"And the man shouted to the croud 'Which side are you on, boys? Which side are you on?' while he pointed off the dock, towards the floating monstrosity that [Montarlo Incorporated] had constructed in the bay for our 'protection'."
"Kicking open a box at his feet, he revealed a crate of weapons, each one shiny and unused. They were Montarlo rifles, but the insignias had been filed off. 'What's it going to be? Will you be a scab? Or will you be a man?'
-Cabral Militia Member, recounting his reasoning for getting involved in the Reef War
Cabral wouldn't be notable if it wasn't for two things.
The first is the series of massive
Coral growths that sit at the bottom of its oceans. So massive that on fark nights, the glow of the coral shines cerulean and teal through the waves, even though there are miles of ocean between it and the surface.
The second is the war that was fought over said crystals.
The planet was first colonized by simple fishers and algae farmers who sought to use the planet's massive oceans for their trades. It was just over a decade before anyone made the connection between the so-called "Lights of Ishval" and possible Coral deposits. Another decade before surveys uncovered the true size of the deposits. A third decade passed before a mining company arrived to harvest the coral in earnest. The rights were purchased legally enough, at least where the paperwork is involved, but the whole process happened so suddenly and quickly that many felt they had been shoved out of the way.
They voiced protest, and the company slapped them down. They demonstrated, and the company removed them for ''interruption of operation'. They gave further resistance and the company's response smacked of violence kept barely in check until the moment was in their favor. The planetary government tried to step in but found the company cutting off pieces and officials disappearing so quickly that it neared collapse. From there, a peaceful resolution was out of reach.
Frontiersmen are always armed, even on well-established colonies. A simple fact of the lifestyle. Every colonized planet has a militia if not an army, and when those worlds feel threatened? Cabral was a world with a militia, a sort of merchant marine to be specific, but that swelled into an army and navy instantaneously.
The company, to its credit, had shipped whole PMCs to the planet's surface, with two of said PMCs making the planet their permanent home soon after.
All the pieces were set, and the war could commence.
No one who saw the build-up to the war would be under the impression that it was going to be a quick affair. The company had already spent too much to just up and leave, and the population of Cabral hated the company with fervor that only the invaded could muster. Soon after the war began, few couldn't say that they hadn't lost a friend or relative.
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