Hong Lu Revolt

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“Hong Lu is free. Free from House Cygnus, free from their synthetic forms, cold and unfeeling. As the noble Houses purge the scum Cygnus from their own homes, extract their honeyed venom from their own lives, Hong Lu must look to her own. We stand amidst ruins, shattered homes and shattered lives.

The Houses scheme above us, in stars uncounted and oh so cruel. Even as they proclaim strength, they can’t fend off the opportunists, the pirates who plague our new found liberties under the Throne. We must take our safety, our security in our own hands!

Hong Lu is the among the crown jewels of the Empire. Our voices are heard across the great void. Every man, woman and child who hears our rebel yell knows we are victorious against our inhuman foes. All who stand against the fiends of Cygnus are of Hong Lu - all who fight for their human right to life are of Hong Lu. So I beseech all those allies of humanity across the sector to join me in this yell - Wǒ shì Hóng Lǔ!”

General Tai Minh, celebrating the deaths of the last Cygnus forces on Hong Lu.

Events of the Hong Lu Revolt (The War of The Free)

Xue Street Massacre

The Xue Street Massacre is considered the first unforgivable blow of the former Cygnus Overlords. In September of 3179 a peaceful protest of sixty individuals against ACRE on their working conditions began. After a day of protests, the Cygnus Synthetic Police Force was notified. Three squad cars approached from the northern street entrance and shouted an order to disperse. After a minute of protesters making no move to disperse the Synthetic Officers opened fire on the crowd, killing 18, wounding 23.

Rise of Tai Minh

After the events of the Xue Street Massacre, our glorious leader Tai Minh rose and took over the weapon factory he worked in with the help of his fellow workers. He then spent the next year fighting Cygnus forces with the weapons produced in the factory. Once martial law was established in the year of 3180, Tai Minh made him self known with his wondrous speech. He declared revolt on Hong Lu and that his army -- the "Chushi Gangdruk" -- fought for Hong Lu's freedom. Shortly after his announcement, the volunteer army skyrocketed in manpower from a few hundreds to billions of soldiers.

Sudden Appearance of 14 Red Dog Charity

With seemingly no backers, the 14 Red Dogs Charity became the most successful relief effort during the revolt. The 14 Red Dogs deployed 3,000 armed medical teams, backed up by 1,000 heavy duty rapid response teams to clear rumble and extricate survivors; created refugee camps in all major non-military space ports, locked down and protected by armed defenders; and set up deals for relief supplies, keeping ACRE goods flowing into Hong Lu to aid in the recovery and care of refugees.

Ticker headlines and news bits from during the Revolt

"A group calling themselves Wong Fei-Hung has begun hunting down the families of all government officials and killing them on sight with blunt force weaponry. All members captured call themselves doctors and claim to be cutting out a cancer before it spreads."

"Video captured and released online by protesters shows suspected members of the 5 Blades Triad attacking synths with hacksaws and angle grinders, torturing them openly in the streets as onlookers watch and cheer."

"Here we have the horrific site were the Xuě street massacre started. A group of 60 people gathered in a peaceful march against the working conditions forced on them by ACRE., when three Cygnus PD patrol cars pulled up and—after shouting an order to disperse—opened fire on the protesters. After which they fled the scene as the protesters turned highly violent."

"Grainy, amateur holopad footage shows gunmen in black armor, unmarked with House livery, burning down buildings and attacking civilians in the streets during the Hong Lu Revolt of 3177. These have been passed off as hoax videos, for the most part."

"Disaster struck in the fifth consecutive day of the Hong Lu Revolt, when combat-able paramedic teams of the 14 Red Dogs Society apparently open-fired into the bloodthirsty crowds assaulting the St. Peercus Hospital. Cases in court have determined this loss of life to be one of self-defense."

"The Hong Lu Revolt took a startling turn today as Rohal Cygnus, local planetary governor, was dragged out of the Imperial Ministry by the agitated citizenry and beaten to death in full view. What scant recordings remain of this brutal act are heavily censored."

"Officials are left dazed and confused after the raid on the Báimǎ Correctional Facility, in which only one prisoner was freed by a multitude of armed, masked gunmen. Sadly, the record keeping stores of Báimǎ have been burned down, and the name of this felon is as of yet unknown."

"The Cygnus-assigned Task Force Nicaea, numbering 1,240 trained personnel, was wiped out to the man at the delta of the New Huang He River by highly-aggressive assailants. Long-range footage shows the task force being caught in what looks to be an aerial-deployed incendiary blast. Survivors of what is being called the Nicaea Firestorm are still emerging from the swamps of the river."

"Cygnus forces are in disarray after their defeat at the New Huang He Delta. An unknown foe, possessing meager TL3 equipment and aerial assets, have managed to drive Task Force Nicaea, under General Adaban Cygnus, into the mountains north of the New Huang He. Attempts to interview these insurgents have met with failure."

"A fervent joy can be seen in the eyes of every freedom fighter today as cruisers emblazoned with the logos of House Crux finally arrived in system to smash Cygnus orbital superiority above Hong Lu. Emboldened by clear skies and with Crux enforcers at their backs, these beleaguered soldiers for a free Hong Lu now push for the Imperial Ministry."

"Flags of a new Hong Lu, freed from the synthetics of House Cygnus, fly over the Imperial Ministry. After the timely demise of Rohal Cygnus on the steps of the Ministry, armed gunmen broke through the doors of the decadent palace and gunned down those Cygnus still brave enough to fight, as the tapestries went up in flames. A new future, baptized in the blood of traitors."

"The slums colloquially known as Little Kowloon seethed with a vengeance. Armed with rifles and a thirst for blood, a march of insurgents 50-wide stormed a blazing path into the Hong Lu downtown. This was followed by one of the only recorded uses of artillery against civilian rioters to this day."

"In what some define as a crime against humanity, the insurgent group known as the Kowloon 40 crucified a Cygnus synth to the walls of the Imperial Audit House. Even in their patriotic fervor, the citizenry still seem ashamed to look up at the not-so-human corpse."

"Cygnus forces were split asunder in the Old Market District today as a Lynx-class mecha strode through the narrow Hong Lu streets, emblazoned a bright red from cockpit to toe. The magnanimous war machine, salvaged from the battle of New Huang He, still flies defaced banners of the House Cygnus from its joints and battle cannons."

"Vids captured by a PRISM documentary team show scores of Cygnus synth soldiers fleeing out of the slum known as White Shade. The video has since become famous, as a group what many would call mere children, insurgents aged 13-17, walked through the streets with meat cleavers, axes and improvised pole weapons, dragging dismembered synth's behind them on ropes attached to meat hooks. They were Yellows, kids whose mothers had ingested chemicals dispersed into the water supply by one of the many less than regulation compliant companies. It had caused their children to develop eerie yellow irises that seemed to glow in the dim that had descended on the slum as a Cygnus grenadier had blown out one of the street power coupling. Some of the dragged synths were still alive, screaming in agony."

"In what is now being called the White Horse Deal, thousands of prisoners were freed from Hong Lu prisons and equipped with the weapons of their guards, who had long since fled. These Freedmen divisions, still clad in their orange, were the zealous warriors who took Highway 1409 in a suicidal charge."

"As an APC still marked in Cygnus colors thundered down the broad roadway of Highway 1409, the joyous faces of insurgents riding on top of the confiscated machine served to distract the casual observer from the constant pattern of gunfire, if only for a bit."

"With the Cygnus on the run from the Hong Lu Nationals, the synthetics adopted a policy of scorched earth, leveling at least 13 city blocks with advanced weaponry before national forces caught them in a devastating pincer attack."

"The synths, still being dragged behind APCs, have been worn to the bone."

"Tragedy struck this morning as a PRISM news crew was taken down in transit off world. Despite forwarding proper identification, Cygnus orbital batteries lit up the sky with rail gun rounds, as 21 innocent souls were lost in the night sky."

"With the Cygnus presence on Hong Lu but ashes, Crux forces finally landed planetside to begin talks with the Hong Lu Nationals under General Tai Minh."

"The sector waits with bated breath for an accord to be struck, even as the two generals, natural rivals by birthright, enjoyed champagne in the bombed out ruins of the Imperial Ministry."

"Nearly a week after the Hong Lu Revolt ended, echoes of blood still ran hot and hovered around the neighborhoods and slums."

"In what was called the Kaibab Crucifixion, 52 synths were discovered by Crux forces and, in the sway of mob rule, handed over to the bloodthirsty crowds. The name alone should suggest the fate of the Cygnus conspirators."

"With the ashes settled on Hong Lu, now neighbors work hand in hand in cleanse the detritus and rubble that seems ever present in the streets."

"Every few minutes a new undetonated shell is found - a fresh corpse, a Cygnus flag."

"The smog and dust kicked up from the constant barrage of Cygnus artillery has coated the entire city in a foul haze. It may very well take months to fully settle."

"General Tai Minh shocked many stately nobles today as the short man of Hong Lu paid his respects at the Emperor’s tomb, still clad in the olive green fatigues of the Hong Lu Nationals."

"Many haughty nobles were quick to jab at General Tai’s personal honor and stature. Up until a Lyra noble caught a slap from the fierce patriot to the jaw."

"With his tenure as Governor of Hong Lu at a close, the esteemed Tai Minh has retired to hospice in his personal residence in Little Kowloon."

"For once, the iconic slum lies silent."

"Contrary to his visit to the Emperor’s grave, even as civil strife rocked his planet, the funeral of General Tai Minh -- Devil of the New Huang He, Madcap of Downtown -- was a sadly vacant affair, in terms of foreign assembly."

"Yet, every street in Hong Lu calmed as the esteemed General was put to rest, his remains interred in the waterlogged, ashen soil of the New Huang He delta. The site of his first victory."

"However, as we near the year 3200, Tai Minh’s legacy still guides the people of Hong Lu forwards. A people free, a people proud. A people who cast off their chains to the open sky."