Our hand has been forced.

Declaration of Intent, 2153

Nation-states come and go, but a people is forever, unless it manages to exterminate itself. So soon into the history of this brave new world we had hoped to remain silent, continuing about our business to the blissful ignorance of the world, but recent events cry for recognition and response. The People's Republic of Xinjiang has proven itself an embarrassment to the Asiatic continent through the brutal suppression of its own people. Great is the government's boasts as to the strength of its economy and the solidarity of its subjects, and necessary are these draconian laws deemed for the continued success of the state. But who benefits, truly, ultimately, from the sweat of the ever-suffering labourer? Though the fruit appears wholesome to the outside world, cut it open and one discovers the flesh is rotten to the core: the people serve the State, and the State serves the Party. The staggeringly incompetent President Christos Xinjiang has further disgraced his citizens by carelessly inviting wholesale war to the homeland, jeopardizing all the "hard-fought" prosperity and all but guaranteeing not a drop shall trickle down to the worker who generates it. In the wild, such aimless aggression is attributed to rabies; in civilized society, animals such afflicted are frequently put down.

We had hoped to avoid direct confrontation. We had thought, perhaps, the situation would resolve itself, that Xinjiang's cascade of blunders would attract sufficient outside pressure that policy amendment would be inescapable. We had thought, optimistically, the Party would acknowledge the error of its ways and self-discipline itself in the same way it demands of its serfs. But with such juvenile reactions by the governing party now threatening the self-determination of the Asian people, we are compelled to respond, for the sake of every man, woman and child subjugated by the criminal Communist Party of Xinjiang. Liberation cannot be achieved fundamentally if power is simply passed to a foreign governor, and therefore, we must needs take up the cause ourselves. We shall do all that lies within our power to see China delivered from this charlatan tyranny. There will be blood. There will be tears. There may very well arise the necessity to expand our scope beyond the geographic prison designated 'Xinjiang'. But let the world recognize who is to blame for all that follows.

Comrade Xinjiang, you have proven yourself unfit to rule. Your régime is self-evidently unjust, and injustice demands correction. You mercilessly exploit your citizens, those you are sworn to protect, simply to further the individual prestige of you and your ruling party. Those that protest your lack of acumen you beat and murder. In the face of global opposition, you recklessly subscribe to violent conflict. You are a child, selfishly clinging to office, denying your people's advancement by denying leadership to anyone better qualified. You insist that your fumbles cannot be touched by the international community as they are domestic policy; then they shall be answered domestically, with all the resources our agents have at their disposal. We shall fight you on every front: in the state offices; on the battlefield; on the streets; through the airwaves. We shall not tire until your slaves are freed of their shackles and your outlaw oligarchy is delivered the full consequences of its decisions. You are right in one respect: a revolution must occur from within. It is high time China received real change.

We, the Scarlet Lancers, who have remained but a ghost unto this day, shall now assume a corporeal form. Your once-"loyal" citizens shall take arms against their oppressors. The weapons of war you think you build in secret shall be turned upon you. The fragility of your state shall be exposed for the world to witness. The oppressor shall fall, and the people shall rule once again.

The fox has fangs.

On the escalation of tensions in Asia, 2157

Asimov was right. Xinjiang states the only language it understands is war, and it would appear wholly committed to maintaining a reputation for violence. Blood, death, and misery are now the common currency for this un-government, murder and terror so entrenched in institutional practice, it remains to be seen if any citizen will ever die of old age. We, who would by our name and imagery seem the more likely patron of the sanguinary theme, cannot help but notice how clean our hands are compared to the uniform crimson that gloves those of Mr. Christos Xinjiang. Dissenters are killed. Underperformers are killed. Loiterers are killed. Under the new emergency laws, anyone, for any reason, under any circumstance, whether child or healthy adult, is candidate for arbitrary execution. This Stalinesque problem-solving makes a mockery of every notion of rule of law and legitimate government conceivable. In the despotate Xinjiang, the court jester is king.

How unsurprising, therefore, is its latest brazen display of contempt for good government as demonstrated by its predictable opposition to the Union of Nations' proposed Bill of Human Rights; not only does Xinjiang reject the bill outright without offering even a façade of justification, it once again puts its slave-citizens on the firing lines to defend the clowns at the helm by daring the international community to respond in force. Have you no shame, Mr. Christos? Have you no conscience? If a simple human rights bill threatens to undermine your constitution, then it logically follows your constitution is fundamentally unjust. And why does this injustice persist so pervasively? Mr. Christos has outright confessed that the state is merely a tool to satiate his self-serving lusts, an extended organ of his person of which he greedily consumes all benefit while denying all responsibility for its own health. Beware, Mr. Christos: one dead organ can kill the body entire.

"Once you are executed, we shall see. You are the failed one. I will crush the rebels and burn alive every man or woman that is supporting you. Your name will be banned, and you will be forgotten from history. Anyone talking about you, will be executed!! I promise that once i arrest you, i will let you in a jail with no other prisoners, and i will force you to eat your dead men in order to not die. And then i will cut you in 1,000 pieces, following an old Turkish ritual."

If the state of Xinjiang is, as Mr. Christos supposes it is, a socio-political manifestation of himself, then an analysis of the state will provide a window into the psychology of its ruler. The country's fixation on violence reflects the aggressive, impetuous, and at root deeply frightened nature of an uneducated brute. His obsession with power underscores his own vulnerability; he dreams of immortality, yet can find no other means of securing his legacy than murdering everyone around him. His international grand-standing would be far more amusing if millions of lives were not jeopardized by each clumsy misstep. And now, as a result of a machismo that if distilled into a drug would forever ban him from the Olympics, he has grown overconfident enough to pronounce judgment upon the Scarlet Lancers as though his accidental rise to power owes itself to some sort of divine quality.

Mr. Christos Xinjiang, I now speak directly to you. You wish to call out the leadership on personal terms, and as leader, I am duty-bound to respond. I have been called many names by countless people; "Thorvald of Lym" is the most novel, and for that I do afford you a small sliver of commendation. However, I believe once you have come to understand me a little better, you may prefer to address me by my current public moniker, the Red Lotus. You claim, in your arrogance, you can defeat me. You claim, in your ignorance, that you actually have the means of permanently overcoming your critics. You boast as though this battle has already been decided in your favour, and that it is merely a matter of time before I am brought physically shackled to your feet the same way all your unwilling subjects are shackled to your childish will. In your delusional black comedy of Xinjiang, you seem to think yourself an enlightened being. You make every manner of claims upon our movement and my person, but answer me this, Mr. Christos:

Can you kill a god?

As we have stated previously, nation-states are but temporary, artificial constructs. The people endure, regardless of who heads what régime at an arbitrary point in time. The Scarlet Lancers have existed long before your lifetime, and regardless of how many you slaughter in our struggle for emancipation, we shall persist long after your criminal empire is reduced to a footnote in the history of failure. Although you have seen the abyss, you yet scramble in vain to concoct some means of perpetuating yourself past your mortal lifespan. You have tried to engrave yourself in this state you call Xinjiang, but lacking the requisite intellect, you fall back to primeval masculinity to force your will through. You present yourself as father to your state, but whenever you aren't neglectful you are drunk and abusive, and your people suffer for your incorrigible vices. Perhaps rectifying this situation simply requires a woman's touch.

I had hoped, sincerely, that I could avoid that banal practice of vendetta. Senseless and illogical tit-for-tat vengeance is a distraction from more practical means of eliciting change. You, however, seem obsessed with pursuing me personally; and if you truly are confident in your capacity to confront me, then I shall happily oblige. Now, fighting Xinjiang on Xinjiang ground presents to me something of a moral dilemma: On the one hand, your tactics are reprobate and justly abhorred by any individual truly striving for a free society. On the other hand, Thomas Hobbes postulated that where legitimate government does not exist, neither do justice and injustice; Xinjiang is certainly no legitimate government, and so, I would have considerable motivation for using every trick at my disposal to counter your dirty plays, of which I can no doubt expect many.

I have history and eternity on my side, Mr. Christos. You have corpses on yours.

It's your call.

Our work is hardly finished.

On the Republic of China, 2159

As Leon Trotsky said, "Socialism needs democracy like the human body needs oxygen." Recent political developments have given us some small cause for optimism: Angola's peaceful turnover demonstrates that contrary to Xinjiang's insistence that communism demands a hard hand, representation by population is not only desirable, but inevitable. Mr. Christos is, understandably, frightened. Realizing the nations he assumed would willingly follow him into the abyss reject his woeful misunderstanding of his own ideology, he has jumped on the populist bandwagon and alleges to have brought democracy to ailing Xinjiang. It remains to be seen, however, whether these supposed reforms are anything more than empty words to smokescreen the nation's ever-worsening status as a political pariah.

But regardless of whatever technical success this speculative new outlook achieves, we would be deplorably naïve to claim victory so soon. So amicable an internal transition from mobster state to elective government in so short a time frame is unprecedented; are we really to believe that Mr. Christos' institutions of terror have already been deconstructed? Are we honestly satisfied the dictator has been excised from the electorate, unable to manipulate the people? The government may have a new face, but if it is to the same corrupt body, there has been no change. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance; so said Wilfrid Laurier; and so we dutifully take up the watch. Democratization is but one step in a long staircase to Xinjiang's liberation; Mr. Christos may claim upon himself (as he is wont to do) the prestige for liberalizing the state, but anyone who thinks this exonerates him from his culpability in the wanton destruction of "his" people is utterly contemptible. So long as he walks free, justice eludes.

Our mission is clear. The floodgates have opened, and as the people of Xinjiang tepidly taste the first sample of political freedom in nearly ten years, we must serve as the vanguard against the ancien régime and all its attempts to drag the country back into the dark ages. We shall not rest until all traces of Mr. Christos' criminal administration have been eradicated. We shall not rest until every agent complicit in the past decade of murderous repression and exploitation has been brought to account. We shall not rest until Mr. Christos answers for his myriad of offences against humanity.

Mr. Christos, we come for you.

China needs an auditor.

On sham democracy, 2161

It is with great sadness that we must deliver a failing grade to Chinese democracy. Mr. Christos' personal incompetence was the downfall of Xinjiang; the disgrace of the Republic of China is at the hands of an oligarchy likewise out of touch with its own populace. The shadow of dictatorship still looms over the country: barely a year into the first trial of the democratic process, it has already been co-opted, the will of the people subverted by the well-spoken few who advance a bizarre agenda of historical revisionism and cultural favouritism. Though it boasts of having achieved plurality and transparency, the government perpetuates the same alarming trend of top-down management as its authoritarian predecessor; the state crafts the policy, and the citizenry is made to conform.

The national rebranding of Xinjiang, on one hand acknowledging the majority demographic oppressed by Mr. Christos, has cunningly functioned to undercut Uighur cultural identity. The President claims Uighurs identify themselves as a "Chinese subgroup", that most speak "only Chinese"; and acting on no other justification than 'the Chinese are the largest', has unilaterally decided to rechristen the country the 'Republic of China'. Is he so arrogant, so contemptuous of the losing party that he feels he can abolish one of the founding cultures of his modern state? When contrasted with Mr. Christos' insistence that Xinjiang was not "China", these statements betray a disturbing ethno-nationalist polemic, the deadly symptom of a culture war. Compounding this streak of cultural supremacy in the most confounding decision, the government has adopted a policy of paying a federal tithe to the Holy See. Let us be clear, we hold no prejudice against the Pope, but we question in the most concerned language the president's de facto instigation of a state religion that, culturally and historically, does not constitute the majority of public attendance. Will we also see tithes paid to the Grand Ayatollah, the Dalai Lama, and the leaders of all other religious groups within China? Furthermore, in a brazen insult to the populace, the Chinese written language is now to be made "European" and romanized, destroying a critical element of regional cultural history at taxpayers' expense. Two wrongs do not form a right: however the Communist Party suppressed practices contrary to its dogma, to respond with an equally arbitrary institution of orthodoxy, particularly in a supposedly democratic régime, is a betrayal of public trust.

Why is this new leadership so concerned with "Westernizing" (capital 'W') the country, alienating the state from all of its neighbours? And is this nonsensical and deeply painful attempt to tear down millennia of history anything less than cultural genocide? Over one hundred years ago, flip-flopping preferential treatment begat the tragedy of Rwanda; are we doomed to an Asian relapse?

But our most pressing concern is the tolerance, even perpetuation, of the criminal practices and agents that the new administration is supposedly reacting against. The president, "Mr. George", follows the same fundamentally undemocratic belief as Mr. Christos that the winner writes the rules, that the mob is only a danger if it is not on one's own side. In response to the rebellion instigated during the Communists' rule, the so-called 'republicans' sent in the army. The state of emergency has still not been lifted, and the government has recently instituted more anti-terror legislation with the support of the Communist Party. If justice existed in China, Mr. Christos would have been arrested and tried for crimes against humanity. Instead, he is the leader of one of the three main political parties, and his accomplices can be assumed to walk just as free as he. A parliament may exist, elections may take place, and every act of government may follow the letter of the law, but so long as the spirit remains ignored in theory and in practice, Chinese democracy remains unrealized.

The official government may have abandoned the democratic journey midway through, but the Scarlet Lancers honour our promises. Our commitment is unfaltering; our cause unyielding. One way or another, China will be free.

Free at last.

Formation of the Co-operative Federation of Xinjiang, 2165

88 years. For nearly a century, central Asia was held in the iron grip of a despotic régime that sowed chaos and discord wherever it trod. One decade ago, Mr. Christos Xinjiang led his Communist Party to its most egregious failures in governance and common sense. As the international community twiddled its collective thumbs, calculating whether restoring human dignity to the citizens of Xinjiang was worth its time, the Scarlet Lancers mobilized, like white blood cells against an invading pathogen. We knew our fight would be long. We knew our fight would be difficult. But we knew, above all else, that the unjust were doomed to fall, either by our hand or through their own self-destructive pursuits.

Nevertheless, the Chinese rulers demonstrated a remarkable commitment to extending their illegitimacy for as long as they could. The 2160 revolution proved to be false hope for republicans, as President George demonstrated himself to be only marginally more tactful than the tyrant he supplanted. The country was then made subject to a farcical "constitutional" monarchy headed by foreign nationals that quickly devolved into outright absolutism. The form of government may have changed repeatedly and idiotically, but the underlying régime remained constant, each leader parroting the vices of his predecessors. One need simply look at who constitutes the quaint "government-in-exile" to understand: Mr. Christos; President George; Dictator Chiang; King George I; each one a contemptible, warmongering criminal; coagulated, they formed one of the most deranged, irresponsible, and pathologically suicidal governments ever witnessed.

History will remember the year 2165 as the date when the Chinese hegemony of fear, injustice, and exploitation finally, finally, came to a long-awaited end. The Four Stooges had at last exhausted international patience, and more than one country declared the Chinese nation forfeit. As can be expected, the departure was not quiet, and begat one of the single most abominable concentrations of wholesale slaughter witnessed since the Cataclysm. The elite knew its cause was lost, but determined, like any true agent of chaos, to inflict as much indiscriminate harm as its lifeline allowed, simply because it could. But while George I and his cronies would have sacrificed an entire people to save their individual hides, enough of China remained standing to recover, rebuild, and most importantly, remember.

We will confess, our victory was most unexpected; we thought the George monarchy so incurably insane that it really would fight to the last man, perhaps even George himself. Never before has the cowardice of the elite been such cause for celebration: by fleeing the wreckage of its disastrous policy, it cut short what would have otherwise proven a protracted and bloody war, leaving enough of the country viable for grassroots restoration and rejuvenation. Roughly ten years ago, Christos Xinjiang boasted that he would erase the Scarlet Lancers from history; his successor made similarly arrogant claims regarding the "inevitability" of our passing. Well..! The despots now cower a continent away, and we are at last positioned to bring true, lasting democracy to the Chinese people.

Was it the peace we wanted? No. Was it the best agreement under the circumstances? Possibly. Regardless, it is peace, and we strive to uphold it. We sincerely thank the attendants of the Dublin Conference for their contributions toward ensuring China's transition to renewed independence is as smooth as possible. We must needs make special mention of Oz, the unlikely inheritor, who recognizes the need for and the benefit provided by a self-determining Chinese nation. With an international effort committed to long-term democratic principles supporting our project, we cannot think it will be anything less than successful.

Our role in the new China is not the role we held in the old. We are no longer the opposition, able to work to our own schedule, picking and choosing where and when to intervene; we have become the legislators, responsible for the well-being of the unit entire at every moment of every day. We have brought democracy to China, and now we must see it through to flowering. Here, at least, the combat phase is ended; the emerging democratic régimes of postwar China require defence by other means: through education, through civil service, through mentorship. The activism that made us famous internationally is of a different necessity than the tasks demanded by the home front. In short, we must slow our pace: if we were not to rally now in China, if we were to march on to theatres abroad, leaving this new generation of politicians to struggle through its first baby-steps into virgin territory, we would rightly be chastised as a neglectful parent.

To be sure, our work is far from finished. Our victory is partial at best. The liberation of China is only one battle in our favour; so long as injustice persists, we shall stand ready to combat it. Even the Chinese campaign itself remains incomplete: the perpetrators of the innumerable domestic atrocities and senseless regional wars remain at large, yet to be held account for their offences against humanity and the planet. But for now, at least, we must take leave of the world arena. The old régime we confronted through force of arms; the Co-operative Federation of Xinjiang and its fellow successors we shall instruct in the ways of peace. By cultivating a strong democratic tradition nationally, justice is strengthened the world over.

Until next we speak; peace and justice be to all.

— The Red Lotus, August 19, 2165

Playtime’s over.

Remilitarization, 2174

The sins of the father have become the sins of the son. With the death of the omnicidal maniac and infamous coward George I, Otto von Constantine has elected to confirm the hereditary tyranny of the Chinese Resistance Forces. We sincerely pray that stupidity is not genetic: even as the legions of the CRF and its treacherous allies march through Xinjiang, wantonly burning and pillaging all in their path, the usurper has the audacity to proclaim himself a prophet of peace. Be he so blind, that he cannot see? By forcing the government into exile, he has undone the first clear demonstration of Chinese democracy. Through violence, he has shattered any illusion that the CRF are committed to liberty, internationally or at home. As with his predecessors, he has made himself the laughingstock of the global community.

Evidently, Otto is not totally delusional. He confesses his own guilt through his insistence that the international community not involve itself. As with his forbear, the dictatorial Christos Xinjiang, he thinks labelling a humanitarian crisis an “internal problem” can preclude the world’s imperative to act. Why does he insist on limiting outside intervention? Would not the ethical action be free from such barriers? Surely a clear conscience would hold no reservations on international assistance! He knows that if his methods are scrutinized, they will be found devoid of any moral fibre. He knows that his unlawful grip on power can only be sustained by muting the opposition. He knows he is in the wrong, and now, wearing the same bloody shoes of those that pranced before him, he follows an identical path into despair and destruction while uttering the tired, feeble cries of a desperate despot trying to legitimize the unjust.

He dares to call this conflict a “civil war”. Pray tell, what is at all civil in casting out the constitutional government at the point of a sword? In what hallucinatory dream does a coalition of invaders headed by an ethnically and ideologically European individual constitute a domestic schism? The foreign invasion invited by former president George and confirmed by the late monarch-abdicate has been renewed, and already declares premature victory. But the Scarlet Lancers never slacken in their watch; as the oppressive lumberjack grinds his axe to fell the tree of liberty, we are once again summoned to protect China through all the means at our disposal. We pledged ourselves to the defence of democracy, and we shall see the will of the people restored.

We recognize that growing up within the atmosphere of irresponsibility, self-righteousness, and utter contempt for humanity that clings to the China Six like tar, a young and impressionable youth can be led to believe that hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy are somehow virtuous qualities. We note that of the original China Six, Otto is one of only two men who did not carry the blemish of a war criminal prior to last year’s events. Therefore, we grant him one last chance to redeem his reputation: end the war, restore Xinjiang’s proper government, and surrender Christos, George and Chiang to face the justice they have so determinedly evaded. If you refuse these acts of contrition, you brand yourself a willing disciple of the ancien régime, and as such, an enemy of the cause of freedom.

When we formally began our struggle against Mr. Christos over two decades ago, we were acting in isolation. We were thought to be a regional phenomenon, and were aided marginally by powers seeking to use us for their own ends. Beyond the scope of China, we were dismissed as inconsequential. But as time passed and Xinjiang proved it can stand unshackled, we were duly recognized as an equal partner within the global community; now, we are a leader figure, the vanguard of emancipation, brandishing the banner of the free world. The CRF are nothing but an impediment to human advancement, and having defiled the precious pocket of Asia living unfettered and harmonious, they have galvanized all peoples on all continents into action.

The world has learned well from its mistake; never again shall it allow so impotent a caste to dismantle the architecture of universal prosperity. Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas have locked arms, standing boldly and defiantly in the face of the immature brute whose monstrous appetite again cannibalizes the Chinese people. The CRF thought they could bully their way back into power, but this time there are no bystanders to tacitly consent to its ill-gotten gains. The battle lines have been drawn: the armies of liberty stand poised to return the megalomaniacal hordes of the CRF to their proper place in the footnote of failure. As we rejected the hegemony of fear in 2165, so again we reject all attempts to drag humanity back into the black abyss of despotism, exploitation, division, and barbarity.

We will live free.

The world will live free.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

Escalation against the IRA, 2176

Once upon a time, there was a man who thought he could be ruler of China. He promised the people democracy, he promised them modernization, he promised them a glorious new future. He promised them all these things, and the people, desperate and war-weary after nearly a century of hard-handed oppression, put their faith in his untruths.

At first, the new China seemed successful. For the first time in most living memory, the people actually had a choice in how their government was run. The tyrant was deposed; peace looked achievable. Asia was at last poised to usher in utopia.

Or so they thought.

The democracy was a sham. China had merely exchanged one dictator for another; instead of state terror and physical suppression, citizens were now subdued by sophists and spin-doctors whose empty prose turned wrong into right. They were promised change; but no sooner was the president sworn in than he deployed the army to quell the discontent factions. Peace by the sword. A familiar pattern.

But there was one key difference, one fundamental way in which the new régime was worse than the old. His vision for China was not of indigenous nationalism, but as a colony, a branch-plant for European culture. He belittled the mosaic of Asiatic cultures that composed the country; he shunned his own language, his own history, the tradition of his own people to curry favour with foreign benefactors half a world away. He imposed Catholicism upon the citizenry, and in exchange for an annual tithe paid to the Holy See, the Pope turned a blind eye to the rampant injustice that plagued the country. Little surprise then that he, not his predecessor, dragged China into regional warfare: a colonist surrounded by “inferior” cultures will recognize only one course of action.

When European imperialism had dug its roots firmly into state thinking, he completed his treason by handing over sovereignty to a foreign import, the infamous George I who, within months, codified the dictatorship with a return to absolutism. Free of the need to feign legitimacy, he quickly smothered whatever democratic seeds remained. Cursed with ever-worsening insanity, the king began a vicious campaign of global conquest, renewing the strife his ascension to the dubious throne was supposed to have ended.

The punch line to this joke was atomic war and billions murdered.


And now, Mr. George returns to repeat the horrid cycle of war and exploitation that rendered the Chinese life solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. This time, there is no mistaking his intentions: he willingly submits himself to the son of his late dictator, dutifully rubber-stamping whatever his master decrees, the little pug whose legs are too short and breathing too laboured to let him do anything but follow. He has renewed his cultural genocide, obliterating the Chinese language, and through recent state-mandated educational “reform”, seeks to erase China’s short-lived democratic legacy and the identity of any ethnicity beyond his own. The so-called opposition parties protest in public at the same time they ready the shackles for their constituents.

To those who have studied totalitarianism, the logic is frightening in its clarity and simplicity. Obedience to the leader must be absolute; any window for heresy must be destroyed utterly, lest it divert attention away from Big Brother. Culture must be homogenized and rendered subordinate to the State, twisted to glorify the ruling class and instil within the populace the delusion that its reign is the “natural” order. One sees for oneself this process thoroughly at work: the cultural and historical revisionism instigated under Christos and retooled under George has been renewed full force. The faces keep changing, but the body does not.

Countless times the Scarlet Lancers have reiterated our vow to defend China –all of China, not merely the most profitable demographic– and countless times the despots of the world have challenged our commitment. Predictably, their short-sightedness fools them into declaring premature victory, as they have done so often before, each time rebuffed by the cause of the just. And with each arrogant performance, they entrench their illegitimacy within the international community, disgracing their people, branding themselves pariahs. The Otto régime knows it is defenceless alone, and so desperately allies with the few remaining states of similar ethical bankruptcy, hoping to stay its inevitable reckoning a little while longer.

It is altogether fitting that China has found refuge in the IRA: the alliance’s contempt for morality is only surpassed by its mutual lust for self-gratification. One begins to wonder whether its members had any concern at all for their reputation when they embraced the global leper, or if they could do so without fear, knowing they already bore the plague. Just as the ancien régime marred everything it touched within China during its previous ill-gotten reign, so has it now marked the insidious collaborators striving for global domination. Do not put too much faith in your new friends, George; we had hoped to avoid direct confrontation so early, but since Russia has adopted the peremptory approach to implementing its imperial agenda, we will take the requisite steps to protect ourselves.

Ironically, your new alliance has unwittingly benefitted our cause. Amidst the chaos and treachery of the decade’s politics, a new sorting algorithm has emerged to distinguish the darkest black from the nebulous grey. Thomas Hobbes postulated that mankind would war with each other if not checked by a higher power. The IRA has become that power: not because it prevails as global sovereign, but because it represents the common enemy of self-determining peoples the world over. You had joined thinking you would be shielded from the consequences of your actions; instead you cower beneath the bullseye that directs the arrows of all crusaders of liberty and justice. When the Xinjiang democracy was violently deposed, the world was poised to strike back in defence; the rise of Italy and Russia interrupted the liberation, shattered the cohesion as the global vision was diverted by regional squabbles. But now that the dust has settled, the truth stands clear, as what seemed chaotic factionalism has congealed into a monolithic despotism, advancing a philosophy of order as immutable as it is unforgiving. The borderlines have been redrawn, and international solidarity has been renewed.

Like the Ouroboros, tail in mouth, this coalition of dictators devours itself through its regressive, megalomaniacal designs. But unlike the Ouroboros, the tyranny is but a temporary deviation from the eternal dream. Already the “permanent” leaders are being displaced: Russia has revolted against the imperialists; Italy has thrown out its overlords. Democracy continues to trump the despots. As the circle grows ever-smaller, the fate of the Chinese traitors becomes ever-clearer. As the alliance falls apart, the usurpers realize they have painted themselves into a corner. Still clinging to the illusion that they command respect, Otto and his cronies continue to flaunt themselves as the harbingers of a new era, but nobody is fooled by the rusty rhetoric: military spending rapidly eclipses social services as the pretenders entrench themselves for one last desperate defence. It is not a question of if the régime will survive. It is merely a question of how long it will drag out its death, and how many innocents it intends to sacrifice to buy itself a few extra futile minutes.

We do not expect the régime to heed us given its consistent and brazen contempt for peace, democracy, and international law: every overture we have made has been thrown back in our faces by those arrogant few who stubbornly cling to their limited understanding of the world. We would recite our usual appeals to justice and common sense, but we can already predict the answers. Nevertheless, we will give one last piece of advice, free of charge: if there is a shred of honesty and human decency still present in the government, it would to well to make its peace, spiritual and material.

The reckoning draws ever nearer.

Game Over.

Ultimatum on the eve of Operation Shah Mat, 2179

What is a revolution?

The word itself stems from "revolve", to return to where one began. In pragmatic terms, it does not mean politics transcends the old order; it only pretends to. The violent French Revolution burned itself out into the conservative Directory. Nicholas II was supplanted by the Czar Stalin. Capitalist oligarchy ousts socialist autocracy, and vice versa. The dictator is not overthrown, it merely exchanges its vestments. In this sense, then yes, the Chinese Resistance Forces were revolutionaries, eclipsing a brief spark of republicanism, restoring Asia to the dark ages under the false mantra of "progress".

Yet now we can claim that same literal meaning, in a brighter context. We founded Chinese democracy in 2165, and our revolution will restore it. The monarchy is the aberration, a bloody experiment in failed statehood; a brief interruption on the road to world betterment. Even as free nations the world over succumb to the temptation of despotism, or merely succumb to other states, our cause grows stronger than ever. We shall prove that democracy is achievable, build ourselves as a beacon of hope to the international community by striking down the infernal symbol of fear, oppression, tyranny, chaos, and murderous incompetence that is the China Six. Previously, we erred on the side of optimism, misjudged the willingness of states to forsake global advancement for blind ambition. It was a learning experience, one we have taken to heart. This time, no mistakes: we shall leave no quarter for the resurgence of the criminals.

No doubt Otto gazes upon the deteriorating world stage with glee: as global solidarity fractured in the face of upstart despots, the threat against his usurpation waned proportionally. He was self-confident enough to apply for membership into the imperialist club of the IRA. He was arrogant enough to make designs upon his neighbours, foolishly believing his appetite for the prosperous Middle East would pass unseen. The Federation destroyed, democracy under siege, he convinced himself that we were no longer a credible threat. So self-assured is he of his own immortality that he thought to use us as his attack dogs, thought to render us willing enablers of his insidious vices.

No, Otto. This vixen will never be tamed.

A Chinese proverb states that to know a man's mind, one listens to his words. Evidently, Otto is not Chinese. So convinced is he that the world dances to the beat of his drum, he thought he could buy our allegiance, as his father did before him. He may be content to shift his stance in whichever direction will best benefit him at a given moment, but our convictions are made of stronger stuff. Nevertheless, we must thank him for the generous donations he has given to our cause. Rarely has a tyrant so willingly paid into his own overthrow. Without his altruistic support, we would not be able to embark upon the liberation of China so soon.

2159 was the year that the first oppressor fell. 2179 shall mark the fall of the last. This farce has cost too many lives, destroyed too many futures to be allowed to continue any longer. The China Six have long been overdue for their just deserts; international resolutions have failed, global responsibility has been wantonly neglected, and therefore, as ever, we must needs perform the task ourselves. But while we may not have explicit support from the world powers, we are far, far from alone in our fight. We have united the free world under one banner, one hopeful vision, transcending political boundaries and continental divides, consolidating the will of the people into a single combat force. Whereas China is one state ever splintering itself into quarrelling factions, we have brought together all nations, bound by a singular purpose.

You rejected us, Otto; now we reject you.

Where the Union of Nations has failed in safeguarding world peace, global security, and human rights, we, the tireless vigilantes, will take up the standard. Once we have freed China from the bloody talons of the illegitimate monarchy and all the slave-drivers before it, we will at last be poised to liberate the world from the vile corruption of the despotic classes. Change is needed; the people clamour for it. As the world rots in nuclear hellfire, the wholesale destruction of the human race draws ever more dangerously close to realization; an overthrow of realpolitik is all but demanded. Iblis grows quiet. Italy has thrown off its shackles. The Russian empire is on the verge of extinction. All that remains of the old imperial alliance is the devious pope who contents himself in excusing his deplorable machinations as God's will. Republicanism emerges resurgent, and we shall speed its flowering as much as we may.

But first, the fate of China.

From Christos to Otto, George the president and George the king, to the joke of the dictator Chiang, China has been used and abused by self-serving individuals who respect not their own people, their own heritage, their own humanity. Time and again we challenged them to prove their competence, and time and again they failed the test. We were mistaken for an idle threat; the China Six grew complacent, believing the audit would never come. But now, ready or not, it is time they answer for their actions. Our patience is exhausted; rather than repeat the same demands they have consistently ignored, rather than hope for dialogue when none shall come, we shall now dictate our terms:

In addition to numerous petty charges pertaining to abuse of power, Christos Xinjiang, Mr. George, Mr. Chiang, and Otto I stand accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and high treason. They have 24 hours to dismantle their government, cede authority to the Scarlet Lancers, and surrender themselves to our operatives. Failure to comply will result in our immediate ousting of them by force.

Before running off to war, little Otto, you may wish to know the reality of your situation. Your greed is your undoing; your invasion of Siberia has stretched your monstrous horde thin, too thin to protect borders that have nearly doubled in size. Not only do we match your numbers, we exceed them in training, dedication, and armament. Our legions amass along your frontier, equipped with the most advanced technologies pooled from every nation around the globe. The Chinese dictators have ruined the world, and the world will have its revenge. Our agents have already penetrated your borders, sleepers lying in wait within the highest echelons of your command structure. Do not bother trying to root them out now; they have been in place for years, rubber-stamping your illicit decrees while passing the plans to us. The people grow restless; the masses you have wantonly trod upon for so long will turn on you as the wounded dog turns upon its cruel master. You desecrated this country; now reap what you have sown.

There will be no escape this time; we have made sure of that. You have one last chance to take responsibility for the horrid legacy of you and everyone who carries your bloody train. If you are a man, surrender; the wise man knows when the battle is lost, and this fight is decided before its has even begun. As head of state, you are duty-bound to act for the good of your people, to protect them from harm, to ensure them a future; thus the only ethical action is to admit your failure and turn yourself in. Otherwise, hide behind your slaves, see how long they will protect you when offered a venue for justice, and let your reputation as a murderous coward be forever cemented in historical memory.

I will arrive to accept your capitulation either way.

Long Live Free China.