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Should this be moved to the Fiction forum?

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Rick
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[email]rick@heavymetalpro.com[/email] [img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/flag-us.gif[/img] [img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/ ... rolina.gif[/img]

* There are 10 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary and those who don't. *

Your's is post 100 of the thread and 6 weeks have past since the first post...I'd say it doesn't matter much at this point.

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[b]When life gives you lemons, throw them back and ask for cookies.[/b]
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Taking a Poll Rick?

Yes, it is ongoing Fanfic.

MB

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[i]And Allah turned back the unbelievers in their rage; they did not obtain any advantage, and Allah sufficed the believers in fighting; and Allah is Strong, Mighty.[/i] from The Koran, 33rd Sura- The Clans

I dunno; I think it's fine where it is... It has kinda established itself nicely in here. Besides, I never check the fanfic threads! I stay here in the General threads, where I cause less trouble.

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I'm serious about being frivolous.

[img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/flag-us.gif[/img] [img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/ ... lorida.gif[/img]

Hey Medron I think we have a new villain for LoG.

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Having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have-Rush Limbaugh
For more from Rush go here: www.rushlimbaugh.com
Still crazy after all these years.
Force of nature : :
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[img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/ ... chigan.gif[/img]

Sheepy with the evil man-faye pics to traumatize the Irregulars?

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

For the idea that it gets more viewing here, I would like to see it remain here. But as it IS a history kind of thing, I could understand why you could move it over.

I just like it here because, as Sheepy noted, some are interested in it that never go to the fiction forum.

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

*blinks* LoG? Do keep in mind that from what little I've read of the collabarative fanfic, I have been written into the 214th Bearded Cavalry...

Maybe the dreaded Man-Faye could be used as a villian...

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I'm serious about being frivolous.

[img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/flag-us.gif[/img] [img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/ ... lorida.gif[/img]

Quick question: what is the "current" year in this universe?

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"I have vanquished you, lizard slavers. And now, behold the pelvic gyrations of my victory boogie."
- Space Ghost

3100

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Styk Commonality

Formed in 3057 when Liao and Marik forces smashed into the Sarna March, the Styk Commonality was an alliance of Styk and Gan Singh. Minister Urnst Haller was removed from his position in 3058 when he tried to add his homeworld Pleione into the Commonality without his leaders’ approval.

Stung by that reaction, her returned to Pleione to lead the resistance there against the 15th Dracon. Other forces came and went, but the 15th Dracon remained there for a decade, trying to subdue the planet. When the Jihad started in late 3067, the Dracon began to doubt their leader and Haller saw a chance to strike. Requesting an audience with Sang-shao Rei Tsuba, he suggested an alliance between their forces and offered the Dracon a place in the Styk Commonality. Having fought against Haller for nearly a decade, Tsuba knew him better than his commanders and agreed to Haller’s idea. The Dracon jumped to Styk with Haller at their head.

At first the Styk government refused to accept him, but after the 15th Dracon finished “negotiations” Duke Urnst Haller sat on the throne of Styk in April of 3068 with no one to dispute his claim. Opening up the Styk Commonality to anyone wishing to be a part of it, and reaffirming positive relations with the new Tikonov Free Republic, the Zion Protectorate, and the Duchy of Andurien, nearby systems and units swarmed in, not wanting anything to do with Sun Tzu after his betrayal.

By the time the Jihad was over, the Styk Commonality contained twenty-five star systems from Lesalles to Aldebaran to Hunan. Corey’s BattleMech factories especially gave Styk a new lease on life, allowing them to build more BattleMechs in their space, but they ended up buying most of their BattleMechs from the Tikonov Free Republic or the new Zion Protectorate with aid given by those nations and the Duchy of Andurien. By 3079, the Styk Commonality under Duke Haller fielded a strong military.

When St. Ives found itself under assault by the Syrtis Federation, the calculating Haller saw a chance to strength his power and began preparing to grab the chance. The entrance of the Taurian Concordat and Capellan Confederation into the war showed his instincts to be correct and in 3080 the first steps of his plan came into motion. The 15th Dracon, the symbol of his personal power, crossed the border and hit New Aragon like a hammer, supported by a newly formed unit called the Chesterton Reserves.

Led by Aeron Hargreaves, last in a long line of Hargreaves officially accepted as the Duke of Chesterton for centuries, the new Chesterton Reserves extolled the people to return to their long-lost roots as proud members of the Chesterton Commonality. The entrance of the Tikonov Free Republic into the war in 3081 simply made the 15th Dracon and the Chesterton Reserves move faster. Neither Hargreaves nor Haller wanted the Ridzik brothers to take any of the former Chesterton Worlds, and they smashed through every defense the Syrtis Federation put up as fast as they could. The capture of Caselton and Sonnia in 3083 finished that phase of the war, containing the Ridzik brothers when they captured Tikonov.

Then the Dracon and the Chesterton Reserves moved through Tawas and Ulan Batar to join Ambermarle’s Highlanders in hitting Chesterton itself. The world fell easily and the Highlanders went on to take Farwell with elements of the Chesterton Reserves. Hargreaves and the rest of the Reserves, along with the 15th Dracon, moved to Valexa in 3085, expecting to use it as a simple jumping off point to Goshen and its War College. But General Sarah Delittle’s Valexa CMM proved to be a more resilient enemy than they expected. Holding out for several months before being battered into submission, Aeron Hargreaves himself accepted Delittle’s surrender and immediately offered her a position in his organization. She accepted the offer and the Valexa CMM became a part of the Chesterton Reserves.

Hargreaves tasked her with reforming the Chesterton Border Guards as he moved on to Goshen, but was repulsed by their fanatic defense. Falling back to Valexa, he found an organization already springing up under Delittle’s capable leadership, and he folded much of the surviving Chesterton Reserves into her command so she could spread them out as required. Now garrisoning every world captured during the St. Ives War, the Chesterton Border Guards under Delittle’s leadership are a strong force.

With the Styk military stretched and battered, Haller pulled back the Dracon for repairs on Styk, and while the war officially lasted for another few months Styk was effectively out of it. The last fifteen years have seen Haller and Hargreaves meeting often and working together well, but they’ve also seen massive amounts of money pouring into the Chesterton Worlds from nearly a dozen foreign governments. The Ridzik brothers want the Chesterton Worlds, as they were once a part of the Tikonov Grand Union, but don’t want to throw away their alliance with Styk. So they use money to hopefully bring Hargreaves to their side. Other governments, wishing to hold the Ridziks back, send in their own money to keep Hargreaves from going over to them. So far, Duke Hargreaves seems willing to sit back and let the money flow in to enrich his worlds.

Styk on the other hand, is feeling the pinch of trying to bribe Hargreaves into staying loyal. Unable to fully protect their borders, Haller lost Yunnah and Raballa in the Corey District to a Sarna assault in 3095. The Supremacy wants the entire Corey District, claiming it as a former possession of the original Sarna Supremacy, and has continued to raid all those worlds, and the rich Zion worlds, since then. They’ve been unable to do anything more though, as Hargreaves made his position clear on Supremacy expansion and took Menkar in a retaliatory strike with the Chesterton Border Guards. Heavily raiding all nearby Supremacy worlds since then, he’s kept the Sarna military off balance enough that it cannot force the issue in the Corey District.

The Corey District is currently the most chaotic of the three districts in the Styk Commonality, with near constant raids from both Sarna and Capella hitting it at near constant intervals. Reinforced as much as Styk can afford with resources from Tikonov, Zion, and Andurien, the Corey District is still a rough area to live. The Styk District on the other hand is very secure against attack with only a short border that is generally quieter with Sarna. However, many worlds in the Styk district were once in the Tikonov Grand Union, making secession to Tikonov a real concern. The Chesterton District is the most powerful of the three districts at the moment, though full of secessionist tendencies. Many want to go to Tikonov, others want to return to Davion or Hasek rule, while others want to go independent. So far, Hargreaves seems to be controlling the secessionists, though to what end no one knows.

Receiving aid from Andurien, Zion, Tikonov, and the Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Alliance, the Styk Commonality also has many allies, even if their trustworthiness is not completely assured. Sharing an unfriendly border with Syrtis, Sarna, and the Capellan Confederation though, the Styk military is spread out badly in an attempt to hold off all its enemies.

The command ship of the Styk Naval Command is the, Bernard Shaw, a Lightning destroyer purchased from Tikonov and named after one of the original explorers that found Styk. Numerous Riga escort frigates support it while Krivak patrol frigates jump from system to system to protect against pirates. Cheetah, Thrush, and Lightning AeroSpace Fighters built on Algol dominate the fighter wings that support the frigates. Victors dominate the Styk Ground Command assault companies, while Catapults, Huron Warriors, and Crusaders from Zion fill out most heavy companies. Valkyries and Phoenix Hawks from Demeter dominate medium companies, while lighter designs are primarily purchased from other realms.

Dukes Urnst Haller and Aeron Hargreaves are the most powerful men in the Styk Commonality, but many wonder which one is more powerful than the other. They appear to trust each other though, at least as much as sometime rivals can. Generals Rei Tsuba and Sarah Delittle command the militaries of Styk and Chesterton, keeping them strong enough to hold off most attackers, and the two have worked together well for many years. If the four of them can keep the Styk Commonality from fracturing under secessionist tendencies, Styk will have a very bright future. If they can’t, it could very well disappear before the decade is over.

General Information

Aldebaran – One of the few Chaos March worlds to quickly accept Capellan rule in 3058, this world felt betrayed by Sun Tzu’s alliance with the Word of Blake and requested membership in the Styk Commonality. They have been loyal members of that government ever since.

Algol – Once a Tikonov Grand Union world, it was captured during the St. Ives War, and has oddly never given Styk any problems. In fact, it now builds the AeroSpace Fighters that Styk uses.

Algot – A largely unspoiled world of beautiful landscapes, Tikonov explorers colonized it. Conquered during the St. Ives War like the other Chesterton Worlds, money flows into the system from the Tikonov Free Republic and other governments, and street preachers cry out the virtues of returning to their true home rather than the false government of Styk.

Almach – A Chesterton World, it is the only world in the Human Sphere primarily settled by Argentineans.

Buchlau – Once a member world of the Tikonov Grand Union, it was captured during the St. Ives War and is a reluctant member of the Commonality. Money flows into it from other governments and street preachers extol the virtues of returning to its “real home”. Some of the fish grow to the size of Terran whales and are excellent foodstuffs.

Caselton – Originally a Chesterton World it was a young colony when the Davions took it from the Tikonov Grand Union. It was captured by the Capellans during the 1st Succession War, but recaptured by House Davion in the 2nd and remained Davion until Styk captured it during the St. Ives War. It is not a willing member of the Styk government and many find it to be an easy convert to secession. Many believe it may request admittance into the neighboring Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Alliance if given a chance.

Chesterton – Founded by the last of the great Welsh Explorers, Tristam Chesterton, who had one of the largest trading fleets outside the Terran system. In 2193, Demeter and Chesterton formed the Chesterton Trade League. Became a province of “Imperial” Tikonov in the 2210s. Allied with the Capellans in 2306 to fight the Kluanian pirates. Conquered by Sarna between then and 3057. Signed over to House Davion in 2344. Captured the St. Ives War.

Demeter – In 2193, Demeter and Chesterton formed the Chesterton Trade League. In 2760, the Davion BattleMech factories were nuked. Conquered during the St. Ives War by the newly reformed Chesterton Reserves, it is now a major center of BattleMech construction.

Farwell – A Chesterton World.

Gan Singh – The oldest member-world of the Styk Commonality and former Grand Tikonov Union world, this is a major source of food for the Styk government.

Halloran V – Trapped in an ice age, this world has long made money selling ice to other systems. It is also a common target of Sarna Ice Raiders, and is considered a Chesterton World.

Hunan – A volcanic world, it is home to “Fire Lizards” that can spit a caustic liquid with deadly accuracy at up to 10 meters. Only the massive deposits of ore keep people on the world, but Sarna raiders make life difficult for the locals.

Lesalle – Home to the huge mailsloth, a delicacy throughout the Human Sphere, hunting permits for this animal are carefully kept to a minimum.

Liao – The ancestral home of the Liao family, this world quickly supported Capellan rule in 3058 and became home of the Liao Conservatory of Military Arts. After Sun Tzu’s betrayal, they joined the Styk government and have continued to graduate the best, most loyal, and brightest recruits to the Styk military since then.

Menkar – A system that has never known war, plants are harvested there for research on New Aragon. Captured in 3095 by the Chesterton Border Guards in a lightning campaign that did no damage, Menkar has never been hit by any raiders, perhaps because no one wishes to limit the medical research. Or because no one finds it valuable for anything else.

Mesartim – A Chesterton World, it is known for the wonderful wines it grows.

Mira – A Chesterton World, it was colonized by Tikonov in the 22nd Century. With a surface gravity of 1.8 gees, and an atmospheric density of 2.20 atmospheres at sea level, Mira can only be charitably called habitable. In addition, local food does not give all the nutrients required by humans to live unless eaten in large amounts, so the poor who cannot afford vitamin supplements often tend to be fat and undernourished. Crime is a common problem, with every crime known to man infesting this world, especially the port towns at sea level. The more affluent cities on the tall plateaus above the cloud level where the atmosphere is closer to standard pressure, are much more lawful and the rich often have no understanding of the problems the poor must face. It is no surprise that foreign monies are lavished on the ports and the ideas of secession are strongest among the poor.

New Aragon – Home of the New Aragon Institute of Epidermiology, a leading medical research facility in the Human Sphere, New Aragon has been a staunchly Davion-loyal world since “The Fox” restored order there in 3013. Conquered during the St. Ives War, they are a reluctant member of the Styk Commonality to this day but have nowhere else to go. A Chesterton World.

Ningpo – A major producer of agricultural products, Ningpo was the target of Laurel’s Legion as they attempted to bring it under Confederation rule when the Word of Blake Jihad kicked off. When Laurel’s Legion returned home to Tigress, Ningpo was without an occupier and they requested aid from Styk. They’ve been a loyal member of the Commonality since then.

Old Kentucky – Once a wilderness resort of the Capellan and Federated Commonwealth nobles, Styk nobles began to visit it for a time. But as Sarna raiders have more heavily besieged the Corey District those visits have dropped off.

Pleione – Once a member of the Tikonov Grand Union, and the site of a major Star League base, Pleione is a proud member of the Styk Commonality. Having resisted Capellan attempts, courtesy of the 15th Dracon, to take it over in the 3060s with Urnst Haller at their head, the 15th Dracon allied themselves with him after the Jihad began. Taking over the nearby Styk government, they quickly turned the Styk Commonality into a refuge for those who no longer wanted to follow Sun Tzu. As the star of Tikonov has grown, many have expressed a wish to return to their “true home”, but most still support Duke Urnst Haller.

Poznan – Once controlled by citizens of Spanish decent, when it became a part of the Capellan Confederation, the Spanish were pushed into the minority and treated as such. Gaining freedom under Davion rule the world refused to fall to Capellan rule after the joint Marik-Liao invasion. Still loyal to the Davion family, the world remains under Styk control only because there is nothing better at the moment.

Shensi – A forest world, it also supplies metals and radioactive ore to the Styk war machine, making it another target of frequent Sarna raids.

Sonnia – A Chesterton World, it was captured without a fight during the St. Ives War. A pragmatic system that agreed to swear loyalty to Liao when told to, and swore loyalty to Davion when told to, the citizens have taken to the monies flying into their system with a relish. Expanding their favorite game, "Counter-Spy: the Game of Switching Sides", into the new world, foreign spies have found themselves led around in circles by the obliging citizens who are having a ball. Contests run across the planet with people trying to get the largest number of “dupes” on their side, though in the last few years foreign governments have begun to realize that they are being had and have dropped the amount of money sent into the system. This has just made the locals work harder at the “game”, and many spies continue to be led around circles “sure” that they’ve finally cut a break.

St. Andre – A desert world, this was the planet where the Capellan Confederation was signed into being. It became a major Star League shipyard and BattleMech construction site, but repeated assaults by BattleMechs and nuclear warheads scarred the planet badly. The years since the Jihad, especially the last decade as Sarna raiders have become bolder, have not been kind to this world.

Styk – Home of Tao ’Mechworks and Klein Manufacturing, Styk also has a large fleet of ocean-going luxury liners that the nobles of the Commonality take their vacations on, especially after Old Kentucky became less safe. Once a member of the Tikonov Grand Union.

Tawas – A Chesterton World, it was conquered during the final campaign to take Chesterton by the 15th Dracon and the Chesterton Reserves.

Tsinghai – Once a part of the old Sarna Supremacy, Tsinghai is a reluctant member of the Styk Commonality. Known primarily for its excellent wines, Styk officials believe that the Buddhist majority sells many of those wines to Sarna traders. They have yet to prove this though as the planet is reluctant to sell out either Sarna or its own people.

Tsitsang – A major producer of food and other agricultural supplies, this system supplies several nearby Styk systems.

Ulan Batar – A Chesterton World, it was the final jump off point for the 15th Dracon and the Chesterton Reserves as they moved to capture Chesterton.

Valexa – General Sarah Delittle’s Valexa CMM fought the Chesterton Reserves and the 15th Dracon for several months before surrendering in January 3085. Impressed at their strong defiance, the Chesterton Reserves allowed them to stay in place after the invasion to defend their homes. Now a part of the Chesterton Border Guards, the aging veterans of the Valexa CMM continue to serve in the defense of their world.

Factories
Algol – SolarHigh AeroTech – Cheetah, Thrush, and Lightning AeroSpace Fighters
Campertown – Sacrado Industries – Various comm. and targeting and tracking systems
Corey – Hollis Incorporated – Huron Warrior and Catapult BattleMechs.
Demeter – Vicore Industries – Valkyrie and Phoenix Hawk BattleMechs.
St. Andre – Seluk Electronics Ltd. – Various electronics systems
Styk – Klein Manufacturing – Industrial vehicles and IndustrialMechs.
– Tao ’Mechworks – Victor BattleMech.

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

New stuff! Yay!

_________________
"I have vanquished you, lizard slavers. And now, behold the pelvic gyrations of my victory boogie."
- Space Ghost

Sarna Supremacy

When Planetary Governor Lorete Montog-Chandler proclaimed the formation of the Sarna Supremacy in 3057, many thought she was suffering from delusions of grandeur. When the Kaifeng SMM, Grim Determination, and Tooth of Ymir consequently added Kaifeng and Sakhalin to the Supremacy people began to take notice.

The arrival of the Always Faithful and the Stealthy Tigers, two mercenary units still thought to be under Liao contract on Caph, at Sarna brought everybody up short and caused the Capellan Confederation to seriously doubt the loyalty of many of its mercenary forces. By the end of 3058, four front-line mercenary regiments gave Montog-Chandler the power she needed to initiate her plans of a reborn Sarna Supremacy. The Always Faithful and the Stealthy Tigers smashed into Sarmaxa, taking it from the Liao garrison with ease, and then continued on to Randar where they met Lockhardt’s Ironsides and the 4th Tau Ceti Rangers. Sun Tzu, unwilling to lose another world to the upstart polity, sent the long loyal McCarron’s Armored Cavalry in to support the defenders and after a yearlong fight managed to drive the Supremacy forces out of the system.

Unable to make any more progress into the Confederation proper, and needing to repair its depleted units, Montog-Chandler talked to the Federated Commonwealth and secured an addendum to their understanding. Seeing how much chaos she could hit the Capellans with, they agreed to allow her to conquer any nearby worlds she wanted as long as she agreed to officially recognize the FedCom as her ruler when they returned to claim the Sarna March and increased the spare parts and other supplies sent her way. They also agreed to “unofficially” allow her to use any FedCom troops that just happened to be vacationing or training on Sarna if she needed them. Taking the practical view that the Federated Commonwealth may never return, she smiled, took the offered support, and ran with it.

Quickly smashing Liao defenders on Truth, Bora, and Quemoy with these “unofficial” reinforcements, Sarna soon secured for itself a respectable buffer zone that had Sun Tzu becoming extremely nervous. He authorized McCarron’s Armored Cavalry to perform a “Reconnaissance in Force” on Sarna itself, and when all five regiments of the Big Mac hit the system in 3059, everybody knew that everything was about to hit the fan.

In the month long battle that followed the Big Mac “acquired” several DropShips from Sarna’s Tengo Aerospace yards, smashed the Tooth of Ymir and Grim Determination into gibbering hysterics, and almost forced the First Federated Sun Armored Cavalry (officially on shore leave at Sarna) into abandoning the planet. The Armored Cavalry left Sarna, suitably chastened, in chaos and returned to Capella to repair the damage received in the battle.

Montog-Chandler nearly found herself deposed after the Armored Cavalry left, the old Sarna royal families who’d used her as a figurehead claiming she’d nearly killed them all and ignoring the fact that they’d been as involved in the planning as she. But they underestimated her. She’d always hated being a figurehead and had prepared for the day when she would be able to take over for real. When they moved on her, she was already ready for them to strike and her blows hit first. Using the Stealthy Tigers and Always Faithful to back her claim, she “detained” the royal families in a lightning blow that stunned Sarna.

Naming herself Premier, in the tradition of Sarna Supremacy rulers in the past, she then spent the next several years trying to rebuild Sarna’s shattered mercenary commands. As the Capellans became busy with taking over the St. Ives Compact, she loaned supplies to the Compact while also mounting heavier raids into the Confederation. But she’d already seen what happened when you bought too much of their attention, so didn’t take over any more systems, opting instead to support insurgency movements and raid with unmarked units.

When the St. Ives invasion finally ended and the FedCom Civil War redirected many of her supplies away from Sarna, she found herself doubly glad for her restraint. Sun Tzu sent his forces to deal with the problem systems, trying to bring them under his rule, but ignored the “sufficiently cowed” Sarna Supremacy as it would be too difficult for his depleted forces to take without heavy casualties. Little did he know that Sarna was the real problem he faced in the Chaos March.

Premier Montog-Chandler worked hard to keep it that way, even though she knew she was fighting on borrowed time. The end of the FedCom Civil War brought few new resources to her fledgling realm, though support from the Duchy of Andurien was oddly making up for much of that. Without it, the realm probably would have gone bankrupt, but it proved just enough to keep the Supremacy solvent.

The Word of Blake assault on the other Houses in December of 3067 saved her realm from eventual destruction. The lack of an assault on Sian quickly had people wondering where Sun Tzu’s true loyalties lay, and resistance movements around the Sarna Supremacy began growing lives of their own. Suddenly finding the fires she’d stoked for years running out of control, the Premier finally knew she had a chance of keeping her realm alive.

She contacted the Lockhardt’s Ironsides and the 4th Tau Ceti Rangers on Randar and No Return, offering them employment under an a “less ethically challenged regime” and they jumped at the offer to get out from under the command of Sun Tzu. Other planets and units began to request entrance into the Sarna Supremacy, and she stood tall, showed the Supremacy off as the light of the former Confederation, and began to fight a vicious propaganda war against Sun Tzu.

That war culminated in an assault on Ares, protected by the 4th McCarron’s Armored Cavalry. Looking for payback, Grim Determination and the Tooth of Ymir smashed into the Armored Cavalry like madmen, forcing it back even as their casualties mounted. When the Stealthy Tigers hit the 4th in the back, the party was up. The Armored Cavalry retreated from Ares, leaving it under Sarna control. Montog-Chandler spent the rest of the Jihad slowly snapping up planets until she had thirty-one systems under her control and reestablishing friendly relations with Duchess Candace Allard-Liao, making the Sarna Supremacy a true power in the post-Jihad Inner Sphere.

When Prince George Hasek tried to take over St. Ives in 3079, Montog-Chandler quickly sent her forces to aid St. Ives again. Starting a general war on the border with the Syrtis Federation, she sent the Always Faithful across the border to hit Bell. At first the war was hard, but when Styk and Tikonov entered the war as well, the Federation began falling backwards, unable to hold everybody back.

Smelling blood, the Premier sent the Always Faithful, Stealthy Tigers, the 4th Tau Ceti Rangers, and Lockhardt’s Ironsides to take the factories of Axton while Grim Determination and Tooth of Ymir branched off to hit Goshen and Acala. On Goshen, the War College forced Grim Determination to fall back, but on Axton and Acala they met the first waves of the incoming Federated Suns Mercenary Command, sent to help the beleaguered Syrtis Federation. The rest of the war turned into a seesaw battle between the FSMC and the Sarna invaders as the war moved up and down the border. Neither side able to make significant headway in either way as they matched each other move for move, they finally stopped fighting when Duke Kai and Prince George agreed to end the war.

Premier Lorete spent the next ten years incorporating the former Capellan systems she’d captured into the Sarna Supremacy as she built up the six main regiments of the Sarna military. The long-assumed integration of mercenaries became official when all six of them pledged allegiance to Sarna and became a part of the Sarna Defense Forces. Then in 3095, Lorete stepped down in favor of her daughter, the thirty-six year old Chelsea Montog-Chandler-Riel.

Premier Chelsea (as most people call her because they don’t want to mess with her long name) waited a few months, letting people become complacent about the leadership change, before taking action. Sending the Always Faithful, now led by her younger sister Rhonda, and the Stealthy Tigers across the border to take Yunnah and Raballa as the first step to taking over the Styk Commonality’s entire Corey District, Chelsea appeared to be bringing a new era to the Sarna Supremacy. Then the Chesterton Border Guards struck, taking Menkar with no losses.

Unable to continue the campaign in the Corey District without losing more worlds, Premier Chelsea consolidated her defenses but has not given up the goal of claiming them for the Sarna Supremacy. As such, extensive raiding continues to cross the long border with the Styk Commonality, keeping the Sarna Defense Force on constant alert. With constant raiding going on along all borders in fact, only a handful of Sarna Supremacy systems can be considered secure at any one time, causing the six main regiments of the SDF to rotate often. On the plus side, that makes them very experienced, but there is some grumbling in the ranks about the constant fighting.

The Shaolin project looks as though it may relieve them in the very near future though. Only a half dozen Shaolins have come out of the Tengo Aerospace shipyards so far, but they are making waves throughout nearby space. Chelsea’s mother originally started the Shaolin project in 3085, attempting to modify the Behemoth DropShip into a fully functional WarShip. When all attempts to secure or build K-F drives of the correct size fell through, she decided to upgrade it into a “mere” combat DropShip. Massing larger than most WarShips built in the Human Sphere, the Shaolin is a deadly craft. The mere presence of these dangerous DropShips in a system has halted a raid more than once, especially after a single Shaolin shattered a Chesterton raiding force centered around a Krivak frigate over Wei in 3098. Premier Chelsea hopes that the Shaolins will give her BattleMech regiments a much-needed chance to rest and relax in the very near future.

The majority of the Sarna navy is built around the smaller Falcata Combat DropShips built on Ares. Still capable of dishing out heavy damage, these ships are the primary patrol craft of the Sarna Supremacy. The flagship of the Sarna navy is the Fox-3 destroyer Supremacy’s Pride. Purchased from St. Ives along with a squadron of Tai Chi escort frigates, it has seen action only once. On a raid into Capella in 3099, it met a Capellan Impavido-class cruiser and barely escaped with its life. Talks are currently underway between the Premier Chelsea and Duke Kai as the Premier attempts to acquire an Impavido of her own.

Locusts and Stingers fill out most of the SDF light lances, while Duan Gung OmniMechs comprise the command lances of light companies. The Blackjack OmniMech is their standard medium fighter, while most assault and heavy lance rely heavily on the Marauder BattleMech. Other classes of BattleMechs built in St. Ives, Capella, Syrtis, and Styk factories are often seen as well, often the spoils of battle.

Surrounded by enemies, except for the generally friendly St. Ives Compact, the Sarna Supremacy is still lucky to be alive. Styk is busy keeping the Chesterton Worlds happy, the Capellans are busy with the Trinity Alliance and the Free Worlds League, and the Syrtis Federation doesn’t want to start off another war with the Capellan realms. But the Sarna Supremacy continues to show itself off well by holding off all comers and generally giving as good as it gets. Originally much more warlike under Premier Chelsea than her mother, neighboring realms are heaving sighs of relief as she begins to mellow. They only hope it isn’t another of her complicated shell games.

General Information

Cammel – It is a resource rich planet.

Foochow – Colonized by Chinese, this world is a major exporter of fish and is home to the six-limbed Dobar, a carnivore the size of a black bear.

Foot Fall – A world where snows falls are measured in feet, it is the source of many precious metals.

Jonathan – Home to a massacre started by the Tikonov Grand Union’s General Teng. An odd man who road horseback often while leading his troops, he had the populace rounded up, surrounded, and told his men to shoot at them until blood reached his horse’s knees. As luck would have it, his horse stumbled and fell beneath his 300-pound weight mere moments later. The superstitious soldiers stopped firing instantly. A statue honoring Teng’s horse still stands proudly in the planetary capital.

Kaifeng – the agricultural heart of the Supremacy, rice grown here is seen throughout the Human Sphere.

Moravian – Home of the Alaski Goods trading company whose ships are seen throughout the Human Sphere, often carrying Kaifeng rice.

Palos – Renowned for producing the finest champagne in the Human Sphere, the Palosians are known for being notorious free spirits. Unlike the original Sarna Supremacy that they rebelled against, starting the Capellan-Supremacy War, they are happy to be in the current Supremacy.

Remshield – A desert world, Star League technology made it bloom. In the 31st century, that technology was failing and the desert began to return, but as one of her many public works projects in the late 3080s, Premier Lorete Montog-Chandler secured the parts necessary to revive the failing equipment.

Sakhalin – A polar world, it is full of mineral deposits that are very valuable.

Truth – Destroyed in 3013 by unknown raiders, Premier Lorete Montog-Chandler helped the Pan-Humanists, a sect that preaches peace to all, rebuild in the late 3080s.

Wei – Home to the infamous Wei gas, the late Premier spent much of her reign removing the gas from her realm and destroying all manufacturing plants she could find.

Factories
Ares – Bergan Industries – Locust, Stinger, and Marauder BattleMechs. Blackjack and Duan Gung OmniMechs.
– Earthwerks Limited – Union, Overlord, Kuan Ti, and Falcata DropShips.
– Quikscell Company – APCs, Scorpion, Bulldog, LRM/SRM Carriers, and Manticore
Sarna – Tengo Aerospace – Cheetah, Thrush, and Lightning AeroSpace Fighters. Seeker, Mule, Mammoth, and Shaolin DropShips.

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Free Worlds League

In 3067, everything was looking up for the Free Worlds League. Oh, there was the common infighting and of course the Great Debate that raged through the end of 3067 actually showed promise of doing the unthinkable. Ending the rule of the Captain-General. But Duchess Alys Rousset-Marik of Augustine proved incapable of commanding enough support to actually do that. Many in the Parliament did not attack her, not wishing to bring extra sympathy to her cause, but rumors ran rampant that she was simply lashing out at Thomas because he’d ‘wisely chosen not to become involved in the FedCom Civil War.’ That fact that her mother had died in it still brought sympathy to her, but not enough votes. Despite the Great Debate, the Free Worlds League looked strong and healthy, looking forward to a bright future.

Then came the Star League Conference of 3067. The first round of business, to choose a new Star Lord, went smoothly and well. If anything could of taken the heart out of the Great Debate it was seeing Thomas Marik voted in as the new Star Lord. In fact, it looked like the Great Debate would die stillborn, until the Star League Conference continued unto the next round of business. The voting in of a new member state. When Thomas Marik himself put the Word of Blake’s name to the floor, it looked as if they would be voted in easily. Few trusted them, but they’d been careful not to step on any toes of late and nobody knew what they were up to.

Except ComStar. ComStar didn’t know everything, not by half, but in recent months a few sources, since silenced by the Word of Blake ROM, had managed to send them just enough information that Precentor Martial Victor Steiner-Davion was able to figuratively nail their hands to the table. Seeing proof of even a handful of their actions was enough to stop the Council from voting them in, and a subsequent vote to censor them gained a unanimous backing. Even the new Star Lord was horrified by what he saw in the records.

HPG signals flashed throughout the Inner Sphere, signaling the censor of Word of Blake, except in the Capellan Confederation and Free Worlds League where the Word of Blake controlled the HPGs. But Thomas had other ways to get information into his realm, and as the information filtered in, even Word of Blake began to splinter. The more moderate forces of the Word had no wish to be pulled into hell along with the more fanatical elements of their organization. And word spread quickly, even through the fleet.

Over Atreus, the FWLS Corinth and her battlegroup cleansed themselves of Word of Blake crewmembers just in time to die. As other squadrons arrived, under Word of Blake control, the Corinth challenged them, and the fighting that erupted decimated both forces, defender and attacker alike. It took three weeks for the wreckage of the Corinth to rain down on the world. But she’d died saving the Word of Blake’s target. The Parliament.

Horrified at the sudden loss of their own fleet, the Free Worlds League Parliament declared war on the Word of Blake instantly, and ordered what forces they had left to kill or capture any Word of Blake member they found. Whichever was easier. As the League military spread out across Atreus and the other nearby worlds, fighting a massive Word Fifth Column buried in their own space, the Word of Blake prepared another strike. The Star League was about to vote to bring its whole force down on the Word of Blake as a united whole. The Word wanted that whole disrupted, so they arranged for proof of Thomas Marik’s true lineage to be released into the public in January 3068.

The news flashed across the HPG network like wild fire, and the Star League Council fractured in horror at the idea that they’d elected a Word of Blake plant to the First Lordship. At the same time, the Free Worlds League was similarly fracturing at the same news. It took mere days for them to come to the conclusion that the news was correct. Genetics did not lie. The vote to remove him as Captain-General was nearly unanimous. The vote to place the title on Duchess Alys Rousset-Marik garnered even more votes, hers being one of the few that voted against it.

But she was stuck with the post, and she took it regretfully. As she began to try to come to terms with her new position, the Word of Blake’s next stratagem came active as they sent word to worlds saying if they left the Free Worlds League and allowed House Marik to rot as it so richly deserved, they would be left alone. Tamarind, Zion, Andurien, Abbey District, and dozens of other worlds instantly took them up on the offer, confused by the recent events. Stewart and Oriente stood by the new Captain-General though, and they fought side by side as the Word of Blake moved in for the kill. The Regulans fought their own war though, trying desperately to survive as the Word of Blake kept hitting them.

For two long years, the original founders of the Free Worlds League fought their two separate wars against the Word of Blake, pulling together their shattered fleets and BattleMech regiments to fight the shadows who had lived in their midst for so long. The damage cascading through the heart of the Free Worlds League was a devastating sight to anyone watching, but they kept fighting on. And when the Regulans pulled out their own weapons of mass destruction to match what the Word was throwing at them, everything went from bad to worse.

AeroSpace Fighters flying with nukes assaulted Word of Blake WarShips, gases not seen in centuries were flung at Word of Blake BattleMechs, and Regulan space became a firestorm of destruction. It climaxed when the Regulan fleet arrived over Gibson and dropped hundreds of nuclear missiles on the world, wiping it free of human life and all works of mankind. It was the ultimate Final Solution to the Word of Blake Problem.

In the meantime, the Stewarts, Mariks, and Oriente found themselves fighting their own losing battle. Their fleets shattered over Marik in 3070, they watched helplessly as the Word of Blake bombarded the world from orbit. But like the Regulans they fought on. Unlike the Regulans though, they didn’t have any secret stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. More than once though, they used weapons “liberated” from the Word, and they welcomed Word of Blake defectors into their midst more than the Regulans did. The Word of Blake was still winning, but chaos ruled in Stewart, Marik, and Oriente space as League and Word forces moved from planet to planet without any clue of what they would find next.

When the Regulan fleet, fresh from victory over Gibson, smashed into Marik space and dealt with another Word fleet over Atreus, they signaled the end of the Word assault on the League. It would be another two years before the joint Marik-Stewart-Oriente-Regulan fleet destroyed them in 3072, but the battle over Atreus was when the balance shifted. After seeing a Fifth Column war of a ferocity not seen since the Amaris War, the Marik Commonwealth of 3072 was a shattered wreck of its pre-war strength.

The Anduriens for their part, finally seeing the Capellans getting their due, saw the chance to retake their former territory, and hit Sun Tzu were it hurt. In the backside. As that war raged, what remained of the Free Worlds League repaired their shattered fleets, licking their wounds and waiting to return the favor. When the Federated Suns fleet and the remnants of ComStar fleet attacked Terra under the ComStar banner, the Free Worlds League fleet moved to support them. Arriving too late for the first battle, they supported the survivors of the defeat as they went in again and again, trying to dislodge the Word fleet.

In 3076, after nearly four years of fighting in and around the Terran star system and receiving more reinforcements from the remains of the Lyran Alliance, the Star League fleet finally shattered what was left of the Word of Blake fleet and took command of the orbitals. It took two more years of fighting, with the Regulans willing to fight the Word with atrocity for atrocity, before the Star League finally defeated the Word of Blake. Shattered by nearly a decade of fighting, the remaining Star League member states returned home to see what they could rebuild.

Captain-General Alys Rousset-Marik set aside her rank before a reduced Parliament and put forward a motion to repeal Resolution 288 and the Addendum to Incorporation. They passed with flying colors, and the Free Worlds League ambassadors moved throughout the governments once a part of their realm, trying to bring them back into the fold. The vast majority of worlds and governments returned, though the worlds conquered by the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth during the Fourth Succession War declined, having already chosen en masse to join the Tikonov Free Republic.

But by the turn of the decade, the Free Worlds League Parliament hosted nearly as many representatives as it had before the Jihad. Business continued, and the various governments of the League went their own way, no longer lorded over by the central government. The League still kept a small military and a few worlds under central authority. Atreus and Gibson were two of those worlds. But the Free Worlds League as it existed under Thomas Marik was gone.

Gone was the slow loss of regional biases he spent decades to fight. Gone was the feeling of unity seen in the League of 3067. Gone was the massive economy and feeling of wealth. The League was a collection of nation states that often did little to help each other. They left each other to do what they wanted and fought their battles alone, rarely calling on the League for help.

It was purely Andurien forces that attacked the Capellans in support of the Trinity Alliance in 3085 for instance. But in 3097, when the Capellans struck Andurien and the Oriente, the Free Worlds Guards moved in to support them. To this day, the Guards continue to dispute Capellan control of Kwamashu with near-constant raids, but no one knows how much longer they will be able to keep it up. Facing heavy casualties and the need to repair and refit, many believe they will be forced to give up the fight for that world soon.

The Free Worlds League of today is a fractured memory of the League of 3067, a sleeping giant with little memory of being awake, and no wish to return to it again. Since Captain-General Alys Rousset-Marik stepped down, there has not been a single Captain-General, and the League Parliament rarely convenes to do more than debate resolutions that will never be passed. The member states are on their own. They like it that way.

The Free Worlds Guard vehicle companies are organized primarily around the Galleons built on Kendall. A fast tank, it gives them the ability to flank most forces they run up against, though their firepower is deficient. Many modern Galleons replace the Beagle Probe with ECM though, making them harder to find and kill. The assault BattleMech companies are usually made up of Orions and Riflemen, while their medium companies are built around the faster Wolverine and Hercules BattleMech designs. Lighter BattleMech companies tend to be composed of whatever the League is able to buy from its member states or salvage on the field of battle.

The Free Worlds Navy is commanded by the Olympic, an Aegis-class battleship, and is escorted by a squadron of Impavido cruiser and Eagle II escort frigates at all times. League Eagle IIs are also seen on every border of the League, watching for pirates and other unwanted individuals. The largest collection of them, along with an Impavido cruiser are currently based out of Antipolo where they have spent the last three years sparring with the Capellan fleet. Most WarShips coming out of the Atrean Imstar Shipyards are sold to the member states though as the League navy does not have the funds to maintain them. The primary fighter of the Free Worlds Navy is the small but fast Cheetah AeroSpace Fighter.

League relations with their neighbors are spotty. They are generally friendly with the Marian Hegemony and Magistracy of Canopus, even though both realms have captured some League systems, but the member states often pick fights with their periphery neighbors. The Capellan border is a constant hot zone, while the border with Tikonov is uneasily quiet at most times. The League wants their systems back, but has never had the power or the drive to take them by force. The border with the former Lyran Alliance however is much easier. There is limited Lyran presence on the former border, and in fact the Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey has captured many systems that once belonged to the Lyrans.

What they will do in the future is anyone’s guess, but if the past is any guide the fractious nature of the Free Worlds League will keep them from doing anything that would threaten other realms.

General Information

Antipolo – Governed by a participatory democracy, after the Capellans conquered nearby Kwamashu this world welcomed Free Worlds Guards to help them defend their world. Housing a major, if new, League base, this will be a difficult world for the Capellans to take if they try.

Atreus – During the 3060s, environmentalists screamed about the loss of the Atrean landscape to the encroaching blight of population and manufacturing as Thomas centralized the power of League. The Atreus of 3100 however has had three decades to repair itself as people have gone back to their homes. Once again a sparsely populated world, the forests that once dominated the world have grown back to take over the lands taken by man. Atreus City still proudly proclaims itself as the capital of the League, but even it is a mere shell of its former size. Centered around the House of Government, Atreus City does little beyond serving the needs of the Free Worlds Parliament and the industries that support it.

Gibson – Burned by a massed Regulan nuclear assault, the surface of Gibson was destroyed beyond the ability of a mere handful of decades to repair. Long-term efforts to repair the planet to a livable status are underway, but few expect any significant progress to be seen for decades, if not centuries. Maintained as a memory to those who died in the Jihad, the memorial space stations over Gibson see hundreds of thousands of tourists a year.

Kendall – People have fit comfortably into the ecology of this anomalous world, whose lopsidedness and eccentric orbit compensate to create mild seasons. The dominant life form is a large insect that migrates around the planet. Kendall cereal grass is a cheap and nourishing food, and Kendall honey is known across the Human Sphere. “Smooth as Kendall Honey” is a phrase known everywhere. Out near the border with the Marian Hegemony, a major Free Worlds League base has been setup there to play host to visiting Marian dignitaries.

Mansu-ri – This world welcomed Free Worlds Guards to help them defend their world after the Capellans conquered nearby Kwamashu. Not as large a base as on nearby Antipolo, the Mansu-ri base is still very impressive by modern standards, and Free Worlds Guards keep a constant presence on the planet.

Thermopolis – Near the border of the old Lyran Commonwealth, this system is a major nexus of trade. The starport cities contain magnificent bazaars, teeming with merchant houses, wholesalers, and speculators who can find a profitable market (legal or otherwise) for virtually any commodity, making this world loved by the Lyran merchant princes who travel through it often. The Clan Sea Fox convoys also come through the system often, replenishing supplies and finding wares even they miss in their travels. This world also hosts a major Free Worlds League base to house visiting dignitaries.

Factories

Atreus – Deller, Bingham, & Fouts – Gazelle, Hannibal, and Mammoth DropShips
– Imperator Automatic Weaponry – Various autocannons and Gauss Rifles
– Imstar Aerospace – Cheetah AeroSpace Fighter
– Imstar Shipyards – Impavido cruiser and Eagle II frigate
Gibson – Brigadier Corporation – Fury, Buccaneer, and Monarch DropShips
Kendall – Brooks Incorporated – Galleon Light Tank
– Kali Yama / Alphard Trading Corporation – Hercules and Orion BattleMechs
Thermopolis – Kallon Industries – Wolverine and Rifleman BattleMechs

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

More?
Please? :Super Puppydog Look 3!:

Sorry...been busy...I'll get back on it as soon as I have time...hehehe

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Zion Protectorate

The smallest member state of the Free Worlds League, the Zion Protectorate borders the Tikonov Free Republic, Styk Commonality, and the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth. Once a bone of contention between House Marik and House Liao, the then-Zion Province became a major port of entry between the two nations in the 31st century. Increased industrial investment brought factories to Asuncion and nearby Bernardo in the 40s and 50s, giving their shattered economies something to rebuild around. As the 60s passed, they were having good times. But all good times do come to an end, and Zion’s boom was no exception.

When the Word of Blake struck in 3067, the Zion Province was shocked to see the bulk of the 3rd Free Worlds Guards declare for the Word and begin to attack the uncontracted Berrett’s Fusiliers. With nearly half her forces shattered, Nikita Barrett lead her command into the Gapston Mountains to seek protection as General Ricardo Catere-Jones tried to regain control of his command. In the end he was caught by the Word of Blake and hung for his “crimes against the people.”

Word of Blake then claimed Zion as Word property, left behind their attached armor and infantry regiments to control the world, as well as the young ruler Vanessa Sian-Marik, and left with the BattleMech and AeroSpace forces to deal with the Marik Commonwealth. They never returned home. On Zion, word of the loss of the League fleet shattered what hope the people had of rescue, and word of Thomas’ true identity destroyed what little other hope they clung to. And then the official offer came down from the Word of Blake. Renounce House Marik or die.

Duchess Vanessa Sian-Marik, with a Blakist gun resting against her temple, declared that the Zion Province would remain a true friend to the Word of Blake and leave House Marik to burn for their “crimes against the people.” She later repeated her statement on live holofeed to the other worlds of the Zion Province, without the gun in the picture. On the surface she was the perfect picture of a docilely cowed leader and she talked to the other nearby military units, the 3rd Free Worlds Legionnaires and the 10th Marik Militia. They agreed publicly to support her stance, though the naval guns over their heads at the time might have been one reason.

Under the surface though, they all began making plans to remove the Blakist stain from their worlds. Duchess Sian-Marik also sought out Colonel Barrett to obtain her support in removing the Word from Zion and, more than willing to help avenge her dead and captured men and women, the mercenary commander agreed to help. Sitting back in the Gapston mountain range, what was left of her command had disappeared into the hills after scattering their machines into hundreds of small caves and burying them so the Blakists couldn’t find them. With the Duchess supporting them under the table, they had the supplies they needed to survive and train. With the Word of Blake taking all production from the Asuncion and Bernardo plants, except for the aid they allowed to be sent to Styk, it was difficult to build up their forces, but the Duchess arranged for a few machines a month to be “lost” and as time past the Fusiliers slowly rebuilt and recruited new warriors to replace the ones lost to the Blakists.

When word came in via smugglers of the Regulan victory over Atreus in 3070, Duchess Sian-Marik sent the order out to the Zion worlds to begin the fight. Smaller militia units throughout the Zion Province exploded into action as the Fusiliers, 10th Marik Militia, and 3rd Free Worlds Legionnaires came to attention and stopped supporting the Word of Blake. In the time span of a week, the Zion Province exploded into rebellion.

Berrett’s Fusiliers hit first with a force of IndustrialMechs modified with machine guns and missiles. Running on internal combustion engines that didn’t set off neutrino detectors, the IndustrialMechs hit without warning, spraying the infantry and armor barracks with inferno jell and machine gun bullets. Those who weren’t burned died of terminal lead poisoning. At the same time, a handpicked unit of infantry loyal to the Duchess attacked and destroyed the neutrino detector on Zion, allowing the Fusiliers to move without being localized. The next day, Berrett’s Fusiliers stormed out of the Gapston Mountains and crushed what resistance remained. Zion was free again.

With the Word of Blake’s attention fully engaged by the Regulans, Oriente, and Marik fleets, they put up little more than a token resistance on the other worlds of the Zion Province and on Bernardo. On December 21, 3070, Duchess Vanessa Sian-Marik officially formed the Zion Protectorate and began working to replace the losses incurred during the fighting, and to return all three military formations to full operating order. During the Word of Blake velvet occupation spare parts had been in short supply even for the “friendly” 10th Militia and 3rd Legionnaires, forcing her to spend most of her resources simply repairing numerous minor but annoying malfunctions that had cropped up.

The Zion Protectorate stayed out of the rest of the Jihad, simply sitting back while slowly picking up nearby systems as they tried to keep from making any waves. Small enough to avoid interest by any of the major powers, the Jihad passed the Protectorate by, much to the approval of the populace. As 3078 came to a close, the Word of Blake finally shattered on Terra, League representatives came to Zion and asked Duchess Sian-Marik to return the Protectorate to the League. Reluctant to give the League another chance to destroy her world, she still agreed to give them a chance to talk. After five hours of discussions, she agreed to give the League another chance.

Since then, Zion parliament members have continued to support keeping the League government weak, taking the position of enlightened self interest in all matters. No one knows how they will vote from one time to another, but they firmly believe that Zion comes first. The League can burn as far as Zion is concerned, as long as it doesn’t bring the Protectorate down with it.

Ever since the formation of the Styk Commonality, Zion has sent them many resources, especially BattleMechs built on Asuncion and now Bernardo. Wanting to keep Styk as a shield to protect them from Capellan and Sarna aggression, Duchess Vanessa has long worked to keep Styk alive with generous loans and spare parts kits. Unfortunately, the ascension of Premier Chelsea Montog-Chandler-Riel has hurt Zion greatly. Taking nearby Yunnah in 3095, raiding squadrons have hit Zion regularly in the five years following that assault. Lacking any WarShips to support their DropShips and fighters, Zion has been unable to stop the raiders. Repeated pleas have been sent to the League Parliament to send aid but the majority of the Free Worlds Guards are currently engaging the Capellan Confederation between Oriente and Andurien so nothing has been sent yet.

Also sharing a border with the Tikonov Free Republic, the Duchess has spent many long years keeping on the good side of the Ridzik brothers. Word has it she is even working to see if she can purchase a frigate to support her DropShip fleet against Sarna raiders, but nothing seems to have come out of those talks at this time.

Cheetah fighters purchased from Imstar Aerospace on nearby Marik dominate the Zion AeroSpace forces, supporting whatever DropShips the small nation can obtain on the open or not-so-open markets. The Crusader BattleMech is the standard heavy BattleMech of the Zion military, while most medium units are built around Falcon Hawks. Fleas round out the lighter end of the Zion military, giving them a good fast fighter to complement the slower Crusaders.

Berrett’s Fusiliers, still under the command of Nikita Barett, have long been considered a part of the Zion military. A generation of their children have grown up in the Protectorate, been granted full citizenship, and made friends in the small nation. Few doubt that Fusiliers will continue to remain in Zion for a long time, or at least as long as Nikita and Vanessa remain friends. The former 3rd Free Worlds Legionnaires and the 10th Marik Militia, now called the 1st and 2nd Haganah Legions, comprise the rest of the Zion Defense Force, though each world of the Protectorate sports at least one Palmach, a youth organization meant to train volunteers too young to serve in the way of the military. Most Palmach veterans enter the Haganah Legions after coming of age.

Factories

Asuncion – Earthwerks, Incorporated – Flea
– Kallon Industries – Falcon Hawk and Crusader
Bernardo – Earthwerks, Incorporated – Flea
– Kallon Industries – Crusader

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Industrial 'Mechs? Where have I seen that before...

One more thing:
"As 3067 came to a close, the Word of Blake finally shattered on Terra, League representatives came to Zion and asked Duchess Sian-Marik to return the Protectorate to the League. "
What is the correct date in this sentence?

I know they were in the Grey Death Legion books...An established part of the universe, but few people are actually crazy enough to use them in battle. But there ARE situations where they could be useful. For getting around neutrino detectors for one thing...hehehe

As for the time, NOT 3067 obviously....

3078. Don't know HOW I made that error...ugh.

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Ok, Medron, I think I may have found a major error. I was looking over the St. Ives Compact "General Information" section, and the last planet listed on there was Wright. But unless the new Compact is really friggin' big post-Jihad, Wright is nowhere near it. So did you goof, or is the new Compact really that big?

_________________
"I have vanquished you, lizard slavers. And now, behold the pelvic gyrations of my victory boogie."
- Space Ghost

Wright, Housekarle, and Homestead were taken by St. Ives during the Jihad, primarily to protect Wright's research plants from being destroyed by the Wobblies. The "Wright Thumb" sticks into the Capellan Confederation a bit, and in order to keep things from going "badly" for either of them, St. Ives and the Confederation have a "special understanding" there.

Both Confederation and St. Ives ships can fly through the "Wright Thumb" without being challenged or hampered in any way, and the research coming out of Wright is duplicated and given to the Confederation. Obviously, St. Ives does not conduct top secret research there.

St. Ives IS bigger, but Wright is far outside its normal borders.

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Actually, that brings me to another question...can you define the current borders of each of these nations? Like, just the border worlds, and it's implied that everything inside them is part of that nation?

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"I have vanquished you, lizard slavers. And now, behold the pelvic gyrations of my victory boogie."
- Space Ghost

I actually have a map all done. It is still in a bit of flux because as I do research on each realm I notice that my initial ideas were a bit off, so the borders still tend to shift a bit, even if the general ideas are still locked down well.

Let me see what I can do about getting it up.

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Ok, I uploaded a screenshotof the map of the Human Sphere. All it has is colored dots for each system, but they should give you a good idea of just what is what...

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Really neat image! Wonder where you get something like that?

_________________
Rick
~~~~~
[email]rick@heavymetalpro.com[/email] [img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/flag-us.gif[/img] [img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/ ... rolina.gif[/img]

* There are 10 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary and those who don't. *

The Capellan Confederation is: Light Green, Dark Green, or (I'm going to call it) Olive?

If they are Dark Green, does that mean the Capellans took Oriente?

Or is the Light Green area St. Ives and the Dark Green, the Capellan Confederation?

Looks perfectly chaotic.

VERY nice to see the Taurian Concordat HASN'T BEEN neutered....

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[size=85]To indeed be a god. [/size]

What happened to the Falcon OZ? Can we get some info on the Clans now?

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Comstar: The original celebrated curiously strong HPG provider.

Oh...I think I found it just hanging around somewhere....

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Styk Commonality is bright green, up against the Zion Protectorate and the Tikonov Free Republic.

Sarna Supremacy is grey, between Styk, St. Ives, Capellans, and Syrtis.

St. Ives Compact is bright green, between Sarna, the Capellans, and Syrtis.

The Capellan Confederation is that big, dumb bell-shaped entity bordering the Duchy of Andurien and the Oriente, as well as the other Capellan Rump States, Syrtis Federation, and Taurian Concordat. They lost a LOT of systems during the Jihad, but have picked up some old systems from Syrtis and the Free Worlds League. The League only got enough units in to stop them cold after they took a good half dozen systems between Andurien and Oriente. And Oriente is still controlled by the Oriente...

As for the Clan OZs.

The Hells Horses took a number of systems on the coreward side of the OZ, while the Rasalhague Dominion has many worlds originally taken by the Wolves. The Wolves have taken some systems from the Jade Falcons, and have supported the Tamar Pact against the Jade Falcons as well. The Falcons, while pushed out of systems by the Horses, Wolves, and Tamar, and take a number of Lyran systems, keeping the Lyrans' attention firmly on the Clan front. Which allowed the Marian Hegemony and the Duchy of Tamarind Abbey to hit the StarCorps front and nearly collapse it. Currently, only StarCorps and the other Merchant Princes allied with them are keeping that entire corner of the Lyrant Commonwealth from completely collapsing. Not that the Duchy of the Hegemony would have the ability to CONTROL it of course. If the StarCorps front collapses, Bad Things are going to be happening down there.

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Too many colors. Would be nice to have a color key

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[b][color=#BC851A]Wielder of the Ferro-Carbide Bat of Doom™[/color][/b]
[color=#400080][i]I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.[/i] - Confucius[/color]
[img]http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a199/ ... ng/EI3.png[/img]

unfortunately, the system that loads the files up here did some slight tweaking to the colors, making them a bit blurry and harder to differentiate.

This is a work in progress map that I've been using to keep myself up to date on what exactly belongs where.

I will probably at some time label it all better, but for now by reading the descriptions it should be easy to tell who is where. Or at least it should be if you spend as much time studying the systems of the Inner Sphere as much as I do....

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey

An alliance of the Duchy of Tamarind and the Abbey District, this nation is different than many of the others in the League. It has no long history like the Oriente, the Commonwealth, Regulus, or the Anduriens, and once was considered a burnt out wreckage of worlds after the Succession Wars drove them to the brink of destruction. But after the Third Succession War, they had half a century to rebuild and take stock of their situation. And much of that time, Marshal Jeremy Brett of Tamarind protected them, gaining their trust.

When the Lyrans attacked Kristen’s Krushers and drove them to Arcadia Marshal Brett sent a force against Thomas Marik’s orders to rescue them in 3063. Though Kristen Marik herself, Thomas Marik’s sister, and all but one daughter died before Brett’s forces arrived, he gained much popular support by occupying the world and bringing back what was left of the mercenary unit. The official reprimand he received for that action simply seemed to make him more popular in the eyes of the people. Though the forces finally withdrew in 3067 as a peacekeeping gesture towards Peter Steiner-Davion, Marshal Brett maintained his popularity.

Thomas’s elevation to the First Lord seat in November of 3067 was considered a mixed blessing by many in the Duchy of Tamarind, mainly because of the reaction still going through the people over Kristen’s death. But the sudden rumors about Word of Blake betrayals galvanized them to support Marshal Brett even more. When information about Thomas’s real identity came out, the people were already half way to supporting Marshal Brett over Thomas. That information solidified support for Marshal Brett and as Thomas fled to the Oriente, chaos began to ripple through the Free Worlds League.

World after world fell to Word of Blake sabotage, even as they tried to recover from the loss over Atreus. And then their demands began to come down the line to leave the Mariks to fight alone or die. Marshal Brett knew he couldn’t hold if the Word of Blake attacked, so he publicly accepted their demands and pulled the Duchy of Tamarind out of the Free Worlds League. Then he “banished” the 2nd Free Worlds Guards, commanded by his son Photon Brett-Marik, when Photon “disputed” his decision. The 2nd Knights of the Inner Sphere and the Thera-class Sardis left with Photon as well, jumping to support what was left of the Marik family.

The 6th Orloff Grenadiers were quickly called home to Vanra to sit out the war as the Orloffs refused to become involved, and the 1st and 5th Oriente Hussars returned to the Oriente where they would fight in the war against the Blakists. That left the Marshal with two major military formations under his command, the 2nd and 3rd Brigades of the Fusiliers of the Oriente. Feeling betrayed by the Oriente after being put under direct LCCC control, they agreed to stay under Marshal Brett’s command to protect both the Abbey District and the Duchy of Tamarind. With only the two formations, Marshal Brett spent the entire Jihad trying to stay under the radar of any involved parties while snapping up worlds to make them “neutral” and no longer targets of the Word of Blake.

Trellisane, abandoned by the 1st Oriente Hussars, was one of the first to join the Duchy out of self-preservation. Then he secured an agreement with the leaders of the Abbey District to form the Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey and to remain neutral. As time went by, more worlds joined the Duchy, as well as two more military formations. Badly damaged by Word of Blake assaults and unable to hold out, the 6th Marik Militia and the 5th Brigade of the Fusiliers of the Oriente fled to the Duchy for protection. The Word of Blake almost ignored their understanding with the Duchy, but when Marshal Brett promised to enforce neutrality on them, the Blakists went on to other targets. They assaulted the former Circinus Federation and badly mauled the Aquilum Legion in 3070. In response, he arranged for relief supplies from Maxwell to be sent to the civilians harmed in the fighting. Word of Blake, seeing the chance to look better in the eyes of those in the former Federation, allowed the shipments through. Many began to think of Marshal Brett as a Word of Blake collaborator, but nothing could have been further from the truth, as studies of the Jihad have since confirmed.

Word of the Regulan bombardment of Gibson rushed through the Duchy like wildfire, igniting the hearts of the people, as news of Caesar Julius’ death on Alphard sobered them. Photon Brett-Marik’s retreat from Marik, complete with orbit-to-jump point firefights, exploded across the holonets and made him an instant hero in the eyes of the people. That flight proved the inspiration for dozens of holodramas, few of them even close to accurate, but the best according to nearly all critics and viewers was Thirteen Days.

Chronicling the flight, beginning with the disastrous fight over Marik itself in which nearly two dozen War Ships on either side were lost, the series followed the run of Photon’s command, and the 2nd Knights, as they shot through asteroid belts and anything else that would make them harder to detect on their way to find a hidden JumpShip force that could take them to Augustine where another assault was underway. While the drama was overly fantastical in the situations that both the DropShip force and Photon himself found themselves in, it is still considered to have shown the feelings of loss, worry, and eventual elation at escaping better than any other. Much of that success is assuredly placed at the hands of the talented group of actors and actresses who played the parts, and the writers who created the excellent, if at some times unbelievable, dialog.

Through all of this, Marshal Jeremy Brett continued to arrange for relief supplies to be sent to anyone in need, and the Word of Blake allowed them through, provided that none of them went to military units they were fighting. Even genocidal maniacs it seems had a sense of understanding when it came to waging wars of public opinion. When they were so nice to let supplies through, many people actually believed them when they said that everything was just the fake Thomas’ betrayal and that the Blakists were simply defending themselves. They also waved the flag of Kristen’s death, suggesting that it might have simply been the fake Thomas’s first step towards killing all of the loyal Marik family.

This set of double-speak and compassionate actions by the Word of Blake split the Duchy down the middle, with many supporting them and Marshal Brett and others denouncing them for the liars they were and the Marshal for being a traitor. Most historians now believe it was probably a calculated assault by the Word of Blake, designed to cripple a possible threat without using a single ’Mech. Whatever the truth of the reasons behind their actions to this day many people think that the Word of Blake was betrayed and destroyed by Thomas Marik, gaining their ire for all time. Then there are the people who believe he was duped by the Word of Blake and should burn for that crime. He doesn’t have many supporters anymore.

The war continued, passing the small Duchy by on all sides, and the Marik-Stewart-Oriente-Regulan fleets finally shattered the main Word of Blake forces in the Free Worlds League in 3072. Once again, Colonel Photon Brett-Marik’s star shown on the holonets as more dramas continued to tell his harrowing tales of death and danger from Ariel to Zosma. In the Duchy, the Marshal pulled in still more systems until he finally controlled the entire Lyran border from Bella I to Cerillos. He might have been a collaborator, but at least one thing was certain. If your system joined the Duchy, both the Blakists and the Lyrans left you alone. Many systems liked that deal. Not that they had to worry about any major Lyran assaults for the short term of course. Their side of the border was even more chaotic if that was possible. But they’d live with the Lyran boogieman for generations and with the Free Worlds League collapsing they wanted to be prepared.

Finally in 3073, with the Word of Blake presence in the League shattered, Marshal Brett sent the fleet slowly built and horded over Tamarind to support the League fleets as they moved to Terra to help the Star League fight the Word of Blake. Many began to wonder if he’d changed his mind, simply feeling the winds of change and trying to stay on the side of whoever seemed to be winning. His support was sharply divided and found itself falling through the floor, even as his son’s popularity shot to stratospheric levels. Every month or so another drama came out, expanding on the, now mostly fictional, tales of Photon Brett-Marik and his courageous men and women. Often portrayed as the white knight fighting the evil Word of Blake, or sometimes the misunderstood and persecuted Word of Blake, the holodramas that performed the best and kept the most accurate feel, if not facts, of the war were the dramas put out by the team that did Thirteen Days.

By the war’s end, that team had completed over twenty series, ending with the hyper-detailed and fantastic From the Moon to the Earth that cemented their position in the annals of holodrama history. Once again playing fast and loose with the facts, and sporting interpersonal relationships inside the units that had military veterans gagging at the absurdity, the film was the highest grossing movie of all time in the Duchy, still standing on that throne to this day. Sporting, as that team’s movie always did, believable and flawed villains and heroes, they didn’t put the heroes up on a pedestal and they resisted the urge to paint the Word of Blake soldiers as monsters. Instead they told tales of people on both sides that were believable, if not factual, for people from every belief structure. Those who hated the Word of Blake and those who loved them could both find things they loved about the movie, a feat rivaled by few other films of the time.

The victorious heroes returned, the remnants of the former 2nd Free World Guards and the 2nd Knights of the Inner Sphere, to throngs of adulating citizens, ecstatic to see their hero and waiting for him to take command from his father. After all, everybody knew that Photon had been exiled, along with the Knights and the Guards. So he had to be coming back to claim the Duchy for himself, right? Marshal Brett’s control of the Duchy was as threadbare as could be and the people would have driven him out in a second if Photon had asked. They had two great shocks when he left the DropShip.

First was that the Photon Brett-Marik who left the DropShip was neither as good-looking, well dressed, or as friendly with the ladies as the character many of them had grown up watching on the holonets. It was a rude surprise, but a decade of fighting against the Word of Blake had burned out any of the pretty boy elements of his personality that had ever been there. The second surprise was when father and son met for the first time in years and Photon noted simply that the mission was a complete success before asking for time to rest and refit his units.

It was the first official indication that the “exile” had been staged, and when Photon publicly supported his father as Marshal, public support for removing Jeremy Brett all but disappeared. To this day, there are still many conspiracy theorists that think he was a weak-willed Marshal who only survived because his son covered for him, but they are a stark minority in the modern Duchy.

Photon spent the next year rebuilding his 2nd Free Worlds Guards into the 1st Brigade of the Fusiliers of Duchy out of any BattleMechs he could find. It didn’t take long for him to realize that in the Duchy BattleMechs were very hard to come by. With the Free Worlds League trying desperately to rebuild its loyal units it had nothing free to sell to the Duchy, so Photon began looking outward, literally. The Marian Hegemony, though badly damaged by the Jihad, still had the ability to build BattleMechs and vehicles, something none of the Duchy worlds had. What they lacked was money, something the Duchy had in abundance. So they worked together, the Hegemony helping the Duchy build the infrastructure required to build BattleMechs and military vehicles while the Duchy sunk enough money into the Hegemony that it could recover as well.

Both nations prospered, even as the Duchy once again sent representatives to Atreus in 3079 to vote in the Free Worlds Parliament, what was left of it, and Marian BattleMechs began to appear in ever-growing numbers in the Duchy military. In 3080, a year after the Syrtis Federation and Capellan Rump States went to war, the Duchy and the Hegemony assault the StarCorps Line, the heavily-fortified systems running the length of the Duchy and Hegemony border with the Lyran Commonwealth. Son Hoa and Loburg, major StarCorps factories, were the primary targets of the war as both the Duchy and the Hegemony wanted more advanced BattleMech construction facilities.

Leonis and Aquilum Legions struck first, hitting Son Hoa itself in a failed bid to take the world, but they sucked defenders off the rest of the StarCorps Line. Seeing the opening, the Photon’s 1st Brigade, the rebuilt 5th Brigade, and 6th Brigade (formally the 6th Marik Militia) smashed into the StarCorps Line on their border, taking Cavanaugh II and Timbiqui before StarCorps, with the monetary support of Acrux and SeraVideo, put mercenaries in place to stop them on Penobscot. The conflict for that system ground on for two years as StarCorps poured everything they had into holding the world as the Hegemony continued to hit them on the Periphery. The Duchy blockaded the world in 3081, enforcing the blockade with the Thera-class Sardis and her flotilla of Impavido-class cruisers. The defenders surrendered in 3082 after the fourth and final StarCorps assault fleet failed to break the blockade, giving the Duchy the invaluable petroleum resources of the world.

By 3083, the Hegemony had Son Hoa surrounded and the Duchy was continuing to march into the StarCorps Line, taking Pencader, Abramkovo, and Zdice, but StarCorps assaults from Dixie continued to harass Trellisane, badly damaging the factories there. And the defenders of Son Hoa fought on, holding Leonis and Aquilum Legions to minimal gains. Finally in January 3084 the Hegemony and the Duchy hit the StarCorps line with everything they had, adding Limitanei Legion and the Silver Knights (formerly the 2nd Knights of the Inner Sphere) to their assaults on Son Hoa and a new assault on Dixie. A long-time staging ground of attacks into the Free Worlds League, and now into the Duchy, Dixie was a heavily protected world that required the full might of the Duchy to break. But in March it fell and the Duchy breathed a sigh of relief as they shifted their forces to deal with the rest of the StarCorps Line. In April the Hegemony finally secured Son Hoa and stopped advancing, licking their wounds.

StarCorps, seeing the end of the Hegemony advance, shifted their forces to meet the Duchy and fighting over Zdice and Abramkovo exploded to a fever pitch until August when the Sardis broke the back of the StarCorps navy. Unable to force the issue in space, StarCorps fell back to rebuild as the Duchy looked at its shattered ground forces. Unable to commit to another major invasion after the casualties of those final months, the Duchy shifted into a holding pattern similar to the Hegemony’s. By year’s end the war had faded into a series of raids that remain the standard to this day.

Relations have cooled significantly since then between the Hegemony and the Duchy however. Photon felt that the Hegemony abandoned the Duchy when it stopped attacking the StarCorps Line, and blames them for the deaths of many of his men and women as he continually seeks to punish them with punitive raids on Circinus and the other border worlds. The Hegemony has returned the favor with raids of their own, and the continual push of forces back and forth across the border has kept them from further diminishing the StarCorps Line and taking Loburg.

Ascending to the position of Marshal in 3091, Photon Brett-Marik continues to maintain friendly relations with his cousin, Alys Rousset-Marik of the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth, but relations with the other League states are minimal. The Duchy, like the other states, wishes to be left alone by them and the League itself, though they do buy military equipment from the League and Marik-Stewart factories. They also sell much of their production to the League and the Commonwealth, but keep most of it for themselves.

The Duchy navy is commanded by the Thera-class Sardis, supported by several Impavido-class cruisers and Merlin-class carriers. The Merlins are the most numerous ship in the Duchy navy, designed in 3089 to support the main fleet and give the Duchy better AeroSpace support. Carrying mainly Stingray and Lancer fighters, the Merlins and the Sardis are a major threat to any force running into them.
The Gladius is the standard tank of the Duchy military, produced at no less than four locations. The Hegemony originally helped Correlated Traders set up a factory on Hammer, but in the years since then Correlated have setup other factories that build enough for the entire military and allow them to quickly reinforce nearly any front with a heavy force of these versatile tanks. Duchy scout lances are primarily composed of Locusts, Ostrocs make up most “medium” lances, while Warhammers and Marauders pair up in most heavy lances to hit the enemy hard. The Goliath is the standard assault BattleMech of the Duchy military, its stable firing platform a threat to any ’Mech.

Deployment:

1st Brigade, Fusiliers of Duchy – Dixie and Bella I
2nd Brigade, Fusiliers of Duchy – Maxwell, Dalcour, and Merton
3rd Brigade, Fusiliers of Duchy – Pencader, Galisteo, and Cerillos
4th Brigade, Fusiliers of Duchy – Zdice and Abramkovo
5th Brigade, Fusiliers of Duchy – Aylmer, Hammer, and Sackville
6th Brigade, Fusiliers of Duchy – Trellisane and Tamarind
Silver Knights – Promised Land

General Information:

Cavanaugh II – Founded by English, Welsh, and Scottish settlers, the Arthurian Actors Guild is still the most popular export of the planet. The head designer of the Merlin-class carrier came from this world and was a childhood member of that guild.

Dixie – Long a staging ground for raids against the Free Worlds League, the people have a long tradition of martial excellence and resilience.

Hammer – Home of Correlated Traders and Correlated Manufacturing, the germanium found on this world finds itself shipped throughout Hegemony and Duchy space, as well as deeper into the League to help maintain and build the League war and merchant fleet.

Kosciusko – The outer worlds of this system house radioactives that help fuel the Duchy’s war machines and keep it safe from outside assault.

Loric – In 2821, representatives of the Steiner and Marik families signed a peace treaty to end the First Succession War between their two realms on the ruins of this world.

Maxwell – A world of high technology but few vehicles, it is a lush farmland that feeds many worlds in the Duchy and the Marian Hegemony.

Niihau – Niihau honey is a delicacy shipped throughout the Human Sphere, though primarily to the Lyran Commonwealth where the Merchant Princes savor its smooth flavor.

Pencader – Scarred heavily by the Succession Wars, a rebuilding effort has been in place for the last twenty years, attempting to repair it.

Penobscot – A major producer of petrochemicals, the capture of this system in 3082 was a major victory for the Duchy and the Hegemony. Denying the fuel from the StarCorps mercenaries was a major coup, while using it against them was even better.

Promised Land – Even though the borders have shifted, trade routes continue to flow through this world with its large star ports, magnificent bazaars teeming with merchant houses, wholesalers, and speculators who can find a profitable market (legal or otherwise) for virtually any commodity, and fine Champagne. Lyran Merchant Princes and Clan Sea Fox convoys often obtain or sell their goods here.

Simpson Desert – A beautiful world that is the home to spices valued throughout the Human Sphere, the world suffers from a name that does it little justice.

Tamarind – A home to artists and craftsmen of every kind, the shattered landscape brought about by centuries of war has been repaired and regrown into a lush ecosystem that mirrors the people in recent decades.

Timbiqui – Once considered the favored target of the late ilKhan Ulric Kerensky, Raasch Brewhaus brews Timbiqui Dark, one of the most well-known and popular drinks in the Human Sphere. Shipped throughout the Lyran Commonwealth, it is also very popular in the Clan Wolf systems and Tamar Pact.

Trellisane – A participatory democracy, Trellisane has one of the more odd election laws in place. The citizens are split into three groups based on random selection and one group is allowed to vote in the general elections that take place every two years. In effect, each citizen can only vote once each six years. It is also home to one of the two aerospace firms in the Duchy.

Factories:

Dixie – Correlated Manufacturing – Gladius hovertank

Hammer – Correlated Manufacturing – Gladius hovertank

Penobscot – Correlated Manufacturing – Gladius hovertank

Promised Land – Correlated Manufacturing – Gladius hovertank
– Photon Productions – Locust and Marauder BattleMechs

Tamarind – Technicron Manufacturing – Invader and Star Lord Jumpships. Impavido cruiser and Merlin carrier. Ostroc, Warhammer, and Goliath BattleMechs.

Trellisane – Gutierrez Aerospace – Stingray and Lancer Aerospace fighters

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Rim Commonality

Originally aligned with Regulus, the commonality has long been an area of space that felt abandoned by the Mariks. Attacked by raiders from the Periphery for generations, with only token military presence to stop them, the Rim once even played with working alongside the Anduriens. The rash actions of the Orloff Grenadiers did little to make them happy, except for when they left to fight the Anduriens in the 30s.

Few were happy when the Grenadiers returned to prey on them, and many actually wondered if they were worse than the “pirates” they were supposed to be guarding against. By the 60s, tensions were at a boiling point. Generations of Periphery citizens had learned to fear the coming of the 8th Grenadiers on their “pirate hunting missions” that killed countless innocents, and the Rim distinctly disliked it when the 8th was in their space. Tales of soldiers taking advantage of anything they could get their hands on had grown to be common knowledge throughout those systems, and yet the Captain-General still refused to move them. In the eyes of the Rim, the Captain-General was allowing the 8th to take advantage of them, and the long distaste they’d had for him was growing sharper and sharper.

The arrival of Force Commander Hannah D’Arcy on the easygoing planet of Campoleone seemed to be a turning point in many ways though. Taking over second battalion, she was a warrior who could have easily fit in the Knights of the Inner Sphere. No one knew why she was a part of the troublesome 8th Grenadiers, possibly the single most feared and hated unit in the Free Worlds League, but as the 60s began to wane her influence was soon shown to be strong as the 8th’s worst depredations were held back and, for the first time in the Rim’s memory, soldiers were actually disciplined for harassing Rim citizens. But it was far to little and far to late for the Rim to support the Captain-General. They had been hurt too much to simply be happy again.

The coming of the Jihad and the fall of the Captain-General brought cheers in the Rim, and few were sorry to see the majority of the 8th Orloff Grenadiers return home to Vanra. Only D’Arcy’s second battalion remained in the Rim, still concerned with protecting the Rim from outside aggressors. And then Word of Blake came. It was a simple messenger who gave them two demands. The first was that the Rim formally leave the Free Worlds League and allow the Word of Blake to rid the universe of the hated Mariks. The Rim gladly agreed to the demand. The other demand was harder, but in the end they accepted it as well and began sending all of their BattleMech construction to the Word of Blake. After all, they knew the Word could simply land and take the factories, and the Rim didn’t want to be under the rule of another military unit after their experience with the 8th. It was a trade they considered to be worth the cost.

Left alone, except by random raids from the Periphery, for the majority of the Jihad in Marik space, the Rim continued to load their small amount of construction onto Word ships until 3071 when a Regulan naval squadron arrived to blockade the system. Like the Word though they wanted the factories intact, and simply demanded that all production be given to them for the fight against the Word. The Rim, not having any real choice, began loading the Regulan DropShips with BattleMechs and as time passed it became a not uncommon sight for BattleMechs on each side of a fight to have been built on Tematagi. The Regulans, Mariks, and Oriente finally kicked the Word out of League space in 3072 and then went on to support the rest of the Star League fleet in their assault on Terra, once again using BattleMechs coming out of the Rim.

As 3078 came to a close and the war in the Terran system ended, the last of the Regulan ships returned home to support their rebuilding, leaving the Rim with a single battalion of decade or older BattleMechs, a few scraps of aerospace fighters, and a handful of converted civilian DropShips to protect them. Cut off from their standard sources of supply and forced to use only systems they could build on planet, even their new production ’Mechs didn’t look at all like their original specs in some cases, and the BattleMechs that D’Arcy commanded had been jury-rigged for a decade. The Rim was used to working with what they had, and their military looked like it.

Still fighting off the infrequent raiders, they sat back and waited as the first new BattleMechs they could use for their own defense came off the lines, and then began to ship them throughout the small realm in an attempt to defend themselves. Other nearby systems requested aid from raiders and the Rim welcomed them in, parceling out their rare BattleMechs and the more numerous converted civilian vehicles to the systems in need. The fights were hard, but the pirates learned to fear the pulse laser packing BattleMechs and vehicles that the Rim brought to bear, especially since many of them could easily hit 100 kilometers an hour. And those that couldn’t tended to eat the lower tech pirates for breakfast if they got into a fight.

Then the League returned, asking the Rim to send representatives to the Parliament. After several weeks of debate, and only agreeing because the hated Mariks were no longer in charge, they sent their representatives. Out of that came an agreement to sell half of their BattleMech production a year to the Free Worlds Guards, using the profits on projects that had been put off during the Jihad because they didn’t have the money. They also made a deal with Brooks Incorporated of Kendall that allowed them to build a modified version of the Galleon light tank for only a minimal licensing fee.

The next few years were quiet ones for the Rim, with only sporadic raids to weather as they slowly built up their vehicle and BattleMech forces. But in 3086 a heavy raid on Gatchina caught the Rim by surprise. Captain Anna D’Arcy, Hannah’s daughter, was one of many Rim warriors captured in the battle and taken from Rim space. After Rim intelligence managed to track the raiders to Astrokaszy, Colonel D’Arcy led the Rim Guards to the world in an effort to rescue her daughter and the other captured warriors.

Though they managed to rescue the prisoners within months, the invasion of Astrokaszy set off a chain of events on the planet that has forced the Rim to expend most of its resources to hold the world. Some of the locals helped them in rescuing the prisoners and the D’Arcys couldn’t stomach leaving them to die when their foes ganged up on them. So they stayed and protected the locals, while also helping them to rebuild into something more approaching civilization.

Now, more than a decade later, over a dozen city-states on Astrokaszy have gone over to the Rim and now enjoy prosperity unheard of in the past. Most of the planet is still out of Rim control though as the other city-states and non-aligned bands of warriors continue to fight the Rim.

At the turn of the century, the Rim is on generally friendly terms with all of its neighbors, though that doesn’t stop cross-border raiding from occurring. The Spider and the Venom make up most light defensive and raiding parties, mounting hands that allow them to easily take salvage or supplies and run with them. The Vulcan has become the standard medium ’Mech of the Rim Guards, while the four-legged Bishamon is often used to support the Vulcans in numerous ways. The Warhammers the Rim builds make up most of their assault lances and sport firepower equal to almost any assault ’Mech. Galleon light tanks make up most of their modern vehicle force, though they are heavily supported by large numbers of converted civilian vehicles. A single Eagle II-class frigate commands their navy, mainly made up of converted civilian DropShips though a few of them are dedicated military ships.

General Information

Astrokaszy – Looking like a sinister version of the Arabian Nights, this desert world is the home to over a dozen beautifully jeweled Rim cities, as well as other independent cities considerably less comfortable. Attacked by the Marians twice before the Jihad, it was also home to the first, last, and only offensive campaign of the Rim Commonality. Still attempting to complete the capture of the world, the Rim sends resources to the friendly cities, helping them live comfortably, while leaving those who prefer their independence alone. They hope to bring everyone on the planet under Rim rule by making them want to join, but the program has not done as well as expected and other plans for full conquest are currently under consideration.

Bismarck – The host of a recreated pre-20th century distillery, the Irish Whiskey made here is sold throughout the Human Sphere.

Campoleone – Often called a “retirement home for old spacers,” sparsely developed Campoleone is home to more stories about the mysterious darks of the Periphery than anywhere else in the Rim. Traders moving out to the Hegemony and beyond make a tradition of stopping here to learn any snippets they can of the area they plan on traveling to, and then tipping anyone who gave them information that helped them make money when they return. Outside of information, the beautiful black ginja wood is one of Campoleone's few exports.

Lesnovo – Once the target of Marian raids before the Hegemony became self-sufficient, this poor world supported the removal of the Mariks as Captain-Generals long before it was fashionable.

Tellman’s Mistake – Named after Zacharias Tellman, the farmlands of this world send food throughout the Rim. It is also home to a small batlike vampiric creature whose venom increases the immune system and general health of anyone bitten by it. The venom is also sent throughout the Rim, and beyond, to increase the health of anyone not allergic to it.

Factories

Tematagi – Nimakachi Fusion Products Limited – Bishamon, Spider, Venom, Vulcan, and Warhammer BattleMechs. Galleon light tank.

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Medron, you haven't updated this or your website in weeks...are you getting lazy? [razz]

_________________
"I have vanquished you, lizard slavers. And now, behold the pelvic gyrations of my victory boogie."
- Space Ghost

Maybe he got a GIRLFRIEND

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Having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have-Rush Limbaugh
For more from Rush go here: www.rushlimbaugh.com
Still crazy after all these years.
Force of nature : :
[img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/flag-us.gif[/img]
[img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/ ... chigan.gif[/img]

yeah...two weeks...that's a LONG time...

I've been busy with lots of little things that take time, like training newbies at work and jazz like that...

Though I'm about to post the next part of this, the Duchy of Andurien...hehehe

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Duchy of Andurien

Long a troublesome part of the Free Worlds League, Andurien has been traded back and forth between the League and the Confederation enough that it hates both governments with nearly equal abandon. They even seceded from the League in 3030 to ally themselves with Canopus against the Capellans, and only the complete subjugation of the Duchy after their defeat in 3040 kept them under the heel of the League. By the late 3060s, many of the people of the Duchy actually supported the League but the nobles still chafed under the velvet covered iron fist of Atreus.

Even their right to defend themselves had been denied them, but the nobles never completely gave in to the Captain-General and prepared for a day when they would regain their freedom. Falsifying factory reports, they managed to squirrel away a lance or so a year of BattleMech production and similar amounts of vehicles and aerospace fighters. Andurien AeroTech of Lopez, a major Research & Development firm for the League, turned failed prototypes over to the Humphreys for a price rather than breaking them down for spare parts and occasionally “lost” other items of interest.

Over the years the Humphreys built a sizeable force that the League intelligence service, SAFE, never uncovered. Reports suggest that the Word of Blake discovered the duplicity of the Humphreys in the 3050s, but instead of informing the League they actually helped hide them without the Humphreys’ knowledge. Whether or not those reports are correct, the League never knew that the Defenders of Andurien were being rebuilt, and that the various security forces protecting the factories of the Duchy were actually used to recruit warriors into the Defenders. Only those who proved their dissatisfaction with the central League government by taking actions against it were “demoted and removed from service” so the Humphreys could show their “undying loyalty to the Captain-General”. In reality, they were the core of the new Defenders of Andurien.

When the Jihad began in 3067, Duchess Dalma Humphreys had the chance she’d been trying to generate for years and she quickly declared the Duchy of Andurien “independent of the failed Marik line.” General Tracy Fenton of the 1st Free Worlds Legionnaires, having already forged close ties with Force Commander Steven Humphreys and his older sister, the Duchess of Andurien, agreed to support her move. Using information giving months before by Fenton, Andurien operatives on the WarShips Karelia and Phrygia stopped them from acting to suppress the rebellion as the 1st and 9th Free Worlds Legionnaires publicly supported the Duchess. The 2nd Free Worlds Legionnaires on Sadurni, with Corrine Marik as their standard bearer, left the Duchy in disgust to support their home against the Word of Blake threat while the 5th Legionnaires shattered under conflicting loyalties. The bulk of their first two battalions left for Vanra with General “Misha” Orloff while most of the rest remained on Lopez where they had made friends over the years and supported the Duchess. Negotiations with the Mosiro Archipelago, long an opponent of the Marik, quickly brought them into an alliance with Andurien as well.

Modern Andurien histories state that the two WarShips under its control made the new Duchy of Andurien powerful enough to threaten anyone who attacked it and that is why neither the Word of Blake nor the Free Worlds League ever sent anything to deal with them. The fact that they were spending their time blasting each other into a new dark age had nothing to do with the fact that Andurien was given time to stabilize if you read those histories. The wonders of the modern educational establishment astound this writer.

Whatever the reasons, the Duchy of Andurien had time to reorganize, bringing the Defenders of Andurien out into the public eye and formally renaming the 1st, 5th, and 9th Free Worlds Legionnaires as the Defenders of Andurien with the same numbers. The Duchy watched on the sidelines as Regulus, Marik, Stewart, and the Oriente fought the Word of Blake of tooth and nail, watched the Capellan Confederation collapsing to the Word of Blake on their other side, and simply prepared for war as they ruthlessly drilled the Defenders of Andurien. The core of the Defenders had been given little time to drill after their “dismissals” from service and their rebellious attitude tended to affect more than just their dislike of the Mariks. Many, most in fact, were fully loyal to Andurien, but they were also opinionated and rebellious and the Duchy’s first growing pains were filled with problems attempting to convince them to work as a team.

In 3072 though they thought they had the worst of the problems dealt with, and watching the Confederation splinter beside them proved to be a sight too tempting to ignore. They attacked the shattered Confederation on a front stretching from Palladaine to Sax, smashing the demoralized Confederation soldiers easily. Unfortunately for the Duchy, they still had numerous problems with the Defenders and when Treyhang Liao arrived to fight them he ruthlessly capitalized on them. He shattered the 2nd Defenders on Primus and commenced to push every Defender regiment back to the original border with tactics learned over the years against numerous opponents, including the Word of Blake. By 3074 the Duchy had to admit defeat and sued for peace. Needing time to rebuild and repair and knowing that any attempt to conquer the Duchy would deny him both, Treyhang Liao supplied them with his terms and pulled his forces back.

The Duchy of Andurien, badly wounded by the war, sat back and reexamined itself as the rest of the Jihad flashed by it. Learning from its errors, the Duchy rebuilt the Defenders into a more powerful force as it shoveled resources into upgrading the Andurien AeroTech shipyard at Andurien until it could build a new class of WarShip, the Humphreys frigate.

Flush with its newfound power, the Duchy agreed to rejoin the Free Worlds League only so it could make sure the League could never dictate to a member state again, and spent the rest of the 3070s and the first half of the 3080s minding its own business. Continually voting against any bills that could make the League stronger, it built up its own military as quickly as possible while waiting for a chance to avenge its defeat at the hands of the Confederation. It saw its chance when the Trinity Alliance declared general war on the Confederation in 3083 and began preparing its military while diplomats went to Canopus to confer with their “honored Periphery brethren.”

In 3085, ready for payback, they poured across the border again and hit the Confederation with everything they had. Entire squadrons of Humphreys frigates with Intruder DropShips supporting them smashed through the Capellan space defenses so the Defenders could land and engage the Confederation on the ground. At first they found their going easy, but soon the Confederation reacted and Andurien found its pace of conquest slowing to a crawl. Willing to take any losses to hold their ground, and using scorched earth tactics when forced to retreat, the Capellans fought like madmen.

But the Anduriens hated the Confederation and deeply wanted to reacquire worlds lost to the Capellans centuries ago, so they continued on with their invasion. By 3090 they’d secured a half dozen systems from the Capellans, but even though they actually sported more advanced technologies, the Confederation soldiers simply refused to surrender. Once again, like in the 3070s, the Duchy was on the verge of losing and it began suggesting that the Trinity Alliance begin thinking about a peace treaty.

The talks began in early 3091, but the governments couldn’t even agree to a cease-fire and the war continued to rage and casualties mounted on all sides. Finding its military weakening badly, the Duchy knew it had to do something quickly or everything would be lost. It sent a deep raid composed of a dozen Humphreys frigates, twenty-seven Intruders, the WarShips Karelia and Phrygia, and elements of the 1st Defenders of Andurien to Sian in early 3092 to obtain the numerous advanced technologies the factories there had only recently begun building again. Had the raid failed, the Defenders of Andurien would have completely collapsed under Confederation pressure, but the fleet fought itself through the defenders of Sian and sacked the factories. They returned to the Duchy with examples of the most advanced Confederation technologies and forced the Capellans to pull numerous units off the front lines to protect their capital.

That removed enough pressure from the Andurien border that the Defenders were able to hold their own while the peace talks continued. The Confederation was understandably enraged, but it was feeling the strain every bit as much as the Anduriens and the Trinity Alliance was. Most military historians say that the war probably would have gone on forever with the various sides destroying each other if the Raven Alliance hadn’t stepped in. They helped the Trinity Alliance retake Mendham, quietly telling the Capellans that the war had to end. The exhausted Anduriens sat back in relief when Janice Calderon and Treyhang Liao came together and arranged an agreement for peace in 3093.

With the war over, the Duchy pulled its fleets back for long-needed repairs as it began rebuilding (again) the Defenders of Andurien. It always planned to hit the Confederation again, but it spent the next three years repairing its shattered military with the technologies gleaned from the raid of Sian. Unknown to the Anduriens, the factories on Sian had been repaired again and the Capellans were incorporating those same technologies into their elite forces as well. In early 3097, judging their incorporation sufficient for a test, the Confederation struck Andurien like a hammer at Jacomarie and began rolling the Defenders of Andurien back.

Then a second assault smashed into Goodna, between Andurien and Oriente space. For several months the Oriente and the Duchy fought to hold off the Capellan invaders, but the Confederation cut through them all the way to Kwamashu before the League military was able to allocate forces to stop them. Having taken eight new systems from the League and recovering five systems from the Anduriens, the Confederation judged its rebuilding to be sufficient and pulled many of its forces back for resupply as it sent others to hold the new territory. With the League military in the fray and with the Trinity Alliance maneuvering to hit them as well, Treyhang Liao was happy to consolidate his holdings.

The undeclared general cease-fire has held for the last three years, only broken by the standard raiding that now fills the Human Sphere and continued fighting for Kwamashu, though many wonder if Duchess Dalma Humphreys is planning an assault on the Confederation. The last three decades have seen enough fighting between the two realms that few believe it is over for good, no matter how devastating the wars were for either side. Whatever her plans are, relations between the Duchy and the Confederation are somewhere between frigid and cold with heavy raiding going on at almost all times.

The Duchy has comfortable to warm relations with the Magistracy of Canopus, the Fronc Federation, and the Taurian Concordat, and has even traded some advanced technologies with the Trinity Alliance. Relations with the other member states of the Free Worlds League, and the League itself, are chilly and raiding goes on between the Duchy and the other realms fairly often.

The Andurien fleet is led by the Impavido-class Catherine Humphreys (formerly the Phrygia) from Andurien itself and is usually supported by the Zechetinu-class Karelia and a half dozen or so Humphreys-class frigates. Most of the frigates are on the Capellan border protecting it from assault by Capellan fleets though. The modern primary DropShip of the Andurien fleet is the small Intruder-class DropShip and many variants of it are in common production. Some of them are dedicated fighter or small craft carriers, some are designed only to carry armor, others move BattleMechs between worlds, and some hold mass numbers of infantry in their decks. Some have even been seen mounting capital-class weaponry that can threaten WarShips with destruction, and more than one Capellan fleet has felt the sting of these “light escort” ships.

Stingrays, and Rievers are the primary standard AeroSpace fighters of the Andurien fleet, while the Shiva OmniFighters give it a much-needed modularity and are seen primarily in the most elite formations. The re-introduced Deathstalkers are mainly seen in planetary militias where their low technology and sturdy airframe are loved by weekend technicians. Possibly the most interesting concept that the Andurien fleet follows is their heavy use of small craft though. In the 3070s, Duchess Dalma Humphreys ordered that the Aquarius and Lyonesse escort craft be upgraded with modern technologies and that lines be reopened to build them. Those two classes are seen throughout the Duchy, carried by Humphreys frigates and other ships or based off planets, and their superior firepower and armor has made them a severe threat to many Liao fleets.

Saladin, Saracen, Scimitar, and Harasser hovertanks form the standard fast-response armored assets of the Defenders of Andurien, while the Galleon and Ontos tanks form the majority of the tracked scout and assault formations. Wasp BattleMechs, many of them outfitted with stealth armor, are the main Andurien scout units and the Hermes II fills out most medium lances. Stalkers are the main assault BattleMech built and used by the Defenders of Andurien, and massed lances of these machines have stopped more than one Liao attack in its tracks.

General Information

Andurien – Capital of the Duchy, it is most famous for its extensive Botanical Gardens, which boast samples of rare plants and trees from across the Human Sphere.

Claybrooke – Sporting ranch and diary products, as well as natural gas and fossil fuels, this world was one of the first worlds “welcomed” into the Duchy during the Jihad. The Defenders of Andurien were sent to “guard” it from other nations and have never left. Situated on the border between the Duchy and the Magistracy, it sees much traffic between the two nations.

Cursa – The Cursan red pepper is sold throughout the Human Sphere and is greatly prized.

El Giza – Once home to Broker's Haven, a Star League mint, it was destroyed during the First Succession War. Andurien and Mosiro incentives helped reopen the mint in 3095 and it now does for the Anduriens what it once did for the Star League. Since the Capellan offensive of 3097 though, it has become a magnet for many Capellan raids.

Kanata – Numerous efforts to expunge the K'Wara, a Moslem offshoot religion, from this world by the Andurien government have all failed. A near-Luddite religion that even the nearby Mosiro Archipelago does not support, it hates bionics even more than most League member states.

Leyda – The 'Mech repair facilities at Leyda, which served the Star League Regular Army during the Reunification War, still remain amongst the most efficient in the galaxy. The world is also famous for its blue-black onyx, which is a popular staple in jewellery throughout the Human Sphere.

Lopez – A hot jungle world, it is home to a major AeroSpace factory and the dragon-like Branth, a flying creature that can be trained and ridden. Sold throughout the Human Sphere, the Duchy makes much of its money off the Branth.

Mosiro – Center of the Moslem faith in the Duchy and capital of the Mosiro Archipelago, this is a grand world that bases its civilization on the ancient Moslem civilization that arose during the Dark Ages of western civilization on Terra. Beautiful minarets dot the landscape and the culture is more inclusive than most worlds.

Niomede – This world’s claim to fame came from the exquisite silver filigree that came from here to enhance the glow of the marble in the Court of the Star League in Unity City.

Principia – Once the seat of the Capellan judicial system and the vacation spot for numerous nobles, this warm and temperate world’s only current claim to fame is the number of raids that hit it every year. The locals actually calculate their age by the number of Capellan raids they have weathered more often than by the orbit of their world around the star.

Sadurni – Sadurni marble was used in the construction of the Court of the Star League in Unity City, in conjunction with Niomede silver filigree.

Scarborough – Home of Scarborough Limited, this world was the sight of an “altercation” between Capellan and League forces in 3029. The resulting war caused heavy damage to the League and hurt the image of the Marik, something the locals never felt very sad about.

Shiro III – The major port of entry for traders entering Andurien space along the Capellan border, trade still actually seems busy despite the constant raids between the two nations. The starport cities on this world contain magnificent bazaars, teeming with merchant houses, wholesalers, and speculators who can find a profitable market (legal or otherwise) for virtually any commodity.

Xanthe III – A cold, blue world covered in poisonous blue ice, every attempted to colonize it has failed. Currently it is used only by the Duchy military as an elite testing ground for winter maneuvers where its constantly changing surface is a challenge for any visitor.

Factories

Andurien – Andurien AeroTech – Stingray, Deathstalker, and Riever AeroSpace fighters, Aquarius and Lyonesse escort craft, Intruder DropShip, Merchant JumpShip, and Humphreys frigate
– Brooks Incorporated – Harasser hovertank and Galleon tank
Lopez – Andurien AeroTech – Riever AeroSpace fighter and Shiva OmniFighter
– Magna – Numerous lasers, particle cannons, and LRM launchers
Scarborough – Scarborough Limited – Saladin, Saracen, and Scimitar hovertanks
Shiro III – Grumman Amalgamated – Ontos tank
– Irian BattleMechs Unlimited – Wasp, Hermes II, and Stalker BattleMechs

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Marik-Stewart Commonwealth

To most people, the Jihad began in December of 3067 when the Word of Blake showed their true colors after being denied entry into the Star League and having their corruption brought into the light. But for Duchess Alys Rousset-Marik it began many years earlier when Captain-General Thomas Marik allowed her mother to be killed by Lyrans during the FedCom Civil War. He never lifted a finger to save Kristen Marik and then had Marshal Jeremy Brett publicly reprimanded for sending a rescue force against orders.

That action caused the first major split in the Marik line since Anton Marik’s rebellion, but Alys wasn’t another Anton. She took her war to the Parliament in the open and forced the other Mariks to make their stand. Most sided with her, but Paul Marik and his daughter Corrine stood beside the man they thought was his brother. Never able to gain a majority of the Parliament, Alys’ crusade was presumed lost when Thomas Marik was voted in as the new First Lord of the Star League.

The rumors of Word of Blake treachery fanned the flames of discontent with the Captain-General though and the Parliament began to fight even harder over what to do next. Some believed he’d been duped, others that he was duping them, and some still sat on the fence, not sure of what to do. Then a Free Worlds League navy squadron centered on the Thera-class Delos arrived at Atreus and attempted to attack the world. It was the first inkling the Parliament had that anything was wrong, but the quick actions of the Corinth and her battle group told them that others knew and hadn’t told them. We know now of course that the first proof was laid down at the Star League conference, but at the time no information had been presented to the Parliament. All they knew was that their own powerful fleets were fighting and shattering themselves. And shatter themselves they did, leaving both fleets in rubble that rained down on Atreus for three weeks.

Horrified at the assault, the young firebrand Alys demanded that Thomas be removed as Captain-General for incompetence and that the Word of Blake be forcibly removed from the League. The Parliament supported her second demand, but by a decreasing margin held off her first demand, and the call went out to remove the Word of Blake. Few expected the next stage of the war to begin as quickly or as closely as it did. Within minutes of the vote, news hit the Parliament that the 8th Free Worlds Legionnaires, the defenders of Atreus, were fighting each other and that a Word of Blake covert team had gassed the First Knights of the Inner Sphere and that none of them survived.

Surrounding by the 8th as it self-destructed in the rolling hills of the capital city, the small guard of the Capital Building tried desperately to hold off the numerous Word of Blake units in the 8th, but it was collapsing and nobody expected it to hold more than a few more minutes. Then the Word of Blake forces began falling to shots from behind as the First Knights of the Inner Sphere, not so dead as news suggested, arrived to relieve the beleaguered defenders. Though the 8th effectively died in the fighting, the First Knights had saved the Parliament from destruction.

With Atreus safe for the time being, other League formations began to spread out on their hunt for the Word of Blake with Thomas Marik picking many of their targets. Casualties mounted on all sides as numerous regiments thought loyal shattered under Word of Blake infiltrators or defected wholesale. Other regiments ran into traps and were slaughtered, causing many to doubt that they could win. Then in January, messages began to flood the HPG network showing that Thomas Marik was a Word of Blake plant.

After verifying the information, the Parliament removed him as Captain-General and raised Duchess Alys Rousset-Marik to the position against her objections. But she’d proven herself willing to fight the Captain-General and had built up an alliance of the many who opposed him, so she got the honor of the position as Thomas was spirited away to his wife’s home in the Oriente. It was an honor she would have gladly not been given, but she took it and prepared to fight the Word of Blake with a new strategy that would hopefully work better.

Unfortunately, even as her orders began to spread throughout the League, the Word of Blake commenced their next stage of the war, shutting down the HPG network and giving individual systems the choice of leaving the Mariks to rot or dying under Word guns. Many systems and polities chose to leave or remain neutral, and the new Captain-General found herself without the ability to command most of the League troops or worlds.

But pieces of the League fleet slowly began to return to Atreus, fighting through the Word of Blake fleet as it came, and by June the Santorini and her task force arrived requesting repairs. The Essex-class Raven arrived, having lost her sister-ship the Schrack to a Word of Blake assault in Hellos Minor. Others slipped in as well, some escorting entire regiments of troops, and soon half a dozen WarShips were ready to escort the repaired Santorini back out into battle. The 2nd Free Worlds Legionnaires, with Corrine Marik, were one of the last to arrive and she and Alys took little time putting the past behind them. They’d been on opposite sides concerning Thomas, but now they agreed with what had to be done. Unable to command from Atreus amongst the shattering HPG network, Captain-General Alys Rousset-Marik went with the Santorini and the fleet began to smash through the Word of Blake forces like a hammer, gathering more BattleMech units as it went.

They arrived on Stewart in December of 3068 to find the Home Guard shattered and the Juggernaut trying desperately to hold out against Word of Blake forces. The fleet and attached ground elements quickly relieved the remaining Stewart Dragoons before moving on with several Stewart assault DropShips to other systems suffering under Word of Blake assault. They met the Sardis and Photon Brett-Marik at Amity where they defeated the Word of Blake force occupying it and “acquired” a number of Cheetahs to rebuild their dwindling number of fighters. Then the full fleet went on to Irian in April of 3069 to find the 7th Free Worlds Legionnaires locked in battle with the 13th Marik Militia for control of the factories on the world.

It took nearly three months for the fleet and their ground forces to destroy the 13th Marik Militia and push the Word of Blake out of the system, though their losses were heavy enough to force a trip to Marik for more repairs and rearming. The rest of 3068 and 3069 found the Sardis and the Santorini taking turns jumping into nearby systems to look for and engage the Word of Blake. In January of 3070, the Word of Blake finally organized a response with a heavy force while the Sardis and Photon Brett-Marik were in Ariel. Arriving at a pirate point only a few hours from Marik, the Thessaly and her battle group swooped in to smash the Santorini and her escorts into ruin. The Zechetinu-class Sparta and Tirana died protecting the super carrier, while the Agamemnon-class Menelaus fell under the guns of the Aeneas and Troy. The Raven, Janos Marik, Olympic, and Eagle-class Lancelot, and Galahad organized a counter attack that forced the Word of Blake to allow the shattered Santorini to run, leaving the wreckage of the Hippolyta, Ixodida, Haptopoda, Leodegrance, and Percival behind them as they passed. Unfortunately, the Galahad took critical damage in the last minutes of the battle and fell into the atmosphere, burning on the way down to smash into surface.

By the time the Sardis returned with the Impavido and the Zechetinu-class Attica, both under orders from the Oriente, to push the Word of Blake out of the system, they’d performed a general bombardment of Marik and killed millions. The Word of Blake fleet had taken heavy casualties breaking down Marik though, and Photon Brett-Marik took the Sardis out to chase them as the battered remnants of the Santorini’s battle group traveled towards Ionus for much-needed repairs.

Along the way, they ran into several small Word of Blake squadrons and smashed them flat, but each battle hurt them a little more and by the time they arrived at Ionus in April they were on the verge of collapse with most of their armor in tatters and only one of the Santorini’s main decks able to support fighter craft. Meanwhile, the Sardis, Photon Brett-Marik’s people, and the Oriente forces with him continued to track down any Word of Blake forces they could, usually done by following their trail of bombarded planets. Rumors of whole scale use of weapons of mass destruction in the Regulan territories, normal communications cut off like every other system from the Marik Commonwealth, flooded through the grape vine as many Marik soldiers began to do the same thing with weapons captured from the Word of Blake. It was the worst year of the Jihad for the Marik Commonwealth, with nearly every world seeing the flash of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction. Nearly 50% of Ariel was rendered inhabitable by their usage, and that is simply one example among many.

But in November, rumors about the total bombardment and decimation of Gibson by the Regulan fleet began to shoot through the Marik Commonwealth. Then in December, the Regulan fleet, led by the Delphi and the Black Lion-class Xanthos, followed the retreating Word of Blake fleets to Atreus where they destroyed the Thessaly and broke the back of the remaining Blakist fleet in the Free Worlds League. But the Delphi did not survive the engagement, caught by the Aegis-class Nueva Badajoz with a full broadside that penetrated her ammunition stores and ripped her apart from the inside. The Nueva Badajoz did not survive the battle either, shattered by the Delphi’s fighters and the Xanthos in retribution.

Remaining in Atreus for repairs, they coordinated the next wave of the war with the Marik Commonwealth fleet in Ionus as the Silver Hawk Irregulars and a small fleet of converted carriers filled with Amity-built Cheetahs arrived there to support Alys and her fleet. By February of 3071 the fleets headed out again, leaving behind the permanent defenders of Atreus and Ionus just in case the Word of Blake tried to hit them again, and began the last campaign to destroy them in the League. It wasn’t until 3072 that they’d cleansed the Blakists from League territory, but it was never in question after 3070 that the zealots were losing. And lose they did, though they pulled every trick in the book and wiped out entire planets on their way out.

By September of 3072, only a handful of planets in any of the remaining League member states were left untouched and billions were dead. Interstellar trade was nonexistent and only military convoys moved between systems, leaving the economy of the Commonwealth and the League at a standstill. But with ComStar help the HPG network slowly began to come online again as Regulus, the Oriente, Marik, Stewart, and the Silver Hawks Coalition repaired and assembled their fleets at Ionus and Atreus. Assault DropShips and carriers from the Duchy of Graham-Marik came to support them as well, coming out of what was left of the factories as fast as possible.

Hearing of the planned Star League assault on Terra, the factions of the League performed their repairs as quickly as possible and then launched the fleet for Terra in July of 3073. The Santorini, still unable to operate fighters out of her port deck, the Sardis, and the Xanthos led the fleet, along with smaller escorts, dozens of JumpShips, and over a hundred DropShips. They arrived at Outreach in October to rendezvous with the Star League fleet that had already experienced defeat over Terra. It would take three years of fighting, even with reinforcements streaming into Outreach from other Star League member states, to break down the Word of Blake defenses and finally take over the Terran system and it’s orbitals, and the Janos Marik, caught by several Word of Blake WarShips in June of 3074, never returned home.

But in 3076 they finally managed to drop their ground forces on Terra and the slow battle to take it back and destroy the final elements of Word of Blake began. But like in the League, they fought without regard to civilian casualties, or perhaps even hoping to cause them, and weapons of mass destruction wiped out entire cities in order to kill even a few attackers. The Regulans responded in kind, dropping nukes and other similar weapons on any Word of Blake base they could find. By early 3077, the Reagan SDS had been annihilated by these strikes, and in a shot that shocked even the Word of Blake, the Regulans turned Hilton Head into a crater.

By 3078, the Word of Blake had been wiped out, but over a billion Terrans had died in the war and the economy of Terra was in as bad a situation as the League, or anywhere else for that matter. With the Inner Sphere in chaos, ComStar moved most of what was left of its forces onto Terra and the nations that fought under the Star League banner against the Word of Blake returned home to rebuild. The League fleet returned to Atreus for repairs, after stopping off at Marik to pick up Captain-General Alys Rousset-Marik.

As the fleets underwent repairs at the yards, she stood before the Parliament and relinquished the position of Captain-General. She returned home aboard the Olympic, it’s last trip under her command, before it returned to Atreus for a much-needed full refit. There has never been another Captain-General of the Free Worlds League.

Upon arriving at Marik, she began negotiations with Stewart to formalize the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth, in effect putting a legal name to the union of nations they’d become during the Jihad. By 3080, the Duchy of Graham-Marik, the Silver Hawks Coalition, and numerous other systems around the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth had also become a part of the Commonwealth, though like the League they kept their independence from Marik as well. Officially “honored allies of Marik,” without them the Commonwealth never would have been able to rebuild.

The last two decades have seen the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth avoid war at every opportunity as it has simply attempted to rebuild what was lost during the Jihad. Sharing a border with the Lyran Commonwealth’s Gienah Authority, the Solaris Cooperative, the Tikonov Free Republic, and being within jumping distance of the Federation of Skye, they have been forced to walk a fine line between pacifism and gunboat diplomacy, but so far the Duchess of Marik has been able to keep tensions at a minimum. Raids are common, as they are throughout the Human Sphere, but she has been able to stop any major wars from occurring, though the recent standoff on the unaffiliated League world of Wing between Commonwealth and Federation fleets in 3096 nearly sparked one.

Claiming the world as a former member of the Federation of Skye, a Federation fleet moved to “liberate” it after unrest swept its cities. The Commonwealth responded, sending a squadron of Eagle IIs led by the Raven to protect the world from “outside dominion.” After weeks of a slow ratcheting of pressure that nearly resulted in weapons fire, Alys’ 21-year-old daughter Kristen Marik, groomed since a child to become the next leader of the Commonwealth, arrived to mediate the situation. The current Duchess of Augustine put an investigation into effect that uncovered Federation support of the gangs causing the unrest as she talked with them, attempting to come to a satisfactory conclusion to the matter. Using the diplomatic training Alys had given her, she kept the Federation representatives talking for weeks until she had the proof she needed. Once it was verified, she placed it on the table, informed the Federation representatives that this report would be sent to Atreus and Terra if they didn’t leave immediately, and then leaned back in her chair as she awaited their decision. The Federation fleet left the next morning without firing a shot.

Now 25 years old, Kristen Marik has personally spoken with the leaders of every major nation within two hundred light years of the Commonwealth borders, sent on those trips by her mother to familiarize herself with the people she will soon be dealing with as equals. Most consider her to be much like her mother when she was the same age, a bit of a firebrand when goaded to action, but very controlled and diplomatic at all times. Like her mother, she is on good terms with Regulas and the Oriente, and those nations are content with the idea that she will soon be the leader of the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth armored assets are composed primarily of vehicles that are built in Commonwealth factories. The skirmisher units are normally made of Harrasser, Stygian, and Pegasus hovercraft, making them fast and powerful. Their heavy missile armaments give them the capability of using the many specialty missile ammunition developed over the years to hinder enemy movements. The Galleon is used primarily for scouting missions, while the Scorpions, Main Gauche, Hetzer, and Partisan tanks are used in the main armored lines to defend against attackers and hold ground.

Mercury-class BattleMechs are the primary scout ’Mech of the Commonwealth and Tarantulas are often seen in “Thundering Herd” formations with their larger Sirocco brethren. It is the Locusts, Stingers, Wasps, and Jackals that make up the majority of the light BattleMechs in the Commonwealth military though. The Blackjack OmniMech is seen everywhere in the Commonwealth as well, often working with Hunchback BattleMechs, though the Phoenix Hawks and Griffins are the standard fast support BattleMech of the ground forces. The Thunderbolt is often seen in heavy lances, working with Yeoman fire support BattleMechs and Tempest snipers in militia forces, but Perseus OmniMechs are much more common in the elite units. Assault lances are primarily made up of Awesomes, BattleMasters, and Thugs, all heavily PPC-oriented BattleMechs, though there are also many Siroccos in the previously mentioned “Thundering Herd” formations.

On the navy side, the primary fighter of the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth is the light but fast Cheetah fighter, and it is seen flying off the many Eagle IIs that patrol Commonwealth space. The Thera-class Santorini is the flagship of the Commonwealth fleet and is always escorted by the Eagle-class Lancelot, the last surviving ship of her class. The Vincent-class Liberty and Essex-class Raven are the only other pre-Jihad WarShips in the navy and the smaller Eagle IIs are much more commonly seen. Also often seen are Impavido-class cruisers purchased from the League factories at Atreus.

Major Military Units

7th Marik Legionnaires – The Steadfast – Irian
1st Marik Guards – The Amazons – Marik
12th Atrean Dragoons – The White Sabers – Augustine
1st Knights – The Golden Ones – Marik
30th Marik Militia – David’s Heirs – Loyalty
31st Marik Militia – The Enlightened – Paradise
9th Marik Hussars – The Future Guards – Ionus

Stewart Dragoons – The Juggernauts – Stewart
2nd Stewart Legionnaires – The Stygians – Stewart

Silver Hawk Irregulars – Falcon, Gryphon, and Hawk – Kalidasa
20th Silver Hawk Militia – The Pit Bulls – Concord
34th Silver Hawk Militia – The Zealots – Amity

1st Commonwealth Naval Squadron – The Knights’ Own – Marik
2nd Commonwealth Naval Squadron – Raven Flight – Ionus
3rd Commonwealth Naval Squadron – Liberty’s Guardians – Loyalty

Stewart Navy – Dragon’s Heart – Stewart

Silver Hawk Navy – Silver Legacy – Amity

General Information

Amity – Amity's large, widespread islands are linked by maglev trains and Ground Effect Vehicle (GEV) causeways. The planet features a tropical atmosphere with temperate zones near the poles. Hurricanes are commonplace, and the tremendous cost of constant rebuilding keeps the economy unbalanced, even with funding from the Commonwealth. A member of the Silver Hawks Coalition, this world had a long hatred for the Marik family and welcomed the arrival of the Word of Blake, supporting them with Cheetah AeroSpace fighters during the Jihad. Marik and Silver Hawks forces sabotaged the lines many times rather than destroy them outright and after the Jihad it has become an unwilling member of the Commonwealth. Only the Silver Hawks Coalition independence within the Commonwealth has kept them from outright rebellion.

Angell II – With 90% of its water contaminated, the society of this world at the time of Jihad had become stratified between the rich who had access to clean water and the poor who had to survive on the doling of water they were given. When the Word of Blake came and offered them a brighter future, the “drones” signed on willingly and rebelled, killing the aristocrats of planet and helping to fuel the Word of Blake with new recruits. It took many years to drive the Blakists from this world, and it continues to be uneasily under the control of the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth though Duchess Rousset-Marik maintains a steady hands-off approach to the world as the new management seems to be doing fairly well.

Berenson – A water-rich agricultural world, Berenson's main export is corn. Easily conquered by the Word of Blake early in the Jihad, this was one of the last worlds liberated by the Marik government and still has not had its wounds completely repaired.

Helm – Once home to a Star League Castle Brian full of advanced weapons and a complete Star League Field Library core, the fortress was destroyed by some rogue ComStar and Marik nobles in their attempt to take it. In the end, the Grey Death Legion survived and sent copies of the core to every major nation. During the Jihad, the AgroMechs built on this world were retrofitted with weapons and used against the Word of Blake in support of Stewart and Marik troops. The AgroMechs were slaughtered and the factories burned to the ground. After the Jihad, Duchess Rousset-Marik allocated monies to rebuild the factories and care for the families of those killed by the Blakists.

Ideyld – Home to the great Golden Dome Mosque, this Moslem world has shown itself to be as peaceful and fun loving, especially between its two primary sects the Shi'ites and the Sunnis, as the Moslems have been for millennia. Duchess Rousset-Marik has tried to enforce peace on the world but getting past millennia of hatreds has proven difficult.

Kalidasa – The major port of entry for traders entering Commonwealth space along the Solaris Cooperative border, the starport cities on this world contain magnificent bazaars, teeming with merchant houses, wholesalers, and speculators who can find a profitable market (legal or otherwise) for virtually any commodity.

Loyality – Opened one and a quarter centuries ago, the Loyalty Theatrical Academy is a lively institution that scouts for and hires actors and actresses for vidtape productions. During the Jihad, this world became a major target of both Marik and Word of Blake claims but the academy maintained neutrality and avoided any compromising situations with grace. After the Jihad, Duchess Alys Rousset-Marik offered them funding as long as they agreed not to use their productions to attack her. Now no longer under the purse string controls of the major networks and given complete creative freedom, other than the before mentioned limitation, the Academy has prospered and is considered the best school, and one of the best producers, for vidtape productions in the League.

Marik – The center of power for the Marik family, especially after the Captain-Generalcy was abolished, this world’s powerful duststorms and tornados make it a hard planet to fight on. Many Word of Blake units were lost after being lured into them by savvy Marik defenders during the Jihad. The Burlingrad Hoverdrome hosts weekly individual and team speeder races that are vidtape entertainment staples.

Miaplacidus – In the tradition of a trading nation, an eye for beauty and a sense of value go hand in hand. The arts flourish in the Free Worlds League as a by-product of the focus on trade. Created objects (plas-sculptures and abstract myomer art) and created movement (null-G dance, plays and improvisational drama) are appreciated beyond their utility, as is natural beauty. They fact that that they can be hawked or shown for gain is merely a profitable side-benefit. Some art forms rise above the profit motive, however. Even enemy raiders have left the Paradise Jungles untouched.

Nathan – A rural world, used by some regular Marik units for R&R. The world is also a stop off for free traders from the Tikonov Free Republic, and the city of Fullson's open-air markets are quite famous.

New Olympia – The nation of Olympica is legally separate from the rest of the planet, a consequence of Regulan support when Marik claimed control of this world, and is still very friendly with the Regulans. An important agricultural exporter to the rest of the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth and the League in general, its seas are abundantly stocked with marine life, including marlin, sea bass, speckled hoodoo, and Hodson's Fliers (a unique breed whose members can grow to over four meters and can leap more than ten meters out of the water). Also home to the Allison Mechwarrior Institute and the Lloyd Marik-Stanley Aerospace School, both of which were burned to the ground during the Jihad, Alys Rousset-Marik made rebuilding them after the Jihad a priority and they now graduate the best MechWarriors, AeroSpace pilots, and Naval crews in the League. In fact the League navy depends on graduates from this school, and the Duchess has gained much by allowing them to use those schools.

Paradise – major exports are rare hardwoods and miniature parrots.

Tania Australis – The major exports from this world are furs and rare gemstones.

Stewart – Home to many mining industries, Stewart is the staunchest support of the Marik line and a loyal ally of Duchess Rousset-Marik. Though its factories were badly damaged during the Jihad when the Home Guard fractured, they have been brought back online by Commonwealth funding.

Factories

Amity – Imstar Aerospace – Cheetah Aerospace Fighter

Campbelton – Fusigon Heavy Weaponry – Lasers and PPCs

Connaught – Kong Interstellar Corporation – Black Knight BattleMech. Fusion Engines

Ionus – Illium Shipyards – Zechetinu destroyer and Eagle II frigate

Irian – Brooks Incorporated – Harasser and Stygian Hovercraft. Galleon and Main Gauche tanks.
– Diverse Optics Incorporated – Laser Weapons
– IMB Systems – Targeting and Tracking systems
– Irian BattleMechs Unlimited – Hermes, Tempest, and Awesome BattleMechs. Blackjack OmniMech.

Kalidasa – Kali Yama Weapons Industries Incorporated – Wasp and Hunchback BattleMechs. Perseus OmniMech
– Quikscell Company – Various APCs, Scorpion tank, and Hetzer Wheeled Vehicle

Keystone – Earthwerks, Incorporated – Stinger, Jackal, Phoenix Hawk, Griffin, Thunderbolt, BattleMaster and Thug BattleMechs
– Exeter Organization – Pegasus Hovercraft

Loyalty – Kallon Industries – Partisan tank, Kuan Ti and Vengeance Dropships
– SelaSys Incorporated – Tramp and Star Lord JumpShips

Marik – Imstar Aerospace – Planetlifter Conventional Aircraft and Cheetah Aerospace Fighter

Paradise – Curtiss Militech – Yeoman BattleMechs

Savannah – Technicron Manufacturing – Awesome BattleMech

Stewart – Corean Enterprises - (MacAdams-Suharno) – Locust, Tarantula, and Sirocco BattleMechs

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

It's still fiction, so I moved it.

_________________
Rick
~~~~~
[email]rick@heavymetalpro.com[/email] [img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/flag-us.gif[/img] [img]http://www.heavymetalpro.com/countries/ ... rolina.gif[/img]

* There are 10 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary and those who don't. *

*sigh*

Ok...the board mavon has spoken...I hope people will see and read it here....

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Found it.........Keep up the Great Work Medron.

Dave.

Oriente Protectorate

Long a close ally of the Marik family, the Halas family of Oriente were raised from being a “simple” MechWarrior family to the halls of Oriente after the previous ruling family, the Allisons, died in battle. The day that Thomas Marik and Sherryl Halas married two centuries later was considered a great day for the Duchy of Oriente, a culmination of centuries of close support, but as with many things it did not turn out as they wished.

After being proven a fraud and imposter, “Thomas” left Atreus with Sherryl and returned to Oriente where he continues to live to this day as Thomas Halas. The Free Worlds League demanded his return, and has continued to do so every year on the anniversary of his departure, for trial but Oriente continues to return the messages marked “opened by mistake”. That appears to be the sole position that Oriente takes in contravention of its common support of the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth, and one of the few against the League itself.

During the Jihad for instance, Oriente sent every Oriente Hussars formation into the Marik Commonwealth to support them against the Word of Blake, including the only two WarShips that swore fealty to Oriente, the Zechetinu-class Attica and the Impavido-class Impavido. The Hussars took terrible losses in the Commonwealth, and later on Terra, but they never stopped fighting and returned to Oriente with full honors when the war ended.

The Fusiliers of the Oriente were not so lucky. Losing most of their number to Tamarind when they defected from both the League and the Oriente because they felt betrayed at being placed under League command instead of their historical Oriente command, they were reduced to two formations without a shot being fired. Left behind to protect Oriente when the Hussars moved to support the Mariks, the Fusiliers felt the wrath of the Word of Blake without support. The Ducal Guard was decimated protecting the factories of Oriente, while the 4th Brigade all but ceased to exist in 3071 to another Word assault. Only the presence of three Marik Militia regiments, under the command of General Marissa Morgan who came out of retirement to help her homeland, in the Oriente kept the Duchy from collapsing completely, but it was a near thing and the scars of the war can still be found if you look for them.

Unlike Oriente, the Protectorate and the Duchy of Orloff remained neutral in the Jihad, not having the resources, they thought, to survive should the Word of Blake attack them. Because of that, they survived the Jihad nearly untouched, unlike the shattered Oriente. In 3078 in fact, the Orloff Grenadiers, spread around the three Orloff worlds equally, were the most powerful force left in the area of space that would later become the Oriente Protectorate.

But it was Christopher Halas that secured Emris IV, and StarCorp Industries, for Oriente and gained the resources Oriente needed to rebuild. Had Vanra been able to secure StarCorp’s support, the Oriente Protectorate in its current form most likely never would have been built. Using the profits of StarCorp, and promising eventual repayment of the debt, Oriente helped finance the rebuilding of their other factories, and the reestablishing of Garret SatComm and Nimakachi Fusion Products Limited factories on Oriente. Both companies had been all but destroyed by the Word of Blake, and would have been forced to declare bankruptcy if the Halas family hadn’t used every financial reserve they had to give them and other factories a chance to rebuild. Even with StarCorp’s help they nearly didn’t turn the corner into self-sufficiency before the money ran out, but by 3085 the painful rebuilding had begun to make its affects known.

By that time, the Protectorate was in all but name an Oriente possession, and in 3086 the Oriente Protectorate was officially formed. Rebuilding their military was still their primary concern, but aggressive Halas funding of any business venture had made them a favorite of the many mercantile regions of the new Protectorate. Because of that, the modern Oriente Protectorate is known across the Human Sphere for its excellent mercantile assets, and its aggressive traders. Clan Sea Fox actually maintains a permanent presence in the Oriente, one of the few places in the Human Sphere that has such an honor.

The Duchy of Orloff, unlike the Protectorate, maintained it independence, but was very friendly, from the Oriente for many years. They fought off Capellan raids without requesting aid, and even came to the Oriente’s aid from time to time. But they had grown to like independence and desired greatly to keep it. When the Trinity Alliance War between the Capellan Confederation and the Magistracy-Fronc-Taurian Trinity Alliance ended in 3093 though, the Earl of Orloff knew that Capellan raiders would be crossing the border in greater strength soon. Within months, negotiations to become an official member of the Oriente Protectorate were underway, and in June of 3094 the treaty was signed.

New business deals from the Protectorate mercantile committees flooded into the three worlds of the Duchy of Orloff, and within months the flagging economy of Orloff began to rise up as the Grenadiers, Hussars, and Fusiliers began to formally train together. That training came to great use when the Capellan Confederation attacked the Free Worlds League border between the Protectorate and Andurien in 3097. Though the war was short, the Protectorate forces were pushed to the limit to defend their territory, and in the end the Free Worlds Guards with League fleet elements had to be called in to stop the tide of Capellan forces. A swath of former League systems still cuts the Protectorate off from Andurien though, a constant reminder of the Capellan threat.

The Oriente Protectorate of 3100, ruled by Duke Christopher Halas, is first and foremost a traders’ realm. They will sell anything to anybody, though weapons sales to the Capellans are greatly frowned upon for obvious reasons. Sporting the liveliest economy in the League, the Protectorate is a bustling hive of economic activity and scientific development. Most of the new developments are civilian in nature, but they have rebuilt enough of their military establishment to make them generally self-sufficient in that regard.

The Protectorate Navy is dominated by the very common Gryphon-class assault DropShip, a redesigned version of the Condor that Nimakachi has built since 3087. Mass-produced to give the Protectorate a power defensive line, many Gryphons fought the Capellan fleet, supporting larger Eagle II frigates and Impavido cruisers purchased from Imstar Shipyards of Atreus, where they proved their worth to the Oriente. Admiral Tania King, looking only 30 years of age thanks to improved anti-aging treatments she took after the Fourth Succession War, commands the Protectorate Navy and often takes to space in the Impavido, flagship of the fleet. Escorted at all times by the Attica, these two ships have been through more chaos in their short lives than many Star League ships have ever dreamed of. Cheetahs purchased from the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth or the Free Worlds League make up the vast majority of Protectorate fighters.

The central Protectorate Army, commanded by General Marissa Morgan who has benefited from anti-aging treatments as well, is composed entirely of BattleMech formations, with individual planets tasked with forming vehicle and infantry formations to support the BattleMechs as needed. Because of this, there is no single organized vehicle or infantry formation in the Protectorate, but they have taken great care to assure that their BattleMechs are well drilled and made up of some of the best MechWarriors in the Human Sphere. Shipped via Condor DropShips, long since redesigned to carry BattleMechs, the Fusiliers, Grenadiers, and Hussars can move quickly to respond to a threat. Stingers make up nearly all of their light lances, while Shadow Hawks are the primary medium BattleMech of the Army. Warhammers are the standard battle line unit, and are the most prestigious rides in the Army. MechWarriors that can claim one of those powerful BattleMechs are honored throughout the Protectorate. Massed lances of Archers and Longbows are often used to support the other lances with indirect or long-range fire, but such postings are not nearly as honored and so are not pursued as rigorously. Hence, their performance is not as good as it could be.

Current Protectorate relations with other realms are a mixed bag. Generally happy to be in the League, and one of the three realms that remained in it throughout the Jihad, they are not so happy with all of the members of the League. They are least supportive of the Anduriens and consider them to be provokers of the Capellans. The Protectorate believes that Andurien is responsible for the Capellan attack in 3097 and lays the blame for their dead on the head of the Humphreys. This had sparked many an argument in the League Parliament as the two realms “debate” over whose fault it was and what should be done to rectify the situation.

They are on lukewarm terms with the Regulans, only that good because the Regulans also supported them during the Jihad, and on very good terms with the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth, despite their continued obsession with protecting Thomas Halas from the League and Commonwealth, and are happy neighbors with the Zion Protectorate. They have sold many BattleMechs and DropShips to that small realm, helping them to hold out against the aggressive Sarna raiding fleets. They are also on friendly terms with the Styk Commonality and continue to send aid to that beleaguered realm in hopes that it can survive against its many enemies and friends. The last thing they want is the Sarna Supremacy on the Protectorate border after all.

Military

Fusiliers of Oriente
Ducal Guard – Enlightened Valor – Oriente
1st Brigade – Avenging Angels – Calloway VI
4th Brigade – Death or Glory – Oriente
9th Brigade – The Hospitallers – Emris IV

Oriente Hussars
1st Hussars – Allison’s Hope – Oriente
2nd Hussars – The Crazy Second – Fletcher
3rd Hussars – Perseverance – Les Halles
4th Hussars – Voice in the Dark – Fujidera
5th Hussars – The Gunslingers – Anegasaki
6th Hussars – The Steadfast – Dayr Khuna

Orloff Grenadiers

1st Grenadiers – Soldering in Purple – Vanra
6th Grenadiers – The Lucky Sixth – Carbonis
8th Grenadiers – Capella’s Scourge – Hassad

General Information

Calloway VI – The business acumen of the merchants of this planet has made it a rich system. It also has the rare “honor” of having a permanent Clan Sea Fox contingent, something very few planets have. Because of that presence and the high level of biotechnology they sported, the Calloway Wildebeests, hunted into extinction by the 24th century, once again roam the plains of this world. One of the most unusual aspects of life on Calloway VI is that there is no true night. The three large moons that circle the planet reflect so much sunlight that nowhere on the planet has it been necessary to install streetlights. Natives who visit other worlds tend to be inordinately afraid of the dark.

Dayr Khuna – Home to Metamorphosis Inc., a company that remains consistenly at the cutting-edge of biotechnology, its once-sideline in replacement body parts is its most lucrative field now, especially after they obtained biotechnology from Clan Sea Fox that augmented the abilities they had developed. Now Dayr Khuna is the final destination of many people looking to regrow lost limbs or other body parts.

Fletcher – Home to the head offices of Free Flight, Ltd, another of the many shipping industries in the Oriente Protectorate, this company reportedly has many business dealings with Clan Sea Fox and often contracts them to transport goods to other nations on the far side of the Human Sphere.

Kyeinnisan – Also known as the Gambler's World, it offers a wide-open society where every pleasure, both imaginable and unimaginable, is for sale. Not surprisingly, it is the destination of many travelers who do not wish to travel all the way out to the Magistracy of Canopus, especially since this world maintains a long-term contract with a Canopian Pleasure Circus.

McKenna – A cold, barren world, its weather patterns produce almost continual snow for virtually 11 months of the year. First colonized early in the 28th century, during a massive rush for mineral rights, McKenna remains an important world for the Oriente Protectorate to this day.

Les Halles – The major port of entry for traders entering Protectorate space along the Capellan border, the starport cities on this world contain magnificent bazaars, teeming with merchant houses, wholesalers, and speculators who can find a profitable market (legal or otherwise) for virtually any commodity. Clan Sea Fox makes periodic trips to this world as well.

New Delos – The homeworld of Sir George Humphreys, the architect of the Free Worlds League itself, the site of the conference that ended the Second Andurien War in 2531, the place where the last member of House Allison, Harlan Allison, was killed in 2845, and the spot that the falling-out occurred between Anton Marik and Jamie Wolf that led to Anton's Death at the hands of Wolf's Dragoons, New Delos is chock full of history. It is also, for the first time in history, able to take advantage of those historical footnotes to make itself a veritable haven of tourism. Much of this is the result of HighPoint Traders, a corporation old enough to have a Star League trading license. Owned by the Chang family, HighPoint has been accused of smuggling, piracy, and operating unsafe vessels, and there is little doubt that these charges are true; but the locals don’t care because their passenger liners bring in foreign monies that make life on New Delos comfortable.

Nova Roma – Settled during the good years of the Star League by the Indrus Corporation, the planet remained a modestly successful, rather sleepy agrarian world for four centuries, until the Marik Civil War devastated. Since then it has avoided notice, even in the Jihad, and is once again a quiet agrarian world with little need for outsiders. After all, outsiders only bring trouble.

Oriente – Home of the Princefield Military Academy, premiere academy of the Oriente Protectorate, this world is also one of the shining jewels of the Human Sphere. Beautiful landscapes that rival Terra itself have been left untouched by nearly a millennium of wars and raids, and the populace itself is very well educated, favoring science, the arts, industry, and commerce. It is perhaps no surprise that the factories on Oriente sell much of their production to other Free Worlds states, especially the nearby Zion Protectorate and Marik-Stewart Commonwealth.

Vanra – The Orloff Military Academy on Vanra provides some of the best-trained MechWarriors in the Protectorate, if not the entire Human Sphere. Students enter the academy at the age of twelve and receive extensive conventional schooling prior to beginning military training at age sixteen. Most cadets graduate at age twenty, after four years of study. Orloff City also houses the only Order of the Saber chapter house to survive the Jihad.

Factories

Calloway VI – Earthwerks, Incorporated – Stinger, Shadow Hawk, and Archer BattleMechs.

Carbonis – IMB Systems – Various targeting and tracking systems

Emris IV – StarCorp Industries – Warhammer and Longbow BattleMechs.

Fletcher – Flame Tech – flamers and other energy weapons

Oriente – Oriente Weapon Works – various missiles and autocannons.
– Garret SatComm – various communications and targeting and tracking systems
– Nimakachi Fusion Products Limited – Condor, Dove, and Gryphon DropShips

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Can we PLEASE see info on the Clans of this universe? Otherwise, it is great.

How long does it take to do all of the background research for each section?

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Comstar: The original celebrated curiously strong HPG provider.

I will get to the Clans soon. Just one more faction, the Regulans, in the FWL, then I have Skye, Lyran Commonwealth, and the Tamar Pact which are clan friendly now...

Then the Clans...and with one of them...most likely Sea Fox, I will say what happened to the Home Clans....

As for time...it usually takes about two or three days of research for the background on the factions...and then another two or three days of writing. So I'm getting them out at around a week a piece, if I don't have anything else I'm doing....

I'm hoping to get Regulus out this week as well, and then go on to the Lyrans...well...Skye first....

Once I'm done with all of the main writeups, then I'm going to have to go back to all of my OLDER writeups and update them to fit the new style that I have developed with them, talking about individual planets and jazz like that. That will take a while, but I plan on putting these online on my webpage so people can read exactly what they are interested in at any time.

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Just out of curiosity, Medron, are you posting this on your website? That way, we can read through your history without the posts (not that there's anything wrong with reading it here on the boards or anything... )?

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Happiness = Watching Goose go Mach 3 with his hair on fire...

I have not posted it yet, but that is in my plans.

I'm going to need to do some revisions on earlier writeups to fit the current style that I use and get more information about each nation.

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

They also popped up in the Battle of Luthien. The Combine disguised them as "real" 'mechs and sent them towards the enemy under remote control loaded with explosives.

Personally, I think they should have written it so that they were piloted by kamikaze. Seems more like a Kurita thing to do; they were never one to place a particularly high value on human life.

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Fear the Boognish

that is a very good memory there...I forgot that...

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

Principality of Regulus

Once close allies of the Marik family and the Oriente, the Selaj family originally founded Regulus and it was their money and power that created the strong Hindu influence felt throughout the Principality to this day. They ruled until 2680 when Gerald Marik, in retribution for the death of his family in a bombing, attacked them and removed them from power. Several Selaj family members managed to escape his wrath and their descendents now live in the Magistracy of Canopus.

After the war, the Cameron-Jones family was place in charge of Regulus and until 2973 they maintained a close and friendly relationship with the Captain-General. Their loyalty to him was stripped away when the Sixth Hussars were decimated on Loric because Stephen Marik never sent them any support against their attackers. Since that day, Regulus and Marik have opposed each other, often bitterly.

After the fall of Andurien, they were the only major and vocal resistance to the Marik family, but they never crossed the line into treason. At least not openly, and never so fully as to be caught at it. As the 3060s began to come to a close, Prince Kirk Cameron-Jones ran interference for his Hussars, allowing them to ignore the orders of the League military to stop their “regional and backwards” ceremonies. He nearly lost the Fifth to the League as they managed to change commanders and nearly take its loyalty. He did lose the Ninth to the League, but by the time that happened it was barely a shadow of its former greatness.

To this day, he blames Marik for the destruction of the Ninth Hussars on Mcaffe, shattered by a Word of Blake assault that left nothing behind but shattered ’Mechs, vehicles, and personal armor. Kirk and Regulus contend that if the Mariks hadn’t diluted the unit with foreign-born pilots of substandard ability, the unit would have been able to fight its way out of the attack and return to Regulus. It is what the Fifth Hussars did in the end, even after being sabotaged by the League military. Bereft of their transport by the military, not wanting them to “accidentally” raid the Lyrans during the FedCom Civil War, the Fifth had to “acquire” transport after the Jihad started, and it took them nearly six months to fight their way home. The Second had to fight their way home too, from the periphery border in their case, and were nearly destroyed during the flight. Only the arrival of the Zechetinu II-class Scorpion saved them from a Word of Blake fleet and got them home to Regulus in March of 3068.

On Regulus, they found their Prince surrounded by Word of Blake forces as the Black Lion-class Xanthos and the Thera-class Delphi tried desperately to fight off a Word fleet. The Scorpion burned in to support them as the Second performed a hot drop and landed behind the Word of Blake forces, taking them by surprise. The resulting battle destroyed the Word both in space and on the ground, but the damage to the Regulans was heavy as well. The Scorpion, her aft end shattered by weapons fire, wouldn’t sail again for fifteen years, and the Delphi’s port AeroSpace bays were opened to vacuum.

But Regulus never once considered simply surrendering to the Word’s demands. They didn’t support the Mariks, but Kirk Cameron-Jones would have rather died than give up a good fight and live under the Word of Blake. Unfortunately the Word had shattered the HPG network bringing down nearly every station in League space and the Regulans didn’t know where they were. So the Regulan Hussars were ordered back out into the silent reaches of the Principality of Regulus to fight the Word of Blake wherever they could be found. In July, when the Word of Blake hit the Fourth Hussars with biological weapons, Prince Cameron-Jones opened up the storehouses of Regulus and returned the assault in earnest. By the end of 3078, weapons of mass destruction were a common sight in the Principality, used with abandon by either side.

Liberating one planet at a time, the Regulans smashed the Word again and again with weapons that had been outlawed centuries ago. But the Regulans were desperate and didn’t care about laws. It was possibly the dirtiest fighting seen during the Jihad, and every planet fought over bears the scars of the war to this day. In the end, Regulus was victorious on one planet after another, until they ran into Hongqiao. Its jungles proved hard to fight in and the locals supported the Word of Blake. For a few months the Hussars tried to root the Word out, but they finally accepted the inevitable and left the planet. At first the natives thought they had been victorious and that the Word would protect them. Then they saw flashes of light in the sky as the Word and Regulan fleets sparred. And then the bombs began to fall, vaporizing any city or town that didn’t surrender their Word of Blake agents. By December of 3069, Hongqiao had been pacified, and anybody who heard of the tactics used there shuddered in fear. They’d not heard of anything so ruthless happening since the Second Succession War. They thought they would never hear of something like it again. They were wrong.

Moving on to Gibson in March, the Xanthos and the Delphi, along with their supporting DropShips and fighters, smashed the Word of Blake fleet in orbit and demanded the surrender of the entire planet. When it refused, they opened up with a general bombardment of the planet, autocannons, missiles, lasers, and particle cannons flash-boiled the seas as fighters shot down through the atmosphere to deposit their own agents of doom. And then the nuclear weapons began to go off, one by one, across the planet in an advancing wave of mushroom clouds that left the entire world wiped clean of human life. It was the Regulan Final Solution to the Word of Blake Problem, and they pursued it with a vengeance that terrified their neighbors. Within months, the remnants of the Principality of Gibson found themselves occupied by the Regulan units before they went on to the next stage of the war.

With the Principality of Regulus cleansed of Word of Blake forces and the Word fleet fleeing into the Marik Commonwealth, the Regulan fleet jumped to Atreus in pursuit. They destroyed the Thera-class Thessaly there and broke the back of the remaining Blakist fleet in the Free Worlds League. But the often-damaged Delphi did not survive the engagement, caught by the Aegis-class Nueva Badajoz with a full broadside that penetrated her ammunition stores and ripped her apart from the inside. The Nueva Badajoz only outlived her by a few minutes, shattered by the Delphi’s fighters and the Xanthos in retribution.

The rest of the League campaign was a simple cleanup job, one that the Regulans pursued with zeal. Fighting alongside the fleets of the Oriente, Marik, Stewart, and even the Thera-class Sardis that most certainly was not there under the orders of Tamarind, the Regulan fleet and the Hussars did well. To some it felt odd fighting with the Mariks rather than against them, but all agreed that the Blakists were the worst of their devils. Better the devil you know than the devil you didn’t after all. By 3072, the combined fleets and armies wiped the Word out and fell back to rebuild amidst the ruins of their war.

Interstellar trade was gone, the HPG was only beginning to sputter as ComStar feverishly worked to repair it, and only military units moved between the stars. Most factories were shattered and barely even thinking about repairs, but the remains of the Regulan fleet assembled over Atreus for repairs as they began to slowly build up for yet another stage of the war. ComStar told them that the Star League, what was left of it, was going to Terra, and the League wanted payback. And Regulus was looking forward to delivering it. The combined fleet, commanded by the Thera-class Sardis and Santorini, and the Xanthos, started their trip in July of 3073. They arrived at Outreach, the last friendly major port, in October where they rendezvoused with the Star League fleet, already pushed out of Terra once, and began planning the war. The Word of Blake were failing. But they were going to go down fighting, and everybody knew it.

It wasn’t until 3076 that the Star League fleet, reinforcements moving to Outreach as they came out of the factory lines, finally managed to break the back of the Word of Blake fleet and take the Titan Yards. And then they moved to land on Terra and the Space Defense System opened up, burning down entire DropShips as they descended. The Xanthos and the rest of the Regulan fleet, tasked with supporting the drop on Africa, responded the way they had for the better part of a decade. They nuked the Word of Blake positions and mushroom clouds billowed over Africa to the horror of the rest of the Star League.

They protested the action of course, but after years of fighting the Word, it wasn’t much more than a formality. Every nation had seen the Word doing it to them, and even the most idealistic of them felt a small amount of vindication in seeing the Word get their own medicine. So they protested the assault, salving their conscience by saying they were against it, and then did nothing as the Regulans did it again. They protested again of course, but fewer this time. As the war continued, and the Regulans marched from Africa and up into the Europe and Asia, the Word fought back with everything they had. Nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons erupted everywhere, shattering thousands of years of civilization, but one ancient country after another fell to the Regulans and the other Star League member states. By early 3077, the entire SDS had been wiped out by orbital strikes, but the Word of Blake fought on.

And then, in a show of force that once again shocked the Star League member states and even the Word of Blake, the Xanthos flew into an orbital pattern over Hilton Head, a Word of Blake position that had held all comers. Its thrusters flaring, it rolled to the side, aimed its turrets, and wiped Hilton Head off the face of the Earth in a sustained bombardment that turned it into a crater. The Final Solution to the Word of Blake Problem. This time only Precentor Martial Victor Steiner-Davion had the heart to protest the action, but even he seemed drained by it and had little force behind it. The rest of the war was simple cleanup actions, and in 3078 Terra was declared cleansed of Word of Blake activity.

After that, the Regulan fleet and army left Terra and returned home to rebuild. And to take care of business. Moving into systems that had declared for the Word of Blake but had been unable to support the Word, the Regulan Hussars began removing any and all sympathizers in order to make the worlds loyal again. Thousands died in the purges, and thousands more as they began to claim, one at a time, systems that had shown the ultimate indignity of leaving the Principality over the centuries. With the Free Worlds League no longer having the power to stop them, Regulus simply flew in and swooped them up, shooting anyone who resisted.

They used the naval yards at Westover, MacKenzie, and Clipperton to slowly build up their fleet with new ships, and the factories of Wallis to build up the Hussars, while also buying lighter BattleMechs from other realms. Then in 3093 they hit the Regulan Free States with a simultaneous assault on all three systems. The war was over in weeks, the defenders vanquished easily, but pacification has not gone so easily. Seven years later, they are still unwilling members of the Principality of Regulus, but with the Fourth Hussars stationed on Vosloorus they seem to be quieting down.

Other systems have fallen since then, including Hindmarsh in 3095 and Fieferana in 3097. The Second Hussars are currently spread amongst the systems of that region, holding them in check though some wonder if there is another reason they are there. The Regulan factories of Wallis only build heavy BattleMechs, but on Tematagi in the Rim Commonality is a factory that produces many lighter BattleMechs. During the Jihad in fact, the Regulans held the orbitals of Tematagi and took the entire production of its factories for use against the Jihad, but they pulled their fleet home to rebuild after the Jihad ended. Some believe that the Regulans may be gearing up to jump in and take Tematagi so they will no longer have to buy BattleMechs from elsewhere. Those who suggest this note that Regulus colonized Tematagi and that Regulus has been more than willing to conquer other systems and nations that were once Regulan and who had fewer industries to boast of.

All of the other nations in the Free Worlds League view the Principality of Regulus with concern, and its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction as the 800 lb. guerrilla in the room that everybody sees and nobody wants to talk about. Since the fall of the Regulan Free States however, they have not threatened another multi-system nation so the rest of the League, at least those systems not near the Regulan border, seem willing to leave them alone. Those near, or now in the Regulan border, often send requests for aid to the Parliament, but the Parliament rarely agrees to do anything, let alone censoring or siding against a member state. It is doubtful that the League will do anything to limit Regulan aggression, unless they attempt to expand into Marik-Stewart Commonwealth space. But so far they are only expanding rimward, away from Marik. Everybody except the Rim Commonality is happy about that.

The Regulan Hussars have few signature BattleMechs, though Warhammers and Marauders do dominate their assault and heavy lances. Nearly half of their other BattleMechs came from Tematagi, while the others are salvaged from the Word of Blake or purchased from other realms. They have also worked very hard to maintain the lances of Trebuchets that have been made famous by the Hussars, but spare parts for those BattleMechs are becoming increasing rare in recent years.

The Regulan Navy is commanded by the Krishna, formerly the Xanthos, which is always escorted by the Scorpion and a number of Impavido cruisers and Eagle II and Shiva frigates. The Regulan Navy is one of the most powerful navies in the Human Sphere, and is known to still be armed with weapons of mass destruction to be used if the situation dictates it.

Military Units

Regulan Hussars

First Hussars – The Steel Hussars – Regulus and Wallis
Second Hussars – The Green Monster – Katlehong, Hindmarsh, and Fieferana
Fourth Hussars – The Kukri – Vosloorus
Fifth Hussars – Work Hard, Play Hard – Westover, MacKenzie, and Clipperton

System Information

Aitutaki – The Aitutaki Academy graduates over 700 MechWarriors, AeroSpace pilots, armor crewmembers, and infantry a year, as well as some of the best technicians in the Free Worlds League. Founded by the order of Hered Selaj in 2414, it is one of the oldest academies in existence and is the foundation of the present-day Regulan military.

Avior – The headquarters of the Regulan Hussars, 10,000 acres of land on this world were given to them by Bertram Marik in 2734 for being loyal during the civil war.

Cameron – Home of the BattleMech production plant that first served the Regulan Hussars, the plant was destroyed during the Succession Wars and has never been rebuilt.

Camlann – The revolutionary Camlann versus Free Worlds League court case guaranteed this world freedom from the Principality of Regulus, giving it representation of its own in the Parliament and freedom to do what it wanted. Up to and through the Jihad, what it wanted was to trade, and its primary export was high tech communications systems so advanced that even ComStar and the Word of Blake purchased the systems for their own use. During the Jihad, Camlann remained neutral and sold those systems to anyone who wanted them. The Word of Blake, not having the resources to take the world, placed an AeroSpace presence above the planet to stop shipments to other powers once they left Camlann ships. After the Jihad was over, Regulan troops came to reclaim their long-lost colony and its communications factories. Camlann has requested that the court case be enforced but the current Free Worlds League Parliament considers it to be an “internal matter of the Principality of Regulus” and refuses to be involved.

Diass – One of three Principality of Regulus worlds that left to form the Regulan Free States in 2681 to support Marik over Regulus, they fought Regulus for centuries until the Addendum to the Incorporation gave them the legal power to fully escape Regulan control and blockades in 3037. The Free States remained neutral during the Jihad, not having the power to do anything good or bad, but in 3093 the Principality of Regulus came for them with a three-prong attack of BattleMechs and Naval forces, conquering them in a matter of weeks. Diass was the last to fall, but only after their militia fought the Regulans to a near-standstill outside their capital. The Mongol and Kazhak languages are the primary spoken words on Diass, though all official business is performed in the official language of the Principality of Regulus.

Harmony – During the Jihad, the Word of Blake used the tensions between the Cherenkov and Rodriguez families to take this world from Regulan control. Nearly three centuries ago they had open warfare over a mineral rich region and the Rodriguez family won. The Word of Blake offered support to the Cherenkov family and helped them shatter their opponents. After the Jihad was over, Regulus found the Cherenkovs guilty of working with the Word of Blake and executed the heads of that family, putting many others in prison. Most of their lands were given to the survivors of the Rodriguez family and only a few of their oldest towns remain under the control of what remains of Cherenkov power.

Hellos Minor – Homeworld of D'mir Selaj, he hid here behind the Regulan Hussars after a bomb killed nearly the entire Marik family in 2667. With proof that he helped orchestrate the bombing, the Marik Militia came for him in 2669 and he committed suicide rather than be taken prisoner.

Hongqiao – A steamy jungle world, it sided for the Word of Blake during the Jihad and the Regulans were forced to take it the old fashioned way. After months of ineffectual warfare that failed to flush out the Word loyalists, the Regulan fleet arrived in 3069 and began systematically nuking any town that supported the Word. The scars still cover the world, but are nothing compared to what was done on nearby Gibson.

Muscida – The ancestral home of the Fourth Regulan Hussars, the Kukri, they built a training center there before the Jihad in the Pokhara Mountains. Only accessible by air, ’Mech, or on foot, the trainees at the facility held off numerous Word of Blake attacks before being rescued by the 4th in May of 3068. That facility, though not as good as the Aitutaki Academy, has firmly secured a second place ranking behind it in the Principality of Regulus

Olafsvik – Once the capital of the Regulan Free States, they fought Regulus for centuries and then remained neutral during the Jihad. In 3093 the Principality of Regulus came for them with a three-prong attack of BattleMechs and Naval forces, conquering them in a matter of weeks. Olafsvik was the second world to fall, hit by an overwhelming force that shattered its military in two weeks. Requests for aid from the Parliament have been greeted with simple statements that the League does not interfere with the internal matters of member states. Norwegian is the most widely spoken language on this world, though all official business is spoken in the official language of the Principality of Regulus.

Tiber – One of the most industrialized worlds in the Principality of Regulus, and the site of a labor riot in 3025, the Word of Blake found Tiber to be a good prospect for another riot. During the Jihad, they inflamed tensions there between corporations and the unions, forcing them into another standoff that erupted into open warfare and denied Regulus the support of this world for the duration of the Jihad in League space. After the Word was pushed out of League space, the Regulans returned to bring order to Tiber. The damage caused in the Jihad is still easy to see on this world, but most of the old industries are back online now. The Duchy of New Assam, occupying one continent on Tiber, remained neutral and peaceful throughout the Jihad, and without its help the rebuilding of the rest of Tiber would have been much harder.

Vosloorus – Another world in the Regulan Free States, this was the first to fall when the Regulans came for them in 3093. On the border of the Principality of Regulus, it is also the center of rebel furor and the Fourth Regulan Hussars have been largely placed on this world to deal with it. So far the measured responses and careful fighting have brought many locals over to their side, but the planet is still greatly divided.

Wallis – Home of Ronin Industries, the Word of Blake pushed this world into rebellion as well and appropriated many machines to fuel their war machine before being pushed off it by the Regulan Hussars in 3069. The damage the Word did to the factory on the way out left it unable to build anything until 3075.

Factories

Clipperton – Irian Technologies – Leopard, Leopard CV, Union, and Hamilcar DropShips. Scout JumpShip and Shiva frigate.

MacKenzie – Brigadier Corporation – Buccaneer, Fury, Merlin, Monarch, Behemoth, and Parvathi DropShips. Impavido cruiser and Eagle II frigate.

Wallis – Ronin Incorporated – Warhammer and Marauder BattleMechs.

Westover – Regulan Aerotech – Stingray and Riever AeroSpace fighters.

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
"I'm gonna Tea Party like its 1776." - Medron Pryde
Who is John Galt?

It's been eleven days, man! Eleven! You're killin' me, here!

_________________
"I have vanquished you, lizard slavers. And now, behold the pelvic gyrations of my victory boogie."
- Space Ghost