The Other Rebellion 1 (Patreon)

The Other Rebellion - or ‘How the United States of Etheria came to be’ (Semi-Crackfic She-Ra, Human!SI)

I fucking hate myself.

No, I mean it this time around. If there is a show I had barely watched in the last few years, the remake of She-Ra was one of those I really didn’t want to ever be hurled into. I mean, I had nothing against the ‘progressive’ relationships, but I have to say that the political, military and the world-building aspects had me cringing left and right.

Like, I get it. Not every writer can be aware that a space-faring civilization should have a hellish degree of power compared to the non-space-faring population. Regardless of the human wave doctrines of the medieval kind, the quality of the weaponry should have been enough.

What the fuck went wrong there?

I soon learned the answer when I had to take arms against said troglodytes from outer space because I woke up being tended in one of the villages right at the entrance of Whispering Woods. Literally on the battlefield between the ‘Rebellion’ and the Horde.

A day into my newest predicament, some people were told that Hordak’s troops had been mobilized and were about to sweep through the land in an effort to secure a ‘safe entrance’ into the heart of the Rebellion.

Initial reaction of the denizens at the news that their livelihood was about to change from freed to enslaved? Uneasy indifference. I couldn’t fault them to some extent.

The propaganda had been so ruthless about the terrifying troops that they were going to face that fighting felt meaningless, even more so at the news that the Rebellion was not going to stance troops to assist.

An offer for evacuation was given, but that was empty even then. It required the crossing of the sea with the menace of a large marine snake that could tear into boats.

Still, as much as I could understand and sympathize with those people, I also refused to even consider giving up against this bunch of toon villains.

“Is that all you have to say?!” I slammed at the mayor as he relayed the news that there was not going to be any effort to evacuate or defend the village. “To give up? On your freedom?!”

“There’s nothing we can do-”

“Fighting is a thing.”

“The Horde is too strong, stranger. You don’t know what kind of threat we are facing,” The guy, not too old or too young, spat back. “I will not see a waste of lives for something we can’t win.”

“Then it is something we don’t deserve if we can’t win it. Is this what the parents want? That their children are told to bow their heads to the bigger being? To bow to monsters? To be submissive to the first threat that comes for their rights to be happy and to be free to enjoy their lives?!” I angrily retorted, looking at the crowd that had formed in the main square. “And what would we face? The Horde will not send their best troops. They will send rookies, troopers that have absolutely no clue on how war works because they know you are all quitters already.”

“You are trying to have us all killed?! Shame on you, I shall have you removed from this settlement rather than hear your insane rambling some more. Guards, seize him!”

There was a slight issue with that plan. As two ‘not-so-kind-looking’ fellows started to approach me from the mayor’s side, I was slightly impressed when the folks reacted and some of the bigger men took care to stop the two ‘armed thugs’.

“The runt may be a stranger, but he ain’t wrong,” One of the men spoke, the crowd agreeing with that statement. “The Horde ain’t leaving us in peace. They will demand stuff from us. More than the taxes we already pay.”

“The guy is right, I think!” One of the older women said. “That Hordak is going to see our kids taken to be made into troopers against them wills. My little twins ain’t meant for that life!”

“No child should be forced to war,” I added strongly. “Which is why this is not just a fight for survival. It’s a fight for the very blessing you have all been given upon birth. The chance to be what you want to be with the right amount of dedication, determination and self-improvement.”

“Can we even win? Are those really kiddy soldiers?” One of the younger adults inquired, and an old man snorted. “Whatcha amused for, oldie?”

“The stranger ain’t wrong about them being rookies,” The elder answered firmly. “I was among those that made a stand during the early days of the Rebellion before I got wounded. Hordak has to rely heavily on our children to fuel his war machine. If we give up, then he gets the kids and he gets to be the bully for those beyond us.”

“Y-You would waste your lives for… for what? For a potential defeat?”

“We would waste it for the right to keep on living the way this village wants to live,” I shot back at the mayor, feeling immensely frustrated with the guy’s defeatist tone. “And if you can’t handle the mere notion that people are not doormats for a tyrant to step on, then you can bloody leave now.”

And my sentiment was shared by the entirety of the village. Not most, the whole place. It was at that moment I realized the title of mayor wasn’t always one bestowed through democratic means, the guy was handpicked by his predecessor as a ‘working peacetime successor’.

War was still imminent, so there wasn’t much of a plan in that regard.

Nonetheless, the now former mayor was allowed to pack some of his essential supplies together with his guards and given the means to leave. He was no longer recognized as the leader, and while he swore to return to his ‘rightful title’, no one paid attention to him.

With this issue solved, people rallied and started to ask ‘how do we win this battle?’ and while I was very scared shitless now that I had been given sudden command of the situation, I replied with a rather fair response.

“Friends. Alone we may have dire chances, but let’s see how many others will fight for freedom. Let us ask who will stand against the Horde. And let this Just Cause be filled by brothers and sisters of war.”

Communicators were a thing, and while I was nervous on who was going to answer the call to stand up against the Horde, I was caught off-guard by one thing: we were not alone.

In fact, we were a lot more than I could have hoped for.

—-------d-d-d-d—------

Adora was feeling happy. Confused, but still relieved that war didn’t come to Plumeria the way she expected it to go.

The Horde had been plotting to strike at the passive denizens of the kingdom for a while, so she was sent to Plumeria to bolster the morale and get the people to take to arms to fight. To say that they had been more focused on ‘worshiping’ her was an understatement.

They were too much into She-Ra, expecting her to do all the job and… and it was kind of easy to slowly coax them out of that mindset. Princess Perfuma helped as much as she could too, and despite some resistance at the idea of fighting, something happened that took Plumeria off-guard.

While they couldn’t have the entirety of the Kingdom ready to fight, they were trying to have most of it ready. And Adora was pleasantly surprised when the invasion of the Horde was successfully pushed back by a group of militiamen.

From the looks of it, the situation had surprised most people. Perfuma explained that many were too passive to take arms, so it was odd for this to happen. And while the news mentioned just a successful defense, a major communication broadcast from the group responsible for this victorious pushback painted a bigger picture.

The man that spoke referred to himself as the ‘assigned War Reporter’ or ‘Journalist of the War Effort’. He wasn’t the leader, but rather someone put in the position of reading reports given to him, and that the success of this situation was all given to ‘The People of Etheria, and the leadership of the new Republic’.

The militia forces were rallied within the week, allowed to elaborate plans of defense and, when the Horde attacked, let those ‘overconfident troops’ in to be ambushed within the settlements. Kids and people that were unable to fight were brought to safety before the skirmish, but this wasn’t the end of it.

Once the assault was destroyed, the militia put on the uniforms of the fallen Horde troops, used the radio to make it seem like they were wounded troops retreating for medical assistance, were given the chance to enter the forward bases and…

Let’s just say that the forward bases are now in the hands of this new state.

And upon hearing this, Adora was quite confused about a specific term that kept on nagging within her mind for some reason.

What is a republic?

She knew it was a form of government, but it was clearly different from a Kingdom or the Horde. Even Perfuma was left perplexed by this sort of detail as she was unaware of the terminology too.

In the end, the report explained a bit more on the government. A republic was like a kingdom as there was a head of state but also a head of government. Those were to be elected during times of peace by the people every few years in what the reporter defined as ‘mandates’ and that no one was allowed to rule for life unless there was a strong enough circumstance to motivate an extensive duration of the mandates.

To Adora, this sounded like a lot of interest and Perfuma agreed to this.

Despite that, some worry came in the form of how this new Republic came to be as many states of southern Plumeria swore loyalty to the new country. And while Perfuma didn’t seem to mind out of the fact these people were fighting for something good…

Adora knew through education that this was going to bear some headaches to the leaders of the Rebellion with this new Rebellion in the map.

—-----d-d-d-d—------

AN

Adora sucks in social interactions, but she’s good in terms of military and diplomatic ordeals.

Hence why she knows this new development is a mixed thing for her faction.

Still, here’s a map I will be using for this story.
-Gray (Hordak’s Horde);
-Light Blue (Etherian Republic);
-Orange (Kingdom of Plumeria);
-Purple (Kingdom of Dryl);
-Lilac (Kingdom of Mystacor);
-Pink (Kingdom of Bright Moon);
-Blue (Kingdom of Salineas);
-Light Gray (Kingdom of Snows)*;
-Yellow (Crimson Waste);

*Since Etheria is a small planet, the Kingdom of Snows covers all the Light-Gray covered areas.