Day of Rage (Benacian Union)

Day of Rage

Crowds march through the streets during anti-Shireroth protests in Chryse on the Day of Rage, chanting furious denunciations and ritual curses
Date	12.I.1731 AN
Location	Benacian Union Ardashirshahr Chryse Merensk
Type	Demonstrations
Target	Shireroth
Organised by	High Presidium of the Benacian Union  Commission for the Panopticon  Nationalist and Humanist Party

The Day of Rage was a series of mass rallies and demonstrations held across the Benacian Union on 12.I.1731 AN in reaction to the shocking public execution of the head of the Benacian legation in Shirekeep, Abner Shas, by Kaiseress Salome of Shireroth days earlier. Attendance at the primary rallies in Ardashirshahr, Chryse, and Merensk was mandated for all able-bodied and meritorious subjects of those urban bailiwicks.

Background

On 1.I.1731 AN, after the Journey to the West ended in tragedy with the accidental downing of an Imperial aircraft carrying Shirerithian princes Rubin and Ichirō, a furious Salome summoned Shas to the Great Hall of Raynor's Keep. In a shocking breach of diplomatic protocols, the encounter was broadcast live across Shirerithian media channels.

Upon Shas delivering the expected formulaic message of condolences and acknowledgement of responsibility, Salome skipped the anticipated platitudes of reconciliation. Instead, she accessed the Mobile Command System "Chrysos" and appeared to activate a series of strike orders. In a chilling statement, she declared "as smoke vanishes, so let them vanish, as wax melts before the fire" - widely interpreted as the authorisation of massive conventional or nuclear retaliation against the Benacian Union.

In the final horrifying moments captured by the broadcast, Salome had Shas and his entourage forcibly brought before the dais and beheaded by the palace guard. The gruesome scene, and implication of imminent apocalyptic Shirerithian retaliation, sent shockwaves across the Benacian Union. It prompted the Benacian Security Council to immediately institute the highest level of alert short of armed conflict.

Buildup

In the days after the incident, outrage and calls for vengeance against Shireroth grew throughout Benacian society amidst the prospect of looming armageddon. Shas' murder represented an unimaginable defilement of diplomatic norms and Salome's actions were viewed as those of a deranged tyrant risking civilisational cataclysm with her threats of "smoke and wax."

With incredible swiftness, the cadres of the Nationalist and Humanist Party and domestic security apparatus of the state moved to capitalise on this visceral public resentment. Plans were laid for a massive public spectacle that could channel the outrage into popular support for a hardline stance against Shireroth and prepare the populace for whatever may occur next.

To maximise impact, attendance was mandated for all able-bodied and meritorious subjects who were physically able to attend the mass rallies planned across three of the core population centres of Ardashirshahr, Chryse, and Merensk. Severe civil penalties and privation were threatened for any resident in those bailiwicks who failed to present themselves without authorised dispensation. Workplaces, schools, universities, and public venues were shut down while public transportation arranged to convene everyone in the designated locations.

The Rallies

A vast crowd of the loyalist cadres marching through the streets for an anti-Shireroth rally

The three rallies were streamed across the Benacian Home Service Network, with stages and viewing platforms constructed to host the gathered throngs of outraged subjects. Ranting speakers took to the podiums, whipping the masses into fervour with furious denunciations of Shirerithian perfidy and mockery of Salome's capricious instability. Towering effigies of the Kaiseress were burned as onlookers chanted ritual curses in all the permissible languages.

In Ardashirshahr, the crowds stretched along Victory over the Elfinshi Avenue and surrounding boulevards despite the chill winter weather. Chants of "Death to the Snake" and "Avenge Shas" shook the air as banners with slogans like "Never Forgive" and "No Mercy for Madness" waved above the multitudes. Sporadic violence saw pacifist groups subject to assaults and dispersal by security forces.

The atmosphere in the capital Chryse was no less fevered, with waves of raised fists greeting each fresh call for retaliation. The focal point was a colossal-scale parade float recreating Shas' murder, with periodic enactments of his decapitation met by howls of outrage. When finally set ablaze and pushed into the sea, the float's fiery ruin was cheered as a harbinger of Shireroth's certain destruction.

Meanwhile, in Merensk, the assembled crowds endured hours of fiery rhetoric from high-ranking officials and party cadres. The Humanist ideologue Thorstein Edmundsøn railed against Shirerithian depravity in an epic three-hour diatribe, declaring the time for patient endurance at an end. At its crescendo, thunderous chants of "Endsieg" shook the bitterly cold air as the raucous defiance of the masses echoed across the Centrum district.

Speeches

Notable speeches on the Day of Rage

Speaker	City	Venue	Speech
Daniyal ibn Daniyal	Chryse	New Residency	Expand "My brothers and sisters of the Raspur Pact! Meritorious children of Benacia! We gather here today united in grief...and united in rage! Our delegation to Shireroth, headed by the noble Abner Shas, travelled to the Imperial Court on a mission of solidarity and peace. They carried condolences for the tragic deaths of the Shirerithian princes, born from an appalling accident and misunderstanding between our two great allied realms. Yet how were they received in turn? With barbarity! With treachery! You have witnessed with your own eyes the atrocity committed against Abner Shas and his entourage. These good men, these illustrious subjects of the sublime state, were seized and decapitated like criminals before the unblinking eye of the media! The ancient halls of Raynor's Keep ran red with the blood of diplomats murdered in defiance of all civilised convention! From what profound depths did this atrocity arise within the mind of Salome? That this supposed Kaiseress would so gleefully desecrate the customs of diplomacy and revel in base butchery speaks to her utter disregard for human values. Her actions render null and void all presumption of rationality - she has shown herself to be nothing but a depraved beast, unfit to bear the mantle of sovereignty! And as if this revolting crime against our legation were not enough, you have heard her own vile words - a threat of armageddon levelled against our ancient shared homeland! "As smoke vanishes...as wax melts before the fire," she declared with evident relish, as though she would eagerly immolate our cities in atomic fury just to sate her monumental and deranged bloodlust! Can such unforgivable outrages go unanswered, my brothers and sisters? Can the life's blood of our diplomats, spilled upon the marble floors of that ancient keep, be permitted to drain away in vain? Can we allow this mad tyrant's ravings about smoke and wax to hang like the Sword of Vengeance over our very existence? No! Our answer must be a resounding no! Salome and her cohorts of sycophants have shattered whatever remaining restraints governed their behaviour. In their madness, they have rendered all compacts and assurances null and void! Now only the choice we face is submit and be annihilated at the whims of a mad Kaiseress, now revealed as the true heir of Ayreon IV and the Kalirion Fracture...or raise our fist and defiantly say "Enough!" So I say to you gathered here today, people of the Benacian Union, the choice is clear! If Shirerithian madness continues unabated, if the unbridled fury of that enthroned rabid dog is not swiftly leashed, then that maniac state itself shall be made to vanish like smoke in the storm winds of our righteously-wielded rage! They shall be made to melt away like wax before the binding fire of our resolve! The path ahead may be grievous. War may come, death may stalk our streets. But I say to you here and now - we will never submit to the depraved extortions of that soulless blight in Raynor's Keep! Her reign of terror over this very Micras shall be made brief! Our endurance will outlast her vulgar displays of inhuman barbarity! Shirerithian perfidy has exposed the necessity of our constant vigilance. It demands we stand together, indivisible, against that vile menace or resign ourselves and our posterity to a fate most grim! The Union-State has endured past calamities unbowed, and remained, from the frozen Raikoth to these sunlit southern shores, united. Our people bear a glorious legacy of building a harmonious, coordinated state and society that no tyrant, no force of chaos and disorder, shall be permitted to extinguish! Steel yourselves, brethren - for the storm is gathering on the horizon! Let our rage, baptised in the blood of our martyrs, be the spur that rouse us to weathering the howling tempests. We shall endure, and once the storm is past, we shall once more proclaim the sacred unity of our continental home! Benacia endures, Humanity prevails!"
Ayesha al-Osman	Chryse	Congress Hall	Expand "People of Benacia! I come before you today with a heart laden by the horrific events we have all borne witness to in recent days. Our mission of diplomatic reconciliation to Shireroth, undertaken with peaceful intentions despite prior misunderstandings, has been repaid with an act of abhorrent treachery! You have seen how the deranged Salome, still styling herself a "Kaiseress", welcomed our delegation led by the noble Abner Shas. With mocking disdain for all civilised convention, she publicly executed Shas and his entourage as though they were condemned criminals rather than diplomats! This atrocity strikes not just at our honour, but at the very foundations of international discourse and human decency! Let me be clear - no grievance, no matter how inflamed by accident or mishap, could ever justify such a violation of the most basic codes governing relations between states. Whatever fault was occasioned by the tragic Sansabury incident, that is entirely negated, overwhelmed, and rendered utterly irrelevant by the barbarity Salome and her cronies have since willingly embraced! We had extended the hand of dialogue and rapprochement. Shireroth has responded by revealing itself as a rouge tyranny, enslaved to the whims of psychopathic leadership devoid of any restraint or respect for human values. A force of chaos that threatens to plunge our world back into an age of savagery! Therefore, we can no longer indulge any illusions about the Shirerithian regime. It has forfeited all rights, dismantled all protections, and renounced its status as a member of the community of civilised nations. At what value shall its claims of sovereignty hereafter then be set at? To any Shirerithian nationals presently residing within the Union-State, you are granted a window of forty-eight hours in which to pledge yourselves to the Union Covenant and renounce that decrepit blight you hail from. Any who fail to do so, who do not elect to prudently depart, shall be subject to internment for the duration of this rupture in relations. You will be treated with dignity, but the security implications are too severe to permit unrestrained residency. And to the Shirerithian regime itself - be forewarned that full accountability shall be enacted! Salome and every governing extremist who participated in this criminal atrocity before the Golden Mango Throne will be held to implacable judgement. There will be no hiding place for those whose mania has inscribed their names alongside history's most reviled butchers! Unlike the Shirerithian state, the Union-State shall not abandon all pretences of human morality and civilised values, even in our outrage. Their remaining diplomats on Benacian soil shall be permitted to depart safely with their lives, despite the gross infamy of the Imperial Republic they serve. We are a union of coordination, harmony, and order - not merely savages who would embrace naked vengeance and retaliation without any due process! But let me be equally clear - our restraint and principled conduct is not an act of weakness, but of strength. Of conscious discipline and belief in our cause's purity against such repugnant malignancy! Our patient resolved will outlast the fleeting, desperate fury of those degenerates openly embracing state terrorism and crimes against humanity! We are the inheritors of the greatest struggles for the Human Supremacy and Harmonious Society on Micras, stretching back into antiquity. That noble legacy will not be sullied or overwhelmed by the violent actions of a rabid autocrat in [Raynor's Keep]]! We will remain unbroken by this barbarous act! The menace of the Shirerithian tyranny shall be overcome and civilised community of humanity redeemed from its madness! Justice will ultimately prevail through our persevering determination! We shall endure! Humanity itself shall prevail!"
Jahangir Khan	Ardashirshahr	Palace of One Thousand Columns	Expand
Zacharias Avon-El	Merensk	Panopticon Citadel	Expand

Aftermath

The unified message delivered by the simultaneous rallies was clear - the Benacian Union would not allow such an unforgivable outrage and threat to its national security to go unanswered. If Shireroth's defiance continued, it risked annihilation at the hands of a grimly-determined Benacian populace.

In the days following the mass rallies, the Benacian government intensified its moves to escalate pressure on the Shirerithian regime and enact accountability for its shocking violations of international norms.

On 13.I.1731 AN, just a day after the fury of the Day of Rage spectacle, Brugen Aldef of the Honourable Company filed a petition on behalf of the Benacian Union at the Micras Treaty Organisation Court in Huyenkula. The petition accused Shireroth of improperly seeking to void the Protocols of Erudition agreement in regards to Sathrati without offering any compensation, calling it a "breach of our bilateral agreement and international norms."

Aldef requested that the court initiate proceedings against Shireroth and permit the submission of evidence, with the goal of having the rogue state's actions declared unlawful. "We trust in the Court's capacity to fairly adjudicate this dispute and to reinforce the respect for agreements made under the aegis of international law," his petition read.

In an interim order, the MTO Court commanded both parties to name legal representatives, submit opening briefs on their claims and evidence, and prepare for hearings on the matter. The Benacian legal offensive aimed to apply economic and judicial pressure on Shireroth before any considerations of potential military reprisals.

However, sceptics argued that lawfare seemed unlikely to sway the singularly determined Shirerithian regime under Kaiseress Salome. Many analysts instead suggested that a spiral towards open conflict was becoming inevitable after the shocking violation of diplomatic privileges and implicit threats of apocalyptic retaliation from Raynor's Keep.

Regardless of how the MTO Court case would subsequently proceed, the Day of Rage demonstrations underscored how profoundly Shireroth's recent actions had inflamed public and official opinion in the Benacian Union. With crowds chanting furious denunciations like "Death to the Snake" and officials pledging to enact "full accountability" upon Salome's "depraved" regime, it seemed that significant escalation or violent rupture in relations was now merely a matter of time.

As reported by the NBC Newsfeed, Hurmu Ambassador Prince Alexander Ayreon-Kalirion resigned his commission on this Day of Rage of the Benacian Union in response to Kaiseress Salome's execution of Benacian Union ambassador Abner Shas.