The Origin of Roh-Shan

Rebel Meeting 1

"Attention!" The booming shout filled the small second-story attic, quickly silencing the 30 or so men and women crammed in. Moonlight shone in, their only light source. The man at the front, in a black robe with purple trim and burning golden eyes, clapped his hands once and gave a three-tone whistle. "By the order of the Black Iris, Greater Ren Haru Chapter, I hereby call this meeting to order!"

Everyone collectively clapped once in response, perfectly in unison. The man bowed to the crowd, and they silently sat down on the floor.

"My Iris brothers and sisters. As some of you have heard, Mayor Odei has just declared a raise on all agricultural income tax, effective next month."

Harsh words were whispered by those who hadn't yet heard.

"Odei has already wrung every last coin he possibly can from our farm-owning families and our poorest field workers. While he sits on the excess cash in his marble palace, our children go hungry and cold. These "taxes" are supposedly going to the betterment of the community. I haven't seen any improvement to the leaky roof on the schoolhouse, or the broken step, or the outdated textscrolls. Have you?"

"No!" Several voices spoke up.

"I haven't seen our roads maintained. Two weeks ago I witnessed an elderly gentleman twist his ankle in a pothole. I followed up with him yesterday to see how he's doing. The claim he filed with the Mayor's office to have his healer bill paid was rejected."

"Boo!" One person yelled.

"Has anyone had a similar experience?"

"Yes!" Several more voices.

"And what about protection? If our village were raided by pirates tonight, do you trust Mayor Odei's forces to protect us?"

"No!"

"Do you suppose he would even care?"

"NO!"

The man expertly let the following silence hang in the air, cooling everyone down a bit. "But I don't stand in front of you tonight to talk about taxes. Some far more concerning news came from our inside source today."

Confusion spread across the room, then worry.

"Mayor Odei..." He paused, as if it were hard to say. "is going to pass a movement that will cut down on food rations."

Cries of shock and anger swept quickly around the room, then silence as the leader raised his hand.

"My brothers and sisters. Are we going to stand for this? Are we going to let our neighbors, our friends, our children, starve?"

"NO!"

He gave a sharp nod. "Ready your weapons."

Everyone in the room instantly stood and pulled out weapons they had been hiding in cloaks and sleeves. Sticks, stakes, hooked metal bars, knives, and homemade creative tools suddenly filled the hands of every citizen in the room. Most of the items seemed to be more for practical use rather than to cause harm.

"Tonight, we're storming the police station's storehouse. We're taking every last ration they're stashing away before Odei can get his hands on them, so we can distribute them FAIRLY, based on need, not social class!" He paused for a moment. "Ideally, we will not encounter anyone. We have no need to get violent with anyone we encounter unless they are violent first. Do not forget, that is the Black Iris oath. Strike not first,"

"but in return." The rest of the room recited.

"For the battles of others," He continued.

"I need not concern."

"I protect my kin,"

"my home and land."

"And by the Black Iris,"

"I SWEAR TO STAND!" The room erupted.

The leader raised his fist to the sky, and the hyped crowd cheered and turned for the door.

At that moment, the windows burst in. Two dark uniformed figures landed and blasted fire across the ceiling, illuminating the dark room and forcing everyone to the ground amid shouts from more uniformed men who burst through the door, their coordinated moves effectively blocking all exits while they torched the ceiling.

As some of the citizens realized what was happening, they started to shove for the exits anyway, but a large black net shot out from the hands of two uniformed officers, and two more on the other side of the room caught the other ends and pinned them to the floor.

One officer descended on the leader, who had escaped the net. He whipped a set of handcuffs around the robed man before he had time to react. In front of his loyal followers, the man was helpless as the officer raised a small metal weapon to the man's head. No larger than a butcher's knife, the spring-loaded piston with a sharp pointed end held enough force to easily penetrate a human skull with the release of a button.

"Please." Was all the man said. His voice started desperate but by the end of the word, it turned to acceptance and defiance, in solidarity with his brothers and sisters trapped under the net who were about to perish with him. He closed his eyes as if he were asleep.

With a pop, the spring released, and the man dropped to the ground with a fresh dark red spot on the side of his head.

The roof finally caught up in flames. Inside, knives frantically scraped at the metal netting while the officers jumped back out the windows and door. The flames quickly fell lower and lower, peeling down the walls while the poorly-ventilated black smoke threatened to suffocate anyone not taken by flames.

A woman's triumphant cry rang out as she managed to cut through one of the ends of the net. As she slipped out and reached back to help others, her arm was quickly swallowed by those begging to be let out, while the hole she'd created caused a traffic jam. Silently apologizing, she hacked hands away from her arm with her knife, and dove for the window, but not before one more hand grabbed her ankle. Her momentum threw her body through the window while her leg stayed, a wet snap sounding out as her leg was bent over the window ledge. The hand let go, and she dropped to the ground, crying out in agony.

The uniformed officers had slipped out into the night as the building became engulfed in flames.

A woman ran out of the first floor, holding an infant in her arms and a young child by the hand. She saw the flames and heard the cries. She cried out desperately for a man who would never answer.

Before the building became totally engulfed, several more citizens managed to escape the netting and leap from the window, some badly burned, some injuring themselves on the way down. One man with a dark ponytail and a gold nose piercing landed on his feet, and ran off into the night.

The town's fire brigade, also run by the police, never responded.

~//~