The Special Wartime Peace Preservation Act (戦時特別治安維持法 Senji Tokubetsu Chian Iji-hō?), Presidential Order #6609, was a law enacted by the Republic of San Magnolia in Republic Year 358 (Stellar Year 2139), shortly after the start of the war with the Giadian Empire. It declared all persons of Colorata descent to be supporters of the Empire, and allowed their civil rights to be revoked and their property to be confiscated.
History[]
When the Empire's Legion war machines destroyed the Republic's military, the Republic decided to evacuate its citizens to 85 administrative sectors centered around the capital city, a much smaller land area that could be more easily defended. Since the 85 sectors lacked the space and resources to accommodate the entire population, the government singled out the Colorata to be expelled, a clear violation of the Republic's five moral principles of freedom, equality, brotherhood, justice, and nobility.
The reason the Special Wartime Peace Preservation Act blatantly discriminated against the Colorata involved two factors: racism and jingoism. The Republic was the homeland of the Alba ethnicity, while the Colorata were either immigrants from other countries or descended from Alba-Colorata pairings. Furthermore, the Republic was the world's first modern democracy, while the countries where the Colorata had originated, including the Giadian Empire, were monarchies. The belief arose that the Alba's advocacy of democracy, the most humane form of government, made them a superior race, while the Colorata were barbaric practitioners of imperialism, and were therefore both sympathetic to the Empire and inferior to the Alba. It was also widely rumored that the defeat of the Republic's military was due to Colorata spies, rather than the truth that the Republic was technologically-deficient compared to the Empire.
Although the Colorata and even some Alba protested against the new law, the Republic violently quelled any dissent and had the Colorata removed to an unofficial Eighty-Sixth Sector, where they became known as the Eighty-Six. These involuntary exiles were forced into labor to construct the Gran Mur, the defensive wall surrounding the 85 sectors, and their property and belongings were seized to pay for it. The Eighty-Six were later conscripted to serve as Processors to operate the Republic's M1A4 Juggernaut. Since the Eighty-Six were officially classified as nonhuman, Juggernauts were considered drones rather than piloted vehicles, and despite the mounting losses of thousands of Colorata in battle against the Legion, the Republic officially claimed that the war no longer inflicted human casualties.
Trivia[]
- The order was inspired by Executive Order 9066 issued during World War II by president Franklin D. Roosevelt. The order authorized for the incarceration of Japanese Americans into concentration camps.