Carriers of Mercy
The Carriers of Mercy was an organisation established by Amhoud Bedon in his capacity as a member of the Packilvanian Communist Party to propagate Communism through charitable work and to transport Hominines out of Packilvania. It quickly turned into a faction that campaigned for Amhoud to become the next General Secretary after Thawal Yaladir. The organisation established a paramilitary wing and many members of the Communist Party were also members of the Carriers or Mercy. This gave rise to mass defections. The Carriers of Mercy was also dominated by the Bedonite dynasty, Magisterium of Paxism and former nobles who had fled the country or integrated into the Communist Party. It started the Second Packilvanian Civil War against the PCP and eventually overthrew the party reestablishing the office of the Sultan of Packilvania (whose first holder was Amhoud I) as well as the Parliament of Packilvania.
History
Early years
The Carriers of Mercy was established on the proposal and under the leadership and guidance of Commissioner for Reeducation and Indoctrination and member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Packilvanian Communist Party, Amhoud Bedon. He proposed the organisation to the Standing Committee which voted in the affirmative. Some members of the Politburo who were wary of Amhoud's ambitions abstained from the vote. Dubious evidence that that they were anti-Communist sympathisers emerged and they were quickly sent to Reeducation camps where they died under mysterious circumstances.
The Standing Committee of the Politburo allocated a budget to the Carriers of Mercy but allowed it to raise funds from donations. Amhoud was given power over the running of the organisation. He proceeded to populate it with his supporters and Allies, many of whom were deposed members of the Packilvanian aristocracy and former senior clergymen of the Magisterium of Paxism who had integrated into the Communist Party as well as other members of his family who were senior members of the Communist Party.
The Carriers of Mercy laundered their allocated funds to invest in lucrative ventures abroad to generate an income independent of the government that they could use to coax members of the Communist Party to their side. They started projects abroad such as building infrastructure, spreading Communist propaganda and dispensing foreign aid. Their program was remarkably successful because many of the communities they assisted made noticeable and sustainable advances.
The Carriers of Mercy then established a policy think tank within the Communist Party that published reports and provided policy advice on foreign relations to the Standing Committee of the Politburo. Many of the leading foreign policy thinkers of the country gradually moved into this think tank. They circulated papers and pamphlets within the party. Their scope gradually broadened to domestic policy and they became a leading voice in the planning of the quintennial Five-year plans that shaped government programs and policies.
Outside of the party, the Carriers of Mercy received many volunteers who did Community work and helped to spread Communist propaganda within the country. The organisation was especially popular among the young people and students who met in small chapters to disseminate political ideas and who enjoyed the free merchandise, entertainment, food and alcohol that the organisation used to lure volunteers. The Carriers of Mercy cultivated a strong following. They established university chapters that drew many intellectuals who were able to filter their policy views to the Communist Party through the Carriers.
The Carriers established volunteer service groups for members of the armed forces so that they could do community service during their time off. Military jurors enjoyed sending ill-disciplined members of the military to the Carriers of Mercy for community service projects. Using similar tactics to the student and youth chapters, Carriers used gifts to encourage loyalty from members of the military many of whom were paid Poorly. Seeing the increasing participation of junior members of the military, senior members joined the organisation and a new think tank was established manned by senior leaders and military strategists who did policy advisory on military doctrine and circulated their ideas through the party and which in turned informed the policy decisions of the Politburo.
Many senior members of the Politburo joined the Carriers of Mercy due to the proximity it gave them to other powerful people through parties it organised where it invited only influential or ambitious people in party. It facilitated room for networking. It also facilitated an area where secrets were bought and sold by the Carriers and where necessary used to extort support from members of the Politburo for Amhoud's policies.
The organisation's marketing often featured Amhoud Bedon doing charity work. It secretly appointed a marketing consulting firm from Free Pax States that helped to build a loyal following behind itself as well as Amhoud. Although he was not the General Secretary, he often rivalled him in influence. His support and that of the Carriers of Mercy was often crucial for candidates to that office to assume it for themselves.
The Carriers of Mercy began acquiring weapons and inducting retired members of the military to act as bodyguards. This was justified by the fact that criminal syndicates were attacking their members. As part of a war on drugs campaign, veterans gave "military" training to young people to prevent them from doing drugs or going into crime and indoctrinated them with pro-Amhoud propaganda. The Carriers started holding mass rallies where Amhoud featured prominently. The General Secretary was often a guest further legitimising and giving tacit public support to Amhoud and the Carriers. The Carriers cultivated its bodyguard to secretly dispose of people who revealed internal secrets and to keep its members in line.
Members of the party often found that the Carriers of Mercy were useful in attaining positions due to their influence. So they often paid donations to the Carriers or entered quid pro quo arrangements, so that the Carriers would support them in internal party elections. Many Provincial, Regional and Local Party Secretaries had at least in part attributed their positions to the support of the Carriers of Mercy and thus often confided government secrets in the Carriers or did tasks for the Carriers such as providing government offices or appointed their members as policy consultants. The Carriers had worked over a period of decades to become a sort of "state within the state" (also known as the deep state).
The Carriers also spread their influence to law enforcement. But due to the size of law enforcement, their influence was more diffuse. The Carriers struggled to penetrate the intelligence services who were avowedly devoted to the main party leadership. The problem with the intelligence services is that they were prone to infighting due to jockeying for influence. They often underestimated the political ambitions of the Carriers and missed a lot of the illegal parts of their work. They were also reluctant to attack it due to the influence it commanded especially among Politburo members. Furthermore, the Politburo members who were also Carriers members also used their influence to restrain the Intelligence Service by obstructing investigations into the Carriers activities.
Civil War
Until 1974, the Carriers benefited from the fact that the Communist Party had many factions and none of them were strong or united enough to challenge their growing influence within the Party. This gave them the courage to introduce and support policies that would provide mechanisms for their members especially the senior leadership to accumulate wealth and have more control over their private lives. This included relaxes trade barriers with foreign country, allowing for the gradual recognition of property rights and allow limited private enterprise, and relax pogroms against humans and to relax restrictions against religious communities. These policies were especially popular among the people. Nevertheless, an orthodox segment of the party began go oppose these reforms.
This was coupled with the fact that Thawal Yaladir was seeking reelection and there were rumours that Amhoud would put himself forward to replace him. Knowing that he could not hope to challenge Amhoud for control within the Carriers of Mercy, Thawal Yaladir co-opted the Orthodox Communist block and united them against the Carriers and their proposed reforms, so he could secure a second term. Prior to the conference, Thawal Yaladir, the Orthodox Communists and the Intelligence Services began coming after members of the Carriers of Mercy especially those who were part of the Politburo, through unfair trials, coerced resignations etc. Thawal Yaladir's plan was to get rid enough Carrier Politburo members so he could have enough Orthodox members so that the Politburo could order the disbanding of the Carriers.
Recognising that the Carriers were in danger and they could no longer simply work within the party, the Carriers declared themselves an independent organisation from the rest of the Party. This caused hundreds of thousands of members of the People's Liberation Army and the Communist Part to defect to the Carriers of Mercy. The Carriers of Mercy reorganised the defected soldiers and their existing veterans and bodyguards into the Warriors of Mercy as their military wing.
Shakar had become a stronghold of the Carriers as the Department of Reeducation and Indoctrination was fully under Amhoud's control and had built up a base in that province due to the Reeducation infrastructure it huilt there. As a result, the Provincial Government of Shakar defected to the Carriers of Mercy. The Carriers established a temporary government in Shakar in the city of Lehasa.
The People's Liberation Army sent forces to attack the Carriers in Shakar and they used the Trans-Packilvanian Train Network. The Warriors destroyed the line linked to Shakar, cutting the military off and killing thousands of soldiers in the process. The sheer embarrassment of the defeat, forced the Communist government to change tack. Shakar became de facto independent of the rest of Packilvania. The Communists tried to starve Shakar hy cutting off supplies.
The Carriers declared that they did not recognise the People's Republic. They began exhibiting a much more theocratic approach and built a cult of personality around Amhoud, with the nickname Sultan being applied to him. The Carriers invited deposed aristocrats and clergy to support their cause, many of whom were wealthy and educated and brought back their resources to help Shakar defeat the Communists. The Carriers officially disavowed Communism and drafted a Manifesto in which they promised greater liberalisation in Packilvania.
This caused uprisings against the Communist Party which the Carriers supported. The Carriers sent their forces to conduct sabotage against the Communist Party. Party officials around the country were defecting. The Carriers supplied them with weapons and deployed its men to the defectors to fight against the Communist Party.