Rebellion! The political phenomenon has existed as long as organized institutional states have, and the Lunari are no exception. It is a polite secret that their interest in studying government in Eurasia and North America is industrial and martial in nature: political revolts remained a common occurrence when the XXth Generation emigrated to the Kanto region, particularly in the demise of a comparatively stable bi-polar political division of states (the "Cold War") and the disintegrations of a number of federal states into warring rivals in Eurasia. By contrast, in North America, rebellion "doesn't exist", because "free societies" have made it obsolete; separatist movements are either politically neutralized as acts of fringe lunacy, or if necessary, brutally crushed by hegemonic states.
Lunari are obsessed too. The threat of a proletariat revolution led to the creation of the junior house of the legislature, the Cómhaoin (or Commons) under the Seanad (the Senate), sharing political power. The empire has tried to manage the threat by means of categorization: common petty revolts, or uncommon high treason. Petty revolts are simultaneously a justification for, and largely caused, by the continued militarization of society: with such a high portion of young people mobilized and kept under arms, and the fairly slow communications throughout the empire, any particular regional armed dispute can be called a minor "revolt", usually between two competing royal houses in dispute over succession rights, or a sudden uprising of working-class people with a grievance against a regional house, going beyond a general strike. In either case, the key to success is speed: a swift, surgical victory before the Imperial Throne can meaningfully respond and a revolt effectively becomes the new status quo. A prolonged showdown leads to a situation like the war at the Northern Front, and an Imperial intervention.
For contrast, an uprising against the Imperial Throne, and the ruling dynasty, constitutes high treason, and any hint is usually cause for response. Any royal house that challenges the Imperial Throne would have to face both loyal vassals in other houses, and the overwhelming military superiority of the central government, making it probably suicidal; revolting houses are crushed and exterminated, their survivals dispersed among other houses or exiled among the proletariat. A working-class revolt against the Imperial Throne would be an epoch-defining event: beyond general strikes, various means exist for the proletariat to bring grievances to the Imperial Throne, but as most economic affairs are managed locally first, blame usually affects royal houses. A global or even continental revolution would presumably be the end of the empire.
A young rebel dressed in improvised uniform, poses with her weapon, a 14.5-mm semiautomatic rifle that has been a mainstay of the military for 200 years, in a revolt against a royal house.
Rebel with Anti-Material Rifle
Rebellion! The political phenomenon has existed as long as organized institutional states have, and the Lunari are no exception. It is a polite secret that their interest in studying government in Eurasia and North America is industrial and martial in nature: political revolts remained a common occurrence when the XXth Generation emigrated to the Kanto region, particularly in the demise of a comparatively stable bi-polar political division of states (the "Cold War") and the disintegrations of a number of federal states into warring rivals in Eurasia. By contrast, in North America, rebellion "doesn't exist", because "free societies" have made it obsolete; separatist movements are either politically neutralized as acts of fringe lunacy, or if necessary, brutally crushed by hegemonic states.
Lunari are obsessed too. The threat of a proletariat revolution led to the creation of the junior house of the legislature, the Cómhaoin (or Commons) under the Seanad (the Senate), sharing political power. The empire has tried to manage the threat by means of categorization: common petty revolts, or uncommon high treason. Petty revolts are simultaneously a justification for, and largely caused, by the continued militarization of society: with such a high portion of young people mobilized and kept under arms, and the fairly slow communications throughout the empire, any particular regional armed dispute can be called a minor "revolt", usually between two competing royal houses in dispute over succession rights, or a sudden uprising of working-class people with a grievance against a regional house, going beyond a general strike. In either case, the key to success is speed: a swift, surgical victory before the Imperial Throne can meaningfully respond and a revolt effectively becomes the new status quo. A prolonged showdown leads to a situation like the war at the Northern Front, and an Imperial intervention.
For contrast, an uprising against the Imperial Throne, and the ruling dynasty, constitutes high treason, and any hint is usually cause for response. Any royal house that challenges the Imperial Throne would have to face both loyal vassals in other houses, and the overwhelming military superiority of the central government, making it probably suicidal; revolting houses are crushed and exterminated, their survivals dispersed among other houses or exiled among the proletariat. A working-class revolt against the Imperial Throne would be an epoch-defining event: beyond general strikes, various means exist for the proletariat to bring grievances to the Imperial Throne, but as most economic affairs are managed locally first, blame usually affects royal houses. A global or even continental revolution would presumably be the end of the empire.
A young rebel dressed in improvised uniform, poses with her weapon, a 14.5-mm semiautomatic rifle that has been a mainstay of the military for 200 years, in a revolt against a royal house.