Army of Letters: Difference between revisions

The second period of the Army of Letters is referred to as the "Root Period" as the Army expanded from just consisting of isolated priests who found Meagharism compelling. In this period these individuals began to communicate with one another, and these priests began adding their own ideas to the surviving Meagharite texts, often using Father Meaghar's name, making it more difficult to tell which texts were legitimately written by Father Meaghar and which were written by members of the Army at various later points. In this period the Army of Letters also gained roots outside of the Priestly caste, with various Milofite Military Commanders, as well as Merchants, began to adopt Meagharite ideas. Due to this there is evidence of minor Meagharite Uprisings, mostly local, in areas where the priests were members of the Army. It was not unheard of for Milofite Soldiers to defect to join these revolts, but despite this none of these uprisings have been found to have encompassed more area than perhaps a single village, and none of the revolts appear in the official Milofite histories. The Root Period is considered to have ended in the 1960s, as the roots established began to prepare for a larger revolt.

 

The Flowering Period is known as such because in this period there is a clear shift in the character of the Army of Letters, from speculation and local revolt planning to planning large scale uprising. This was spurred by a change in the character of the Milofite Council's governing policy. A new generation of Councilors had risen, who believed that Milofia should open up to the outside, and due to this they began making changes in Milofite society. These changes did not work to eliminate the feudal institutions of Milofia, but rather made the cities more amenable to possible future foreign trade. Because of this, the Merchant Class, already somewhat sympathetic to Meagharism began to be converted in larger numbers to Meagharite ideals. The Meagharite ideology also began to become more common in the ranks of the Milofian military, with many young commanders seeing Meagharism as being the future of the island. This would culminate in the assassination of one of the leading members of the council in 1975 by a Meagharite terrorist, thinking that this would provoke a mass uprising. Evidence shows that the Army was shocked by this action, and was certainly unprepared for the uprising that the terrorist had wanted to start. This event would lead to a major backlash by the Milofite establishment, with plans to open the country being scrapped. However, many of the other reforms stayed in place. This backlash enraged the Army of Letters, and also spurred recruitment into secretive Meagharite Cells. During this period cities, except for the Holy City of Milof where thousands were expelled on suspicion of not being Milofite enough, became the centers of the Meagharite movement, with [[Sherman]] being the largest center. Colonel Burnside was the unoffical leader of the Army of Letters in the city of Sherman, and he also had influence over the majority of soldiers within the city. The population as a whole felt bitterness towards the Milofite government, and when Burnside began his revolt by taking over the city, culminating in [[Meagharian_Triumph#The_First_Triumph]].