StarCraft: Lord of the Empire

"The rulers of Tarsonis have oppressed Korhal for far too long! This is a world our ancestors forged with their own hands—it belongs to every Korhalan and to all their descendants!"

"In the southern Confederacy cities, corruption festers like worms in the bone. New Senate laws are deliberately twisted there. A civil servant's post—or even a governor's seat—is openly sold to the highest bidder!"

"Noble families and their relatives monopolize local senate elections. Wealthy merchants bribe officials to win infrastructure bids illegally, securing over 90% of all contracts. Corners are cut, safety standards ignored—and the resulting disasters have left hundreds dead or crippled!"

"In Balic, illegal mines outnumber those officially registered many times over. These mines have no safety protocols, their conditions are dire. Mine owners pay meager wages to hire smuggled refugees and send them into pits that could collapse at any moment. I ask you—who will be held accountable for this?"

"Where has a single coin of the heavy taxes levied by the Confederacy on Korhal IV ever been spent on the people? If all our hard work only serves to make the already-rich nobility even richer—if we still can't afford to feed our children no matter how hard we fight—then it is our right to rise up in rebellion!"

"I believe in only one truth: that even the axioms of geometry and the immutable laws of mathematics must be overthrown if they run counter to the interests of the people!"

Angus raised both hands from beneath his crimson robe, lifting them to his chest as if gripping something—perhaps a sword pointed at his heart. His thick beard and chiseled features, like a Greek statue sculpted by axe and chisel, were flushed with a strange, feverish red from passion.

"We have always believed that neither governments, nor individuals, nor even the so-called Old Families of Tarsonis have the right to treat others unjustly. Democracy and the law must not be empty words, and corrupt officials must face the punishment they deserve!"

"All men are born equal. The Creator endowed us with rights that cannot be taken away. To safeguard those rights, the people appointed a government. And if that government, through abuse of power and shameless exploitation, places its people under the yoke of tyranny, then the people have full right and reason to cast it down!"

"The history of Tarsonis and its colonial government is one of tyranny and plunder. They dream of imposing despotism on a free land like Korhal—but even the most tolerant hearts will rage against such tyranny!"

"Citizens of Korhal! Comrades of the Revolutionary Army! Loyal followers standing with me now! I ask you to declare, with solemnity and pride: from this very moment, Korhal IV is independent! This vast land belongs to us once more!"

"The Dominion of Korhal is born today!"

"I swear upon my honor and the honor of House Mengsk: the purpose of this Dominion's constitution shall be rooted in the spirit of Korhal's original pioneers and governed by the will of the people. It shall never betray democracy and justice."

"And if the Confederacy dares to use force to break our will—then let them unleash the terrible demon that is war!"

"Long live Korhal!" Angus raised his clenched right fist high in a gesture that, to Augustus, seemed rather theatrical.

"Long live Korhal! Long live the Dominion! Long live the immortal people!"

For a moment, a tidal wave of cheering swept across the city like thunder crashing through the mountains and sea. People embraced, called out to one another, and wept tears of joy.

"Lundstein, keep your security unit tight on my flank," Augustus commanded through his earpiece.

"From this moment on, the Palatine Forum is ours. If those senators try to resist—then let the blood flow."

...

Clad in upright-collared, coffee-colored Federal Marine uniforms, each bearing a golden wolf-head insignia on a red background stitched onto the right shoulder, the soldiers of the Korhal Revolutionary Army surrounded the Palatine Forum. Over four hundred 8mm electromagnetic rifles were loaded and ready.

The bronze-colored rooftop of the Palatine Forum gleamed like flowing gold beneath the noon sun. Draped in a heavy crimson robe, Angus Mengsk strode into the portico and through the wide black doors—supported by massive cylindrical columns—flanked by his son Augustus and a host of soldiers.

Inside the hall, its bas-relief pillars supporting the ceiling, statues of Korhal's early pioneers lined the pristine white walls. In the front gallery, uneasy senators shifted in their seats like frightened chicks in a cage—while a pack of fanged serpents watched from just beyond the bars.

Suddenly, the soldiers stormed into the hall with their Gauss rifles raised, their bayonets gleaming beneath the lights. Alarmed senators sprang to their feet, shouting furiously at Angus, who was surrounded by armed guards.

"Mengsk, this is madness—you're playing with fire!" barked Lennox Craven, the Senate Consul and leader of the main opposition party, his voice cutting through the room as though the glinting bayonets before him didn't exist.

"You desecrate everything this Senate stands for—justice, democracy, and freedom!" Lennox's words rang through the chamber as though he still presided over it. "Since the day our proud and glorious ancestors held the first assembly in this hall, sharp tongues have replaced cold steel and bullets. Democracy and justice are the blades that hang over our heads!"

"This is treason! The authority of the Senate is not to be challenged. Angus—do you intend to crown yourself the Senate's tyrant?"

But Angus simply met his gaze with calm solemnity and grave dignity.

"Perhaps you didn't hear me clearly," he said. "Then allow me to repeat myself: Korhal is independent."

"You've gone mad," Lennox growled. Normally a traditional politician, restrained in both joy and anger, he now resembled a roaring lion.

"Tarsonis will never let this slide. A strong countermeasure is imminent. Economic blockades? Fleet deployment?" he shouted.

"Angus, you will pay for your betrayal!"

Lennox stepped forward, rolling up his sleeves as if ready to strike Angus to the ground. But the flash of cold bayonets kept him from taking even one more step.

"Silence him," Augustus suddenly said, turning his head to address his loyal subordinates—unconcerned with the assumption that Angus would hesitate to act against the senator.

"Arrest these enemies of the people and traitors to Korhal."

A young officer gestured, and the soldiers pressed their bayonets against the chests of the once-dignified senators. Without the slightest regard for honor or dignity, the soldiers ripped off their crimson robes—symbols of tradition and status—forcing them to bend low in disgrace.

Meanwhile, the senators who had long stood beside Angus quietly removed their robes of their own accord and sat silently in their seats, watching events unfold.

"Greed. Corruption. Bribery. Nepotism. Factionalism."

Angus ascended the speaker's platform facing the gallery. Behind him, two flagpoles stood—one bearing the red-and-blue-striped banner of the Federation, the other displaying Korhal's three-star flag.

As Augustus's father publicly declared the crimes of the senators, journalists and photographers embedded with the military began documenting the historic moment. Augustus himself removed the Federation's banner and raised the golden wolf standard of the Mengsk family.

"You are the root of Korhal's political rot. Or rather—Tarsonis has long been the sponsor of your political ambitions. Perhaps your assets have already been transferred to interstellar banks in Tarsonis, or even Umoja. But we have no shortage of evidence. All senators—including those plotting escape—will be arrested by the Revolutionary Army and imprisoned, pending their final public trial!"

Soon after, Augustus ordered the soldiers to take Lennox and the others away. The revolutionaries had proof of Lennox's deep connections with one of the Old Families of Tarsonis. He had received their backing to obstruct Angus's reform decrees—decrees that would have formally severed Korhal from the Federation's political system. Others had acted even more shamelessly, indulging in bribery, corruption, and unchecked luxury.

Once the shouting senators had all fallen silent, the Senate Hall finally returned to stillness. Beneath the massive dome—adorned with heavy gold-plated chrome—the hall was lined row after row with soldiers standing at attention on the tiered gallery steps that rose in stages.

Facing the cameras, Angus began his next speech: "The senators of the Korhal Senate accepted money from Tarsonis and betrayed the interests of Korhal. Many of them are names you've never heard, faces you've never seen—which means they were never chosen by the will of the people."

"And we," Angus continued, pausing slightly at the name he still found awkward to pronounce, "the Pan-Terran National Unity Front… will revoke the powers of those senators and hold a new election. From the federal cities in the south to the city alliances in the north, from Felsdon to Styrling, we will redistribute these hundred seats. The entire election process must be fair, public, strict, and transparent. Every citizen will have the right to cast their vote."

"We will rebuild a new government—clean and efficient—and draft a new constitution: sacred and inviolable, the foundation of all future law. Any unfair and arbitrary taxes imposed on the people of Korhal by the Tarsonis Federal Government are hereby permanently abolished."

As Angus solemnly pledged this to the people of Korhal, Augustus quietly stepped out of the Senate Hall and entered the Revolutionary Army's temporary command center, hastily established in a side chamber of the building.

The uprising had only just begun.

Across the planet, corps, brigades, and battalions of the Revolutionary Army were still in the process of seizing Federal military bases and outposts as planned. It was up to Augustus to coordinate the larger campaign.

Roughly 600,000 regular troops had been mobilized. Another 150,000 had defected from the original Korhal Revolutionary Army. An additional 500,000 militia and armed civilians, wielding semi-automatic rifles, had joined the fight. In just a single day, this planet—home to only 40 million people—had seen over one million fighters assemble across various battlefields. And more were still rising to take up arms.

Some of the soldiers who joined the revolution had, just days earlier, been performing their routine duties—saying goodnight to unknowing wives before bed. But the moment the order to mobilize arrived, they quietly donned the deep gray uniforms of the Revolutionary Army, fastened on their golden wolf emblems, and marched to their rallying points.

The movement had garnered overwhelming support from the Korhal populace.

In cities across Korhal IV, unprecedented and terrifying riots broke out. Frenzied crowds seized control of the UNN Global News signal tower, stormed municipal halls, and set fire to deserted military bases. Driven nearly mad, the people hurled news editors from tall buildings, snapped the throats of corrupt officials, and trampled surrendering Federal soldiers to death.

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