"Drink deep! For tommorow you may have a new master." (Teince 7th, 2207)
(I meant to post this in early 2207 but I procrastinated.)
For Twenty-two years the Phoenian colonies on Bop and Pol were in limbo. Their parent nation had dissolved and been quartered up but in that quartering they were not considered. For this reason 2184 was a time of great dread for these two moons. Surely without a parent to import goods and protect them they would all go destitute! But as the months dragged on into years, nothing of note happened. Commerce still moved, ships rotated in and out, and the whole affair became buried under irrelevancy never to be mentioned again apart from those particularly interested in the absurdities in exopolitics.
As the advance of Meálhtyk brought 2206 to an imminent end the twin colonies of Avarua-Polengairdt were presented a strange referendum. Citizens from both colonies were asked if they would rather become a colony of Sahrland. The power dynamic there wasn’t subtle of course, there was no option for “INDEPENDENCE” even if anyone dared. But beyond that was lain a hidden threat; the alternative option was not to remain Phoenian, but to not be Sahren. The referendum was rather an ultimatum, “Join us or we will cast you off to bankruptcy!”. Those opposing it admittedly fought with commendable valour, but nobody could ever deny the economic interests of the majority of society were threatened.
When 2207 arrived the matter was concluded. The results of this “referendum” were paraded everywhere, Eighty-One per-cent! What the voters had to say to justify themselves was irrelevant, the press were quite used to instructing people rather than informing them, inventing a reason fit perfectly within their standards. The objective truth inherent in Ascensionism clearly reflected upon the far off and they demanded a new master, certainly, and if it wasn’t true, such a strong belief would warp the universe into making it true.
And so the days drag us ever along again, Lady Veritas proving herself again a thoroughly unchained and illusive woman, whilst Lady Fortuna proves herself a cruel and incomprehensible one.