The Royalists are one of the two major political underground movements operating within the Smart Slums and fringe sectors of Neo-Europa. Opposed to corporate dominance and technocratic governance, the Royalists advocate for a return to symbolic monarchy, ancestral memory, and human-centric leadership. They are a paradoxical blend of tradition and rebellion—cloaking their ideology in banners, pageantry, and encrypted oaths.
Origins
The movement began as a cultural response to the growing dehumanization caused by the rise of the Council of Nobles and the omnipresence of corporate scoring systems such as Ladder Points. Slum poets, memory hoarders, and discarded nobles formed the early ranks, preserving historical texts, family sigils, and outlawed heraldry in hidden archives.
Ideology
The Royalists believe that Neo-Europa has lost its soul—not because of technology itself, but because of the *wrong people* guiding it. They envision a society led by a sovereign monarch chosen through bloodline and symbolic worth, not performance metrics or machine logic.
Key beliefs include:
- Restoration of pre-Exodus values, modified for a cybernetic age
- Abolition of corporate citizenship and algorithmic governance
- The sanctity of memory, ritual, and lineage over code
- Spiritual resistance to the commodification of identity
While some view them as romantic traditionalists, others consider them dangerously regressive or even crypto-authoritarian.
Activities
Royalist cells operate throughout the slums and in hidden Substructure-1 enclaves. Their actions range from:
- Hosting masked oaths, underground pageants, and encrypted heraldry sessions
- Smuggling nullborn children out of corporate custody
- Printing illegal memorybooks and distributing false bloodline certificates
- Infiltrating CivSpheres to recruit disillusioned Ladder Class families
Despite being low-tech in image, many Royalist factions use sophisticated data obfuscation tools, sigil-based encryption, and ritualized hacking methods derived from Depth Witch practices.
Relationship to Republicans
While both Royalists and Republicans oppose the corporate regime, their ideologies are fundamentally opposed. Republicans call for horizontal democracy and collective digital rights, while Royalists invoke blood, history, and crown.
The two factions occasionally cooperate in sabotage or memory-liberation raids, but deep distrust persists.
Known Symbols and Practices
- Blood Coins – Embedded chips said to contain ancestral data fragments
- The Whispering Throne – A mythic monarch many Royalists claim is already born, hidden, or emerging in the Veil
- Knighthood Rituals – Symbolic ceremonies performed in Veil Realms or forgotten tunnels
Notable Figures
- Roland Weinvlit – Current leader of the movement, twin brother of John Weinvlit (the Dagger of Codenberg Corp). A powerful orator and memory archivist.
- Lady Tiberia of the Mask – A masked noblewoman who allegedly leads a Royalist chapter in the upper levels of Substructure-1.