<b>Seeing through The Shroud: Introduction</b>
<i>A History of the Valakarma Commune and the Shroud of Freedom</i>
Written by Valakarma Qutah “VQ” Prashem
Collection Date and Location: 10 Ninyena, i1138. Eternal Library: Pradita Branch - Pradita, Mankara. 3:778:LFA-9
LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION CODE: Restricted - Level 2 of 3
As long as there has been an empire on our continent, there have been radical forces that have opposed the Roaring Throne, seeking self-governance by any means necessary. Some still wish to debate this truth, but it is not a matter of conjecture or theory. It is a stated fact willfully ignored and openly dismissed as a radical, idyllic utopia dreamed up by the foolish and the poor who cannot accept their lot in life. The reason behind this dismissal is simple. The Empire’s ruling elite and their willing abettors find it impossible to fathom a reconstruction of the world where the poor are not subject to the rich, where no person is required to toil for the sole benefit of others, and where each person is allowed to seek their own personal and social advancement through self-improvement and collective good-will. But this is exactly what happened during the years of i0140 and i0146 in the Valakarma district of the city of Pradita, and it remains a singular achievement in the history of anti-government and popular social movements.
With origins in the days of Erikenyean rule over the city and the group’s rise in prominence in the Verushan Empire’s golden age, the Shroud of Freedom has been an uncomfortable thorn in the foot of the elite ruling class throughout its existence, creating pockets of resistance in their hometown of Pradita, spreading their message across the Empire during the Rishean Conquest, and even prophesying the return to the pre-civilization state, a future gaining more traction and quickly becoming more popular. Then, on the first day of the year i0140, they committed their most audacious act, liberating the large district of the city of Pradita known as the Valakarma, the neighborhood that is the home of the underprivileged working people of the city. The home of the servant, the fisherman, and the foot soldier. My neighborhood. And through this audacious act, the Shroud became a symbol of resistance to the tyranny of the state to oppressed people in every state in the Empire and an infamous terrorist organization to levers of power who are determined to crush their revolution.
The Valakarma Commune has been fascinating to me ever since I was a child when I would sit with my grandfather in outdoor cafes of the district and listen to him talk about it in hushed tones with his friends. Most often, they would discuss and theorize its return. This conversation was especially popular when the Goshaka Family levied new taxes or instituted new curfews on the neighborhood, two of the favorite pastimes of the ruling family of Pradita. Afterward, he would typically want to walk with these old revolutionaries, and we would stroll by the Aparanka Vitti, decayed and falling apart from abandonment. Even in this dilapidated state, the opera house was a magnificent structure. It remains so to this day. The green ribbons and yellow uratu flowers attached to the rusting gates are constant reminders of what once was and what could one day return. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!
On one of these many walks, I asked him why the old building was never repaired and why there were no more meetings or performances in its halls.
"It''s a message to us here from the Family," he told me. "The Goshaka want the building to rot, and they want us to watch it happen."
And therein is the fundamental flaw of the Verushan Empire and its handling of the Shroud. The foolish belief that the spirit of freedom and the desire for self-rule can be squeezed out of working people. Nearly a thousand years prior to my birth, the people of the district were awoken to the truth that their labor benefits the wealthy, not society. Imperial rule and the families that govern the great cities, regardless of their virtues and altruistic actions, only seek to gain and maintain control of populations for the sole purpose of their own social, economic, and political advancement and security. This is the nature of power. Once understood, the knowledge of it cannot be beaten out of people, no matter how heavy the guards’ vanta. It cannot be starved away. And decaying symbols and burned buildings will not erode their potency.
As much as possible, I have endeavored to let the voices of those whose actions inspired hundreds of thousands to speak for themselves in this brief and incomplete volume. Through these accounts, we hear the story of the revolution that took place in the neighborhood where I was raised and so dearly cherish. It begins with what remains of the letter that was attached to the gilded doors of the Aparanka Vitti on the 13th of Zhuye, i0138, the first public communication of the Shroud of Freedom to the people of the Valakarma district and the city of Pradita.
It is the first of many communications and manifestos the Shroud has disseminated over the years, as revolutionaries want to do. And throughout the years, their message, vision, and rhetoric have remained remarkably intact. I have reproduced it below, with the punctuation and formatting intact, as the founders had a love of the aesthetics of written documents and took care with each missive distributed that the words were placed in a way that they believed would make them understood:
WE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO WISH TO LIVE FREE
WE LIVE THE TRUTH THAT THE EMPIRE MUST FALL
FOR ITS ONLY PURPOSE
IS THE OPPRESSION OF THE MAJORITY OF THE CITIZENRY
WITHIN ITS BORDERS FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE SELECT FEW
Their privileges depend on the machinery of bureaucracy, labor, and the subjection of people necessary to maintain control. From the merchant to the beggar, all are forced to serve the masters of the state.
We will serve no longer.
We sacrifice our lives to liberate ourselves, our families, and the Valakarma neighborhood from this tyranny.
WE CALL UPON ALL THE PEOPLE living in the City of Pradita, the Kingdom of Mankara.
WE CALL UPON ALL THE PEOPLE living within the so-called Verushan Empire to commit to the following actions:
<ol>
<li>Relinquish any government positions, titles, and holdings bequeathed by any of the Great Families or the Emperor, make all private lands public to use, and redistribute all ill-gotten wealth to your neighbors.</li>
<li>Lay down any and all arms that you carry for the Empire and refuse any calls to fight in wars, foreign and domestic. </li>
<li>Do not interfere with any actions observed or known plans that we have taken t to succeed in our goal of autonomous self-rule and a classless society.</li>
</ol>
IT IS FOR ALL THE PEOPLE THAT THESE ACTIONS MUST BE DONE,
Only woe and misery will befall those who do not participate in the struggle. For those who know, know. For those who do not, you will soon learn. We give you our solemn vow:
WE ARE YOUR NEIGHBORS
WE ARE YOUR SERVANTS AND CARETAKERS
WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS
WE ARE ALWAYS NEAR
WE ARE ALWAYS VIGILANT
YOU WILL KNOW US BY OUR SHROUDED FACES
ONLY WHEN WE ARE VICTORIOUS WILL OUR FACES BE SEEN
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED