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Region: New West Indies

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Kunkenga

Andersswhal, the capital city of Kunkenga
Tom Arnal made his way quietly along the Central Riverwalk, folding his trench coat's collar shut and tucking his chin into it. The rain was picking up and he still had a ways to go until his office.

The dim chimes from the Southern Parish in the Upper Point could be heard as they rang 9 o'clock. Tom began to pick up his pace. A group of street punks walked past him, their hair a garish display of color and style. One of them carried a boombox on their shoulder and provided the rest with a steady rhythm of chintzy euro-pop.

C'est pas ma faute!
Et quand je donne ma langue aux chats je vois les autres!

It was a catchy song Tom thought, as he turned off the riverwalk and began making his way towards the municipal district. The cobbled streets of the Lower Point slowly began to give way to the freshly paved asphalt of the Upper Point. The rain also began to come down much heavier; pedestrians caught without their umbrellas began sprinting for cover and street vendors began tarping up their carts and heading for the nearest bar.

Trying to look at his watch through the cascading raindrops on his glasses Tom saw he was already going to be late. Deciding to cut his losses, he lifted his briefcase over his head and joined the street vendors at the bar.

The warmth of the bar's interior immediately clouded his glasses but was a welcoming presence against the bitter cold and rain. Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy" played loudly over the speakers. Most of the patrons were young adults who were seated towards the rear of the bar, engaging each other in deep discussion about politics and art. Tom's glasses had finally cleared enough to notice the youths. Their fashion spoke to their desire to appear both cool and unmoored to entire idea of being cool he thought.

A group of burly middle-aged dockworkers sat near the front of the bar, knocking back drinks and cracking jokes at the expense of the young males in the back.

"Pencil necked pansies." one called out.

"I swear each of em thinks they're the next Karl friggin Marx!" another exclaimed.

One dockworker placed his union membership card on the table, its bright red coloring now faded into a dim orange under the bar lights. "See this right here, this is real praxis" he burped out. Tom noticed however, that despite their teasing, their eyes always seemed to linger sorrowfully on the women that sat around the young men in the back.

Tom approached the bar counter and ordered a drink. Something light he told himself, he still had to make it in to work after all. Maybe he should call in first he thought. He fished a couple of quarters out of his pocket and made his way towards the bars payphone in the back. Walking past the group of youths he noticed that the street punks he saw earlier were among them. He shot a sheepish smile at them to which the responded with a knock on their boombox and thumbs up.

He heard the music in the bar switch to Jefferson Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" as he dialed out to his receptionist's desk at his office.

"Hello, you've reached the office of Thomas Arnal at the Ministry of Defense. Is this call in regards to a scheduled appointment?"

"Lucy, this is Tom. I'm calling in to tell you I'm going to be coming in a little late today."

Tom could almost see the eyes on his receptionist's face rolling into the back of her head on the other end.

"Well you really know how to pick the right days. Things here are super busy." she prodded.

"I'm sure they are. If you could just work my meetings around for later in the day, go ahead and pencil them in for my lunch break."

"Will do. Remember, you also have an all cabinet meeting at 12:30. Its a hard one so I cant schedule around that." she added.

"I'll be in well before that Lucy, don't worry. Thanks." he answered.

"No problem sir." she finished, hanging up.

Jefferson Starship's power ballad slowly gave way to Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is."

Tom returned to the bar and began to wait out the rain, while in the back of the bar the punks had set their boom box to the public news station.

"...the rebellion in the northern states continues for the second straight year. Prompted by dissatisfaction of the local leadership and the central government's handling of the of the DNPI outbreak three years ago, what began as localized protests and strikes have slowly developed into what appears to be a small scale insurrection. Leaked intelligence documents recently revealed that fascist elements have imbedded among the protesting groups and instigated acts of violence in some areas. There is also concern that reactionary elements have even begun taking positions of power among the protesters. Klaus Bremen, the newly elected far right MP from the Golden Bloc royalist faction, has been seen giving speeches and addressing groups of armed protesters. There is also concern that influence from the Nationalist German Empire has contributed to the rise in violence in the north, however these claims have not been confirmed by our sources. Chancellor Klauffman is planning to convene a meeting with members of his cabinet today to address the unrest. Anonymous sources claim that a plan has been in the works to send the military to quell the protests but the Chancellor and others in his Red Bloc socialist faction have vehemently denied this. Minister of Defense Thomas Arnal, in a press conference given on the southern border of one of the rebellious states stated that "fascist elements have corrupted what began as a justified protest against corruption within the state government in the north." he added that "the future of our Democratic Republic will depend on the decisions made here" and that "the central government will rise to any challenge foreign and domestic in order to maintain our great nation." He concluded his remarks by stating famous statesman, Anders Hurtz's, quote from his final day in parliament back in 1951. "The leftist is the natural enemy of the fascist."

Present day Andresswhal 80 years later.
A low flying imperial ship lands in the center of what was once a public square in the Upper Point. Its search lights cut into the darkness and its rotors fling the scattered trash across the ground. A unit of troopers exit the ship and begin patrolling the streets. Soon two more ships land and disgorge additional troopers. They are all dressed in blue-grey urban camouflage and make their way towards the bombed out buildings that surround the square. Old posters litter the walls and broken windows.

One depicts a map of Kunkenga colored red with its northern states colored yellow. Invasive yellow arrows sprout from the north and snake into the rest of the map. "They've Taken the North! Don't Let Andersswhal Be Next!"

Another depicts a picture of a red fist clutching a rose and crushing a mangy black cat wearing a spiked helmet. "Crush the Fascists! Vote Red Bloc!"

Another depicts a portrait of a young man boldly looking into the distance with a small rose on his lapel. "Ernst Hurtz, OUR NEXT CHANCELLOR!"

Another simply has a picture of an old bearded man and the same young man with the rose lapel from before. Epitaphs are printed below their pictures. "Remember MP Hurtz, Chancellor Klauffman. We WILL strike back!"

Another depicts a group of armed men and women dressed in red and black holding rifles and roses. One group holds up a banner with an anchor and rope. "Support the Andersswhal Dockworkers, and the young students fighting for us ALL! Join a Red Militia Today and Take Back Our Republic!"

Another flitters quietly in a ruined storefront, faded and crudely printed on crumpled butcher paper. There is no picture "The ENEMY is NOW at OUR gates! We must DEFEND it with ALL we have!"

The imperial troopers smashed into the buildings through their rotted doors and swept through their rooms while the ships outside shone their searchlights into the windows. Sinister shadows were cast along the cracked walls and the lights revealed the targets that had been placed there for the troops to fire at.

Outside a group of military officers stood beside the ships and watched as the troops worked their way from building to building.

"Smooth operating right here, this might be one of our quickest exercises yet!" one officer remarked.

"Have we set up the demo team's exercise ready yet?" another asked.

"Yep, we've wired that old bar over there as our staging ground." another answered, pointing to a dilapidated building in the corner of the square.

A group of troops exit a building and begin making their way towards the officers.

"Eighteen minutes sir, pretty sure it's a record" one the troops says.

"And look, we found this in there too." a young private clamors, holding up a tattered flag. Its colors faint and a gaping moth hole eaten into the star at its center.

"An old republic flag." one of the officers remarks.

"Son, I'm sure you got taught that this entire city was one of the central battlefields of the Nation's War. You're bound to find tons of old republic garbage in these buildings, the cowards left everything behind when they lost." another officer sneers. "Private, that flag is as meaningless as the bum rags in our latrines. Our guys probably torn it down from there." he continued, pointing to a massive steel flagpole at the center of the square. A yellow flag with a black bugle fluttered in the night breeze at its top. "And you better believe I'm not going to let that flag get replaced any time soon. So get back in that building all of you. I want ten minutes this time!" barked the officer.

"Lets get some music here!" another officer shouts. The ships begin playing Laura Branigan's "Self Control" through their speakers as the troopers continue running their drills.

Just some back story on how the alternate version of my nation that I'm RPing as began. More info in my factbooks. Basically, somewhere before my current leader got elected, a rebellion in the north of the country got coopted by fascist groups and, with support from the Nationalist german empire, eventually beat the socialist government and they took over after a civil war. The government they created is the one I'm RPing as now.

BTW got caught up in a mass arrest at a protest and got held for like 12 hours so I've just been trying to vibe for a couple days since, hope that explains my absence Ventus Prime. They didn't press charges though so I guess that's a plus.

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