Rallying Cry the Organizer

**Rallying Cry the Organizer** was the leader of an attempted overthrow of the Technocracy in the Circle in the late Classical Era.

## Ideals

Rallying Cry believed that humanity should be allowed to grow on its own, that liberty was the most sacred value, and that the Immortals had deprived humanity of the right to self-determination.

Rallying Cry was a staunch believer in the recently invented form of government known as a Democratic Republic, in which members of nations voted, not simply for local issues, but for the representatives who decided on the policies under which they were governed. The idea had been dismissed by the meritocratic Technocracy for its obvious flaws.

## Military Career

Rallying Cry was a commander for the Foreign Intervention Forces during the period in which they were absorbed by the Unbounded Forces. His assignments kept him in the Southern Unclaimed territories of the Eastern Block, where he worked alongside many local groups, including the Amir.

## Rebellion

Rallying Cry raised an army of new citizens who were discontent with their nation's assimilation into the Circle, and non-citizens who were unhappy with the Circle's interference in their region. Rallying Cry himself claimed that the Technocracy had violated their religious and cultural freedoms, and had destroyed the lifestyles and livelihoods with its need to pacify the region. Most notably, worshipers of violent gods, such as Gogalith, were among the most ruthless of his supporters, as they were the most persecuted groups: the religious rites of infant mutilation, living sacrifice, ritual rape, and heretic burning were all opposed by the Technocracy.

Rallying Cry began his march in the Northern side of the Southern Unclaimed Western Block, along the border of the outer circle. He quickly met resistance among local leadership, and often had to leave towns after violent incidents. At some point, he took a turn to the west to gather more troops from the edge of the badlands, where he was contacted by Tallet agents. The Tallet offered him a large supply of weaponry and armor, which he initially resisted on the grounds that the Tallet Empire was "even worse than the Technocracy", but eventually ceded. It was at this point that his small, ragtag army became a dangerous fighting force, finally catching the full attention of the Unbounded Forces.

Rallying Cry drove back Southeast, moving towards the southern edge of the circle, picking up a large number of followers for his army in regions where worshipers of The Hungry Sun were being persecuted by the Technocracy: these new warriors were experienced, as their had been raiding the surrounding areas for sacrifice to their sun-eating god for centuries before the Technocracy had intervened. It was at this point that his army, now called the *Army of Liberty*, ran into their first detachment of the Unbounded Forces. Hundreds of soldiers died in the ensuing skirmishes, where Rallying Cry had anticipated the tactics of the Unbounded and trained his troops appropriately, and the Unbounded, who had not had a large amount of time to prepare did not expect the attacking force to be as well trained or well armed as they were. The Army of Liberty emerged victorious when the Unbounded were forced to pull back and regroup. Morale bolstered by their victory over the most powerful army in the area, with new volunteers coming quickly, the Army moved onto the Circle itself.

With the sudden increase in size, it was at this point that Rallying Cry began to lose control of his army: ritual-sacrifice and heretic-purging had been integral parts of the cultures which the Technocracy had been oppressing, and Rallying Cry and his sub-commanders quickly found themselves unable to prevent their troops from engaging in these behaviors. At some point, Hungry Sun worshipers had built a mobile sacrificial-pedestal upon which they fed the sun captives every night, worried that without the regular sacrifices, the sun needed extra food. Meanwhile, the priests of Gogalith began preaching that liberated villages should be set on fire to please the angry god.

Rallying Cry was finally defeated and captured while moving on Eden, which was the least defended and thus the most vulnerable of the inner circle provinces, and the most likely for him to recruit in, when his forces were surrounded by the Circle of Shields which had moved down from Whitewood, and the Unbounded which had been following him. Rallying Cry attempted to surrender at this point, but lost control of his army when the most violent members pushed the others into a fervor, causing the majority to fight to the death. Rallying Cry was captured with his remaining troops and brought to stand trial before the Technocracy in Kallipolis.

## Trial

Rallying Cry was treated as a bandit leader, and was held responsible for everything those he had commanded had done, which included the religious rites of the Unclaimed cultures among his ranks. Presiding over the trial was The Princess herself, who was chosen to represent the Technocracy on what was seen as a delicate matter: this had been a clash of ideals, and the Technocracy's very status as a legitimate government was the point of conflict.

Rallying Cry's guilt was obvious, and the crimes presented were most definitely heinous. The main point of contention was whether or not he had the right, not as a citizen, but as a human being to raise an army against the Technocracy. The trial was less to decide what to do with him and more to make clear why what he had done was wrong.

Rallying Cry spent several decades in prison, where he was repeatedly denied release on the fear that he may attempt to raise another army. He continued to write essays and papers on political theory until he died in prison.

## Aftermath

The rebellion is seen as one of the key factors in the eventual complete abdication of the Western Block immortals, as it had shown the level of displeasure that was building towards them among a population which had seen their flaws. Conversely, it is also potentially where the initial ideas which lead to the Great Treason took root.

Meanwhile, after losing so many warriors in the war, the cultures which worshiped Gogalith and The Hungry Sun were nearly eradicated from the region by the end of the Classical Era.

Interestingly enough, the concept of a Democratic Republic has been used in several of the Unclaimed nations, especially in the Eastern Block.