Dynamics of a Riot

Being that a central force in the historical action recounted by Blue Green is rioting, it is essential to understand how a sports-team based riot came about in society and how it plays out in the streets. The narrator, Gaius Galen Licinicus, was a former Green rioter and street captain of sorts, knowledgeable about what causes a crowd to become a mob, to break into rioting, be fanned onward to destruction, battling with rioters supporting the other color, and attacking the imperial troops sent to stop them. Rioting was a more and more common fact of life in Constantinople, sometimes threatening the emperor, as it does in Blue Green, which delas with the very real Nika Riots of 532 CE.

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Gaius Galen was an excellent street captain, who along with his rioting friend Monaxius came up with the idea of being able to direct parts of a mob to threaten a particular property or to avoid one. This is how he made a lot of money, until he got out of rioting. But he’s now forced back into it. This means training a new team, trying to avoid the death and wounds it can cause, and fighting back the mania that rioting had always brought out in Gaius. Gaius builds his new team and trains them on the dynamics of rioting and how to turn a mob to where you want it to go, or not go. As events heat up and rioting begins occurring in a larger scale than ever, readers essentially imbed with Gaius’ gang in the middle of rioting.

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Here's an excerpt from Chapter 12 of Gaius describing his actions to Monaxius and Atakam when he first tests himself to see if he is capable of returning to the destructive street-fighting he left three years previous…

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“I found them, about 70 Greens, younger men mostly. It took a little while for me to get in the feel of it again, but the cycle of anger growing into a rage that increases the anger returned soon enough. I got my bearings and recognized the usual groups of degree, from the unsure come-alongs to the true destroyers. But this bunch lacked organization, and the few who seemed to be leaders were vacillating. The whole affair was on the verge of collapsing for want of initiative. I started yelling: Who do these bastards think they are to herd the mighty Greens like cows! I encouraged others to yell insults at the prefect’s troops blocking the street ahead of us. I got three men to help me push over a cistern of water next to an inn, the chaotic crash and water rushing down the street invigorated them, and others began to smash things up, windows, carts, stalls, owners protecting their property.

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“The yelling from the crowd grew in proportion to the growing noise from smashing things. And the crowd grew, pulling in more people as the mob showed its strength. I felt the energy shoot up – and so did they, becoming bolder as they allowed the anger to fire in them. Why is that wooden shed not on fire? I yelled at two men near me, and they instantly ran to make it so, with others joining them. I was doing things, I was filling the void with actions, and they responded to it, to me. I saw hyper excited types heeding my calls, and looking to me. They wanted a leader, some structure.

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“At a crucial moment when the mounted soldiers came up to block the progress we were now making, I stepped to the front, picked up a broken brick and stopped – and so did those behind me. I was breathing like a madman and looking around for cowards who wouldn’t join me. I bellowed for them to follow me, threw my brick and hit a mounted soldier, then ran at the soldiers screaming, Fear the Greens! The mounts broke as I and about 100 rabid Greens were just about to reach them, shouting hellfire, throwing rocks – and the most demented of us running faster to try to slash at horses and soldiers’ legs with knives and whatever they could find. The 15 or so mounts galloped away uphill, doing considerable damage to their 30 infantrymen behind them trying to get out of the way. I turned them, Monaxius. I turned them – the Greens and the mounts.”