The year is 2029. The Sodality of Gerosha is no more. Its members are scattered to the wind. Some are in hiding, some have been imprisoned, others, under house arrest.
Residents in the Icy Finger-occupied state of Arkansas will now have to fend for themselves. And they now have the means: Swappernetters!
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Enter the Chrome Kite
Rappaccini has put his Marlquaanite Prison Suspended Animation Field devices - now commonly referred to as "the Tug" - all around the border of Arkansas, which he has renamed "Arkonia." This Tug is one of the most well-protected infrastructures in the conquered land, and is set up to capture "like flies in flypaper" any Marlquaanite or sufficiently powerful Phexo or Meethexo that would dare try to enter the land.
Likewise, SCALLOP and the Toklisanan military cannot enter the land to liberate it. And with the Sodality also unable to get in, Arkonians have to look to each other for answers - at least, until they find a way to bring down the Tug, and bring an end to the Society of the Icy Finger's having enslaved the masses!
There are a handful of resisters of tyranny who know where the blueprints are - and where the security codes are to shut down the Tug one subsystem at a time. However, they lack the means to infiltrate and successfully steal these. The puppet rulers Rappaccini puts in charge, dubbed the "Chrome Kite," seem to rule with a diamond-tipped titanium fist!
The Swappernetter Society resistance requires thieves who can practically walk through walls, run like rabbits, and eat bullets with few ill effects. And that's not even getting into the weirder forms of security in place!
Rise of the Swappernetter Society
A religious war
Citizens rightly offended by the blatant pederasty, bestiality, and grooming in Gina Swinton's curriculum materials began taking measures into their own hands. They saw the reaction of Rappaccini to being personally threatened by Maurice the Ferryman, an Angel of Death; and instantly knew that the real nature of the Icy Finger's conquest had little in the end to do with mere money, resources, politics, or distribution of wealth (the usual suspects.)
This was, at its heart, a religious war that the Icy Finger had declared! It had its roots all the way going back to Babel. The Chrome Kite wanted to re-create the mythical Abdygalis, and to overthrow God himself - or destroy the universe in trying! One of the Chrome Kite's main areas of attack involved using pre-existing 2014 education standards to have the state monopolize the education of youth.
Roots
The earliest founding of the Swappernetter Resistance dated back to Anthony Partel, back in the early 2000s. He was a young advocate of parkour and of private education, as well as a friend of the late Joo-Chin Pang - Tabitha's grandfather. Outraged over the fact that Joo-Chin was murdered for his resistance against Kevin Jennings during Fistgate, Anthony moved to Arkansas. He became a huge advocate of extreme sports, including freerunning and parkour. He taught self-defense classes, as well as encouraged families to home school whenever possible. He was also very critical of Common Core, and anything else which gave government too much say in what was "qualifying knowledge."
His actions continued until his death in 2025, when he became a martyr at the hands of the Screwworm Network. Lack of empathy from state officials, as they continued to put the squeeze on non-government-run schools, resulted in a backlash from about a third of the population - though only a few thousand were successful at resisting further efforts to monopolize.
Growth
Many early Swappernetters were former members of the Navyrope Society started by Vince Finton, who wanted a more low-key and less violent approach to keeping to the Navyrope mission than what Vince put in place.
Keeping to the principles of Anthony Partel, this society became known as the "Sneakernet Underground," or "Swappernetters." The Chrome Kite's aggressive and ultra-violent campaign to eradicate the Sneakernet Underground from the face of the planet - in order to secure its Common Core-inspired totalitarian curriculum - forced the Swappernetters in some cases to live literally underground, vowing to one day overthrow their oppressors - even if the rest of Arkansas were too scared to assist them!
This led to the development of Frontline Camps - a special class of Apprentices (dubbed "Frontliners") and their Mentors within Swappernetter Society that did more than just attempt to avoid notice from Chrome Kite forces. These would actively defend others - Swappernetters or otherwise - from overreach and hostile assault by Chrome Kite troops. They would also look for ways to undermine security and control, and to relay information to allies outside Arkonia's borders (such as SCALLOP.)
The Swappernetters' hopes were to get enough of the right blueprints and other important data relayed back to Texas in time to convince Congress that the time had finally arrived to launch an invasion - or, to let the Sodality of Gerosha reconvene.
Meanwhile, what remained of the Sodality had formed a militia to defend the slow-in-being-reclaimed western territories from any chance of Chrome Kite expansion. Their ability to reclaim their honor as the heroes they once were now depended on the Swappernetter Society achieving most of its goals.
Escalation
The Chrome Kite responded by adjusting the Tug so that it would allow for certain Marlquaanite creations of its own, to give them that much more of an unfair advantage. Much to the Chrome Kite's frustration, it was never able to recover the one Marlquaanite ruby it most prized: Hester's Locket. This was in spite raiding Hea Pang's home - and putting her in prison.
The ruby remained with whereabouts unknown to them. In truth, Hea had secretly hired Zize and Amado Marcones to smuggle it to Shaniqua - who then gave it to Mallorie Wade-Philippine for safekeeping. Mallorie elected to hide Hester's Locket where she believed that only she, Lex, and Silo (or anyone with their codes) would ever again be able to find it - signaling that the Icy Finger would never get to claim it!
However, Tabitha Pang and a few of her friends used a different ruby they'd recovered to transfer the powers of Mapacha del Feugo to themselves - allowing Marge Ramirez to retire.
As a result, the Twirlflame Trio was born. This specialized group consisted of Tabitha herself, Tobias Reno, and Sarah Ruben - Tabby's old cellmate. The three of them would often embark on missions deemed too dangerous for ordinary Frontliners, as their abilities via Marge gave them a fighting chance against the Stagtars and Microwave Mouths. However, they'd face many other enemies too: Bliksemhek, Sicklesaw, Lady Chillingworth, etc.
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