- “Rise, my brothers and sisters! We have nothing to lose but our chains! Rise and establish a new future free of tyranny!”— The battle cry of the Lotus.
The Lotus of Rebellion is a decentralized guerilla movement that rose in response to the politics and suffering caused by a fragmented China, made up by people disillusioned with the power hierarchy where suits reign on top.
Inspired by the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the Three Kingdoms era, the Lotus of Rebellion seeks to wrest power from the suit-based factions in favour of returning the power to the people, which they believe will lower the amount of suffering caused by the political games the factions tend to engage in, allowing China to finally reunite and be restored.
As the Warlords fell one by one, the Lotus continually grew in size, but this lead to differences in ideology and purpose. Now, the Lotus is trying to organize itself in response to the escalation of tensions in China, but this is proving difficult as the fragmented and decentralized nature of the movement meant that no clear consensus can be made.
Sects of the Lotus[]
The Lotus of Rebellion loosely organise themselves based on Taoist teachings. While loyalties and brotherhood usually emerge in geographical clusters, ideologically the Lotus has three main sects: Heaven, Earth, People.bWhile the three sects are not outwardly hostile to one another, tensions often rise as they take drastically different approaches to different problems.
Heaven[]
Followers of the Heaven sect believe that China can only prosper under a righteous dynasty that received the Mandate of Heaven, and thus the right to rule. They place heavy value on cultural symbology and significance, and believe in strong leadership and governance, they believe, not yet seen since the Vannai War.
Earth[]
Followers of the Earth sect believe that the reason China fell to chaos and ruin due to foreign elements such as the Vannai, the use of suits, and the derivation of technology from them. Recently, the movement has also grown to view foreign powers as alien, and as such work against them.
People[]
Followers of the People sect believe that the continued chaos in China is a result of the Warlords forgetting the will of the people, and the goal of peace. They advocate for the complete dismantling of the current power structure that dominates China, in order to turn it into something that would benefit everyone.
History and Status[]
Originally, the start of the Lotus could be traced to people suffering under the Beng rule. Their philosophy and teachings started to spread as the Beng joined the Survivalist Coalition, eventually reaching all around the Coalition, but not the Neo Liberation Army or the Iron Army due to their isolationism.
The Lotus started revealing themselves during the Great Hibernation, dissatisfied that the Warlords chose to maintain their own power and sovereignty instead of uniting China once more to take advantage of the Vannai Puppet's weakness.
Things came to a heating point during the Che Wedding Massacre, when the Axe Gang Bandits successfully sowed chaos and anarchy all over China. However, the Lotus almost immediately denounces the Bandits due to their focus on savagery and cruelty, fully establishing themselves as an independent faction only interested in the reunification of China and the redistribution of power to the masses.
Currently, due to the destruction of the Chang and the Beng, the Lotus has swelled in numbers, becoming the stabilizing force in regions formerly ruled by the Warlords. In the Che territory, the Lotus seeks to push back against the Bandits through guerilla tactics, believing that the Bandits represent a great threat against the unification and prosperity of China if left unchecked.
Without the tyrant Beng to serve as a major enemy for the followers of the Lotus in the eastern parts of China, efforts to centralize and organize have been started, although ideological differences between groups is making the process slow.
With most of their manpower and leadership diminished during the campaign against the Gigafortress Long Shadow, the Lotus has scattered, either becoming factionless or joining the surviving factions in China. However, the Lotus lives on, not as a guerilla movement, but rather as a ideological gathering of different perspectives.