Out of sight - out of mind - left to fester unchecked

[aimway921]

It has been almost a full year since the devastating earthquake and tsunami on the R'yuku Island. While East R'yuku, governed by Baron Churko, was getting back on it's feet, with the governor swiftly organizing and even personally participating in rescue efforts from the ruined provincial capital that took the brunt of the catastrophe, and was now building a new city to act as the provincial capital, entirely from scratch, meanwhile the people of West R'yuku have been abandoned by their governor, Baron Artim - everywhere but on paper. 

The corrupt noble also travelled to the capital to seek funds for rebuilding, and he took enough to reclaim and rebuild a sizable portion of the destroyed city. Instead, they went to building a new palace for the Baron on the main island. 

The first who noticed that they were left to their own devices were, of course, the survivors in Erie, who saw no organized rescue effort from their local government. Instead help came from the local population of war veterans, who have organized themselves and worked efficiently to save as many people as they could. After several days of no word from the government, they sent a messenger to the Baron's Palace to find out what's going on, and what should they do next - only to find it abandoned - with clear signs that the Baron packed up his stuff and fled. 

Word began spreading, but not everyone believed it - especially people living on farms closer to the interior of the island, that barely even felt the earthquake. But then the scheduled tax collection simply did not arrive. 

Even the petty nobility that resided on the island didn't particularly understand what was going on. 

But those war veterans who understood the situation they were in first, and have organized first, saw what was happening, and in it, they saw an opportunity. 

"My brothers," Vasyl Chuchupak, the veteran that de-facto became the leader of the group, that was gaining new members every day. "So the Baron is gone. With him gone are repressive laws and strangling taxation. But he also took with him any sort of organized structure that we would've otherwise relied on to get us out of this mess caused by the natural disaster."

The men sitting at the table silently looked at their leader. They were sitting in a small shack, constructed partially of reclaimed wood from the ruined city, and partially with a tent tarp. 

"So we've been thinking, what can we do about this?" Chuchupak continued. "Some of you proposed, go the other Baron, across the provincial border, Churko. We even seen a number of people pack up what little belongings they could recover and go there. But don't you see brothers - he is but another noble. Not only that, he's the bloody cousin of the bastard that left us to our fates! Who's to say he won't eventually do the same? Now people are beginning to starve, dozens already died as we're running extremely short on water. No, we have to take matters into our own hands!"

"And how do you propose we do that?" one of the men, an older Kenradi (R'yuku native race) asked. "Why would the people listen to us?"

"Brothers, we have been to Franerre. We have been in Tafatu. Have we not brought any knowledge of those places back with us in our hearts and minds?! For crying out loud, we have spilled our blood for the creation of a republic where the decisions are made by all the people, not just a select few who happened to be born rich! And we come home to THIS?!"

"Down with the nobles!" one of the foxed shouted out, raising his fist. 

"Exactly," Chuchupak said, pointing his finger at the one who cried out. "It's about time we change how we run things here. If the Baron has simply up and left, that means there's now a power vacuum, and it's only a matter of time before someone fills it. I say let it be us, and bring freedom to the people, rather than some other noble that shall exploit us just as the last one has!"

"Freedom!" another one shouted, as he stood up.

"Or death." Chuchupak said, as if finishing the other man's sentence. "Because if we do this, no doubt they'll view as us rebels trying to separate from the Hetmanate."

"Freedom or death!" several more picked up the new slogan, as they stood up and cheered. 

The West R'yuku insurrection has begun.

[aimway921]

The growing band of rebellious soldiers, calling themselves the Black Guard, have began spreading the word across the nearby territories. Coming through a nearby village that wasn't touch by the disaster as much as the city, and igniting the local population to join their cause, they have declared the R'Yuku Free Territory - with the capital in said village of Kholodny Yar.

Over a week, the supporters of Chuchupak's cause rose to about 5,000. However, only about 750 of them could be considered of fighting condition. To make matters worse - in the event they need to stand their ground, they only had a dozen rifles at most, and just over 100 rounds of ammunition. The good news was that they knew where to get some more. The R'yuku Military District had 2 Army bases, one of them being not too far from Baron Artim's old mansion. Manned with only 500 personnel, they would pose little resistance to the Black Guard should they choose to fight. Cut off from any communication, they had little idea of what was going on on the island. Chuchupak decided to try and reason with them, allowing them a chance to join the Black Guard rather than fighting.

The officer in charge, Major Konstantin Nervych declined even the possibly of such an action, and even sent some subordinates to contact the High Command - who in the middle of the night were promptly intercepted by the Black Guard, beaten to a pulp and, under the cover of darkness, dumped in front of the military base's front gate. The personnel in the base responded by hastily putting up sandbags to block the front gate and setting up a machine gun. The Black Guard, meanwhile, surrounded the base. The ensuing standoff would last for 2 days before Chuchupak sent a negotiator under the white flag. Reminding the soldiers that they will very soon run out of food - a direct consequence of the nobles that they still held loyalty to having abandoned them, they gave them one more chance to join them and hand over their guns.

While Nervych still declined the offer, the negotiation happening in full view (and earshot) of many soldiers had it's desired effect. The seed of doubt has been planted in the common rank and file of the soldiers, and as the day ended, the night passed and the new day began, many have been convinced that they should join the Black Guard.

The ensuing mutiny saw 30 casualties, Major Nervych and many officers being among them. The remaining 60 soldiers who refused to change their loyalties were allowed to keep their lives - as long as they got the hell off the island. This was a decision that Chuchupak's followers criticized, as they believed these 70 soldiers would eventually be back under a new officer - and as part of a much larger force.

The Black Guard, however, gained 400 new fighters, 10 machine guns, 500 rifles and 50,000 rounds of ammunition. The shortage of weapons was still big, so for now many fighters were equipped with melee weapons - many of them improvised from farm instruments.

Next came the very first call to action that the Black Guard called for. The Black Guard went around the mansions of the petty nobility on the island. All of them were given a choice - pack up their things and leave, or get packed up into a box and buried. Some complied, but some resisted - which resulted in several dozen more killings over the next few days. 

While all of this was going on, the farmers were mobilized to provide food for the destitute survivors of the Eirie city while those continued to pull what could be scavenged and reused from the ruined city, along with cutting down several acers of forest in the interior of the island to make for lumber to construct new buildings. Kholodny Yar would be expanded greatly, in the direction of the Baron's abandoned mansion - which itself would be made the seat of government of the new R'Yuku Free Territory. Chuchupak, confident in the people's support in him, chose to hold an election for who should become the new leader of their community - or commune, as Chuchupak began calling it. While consciously he didn't even think about it, the fact that all the men with the guns were following his orders played a role in both the fact that people have vocally supported him - and the fact that he happened to run unopposed in the election he himself created - Chuchupak became the new governor. Although he refused to call himself that, just calling himself a brave leader. Based on their knowledge and skills, he assigned several of his friends to be his advisors - financial, agricultural, industrial and military. 

Without anyone even noticing it thanks to Baron Artim's bogus reports of recovery progress to cover up the fact that he embezzled all the funds provided to him from the Royal Government, over the course of a month the Western half of the R'yuku island became a rebellious anarchist state within Ashinara. But that would not last for too long, for at first, the 70 soldiers who were expelled after the mutiny in the Army Base, and then the petty nobles one by one began contacting the relevant Royal authorities in Kyograd. It was not long until the report of the incident was in front of Queen Yuzura.

[aimway921]

The Queen has read the reports of the events in Eirie Province, and was unsure on how to proceed. On one hand, the province was in open rebellion. On the other hand, they were trying to implement a democratic system for themselves, albeit in a roundabout, violent way, it seemed so far. Democratizing Ashinara was a long-term goal for Yuzura, after all, and making the wrong move now could lead to unintended consequences in the future. After some deliberation with her Rada, the Queen decided to first go for diplomacy. Allow the rebels to incorporate back into Ashinara as an autonomous region.

But first, justice must be dealt. The Royal Guard was ordered to arrest Baron Artim. This would set a precedent for the future, as this was the first time the Royal Guard was used as the Queen's personal law enforcement outside of just protecting the Royal Palace and the Queen. All of his property that the funds he has embezzled were invested into was confiscated, along with the money he has not yet embezzled. This included several large plots of land in the Garkon' countryside, a mansion on Akvilla's outskirts and several houses in Akvilla itself. The governor of Garkon', Count Leonti de la Feyrr offered his assistance with the local law enforcement and his own personal Guard to assist. It couldn't have been a better situation that Artim decided to flee from Eirie to Garkon, as Count de la Feyrr was a close friend to the Queen, and a vital political ally in her democratization ambitions. Overal, the total value of about 80% of the embezzled funds have been recovered.

Next, Yuzura sent a negotiator to the Black Guard. A young man of common birth - so chosen due to the reports of Black Guard violence against even the pettiest of nobility - Fedor Sumkin, has been sent as a representative. 

[aimway921]

The conditions laid out before Chuchupak were simple: They can secede, which will free them from the obligations before the Royal Government - chiefly the taxes - but will also loose access to all the benefits. The Royal Education Program, the Tsunami Recovery Fund, which has been recovered from the embezzling baron, protection in times of war, everything - Eirie Free Territory will be on it's own.

Alternatively, they can continue existing as part of Ashinara, under the status of Autonomous Region. Under such a status, they shall be allowed to have their own Rada, constructed the way they see fit. They will be able to make decisions pertaining to their region themselves, with few limitations - their decisions shall need separate approval from the Royal Court should they require funding from the Royal Court. The Royal Court, in turn, will be obligated to ask for approval of the Eirie Rada for taking decisions on Eirie's territory - such as leasing land to foreign companies in international deals, building new military bases, etc. Eirie will also be able to maintain their own military force, with their own police force, separate from the Royal Army and Royal Gendarmerie respectively. Their army will, however, be required to assist the Royal Army in times of war, and their policed force will be required to help the Royal Gendarmerie with investigations should they spill over into Eirie's jurisdiction. They shall maintain free trade with the rest of Ashinara, and be allowed to engage in their own free trade with other nations - with the exception of the nations that Ashinara explicitly does not engage with, such as Galra, for obvious reasons. Most importantly, rather than appointing a new noble to be the governor of the region, Eirie will be able to appoint or elect their own governor. Besides organizing the day-to-day operation of the Region, the new governor's job will also be an intermediary between the people of Eirie and the Royal Government.

It took several days for the newly created Revolutionary Council to discuss the offer they were given. Several wanted to rejected it outright, while Chuchupak himself and a number of others understood the reality of the situation - if they do not agree, they will be branded traitors to the Crown - not that he had any objections to that in particular - but more importantly, their little Revolution will be drowned in blood by the Royal Army in a matter of months if not weeks - and they will be no more than a forgotten footnote in Ashinara's history. At least for now, they had to agree to this deal.