Bad Wolf
Commonwealth Signal Reform Act of 906
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create the reform that will pass, as a result of the Sith Order’s Blackwall. It will also explain the big pivot and shift in aesthetics, and how the Commonwealth acts whilst the wall is up. [Also because I've been going on a huge Atompunk/Fallout kick]
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: HUAC, WPA, CCC
- Name: The Signal Reclamation and Purity Act of 906 A.B.Y. (colloquially known as the Commonwealth Signal Reform Act)
- Reform Type: Cultural-Communications Reform (with sweeping effects on Civic, Economic, and Military infrastructure)
- Reform Passage: Proclamation of Emergency Sovereignty by the High Basileus, affirmed by the Grand Vizier under the Commonwealth Code of Survival and Cultural Continuity. The act was passed in direct response to the Blackwall Event and justified under the premise of "Total Cultural Encirclement by Hostile Entities."
- Description: The Signal Reclamation and Purity Act of 906 ABY marks a radical shift in the Commonwealth’s identity, governance, and societal structure following the activation of the Blackwall, which severed or obstructed open access to the galactic holonet. With external media, cultural exchange, and interstellar comms deemed compromised or “impure,” the Commonwealth pivoted inward, declaring the need to purify the Signal—a metaphor for both transmission clarity and ideological unity.
Under this act, the Commonwealth Broadcast & Media Corporation (CMBC) will now be nationalized, civilian media was collapsed into state-controlled channels, and all offworld signals were blocked, banned, or filtered through Signal Sanctity Protocols.
Citizens were encouraged—and often mandated—to turn to early cultural values rooted in civic obedience, technological independence, and patriotic zeal. Aesthetic reforms swept architecture, fashion, education, and domestic life. Propaganda surged, while surveillance, signal monitoring, and subversion-sniffing squads gained massive authority.
The Act’s purpose was to preserve and reforge Commonwealth identity in the face of isolation, to protect citizens from “hostile cosmopolitan infection,” and to reassert ideological and cultural supremacy from within. It is the cornerstone of a new era known by many historians as the Signal.
- Notable Figures Involved in the Reform: High Basileous Kelora Priestly, Grand Vizier Ivalyn Yvarro
- Public Reception: "Progress demanded vigilance. The Blackwall demanded obedience."
- Within the Commonwealth Government
- Mixed but mostly compliant.
- Reformists in the Divan initially resisted, fearing the act undermined open discourse and intellectual pluralism—core pillars of Commonwealth progressivism.
- However, the shock of the Blackwall, combined with media corruption rumors, and signal disruptions, made security a higher priority than liberty.
- The High Basileus invoked “Survivalist Progressivism”, a doctrine emphasizing collective resilience over individual rights during existential threats.
- A few senior civil servants quietly resigned. Their absence was not reported in CMBC-1 broadcasts.
- Among the People
- Divided, but drifting toward conformity.
- In urban centers, many welcomed the reforms, seeing them as a path back to order and cultural pride amid growing anxiety about the Commonwealth’s direction.
- Youth organizations, such as the Starborne Cadet Corps and Royal Scouts, embraced the aesthetics and rituals—marches, songs, loyalty drills.
- Artists, academics, and non-citizens within its borders, however, reported loss of access to cultural materials, social alienation, and rising surveillance.
- The new Signal Loyalty Scores created competitive civic behavior at first—neighbors one-upping each other in volunteer hours and propaganda enthusiasm—before slipping into mutual suspicion.
- Mixed but mostly compliant.
- Event Name: The Blackwall | The Silence Before the Flame
- Links: Blackwall
- Participants: The Sith Order, Imperial Commonwealth of Dosuun
- Overview: The Blackwall—a dark techno-ritual conducted by the Sith Order—resulted in a massive galactic communications failure. By exploiting Force-powered technology and deep-network corruption, the Sith cut off or censored open holonet transmissions across known space, creating fractured, isolated signal zones and eliminating real-time communication between systems.
For the Commonwealth, whose culture relied on open civic discourse, public education, and progressive ideals carried through mass media, the effects were catastrophic. Whole sectors fell into confusion. Offworld propaganda spread through back-channels. Panic erupted in border colonies where signals were replaced by haunting Sith-coded transmissions or nothing at all.
Though the blackout was uneven and partial, the psychological damage was immense. Conspiracies flourished. Regional governors enacted martial law. People demanded protection. Within months, the High Basileus declared a Cultural State of Emergency, setting the stage for sweeping reforms in the name of Signal Purity.
The Blackwall Event is now referred to within the Commonwealth as “The Silence Before the Flame.”
The Signal Reclamation and Purity Act of 906 A.B.Y.
Born not from ambition, but from fracture.
The Imperial Commonwealth, known for its paradoxical blend of Imperial discipline and progressive values, entered a period of existential panic following the activation of the Blackwall. The once-vibrant galactic dialogue, civic exchange, and interstellar arts scene fell into silence. For a culture that prized state-guided progress through open education, unified media, and collective uplift—this wasn’t just a comms failure. It was a cultural death spiral.
After a series of emergency sessions with the Assembly, the High Basileus, the Grand Vizier and the Divan responded with what they called the Survivalist Pivot: a complete recalibration of Commonwealth identity to protect its core ideals through containment, reform, and isolationist resilience.
Thus was born the Signal Reclamation and Purity Act, which:
- Nationalized all communications under the Unified Broadcast Authority (CMBC)
- Including subsidiaries such as Commonwealth Film Studios, and Crown City Radio.
- Mandated the creation of the Public Oversight Committee, with full civic surveillance rights, sometimes called Oversight Bureau.
- Restricted media, technology, and cultural imports, as per the Blackwall.
- Launched the Commonwealth Civic Advancement Bureau (CAB), a megabureau tasked with rebuilding infrastructure, aesthetics, and morale under “Historical Revival” ideals
The Commonwealth leaned into a cultural revival—clean lines, bold civic propaganda, neon optimism laced with surveillance. Citizens once encouraged to question and debate were now urged to conform, rebuild, and believe. Civilian appliances were redesigned. Fashion shifted to stately uniforms and retro couture. Youth programs began teaching Signal Safety Protocols.
Yet even under the gloss of chrome and crimson, underground movements—artists, rogue broadcasters, old-world liberals—quietly resisted, preserving “impure” culture in basement signals and whispers.
To the Commonwealth government, the reform is a triumph of resilience.
To historians, it is the Imperial Curtain—a beautiful prison, humming with purpose.
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