WHO IS WATT TYLER?
A roofer from Kent who took the power back.
In 1381, Wat Tyler led the English commons against a king, a council and a poll tax nobody could pay. One thousand years later, his namesake Watt Tyler, a solar-roof fitter from the Medway Spore Gardens, did the same thing to the Crown Grid.
The Crown charged every household the Ping Tax: a flat levy on every device that touched the network, rich or poor. The commons said no. They grew their own mesh network through the mycelium under the Kentish woods, walked to London with their tools, and switched the lights back on for everyone.
JOIN THE REBELLION
Get dispatches from the Spore Gardens
One email when the commons march. Rally dates, new games, and word from Blackheath Node. No Crown spam, ever.
THE ARCADE
Take on the Supervillains
Five AI overlords run the Crown Grid. Beat them in a row to free the commons. Every overlord has a weakness and a resistance, so read their file before you strike.
Storm the Savoy
Bonk the Crown tax drones as they pop up. Don't bonk the mushroom folk; they're on our side. 30 seconds.
Spore Runner
Hop a mushroom across the asteroid meadow and dodge the Crown drones. Tap the screen, click, or press Space to jump.
THE COMMONS WALL
Pin up a poem, a statement of support, or your thought of the day. Everyone who visits the site can read the wall.
SERMON.TXT
"When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?"— John Ball, Blackheath, 12 June 1381 (re-broadcast across every node in 2381)
The rebel priest's question still has no good answer. We keep asking it.
THE REVOLT // 1381 ⇄ 2381
- 30 MAY1381Tax commissioner John Bampton is driven out of Brentwood by villagers from Fobbing and Corringham in Essex.2381Ping Tax audit drones are grounded over the Essex kelp forests. Moss grows over their cameras.
- 07 JUN1381The Kentish rebels choose Wat Tyler as their captain at Maidstone.2381Watt Tyler is elected admin of the Kentish mycelium mesh. 40,000 nodes vote in nine minutes.
- 12 JUN1381The rebels camp at Blackheath. John Ball preaches to the crowd.2381The commons hold Blackheath Node and beam the sermon to every orbital farm.
- 13 JUN1381Rebels enter London and burn John of Gaunt's Savoy Palace. They throw his treasures in the Thames and steal nothing.2381The Savoy Data Palace is unplugged and every tax record deleted. No data is sold.
- 14 JUN1381The fourteen-year-old Richard II meets the rebels at Mile End and promises to end serfdom.2381R1CHARD.II, the Crown's governance AI, opens a session at Mile End and signs a charter of freedoms.
- 15 JUN1381At Smithfield, Tyler is struck down by the Mayor of London, William Walworth. The king's promises are soon revoked.2381The Mayor's firewall cuts Watt's uplink at Smithfield. But the code had already spread like spores.
OUR DEMANDS
- End digital serfdom. No person bound to a platform, a landlord or a lord's terms of service.
- Rent capped at 4d per acre. The 1381 demand stands, for land on Earth and on the Moon.
- Abolish the Ping Tax. A flat tax on every device hits the poorest hardest. It was wrong then and it's wrong now.
- Free the commons. Woods, fungi, rivers, spectrum and starlight belong to everyone.
- Pardon for all rebels. Every node that joined the revolt stays online.
PING_TAX.EXE
In 1380 the Crown taxed every adult over fifteen a flat 12 pence (one shilling), lord or labourer. Find out what the 2381 Crown would charge your household.
RETURN TO SMITHFIELD
The annual march on Smithfield
Every 15 June, the commons gather where Watt fell. Bring a torch. Bring a friend. Leave the Crown at home.
SIGN MY GUESTBOOK!!!
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