 It sought to emphasise the Tsar as the "father" of all of Russians, which included other principalities which sought to remain independent.Before the unification of Russians under the leadership of Moscow, each city and town had its own "Opolcheniye" not named "Narodnoe", but named after the city or town, so "Novgorodskoye Opolcheniye", "Suzdalskoye Opolcheniye", "Vladimirskoye Opolcheniye", etc.These were not militia as such, but armed crowds that, when attacked, would arm themselves and gather into a "polk", which is translated in its modern meaning as a regiment.