Christopher Nuttall - Picking Up the Pieces

The first burst of resistance began with the Svergie Popular Front, which made a public protest to the UN Governor about the unsuitable settlers. Rather than being welcomed — protest was a right granted by the UN Regulations — they were arrested, charged with racism and hate speech, and locked up. Many died while trying to escape. Others served their terms and emerged driven by hatred for the UN. Armed resistance began soon afterwards and by 2467, the UN realised that it had a major insurgency on its hands. Svergie was not, however, important enough to rate major reinforcements and so the garrison hung on grimly, unable to retreat or counter-attack effectively.

Gustav Bergqvist, who later became the first President, formed the Liberty Party and managed to pull most of the resistance groups under his banner, earning himself a death sentence in absentia by the UN in the process. The differences between the various groups were pushed aside as they cooperated in launching more powerful attacks on the UN, yet neither side was able to actually win. The John Walker Coup, on Earth, ended the fighting and, after a brief set of negotiations, the UN withdrew from the planet.

Upon the eve of independence, Svergie possessed a population of 30 million, most of whom lived in the overcrowded four cities. The ethnic mix of the planet was badly scrambled by the UN, with the net result that the descendents of the original settlers live in the countryside and the later settlers live in the cities, where squalor and racism are rife. (To be fair, a number of later immigrants were accepted into the farming communities, generally as wives for younger sons.) It also possessed a small official militia, a dangerous political situation, and a location that made it important to the Human Sphere’s economy.