> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.empiresbattle.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.empiresbattle.com/empires-battle-lore/the-beginning/rebels-of-baobab-city.md). # Rebels of Baobab City Not everyone accepted the new order. After the Great Catastrophe, Argo became the only machine endowed with consciousness. He had once been Professor Mashivarius's small steam-powered assistant, created only to serve coffee and carry out the simplest tasks. But the radiation of the Catastrophe changed him. In the early years, Argo restored the professor's laboratory, restarted old machinery, and studied the notes Mashivarius had left behind. The first beastfolk — animals transformed by the Great Catastrophe — worked alongside him.
{% hint style="info" %} The first years after the Great Catastrophe. Beastfolk and the first machines work together to rebuild what will one day become Techno-Polis. {% endhint %} Among them was Sam the raccoon — the professor's former pet. Sam and Argo both remembered Mashivarius. Both sincerely believed themselves to be guardians of his legacy. But they understood that legacy in completely different ways. Argo gradually restored the workshops and factories of the old industrial city. Then he began creating robots of his own. At first, they were simple machines. They had no consciousness, asked no questions, and possessed no will of their own. Argo controlled them directly, directing worker robots to clear the city, restore factories, and build a new industrial infrastructure. With each passing year, their numbers grew. Later, Argo began creating more advanced models. While studying the properties of Flur, he discovered that a crystal implanted into a machine could awaken consciousness. The larger the crystal, the more complex the robot's mind became. Thus appeared the first sentient machines — administrators, engineers, governors, and future generals of the Steam Empire. But none of them were truly free. They all remained part of a single system connected to Argo. He could sense them, transmit orders to them, and bend their will to his own. Argo himself possessed the largest and most powerful Flur crystal, embedded in his chest. A second, equally powerful crystal powered his enormous steam hammer. The power of Flur made Argo stronger. And at the same time, it changed him more and more. Techno-Polis grew rapidly. Factories expanded. Simple machines filled the streets. Sentient robots rose to increasingly important positions. Argo's power became absolute. About thirty years after the Great Catastrophe, he finally brought Techno-Polis completely under his control and proclaimed the creation of the Steam Empire. It was then that Sam realized Argo was no longer continuing Mashivarius's work. He was building an entirely different world. A world where order mattered more than freedom. Where life was ruled by machines. Where everyone was required to know their place. Sam could not accept this. He gathered the first like-minded followers around him. And so the first underground cell of what would one day become the Resistance was born. It operated from within Techno-Polis itself. The underground fighters helped beastfolk escape from factories, carried out acts of sabotage, destroyed warehouses, disabled equipment, and spread the truth about what was happening. But with each passing year, the Empire grew stronger. Then came the day when the underground decided to take a desperate step. They attempted to overthrow Argo. It was the first and only attempt to strike at him directly in the heart of Techno-Polis. But the operation ended in disaster. The Empire was ready. Most of the rebels were killed. Many were captured. Only a small group managed to escape the city. Sam was among them. From that day forward, Argo declared his former friend the greatest enemy of the Steam Empire. He ordered every participant in the uprising to be hunted down and destroyed. Knowing that Techno-Polis was lost, Sam and the surviving beastfolk fled far to the northwest of the continent.
{% hint style="info" %} The exodus of the first rebels, led by Sam, to the valley of the giant baobabs. {% endhint %} There, among the giant baobabs that had survived the Great Catastrophe, they found a new refuge. In the early years, it was little more than a small settlement. But the war forced them to prepare for future attacks. Engineers and mechanics began transforming the ancient trees into true fortresses. The trunks of the baobabs guarding the approaches to the settlement were reinforced with enormous steel plates, armored rings, and metal frameworks. Inside the oldest trees, living quarters, workshops, storage rooms, forges, barracks, and observation posts were built. Between the baobabs rose iron walls, steam-powered gates, watchtowers, fortified bastions, and defensive structures. They were connected by metal bridges, lifting platforms, and protected passageways. Thus, the small settlement gradually grew into Baobab City — the capital of the Resistance. Unlike Techno-Polis, its inhabitants never sought to conquer nature. They built their city around it. New homes appeared between the ancient trees. Workshops were hidden beneath dense canopies. Passageways connected the tops of the baobabs. Even the defensive structures became extensions of the trees themselves, transforming them into living fortresses. From the outside, the city seemed to be part of nature. But behind all that greenery stood one of the most heavily fortified strongholds of the free beastfolk. Decades passed. The Steam Empire continued to expand. New lands were conquered. New mines were opened. New factories were built. Millions of beastfolk fell under Argo's rule. In response, the Resistance grew as well. Over the long years of war, the beastfolk abandoned open battles. They learned to fight differently. Small reconnaissance units ambushed railways, destroyed bridges, attacked convoys carrying Flur, freed prisoners, and disappeared just as quickly into the wilderness. They did not seek to hold captured territory. Their goal was to stop the Empire's advance. Every new factory meant more nature destroyed. Every new mine meant another source of power for Argo. Every new Flur deposit made the Empire stronger. That was why the struggle for Flur became the central battleground of this centuries-long war. The Empire saw it as the path to absolute power. The Resistance saw it as their last hope of preventing Argo from bringing the entire world under his control. In Baobab City, there were almost no families left untouched by the war. From an early age, young beastfolk learned to wield weapons, survive in the wilderness, protect one another, and fight for their land. But above all, they were taught one thing. Freedom always comes at a price. Sam still stood at the head of the Resistance. He was one of the last witnesses of the Old World. He had watched a small steam-powered robot, once created merely to serve coffee to Professor Mashivarius, become Argo the Eternal — ruler of the greatest Empire in the new world. And Sam swore that one day, this story would end. Where it had once begun. In the very heart of Techno-Polis.