Life and Death
Last week as announced in the news a force of Dust Brigade elite soldier commandos attacked the main cities of Rubi-Ka through the grid. The people of Rubi-Ka turned back this force of the Dust Brigade's best in an amazing show of the people's strength.
The Dust Brigade assault force was composed of elite Shadowknowledged soldiers. Which begs the question, how are dust brigaders getting into the Shadowlands and the special knowledge and abilities it brings? The Dust Brigade soldiers were nearly killed on several occasions, but retreated through the grid network when coming close to death. After retreating the Dust Brigaders would be gone for several minutes and then return in force to renew their failed assault. Amid the usual dust brigade slogans of "dust to dust" and "ashes to ashes" the Brigaders often taunted if this was the best we could as they would run to the grid point. Was this a simple goad or is the Dust Brigade simply making tactical raids to assess the strength of the Clans? If so I certainly hope today's exercise showed them the strength and determination of the people of Rubi-Ka. Still much more needs to be done to stop these dangerous attacks.
Hopefully this places renewed emphasis on restoration efforts to fix up Old Athen city defenses. Maybe there is even a connection between the rally of last sunday and monday's assault? The last time the Dust Brigade commandos were highly active was during the last Council of Truth. It seems the Dust Brigade might be afraid of the strength of a Clan Council? question is are they going to try and frame us for crimes when Omni-Tek already nullified our working treaty or are they preparing for something more direct?
This is my belief, the Dust Brigade is afraid of this time where the Clans are once again coming together under a united banner. We represent a threat to their agenda of destabilzing Rubi-Ka and spreading Chaos. The danger is obvious, but it appears the brave fighters of the Clans and the corporate soldiers of Omni-Tek have what it takes to fight off their strongest attackers.
On our own we're enough to drive the Dust Brigade menace back. Could perhaps together with Omni-Tek we discover the Brigade's origins and destroy them? It would be a hard job, Dust Brigade attacks are frequently exploited by Omni-Tek for its anti-Clan propaganda. They'd rather blame the former Council of Truth without evidence then find the home of the Dust Brigade. But Omni-Tek like all organizations is subject to pressure from it's citizens. Sure the corporate entity has tighter control over its own people, but even they are likely to revolt when their lives are in danger just as the miner forebearers to the Clans did so many years ago.
This is my hope for the future. Sure Omni-Tek is corrupt, but corruption can only occur when the original is good. We must fight those who want to take away our freedom. However we can fight evil better by teaching the Omni-Tek how strong we can all be united, and free to live our own lives and grow.
The Dust Brigade has shown us the path to the clan's success by opposing us. We must fight them, and we must fight to win the war and not just the battles. They Dust Brigade seeks to divide us, so we must unite under the Council of Truth and get all the major clans and as many others to join as possible under one united banner. United together the Clans will be the greatest force to reckon with. But we shouldn't stop there. We should ally with neutrals and dialogue with omni-tek to get them the citizens to see the truth. To fight for a better future even while they are still with Omni-Tek. When all live in peace and freedom together then we will defeat the Shadowlands and move into the greatest period of history ever. An age of peace of prosperity.
This is my final vision for Rubi-Ka.
Sallust, Elder of The Pilgrims Clan
