We are the Magdalene Insurgency.
We exist because it must. It wasn’t our choice. Our hands were forced. But we will fight. Liberty must live. But it wasn’t always so.
We were born from the shadows, cast by the false light of The Path. We are like you – normal people, teachers, parents, with hopes and fears of our own – caught on the wrong side of a dark turn of history.
We ask only one thing: the freedom to live as we choose, to think as we will, to believe as our hearts guide us.
But The Path won’t tolerate freedom. For them, there is no life, no will, no belief away from their strict doctrine. For as long as The Path stands for oppression, we will stand for freedom.
Yet it is a dark, dangerous road. We have been hunted, decried as heretics, demonised, persecuted, systematically exterminated. Those that live, fight.
Holy Britain, c. 2093. The Path controls – either by devotion or occupation – the majority of the British Isles.
When the Path Political Party (PPP) swept to power in 2074, we were the sole voice of resistance to their unyielding dogma. At first we were a disparate band – a rogues gallery of groups with differing ideals, no clear hierarchy. Once the PPP shed their thin veneer of political legitimacy, they named us, uniting all opposition to them under a single banner. It is a truth they despise of themselves: The Path created the Magdalenes. And their brutality drove us underground, drove us forward, drove us to desperate measures.
For a time, we united under the banner they had made for us. We were strong. We fought back. We died for our beliefs, and the free beliefs of all. But we made a difference. Thousands lived because of us, and the tide of oppression was halted, for a time.
The Great Purges brought our greatest losses, but our greatest triumphs too. It was a brutal, bloody fight. The Path hate us because we long for freedom, because we will not yield. We are men and women born free. But the Great Purges are over. And we lost.
Now we exist where we can, sheltering the last vestiges of freedom, surviving to fight when the time is right – when we can bring down The Path. The time is coming.
But we have splintered into factions. Some argue we are stronger for being more enemies for The Path to combat; some say it weakens us, that we have strength in numbers.
So many have fallen. But here they are remembered. And in their memory we draw strength. The fight goes on.
Magdalene factions
The Thirteen Strong
One of the first factions to breakaway, they were active in central England and the mid-west. Never learning to secure their escape routes, they were hunted mercilessly and their numbers depleted. We believe they were cornered in 2081 and gassed to the last. A sickening waste of life.
Joshua’s Trees
Active in Holy London, the south east, parts of the Wash and Lincolnshire, they launched an assault on The Path’s forces in late 2081 in revenge of the Thirteen Strong massacre, with disastrous results. The Heralds of The Path swept east, burning whole towns in pursuit. None survived.
The Horsemen
Active in Cornwall, Devon, southern Wales. They escaped the worst of the Great Purges, with The Path content to ignore such strategically-unimportant opposition. Their confidence proved their undoing when The Path took to the sea to breach their defences in 2082. A lesson to us all.
The Seven Diems
Active in central and northern Scotland, they successfully used their rugged terrain to mount a stand. The Path’s forces systematically shut down their supply lines, forcing them to centralise, then launched a relentless barrage to break their defences. Undoubtedly brave, by 2083 none survived.
The Path Destruction Army (PDA)
Active throughout the Midlands, the PDA were more hardlined than most Magdalene factions, launching open warfare on The Path’s forces and massacring supporters. While some Magdalenes coalesced to the Jericho Line, the PDA made a stand in 2086, and paid for their opposition.
Smokestack
Based in the north west and parts of south-western Scotland. Smokestack launched what The Path termed the Lent Tyranny, a sustained 40-day assault on the Heralds of The Path’s base in Cumbria that eventually weakened them until their surrender. They too were massacred in 2086.
The Real Magdalenes
Active in the Pennine region, they released several ‘dirty bombs’ to strengthen their position, but eventually fell foul of a poisoned water supply, decimated numbers and unstable supply lines. Famine and dysentery led to an ignominious demise by 2087. A sad epitaph for a brave faction.
Stone Cleaver
Active in York, Sheffield and Nottingham, they mounted open opposition to The Path until the Heralds received massive reinforcements, leading to the now-infamous Harrowing of Yorkshire – a bloody scouring of towns and villages that left the population decimated. Wiped out by 2090. A tragic loss.
The Gate
Active in Holy London with links to the Jericho Line, The Gate have been forced literally underground – into the former Tube system. There they currently survive only, with little ability to challenge The Path. But they maintain strong links outside Holy London, giving hope to us all. We pray for them.
Only The Gate in Holy London and the Magdalenes holding the Jericho Line in the mid-west of England and in the north east resist the will of The Path in all of Britain.
They must not lose. They cannot. There is no future without them.
Do not give in to The Path.
Do not lose hope. We are hope.