A New Stellaris

[Stellaris]

OOC: This is a re-boot of Stellaris, it has never been the Lexicon. However major cities like Liang and Fratsia remain unchanged.

IC: It was many years since the fall of Democracy in Stellaris. The nation had been destroyed by a military coup which had led to a bloody civil war. It had lasted several years and claimed nearly two million lives. There was no clear victor however and over the next ten years continuity had been found in the church. The Stellarisien papacy was an elusive group, who had been in existence for nearly 2000 years and yet had only picked up the reigns of power in the last 30. Today they were in control of over 1 billion Stellarisiens at home and a further 150 million abroad in the dominion of Stellarisien LDK. So popular with the desperate populace had they been that their small army had been able to capture the major cities with virtually no resistance. Ordinary citizens had former human shields to block other factions from attacking the papal army, eventually the factions had been forced to except a ceasefire. The small military had been built up once more, and although relatively uninpressive, was capable of defending Stellarisien soil fairly effectively. Stellaris was now a theocracy, with strict observance of Catholic doctrine, divorces had been reversed, abortion and euthanasia were illegal and homosexuality was outlawed. Heretics were exiled. And despite the continuity which the church offered, the forces of change were afoot, as liberal Stellarisiens resisted the full forces of 'God's Law'.

[Stellaris]

The deeply meditational music filled the air and incensed smoke wafted lazily from the oil jug on a chain hung from Pope Leo's fingers, close to his papal signet. All around him in the pews Marcel saw people gazing in wonderment and prayer at the altar. He himself was finding it hard resisting the temptation to sleep. But as he dropped of into being unconcious but still sitting upright he thought to himself.
"How do we even know God exists? Can we just rely on the Bible as proof? Doesn't this thing called science which they are not allowed to teach us have more answers? How can denying our civil liberties be right if God maybe doesn't exist?"

He was nudged awake by the women next to him. Peering blankly he went up and received mass, soon after, the service was over. But he had other plans. He was going to try and find out what Science was.

[Stellaris]

He had tried ten different libraries but in each he had been told that science was a myth of heretics, used to doubt God's word. They had given him, instead, volumes on Theology and told him to never again listen to lies of heretics. But Marcel had persisted and after hours of hacking into an ancient computer, without new Papist software (With several different religious screen savers) he had gained access to the Taijituan web. At first science seemed boring and number orientated to him, but as he read he began to unlock the code and understand what rational thought was. To him, the papacy seemed to be based on superstition, not true knowledge as this science was, Over the next few months he looked further, into philosophy as well as Science.

[Stellaris]

Gienna stood beneath the old oak tree, salty tears rolling steadily down her face. She had, clutched in her right hand, a bunch of white flowers and try as she might she could not help but remember that tragic day those near 2 decades ago when she had buried her husband. So young they had been, so cruel was his murder. The Papal security force, akin in style to the KGB, had come round to her house one evening and shot her husband dead, because he threatened them. And why? Because when the Papal army came to power all thinkers, all scientists, all proponents of rational thought, had been forced to accept that such thoughts were heresy or were killed. Thousands had died, thousands more tortured in one of the greatest exercises in brain washing of history. But as agents were dispatched to persuade the people of the con of science, as all forms of media began to toe the line, as those who argued disappeared in the night or were given show trails, Stellarisiens had, over the last thirty years, through a mixture of peer pressure and fear, begun to believe the Pope. Gienna laid the flowers and walked slowly away, pulling her black netted widows veil back over her face.

[Stellaris]

It was the feast day of Acacius of Byzantium, a patron saint of soldiers. The communists could have their marches on may day, but in Stellaris the papacy had theirs seven days later, on his feast day. Thousands of conscripts marched in formation, interlaced by armoured personnel carriers and tanks which rolled along, each with a banner depicting some religious event held above it. These were, after all, the armies of God. At the head of the long procession, which took 2 hours to pass any given point, was the pope himself in a golden carriage. Behind him walked members of the sacred college of cardinals and behind them four units of swiss guards in traditional dress in phalanx formation. Behind them, the main army marched. The technology on display was not top notch, but it was hight tech and substantial enough to be impressive.

[Stellaris]

Most who witnessed the march were loyal or simply interested. But a small number had arrived out of anger, a feeling that liberties had been eroded and that they were being drowned in a sea of papal dogma. At first cans were thrown, then bottles and finally bricks. Several conscripts were injured. They turned from the march and turned their guns on the rioters. The order was given and they indiscriminantly fired. A blood bath ensued, of both guilty and of innocents. One so terrible that over the following days the papacy was desperate to cover up its scale.

[Stellaris]

Stellarisien media was quick to assure the public and the world that there had been but a minor disturbance, but to those who had witnessed the massacre of 180 people it was plainly obvious that it hadn't been. Peaceful protesters began to congregate in Saint Peters square, with banners calling for peace and the guidance of the lord. Religious prayers were chanted, psalms speaking of peace.

The pope sat in his private apartment staring at the swelling numbers, there was only one way he could clear these people. The order was given to send the army in.

[Stellaris]

The ensuing fight resembled Tiananmen square. On one side were the army of God, armed and brutal. On the other were the the traitors, those with God truly in their hearts. Tanks rolled slowly through the square, clearing it gradually, forcing the protestors to retreat. And then a group charged foward and forced the tanks to stop.
"Move!" The tank commander ordered. He aimed his gun at one of them. But they would not be cowed. The tank commander fired his gun into the air several times. The small group trembled but still stood. Some of the military, 2,000 in that square in all, lifted their guns, and fired. A hail of tasers and rubber bullets hurtled towards the protestors. Most were hit several times by rubber bullets and eletrocuted by several tasers. Their limp bodies were dragged out of the front of the column. Their pulses checked. Two, who had been hit the most, had none. As the unconciouss protestors were loaded into Ambulances the clearance continued slowly. Eventually all the protestors had been herded  into one corner, where they were arrested and carted off to the police station. They could all expect a two month spell in prison. The military stood in neat unit squares.
"The Army of God has taken the square."