The Apprentice

(Expect the more thorough review of the June update as I had said sometime in the coming week. In the meantime, LORE)

...

Augustus had always seemed to be busy... Managing a war, expanding Rimskaya's border, and now countering a massive outbreak of some creepy fog. Nonsense it all seemed.

The fog had indeed crossed the water, and had been declared a threat to the entire country. A National Emergency was declared, and military weapons were authorized to neutralize the fog by any means necessary. It had not yet reached the peninsula, as the water did slow it down, but it was not stopping at any point anymore.

And he was afraid.

This "he" is young Tiberius Democraticus, Augustus' adopted son (as he remains unmarried), named appropriately after the Roman emperor after Augustus Caesar.

Since his father was always busy dealing with the problems of the country, Tiberius could spend little time with him. As such, he had grown up so far very independent of his father, spending his days wandering Novogo Rima, as the state had all but eliminated crime and the streets were safe for even children of his age.

Today he found himself in his bedroom though, with the state of emergency threatening a lock-down, and the streets littered with preparations for if the invading fog reached the capital.

And he was bored.

He didn't believe he had any kind of power or influence. Sure, he had done is nightly readings of Marx and Trotsky, gone to school and nearly memorized parts of the Manifesto, but he still didn't understand the Marxist-Trotskyist ideology. From his view, it had made Rimskaya a prosperous state... but failed to keep it safe.

Rimskaya was constantly faced with invasions, disasters, international condemnation, economic drawbacks... it could never advance except in words and empty land, which only seemed to worsen its conditions and reputation.

And so, with no one to really watch over him, he began reading elsewhere to search for a potential answer to this problem; the way to make Rimskaya safe from the inside-out, while preserving the general liberty and proletarian democracy.

In the end, he couldn't find much, even after hours of research and study.

He soon found himself watching movies and TV, trying to drown out the sorrow and worry from the impending dangers to the south. Augustus was out, overseeing the military preparations in the south, as well as attempted bombing runs to clear the fog.

Eventually, Tiberius found some Star Wars, his favorite movie series. He of course liked the lightsaber fights and the massive battles, but today he watched a little differently.

The movie playing was Revenge of the Sith, the story of Palpatine's rise to power, and Anakin Skywalker's descent to the Dark Side. Tiberius found something interesting amongst the narrative though... something about the Sith beyond the power lust of Darth Sidious and his new apprentice.

He found the Sith to have faced the same fate as Marxist-Trotskyism: it was not inherently evil, and nor was the Dark Side. It was simply the easier way for evil to take to gain power, as opposed to the Jedi and Light Side. The Sith allowed openly expressed emotions when the Jedi ordered emotional control, and allowed for liberty of the self while still protecting the group. Yet because of such evil as Palpatine, its named and reputation was tarnished, and could only be portrayed as bad and needing destruction: just as Stalin had done to the Marxist ideal.

He put some thought into it: Dark does not mean evil. Without dark, light cannot shine; it would be blinding, as if the night sky were white instead of black, and not a star could be seen.

He redirected his research entirely to the origins and ways of the Sith. In the end, he resolved that this idea, decades old with the franchise of its origin, was the key to saving Rimskaya. He had to keep it secret, of course, developing his thinking beyond a crude irrational thought, until it was ready to present, first to his friends at school, then they would spread it, and perhaps...

It would mean something.

He titled this new thought of his appropriately, "Marxist-Sithism", titling himself under the personal nickname "Darth Equalus", and revised the Sith motto to fit his new ideology:

"Peace is the truth, and with it, compassion.

Through compassion, we gain strength.

Through strength, we gain power.

Through power, we gain victory.

Through victory, our chains are broken.

We shall set ourselves free."