Soldiers of Goidelia

The Soldiers of Goidelia (SoG; : Fianna Goidéil) is a   operating in Airgialla and the Goidelic-speaking regions of southwestern Tiperyn. The Soldiers of Goidelia is the largest and oldest paramilitary organization in the region, founded in 1920 at the beginning of the Goidelic Insurrection during the Grand Campaigns.

The SoG operates primarily in the Goidelic-speaking Tiperyn duchies and princedoms of Darimh, Rosraig and Poc'her, as well as in pockets of the Tipsprek-speaking Idlerein and Tytsjerkstera. In these regions, the organization has engaged in armed resistance and against the Tiperyn government, ranging from the murder of law enforcement officers and Holy Guardsmen to kidnapping and the destruction of critical infrastructure. Meanwhile, in Airgialla, the SoG operates more as a political and labor organizations. There its paramilitary arm act primarily as security and as enforcers for Airgialla's.

The Soldiers of Goidelia have been classified as a by Tiperyn and the North-South Concordant. However, the SoG branches operating in Airgialla have been publicly supported by members of the League of Free Nations (LoFN) and have received substantial financial support from several states. The state support of militant elements in Tiperyn, however, has been a major source of controversy since the 1970s. While all LoFN member states have vehemently denied supporting SoG militants, Tiperyn has claimed that it has proof of financial and material support several times. The SoG's insurrection is considered by many to be a continuation of the Grand Campaigns where democratic forces actively supported and fought alongside Goidelic revolutionaries - including the SoG - in a campaign to take the Tiperyn Isles. Although Tiperyn ultimately only conceded the archipelago of Airgialla to the LoFN, the Tiperyn Ministry of Diplomacy has consistently attributed the SoG's dealings within Tiperyn as the result of LoFN support.

Early Pan-Goidelic Movement (1820-1920)
The origins of the Pan-Goidelic movement trace back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries when the first organized opposition against Tiperyn rule over Goidelic regions of the Tiperyn Isles took hold. Goidelic had begun to form a  within the four Goidelic-dominant duchies and princedoms based around their ethnicity, language and resentment towards state suppression of their opposing religious practices. While the Tiperyn royal family had derived their power from God - a narrative that satisfied its Anglic, Tipslansk and Brittanic populations - this new Goidelic nationalism derived its power from the people and their common culture. In 1820, the Sons of Airgialla was formed in the Airgiallan city of Rosrick - a major hub for the Tiperyn merchant fleet and the Realm Armada. The organization espoused values of and anti-monarchism and began holding protests in the Rosrick town square. The movement was violently suppressed by the Tiperyn government and forced underground. As popular appeal for the Pan-Goidelic movement grew, Tiperyn dissolved the Realm Guard regiments of the duchies of Airgialla, Poc'her and Rosraig and the princedom of Darimh in 1823 and began stationing large numbers of Holy Guardsmen in and around large population centers. The Holy Guard was founded in 1390 in response to an armed rebellion spurred by Realm Guard regiments under the control of discontent duchy governments. Rather than swearing allegiance to the Realm, the Holy Guard swear allegiance to the Empress and the First Apostolic Church.

Following the dissolution of the Goidelic Realm Guard regiments, Goidelic citizens were practically-speaking barred from military service as Realm Guard regiments from other duchies were largely homogeneous ethnically. This stewed discontent further, as career soldiers were dishonorably discharged and sent home. For almost a century several groups affiliated with the Pan-Goidelic movement engaged in civil disobedience and violent resistance against the Holy Tiperyn Realm. The most significant incident of resistance took place between 5 February to 15 February 1867 when a Sons of Airgialla supported-prison riot at the Rosrick Penitentiary coincided with an armed revolt in the city center. Inmates took control of the prison's armory and executed 10 prison guards. Meanwhile, Goidelic militants seized the Rosrick Constabulary, four major railroad stations and destroyed the equivalent of $10 million in 2018 dollars of military shipments in the Rosrick Harbor bound for Koryeo. The militants held out for 10 days before being destroyed by the 145th Idlerein Heavy Rifle Regiment and several Holy Guard companies. The aftermath would be known within Goidelic communities as the month of tears as Holy Guard forces rounded up thousands of suspected militants and civilians and imprisoned or executed them. Although the crown cites a lack of evidence, most historians agree that between 5,000 and 15,000 Goidelic citizens were summarily executed by Tiperyn forces between 15 February and 30 March 1867.

The purges of the spring of 1867 and subsequent crackdowns broke the back of the Pan-Goidelic movement, and it would not return to prominence until the early 20th century. Garnering support from the world's democracies - primarily Brigantica - and operating in underground, the Pan-Goidelic movement gathered strength in southwestern Tiperyn. With the beginning of the Grand Campaigns, the focus of the Tiperyn government went elsewhere. At the height of the conflict in 1920, as Tiperyn was engaged on multiple fronts in Artemia, Kesh and at sea, the movement, unified under the banner of the Soldiers of Goidelia, began its last insurrection against the Holy Realm.

The Goidelic Insurrection (1920-1926)

 * See more: The Grand Campaigns

The Grand Campaigns began in 1915, but initially lacked the involvement of Tiperyn. Initially a conflict between the Teutonic Teutonenland and Austrasia against Vallis over control of its Teutonic speaking province of Husseren-Wesserling. Tiperyn engaged in a policy of armed neutrality, mobilizing its military, but avoiding conflict with the warring powers in continental Artemia. However, in 1919, as the Teutonic alliance broke through towards northern Vallis, Tiperyn - as well as a loose alliance consisting of Brigantica, the Vojiskiy Empire, Agrana y Griegro and Koryeo - joined the conflict, coming to the aid of Vallis. At this time, the Pan-Goidelic Movement, which had been festering albeit underground due to the preceding mobilization, saw an opportunity.

The Pan-Goidelic Movement had been gaining steam in the 1910s. When Tiperyn joined the Grand Campaigns, local Rostrenenn union leader Marcus Walsh set out to unify the various Pan-Goidelic Movements. On 30 January 1920, Walsh founded the Soldiers of Goidelia. Three months later in April, Tiperyn began to deploy troops in Kesh to support its Arab nationalist allies in a civil war against the Caliphate in what is now modern day Qurac, Naseristan and Asharistan. Soon after, the alliance fighting against the Teutonic alliance in Artemia split as a result of the rise of the Vallis republican movement. Thus, within two years, Tiperyn's armed neutrality had transformed into a two front war against both the Teutonic alliance, opponents of Artemian imperialism in Kesh, and a new pro-democratic alliance. With Tiperyn's military stretched the furthest it had been in its history, the SoG made its move.

On 9 July 1920, SoG cells throughout western Tiperyn began to ambush Tiperyn military units and conduct sabotage on military and government targets. The organization had garnered widespread political support from local governments in Goidelic-speaking areas. This support ranged from mayors and local trade union bosses all the way up to direct support from the Duchy of Airgialla and Princedom of Darimh. Thus, early on in its campaign, the SoG controlled a substantial amount of territory - including the oil-rich Darimh Valley. The militants had begun to receive substantial support from the Brigantic-led pro-democratic alliance in the form of weapons, food, equipment, and training. At its peak, the SoG consisted of over 220,000 militants. However, the insurrectionists never advanced east of the city of Kastell. By 1924, the insurrectionists had been pushed back to the strait between Rosraig and Airgialla, and would be forced off the isle of Goidelia on 9 August 1924. By the end of the Grand Campaigns, as Tiperyn's alliance was on its backfoot in Kesh and Artemia and the Brigantic alliance had grown to become a greater threat than the neutered Teutonenland - which had fallen to a Tiperyn-incited communist revolution - an armistice was signed. The Duchy of Airgialla was granted its independence as there was little appetite for an invasion of the archipelago against substantial fortified resistance from the Soldiers of Goidelia. On 22 June 1926, the Goidelic Republic of Airgialla was founded at the behest of pressure from Brigantica to transition to a democracy. The system of nobility in Airgialla was maintained, with Duke Fearghus Ó Raghallaigh remaining as head of state. Practical control of Airgialla was initially handed over to the Soldiers of Goidelia until 1928 when its first elections were held.

Ideology
The primary platform of the Soldiers of Goidelia is the unification of Goidelic peoples across the historically Celt land of Goidelia. This platform has a number of nuances that at times split the organization's political arm. For instance, there is disagreement over whether the SoG should focus on just Celt-inhabited areas, or advocate for Celt control over the entirety of the Tiperyn Isles which were occupied entirely by Celt tribes prior to pre-historic Germanic migration. Further, there is disagreement over whether the SoG should seek to unify just the -speaking Celts that are dominant in three-quarters of the Celt duchies, or all Celt peoples in Tiperyn - including the -speaking peoples of Poc'her that are generally loyal to the Tiperyn royal family and First Apostolic Church.

Broadly, the SoG can be described as a organization, although it also has  and  subdivisions and competes with Celt  organizations. The organization resents authoritarian power structures - largely a response to the suppression of Celts at the hands of the Tiperyn monarchy. The SoG's senior leadership espouses ideals of worker self-regulation, although it only advocates for Celt workers. The organization's moderate democratic socialists began gaining influence in Airgialla in the 1990s following an increase in support from the pro-democratic League of Free Nations. However, this sect of the SoG has little influence in Tiperyn.

Activities
The Soldiers of Goidelia is one of the most well-known terrorist organizations in Tiperyn due to its very publicized acts of violence in public places. The SoG has engaged in the destruction of government property and ambush of military personnel since its inception, but began to shift towards acts of terrorism in the late 1980s. In 1994, the SoG bombed seven government buildings in Darimh and Rosraig within two weeks. Additionally, several assassination attempts have been made by the SoG on members of the royal family, although none have been successful. In 1997, the bombings expanded from just the Goidelic duchies to the Tipslansk home duchies. The coordinated bombing of a shopping complex and surrounding businesses in the business district of Ambrosia was the most deadly act of terrorism in Tiperyn history, killing 360 people and injuring approximately 3,000.

In the early 2000s, it is believed the SoG began smuggling oil drilled in Darimh to Airgialla to sell on the black market. The Tiperyn government believes that this, in addition to Airgiallan labor union and League of Free Nations funding, comprises the most significant portion of the SoG's revenue. This has been controversial, as the SoG and Airgiallan government deny involvement. The accusations lead to the ultimate severance of all trade relations between Tiperyn and Airgialla in 2003, forcing the latter to rely almost entirely on League of Free Nations markets. Prior to then, Tiperyn and Airgialla had maintained a precarious trade relationship, with Airgialla being an exporter of natural gas and services and Tiperyn being primarily an exporter of manufactured goods, coal, oil and agricultural products.