Stuart

Stuart is a Blue resident, born and raised. His family were all involved in some of the early protests and riots, and all but Stu were arrested, when Stuart was eight years old. His mother, father, and aunt were sent to Reconditioning and did not survive. His brother died in a fight with a Patrol while he was being taken in, trying to give Stu enough time to get away. Stuart witnessed the murder and felt personal guilt for his brother’s death. The guilt was so overwhelming that to avoid being paralyzed by it, Stuart chose to shift the blame to the Patrol who had killed his brother, and by extension to all of the Citadel government.

Stuart escaped and lived for several months with various street groups, becoming a ferocious and feared street fighter. He was known for brutality, often demanding fights to the death, and for this reason was banned from most of the respected street contests. He continued to fight in the dangerous extremely violent groups. He often fought repeatedly in the course of a single day, fueled by bouts of extreme rage over his situation. He was known for extremely bloody and often deadly fights, leaving opponents maimed for life or killing them. However, he blamed the Citadel government for what happened to him and his family, and taking out his anger on fellow Mixeds was only a temporary solution.

Stuart sought out the most violent protest groups, but none of them were active enough to satisfy his cravings for revenge. Even the most violent groups were restrained by efforts to avoid Patrol crackdowns, or were quickly found and arrested. Stuart had hoped for a fast and total resistance that would take extreme action, but no group was prepared for that, either in sheer strength or in mentality. Most sought only to make the Citadel frustrated and hamper the government involvement in the Blue by tying up Patrol resources. He eventually found one small but extreme faction that shared his perspectives, but clashed with the leadership over the planning and the length of time intended for rallying support. Stuart believed more Mixeds would rise and join a revolution if only it could be started. When he questioned leaders’ actions or attempted to instigate action on his own, Stuart was forcibly removed from the group, and the resulting fight left him nearly dead. It took almost two months for him to recover, and he was left with permanent scarring and damage to his left hand and on his face.

After being thrown out of that group, Stu decided the only way he would be able to get revenge the way he wanted was to start his own group. He met Deana Raez, and after initially distrusting her because her father was a Patrol, he accepted her involvement when she bested him in a fight. While Deana’s anger was directed more at the Mixeds who had killed her father, Stu managed to convince her that the real enemy was the Citadel, who convinced Mixeds to turn on each other in the hopes of making them destroy themselves.  Together, the two attempted to build a base of support, but as before few Mixed were prepared to support the kind of radical action Stu desired. Most were afraid of making things worse in case of failure, or of the kind of extreme violence that would be needed.

When repeated efforts to create a critical mass of support failed, Stuart decided to try another tactic. His success in swaying Deana to his side gave him hope that persuasion could work on some of the younger and less experienced leaders. He chose to attempt converting young rebel leader Anja, who was known for being a powerful personality and inspiring confidence and trust. Swaying the young and influential leader, in Stuart’s plan, would give him the support of the new generation, and he would have the help of someone more trusted than himself. Anja was also known to seek support of other protest groups, and so allying with her would be easier than with groups who were closed off and distrustful of those seeking teamwork.

Stuart soon found Anj to be more difficult than he had anticipated. Though young, she was more rational than the emotional and mercurial Deana, and had already considered and rejected the consequences of a violent revolt. Stuart’s attempts to convince her otherwise were always argued down. He became frustrated with her, but she also became a challenge, someone to be broken. He stayed with her group for about two months before he discovered that Anj had been meeting with Deana, concerned about someone who was in a relationship with a Mixed she knew to be violent and dangerous. Anj had managed to convince Deana of the danger she was in, but Dea still felt that Stu’s ideas were the way to make change, and Anj was not confident enough in her own strength to want to lose a feared support. However, the two had continued to meet up and discovered an attraction to each other. When Stu found out, he confronted Anj, and together she and Dea forced him out of the group.

After this rejection, Stu finally stopped attempting to gain support, and went back to street fighting. However, as tension in the Blue rose with Spaulding’s ascendancy, he found more people finally willing to think like him, and began building his own group. His advocacy of a full-scale revolt is finally becoming a more popular opinion, and more people are willing to risk everything rather than continue to live in fear and petition an uncaring government for change. Although Stuart’s following is still fairly small, he is becoming a well-known force in the Blue.