Anarchy Online: The Dust Brigade - A Historical Perspective

The Dust Brigade - A Historical Perspective - (Part One)

Welcome citizens of Rubi-Ka to the second official dispatch from the Rubi-Ka Historical Society. This time we have spent the last few months exploring the historical databases and genealogy records of Rubi-Ka to investigate the origins of the organization know as the 'Dust Brigade', commonly know and officially recognized as terrorists this organization has none the less had a defining influence on the history of Rubi-Ka.

So just who are the 'Dust Brigade'?

Overview and Introduction

The Dust Brigade are an organization that has always been extreme and has therefore has always been perceived as a terrorist threat by all sides of the conflict on Rubi-Ka - their true motives something of a mystery and their methods universally condemned. However what cannot be denied is that they have, throughout the political history of Rubi-Ka, acted as a catalyst to events that have shaped the direction of the planets development.

October 7th, 29466 was the date that brought the Dust Brigade to the attention of the general populace of Rubi-Ka and prompted the chain of events that became known as 'Black October'. The atrocities committed on that day will of course never be forgotten (and we will cover the facts relating to those fateful hours later in this article) but at the same time beg some important questions that go to the very foundations of the political struggles on Rubi-Ka.

Of course the origins of the organization go back further then that and we shall endeavor to shed as much light on them as we can. Going against our usually strict scientific approach to reporting these historical events is something of bind, but given the nature of the Brigade much of the material that will be presented here is anecdotal in nature and we have tried to present collaborative evidence wherever possible.

Historical Background and Perspective

To understand the relevance of the October 7th attacks you need to go back further in the history of the clan conflict and gain a true comprehension of their significance and impact upon the political situation on Rubi-Ka.

Situation on Rubi-Ka - Omni-Tek Background
In 29466 Rubi-Ka was in turmoil as the third civil war raged across the planets terraformed areas. Wary and cautious from previous years of war at a galactic level due to the corporate wars Omni-Tek had begun a process of effective containment of the Clans on Rubi-Ka.

Not wanting to expend huge amounts of resources on a full scale ground war with the clans, and with the southern areas of Rubi-Ka yielding sufficient supplies of Notum to meet galactic demand, Omni-Tek had to all intents and purposes ceded vast tracts of their northern territories to the Clans rather then fight a costly ground war in defense of areas they did not see as vital to their operations or interests on Rubi-Ka.

((OOC: These are a series of articles I've been working on at the vault to examine the events mentioned in the official timeline for Rubi-Ka. Basically we have taken entries from that timeline and expanded on them to see what might have happened in Rubi-Ka's past. These aren't 'official', although we've tried to stay loyal to Funcom's timeline and source material wherever possible. The second part will follow soon, but they obviously take quite a while to write so I'm not sure what the topic for the next article will be - suggestions welcome!))