A dozen bodies hung limp from the posts of gallows that had been so hastily erected in Melbourne's Federation Square, the chilly morning of January 1st, 3017. They'd be taken down soon enough, and a new, more permanent gallows erected where it had been.
The executed had been prominent members of the pro-Katter government. King Isaac I and his two sons Isaac and Arameus were the most prominent victims, ages 52, 30, and 25, respectively. The former Patriarch of Victoria, subordinate to the Catholic hierarchy in Katterland, was hung as well for collaboration and abuse of power. The head of the Army, the Foreign Minister, and several aristocrats who had been enriched during the Royalist regime's rule were also on the gallows.
Some less important aristocrats and officials had been fortunate enough to be granted exile status in Katterland, and were summarily deported, while being stripped of all assets and being told they would face trial if they returned.
For those who had not been included in the deal with King Katter, events were not so fortunate. Many local and provincial officials were tried for minor counts of treason and sentenced to life; some would eventually find their ways to the gallows in the now-renamed Republic Square as well. Naturally, the Redeemers who had collaborated with Katterland in the hopes of bringing the Formatics back to Earth were just as swiftly rooted out and prosecuted.
The new government under Jeffrey St. John (an ironic surname for reasons to be discussed below) was quick to seek a cultural shift. The schools were placed under full federal control, and the history textbooks were readily screened to replace instances of "Democracy" with "Republic." The positive achievements of the Formatter and Royalist governments were downplayed, and their blunders given far more expansion. Katterland was politely demonised in each and every corner of texts that detailed foreign relations, and the government put pressure on publishing agencies not to print anything that put Katterland in a positive light.
The reshuffling swiftly took on ever more totalitarian tones. The textbooks also cast the Roman Catholic Church in a negative light, focusing on its persecutions and inquisitions and none of the charity work and contributions to the sciences it had done for much of its existence. Catholics were increasingly seen as a fifth column, and radical Protestants began to act as vigilantes, assaulting, torturing and even killing people they suspected of being traitors. With the government being (some would argue intentionally) inept at stopping such behavior, it was no surprise that the census reported the number of Catholics had nearly halved, and Protestant churches were strapped for sitting space whereas many Catholic cathedrals lay sparsely attended. Some priests even attempted to leave the country when it became clear vigilante justice was not being addressed, which culminated in the burning of Melbourne's St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Though the arsonists were captured and sentenced to long prison terms for destruction of Victoria's cultural heritage, the persecution moved from the private into the public sphere. While crowds burned effigies of King Katter and the Pope, the government drafted the Secular Codes. They established a rigid separation of church and state.
St. John was able to keep those advocating state atheism from gaining power in his government, but he did share one goal with those same radicals: reduction of Catholic power in Victoria. The Secular Codes established charity status for most churches, but said such status would be revoked if politicisation occurred in the church's theology, as determined by the government. "Separation is a two way road. If you go religiously on the state's side, you're going to have a collision," St. John stated.
The Catholic Church, with an extensive archive of involvement in Victoria's politics during the theocratic period against it, was defenseless. Many priests found themselves at the mercy of the government as much as the mob, tried for collaborationism and violation of laws that had only just been passed. Many were pardoned of any charges if they resigned their posts; others refused to be intimidated and found themselves thrown in prison for lengthy sentences. The Church was saddled with massive fines, and land that had been in Church hands for generations had to be sold off to pay the debts. Catholic schools were forced to teach secular ideals, and many of the new priests, to be allowed to staff a pulpit, had to agree to avoid comments on touchy political issues.
With the Catholic church and Royalist leadership gutted, the St. John government gained enormous power and influence. To reaffirm that it was the Catholic Church, not the Catholic faith being persecuted, St. John's government issued public acknowledgements of the freedom to worship and believe as citizens pleased. St. John pointed out how he battled an initiative that would have levelled a jizya-like tax on Catholics in the country. Regardless, the state remained fairly lax on enforcing the law against those who abused Catholic faithful; only one in ten people guilty of such hate crimes were ever considered for trial, and even less convicted due to insufficient evidence.
More positively, the government stepped up welfare initiatives thanks to the demise of many Catholic charities in alleviating poverty. It was no surprise that much of the money spent on these programs came from the confiscation of the Church's property and its sale to speculators. New schools and hospitals were built, and national insurance was made more generous. Perhaps St. John's greatest accomplishment was the abolition of many of the tax and welfare systems shortly after - he implemented a negative income tax of 5,000 USD per person. By reducing the rate to 4,000 for people living alone, he socially engineered more cohabitations and relationships than any other government.
In foreign policy, the new Government was deemed almost as dangerous as the German Democratic Republic or Arlington Republicans; some sources said they were even more dangerous, due to a great reserve of resources with which to pursue its agenda. As a show of force, St. John enlarged the air force to deter Katterite aggression, but also expanded the other military branches to make it clear that Katterland would not retake Victoria without much blood and treasure lost. The government imported personnel from other militarily-powerful countries to train their troops, and the increased discipline and standardised defense measures made it a death sentence to try and cross the border. The government's intelligence agency was expanded, with at least a part-time operative in every neighborhood, and heavy rewards for reporting traitors.
St. John was nonetheless pragmatic, and did his best to insulate the most extreme radicals, such as those who advocated "liberation" of Oz. He combatted atheists who wanted persecution of every belief system. With simple logic he defeated those who proposed a more isolationist policy; with a major power on its doorstep, not reaching out to the world was simply not an option. St. John deployed his diplomatic corps to try and secure alliances with a variety of nations: the Empire of China, antagonist to the Union of China and its ally Katterland; the Diamond Coalition, with its powerful membership and worldwide influence; and the Swahili and Bengal, historical nemeses of Katterland in diplomacy.
While St. John certainly had the incredibly violence of the Arlington Republicans and the radicalism of the GDR down, he was also wise enough to understand that Victoria needed allies and friends if it was to last.
