by Narrator » Fri Mar 11, 2022 7:26 pm
It doesn't take Nika too long to break away from the border guards, although she can suspect that at least a partial ID has been sent ahead. At the very least, 'crazy woman on a motorcycle' was likely to draw more attention now than it had before.
Driving through the small towns in the countryside was troubling. Propaganda posters are nothing new in Symkaria -- heck, all the portraits and statues of Katarina in the capital are, after all, just a form of propaganda. But seeing Anti-Karkov posters on a regular basis? Including some with some long-distance photos of Katarina and Jez together? That was definitely new. There were other rumors around, as well -- rumors about the King's relationship with Latveria, about whispers of an alliance with Transylvania, things like that, but a lot of the focus was on Katarina and her slow decay into Western decadence.
Really, it was a rather xenophobic campaign -- the West. Transylvania. Latveria. Polluting and diluting Symkaria and Symkarian values. And while beating the Karkov's popularity was difficult -- it hadn't been that long ago that they were swept into power as an end to years of fighting -- years of fear and isolation were being put to good use here, in a very sophisticated and systematic propaganda campaign. After all, what Symkarian child wasn't raised with the idea that there were no gay people in Symkaria? Obviously, it couldn't be a biological fact. It was more a statement of purpose and pride, repeated on television and in classrooms and on the radio. What Symkarian child wasn't raised with a sense of pride that they had withstood the Latverians, the Soviets, the Nazis? Everyone around had been conquered, but Symkaria was unbroken and unbowed. There was a clear line being drawn -- the Karkov's dalliances with the outside world was a form of conquest by cultural dominance.
At least, that seemed to be the attitude that was being pitched out here. There had been none of that in the capital the last time Nika was there; no fear of Western styles or influences to speak of. But out here, in the proverbial sticks? The Karkov's loose Symkarian morality was making them public enemy number one.
And you respond to a public enemy with shows of force. Portraits of Princess Lilith and Prince Francois together usually had them surrounded by men in uniform -- Symkarian military uniforms, if a slightly older design than Nika had formerly worn. And well armed, too. Very well armed, and very well manned for a third of the country, and not even one of the more important thirds.