Civil Unrest
Sporatic Reports of growing unrest have popped up around the Verse. Some claim that a new independence movement has begun to gain traction, especially in the Border and Rim worlds, others claim this is nothing more than circumstantial frustrations due to Verse-wide events such as the Quarantine or Parliamentary troubles, still others claim opportunists are taking advantage of the problems for personal political gain.
Examples:
- Jan 2520 - Food rioting on New Hope pits locals against Federal Marshals protecting rice shipments to the Core.
- April 2520 - Federal Marshals clash with Meadow's Civil Defense Militia or Militsiya at a Naval Base in New Sevastopol.
- Sep 2520 - Coup or Coups attempted on Parliament. Shortly after that happened, the Navy declared Martial Law.
- Sep 2520 - The Long Quiet. The Cortex shuts down simultaneously across the Verse. How this happened is unknown, who did it, if anyone is unknown. But the effects are instantaneous and dramatic. Without the primary computer and communications tool, the Verse's economy has shutdown, or at least stuttered. But as the saying going, with every challenge there is an opportunity.
Three Factions have arisen in the wake of the Long Quiet, and the coups. The Alliance Navy is maintaining law and order, and keeping the peace along the spacelanes, and orbits of the Core Planets. The Mandarin-Tories are a group of politicians and aristocrats who believe that more conservative, centrally run government is necessary to deal with the current problems. The Wu Ba (or Five Hegemons) are a group of Oligarchs that are promoting decentralized Capitalism and Liberal democratic policies. Represented in the ranks of the Wu Ba: BlueSun, H2 Enterprises, Weyland-Kutani, UBS and the Tong. The MTs are believed to be based in the City of Windsor on Londinium, the Wu Ba are believed to be operating out of the Naval Vessel Sun Tzu in orbit around Sihnon.
