and anti-government. Some elements
of the population seem entertained by this rebellious, dashing connotation,
and an emergency media campaign is launched condemning ‘Scinter’s
Mark‘. Igrath and the City Guard are ordered to crack down,
and put an end to the dangerous ‘Scinter’s Mark’
trend at all costs.
It proves difficult, as the ‘Marks’ seem to have ties
to the bandits - and the bandits controlling the flo-wood seed trade
are based in the northern dunes, selling their merchandise through
illicit channels: further enriching black market elements.
Although conflict between law enforcement and delinquents continues,
the Toll Wars themselves are concluded. The city of Anduruna moves
forward under its new heavily centralized socially controlling power
structure, as ‘The City of Sharing’.
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