10. The Capitol That We Know Of

After President Ariann Fuler began her reforms, it seemed as if things were beginning to look better for Panem. Sadly, that was not the case. Protests continued to happen, though not violent at first. But, it seemed as if no one was realizing that the Capitol was trying to fix the mistakes of President Morris and his attempts to protect the Thirteen District Act. Riots began to ensue where the police, now less prepared for the situation, had to intervene to protect the public from the violence of a few. Petitions were filing into the Senate to do things that no one realized were already done. Fuler attempted to get more information out there of what she was trying to do through the state-run CNTV, but it was just considered propaganda. Because of the private media, things were only getting worse. Protests were forming out of plain speculation because no one was listening to the Capitol. And that is when the President had enough...

The Oppression Begins

President Fuler began to crack down on the protesting in order to silence dissent, which wasn't even to blame on her government, so that she can push for her reforms that were for the better of the nation. She didn't want to become an iron fist leader, but as I stated before, she was very passionate about what she believes in. Sadly, this meant backpedaling on some of her original reforms. She had to improve upon the police force because they were not prepared for outbreaks. The peace needed to be kept. She felt that police with military experience would be more beneficial to protect and serve the people than just people with regular police experience. With the existence of the SWAT team and a military that hasn't had a major duty since WWIII due to Panem's isolationism, President Fuler created the Peacekeeping Corps. The Peacekeepers would, well, "keep the peace" while carrying out the average duties of a police officer. They would also be utilized as the military for the Capitol if it was ever needed, such as a military mission in another nation (This has never happened. I am just making a point for how they would be used in her plans. Also, the separate branches were merged together as one force). We all know how they were used instead.

Peacekeepers began with a more basic uniform than what we saw recently in the Mockingjay Rebellion. There was a helmet with the Capitol seal, specialized gloves for holding items such as shields, guns, tazers, etc. with no backlash on the hands. There was also a simple blue fitted jumpsuit that was tear resistent and was, though not bulletproof, protective in the case of a firefight with a suspect.

Public executions were legalized and so were whippings and floggings. Fortunately, they were only used for severe crimes, so prison and jail were still options for some inmates. The Capitol made the justice system crackdown on evidence and even faked evidence in order to make a conviction.

President Fuler also wanted to prevent the spread of riots throughout all thirteen districts. This lead to the one of the two most controversial laws in her attempt to make peace. This was the closing down of the district borders to anyone not working for the Capitol. Capitol workers were considered senators, Council members, the President herself, or members of the Department of Resources. No regular citizen could leave a district without major permission from the government. Most cases would take about six months, and most resulted in rejection. Anyone who attempted to cross a border without legal papers was arrested on arrival.

The most controversial law during this time, even more so than the last one, was the raising of prices and the deduction of resources being distributed to the districts. Less products that cost more. In capitalism, low supply would lead to higher prices, due to the demand of the item. But this wasn't used in a capitalist attempt to patch things up; this was committed in a command economy type style. Though Panem was considered a capitalist nation with a strong control over the private sector, the economy on the districts was completely a command market. The Capitol chose what went to the districts, when they were delivered, and how much they cost. Nothing was cheap. This lead to a type of oppression that deprived people of their necessities in order to get them to obey the government.

The district with the least amount of oppression and horror was the area that contained President Fuler's homeland of Nashville, Tennessee: District Twelve.

Shots Fired

Fuler thought this would quiet dissent so she could do her reforms in peace, without the threat of more violence. Of course, the Peacekeepers were not abusive to the people like they were recently; they only ran the district like regular police officers with riot prepardness (and yes, there were the whippings and such). But, Fuler didn't realize that oppression was just going to cause more dissent, not less. Soon the people had enough of the crap they have been going through and decided to take action, and not just by rioting. By staging an uprising...

The real first shots of the Dark Days are unknown. There are multiple theories of where the war began, but most of them revolve around District Thirteen. Records from that time were lost after a while, so the exact truth is not known. Speculation has gone from a hostage crisis in the Peacekeeper Headquarters to multiple Peacekeepers being shot and either killed or injured by masked people in the square of the district. Any theories involving the other districts have little to no real proof surrounding them, that's why we all believe Thirteen started the war.

With an uprising in District Thirteen, the private media took the chance to ignite more dissent by spouting information that a rebellion had begun. The private companies were joining in on the fight because they had no rights outside of the Capitol to endorse their own products. Also, their workers were unable to do their jobs because of the lack of food or money provided by the federal government. CNN and Fox moved to separate districts to prevent an usurption by "a violation of the Corruptiuon Correction Act". Also, this meant that the Capitol wouldn't catch them as they became the centers for the rebellion's information.

As a final attempt to patch things up on January 5, 2070, President Fuler made a statement on CNTV about the coming war. "A dark age is coming to the Republic of Panem. I am sorry to say that the districts have yet to listen to reason and have chosen violence instead of peace. The Capitol is prepared to end these problems before casualties get insanely high. Please, citizens, end the violence before we all destroy each other. Please, before these dark days get much worse."

No one listened, and with that, nine of the thirteen districts officially declared war on the Captiol by the first of February that year. The only four to not declare war were Districts One, Two, Four, and Twelve.

And with that, the Dark Days officially began.

Note: The Peacekeeper uniforms I am talking about are the ones that you see in the movie of The Hunger Games. Now here is the exciting part that starts the whole history that we want to know, the war to create the distopian society of Panem with the annual Hunger Games.