Difference between revisions of "Martias and the Angel"

The story of [[Martias]] and [[the Angel]] may only be around 100 years old but it is an important and defining one for the [[Celestine Ascendancy]]. An epic and true story of love, conflict and revolution it explains the history of the Ascendancy and how [[The Glisal Guardians]] came into being.

At the end of the [[40-year Empire Wars]], the Celestines, like [[Song]], were devastated. They were exhausted physically and economically and lacked the will to prevent what quickly became a corporate takeover of their civilization. Within three decades of the end of the war, the Celestines were effectively ruled by a cabal of competing [[keiretsu]] - allied groups of large companies with interlocking relationships and shareholdings. The century that followed saw these keiretsu, some of whom were rumored to have ties to [[Syndicate]] Space (in particular the massive [[Wayland Astrotech]]), embarked on a development binge on [[Glisal II]], the capital of the Celestines, and ruthlessly plundered its environment of resources, destroying it.

Though always a wealthy area, much of [[the Singing Citadel]]'s more outsized testaments to personal glory and wealth were constructed during this period to house the executives of the companies that make up these keiretsu. An increasingly large portion of the Ascendancy's wealth was filtering upwards to these already fantastically-wealthy individuals, while the populations of [[Scrapston]] and the near-anarchic [[Subnet]] swelled.

By ~880 A.E., when [[the Angel of Scrapston]] made her first known appearance, the disparity in wealth in the Celestine Ascendancy had become truly acute. The middle class had all but disappeared, and life for most people was scratching out an existence in whatever short-term low-paying jobs they could find while the sky palaces of the masters of finance and production loomed over them.

In the year 874 A.E., there was a young male [[Nusrizan]] special forces squad commander in the [[Song]] military named [[Martias Arrarax]]. He was a highly-dedicated young star in the special forces, and was married to a young, gentle, and brilliant Nusrizan social scientist named [[Kimera Santuren]], who specialized in applying theories of plasma dynamics to the behavior of large groups of people. They'd been deeply in love since they were barely adults and had been married only 18 months. Kimera was absolutely devoted to Martias and maintained few other friendships, preferring to spend her non-work time in the apartment they shared together with or without him. She was well-liked by most, but was distant, and didn't spend energy on deepening her relationships with anyone but Martias.

As Martias' well-deserved reputation for efficient ruthlessness grew, he was quickly promoted, and was one of the youngest-ever made a Lt. Colonel. He cut a dashing figure and was deemed worthy of media coverage by the then-[[Lord Commander]], a [[Decheeran]] named [[Tangadon]]. He frequently appeared on the [[commsphere]] in interviews, [[holovid]]s, even in virtual pornography. He reveled in this exposure, and in his reputation as a balls-to-the-walls operator who struck fear in the hearts of those who may be on the receiving end of his gaze.

She went to [[Litharge]], the capital of [[Glisal II]], the capital planet of the Celestine Ascendancy, and disappeared into the rowdy chaos of [[Scrapston]], safe from Martias and free to move on with her life, unencumbered.

Since Kimera was legally dead, she had no [[Mark]] account, and if she had used it, Martias may have discovered she was still alive, and come looking for what he would still consider his. However, like many places with a population that included a significant number of individuals who didn't want to be tracked, an informal black-market economy had arisen, using physical chits that could be converted into Marks deposited to their account for 80% value by those specializing in money laundering.

Kimera had no plan now, other than survival, and she quickly found that was harder than anticipated. Scrapston was a hard place. Perhaps not as difficult to survive in as the [[Subnet]], but not a pleasant place for Nusrizan woman with no resources and no on-planet friends.

===the Guardians of Scrapston===

They said they wanted to help Kimera, and so the six of them formed what they jokingly, at first, called the [[Scrapston Guardians]]. Along with Kimera Santuren, there was:

[[Inka Femke]] - a female Nath-el, Rein's sister.

The Guardians soon attracted the attention of the security forces of some of the small corporations poor enough to have to locate in Scrapston. The executives of these companies did not look upon the work the Guardians were doing with favor, for they were the power in Scrapston (and indeed, corporations effectively ruled all of Glisal barring the Subnet) and an organized populace could challenge their monopolies, ridiculous prices, and extortionate loans.

And then it came. In a single night, the Guardians assassinated Directors of 23 different corporations, sparing no keiretsu. They also blew up the [[Corporate Justice Building]] in the [[Raphite Towers]] after sending a credible warning that anyone still there at the wee hours of the night should vacate, in order to minimize casualties, and destroyed specific power substations, depriving many of the security forces of the largest corporations of power.

Together, the civilians and well-armed security forces, who counted [[B.E.A.S.T.]]s, [[engineer]]s armed with drones, and even some [[nanoseer]]s and [[furies]] among them, took the corporate HQs while news drones hovered, filming all of it and broadcasting it across the Ascendancy.

[[The Corporate Council]] had gravely miscalculated. This wasn't the class of people whose ancestors had ever died in the Empire War, though this was the class of people who would gladly issue viciously anti-Song propaganda when it served their interests to whip the populace up into a xenophobic frenzy. Indeed, the elite of the Song and the Celestines occasionally even hobnobbed together at exclusive resorts in the [[Diamond Belt]].

Martias, watching on the commsphere, gasped. Kimera! How? He quickly saw what had happened. That bitch had left him, and all those who knew him knew he'd been abandoned by her now. Worse, this turncoat harpy had led an army against his troops and defeated them. The cold hand of vengeance gripped his heart and he sent the order to sleeper agents he'd previously infiltrated into Litharge, armed with long-range personal [[railgun]]s. Moments later, as Kimera was just beginning her speech, he watched with satisfaction as her head exploded.

The surviving three co-founders of the Guardians - Acoh Phi, Udu Yaagah, and Bemmorr Stass - quickly established a new form of government for the Ascendancy. The Glisal Guardians would be dissolved or subsumed into this new, popularly-elected government. The people would elect representatives called, appropriately, [[Guardians]], and these Guardians would then select, among themselves, one of their number to function as the [[Guardian Prime]]. While the Guardians have a range of powers within the Celestine Ascendancy, and the Guardian Prime has all of them, the GP is also able to assign various functions to whomever, whether they be Guardians or others, in order to assist them.

The Guardians of the Celestine Ascendancy today are:

[[Guardian Executive]] / [[Guardian Prime]] - Grek - A [[Nath-el]] woman.  

[[Guardian Envoy]] - Clover Moonchild - A [[Human]] woman.

[[Guardian General]] - Necerursh Osai - A [[W'hoorn]] man.

Kimera Saturnen, the Angel of Scrapston, is considered the greatest hero of the Celestine Ascendancy today, and to have fought, or to have had a parent or grandparent fight in the Angel's Revolution, is something some never tire of telling tales of.

Therefore, it was no surprise to anyone when Saytia, Tasa's sister who had procured the rebreather and other items needed by Kimera to escape, was charged with conspiracy against the state, as she was the nurse responsible for Kimera that fateful day, and the (former) director of the Enero Home.  All of their families' assets were confiscated, and the individuals charged were sentenced to life mining [[Danalian redsalt]] with no trial, for the Lord Commander judged them guilty.