Éire Aontaithe

*"A glory to Dublin, and to her we renown,*

*In the long generations her fame will go down,*

*And our children will tell how their forefathers saw,*

*The red blaze of freedom in Erin Go Bragh."*

- "Erin Go Bragh", author unknown
Despite being only six counties, Northern Ireland is actually a rather large chunk of land in the North Atlantic, and as such has more than enough conflict to fill it.

## Lámh Dhearg Uladh

### Béal Feirste

The Front and their related members patently refuse to call what the Syndicate birthed "Satellite City" or "Urbe Celestia". That is the invading name for it, the name that threatens to wipe out the cultures of Northern Ireland in Latin and pathetic labor practices. One day it will be Belfast again to the world, but for now it is only Belfast to those who fight for it.

For decades, Belfast was a shipping town. The dockworkers would load and unload day and night for the merchant ships that would come in to port. Even as WWIII raged the ships needed a port, and Belfast was there to load up what Northern Ireland produced. Unfortunately, there were two probolems. One, there were ongoing issues with how housing and jobs were distributed among the population, and post-WWIII the work dried up faster than anyone expected. This was the reason the population of the city jumped aboard with the plans for Straylight's construction so quickly. It was only a few months later that everyone realized their mistake.

This makes Belfast the most extreme battleground in the Front's war against both the Syndicate and Allies. The Syndicate for obvious reasons, the Allies because of their allowing such things to continually happen under what is supposed to be their watch. While many in the Front who are former republicans would love to send a letter bomb of twenty to Stormont, their new alliance with the various unionists means that they have to focus on the Syndicate for now. This means that the Syndicate is finally trying to call for Allied intervention in the city, which the Allies have had a small issue with in how to appropriately move in to a city they don't technically have any jurisdiction in.

### Doire/Doire Cholmcille

The spawning pit of the "Dirtball from Derry". The final circle of the underworld, where its diabolical ruler is located. The lair of one of the most loathed individuals in all of the Phoenix Front, Apollo Fowl. All of these are just mere symbolic names for the ancestral home of the Fowl family.

For the people in that town, however, they are just as sick of the Fowls' antics as their brethren in the Front, given their history as two-faced snakes; after all, the mere mention of the Fowls' name in this town has been reduced to a term of absolute contempt. In fact, of all the counties in Northern Ireland, Derry is the one that stands out the most in all of them as they have generously aided the Phoenix Front than the rest of them when it comes to weapons, morale and Guinness. Anti-Syndicate sentiment is widespread throughout the county in form or derisive murals, scathing flyers and tumultuous citizens rallying for the Fowl family to leave the area, lest they face consequences for their stubbornness. Entire buildings, pubs, and apartments being barricaded and garrisoned in case that Fowl will have to use "lethal force" when it comes to those terrorists.

Derry was also the site of the infamous "Bloody Monday" massacre that only fueled the locals' hatred of the Satellite City gangs (and even Legion Security operatives) to monstrous levels. At January 1969, a few Satyrs descended upon a group of unarmed civilians protesting Straylight's control of Satellite City and not to mention the many terrible things that occur there in a daily base. Before the protesters knew that they were being attacked, the psychopaths were already gutting, eviscerating and dismembering protester after protester and leaving the women alive for more "megaviolence." Leaving sixty casualties in that spot. more than a hundred injured and hundreds of onlookers traumatized for life at what they saw, the Satyrs (backed up by gangsters providing fire support for them) kicked down the doors in a pub, shooting and slicing almost everyone inside in guise of "eliminating terrorists." The worst was the unexplained seizure of various female street children and teenagers, most of them the bereaved loved ones of those who were killed in the Bloody Monday to welfare houses, reputed for "things that they want you to know after your throat is slit in your sleep." Even after the Front successfully shot down the Satyrs and the gangs assisting them, such an incident like this has made them believe that the Syndicate is finally in its counterattack stance, waiting for the perfect moment to permanently suppress the rebellion.

Virtually everyone in Derry believes that Apollo Fowl was the true mastermind behind this atrocity just so he can prove to them that he will show no respite to anyone suspected of aiding the Phoenix Front that has been already meddling in his own plans, as they say. Due to this, many attempts to tear down the bastard's family manor have ended in failure, due to being sliced to bits by mono-wire walls, being frozen in place by zero-point weaponry, and outright shot in the spot by Legionnaires. Even if the Front advised everybody not to take these matters into their own hands after those attempts, time will only tell if they will succeed in their form of message to the Syndicate: a picture of the Fowl Manor, razed to the ground with dead Legion troops and destroyed battlesuits scattered all around the debris.

### Crois Mhic Lionnáin

A border town, Crossmaglen is one of the most heavily patrolled towns by Peacekeepers and Reservists in Northern Ireland. Not to keep the Phoenix Front from getting out, but to prevent them from bringing things in.

A long-held republican stronghold, Crossmaglen is quickly becoming a focal point on the border. The Allies have been forced to construct massive concrete barracks and redoubts to prevent their being damaged by Front attacks, a situation that has become complicated thanks to the introduction of Soviet flamethrowers. Though not racked by riots like Derry and Belfast, this has been traded out for the town being almost under the complete control of the Front. The Allies will only leave their bunkers in force, either in ARV convoys or Cardinal helicopters.

This has made Crossmaglen the focal point for Allied operations against the Front, primarily concerning ACIN and their actions in Northern Ireland. Anxious to start regaining their footing lost by the various and growing rebellions worldwide, the spymasters hope that they can find information to use against the Front in the small village that could break the rebel group in half. This has led to stories that nothing is off the table, from outright bribery to threatening family members. Publicly the Allies deny this as Front propaganda, claiming that the Front is desperately trying to paint the Allies as continued aggressors. The Front counters by claiming that while the Peacekeepers and reservists are indeed unwilling to take extreme measures, ACIN has traditionally never been bound by morality. They claim that the group is organizing to take desperate action in order to crush the Front, with or without Geneva's allowance. This has led to troubling rumors that the ACIN agents have been talking to some of the few remaining fighters in Northern Ireland that have remained either wholly republican or loyalist; colluding to take down the Front without getting their hands dirty. Whether or not these rumors are true is still being debated, but it has raised another question; how much does Geneva know about what's going on anymore?

### Ard Mhacha

"Bandit Country", the deadliest location for a Reservist to patrol north of the Vietnamese DMZ and west of the Saudi deserts. Bandit country is no mere soubriquet, it's a warning that the Front is in control of the roads and orchards in Armagh thanks to the support of the Continental.

A rural section of Northern Ireland, Armagh was supposed to be an easy border patrol operation to prevent smuggling between the Republic of Ireland and the semi-legal Front operations there, including money and illegal weapons. For the first few weeks of the operation, it was as easy as many reservists expected, with the typical high point of the day often stopping an old grandmother who got her new car at last and letting her brag about it for a few minutes before sending her along. Then the South Armagh Sniper Campaign started. Now the reservist garrison and the small group of Peacekeeper pathfinders brought in to try and stop the snipers are forced to keep to the skies, their lives in danger thanks to the "gift" of several modified MX-15s and anti-materiel rifles from Continental supporters.

Where Crossmaglen is a constant game of trying to not anger the city for another hour, patrolling Armagh is a long tedium interrupted by momentary terror. Kept to their Cardinals for fear of a .50 cal. round slamming through their Retriever into their body but now unable to effectively patrol the border, the reservist commanders are now debating calling in a larger Peacekeeper force, which would only draw more Peacekeepers away from areas like Vietnam, America, and the Middle East.

Legion Security did at first attempt to assist the Reservists in their duties on the border, but took even heavier loses due to their treatment of their auxiliaries. Now the only Legion operative on the border is a rogue centurion, engaged in a one-man sniper battle against the Front's snipers as the Allies try to secure the border without getting shot.

## Glacfar throid i gcoinne

### The War on Drugs

*"Lad, what you're holding there right in your hand is poison. And we'll show you how we deal with such poison around these parts."*

- A Phoenix Front volunteer to an injured drug junkie, before crushing the drugs he had.
A young man runs through the Sprawls, pursued by shadowy figures in strange uniforms. Ahead is his salvation, and he runs with all he has. Just as he thinks he's free, he's tackled before he can make it to the safety of the Legion Security post. Lira scatter across the street, quickly snapped up by the tiger stripe wearing men in balaclavas that pursued him. As they haul him away, high-grade Smilex falls from his pocket. One of the men in camo makes a point to crush it underfoot in front of the young man.

This is the common image of the Front's war on Syndicate drugs, a back alley affair of the most base skullduggery and violence. Where there are no heroes, just shades of gray and a black pit. The Front have done little to dissipate this image. If anything, they play it up. They want the average street junky looking over their shoulder twice a night, questioning whether or not that next hit will be worth it. They prefer the typical auxiliary afraid to even look at a Smilex or Syndicate-supplied tar heroin. They've found where the Syndicate makes a good chunk of their money, and are trying to hit where it hurts. The Syndicate can't afford to admit it, but it's starting to work.

Before Satellite City, Northern Ireland of course had a fair share of users and abusers for every drug you could think of. Uppers, downers, booze hounds, any conceivable combination of chemical "balancers". Satellite City only exasperated the problem, with a dozen and a half exotic drugs swamping Northern Ireland. Worse, Satellite City offered a safe haven for dealer and manufacturers to spread to the rest of the region. Derry in particular was hit hard by the drug increase, where even during the Battle of the Bogside rioters could be seen shooting up behind the barricades. Understandably, this did nothing for how Northern Ireland was perceived to the world. So the Front formed a specialized sub-unit to handle their new drug war; Front Action Against Drugs (FAAD). Given carte blance to operate wherever they tracked the drugs, FAAD is increasingly becoming a danger to any dealer and junkie in Northern Ireland. There are even rumors that desperate parents will take their junkie children to FAAD to be kneecapped, rather than wake up to find their child dead.

While some have (rightfully) criticized such tactics, FAAD has let their results argue for themselves. Kids are certainly staying far away from the substances that the Front would rather they not consume, and dealers are beginning to try and look for warmer climes when not on the streets. While the majority of the Phoenix Front agreed with what was happening, the rumors that FAAD was using the movement as an excuse to seize power in the drug world, smuggling their own drugs through the borders to sell to support the Front. Though denying these charges, it has been noted that drug activity only drops off, it doesn't stop completely where FAAD allegedly takes power. Despite the claims, as long as the Front holds on to most of the North, many feel that the Phoenix Front is the only one doing anything about the poison that's swept the nation since Satellite City was built.

### Unknown

In recent weeks in Northern Ireland, a disturbing trend has started to occur. People are just...vanishing. The Network has tried to convince the world that they're being abducted by the Allies/Syndicate/aliens, but the Front have remained amazingly silent on the matter. As far as they're concerned, these disappearances are nothing to worried about. Because they have no complaints about these vanishings.

Called "The Unknown", these disappearances are typically of those that would have no importance on the struggle. Single mothers, family men, factory workers, scattered all over Northern Ireland. To date none have been found alive or dead, without any reason for them to even vanish. Where they went, and who might have taken them, has become a point of heavy contention in the North. For the Front, the two most likely suspects are either ACIN or the mysterious force they known only as "SPIDER". As far as the Front is concerned, ACIN and SPIDER are trying to frame the Front by taking away anyone who seems innocent enough for the Front to lose face from targeting. The only difference is in what the Front believes has happened to the Unknown. If it was ACIN, the Front believes it was "witness protection", claiming that the Unknown were spirited away to secret locales with new names and lives so that they can't be found by those wh would harm them, as well as give the Front a black eye. If it was the secretive SPIDER organization, the Front fears they were either killed for not supporting whatever cause SPIDER does, or even threatening to reveal SPIDER to the world. They may never be found, or worse, found in a living hell.

ACIN has countered by reporting that the Front is responsible for the disappearances, primarily to silence their own opponents in Northern Ireland. Several of the unknown were reportedly in the company of suspected Front members before their vanishing, and three have been suggested as possible informants for the Allies. What the Allies have asked for through the Front's political wing is just information; where the bodies are buried. The Front has continually denied such charges, though rumors are starting to move, one name consistently featured above others; "Adams", leader of the Front's elite death squad.

### Songs of the Rebel

*"Oh we love you Mrs. Thatcher, you're the cutest girl of all*
*We all know that the Legion has been bought under your thrall*
*So why bother with the PKs when you know they're not the best*
*Because the Legion won't ask twice when told to kill the rest"*

- "Mrs. Thatcher", writer unknown
*"Go on home, Legion soldiers, go on home*
*Have you got no fecking homes of your own?*
*For the fourteen dead in Derry are the last that you will bury*
*Take a tip and leave us while you may"*

- "Go Home Legion Soldiers", writer unknown
*"Oh every man throughout the land sings 'Hey there, I'm a volunteer'*
*And every lad has a Molotov in hand over there sir, I do declare sir*
*And every schoolboy with a face full of joy sings the Phoenix Front will win*
*So it isn't that surprising that there is another rising says the man from the Daily Mail"*

- "Man from the Daily Mail", writer unknown
Ireland is a musical land, primarily because when you're stuck inside for months out of the year because it won't stop raining, you need something to do before you go insane. Music was also a way for the Irish to express their sorrows, singing about the various failed revolts and revolutions made against British rule until the treaty. Since then a long tradition of "rebel songs" have survived in the Irish culture, celebrating those who fight against the impossible for what they believe. The formation of the Front has done little to harm the tradition, and if anything has only brought more songs and bands willing to sing them. Officially, the Allies have banned such songs from even being broadcast or sold in stores, though the attitude of the sprawls towards such restrictions means that smuggling the music out of Belfast to the rest of the world has become a small fraction of the Front's money trail.

### When Law Fails

They come in the night and drag you out of your bed, gun in your face. You know why they're going after you, and know your family will be left alive. Small comfort that you're still not getting away unscathed. As they blast through your kneecaps, all you can think is that you're better off dead.

With Satellite City rising out of Belfast, many Irish feel failed by the Allies rule of law. The sprawls have no rules or regulations, the courts and law easily bought by lira. The Phoenix Front knows how these people feel, as they're among these people. Knowing that the people are probably more open to those who will actually try to enforce law, the Front has taken it upon themselves to start acting as the law for those without any.

Surprisingly, it's not as simple as pointing at the person who cheated you out of a deal and accusing them of murder. The Front needs real, honest proof that the subject has committed some crime worthy of a punishment. Corroborating statements by others are always a plus, as well as a Front member willing to vouch for the accuser. What typically gets the crime confirmed is the accused down on the ground in tears begging for mercy for what they've done. Most minor crimes are simply worth a quick and brutal beating, the subject left alive to ponder their mistakes. More brutal crimes get the accused a kneecapping, a brutal punishment in the sprawls. Typically, the victim is forced into a chair and is shot through both knees. Left alive, the victim is often left both in immense pain and crippled for life; the human knee doesn't quite heal right if damaged as such. It also marks them as part of the Front's criminal targets, quickly making them a social pariah in Northern Ireland. When it comes to the most serious of crimes, the Front wastes no time in eliminating the suspect.

Free of Allied laws in the sprawls, both Thatcher and Fowl are getting fed up with the Front's acting like a police force in Belfast, but for vastly different reasons. For Thatcher, the reality is that the Front's vigilante justice does nothing but perpetuate the idea that the real authorities are useless when it often needs the trust of the people. The more the Front carries on their campaign of vigilante justice, the worse for the people of Northern Ireland when control is eventually restored. Fowl just hates that the Front keeps going after his associates before they can make another deal. This has resulted in a PR campaign to point out that the Front has, in fact, targeted innocent people already, mistaking them for dealers and murderers. The Front has remained quite silent on the matter; whether this is admission or not, it certainly has been damning for them to acknowledge these mistakes in public.