Red Summer
From ElanVital
The Red Summer was a three-month-long insurrection against the Titanian government led by then-Field Marshal Conrad Kurz during the summer of 710.
In Ostara of 710, the new settlement of Alert was established on the very edge of the frontier to serve as a lookout point for Charon. Its location was perilously close to the edge of the Sessuyan hunting grounds protected by the Peace of 693; the Titanian government argued that it was necessary, but the Sessuyan angrily expelled all human ambassadors from Ysiris in protest.
During Alert's official declaration, a force of beasts attacked in what would later be known as the Alert Massacre, wiping out over a thousand civilian settlers, their militia guards, and then-Field Marshal Nora Mallard. Notably, the Massacre was far worse than it might have been due to insufficient troop presence in Alert and unprepared response from Charon - it took two hours before support could arrive and re-secure the city.
The tragedy took a sinister turn after recovery of flight recorders from militia close air support revealed that countermeasures designed to frighten leaderless beasts failed, and that they used tactics reminiscent of a Sessuyan attack. The gruesome footage was seized on by then-General of the Army Kurz, who began to speak out publicly about the incident, declaring it as a clear act of Sessuyan aggression. At the time, political opinion believed that Kurz was merely positioning himself for the Field Marshal's chair.
Rumors of a cover-up begin to spread, suggesting the government knew very well that the Sessuyan attacked but was attempting to conceal it from the people. As outrage built in Titania, the High Council was unable to generate much of a response beyond calls for investigation and boilerplate expressions of grief. After a demonstration caused chaos in the streets, the High Council quickly appointed Kurz, who promised a measured response, to the Field Marshal's chair.
The charismatic Kurz, a bulldog of a man who led rough and ready armored troops against the beasts prior to 693, was initially and immediately popular. He deployed militia forces to the frontier to protect civilians, and began air patrols beyond the frontier to monitor beast movements. However, as Ostara progresses, Kurz began to move into the diplomatic sphere, making demands on the Sessuyan to produce those responsible for the disaster. He also positioned military units in the foothills of the Poleveskian Mountains.
Amera Felix Petakova began to question Kurz' actions to the rest of the High Council; the Council vacillated on whether or not to censure him, some fearing the specter of war he seemed to be courting and others approving of his hard-line demands for Sessuyan accountability.
A protest by young, educated Titanians followed, led by Amber Kingston against the belligerent moves undertaken by the Militia. As an ambassador to the Sessuyan, she was immediately suspected by Kurz and other hardliners. On the fifth day of Kingston's protests, which have occupied the Courts of Water and Land, the gates to the Court of Sky opened and riot police dispersed the protests with some loss of life.
The Amera, appalled by the violence against Titanians and Kurz' political maneuverings, publicly denounced Kurz. He intended to work with Kingston and hold new elections to replace the High Council and rein in Kurz. Several Councilors, also seeing the madness of the current trajectory, secretly offered support to Kingston and Felix.
However, Kurz was spying on the Council and moved to pre-empt the political maneuverings against him. Launching midnight raids on the homes of the Amera, the dissident Councilors, and Amber Kingston, he arrested the Amera and the Councilors on charges of concealing the Sessuyan's violence from the people, but Kingston's supporters ensured her escape. Kurz immediately went to the rump Council, and, having thoroughly intimidated them, secured an order declaring martial law. In turn, the Field Marshal dissolved the High Council, leaving him as Titania's only power.
With Kingston on the run and the Council in jail, Peace lasted through the end of Ostara and into Aestas. Kurz successfully consolidated power, shifting assignments within the Militia to placate his critics. Kingston fled to the sea, working on the next step of the rebellion from an illicit vessel. Kurz continued to make belligerent statements towards the Sessuyan, but they remained silent and unresponsive.
In mid-Aestas, Kurz began to push the boundaries of the Peace of 693. In direct contravention of its principles, he ordered the bombing of key Sessuyan hunting grounds near Alert, unambiguously within the protected zone. Several pilots were lost in the brief campaign as the beasts defended themselves. While Kurz memorialized the deaths and began to craft a nationalist narrative, family members of the pilots at Fort Solomon angrily mourned the loss of their sons and daughters. The realities of war began to sink in.
With the march to war appearing inevitable, a woman who lost two brothers to the air raid on the breeding grounds immolated herself at the gates of the Fort Solomon Naval Base to protest the descent into conflict. It was the spark that touches off widespread protests throughout the island against the state. Behind the scenes, Kurz ordered the admiral of the Titanian Navy to suppress the protests with the same vigor used by his forces against the Court of Water and Land protests weeks before. As the admiral appeared to dither, Kurz planned to airlift soldiers loyal to him to Fort Solomon to restore control. Kingston, in exile, began to act as a conduit to disseminate information about the protests, as Kurz began to censor Titanian itself.
Kurz was unable to follow through on his plans to airlift due to the admiral's opposition. The sdmiral refused to deploy her troops against the protesters. Accordingly, Kurz ordered the captain of the Oppenheimer, the Titanian Navy's other heavy battleship, to arrest the admiral for treason. A battle between Militia factions ensued in Fort Solomon; the admiral ultimately prevailed when a foolhardy attack led by Corporal Faith Petakova caused the Oppenheimer's arc battery to malfunction and kill its Captain as well as many of the officers allied with Kurz.
Kurz' open moves against the Titanian Navy led the admiral to side explicitly with the protesters. Fort Solomon was the first territory to fall to the anti-government forces. The admiral and Kingston allied to work on a plan to depose Kurz's illegal rule. As a result, protests began to rock Titania all over again. Militia units beyond Kurz' immediate control remained on the sidelines, and Kurz began to lose his grip on the city. He maintained a hardline cadre of soldiers, however, and ensured that Titania's formidable defenses remain firmly in his control. With the city's defenses under his control, it was impossible for the admiral or other militia units to bring their force to bear against Kurz.
Despite Kurz's precarious position in Titania, he had continued provocative acts against the Peace of 693. There was a method to this madness: Kurz intended to use the prospect of renewed war, no matter its source, as a means of rallying support to prevent a civil war that might weaken humanity and allow the Sessuyan to overrun them. To an extent his plan was successful, but Kingston's movement prevented complete Militia buy-in to the idea. Throughout Demetia, a tense stalemate ensued, Kurz's forces putting down protests where they could.
Lorana Loughlin was the first soldier to publically refuse to put down a gathering of rebels; instead, she removed her badge and joined the protests. When told to arrest her, veteran soldiers Dominic Dumah and Carmen Novak also defected (slightly less blatantly) and joined up with the rebellion. More soldiers followed, though much of the Militia remained indecisive.
In mid-Mahes, the rebels made their move. Using the expertise of Vaston Stonehill and Torath Dimbleweed, scientists with intimate knowledge of Titanian technology, they turned out the lights. Monkey-wrenching teams composed of the most motivated protesters undertook widespread sabotage against power plants and factories operated by Titania Poly-Dynamics. Titania was left nearly defenseless. On the same night the Titanian Fleet, with the Archimedes and the admiral at its head, sets sail for the mainland from Fort Solomon.
With the Titanian Navy bearing down on him and the streets full of protesters, Kurz turned to Felix Petakova to attempt to use him as a figurehead in a consensus government. However, the Amera attacked the Field Marshal and revealed himself as an impostor, leading Kurz to believe the real Felix Petakova had escaped. Left with no way to placate the people, the Fleet or Amber Kingston with a semblance of legitimacy to his rule, Kurz began to plan for outright civil war.
Kingston arrived in Titania on Mahes 20th. The fleet remained at sea, but the formidable guns of the Titanian Navy prevented Kurz from stopping the landing. However, that protection soon evaporated as the protesters ascended the seaside cliffs to the city itself. Kurz issued a direct order to the commander of the Crimson Arrows squadron to attack the convoy. A group of three of the distinctive red Peregrines took off on an intercept course with Kingston's vehicle. At the last second, however, the lead plane pulled out of the attack. The other pilots followed suit, refusing to carry out the order.
The air force's defection turned tension into outright battle. The Militia rose at last, many troops rebelling and others staying to defend Kurz. The assault on the fortified Court of Sky was a brutal affair, but at last the gates were forced open. Faced with defeat, Kurz killed himself in the early morning of Mahes 21st rather than be tried for his crimes.
When taken out of the cells, the previous Amera revealed his deception to all and sundry. Amber Kingston rose to interim power in his stead, and official power as the new Amera when elections were held. The Bureau of Justice tried and executed several high ranking militia officers for their part in the near overthrow of the Titanian government. Most of the soldiers who fought for Kurz were pardoned due to genuine belief in the false charges upon which the previous government was arrested.
In the wake of the Red Summer, peace has returned. Alert was relocated approximately 100 miles to the south, taking it out of the Sessuyan's hunting grounds; the Sessuyan have officially sworn that they had nothing to do with the attack, and the rumor that they did is largely considered discredited except by a few hardliners.
