The center of what would become Manchester may have been first raised to defend Roman settlements at York and Chester, but the centuries would find it far surpassing both. Expanding to become the most prosperous textile town in Lancashire by the 16th century, said growth would only continue to the 20th century to produce a city of industry, wealth and political inspiration and masses of poverty and unrestrained greed in equal measure.

Only the latter endures in the city today. Manchester as a city has been beaten down and reforged to serve the whims of Frankfurt and Germania, with its workers living in slums while IG Farben and Siemens reap record profits. Ill fated risings such as that of '56 brought nothing but swift and vicious retaliation from the German garrison, and a gradual, drudging return to the gloom that permeated every inch of the city. Manchester's spirit has been broken, its task to labour for the Germans until they drop accepted at last.

Or so the garrison believes. In reality, Manchester is, along with Leeds, one of the strongest recruiting bases for the resistance in all of Britain. The hope of the uprising, the callousness of the factory bosses and the victims taken from their beds and never seen again have not been forgotten.

For Manchester has a long memory.