Wednesday, January 1, 1997 - Thursday, January 9, 1997
Starts with: The Flyby
Ends with: The Meeting
Most therianthropes headed into 1997 full of optimism, convinced that they had already weathered the worst of the public opinion roller-coaster ride. They were wrong.
The Flyby, for the first time, undeniably painted theris as the villains. A public that had been willing to let their inner fears be calmed by theris' good deeds suddenly found themselves confronting those fears. Today, 13 in Times Square ... how many tomorrow? Why hadn't there been other similar tragedies, and what was stopping more of them from occurring? Suddenly, doomsayers' warnings didn't seem quite so hysterical.
Historians still debate if the worst of it could have been avoided -- if shedding the blood of the Flyby Three might have appeased the public's newfound rage and grief. But many theris, who understandably felt the Three were facing execution over an innocent mistake, weren't about to let that happen. Dennis Redwing was among them, and throwing his star power into their defense nearly crystallized those fears into open conflict.
Redwing started the showdown with his announcement that he would represent the Three to negotiate their surrender if prosecutors would rule out the death penalty. The FBI's detention of Redwing and their threats to charge him as well upped the ante. Redwing's much-publicized escape gave both sides a personal stake. Further escalation then seemed inevitable, but not even pessimistic theris were prepared for The Executive Order. The gauntlet had been thrown.
The order's 72-hour deadline crawled closer, minute by minute. The whole country, and much of the world, watched and waited -- amid fierce debate, and growing speculation as high-profile theris maintained a strict silence.
Ironically, it was largely that silence that turned the terms of the debate around. Mass media, unable to sustain its focus on theri reaction, shifted its gaze to the order itself. The visions of some of the order's most vocal proponents were brought to light -- new spy and police structures to weed out hidden theris from the humans they resembled; "purges"; and other civil-liberties nightmares. That kicked off a legal and political counterattack whose rhetoric became blistering even in theris' absence. Between that and the outing of one or two significant political figures -- emphasizing how deep any enforcement of the order would have to dig -- some began to wonder if this cure wouldn't be worse than the disease.
And so the stage was set for the surprise unveiling of The Meeting and Redwing's declaration of defiance. The combined voice of over a thousand theris and mages gave one response to the relocation order: No. And if you make us, there will be war.
The Executive Order
"Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.∞"
The theme of this era of TTU is of a steep and accelerating spiral toward destruction. The average human or theri is powerless in the face of their leaders' grand designs; those leaders are themselves
powerless in the face of events. Caught in the grip of history, everyone is simply struggling to protect their life and lifestyle.
In true Cold War style -- a not inappropriate comparison, considering that one of the doomsday scenarios discussed in the media was a mage teleporting a nuclear bomb out of the U.S.' arsenal into a major city -- both sides could only escalate the conflict in hopes of finding a threat whose consequences would be too dire to risk. After The Meeting, an equilibrium would finally be reached, but during this era it was far from clear that the titans' clash could be stopped short of deadly force.
While Dragon In The Streets may have caused more uncertainty and even panic, this era is the clear leader in terms of raw fear. If they're contacted by Redwing or one of his agents, theris cling to The Meeting like a log in a whirlpool; if they're not, theris must decide how to deal with a command that is as world-shattering to them as The Changes were to ordinary humans. Those humans, meanwhile, are getting flashbacks to a paranoia of helplessness not seen since the "Duck and Cover" days.
Many people try to maintain a semblance of real life in this era -- after all, most adults have some Cold War experience and Mutually Assured Destruction isn't a new idea -- but everyone keeps one ear to the news, wondering just how bad it's going to get. After The Executive Order, troops are back out on the streets (although subtly, as peacekeepers); the U.S. has again ground to a near-halt; and things don't start to thaw until the country steps back from the edge.