Shepherds Path, Part 9: The Collapse
The withdrawal of the gateship fleet and Concordat support was the result of a movement that had been building for some time. Despite this, many questioned how serious the movement's leaders were, and how quickly they would cut off support if they did at all. The answer was unfortunately a quick removal almost immediately after taking political power. The Church attempted diplomacy to maintain contact. After all, New Jerusalem foodstuffs were being consumed on Earth, and the colony desperately needed the trade goods it got from Earth. In many people’s eyes there was no reason to cut off contact. As events moved closer and closer to a full abandonment of the colonies, the Pope personally went to Earth to discuss the situation and plead his case. During the following months, the isolationist policy took effect. The Pope did not return.
The Jerusalemite Church had many contingency plans. Most of these were direct results of the fact the Church modeled itself after the ancient Catholic Church. However, no contingency existed for this situation. The Pope was not dead, or at least could not be confirmed dead, but the Pope was also not present to lead the Church and, by extension, the colony. In the days immediately following isolation, procedures were enacted to ensure that the government continued to function, and the colony continued to operate normally. Some expected isolation to be short and a return to normalcy would follow, but others were not so sure. By the end of the year, pressure had begun to build within the clergy to prepare for an extended isolation period. No consensus could be reached within the Assembly, and with no Pope there was no central figure to rally around. Seeing this void, a group of clergy members pushed to elect a new Pope. Outrage and condemnation of this violation of tradition and holy law broke the clergy into two factions. One side supported electing a new Pope, even in interim, to lead the colony in these dark times, while the other outright refused. The citizenry broke along similar lines as well, following their clergy’s lead. Condemnation turned into action, which then predictably turned into violence. Clashes between the two sides broke out, but they were were small in scale until one leader declared those seeking to elect a new Pope as heretics and ordered their arrest. While the gesture was mostly for show, common people took it as a call to arms. Mobs quickly formed, and those deemed heretics were arrested, murdered, or worse. Retaliation spiraled into open conflict, and within three years of the Concordat’s withdrawal the Jerusalemite Church had collapsed in the flames of civil war.
The car drove through the streets of Adrian’s Landing with speed and purpose. People were milling in the streets, and many were restless. Columns of smoke could be seen drifting over the rooftops. In the car, three Church officials and their driver were in a near panic. The first, a middle aged man, looked over to his compatriots. “Looks like things are spilling out past the interchange between highways 1 and 4. We need to turn south.”
“South?” said the woman next to him. “That would take us towards the Archcathedral where Bishop McAllis was speaking”. Everyone in the car was silent for a section. Biship McAllis had been the one who first named those who pushing for a new papal election as heretics. His words had seemed to have an electric effect on those gathered around him, and there had been reports of violence breaking out. The violence was mostly targeted at Church staff who were part of the government arm. Church peacekeepers, little more than police, had been dispatched to calm things down, but were being overrun. Church officials had been released from work and were told to go home for the rest of the day, at least until things calmed down.
“Then we need to head back” said the young man in the back seat. “The side streets were clear, and we can take one of those out toward the spaceport and eventually east.” The driver turned around without waiting for discussion. Less than two minutes later it became apparent this riot, or whatever it was, had been growing fast. Streets that had been clear moments ago now crawled with people. The car’s passengers looked on as vehicles were flipped and buildings were lit on fire. The driver pumped the brakes and tried to turn around again but it was too late. A press of humanity surrounded the car and began beating on the windows. It took only seconds for them to get through and start violently pulling the passengers out. The driver fought back but a loud bang ended his fight. The car’s passengers winced at the gunshot but quickly realized there were more gunshots going off all around. Things were getting bad.
One of the people who had pulled the young woman from the car pulled a chain hard around her neck. “Look! They’re part of the heretics!” he proclaimed. As he finished his sentence the passengers began to plead, but their cries were drowned out by the noise of the crowd. A punch was thrown, and soon all three passengers were on the ground being beaten. It felt like an eternity before they were hauled to their feet and thrown into the back of some kind of vehicle. At least 5 others, a mix of men and women, all from the Church’s government arm, were in the back with them. All had been beaten hard.
The vehicle went on a slow, jarring ride for some time, before stopping. The back hatch opened and the passengers were forced out of the vehicle and into the sunlight. All around them were crowds of furious people. Gunshots and other loud noises could be heard, and great columns of smoke could be seen coming from the direction they were being marched towards. They were in a park, or at least the remains of what had once been a park. After they had been pushed deeper into the scorched trees, their blood ran cold at what they saw. In the middle of the park were dozens of poles, and at the base of each was a collection of refuse. Flammable refuse. When they saw that several poles were burning, the Church officials realized in horror what was going to happen to them. The unmistakable forms of people could be seen in the center of the flames.
