To:- Minister Ithana Tyraa
We thank you for the aid offered, however because of the chaos on the ground at the moment we would suggest that rather than bringing supplies in via Seleucid ports that they arrive via either Tamora or the Celtic Protectorate. This is for the safety of the supplies you are generously providing but also for the crews bringing them to our aid. We thank you deeply and hope one day we can repay your generosity.
Kind Regards
King Hadi of Royal Seleucid.
Spoiler: Map of Seleucid show 22nd February, Hafthar, the Celtic Protectorate. 3amLt-Col Isaac Mulligan looked out at the blurry eyed soldiers before him in the hangar of the Protectorates HQ. Leave had been cancelled and extra troops flown in from Ui Cenneslaig to be ready for the day, teams of medics were busily preparing the armoured vehicles as makeshift ambulances. "Ladies and Gentleman you do not need me to tell you how much of a powder keg today is. We've had some troubling days of late but I'm sure we can get through today and then things should calm down. Remember out on the streets people will make rash decisions, we need to make sure ours aren't among them. No one is to fire their weapon unless loss of life is a real and present danger, I trust you all capable of making that decision. You're all briefed on your duties, stay safe and lets make sure nothing goes crazy out there." There were solemn nods as the various officers headed off to their own units ready for the deployment.
The first APC's rumbled out from behind the concrete and wire walls soon after each heading into the city itself, they'd highlighted twenty important cross roads and an APC would be sat at each of them, its crew keeping a watch on the traffic and ready to shut the thing down at a moments notice. Mulligan had suspected that if he could stop traffic and lock the cities roads down then it would stop gangs forming should things turn nasty. Outside every temple dedicated to the Cult a vehicle was parked and a military presence put on show. Hopefully that would be enough to stop people coming searching for food during the ceremonies that were to come. As the residents of the city woke up the Celts were out and about already, they were not an uncommon sight on the streets since the crisis began but it was obvious there was much more of a presence today.
22nd February, Anjir, Royal Seleucid, 6amThe alarm buzzed and Rosanna Amedi woke from her snoozing, she eased her 82 year old aching bones out of bed and headed to the bathroom. She began singing as she washed remembering what the day was. She may live outside the Protectorate and her shrine to Marissa one of the smallest in the nation but she was always excited for the small Cultist community here to come together and worship on the Feast of Helus. She laid out her freshly cleaned and ironed robes, found her simple rope belt and threaded her sword onto it. She got dressed, looked in her bare cupboards, found a packet of biscuits with two left, snapped one in half and began to eat it. There was a knock on the door, she knew people would be checking about the service at 7:30am but hadn't expected anybody to up and about at this time so was a little shocked. She crossed to the door and opened it keeping it on the security chain.
"Priestess Amedi?" a voice she didn't recognise enquired politely.
"Yes." she glanced at the two men, both very smartly dressed in suits.
"Oh, Good Morning Priestess Amedi" the first man said again reaching into his pocket and removing what looked like a wallet and showed a military ID. "I'm Major Zacharias Floros of the Military Police" he saw Rosanna step back away from the door and he held up both his hands showing they were empty "We are not here for trouble Ma'am" he smiled. "This is my colleague Sergeant Jalil Argyris"
"Good Morning Ma'am" the Sergeant, also dressed in a suit showed his ID too.
"To help reassure the population we thought it best not to be in uniform, gives the wrong impression. I'm afraid though Ma'am that an allegation has been made that you have been hording food, which goes against the decree of the King." The Priestess rolled her eyes, she should have expected this the local non-Cultists making such nonsense. "If we can take a quick look we'd appreciate your co-operation." The door shut and they heard the security chain being removed before the door opened again. "May I ask you to just stand over there please" Floros asked as he and Argyris entered the small flat. "We'll be as quick as we can." The men opened doors of cupboards, had a quick rummage around and looked behind pots and pans. They even checked inside the washing machine. "May I look in there?" Floros said in a tone that was more for information than genuinely asking permission. Amedi nodded and Floros went in, opened wardrobes and draws before taking a quick glance under the bed. "I apologise for the intrusion. Clearly you've nothing much, please make sure you register for some aid though. You should be near the head of the line based on your age. May you have a wonderful Helus Day." The man said completly getting the gesture wrong but at least he'd been respectful. As they left Floros left her a piece of paper saying she'd been searched and found innocent, "Just in case any neighbours are awkward" he smiled as he began closing the door behind him, he stopped. "Oh, yes that reminds me. Our next stop is your shrine, is someone there or will you need to come with us."
Amedi rolled her eyes and followed them down to the car. After a ten minute drive they arrived at the Shrine, already a group of worshippers were gathering outside and called to Amedi as she stepped out the car. She reassured them everything was fine and went to unlock the chain that was used to keep the front doors secure in addition to the normal lock. It clanged on the floor as it slipped through her fingers and Argyris scooped it up and handed it to her. The door was unlocked and Floros gestured for her to lead them inside.
"Do I need to take my shoes off or anything?" Floros asked as he stopped himself crossing the threshold. "Sorry I've not been inside a Shrine before" he explained.
"It's fine just come in" Amedi waved them in and the two men entered as two uniformed NCO's joined them from the group that had been sat outside waiting for the two senior men to arrive.
"I promise we'll be careful and be gone in just a minute or two" Floros headed towards the alter, there was a small piece of bread in a basket but everything else was non-edible, he then made his way into the room that was apparently the Shrines kitchen where food would be prepared at certain times of the year. He found two packets of biscuits, a paper wrapped portion of smoked ham and two eggs, hardly a feast and nothing outside what the King's decree commanded.
"Sir" a Privates voice called for him and Floros made his way back into the main hall and towards the door at the back where the soldier was stood. "I think we've an issue" there in what was a small office were boxes, hundreds of them each marked with JET emblems and in Celtic, the hijacked supplies from the Celtic Protectorate. They were stacked around the desk from floor to ceiling blocking out the light in the room through any window and almost knocking the ceiling fan down.
"Arrest her, get these out of here" Floros tone had changed now. "You greedy bitch" he chastised her as she begged innocence claiming to have no knowledge of what was there or how it got there. "No doubt your mighty God Helus magiced them there for you on his birthday or some bullshit." he said as he noticed the gathering Cultists watching and felt the tension rise. "Block of the street. No one within 100 meters" he gave orders to the soldiers present who began carrying out his orders while calling in the rest of the towns military to lend a hand, that call also brought in the media as a TV news crew with a radio scanner picked up the news. They arrived just in time to see a military truck being loaded with the boxes of food from inside and within an hour the images were being beamed back to News HQ.
THE GOOD MORNING SELEUCID SHOW. 8 am"Good Morning and to our Cultist brothers and sisters a joyous Feast of Helus.......(fast forward 15 minutes of various news features)......... We're getting reports coming in of a series of arrests." The camera cuts to video footage of the Shrine being cleaned out of food. "In total police made three arrests and removed 2,000 packs of military style rations. The local military commander has now begun distributing these to the elderly and sick in the area, the groups which the food was originally intended for. There have been other similar searches of Cultist temples across the Kingdom and so far we've no reports of any other arrests.......oh.....we've more breaking news, the Temple of Helus in Ipsus, the nations 2nd biggest temple to the Cult which originates in East Moreland, has been found to be in possession of several hundred ration packs. We'll bring you more throughout the hour."
Tamora-Royal Seleucid Border 8:15am#
It was like someone had flicked a switch pulling the Cultists together. A group of about 150 walked off the road and about 100meters away into a dusty patch of ground that would normally have been a field. They sat on the ground and each placed their bags on the ground, a handful had swords on their hips and a group of children sat in among them. They had formed a large circle, strangers sitting together as several more noticed them and made their way over, at first some in the line to cross the border yelled at them thinking they would be trying to cut the line but then fell silent when it was clear they were not. Soon the group was some 200 people. Soon they became just a spectacle to those making the border crossing, that was until they began to sing,
a song of Helus. The song itself sounded sad, almost mournful but the look of joy and brotherhood on the faces of those singing it would suggest the songs deeper meaning was something other than the melody assumed. Once they had finished singing each reached into their bags, rucksacks or even pockets, each person had very little food but broke a minute portion off and took it to the centre of the circle where a woman, acting like a Priestess had lit a candle. The group began sharing what little food they had among themselves and then began to sing again.
"Let our praises remind all the darkness
Of how great and how mighty Helus is
For the battle belongs to him and no one else
We are standing in holy defiance
We're declaring aloud in the silence
That the battle belongs to Helus and no one else"
Suddenly a rock hit the woman sending he stumbling backwards, soon an avalanche of stones rained in as people on the road assumed that the Cultists were having their feast. It was as though the locust had come back as the group was overwhelmed by a crowd desperate for food and unsure what exactly they'd get once they crossed the border. Fists were raining down on all the ground, a handful managed to back away dragging their children with them, these also managed to draw their swords. It was like something out of a medieval war film as the Cultists formed themselves into a shoulder to shoulder line, swords held at the ready as their children ran behind them. As the group of starving people began ripping open bags more and more Cultists scurried behind the group with the swords. It was then that they saw their Priestess lying in a heap in the midst of the jackalesque mob. One man, a tall man with a sword most would need two hands to wield sprinted from the line and into the mob, he swung his sword left and right as he moved through the crowd, slapping people with the flat of his blade, a fate that saw a few cracked skulls and broken arms. He reached the Priestess who was senseless and bleeding from the head. He found his way back blocked and began once more swinging the sword, this time not caring about which part of the blade did the damage, by the time he'd resumed the relative safety of his group he was bleeding himself but several Seleucid lay wounded. It looked like the crowd was about to descend upon the people when a Seleucid military helicopter touched down and twenty balaclava wearing soldiers burst out the back firing tear gas and rubber bullets towards the mob which dispersed quickly, most making their way back up to the line to cross into Tamora. The soldiers then turned on the Cultists demanding that they lay down their swords, their was hesitation before the large man did followed by the rest. They were treated for their own injuries as the soldiers checked those who had fallen under the sword, four dead, three more injured. The Cultists were loaded onto the helicopter, they wouldn't be safe anymore if left here.
22nd February, Hafthar, the Celtic Protectorate. 6pmThroughout the day there was chaotic scenes across the nation, as rumours, counter rumours and outright lies spread. Three more temples were found to have stores of food above and beyond that issued in a decree by King Hadi, all marked with the Cenneg script and labelled for JET. It was enough to cause tensions to increase and the Cenneg found armed groups of Cultists appearing on the streets ready for trouble, even though the Cenneg hadn't searched any temples. Mulligan was relatively pleased with how smooth things had been going. It was then his APC saw a lone man approaching, tall and pale, clearly not a Seleucid. He had a sword strapped to his hip and Mulligan recognised him instantly. "Good Evening Tim" Mulligan greeted Tim Carpenter, the East Moreland Ambassador.
"Well its Evening" Tim said as the pair shook hands. "I've been getting phone calls from Cultists up and down the country Isaac." Tim began to explain. "Seems Temples that were empty last night were found with food in today, and all that food had Cenneg writing on. You wouldn't know anything about it would you?" Isaac wondered if Tim was accusing him and his men of something untoward.
"What are you saying Mr.Ambassador?" Tim pulled out his mobile phone as Mulligan asked the question. Tim turned the screen towards the man.
"You see when I was in the CTO I learned a few things and I made a phone call to my friend Melissa Lusk. To speed up distribution of boxes JET barcode every box as it leaves its nation of origin. That way they know exactly what should be in each box and never have to open it or need to read the labels. Just scan the boxes and off you go. What it also means is that I know that box" Tim pointed to a screen capture from the morning news showing the soldiers loading the supplies from one of the Temples, "That box originated in Claith and it contained......wait for it.....it contained nappies and baby powder. Now I know people are desperate for food but well.....who eats a Nappy? Don't answer that" Tim flicked his finger on the screen, "I've spoken to Dr.Thern over at JET and he tells me this box, this one here." Tim zoomed in as to underline what he was showing, "Was on that ship you said got done over as it docked, and it contains cooking stoves. Now I think this is a bit fishy" Tim put his phone back.
"Surely its good news, it shows your lot weren't hording food." Mulligan suggested.
"Yes, but why are those people arrested and still in custody and why would a Temple be filled with nappies and cooking stoves." Tim questioned. "I think something is very wrong here and I need you to look into it." Tim spoke that in such a way that Mulligan felt it was as though King Finley himself had issued the order. He nodded and got on the radio to his men.
Palace of Ipsus. 10pm.The Royal Family had, at Hadi's insistance gathered together on this day. They'd attended a brief meet and greet with a hand picked group of Cultists in the morning and then watched as the video footage from across the nation came across TV. Only Prince Heydar, the Kings brother was excused as he was out on duty with the Air Force. It was as the aftermath of the Tamoran border incident was shown he began wondering what would happen next. He knew several groups of Cultists had been arrested throughout the day because of the violence at Temples during searches, then there were those who had been found with the food, only a handful of non-Cultists had been arrested for their parts in the violence.
"What should we do?" Field Marshall Musa Abbasi asked the King after they'd finished receiving the various reports from the cities. It turned out there had been riots between Cultists and non-Cultists in every city except Hafthar which was under Celtic control. Thankfully they'd been small scale but tensions had been high and demands for vengeance had been heard on both sides of the divide. The curfew he'd established for 7pm was as good as useless and the army had been forcing people back to their homes. The Celtic Protectorate on the other hand had no curfew and no issues were taking place.
"I don't know" Hadi rubbed his temples, "We need to calm things down, look at Mulligan in the Protectorate, he faces hardly any issues, yet we are overrun." the new King voiced.
"That's because the Celts are soft, they turn blind eyes, the people there are fatter than any other place and they get the first call on the aid. We need to set an example to the rest of Seleucid so that people know that going against these decrees is going against their rightful King." The Field Marshall urged.
"What would you do?" Hadi asked the nations most senior military official.
"I would go in hard Your Majesty and smash heads on both sides." There was a pause as Abassi thought. "As its a decree they have committed a crime against the Royal family. I say execute a few people. Show those wishing violence that it will not be tolerated." They discussed the pros and cons for half an hour before almost reluctantly Hadi agreed and ordered three Cultists and three non-Cultists be executed.
Royal Seleucid Evening News, 11pm"Moments ago we received information that six people have been executed for failing to follow His Majesty King Hadi's recent decrees, thus constituting a crime against the royal family. The King had instructed judges to sit day and night to deal swiftly with those breaking the decrees and these six individuals, three Cultists among them, were dealt with in just a few hours. A Priestess of the Cult was found to have thousands of ration packs stored and was hanged, along with a Cultist who was found to have stolen supplies from the recent Cenneg ship, finally a man who had used his sword in an attack on non-Cultists in Meybad was also hanged. Meanwhile three non-Cultists have been executed for crimes including inciting riot against Seleucids, refusing a lawful order of the King and black market food selling. A Royal Spokesman has said, "We have not executed anyone in Seleucid for five years, however today has been a day of mayhem and unacceptable behaviour across our country. Religious passions, ethnic tensions and outright lies have contributed to carnage and as such this can not be allowed to continue. King Hadi takes it as a personnel insult that someone would endanger the safety of his people, especially on a day held sacred by so many of them. He wishes these three criminals to serve as examples of what will happen to those who wish to unduly harm the peace of Royal Seleucid. Tomorrow the King hopes people will put today behind them or there must be consequences."