The coming of the Republic is seen as the destruction of the social order by the aristocracy, especially among the Ytene. Many of the commonfolk, however, viewed it as the coming of hope, as well as freedom. The situation at the Front was a slow process of losing, and hopelessness pervaded the atmosphere. Most telling was the open secret that the lives of those in Hopeful were saved not by their own efforts, but by a second undead army which drove off the most recent invasion.
The arrival of this glittering Republican Army sparked a new hope that the living would win.