Conscription in New Paris

As the Great War has progressed, the problem of manpower has become a concern for every nation that has found itself involved in the growing conflict. While not directly affected, this concern proved quite fierce amongst the French population living in New Paris. French casualty reports, which are known for their convenient under-reporting, have continued to shake the foundations of the people living in the Germinal system. They feared that in time they too would find themselves on those reports. Up until that point, French Politicians had been hesitant to call upon the promised mobilization of colonists in the Germinal system, even though they signed up for the draft as a condition of their citizenship. Politics in New Paris were such that the leaders sought to distance themselves from the problems of the old world as much as possible without upsetting their colonial overlords. Up to this point, New Paris’ contribution to the war had mostly been economic, as manufacturers had reoriented their industries for military production, and the abundance of food from the surrounding farmlands had flowed in to feed the soldiers back on Earth. Despite these contributions, by the end of November 1939, it became increasingly apparent that France's population on Earth was not such as to sustain the conflict indefinitely, and that the conscription of the millions of people that made up its colonial populations was all but inevitable.

On December 25th, the French government pushed the issue, putting the colonial conscription laws chartered more than a decade before the revolution into effect, with a slight change to align with the values of the new regime. All men and women between the ages of 18-24 living in the Germinal system were to be put into a lottery and conscripted accordingly. The choice to enact the conscription law on Christmas was no mistake, as since the war began, the government in France had become increasingly more adversarial towards its religious populations, who in large numbers had started migrating to New Paris, which had far fewer laws targeting religious practitioners as it had yet to adopt the atheistic state religion of the Charbonnier regime. This enactment on a sacred holiday, in combination with the inclusion of women in the draft, who up to this point had not been signed up, outraged people across the Germinal System. People around New Paris gathered in protest of the new law, but the enforcers from the Commissariat quickly cracked down on the protests and arrested the organizers. Protesting the conscription was outlawed, and all those who had previously made a public statement against conscription of the colonial population found themselves under constant surveillance by the Commissariat.

As dire as the situation in New Paris had become, the Commissariat had also made itself a new enemy in the enforcement of its conscription policies. Versailles University, from its foundation, existed as an extra-governmental organization combining the scholarship of academics from around the world, and as such existed as a state within the Germinal System that, at least legally, was not subject to the laws of France or any other government on Earth. Since the beginning of the war, this status had caused great controversy for nearly all of the world's nations, which demanded that their scholars, particularly their scientists, return to their home countries to participate in the war effort or renounce their citizenship. Many choose the latter, and being that no country other than France could enter into the Germinal system, there was nothing the League of Five Emperors or the Anglo-Japanese Pact could do about it. Up to this point, as a show of good faith, the North Atlantic Alliance members had accepted the neutrality of VU, with only the US renouncing the citizenship of its former scholars. With this in mind, however, and the worsening state of the war and radicalization of the French government, the writing on the wall became crystal clear to the faculty in charge of running the University.

When war was declared in 1938, VU poured money into the defense of its campus, to ensure its neutrality in the event that the revolutionary government ever turned against its independence. Their location in the colonial system could only do so much to protect them, so they began the construction of a massive wall and shield network to defend their campus. By the time the conscription laws went into effect in 1939, VU had already secured major military contracts with the Haitian government, employing mercenaries and state-of-the-art defensive technology in the event of an invasion by the Communiste Internationale.

No such invasion came with the passing of the conscription law, but despite their independent status, the names of every student attending VU were added to the list of conscripts, completely bypassing the lottery system afforded to the people of New Paris in clear violation of VU’s rightful autonomy. In the eyes of the Commissariat, students attending the University were members of the Internationale first, as it transcended the laws and boundaries of traditional nation states, not that VU’s status was that of a traditional nation state in any way. The result of this law was the kidnapping and forced conscription of countless students as the Commissariat viciously targeted anyone coming and going from VU’s campus. Although on-campus kidnappings were rare due to the ever-increasing defences on the university's grounds, students who left campus began disappearing at staggering rates regardless of their national identity or age. Despite the traumatic nature of these disappearances, there was little VU could do but discourage travel outside the campus grounds as much as possible in an effort to keep students safe from the growing threat of the Commissariat. It was clear to all involved that the interference from the Communiste Internationale would continue as the war continued to escalate. Faculty around the University began working around the clock to brainstorm a solution to maintain their independence as the fall of the University seemed more and more inevitable. Despite their efforts, what little hope remained for their humanitarian project seemed to slip away with each passing day.