The Falls Revivalists
Thanie found herself staring agape at the massive oil landscape in the foyer of the building. If the original waterfall was anywhere near as beautiful as the painting, it would have been a sight for the ages. A cascading flow catching the light in a rainbow as the Inix river fell into the sea, nothing like the endless spinning waterwheels of the modern Patino cliff face, though that had a beauty-in-motion of its own.
Her attention returned to the conversation she was ostensibly there to record. "...your most recent speech at the lower ward markets was ill-attended, if the journals are correct. Most in the city continue to believe you are merely a self-promoting huckster." Magistrate Haideri droned on as she scribbled. "I believe we've come to know each other quite well over the last few seasons, and I do not believe you are a huckster, but why continue on with this nonsense? You only become less popular with each speech you give. Once you got to the line about the water washing away the homes in the lower ward, I noted a woman throwing an apple at you."
The man sitting across from Haideri frowned, his meticulously groomed beard tilting forward. "While I respect your position, magistrate, it is clear to me that you are no academician. The popularity of a view has absolutely no bearing on the necessity of the view's expression. That is the foundational principle of the Academy's own Progress, and it is interesting that an esteemed figure such as yourself would express such an anti-Progress view. And the girl's aim was off."
"I do enjoy our wordplay here." Haideri gave a smile. "But the idea of Progress defeating itself is a contradiction. If the advancement and Progress of thought leads to a regression in action and society, then it is no Progress at all. The quality is binary."
Firavo Millius, the head of the Falls Revivalists, shook his head. "Binaries such as those are typically false, but we're wasting time here, Magistrate. Simply get on with your task at hand."
"Fine. Thanie, have you been recording?" The apprentice nodded. "Millius, you are, again, forewarned that your activities in the pursuit of reviving the Patino Waterfall have been named as anti-Progress by the Principality. I am a Magistrate and do not meddle in political affairs, but it is in my interest to warn you as such, to prevent you from appearing before me at trial at some point in the future."
Millius had a hand on his chin. "And I'll repeat as usual. I, Firavo Millius, am the advocate for the voiceless natural wonder that is the Patino Waterfall, which has been put under heel in the name of Progress in the pursuit of endless, meaningless wealth creation. The splendor of the world cannot be left to dry to dust in the name of producing power-wagons and the rest of modern life's detritus. The flow will fall again."
Haideri shrugged. "Right, the formality is done with. Don't go off too half-cocked, Millius." The magistrate stood to leave.
The head of the Revivalists sighed. "Just because the cause is lost doesn't mean it's not just. I'll be awaiting your return next season."
Structure
The Falls Revivalists are a public advocacy group, led by Firavo Millius, a former professor of natural philosophy at The Academy of Etoile. As a political group, the structure is largely flat, with donors who support the cause paying for Milius's regular public speeches and denunciations.
Culture
The Principality of Etoile has publicly named the Revivalists as a group counter to the ideals of Progress, a label that the Revivalists themselves embrace wholeheartedly. In the views of the Revivalists, Progress has trampled on the many gifts of the natural world, with the Patino Waterfall simply being the most prescient example of Progress's cost.
Public Agenda
The Patino Waterfall was, by all historical accounts, a majestic sight from afar, the roaring waters of the Inix cascading hundreds of feet down a cliff face into a plunge pool, where the freshwater of the Inix would mix with briny backflow from the Feryll Sea before flowing into the ocean proper. Waterfalls like this are nearly perfect for Power generation; water flowing directly onto a waterwheel from above generates vast amounts of force, far more than the more languid charge from a horizontally positioned charging wheel. Thus, when Patino, the Machine City was founded, the waterfall's flow was diverted completely into a series of waterwheels hammered and embedded into channels carved into the cliffside, with almost no water left to flow down the original pathways.
The Revivalists, while in more broad terms an environmentalist organization, seek specifically to restore water flow down the original path of the waterfall. This is a fairly unpopular view in Patino itself - not only does the massive amount of power generated keep the manufactories and industry of Patino going, but the former plunge pool under the falls was filled in with dredged soil and is a residential district of lower Patino. Any water falling over the original course would flow directly onto tenement housing.
History
Firavo Millius has been a loud advocate for the 'natural' part of natural philosophy for most of his academic career, and his advocacy for the restoration of the natural world is seen as revanchism against the inexorable path of Progress. The Principality was content to have him merely give lectures and speeches on the topic in the abstract; but when Millius zeroed in on a specific target (i.e. the restoration of the Patino Waterfall), he found himself banished from The Academy of Etoile and his state-funded sinecure.
In response, Millius moved to Patino proper (along with some of his most convinced students) to attempt to convince the local population of the desirability of reviving the Falls. While some in Patino are sympathetic to the idea, most ordinary workers and residents of the city consider the Revivalists to simply be the ravings of a crank. The Principality sees the possibility of reviving the falls as nil; were more of the population inclined to support his views and de-construct the waterworks, it would be likely that the local District Commander would have Millius and his followers exiled to The Vagrant Colony.
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