GaelWind
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GaelWind Popular Front/GaelWind Party | |
GaelGaoth | |
| Formation | June 6th, 1923 |
|---|---|
| Founded at | Fiannria |
| Type | Political Party/Terror Group/Revolutionary Council |
Membership | Unknown, est. 1-2 million worldwide |
GaelWind is a multi-branched ethno-nationalist organization spread throughout the Gaelic Diaspora, concentrated mainly in northern Levantia. Its origins lie within the radical unitary branches of Pan-Gaelic Theory, and the organization's primary purpose is stated to be the creation of a united Gael-dominated state spanning the majority of the continent, with extreme members agitating for a 'grand Gaelic Alliance' to be formed as an ad-hoc world power. The group has little cooperation between its chapters and is illegal in most countries, as its tactics often dip into violence and directly threaten the security of existing Gaelic governments.
Ties to States
Fiannria, despite being the founding place of the group, has banned it and the branch there is largely quiet. The Covina chapter, conversely, is comparatively enormous and represents one of the largest militias on the planet, claiming to field as many as eighty thousand local supporters and foreign volunteers fighting in a low-intensity guerilla war in the eastern reaches of the country. Faneria is often accused of supporting the organization due to GaelWind's goals being extremely similar to the justification used for the invasion of Fiannria during the Second Great War, particularly in regards to supporting GaelWind's mobilized forces in Covina. Nevertheless, the party is banned in Faneria and the local branches are believed to be relatively small after a series of crackdowns after the bombing of the Bonn Hotel. Faneria has specifically focused efforts in eradicating extreme cells within Lyukquar and Srathlann, the two territories with the largest non-Gaelic populations and, in the former's case, the greater ethnic tensions.
Notable Crises
Rose Revolution and Lean Years
In response to the 1942 Rose Revolution, numerous groups of GaelWind members and associates within the military and police forces escalated anti-war protests into violent clashes with the intention of supressing anti-war sentiment at home. For the first four months of protest, this method worked, but in the fifth month, a clash in Leighlinbridge escalated into the shooting of several young adults and women by counterrevolutionaries, leading to their being lynched with the tacit permission of the city's garrison. This broke the 'wall of nonviolence' shown so far by protesters, who, realizing there would be no budging from the military leadership running the government to peaceful protest, seized the government's buildings in several cities, leading to military units refusing to fire on what in many cases were their own families and forcing the abdication of the governing Director, ___________.
The actions of GaelWind in fighting the Rose Revolution permanently annihilated their previously good reputation in Fhainnin politics. During the following years, the organization stoked resentment of foreign powers and used the continuing war in Culriocha, but its policies were seen as a direct cause of the economic downturn of postwar Faneria. As a result, the group slipped into increasing political irrelevance, becoming smaller and more radicalized throughout the late 40's and early '50s.
Bonn Hotel Bombing
GaelWind came into public focus in 1956 when the Hotel Bonn, a foreign-themed and run hotel in Sethsport, Faneria, was targeted by a terror cell operating under the GaelWind banner. A smuggled explosive device was used to destroy a wing of the building, followed by eleven armed militiamen assaulting the hotel and firing indiscriminately. The situation was resolved with a counterterrorism unit engaging with the terrorists in a gunfight, killing eight and capturing the remaining three. Seventy-three civilians were killed in the attack, with another one hundred and twenty injured; the attack marked the lowest point in the Lean Years in Faneria and resulted in a wave of counterterrorism actions resulting in over a dozen death sentences and the banning of the group. Two minor politicians who held office under the auspices of the GaelWind Party at the time were forced to give up their public careers.
1992 Vandarch Canal Crisis
Main Article: Vandarch Canal Crisis
The 1992 collapse of the Covine Democratic Republic and subsequent invasion by Faneria lead to a surge in GaelWind sympathies among the Fhainnin and other Gaelic subgroups within Covina, leading directly to a brief war of independence in the eastern reaches of the country. Following the 1993 intervention of the League of Nations and the defeat of the Covine Republic by Kamil Hanak's State Forces, these groups were left largely without international recognition, even by their 'liberators'. Numerous claims of Fhainnin-made weapons and supplies being fielded by the incessant insurgency cells in the eastern plains, especially along the Vandarch coast, have failed to produce significant League investigation or action by third parties, contributing to a general decline in centralized power in Covina, which has increased into full-scale uprising as of the events of the ongoing Covine Ember War.