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sorry...been busy training people in and jazz....

and reading megatokyo....that's a DANG addicting webcomic....

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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 a little thing if you want to add it. The Brotherhood of Randis.

I think they will fight a lot of WOB-backed pirates, and if they survives, maybe they will see all these unprotected people in planets arround theirs and "maybe" thry will bring protection to them, creating a interplanet Fiefdom of Randis.

What do you think?

that is an idea. Perhaps when I get around to the Periphery I'll do that. Of course, there are a lot of "small scale" nations that I don't plan on touching at this time. There will be many smaller factions out there that I'm not giving text time right now but do exist.

Essentially, it gives people the freedom to generally do what they want with systems outside the major nations. The "unclaimed areas" are very much like the Chaos March. Only they are MUCH larger...

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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?

That reminds me...after you're done with the whole Human Sphere project, are you going to ask Oystein if he can do a map for you? Because that would really rock.

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

That is a very good idea as well.

And something I would love to see very much.

_________________
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?

Gah! Three weeks! It's been three weeks, and no new Human Sphere stuff! AAAAAHHHHH!!!!

(picks up a sack of doorknobs and starts heading for Medron's house)

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

Sorry dude.

Life is making it hard for me to get the time I want to do this. I am doing it, slowly but surely. Too slowly for me, but I am doing it. I have the basic story of the Lyran realms in my head. I just need to write it down.

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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?

Federation of Skye

One of the oldest governments in the Human Sphere, Ian McQuiston founded the Federation of Skye in 2299. It later became one of three signatures to the Lyran Commonwealth, along with the Protectorate of Donegal and the Tamar Pact, and there began centuries of Skye involvement in the Lyran Commonwealth. Often seething with secessionist fervor, the Federation barely remained in the Commonwealth over the centuries, and did not support the formation of the Federated Commonwealth. During the Civil War, when Katherine Steiner-Davion placed Duke Robert Kelswa-Steiner under effective arrest, another wave of secessionist tendencies flared up. Though the action on Hesperus II shattered the rebellion, it left a strain on the fabric of the Lyran Alliance that was difficult to cover up.

They nearly managed it after Peter Steiner-Davion became the Archon, and Duchess Hermione Kelswa-Steiner, Duke Robert’s wife, actually attended a ball on Tharkad in November of 3067. It was at that ball that she nearly lost her life when a bomb exploded next to her suite. Only the presence of Hauptmann-General Barton Hale saved her life, and when evidence came to light that Archon Peter himself ordered the attack, Duke Robert took the opportunity to secede from the Alliance with a groundswell of public support. Later investigations showed it to actually have been the Brotherhood of Cincinnatus that performed the attack and framed the Archon in order to force the “tainted” Archon off the throne, but by the time that information came out the Alliance was a faint memory with little chance left to salvage it..

The remains of the Tamar Pact, along with Arc-Royal and the proud Kell family, seceded with the Federation of Skye, and Duke Robert immediately became the single most powerful enemy of the Lyran Alliance. Military histories show that war was inevitable, with Lyran forces preparing to assault the Federation, when the Word of Blake struck Tharkad, nearly killing Peter Steiner-Davion. The Duke of Skye declined to help the Archon, though evidence suggests that the Kell family were preparing to support the Alliance despite their disagreements when Clan Jade Falcon boiled across the border in January of 3068.

Thinking to find an easy conquest in an Alliance fighting the Word, they instead found stubborn defenders working for the Kell family and the Wolves-In-Exile. By the time Skye forces arrived on the front, coming in response to Kell requests for aid, it was nearing full collapse, even with everything the defenders could do. The Skye forces broke the Falcon’s backs and managed to stem off the worst of the invasion, though when Word of Blake forces hit Solaris they were out of position to help. The Duke made the hard decision to let Solaris live or die by itself and continued sending forces to the Clan border. The Word of Blake in return left the rest of Skye alone. Their target had been the warriors of Solaris, not the Federation of Skye after all.

A Clan Wolf invasion of the weakening Tamar Pact was only a matter of time, and the Duke of Skye knew he didn’t have the power to hold out against both the Falcons and the Wolves, but mere weeks before the assault was expected in December 3070, rumors that Clan Hell’s Horses had arrived in force began circulating. They said the Horses were running from something or someone in the Homeworlds, and they smashed into the core-ward sector of the Clan Wolf Occupation Zone like a hammer. It gave Skye and the Tamar Pact the time and space they needed to weather another Jade Falcon push, though their casualties continued to mount. When word filtered into the Tamar Pact that Khan Vlad Ward had died over Csesztreg against a Hell’s Horses fleet, and that Clan Wolf was on the verge of collapse against Ghost Bear attacks as well, Clan Wolf-In-Exile moved to support their estranged cousins, leaving the Tamar Pact and Skye to defend themselves.

The year 3072, without Wolf-In-Exile helping, nearly spelled disaster for the Tamar Pact as the Falcons began hitting them harder. The Alliance front had completely collapsed after the loss of Melissa, leaving the defenders of Arc-Royal and the Tamar Pact as the only major foil to their plans. The climactic battle of that campaign occurred on Bountiful Harvest, where the Twenty-Second Skye Rangers and the Tamar Cavaliers dug in to the stop the Falcon offensive once and for all. Over seventy percent of the two units died on Morges, but they held the world, and the Falcon offensive, until March of 3073 when the Falcons retreated. The defenders later found out that the Falcons left because of attacks on their occupation zone by the Hell’s Horses and the upstart Clan Snord.

The rest of 3073 found the combined Skye and Tamar forces slowly trying to reclaim worlds fallen to the Falcons but it was slow progress. It also found Skye sending reinforcements to Solaris where the remnants of former Solaris fighters from throughout the Inner Sphere had come to fight under the leadership of Kelley Metz, the last champion of Solaris. By that time the Word of Blake was too weak to counterattack into Skye, its forces strained to the limit at Terra and throughout the parts of the Inner Sphere it still held. Finally pushed off Solaris, and out of the Alliance, in 3074, the Word of Blake retreated to Terra as Clan Wolf, now led by Khan Phelan Kell, joined in the assault on the Jade Falcons, forcing them to roll back all offensive operations against the Inner Sphere.

In 3075, Skye moved the newly rebuilt Tenth Skye Rangers across the border into Combine space to begin absorbing worlds long lost to the Dragon and ravaged by Word of Blake. After building up a defensive ring capable of protecting the Federation from future Dragon assaults, they sent the new Third Skye Rangers to Gacrux to clear out the Brotherhood of Cincinnatus, the source of the bomb that nearly killed Duchess Hermione according to the final findings of an eight year old investigation. After that, they sent their forces to help the fight against the Word of Blake on Terra. They returned home in 3078, exhausted and ready for a refit, and Skye has maintained a neutral stance since, rarely sending their forces outside their space for any reason.

Duke Robert nearly changed that policy in 3088, during the Second Dominion-Combine War. Ready to send troops in to conquer more territory from the fractured Combine, only a sniper’s bullet courtesy of a surviving member of the Brotherhood of Cincinnatus kept the Federation out of the war. Duke Robert never recovered and Duchess Hermione stepped up to take his position as leader of the Federation of Skye.

Selvin Kelswa-Steiner, their oldest son and official representative to the Tamar Pact on Arc-Royal, officially seceded from the combined state in 3090, citing a lack of Skye support against Clan Jade Falcon in recent years. The Tamar Pact and the Federation of Skye have maintained friendly relations since then thanks to the efforts of Hermione and Selvin, but have taken pains to show their different cultures. The last decade has been largely peaceful in the Federation, not counting the continuous raids common in the Human Sphere. The Solaris Cooperative is a small thorn in the Federation’s side as well, though no major conflict has come out of that yet.

The most explosive conflict nearly materialized in 3096 when the former Skye world of Wing in the remnants of the Free Worlds League collapsed into anarchy. Duchess Hermione sent a fleet to deal with the issue and bring peace to the world, and the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth did the same, resulting in months of altercations that could have sparked a war. In the end the young Kristen Marik showed the Federation proof that it was elements of their own government that had caused the unrest and Hermione called the fleet back, promising that those responsible would pay. Relations with the Commonwealth have become markedly warmer since then.

Relations with the Tikonov Free Republic and Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Association have been friendly over the last decades as well, with only low-level raids exchanged. The border with the Azami Caliphate is also generally peaceful as well, though relations with the Lyran Commonwealth are not so simple. Archon Adam Steiner, having taken over after Archon Peter Steiner-Davion’s assassination, has not given up Lyran claims on either the Tamar Pact or the Federation of Skye, officially labeling them both as “in rebellion.” Luckily for the Federation and Tamar, the Commonwealth does not at this time have the power to maintain control over many worlds that have no defenses against them, let alone larger powers with their own militaries. Raids are common though, especially on factory worlds where Lyran “collectors” come to take what is “rightfully theirs” from the Federation.

Military

The large number of BattleMechs produced on the heavily-industrialized Skye worlds keep any one or two designs from dominating their military, though Assassins and Locusts are the most common light designs. Chippewa and Seydlitz aerospace fighters dominated their fighter branches though, used to guard the flanks of the many Avenger and Claymore assault DropShips in their fleets. The Shipil Company yards over Skye also build Fox II destroyers that project Federation fleet power throughout its space, and smaller Snaphaunce and Doune frigates to protect them.

The Pride of Skye
First Skye Guards RCT – The Boys from Skye
Skye Jaegers – The Dragon Hunters
Third Skye Rangers – Freedom’s Ring
Fourth Skye Rangers – Albion
Tenth Skye Rangers – Black Watch
Seventeenth Skye Rangers – Boys of Summer
Twenty-Second Skye Rangers – Falcon Killers
Twenty-Fifth Skye Rangers – Pride of Hesperus

Major Factories

Edasich – Edasich Motors – various fusion engines

Furillo – Defiance Industries – Assassin, Axman, Clint, Locust, Scorpion, Stalker, Uziel, Wasp and Zeus BattleMechs; BattleArmor
– Lockheed/CBM Corporation – Warrior helicopter
– N&D – various electronics

Glengarry – Grey Death Technologies – BattleArmor and advanced electronics

Hesperus II – Defiance Industries – Archer, Atlas, Banshee, Berserker, Caesar, Fafnir, Flashman, Goliath, Griffin, Salamander, and Zeus BattleMechs; BattleArmor; Fortune, Demolisher II, Hunter, Manticore, Patton and Rommel tanks; Avenger DropShip (produced in association with Shipil Company)
– Doering Electronics – various electronics.

Kessel – Diverse Optics Incorporated – Various laser weapons.

New Earth – New Earth Trading Company – Alacorn, Manticore, Myrmidon and Vedette tanks; Karnov UR Transport

Skye – Shipil Company – Seydlitz AeroSpace Fighter, Claymore and Overlord DropShips, Snaphaunce and Doune frigates, Fox II destroyer.
– Cyclops Incorporated – Drillson, Glaive, Maxim and Hover APC vehicles.

Wyatt – Bowie Industries – Archer BattleMech, Chippewa aerospace fighter, various civilian air and aerospace craft

System Information

Alchiba – A warm agricultural world, this has been a major center of trade since the days of the Star League. It’s lack of major resources kept it safe from both Amaris and the other Houses during the centuries of war since then, and it continues to act as a major trade port and agricultural world.

Alcor – A nutrient poor world that has difficulty growing its own food, this world’s extreme volcanic tendencies have made it easy to mine metals. Another major trade center, it has suffered numerous raids over the centuries, but rebuilding efforts seem to be making headway in recent years. Advanced atmospheric filters have helped to remove the toxins pumped into the air by the constant volcanic eruptions, making the world friendlier to human life at the expense of the local wildlife which have begun to die off except in reservations set aside for them in areas too difficult or expensive to use.

Alexandria – Long ago this world was known for its great collections of art, but the Succession Wars shattered the world and most of its cities. It was thankfully spared the Jihad because of the Federation’s neutrality, and the last twenty years have seen its government beginning to rebuild its cities and art collections.

Alioth – A beautiful, oxygen-rich planet that is warmer than expected for its distance from the local sun, Alioth was a garden world that produced food for many surrounding systems during the Star League. The fertility of the planet was partially caused by intense solar radiation emitted by its star approximately every century, and the locals have learned how to shield their buildings so as not to be shut down by it. They have also become very good at treating the various cancers caused by the radiation. The Succession Wars were not kind to this world as League and Commonwealth troops marched back and forth across its lands. In recent decades however efforts to repair it have been underway and appear to be taking hold.

Alkaid – Home to Toloy-Daelun Chemicals, this planet is one of the premier sources of various chemicals used throughout the Federation of Skye. Four months by DropShip from the standard Nadir and Zenith jump points, this planet takes fifty-one Terran years to orbit its star and is dominated by sun-dried deserts. Since the Jihad, the Federation of Skye has religiously mapped the various “pirate points” around Alkaid and have built a recharge station at the Lagrange Point between Alkaid and its moon Vishnu. JumpShips traveling to Alkaid are given up-to-date calculations on where to jump, allowing quicker travel to Alkaid on a standard basis than that ever seen before, and tugs are always on ready alert to catch incoming JumpShips in order to maintain their position in the Lagrange Point. Toloy-Daelun Chemicals enjoys the increased profits attributed to this enterprise and supports it fully.

Alkalurops – A warm and oppressive world, it is plagued by frequent hurricanes and tornadoes that are the result of a thick atmosphere, cursed further by greenhouse gases that amplify the heat of its white A-class sun. There is not a single form of surface animal life, though native fish do thrive in the deeper parts of the planet's two large oceans, where they are able to escape the elements. Human settlements mainly center around areas near to pockets of natural gas and metal veins, and are normally buried deep into mountains to avoid the weather. Nearly all buildings are pressurized and outfitted with advanced air filters to make the interior air breathable. This insular style of living has made this world nearly xenophobic of all other peoples, except for those from the Federation of Skye whom they see as friends. Others are not welcome there.

Alphecca – A quiet farming world with no other natural resources, this world’s laid-back attitude has gained the scoffing of many visitors, but has kept it safe from invasions for centuries. Only during a Kuritan drive for Skye was the world occupied, but little damage was done to it before the Kuritans were pushed back off. To this day, it maintains its peaceful life, shipping food to other worlds but little else.

Alrakis – A member of the Federation of Skye when the Lyran Commonwealth was formed, this world was one of many lost during the Third Succession War in a Draconis Combine drive to capture Skye. Though turned back, the Combine held onto this world against Lyran raids until the Jihad. During the Jihad, it was one of many worlds taken by the Federation. It is also home to the dangerous and predatory tigerfalcon, a man-sized avian that thinks humans are tasty treats. This world’s high gravity helps it generate the Federation’s best infantry soldiers.

Atria – Covered almost entirely in water, and wrapped in a thick atmosphere that traps heat and renders only the islands near the equator habitable, this world’s massive amounts of wildlife were quickly found to be incompatible with the human digestive system. Since the Federation of Skye captured the world during the Jihad, work to genetically engineer version of the local animals that are compatible with the human digestive track has been performed with help from the Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Alliance. This work has generated excellent progress and Atria is becoming self-sufficient for the first time in centuries.

Auldhouse

Baxter – This world is remarkable in that no humans live on land. In the centuries since humans colonized the planet, its largest moon, T'Laus, has begun following a dangerously erratic orbital path and its tidal forces have caused massive tremors that have nearly ripped the planet apart. No land is considered safe in this day and age, and all humans living there now make their lives on giant floating cities on or under the oceans of the world. These giant habitats were built with the help of nearby Yed Posterior, which follows a mostly similar life. The Baxter water navy is one of the best in the Federation.

Caledonia – A sparsely populated and rustic world, its primary claim to fame is the Citadel, an old Star League fortress that houses massive particle cannons designed to destroy invading ships in orbit. The Citadel has forced Solaris Cooperative raiders to be very careful when approaching the planet.

Canonbie

Carnwath – The Ruins of Carnwath were originally thought to be the last monuments of a long dead alien civilization when settlers first moved here. Though scientists debunked the theory, hundreds of thousands of people visit the ruins every year, partially because of the mysterious “Flying Saucers” that began to be detected during the Jihad and continue to appear from time to time to this day.

Carsphairn – Wracked by storms in all seasons because of the push and pull of her three moons, this world is not a pleasant place to live compared to many other worlds. The locals however say that a clear day on Carsphairn is better than a clear day on any other world in the Human Sphere, though few outsiders are welcome there. Fertile farmland and the meat of the buffalo-like elwriths allows this world good trade capabilities with the rest of the Federation.

Carstairs

Chaffee

Chara – The main colonized world of this system is named Pacifica, because of the large amount of peaceful water that the first explorer of this system discovered. Or so legends say. It might also have been someone simply making a joke. In reality, sudden rain or thunderstorms rage across the temperate coastal regions, and fierce blizzards and punishing downpours of freezing rain frequent the northern and southern latitudes, most coming from skies that seemed clear just minutes before. The natives like to joke with outsiders, saying “If you don't like the weather here, just wait a minute and it'll change.” Those jokes are not false.

Cor Caroli – A mineral-rich system, it is dominated by two stars. The system primary is an unstable white-hot A-class subdwarf, while all the planets orbit the distant, and stable, F0-class star. Unfortunately, the subdwarf makes its presence known by periodically flooding the system with electromagnetic radiation that disrupts all communications and navigation systems, making travel into the system a challenge. Even so, its mineral riches have kept it colonized and mining since its discovery, and it continues to export rare minerals and finished products to the rest of the Federation.

Corridan IV – Home of Water Pure Industries, one of the foremost producers of clean drinking water in the Federation, Corridan declared water a planetary treasure in 3090 and severally cut back on exports to keep their supplies from dipping below what they consider the “nominal” level. The Tal family, knowing this was going to happen for some time, has been pushing other planets even harder than usual to buy its recycling systems since the early 3080s. Between new systems and maintenance contracts, Water Pure is making quite a profit.

Dalkeith – This is a frigid world.

Dromini VI – Surrounded by an impressive ring of ice and dust in place of a moon, this world never had enough resources to make it a target of raids. It was however in a good position to act as a staging area for raids between the Lyran Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine and it changed hands multiple times during the Succession Wars, giving the planet a bit of an identity crisis. It last changed hands during the Jihad, when a Federation assault force hit the Lyon’s Thumb and retook it, using Dromini as a staging area once again. German, Scottish, and Japanese are the three primary languages of this world, depending on which region you are in, though nearly all business-owners have at least a working knowledge of English.

Dyev – Originally colonized by Russian and Slavic entrepreneurs, this world offered abundant raw metals that continue to be mined to this day. Having relied on ice ships, like those of the Ryan Cartel, for much of its existence, first because nobody could find the water buried in canyons deep under its surface and later because Amaris poisoned much of the water to bring the world to heel, circumstances seem to be improving for this world. After the Federation captured this world and the rest of Lyon’s Thumb during Jihad, they put much of their effort into removing the poison from the water supply. Work continues to this day, but much of the poisoned supply has been cleansed and ice ships are a thing of the past.

Eaglesham

Eaton

Edasich – Home of Edasich Motors and the Edasich family, it is a major producer of fusion engines for the Federation.

Fianna – A sparsely populated world barely rating a Federation presence, it is only held because of its proximity to both the Princedom of Gienah and the Solaris Cooperative make it a convenient place to trade with the Federation. In 3017, Redjack Ryan’s troops captured this agricultural world for the Free Worlds League, sacked the cities, enslaved the populace, and destroyed many industries, including a fusion power plant. The destruction of the power plant poisoned half the planet's atmosphere, destroying much of its ability to grow crops and bringing an immediate halt to Ryan's carousing. The world has never recovered, though efforts are underway to repair the damage Ryan caused before running from the Inner Sphere.

Freedom – This world started the Outer Reaches Rebellion that ultimately resulted in the end of the Terran Alliance after the governor passed a marriage tax. It is also the home of a Water Pure Industries factory.

Furillo – Once a personal fiefdom of the Steiner family, after the Word of Blake leveled Tharkad and nearly killed Peter Steiner-Davion, the Federation moved in to “protect” this world. Still loyal to what is left of the Steiner family, Furillo is an unwilling member of the Federation but Skye is even more unwilling to give up the factories on that world. Numerous small rebellions have cropped up over the years, and Skye has found itself in the unenviable role of being the oppressor, at least in Furillo’s eyes. Of course, Skye knows well how to fight authority, having done it for centuries, and the ridiculously inept schemers of Furillo have so far been easily stopped. Their experience seems to be increasing of late though, whether due to Merchant Prince support or to survival of the smartest, and Skye hold on this world may be slipping.

Gacrux – A stronghold of the Brotherhood of Cincinnatus, it was also home to the bomber that nearly killed Duchess Hermione Kelswa-Steiner of Skye in November 3067 and caused Duke Robert Kelswa-Steiner to officially pull the remnants of the Tamar Pact and the Federation of Skye from the Lyran Alliance. During the Jihad, Federation investigators tracked the bomber’s past to Gacrux and the Brotherhood, and Federation forces arrived to excise the poison in retribution. The local militia, dominated by the Brotherhood, fought to the death, shattering the capital and forcing the Federation to install martial law in an attempt to rebuild and pacify it. Now a hotbed of secessionist activity thanks to agents from the League, the Solaris Cooperative, and the remnants of the Brotherhood, this world has still not recovered from the damage caused by that fighting and the constant raids that have followed. Poetically perhaps, recent evidence has come to light that suggests the bomber was a Word of Blake plant in the Brotherhood.

Galatea – Once the center of the mercenary trade, its fortunes fell in the 3030s after Outreach rose to prominence. Its entry into the Commission in 3062 brought a return of the heady days that once had been its due, and now this world is the center of the mercenary trade in the. It is also the home of Solaris-like duels that are broadcasted throughout the Federation and more than one Solaris champion has traveled to Galatea to test the local waters to see if the fish are dangerous.

Gladius – A virtual paradise with few metals and soil that “burns out” quickly when used to grow crops, this world has little value to invading armies or other nations. This fact has kept it safe through centuries of war, and has made it a favored vacation spot in the Federation.

Glengarry – Home of Grey Death Industries, a major producer of BattleArmor for the Federation. The bustling capital city of Dunkeld is as large as any capital city in the Human Sphere and is a major focus of trade in the Federation.

Hesperus II – Home to Defiance Industries, the greatest concentration of industrial military might in the Federation, little can grow on this world outside the Melrose Valleys. The important Brewer family, in command of Defiance Industries, has been invited to rejoin the Lyran Commonwealth many times, but have so far declined to the great relief of Duchess Hermione Kelswa-Steiner.

Imbros III – Long a border world between the Lyran Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine, it was captured, along with the rest of the Lyon’s Thumb, during the Fourth Succession War. The Combine re-occupied it during the Civil War, but when the Jihad came their weakened forces were unable to stop advancing Federation forces from taking it back.

Izar – Another independent-minded world in the notoriously independent-minded Federation, this was one of the worlds that joined the Outer Reaches Rebellion. After becoming a part of the Federation of Skye they also began to generate many of the best members of the Free Skye movement. They now produce many of the best soldiers of the Federation Defense Forces.

Kessel – Lost to the Draconis Combine during the Third Succession War in a drive to take Skye, this world suffered from the Yakuza and the massive amounts of pollution the Dragon allowed as long as they produced war machines for him. It also suffered a heavy Word of Blake assault that shattered the Combine defenders and nearly all of its industries. The Federation moved in after the attack to help rebuild the shattered world, but pollution still taints the air and the Yakuza still fight law enforcement. It is not a kind place to live, but the factories that have been rebuilt provide valuable materials for the Federation Defense Forces.

Kimball II – Colonized by the Kimball family of Terra, this system had two habitable worlds. The first and most habitable was rich in metals and farmland and the Kimball family made a fortune. After expanding their business interests, they made an alliance with the Igota family of Thorin to form Ceres Metals, a company that still exists to this day. Captured during the Jihad by a neutral Federation of Skye, it survived with minimal damage.

Kirkcaldy

Ko – A hardy agricultural world, it supplied the Terran Hegemony, Draconis Combine, and the Lyran Commonwealth with food of various kinds over the centuries. After taking it and the other Lyon’s Thumb worlds during Jihad, it has supplied the Federation well.

Kochab – The filming location of the Steinharts holodrama in the ’20s, this backwater world that suffers from earthquakes faded back into obscurity after the show, and its network, were acquired by the Donegal Broadcasting Company. After the Federation split off from the Lyran Alliance though, long-running plans to reintroduce the drama finally began to fall into place. Thumbing their noses at lawsuits from DBC, the drama, along with several of its original actors now playing the family elders, has prospered on Federation sets since 3063. With it, Kochab has seen a growth in its tourism industry as people travel to the world to see their favorite actors. Not surprisingly, the Steinharts is banned from being broadcast in the Lyran Commonwealth, but a sizeable black market for the drama has grown over the years.

Komephoros – A cold world colonized because of its promise of abundant natural resources, its first colonization attempt failed when an asteroid hit the world and flooded the colony out. To this day, no one travels to the “Lake of the Damned” without good cause, and many believe those who died there haunt it. Captured during the Jihad.

Konstance – Another former Skye world captured by the Federation from the Combine during the Jihad, it suffers from an overabundance of carbon dioxide, some generated by humanity, that has resulted in a powerful greenhouse effect. Too hot to live in the middle latitudes, humans live at the poles now and use orbital or submarine transports to move between the poles.

La Blon – A tropical world almost completely covered by water, it and its habitable moon boast abundant natural resources that have made it rich over the centuries. A valued member of the Federation, its people have come to believe that no military attack will ever harm them beyond the mere inconvenience of having their daily routine altered.

Laiaka – Naturally a world that is not friendly to humans, centuries of terraforming collapsed after the Star League fell and the Succession Wars began. After the Jihad ended, efforts began again to terraform it, this time with plants that could survive without human aid. Progress is slow, and most cities are still placed in underground caverns left over from mining its abundant natural resources, but the quality of the atmosphere is improving.

Lambrecht – A rich and beautiful world, only marred by constant earthquakes, this world was a jewel to colonize and became home to one of the Star League’s “Golden Ten” universities, a Star League Mint, and six Castles Brian. All were destroyed during the Fall of the Star League, poisons and radiation stained the lands, and centuries of control by the Draconis Combine did little to help the world. It found itself a part of the Lyon’s Thumb under Commonwealth control after the Fourth Succession War, but fell back into Combine hands during the Civil War. The Federation captured it during the Jihad, and the ruins of the old forts continue to draw many visitors to this day. Heavy cleansers imported from the Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Association have begun to finally clean up the worst of the polluted areas as well.

Lamon – Lamon is a planet of vast ice plains and low, rocky mountains. The capital is aptly named Icebox.

Laurieston

Lipton – One of the oldest colonies, this world actually participated in the Outer Reaches Rebellion by simply refusing to support the decaying Terran Alliance. Self-sufficient by that time, the world has remained so throughout its history, allowing it to remain more insular than many worlds. During the FedCom Civil War, it sided with Free Skye, and when Duke Robert Kelswa-Steiner pulled the Federation of Skye from the Lyran Alliance in 3067, it was one of the first worlds to support his call. It is now a loyal, if quiet, member of the Federation mostly known for textile exports, especially the fashions made by Redstorm Fashions, Incorporated.

Lyons – A major center for trade during Star League years, Lyons was a rich world until the Star League fell. Then it became a major target for raids during the Succession Wars, but a major aerospace presence on its moon kept most raiders at arms distance. It fell to the Combine during the FedCom Civil War, but as the Word of Blake ravaged that nation during the Jihad, the Federation of Skye moved in and took the system back. Once again behind the lines, it is a generally safe world to live on.

Marfik – Sporting an atmosphere just thick enough to live in, but too thin to protect the people from harmful radiation, many efforts have been made over the centuries to reinforce the atmosphere. The most successful was made during the Star League times, but as the Succession Wars waged the terraforming and atmospheric purifiers began to break down. In recent decades, the terraforming and purifiers have been worked on again and this world is finding itself in another Golden Age.

Menkent – The burial place of the Marsden dynasty, the heroic death of Alistair Marsden on this barren world in 2408 paved the way for the Steiner dynasty to hold sway in the Lyran Commonwealth. Traded back and forth between the Commonwealth and the Combine over the centuries, it is a devastated world with little industry that even now garners too little interest for Federation monies to be sent to help rebuild it.

Milton – A world with a terrible past, it suffered first when the Terran Alliance fell and later when the Succession Wars smashed it into rubble. Large swaths of the planet are chemical and biological plague zones, though Federation efforts to clean it have begun in the last decade. They currently project that it will be decades before the planet is clean.

Mizar – Baking beneath one of four suns in the system, this world that rarely sees darkness anywhere on its surface has been a tourist spot since it was discovered. Rarely feeling the effect of any war, to this day raiders find themselves unable to hurt anything and most of the time simply enjoy their stay, thanks to the very friendly and welcoming natives, and then leave. This world is not concerned with who rules it or what government claims it and is content to live day-to-day, enjoying life as it comes. It is little surprise that people from throughout the Human Sphere can be found relaxing on its beautiful beaches.

Moore – A resource-rich world, the Terran Hegemony and the Draconis Combine jealously guarded it for centuries. It fell to the Commonwealth only twice, and the Combine took it back each time. During the Jihad, the Federation took advantage of the Dragon’s distraction and captured the world once again, holding it closely ever since.

Muphrid – Muphrid has an equatorial jungle region.

Nekkar

New Earth – The first extra-solar colony humanity founded, New Earth was once a shining jewel to the works of mankind. Shattered by the forces of Amaris as General Kerensky closed in on Terra, it has never recovered its former glory but still supports some heavy industries. It is also the home of St. Rethwin's College for Theological Studies which teaches 20 Christian and non-Christian traditions.

Nusakan – A major producer of computer components for the Star League, three Castles Brian were built to defend the world. All were destroyed during the Amaris Crisis and only 20,000 people survived on the world when the war was over. To this day it is a small and unimportant world of the Federation, though its fortunes are on the rise.

Phalan – A major source of diamonds, needed for the construction of BattleMech armor, this is an important world to Skye.

Phecda – Fifty-two days from a standard jump point, this world that is slowly falling into an ice age has never been a prosperous world. A quiet world that does little but trade minor items with other systems, it is rarely raided by other nations.

Porrima – The personal fiefdom of Duke Robert Kelswa-Steiner, he brought it into the Federation of Skye when he declared independence in November of 3067. Every sixty-two years it has a “wet season” due to the gravitic pull of its inward neighbor in the solar system that includes hurricane-force winds, powerful lightning, and weeks of heavy rains that can literally wash away anything not tied down. Because of that, all settlements are at high altitudes and are well fortified against the elements.

Port Moseby – A crossroads of Rasalhague, Tamar, Skye, Lyran, and Azami shipping and people, Port Moseby is a place where you can find almost any luxury and almost any pleasure. The sprawling cities, major spaceports, and a steady traffic of JumpShips in and out of the system make it a particularly rich one, especially in the generally slower Federation of Skye. Lyran Merchant Princes and Clan Sea Fox traders both have a permanent presence in the system. Oddly, all parties have generally deemed it off limits for any raids and no major government has hit the planet in two decades.

Rigil Kentarus – A beautiful planet blessed with a rare habitable moon, the two worlds were bustling centers of trade and commerce during the Star League. The Amaris Crisis was not kind to them though, as orbital bombardment rained down on them. The centuries since have seen the Lyrans and the Federation doing much to repair the two worlds and they are once again major centers of economic prosperity.

Ryde – This world’s chemical industries produce everything from pharmaceuticals to specialized fuels and industrial-grade explosives. Its seas are poisonous though, full of sulfur and heavy metal, so a Water Pure Industries plant has cleansed water here for centuries.

Sabik – Orbiting twin stars, this inhospitable world has rarely been more than a simple military outpost, even during the heady days of the Star League. Conquered by the Lyran Commonwealth during the Fourth Succession War and lost to the Combine during the FedCom Civil War, the Federation recaptured it during Jihad and now use it as the simple military outpost it has become accustomed to being.

Sakhalin

Seginus – A stormy world nearly a month away from the jump points and lacking in any rare materials not able to be found on other, easier to reach worlds, it has rarely been the target of raids.

Skondia – Colonized by European and African colonists looking to mine its rare minerals and industrial-quality metals, this world has been fought over between the Commonwealth and the Combine for centuries. The Federation of Skye and the Commonwealth have held it for most of that time, but during the Fourth Succession War the Combine managed to take it. During the Jihad, the Federation moved in to return it to Skye rule and have guarded it jealously ever since.

Skye – The capital of the Federation, Skye is the emotional heartland of millions of people descended from it, and drives a fanatic patriotism rare in the modern Human Sphere. Over fifty percent of its land mass is unspoiled wilds, but the rest boasts enough factories to make a businessman’s heart proud.

Summer – Orbiting a cool class-M sun, this planet’s decaying ozone layer has increased its average temperature over the centuries of human habitation. In the last decade, scientists from the Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Association have begun testing out new terraforming techniques designed to rebuild the ozone layer. It is too early at this time to tell if their efforts will make any progress.

Symington

Syrma – Originally colonized by various anti-technology sects, this world became much more industrialized during the Star League years. During the Amaris Crises, the anti-tech communes were “farmed” for labor in the mines and they have never recovered, now all but lost and relegated to handful of small regions.

Thorin – Home to the largest Hegemony Library ever built, and one of the “Golden Ten” Universities, Thorin was one of the earliest planets colonized when mankind went to the stars. During the Amaris Crises the Library was burned to the ground and so much damaged was done to the University that it was later abandoned. During the FedCom Civil War, Archer Christofori found himself pushed into rebellion after his sister was murdered and her killer released by Katherine’s government. He returned to Thorin after the war and continues to run Christofori Express, a shipping company that moves goods throughout the Federation.

Unukalhai – First colonized by people from the Middle East, they left for another world after finding a biological taint in the atmosphere that could kill humans. A later colonization attempt by Asian and Hawaiian pilgrims stuck though and they decided to find a way to get around the taint. Centuries later, a simple dose of antitoxin allows anybody to breath deeply and eat locally grown crops without problems. Not damaged by the Succession Wars since it had little of importance, this world is peaceful and happy to do this day.

Vindemiatrix – Orbiting a dying yellow star, this world is prone to tidal ripping caused by the sun’s death throes that result in numerous earthquakes and volcanoes. In the centuries of human occupation, fifteen percent of the local animal species have died because of this, and another thirty percent have become endangered. The Vindemiatrix Observatory is devoted to the study of the lifetimes of stars, and it is hoped that the knowledge found here can be used elsewhere. Scientists from the Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Association have recently begun pouring over the information about its sun, looking for ways to lengthen the life cycle of the sun, but have made no progress yet.

Whittington

Wyatt – A planet of deserts and bizarre rock formations.

Yed Posterior – Only twelve small landmasses are habitable on this world, but all are ravaged by heavy storms that make life there difficult. Many people still live on the surface, but most have gone underground or underwater to avoid the storms. Their water navy is generally considered to be the best in the Federation and most other planets that want a good one come to this world for training and ideas.

Yed Prior – Home of the Mitchellson University of Arts and Crafts, one of the best schools of its kind in the Federation, and the home of a large Shinto movement.

Yorii – Colonized by Asians, this world’s heavy metal deposits made it a rich world despite its poor soil. Amaris troops rendered its capital Neo-Tokyo uninhabitable when they sabotaged its main fusion reactor and the radiation has stuck there for centuries. It fell to the Commonwealth during the Fourth Succession War but returned to Combine control during the FedCom Civil War. The Federation captured it during the Jihad and scientists from the Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Association have been a common sight near Neo-Tokyo in the last three decades, slowly cleaning radiation out of the abandoned city.

Zavijava – Originally a terrestrial world, in the twenty-fifth century a series of massive volcanic eruptions began changing its environment. Average temperatures have dropped 10 degrees because of the “nuclear winter” effects of its seven very active volcanic chains, most of its native animals have gone extinct, and most of its human inhabitants have left. Even Star League scientists were unable to discover a reason for the changes and Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Association scientists have been unable to improve upon that old research.

Zebebelgenubi – A harsh world filled with massive mountain ranges, it became the crowning achievement of Star League electronics and robotics after precious gems and high-grade silicon was found in the mountains. Shattered by the Amaris occupation and the Succession Wars, it is a world in decline now; something even nearby Skye can do little to help.

Zebeneschamali – Founded by two different groups of Middle Eastern colonists, one from the failed expedition to Unukalhai, this would has been safely ensconced in the Federation of Skye for centuries. To this day however it has two capitals, one for each colonized continent.

Zollikofen – Often nicknamed a “treasure planet”, the colonists of this world found great supplies of water, fertile soil, and easily accessible precious and common metal ores. The Star League placed a Mint on it as well, and many historians are surprised at how little this world suffered under Amaris rule. The mercenaries on planet definitely tried to make all the money they could, and took over many factories and mines, but they didn’t destroy for the fun of it like troops on other worlds did. Instead, the world survived the Amaris Crisis generally unmolested, only to be nuked by the Draconis Combine. Centuries later, most of the precious metals are tapped out or in contaminated areas of the planet, though scientists from the Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Association have been recently scrubbing parts of it clear to open up old mines for a percentage of the metals unearthed.

_________________
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?

Tamar Pact

History

Formed in 2235 by the Tamar family, the Tamar Pact originally covered the region between Nox, Suk II, and Fatima. Two Tamar brothers found the world they named Tamar in 2331, and they made it the capital of their realm, a vast collection of rich and industrialized systems. The fall of the Star League and the Succession Wars resulted in the loss of half of their realm to the Draconis Combine, a grievous wound to the proud nation. The Fourth Succession War, with the help of the Federated Suns, gave them hope that they could recover their worlds. They were proud beyond measure when they took the worlds, and betrayed beyond equal measure when the Archon gave those worlds to Rasalhague. It was a betrayal that ate into the hearts of Tamar and never healed.

The Clan War further shattered the Tamar Pact, leaving its capital under Clan Wolf control and only a handful of worlds still under Tamar authority. But the cruelest of slights, after spending over a decade promising the return of Tamar worlds, performed by the Lyran government was the removal of the Tamar Pact as an independent military and diplomatic region. They were a founding member state of the Commonwealth, along with the Protectorate of Donegal and the Federation of Skye. They were not the property of Donegal and would never easily accept being placed under Donegal command. Decades of betrayals and lack-luster support courtesy of the Steiner family had embittered them, and that final act festered in their minds.

Especially when it was Duke Robert Kelswa-Steiner, the last in the line of rulers of the Pact, who had spent his time and money building the Tamar Cavaliers and not the Lyran government, which had once valued Tamar. That act gave him their loyalty, and when Hermione Kelswa-Steiner was nearly killed on Tharkad, they gladly followed him into secession. To their surprise, the Kell family on Arc-Royal did as well, pledging to protect the Tamar Pact with their substantial resources. Then the Word of Blake struck, nearly killing the Archon, evidence suggests that the Kell family were preparing to support the Alliance despite their disagreements when Clan Jade Falcon boiled across the border in January of 3068.

Thinking to find an easy conquest in an Alliance fighting the Word, they instead found the Kell family, the Wolves-In-Exile, and the Tamar Cavaliers. They also found six full regimental combat teams and assorted other units of mercenary and Lyran origins who had declared for the Pact waiting for them. The Falcons wiped out the Twenty-Third Arcturan Guards to a man on Graus, pushing both Wolf clusters there back further into Tamar space, and shattered the Third Lyran Guard on Crimond, though the Tamar Cavaliers and Sixth Lyran Guard on Tomans managed to hold them off. The Eleventh Donegal Guard, First Kell Hounds, and Third Wolf Guards weathered an assault on Graceland, pushed the Falcons off, and followed them back to Pandora, starting a battle there that went on until 3074 and became the worst meat-grinder in the war. Other Jade Falcon forces smashed into Morges and other worlds of the Tamar Pact closer to the galactic core, rolling up defenders as the Tamar forces desperately tried to shore up their defenses.

By the time the Fourteenth Lyran Guard and the Fourth Lyran Regulars arrived, along with a heavy force of Skye military units, the Clan front was beginning to collapse. With the help of those reinforcements, and the arrival of the Pride of Tamar from now-shattered Tharkad, the Tamar Pact began to hold the line against the Falcons, though their casualties continued to mount across the width and breadth of the Pact. Months faded into years as the fighting continued, and rumors began to come into Tamar space saying that Clan Wolf was preparing to join in on the attack.

Then more rumors arrived telling of Clan Hell’s Horses returning to the Inner Sphere and assaulting Clan Wolf. Historians now know that their arrival saved the Tamar Pact from a major invasion it could not have survived, but at the time all the Pact knew was that the rumored invasion of their lands didn’t come. Instead they “only” had to deal with a renewed Falcon push. New production and trainees continued to pour into the Pact from Skye factories and schools, replenishing lost machines and warriors for the fight against the Falcons. Then in August of 3071 Khan Vlad Ward died over Csesztreg with his command ship, fighting the Hells Horses, and the Ghost Bears invaded Clan Wolf in December. Word of those actions didn’t arrive in the Tamar Pact until January, but when it did the Wolves-In-Exile pulled together their most powerful remaining units and jumped into the Clan Wolf Occupation Zone to support their cousins.

Without the Wolves’ best forces, the Tamar Pact nearly fell to the Jade Falcons. Soon after they left, the last vestiges of an organized defense in the Alliance’s Melissa Theatre collapsed, leaving Tamar the only foil to Falcon advances, and the Clan shifted all of its forces to hit them like a sledgehammer. They steamrolled over every defense until they hit Arc-Royal but were pushed back by the Kell Hounds and several mercenary units, then dropped on Bountiful Harvest with a force powerful enough destroy three regiments. Facing them were the Twenty-Second Skye Rangers and the Tamar Cavaliers, dug in and ready for a fight. The Falcons advanced across the planet, destroying one defending fortification after another and bleeding the defenders white. But the Rangers and Cavaliers held on, pulling every trick in the book and inventing new ones as time went on, making the Falcons pay for every meter they took. By 3073, more than three-quarters of the planet was under Falcon rule, most of it smashed flat by the fighting.

Then in March, the Falcons marched onto their DropShips and left the planet, what was left of it, in the clutches of the bewildered defenders. The Pact later found out that raids from what is now known as Clan Snord and invasion forces from Clan Hell’s Horses had irritated the Falcons enough to being pulling forces back from the fight against Tamar. The Tamar and Skye forces began slowly picking up worlds, but the Falcons held on for another year in Pandora, seeing the Wolves-in-Exile help Clan Wolf stop both the Hell’s Horses and Ghost Bear invasions before sitting back to lick their wounds and refit. Then in February of 3074, the reconstituted Clan Wolf smashed into the Jade Falcon Occupation Zone and the Falcons simply didn’t have the forces needed to hold them off. In March they began to retreat back to Sudeten to consolidate their forces around a border that was easier to defend as they tried desperately to hold off the Hell’s. The rest of the year found the desperate battles seen throughout the Tamar Pact tapering off in favor of the slow march of exhausted and shattered troops into new battles.

One planet fell at a time as they carefully chose their targets, finally able to concentrate what was left of their forces. With the, albeit heavily reduced, resources of Clan Wolf on their side the fate of the Tamar Pact was finally secure, even if each of them had been shattered by the fighting. With Skye help, they would have been able to completely roll up the Falcons and kick them out of the Inner Sphere. But then the reinforcements from Skye began to taper off as it prepared for another assault, and the envisioned total assault on the Jade Falcon Occupation Zone never materialized. The Tamar Pact had to content itself with retaking a handful of worlds cautiously as Skye smashed into the remains of the nearby Draconis Combine, still reeling under Word of Blake attack. By the end of 3075, the border between the Jade Falcons and the Tamar Pact had stabilized to approximately the same border as it has now.

With the Word of Blake finally pushed out of Lyran Alliance space, the nearby Blackstone Authority, supported by the Coventry Division, finally succeeded in stabilizing a new front line with the Jade Falcons as well, stopping them from expanding in that direction too. With the Falcon border stabilized, the Wolf border no longer a threat, the Rasalhague and Dominion borders quiet, and the Draconis Combine smashed into blithering incompetence, Skye pulled its remaining forces out of the Tamar Pact and began sending them to help the Star League at Terra. Tamar spent the rest of the Jihad rebuilding their forces, taking a world whenever they had a chance, and defending against Lyran assault forces trying to reclaim “their” worlds.

After the Jihad and the formal merging of the Ghost Bears and the remnants of Rasalhague, Tamar and Clan Wolf began to grow closer, training forces together and fighting on each others’ worlds against mutual neighbors. And in September of 3082, after turning fifteen years of age, Selvin Kelswa-Steiner began to visit the worlds of the Tamar Pact. Traveling as far as Tamar in the Clan Wolf Occupation Zone, he fell in love with the Tamar branch of his father’s realm. The 3080s were mostly peaceful, outside of heavy raids by the Jade Falcons and the reformed Lyran Commonwealth, though in 3087 a Lockheed squadron nearly wiped out Selvin’s fleet. That started a quick skirmish of raids between the Commonwealth and Tamar that went on until June of 3088.

Then word reached Arc-Royal that Duke Robert Kelswa-Steiner had been shot by an assassin and died three days later. When Selvin’s twentieth birthday came around on 29 August, 3088, the young man declared himself Duke of Tamar and officially seceded from the combined state his father had commanded for the last twenty years. He has remained on good terms with his mother, now commanding the Federation of Skye, her new husband, and the Federation of Skye in general, but has continued to champion a return to Tamar.

The 3090s have seen a slow ramping up of conflict on the Jade Falcon and Lyran Commonwealth borders, as both try to take systems they consider to be theirs, but with Kell Hound and Wolf support the Tamar Pact has been able to push back every major assault. Some smaller ones have broken through for short periods, and the border is always in flux, but Tamar continues to hold its own. Many observers believe that Tamar will follow the Rasalhague Solution in the near future, their opinions bolstered by the dalliance between Selvin Kelswa-Steiner and Anastasia Kerensky, the current holder of Natasha Kerensky’s Bloodname. Should it happen, the combined state would be one of the most powerful nations in the Human Sphere.

Relations with the Rasalhague Dominion are generally peaceful, though honorable raids conducted by Trials of Possession are common. The Jade Falcons do not bother with such niceties when fighting either Inner Sphere or Warden barbarians. They are on friendly terms with the Azami Caliphate as well, and of course are very friendly with the Federation of Skye to this day. The Lyran Commonwealth however considers the Tamar Pact to be “in rebellion” and continues to attempt to retake the Tamar worlds, so far without success.

Military

Arctic Fox, Arctic Wolf, and Mad Cat OmniMechs dominate the Tamar front line military, giving them excellent flexibility in combat. Built with full clan engineering, they are a powerful force in battle. Second line units mostly use Pack Hunter, Verfolger, and Wolfhound BattleMechs. While not as versatile, those standard BattleMechs are cheaper and easier to maintain. The Heimdall OmniTank is the primary combat vehicle in their main battle formations, while skirmishing and scout units are filled out with Centipede, Condor, and Pegasus HoverTanks.

The Tamar Space Force is primarily composed of Eisensturm OmniFighters, used to perform ground support and to guard the numerous Baldur and Hodur frigates in the fleet. A number of Fredasa destroyers command the various naval squadrons, while the flagship of the Tamar Navy is the Aegis-class Tamar. Originally the Jade Falcon White Talon, it was captured by the Wolves-in-Exile long ago and renamed the Jade Wolf. They gifted it to the Tamar Pact in 3088, shortly after Selvin decreed the secession from the Federation of Skye.

Pride of Tamar
Tamar Tigers – Tropic Lightning
1st Tamar Cavaliers – The Archers
6th Tamar Cavaliers – Saucy Sixth
14th Tamar Cavaliers – The Fearsome Fourteenth
11th Tamar Hussars – The Falcon Slayers
17th Tamar Hussars – The Cheshire Cats
1st Kell Hounds
2nd Kell Hounds
Wolf Guards Royal Cluster

Factories

Arc-Royal – Arc-Royal MechWorks – Arctic Fox, Arctic Wolf, and Mad Cat OmniMechs, Pack Hunter, Verfolger, and Wolfhound BattleMechs.
– Arc-Royal SpaceWorks – Fredasa Destroyer, Baldur and Hodur frigates, Eisensturm Aerospace fighter
– Arc-Royal MetalWorks – Heimdall OmniTank

Pandora – Red Devil Industries – BattleMaster and Rifleman BattleMechs, Centipede, Condor, and Pegasus Hovercraft.

System Information

A Place – A desolate world with rich mineral resources, A Place has never been able to feed itself from what it raises from its meager topsoil. During the First Succession War ninety percent of its population died from starvation and the population never returned to Star League levels. Traded back and forth between the Jade Falcons and the Tamar Pact during the Jihad, the population dropped further due to more starvation and to refugees fleeing the system. Now down to less than 50,000 citizens, this border world between the Pact and Clan Jade Falcon is slowly slipping into extinction.

Arc-Royal – A pleasant, pastoral world of mild weather and remarkable beauty, this world is also the center of the mercenary trade in the Tamar Pact. Selvin Kelswa-Steiner rules the Pact from this world, with the help of the powerful Kell family and their military. Some members of Clan Wolf still live on this world, though most have moved to the Wolf Ascendancy.

Atocongo
Ballynure

Blair Atholl – A dreary world covered by constant drizzling rains, troops squelch through a landscape blanketed by an enormous amount of fungi, varying in size and shape but uniformly drab in color.

Blue Diamond

Borghese – Approximately eighty percent of this world is covered in saltwater, with only a single major continent slightly smaller than Australia. Electrical storms and crashing waves have kept most of the population away from the shores, but the brave men who fish the delicious mermaid-like creatures out of the oceans can retire rich men or women.

Bountiful Harvest – The location of one of the heaviest battles between Clan Jade Falcon, Tamar, and Skye forces, the Bountiful Delicacies’ property on this world took heavy damage before the Falcons left. Nashan Foods appreciated the damage done to their competition, but the Kell family helped rebuild Bountiful Delicacies’ facilities. This world is slightly larger than Terra and sports large tracts of flat land and fertile soil, bright beautiful oceans, and an amazing temperate climate that makes it one of the most fertile planets in the Human Sphere.

Crimond – Rich in precious metals, stones, and vast petroleum reserves, this world significantly impacts the economy of the Tamar Pact, helping it afford the vast amounts of military equipment it must build to protect it from Falcon incursions.

Deia – The most heavily fortified world in the Tamar Pact, tens of thousands of fortifications dot its landscape and make it a veritable nightmare to any Jade Falcon raiders.

Dustball – Once the seat of power for the Malthus crime family, they moved their operations elsewhere after the Clan War and Archon Melissa Steiner-Davion conspired to ruin their business. A small, hot world, its only use for the Tamar Pact is as a training center for their military.

Esteros

Fatima – A rich world, it sports deposits of some of the best obsidian in the Tamar Pact.

Fort Loudon – Home of a Castle Brian and rich veins of precious metals, this world on the border of the Rasalhague Dominion and the Wolf Ascendancy is the “host” of many raids from those two clans. Neither of them have ever tried to take the world though, and the military garrison there is very small, only large enough to engage them in honorable trials for metals.

Ganshoren

Graceland – The current seat of power for the Malthus crime family, they have recovered much of the riches they lost due to the Clan War and Archon Melissa Steiner-Davion. Covered in casinos and places designed to indulge in any and all pursuits of happiness and pleasure, Graceland is the destination of millions of visitors a year.

Great X
Kelenfold

Koniz – One of the most heavily fortified worlds in the Tamar Pact, the local militia has spent the last four decades putting a good percentage of the local economy into making it a veritable nightmare for attackers. During the Jihad, a Jade Falcon force did arrive on Koniz and attempted to conquer the world. The militia gave them a bloody fight from a progression of fortresses until the Falcons abandoned the offensive to deal with Clan Snord and Clan Hells Horses.

Meacham

Morges – The austral polar continent, Austrartica, is uninhabited by civilians and, during the winter months it is locked into non-stop blizzards and temperatures that can freeze a man in minutes. When the Tamar Pact reconquered this world from the Falcons, they set up a series of heavy fortifications on every continent, including Austrartica.

Morningside

New Exford – The headquarters of Nashan Foods, a major competitor to Bountiful Delicacies, and the Voyager Christian Church, New Exford is covered in farms.

Pandora – Once the location of two major military industries, the Clan War cut it down to one but the local nobility managed to blackmail the second factory complex into staying. The FedCom Civil War changed that though as Clan Jade Falcon captured the world during that conflict. They quickly divested the corrupt nobility of their power, and their heads, and cleaned the factory complex up. When the Jihad erupted and the Falcons attacked again, it came under Tamar Pact control again and the factories were nationalized under Kell family control, where they remain to this day.

Rasalgethi – Colonized by Norwegians, 100 meter-tall hardwood forests, mountains, and glaciers dominate this world.

Tomans

Yeguas – Yeguas III's moon is named Cue Ball.

Zanderij

_________________
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?

*scratches head...*

very impressive...

_________________
Semi-CBT refugee (siwangtegongdui)...
Original WoTD member...

Great Story, Please keep it going.

Dave.

The Lyran Commonwealth comes next. They are going to be fun to do.

Trying to nail down all the little factions that are a part of it will take a while. I've already noted some of them.

The Lyran Commonwealth is a collection of companies...of Merchant Princes, all having sworn feality to the throne of Tharkad. If you aren't a Merchant Prince, you don't have power.

Actually ironically rather similar to the Corporate Worlds in the Starfire universe if you have ever read it. Didn't think of that until right now.

_________________
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?

The Lyran Commonwealth

History

Dominated by the Protectorate of Donegal, five Merchant Princedoms, and over thirty massively powerful Merchant Princes, the modern Lyran Commonwealth is home to the most aggressive businesses in the entire Human Sphere. Some of them survived the Jihad generally intact, while others found themselves under heavy attack from either the Jade Falcons, the Word of Blake, or in Coventry’s case both.

The precursor to the current political situation in the Commonwealth began in November 3067, when Duchess Hermione Kelswa-Steiner was nearly killed by a bomb while attending a party in honor of Archon Peter Steiner-Davion. The bomb on the other side of the wall of her bedchambers buried her but didn’t quite kill her. The doctors said that if Hauptmann-General Barton Hale hadn’t pulled her free so quickly and gotten her treatment she would have died. Unfortunately for the Commonwealth (called the Alliance at the time) at large, all evidence found in the suite next to hers pointed squarely at the Archon himself. That single act of apparent betrayal nearly destroyed the Lyran state, especially after the remains of the Tamar Pact and the Federation of Skye seceded.

Those actions started a general cooling of relations in the other, more loyal, parts of the Alliance as investigators continued to try to hunt down the “real” assassins at the Archon’s order. Few believed him though, and the Star League would have changed the location of its Conference if nearly all of its delegates weren’t already on the way to Tharkad. As it was, Peter’s treatment at the Conference was decidedly cool, and every security detail had been on high alert, scanning for anything out of the ordinary at all times. The Steiner-Davion family had become known for taking care of its difficulties by way of bombs after all and nobody wanted to be an ex-difficulty to them.

When the Star League Conference disbanded and the representatives went home, after unanimously condemning the Word of Blake and naming them persona-non-gratis throughout the Star League, the Archon thought he would be able to get back to the business of finding out who really tried to kill the Duchess. He knew he hadn’t ordered it after all. But then the Word of Blake attacked Tharkad with a fleet powerful enough to destroy even the Yggdrasil, flagship of the Alliance fleet. The Archon managed to escape the general bombardment of the Triad and the other government complexes, but there was little he could do to protect his nation as the Word of Blake chased him from planet to planet, always just a few hours behind him.

The Word rained fire down on worlds throughout the heart of the Alliance, smashing its wartime industries into paste or capturing them for their use as they tracked the Archon down one planet at a time. Interestingly, they left Coventry and the worlds of the Melissa Theater alone during the early stage of the Jihad, allowing them to put their effort into fighting the Jade Falcons, and the systems on the Marik border were equally left alone as long as they didn’t send forces to support the Archon. The Word wanted the Steiner-Davion line destroyed and they didn’t care who got in their way, but as long as they stayed out of their way they were good. Planets burned as they followed him and his slowly organizing force, smashing one garrison force after another.

They finally cornered him in February of 3070, after over two years of running, on Alarion and dropped the unfinished hulk of the Fylgja on his headquarters. Once again, he managed to escape death, but the Word finally had control of the system and he couldn’t break out. Peter and the forces loyal to him led the Word on a three-month chase across Alarion, being whittled down slowly as Word regiments tried to herd them into traps. Peter’s luck finally ran out in May when a Word sniper managed to do what no Word MechWarrior had been able to accomplish. Blow the Archon’s head off.

Resistance on Alarion collapsed after that and the Word occupied the world with little trouble, using the yards and factories there to repair their damaged machines. When word reached General Adam Steiner on Horneburg of Peter’s death shortly after breaking a major Word assault, Adam declared himself Archon and began trying to organize a fractured Lyran Commonwealth into a renewed fighting force to stop the Word of Blake. Resistance fighters, mostly spies from the various corporations in Commonwealth space, were sent onto Word-occupied worlds to hurt their ability to repair battle damage and replace losses. Sometimes they planted information that allowed Commonwealth forces to destroy and capture Word units, sometimes they sabotaged fighting units or factories, and sometimes they simply fought the old fashioned way via bombs and guns.




The most spectacular success they generated during the Jihad occurred in September of 3071, as many of the corporations were “losing” BattleMechs that ended up in the hands of the Commonwealth armies. The Word of Blake traced several of the Commonwealth machines to Coventry and sent a fleet to deal with the issue, but several Nashan Diversified agents had managed to slip into the crews, despite the Word’s superior screening process. During the ten-day trip towards Coventry, the agents destroyed or immobilized all six ships, allowing Coventry to capture an ancient Riga frigate and a Kimagure pursuit cruiser. They gave the Kimagure to the Archon, along with a complement of Nashan computer engineers to protect their new acquisition.

The new Archon renamed it the Katherine Steiner, for the first Steiner Archon of the Commonwealth and not his cousin, before using it to liberate Alarion from Word occupation, and then began the long campaign to push back to Tharkad and the heart of the Protectorate of Donegal. Unfortunately, in March of 3072, a second Word assault on Coventry managed to cripple both of their WarShips and shattered much of their production capacity. This assault resulted in the total collapse of resistance in the Melissa Theater against Clan Jade Falcon, allowing them to hit the Tamar Pact harder than before.

Both StarCorps and Gienah continued to maintain their official neutrality, only rarely sending the Archon their production, and then in very limited numbers that went to “non-aligned interested buyers.” They managed to avoid Coventry’s “lesson” but doing so did little to make the Archon pleased with them. Across a dozen worlds, the Lyran and Word forces fought, generating horrendous casualties in both the military and civilian sectors. By the time Minderoo was liberated from Word forces in January 3073 for instance, three quarters of its population was dead because of how casually the Word used weapons of mass destruction when it looked like it would lose.

The fighting on Eutin, the last world between the Word-occupied Tharkad and the Lyran forces, held until December 3073, rendering ninety percent of the land uninhabitable, and killing even more of the population. The Archon’s forces had been bled white taking it and didn’t have enough left to continue the drive into Tharkad no matter what they wanted to do, until a Star League fleet comprised mostly of ComStar ships moved into Lyran space and began helping them deal with the Word fleet. With the threat of Word reprisals slipping away, StarCorps and Gienah opened up the floodgates of their production to the Lyran state, helping the Archon rebuild his forces in mere months instead of years.

The Star League fleet managed to liberate Gibbs and used the Ioto Galactic yards there to repair damages before jumping on to Donegal in March. A heavy fight there destroyed a quarter of the fleet but allowed them to break the Word resistance there. They returned to Gibbs for more repairs as the Archon finished his preparations to hit Tharkad. In September of 3074 they finally made their move and hit Tharkad with all of their remaining forces. The Word put up another heavy fight, leaving the Katherine Steiner as the only Lyran WarShip left, and bringing the Star League fleet to its knees. The ground forces fared little better, but they won in the end, standing triumphant over the shattered remains of the capital of the Commonwealth.

With the Word presence in the Commonwealth effectively wiped out, the Archon sent the Katherine Steiner to support the Star League at Terra and began attempting to rebuild his realm. Giving massive tax breaks to all corporations to help them rebuild, they traded ruthlessly on ComStar and Commonwealth loans, as well as other “emergency funds” whose origins have never been traced. By 3078, when the Katherine Steiner and her ground forces returned home, the Commonwealth was on the way to rebuilding. Or rather the Protectorate of Donegal and the corporations of the worlds outside her direct control were.

With only limited funds available, reconstruction monies found themselves routed to organizations that had the central authority and organization to perform the rebuilding. These organizations tended to be existing, if badly hammered, corporations with long track records in the Lyran realm. SeraVideo, Ioto Galactic, Bowie Industries, Nashan Diversified, Coventry Metal Works, Lockheed/CBM, and over a dozen other companies became the primary receiver of reconstruction funds, and as a direct result found themselves capable of taking more and more control of the systems they inhabited. Systems without these companies languished as funds passed them by, and in most instances continue to be behind the core Lyran worlds in their reconstruction efforts.

Few funds found their way to StarCorps though, citing their “minimal damages due to minimal involvement” in the war against the Word. It seemed the Archon’s memory was long. This backfired in 3080 when the Marian Hegemony and the Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey attacked what was becoming known as the StarCorps Supremacy. They fought hard until 3084 when their lines were on the verge of total collapse. Interestingly for them, it was the victory of Marian and Duchy forces that saved them. With the Duchy overextended in taking Dixie, and the Marians expending most of their forces to capture Son Hoa, neither polity had the power left to simultaneously expand and integrate their new systems.

Though heavy raids have been common since then, no major invasion has been mounted in either direction. Meanwhile, the last two decades have seen the Blackstone Authority and the Coventry Division forming up their defenses on the borders with the Jade Falcons and the Tamar Pact, sending raids to each often. The rebuilding Protectorate of Donegal, the only remaining “classically organized” part of the Commonwealth, has sent much of their forces into both the Tamar Pact and the Federation of Skye over the years, officially designating them as “in rebellion” and trying to take back the worlds. They’ve had to settle for heavy raids though as they currently lack the power to enforce their claims on the “rebellious” worlds.

Inside the Commonwealth, corporate spying has become one of the most common businesses, and openings are always available for new operatives. Advancement for those who succeed is quick, but most are not successful. Hence the openings. Perhaps the most powerful of the corporations, Nashan Diversified run by Duke Wilhelm Tore-Aufgaben VII, now maintains a solid control over much of the Protectorate of Donegal and the Alarion Association. Similarly, it has a heavy presence in the Coventry Division, but the Blackstone Authority, StarCorps Supremacy, and Princedom of Gienah have been fighting a massive corporate war with them for years now, trying to keep Nashan out of their playpens. This has made many worlds throughout the Commonwealth virtual war zones after dark as corporate operatives raid each other’s offices and indulge in shootouts on the streets.


Merchant Princes and Manufacturing

Alarion Association

The Alarion Association is the second most powerful Princedom in the Lyran Commonwealth, with the ability to build WarShips, JumpShips, DropShips, AeroSpace fighters, BattleMechs, and vehicles that it sells to the other Princedoms for badly needed funds used for continuing to repair war damage. Rich, powerful, and the center of a massive bulk of Nashan Diversified power, the other Princedoms have so far balked at making them angry.

Alarion – Bowie Industries – Chippewa AeroSpace fighter; Archer BattleMech; Hercules, Leopard, Leopard CV, and Union-class DropShips
– Ioto Galactic – Invader, Monolith, and Scout JumpShips; Speer Frigate, Schild Destroyer, and Zerstörer Cruiser
– Nashan Shipyards of Alarion – Scout and Merchant JumpShips; Space stations

Carlisle – Bowie Industries –Archer, Marauder, and Razorback BattleMechs; Packrat patrol vehicle
– S. L. Lewis Incorporated – Savannah Master hovertank, heavy hover APC; civilian hovercraft and hydrofoils

Czarvowo – SeraVideo Entertainments, Incorporated – Offices on Bolan, Bobruisk, Donegal, Tharkad, and Czarvowo

Gulf Breeze – Nashan Mining of Gulf Breeze – Raw material mining and refining

Kelang – Nashan Industries branch office – Main office on Triesting

Triesting – Nashan Industries – Other main office on Kelang

Loxley – Blue Shot of Loxley – Starslayer BattleMech
– Norse-Storm Technologies, Inc. – Devastator, Spector, and Thunder Hawk BattleMechs

Richvale – Quikscell Company – Scorpion, LRM Carrier, SRM Carrier, and tracked and heavy tracked APC vehicles

Storfors – J.B. BattleMechs Incorporated –BattleMaster, Chameleon, and Dragon Fire BattleMechs

Vendrell – Mountain Wolf BattleMechs – Night Hawk BattleMech

Virtue – Nashan Cartographers Unlimited



Blackstone Authority

The Blackstone Authority is one of the weakest Princedoms, situated on the border with Clan Jade Falcon, but it has used its heavy BattleMech production to keep them fighting fair ever since Coventry presence along the border collapsed. In the habit of purchasing other units from Coventry, Alarion, or Donegal as needed, it commands a respectable fleet and vehicle forces as well, but the bulk of its power comes from the BattleMechs it builds and uses nearly without exception. It is currently in a battle of survival against Nashan Diversified operatives attempting to take over Blackstone, which has dried up support from the other Princedoms.

Inarcs – Blackstone BattleMechs Limited – Enfield, Ostscout, Talon, and Hauptmann (omni) BattleMechs



Coventry Division

The Coventry Division, long housing a major Nashan presence, currently sells many of their BattleMechs to Donegal and Alarion. Commanding the third-largest fleet in the Commonwealth, the Coventry Division is a force to be reckoned with. Other Princedoms consider it to be a figurehead of Nashan Diversified, though Coventry seems to still have some backbone. Many wonder how long that will remain true as the Nashan presence continues to grow.

Coventry – Coventry Metal Works – Blitzkrieg, Black Hawk-KU (omni), Commando, Dart, Firestarter (omni), Hauptmann (omni), Hollander II, Hunchback, Phoenix Hawk, Scarabus, Stiletto, Stinger, and Vulcan BattleMechs
– Nashan Computers – Personal and commercial computers and software

Ludwigshafen – Nashan Information Services




Protectorate of Donegal

The Protectorate of Donegal is the only remaining “normal” governmental institution in the Lyran Commonwealth. While the Princedoms are commanded and owned by corporations, the Protectorate is still controlled by the civilian government, and the Archon of course, on Tharkad and Donegal. Commanding a fleet even larger than that run by Alarion, it has heavy BattleMech and vehicle reserves as well. It is also the base of Nashan Diversified power in the Commonwealth, but so far at least Nashan has not made an attempt to take over like it has in the Princedoms.

Aur – Edasich Motors – Various fusion engines

Chukchi III – Nashan Metals, Incorporated

Crevedia – Longanecker PlastiSteel branch office – Headquarters on Pherkad

Donegal – Alliance-Grand Hotel Interstellar
– Commonwealth Press
– Lockheed/CBM Corporation – Centurion, Eisensturm (omni), Lucifer, and Sabre AeroSpace fighters; Civilian aerospace craft (including StarYachts)
– Mauser & Gray Firearms
– Nashan Foods – Food (basic and gourmet)
– Nashan Architectural of Donegal – Building design and construction
– Nashan Shipping – Freight services (transcontinental and interstellar)
– Nashan Pharmaceuticals – Medicinal drugs and medical supplies
– SeraVideo Entertainments, Incorporated – Offices on Bolan, Bobruisk, Donegal, Tharkad, and Czarvowo

Gallery – Dynamics Company of Gallery – Various missile systems
– Nashan Communications and Entertainment – Entertainment and news

Gibbs – Ioto Galactic – Merchant JumpShip; Speer Frigate and Schild Destroyer
– Lockheed/CBM of Gibbs – Eagle and Thunderbird AeroSpace fighters; Medium Strike and Raubvogel conventional air fighters; civilian aircraft

Tharkad – Lockheed/CBM Corporation – Eisensturm (omni), Lightning and Hellcat AeroSpace fighters; Monarch-class DropShip; Civilian conventional aircraft
– TharHes Industries – Barghest, Bushwacker, Crusader, Falconer, Goliath, and Wolfhound BattleMechs; Standard Inner Sphere, Infiltrator (Mk I), and Fenrir BattleArmor
– The Lyran Free Traders Association
– Meier-Star Agency
– Nashan Underwriters of Tharkad – Financial and legal services
– Semier Data Tron – Buccaneer, Excalibur, Fortress, and Seeker DropShips; Small craft
– SeraVideo Entertainments, Incorporated – Offices on Bolan, Bobruisk, Donegal, Tharkad, and Czarvowo
– Tharkad AeroSpace Group – Behemoth, Fortress, Mule and Intruder DropShips
– Tharkan Media Associates

Pherkad – Longanecker PlastiSteel – Also with headquarters on Crevedia

Princedom of Gienah

The Princedom of Gienah is the weakest of the remaining Princedoms, caught on the borders of both the Federation of Skye and the Free Worlds League. With no internal BattleMech factories and being blacklisted by Nashan for actively fighting them in the corporate wars, most of their few BattleMechs come from the StarCorps Supremacy and are husbanded in battle. Most of their forces consist of mass numbers of high-speed vehicles used to swarm the enemy in hopes that they can pull them down with sheer numbers. Their navy is negligible and many wonder how long they will be able to maintain their independence from either Skye or the Free Worlds League. Only their relative lack of aggressiveness has kept Gienah from being swallowed by one of them over the years.

Gienah – Gienah Automotive – Gienah Combat Vehicles – Centipede, Packrat and wheeled and heavy wheeled APC vehicles.

Hyde – Zettle Metals, Incorporated – Major office on Rahne in Solaris Cooperative



StarCorps Supremacy

The StarCorps Supremacy is more powerful than Gienah, but nothing to write home about. They have fought and held a line against both the League and the Hegemony for many years though and continue to look like they can maintain it. Their BattleMech forces are well trained and some of the best troops in space. They also deploy vehicles purchased from Gienah, but like Gienah sport a fleet with little to recommend it. Also like Gienah, they are a major target of Nashan corporate raids and many of their planets are constant battlegrounds in the corporate wars.

Acrux – Acrux Agricultural Industries

Bolan – SeraVideo Entertainments, Incorporated – Offices on Bolan, Bobruisk, Donegal, Tharkad, and Czarvowo

Bobruisk – SeraVideo Entertainments, Incorporated – Offices on Bolan, Bobruisk, Donegal, Tharkad, and Czarvowo

Loburg – StarCorps Industries – Black Hawk-KU (omni), Longbow, and Thanatos (omni) BattleMechs; Manteuffel Omnitank



System Information

Alarion Association

Abbadiyah
Abejorral

Alarion – Settled three decades after the formation of the Lyran Commonwealth, the mass destruction caused to the local animals by Terran diseases, and the resulting death of half the colonists, forced the Commonwealth government to issue strict quarantine and settlement procedures that are still in effect. The home of Bowie Industries and Ioto Galactic, respectively the most powerful corporation in the Alarion Association and the only builder of WarShips in the entire Commonwealth, Alarion is one of the most exploited worlds in the Commonwealth and the most powerful in the Association.

Carlisle
Czarvowo
Guatavita
Gulf Breeze
Jatznik
Kelang
Kvistgard

Loxley – Annexed in 2378 by Archon Robert Marsden, Loxley was for a time home to the Scottish-Irish descendents of the Stewart Confederacy in their trek that spanned much of the Inner Sphere. They resisted annexation and 90% of their people were killed before the last of them escaped in a single JumpShip. A beautiful planet full of farms, it sells large amounts of food to nearby systems.

Minderoo

Noisiel – Host to a series of ’Mech-scale games every summer, this planet brings in hundreds of thousands of spectators annually. The ‘Mechs generally play the sports of baseball, football, soccer, and chess, though others have been created and forgotten over the years as well.

Nuneaton
Qarahta
Quilino

Reese Station – This is a harsh, frontier-like world where few comforts are found beyond those enjoyed by the Bowie MechWarriors who keep a small garrison there at all times.

Richvale
Saravan
Storfors
Tapihue
Tiruppur
Triesting
Vendrell

Virtue – The home of Virtue Cartographers Unlimited, this planet was the target of a recent Nashan Diversified expansion program. Through what are thought to be illegal means Nashan acquired ownership of the mapmaking company in 3095 and Regina Comrada, daughter of the previous owner who died of an accident shortly after selling the company, has been fighting their acquisition in the courts. So far Nashan’s expert legal services have kept her lawsuit in limbo but the Princes of Coventry, Gienah, and StarCorps support her, possibly because of Nashan expansion into their regions of late.

Zaprudy

Blackstone Authority

Adelaide
Anembo
Arluna
Brooloo
Gatineau
Hood IV

Inarcs – Originally a prison planet seeded by the Star League, Inarcs is a beautiful and mineral-rich world that has flourished over the centuries. Dominated by Blackstone Industries, this world projects power over a number of systems on the Jade Falcon border.

Jerangle
Jesenice

Kowloon – An underdeveloped world that has little to endear itself, the large tracts of virgin terrain and a series of minor industrial plants owned by Blackstone make up most of that little bit.

Kwangchowwang – The center of Buddhism in the Blackstone Authority and beyond, the population is primarily of Chinese ancestry. In the planets rough mountains, there are about a hundred monasteries and retreats open to both believers and non-believers seeking respite from their harried lives. On the border with the Jade Falcons, it even sees many old Falcon warriors arriving in search of something other than glorious death.

Mahone
Medellin
Timehri
Trentham

Winter – As its name suggests it is a cold planet, though does possess some agricultural industries in its warmer regions. A favored vacation spot of Blackstone executives far away from the Falcon border, it boasts powerful defenses.

Coventry Division

Biuque
Blumenort

Coventry – A pleasant, heavily industrialized world of large seas and mild seasons, it is the home of Coventry Metal Works, currently the largest producer of BattleMechs in the Commonwealth. It is also home to a Nashan computer manufacturing plant.

Goetville
Krievci
Ludwigshafen
Mississauga

New Capetownn – Once home to a particularly extreme form of New Calvanism, this world was dominated by racism and believed that white power was the best. Ravaged by racial civil war in the 3030s, the culture has changed dramatically in the last seven decades. Currently ruled by Duke Cythia Franks, a black woman descended from the famous Black Pearl, even at a century old she can still stare down any opponent with her imposing gaze and is known to workout physically and in her Warhammer BattleMech every day.

Pobeda
Sargasso
Tsinan
Wroclaw

Princedom of Gienah

Arcadia

Dar-es-Salaam – Ironically, given the number of battles fought on the world, Dar-Es-Salaam means "Haven of Peace" in Arabic, and is the center of Islam in the Princedom of Gienah. This desert world is well suited to its Islamic people's tastes. The relatively simple set of beliefs outlined in the Koran seems to appeal to many people who have grown weary of the maze-like speculations of other religions, and it's strict morality places great emphasis on the family. The Gienah family are recent converts to the teachings of the Koran, and have led the fight against allowing Nashan Diversified to encroach on Princedom companies.

Ford – Once a major trade center between the Free Worlds League and the Lyran Commonwealth, the sundering of the League badly wounded her economy. A number of free traders still use it to jump into un-affiliated League space, but most traffic goes through nearby Nestor now.

Giausar – Like Ford this was once a major trading port but has fallen on hard times of late. Un-affiliated League traders do come here, but the major traders go elsewhere now. Home to a comfortable environment and Terran-like dinosaurs, most of what traders do come wish to capture these animals for sale in other systems.

Gienah – Home to Gienah Automotive, this world is the center of the anti-Nashan movement in the Princedom. A veritable cold war wages between the two companies, especially on Gienah where corporate spies and counter-spies have become commonplace. Considered by many to be one of the best places to send spies for their final test before graduation (most failures are announced posthumously), some projections suggest that intelligence operatives of one company or another make up as much as twenty percent of the planetary population.

Hyde – A small, almost entirely water covered world, it is lightly forested, and has thousands of small freshwater lakes. It is the site of a huge water purification plant, which has made the world a tempting target for League raiders over the centuries. Also the home to Zettle Metals, a company that purifies metals for use in building BattleMechs and vehicles, it is the target of a major Nashan Diversified push for acquisition. Gienah Automotive has been able to help block Nashan but the powerful company has flooded the Princedom with lawyers bent on finding a weakness and exploiting it.

Launam

Nestor – A home to many famous wineries, Nestor has become a major trading port between the Princedom and the Marik-Stewark Commonwealth.

Protectorate of Donegal

Alma Alta

Aristotle – Home to the believers of the Great Delphi, a contemporary religion based on the reinterpretation of ancient Greek myths and legends.

Aur
Callisto V
Cameron

Chukchi III – Once a beautiful world, the discovery of rare minerals on this world brought the mining companies and organized crime families. Nashan Diversified picked up most of the Blake-shattered industries on the world in 3076 for a song and has spent the last quarter-century squeezing it for every Kroner it can. Its distance from Tharkad and Donegal has kept the Archon from investigating complaints from the world, especially since Nashan lawyers spend much of their time covering them up.

Colinas
Crevedia
Cumbres

Donegal – A rich and beautiful world that formed and has led the Protectorate of Donegal for centuries, it is the center of power in the Protectorate. The Commonwealth Supreme Court is based here, Nashan Diversified bases most of operations from here, the largest Commonwealth Stock Exchange is here, and universities and the most powerful media conglomerates are based here. From Donegal flows information, power, and the money that buys both.

Dukambia
Eutin
Forkas

Gallery – A gloomy world covered in darkness, it is a mineral-rich fiefdom of the Steiner family. Archon Adam Steiner rarely goes there though, preferring the brighter, if colder, Tharkad.

Gibbs – The center of AeroSpace production in the Protectorate, Ioto Galactic builds the Protectorates only WarShips here. Many of them are sold to other self-recognized member states of the Commonwealth, making both Ioto and the Protectorate even richer.

Greenlaw
Hillerod
Horneburg
Incukalns
Mesa Verde
Pherkad
Svinngarn
Tetersen

Tharkad – A cold world still rich in radioactives and gems, this is the capital of the entire Lyran Commonwealth. Its massive factories have been rebuilt since the Jihad, the universities restaffed, the Triad and Asgard returned to their former splendor and power, and Loki once again sends its operatives from this world to support self-recognized member states and to cause mischief in disavowing member states.

Thuban – A manmade world, it was originally an airless, radiation blasted rock the size of Terra's moon, but its core has been hollowed out into a vast rock-enclosed cavern. The planet's spin provides an artificial out-is-down gravity, and its interior is filled with a breathable atmosphere distilled from the native rock and ice. It is an inside out world, an enclosed environment entered through an airlock, a place where you can stand on the ground and look up at farmlands and forest, and small landlocked seas. The 'sun' is a thin, intensely radiant thread across the land-encircled sky that literally pipes in light from the outside as required.

Turinge
Upano
Vorzel
Westerstede

StarCorps Supremacy

Acrux – Highly suited to agriculture, the weather is temperate and pleasant enough to allow an almost year-long growing season. During the ’50s and ’60s, the Farmers Liberation Resistance Movement began firebombing Acrux Agricultural Industries and nearly brought the massive firm to its knees. Nashan Diversified tried to take it over in 3068, but StarCorps led an effort of nearby companies to keep the megacorporation out of their space. This planet has since become one of four major centers of corporate spying in the Supremacy.

Biloela
Binyang

Bobruisk – Home to a number of SeraVideo Entertainments Incorporated factories, the branches of that company in the Supremacy have aligned themselves in lock step with StarCorps, financing any force necessary to keep Nashan Diversified out of the Supremacy. This makes Bobruisk one of the four major centers of corporate spying in the Supremacy as Nashan operatives attempt to cause mischief or steal information.

Bolan – Home to the other primary SeraVideo complex in the Supremacy, the continually bad relations of the local Quetta and Sibi citystates worsen the conditions on this planet. The two city-states have continually refused to work with each other, fighting over the Brahui Pass, a 100-kilometer-long gorge through the Kilimshan mountain range and a major artery for goods flowing to both cities. Added to the constant conflict between the city-states is the equally constant barrage of corporate operatives from Nashan trying to destabilize SeraVideo, and more than once forces from the city-states have attack SeraVideo, goaded into the action by Nashan.

Danxian
Ellijay
Herzberg
Inchicore
Kamenz

Loburg – Home of StarCorps Industries, the primary force standing against Nashan Diversified, the Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey, and the Marian Hegemony, this planet has become accustomed to being on a constant war footing. Few people go out at night, attempting to avoid the full-blown corporate war waging in the streets, and raiders from the Duchy and the Hegemony are common.

Maisons
Rajkot
Shahr Kord
Stantsiya

Teyvareb – StarCorps’ primary protecting against raids from the Hegemony, this world has been heavily fortified over the years to make any assault as painful as possible.

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
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[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?

Tikonov Free Republic

History

The Rise of the Brothers Ridzik

The original Tikonov Grand Union was a powerful nation in its own right before becoming a part of the Capellan Confederation, and centuries of Liao command left them unhappy subjects. When House Davion attacked and crushed the Liao defenders, the ambitious General Pavel Ridzik saw which way the winds were blowing and left the friend he’d helped make Chancellor blowing in the wind to form the Tikonov Free Republic. While it wasn’t located on Tikonov, wasn’t Free, and had nothing to do with being a Republic, the name stuck until the Capellans assassinated him and the Tikonov Free Republic voted to merge with the growing Federated Commonwealth Alliance.

During the three decades that followed, its worlds lived well under Steiner and Steiner-Davion rule. Prosperous and peaceful, they were content even if they had to bow to other thrones. That ended in 3057 when the Free Worlds League and the Capellan Confederation invaded the Sarna March, shattering it under their twin hammers with the help of Katherine Steiner-Davion’s call for all Lyran units to leave. The worlds of the former Tikonov Free Republic fell into chaos, most of them unclaimed by any major power and left to decide what they were going to do themselves. Invariably that led to “strong men” standing up and taking charge.

Leftenant General William "Bud" Baranov of the Fourth Republican proved to be one of those men. He declared himself Emperor and used his position to ravage Hall and other nearby systems as the seeds of his own destruction formed beneath his nose. Count McNally proved to be his most visible opponent at first, but division within Baranov’s own camp led them to a civil war that devastated the capital city before the traitors were driven out. And at the same time, Pavel Ridzik’s twin sons came to Hall with a small army and began to prepare to reform their father’s nation.

On New Year’s Eve of 3058 Yuri and Nikoli Ridzik struck, decapitating Baranov’s rebels in their southern cities as they celebrated the New Year with far too much alcohol and women. The Ridzik brothers added those BattleMechs to their armed strength on planet and turned to Count McNally next. Unlike the rebels they’d just dealt with however, they’d learned to respect McNally. He commanded an orderly realm, unlike Baranov, and had continued to hold out against numerous assaults despite being outnumbered. The brothers offered an alliance to McNally as they tested the intentions of his commanders. Though the rulers disliked each other, they realized that Baranov was a greater enemy and joined together to take him down.

The war against Baranov lasted for over a year as the Ridzik and McNally forces trained together, sniping at their richer opponent to improve their ability to work together, and slowly stripped down Baranov’s ability to keep track of their movements until they moved in March of 3060. The final battle in Harney shattered what was left of Baranov’s forces, nearly crippled McNally’s, regrettably resulted in the death of Count McNally himself, and cemented the Ridzik brothers’ hold on Hall. As well as what remained of the units once loyal to Baranov and McNally.

The Ridziks spent the next two years rebuilding and training their army with special attention given to Stacy O'Shayne’s renamed Ridzik Guard and the Burton’s Brigade commanded by Elly Burton. They also put heavy resources into placing agents in the Fifth Republican Guard on Elgin to prepare it for their eventual assault. When they struck Elgin in May of 3062 the Republicans didn’t even try to fight, giving them the island of Jolo and its light industries, and the Ridziks gave the local nobles two choices. Die cowering in their pitiful little hovels as the Ridziks hunted them to extinction, or become proud new members of the Tikonov Free Republic. Baron Men Hou called the nobles to resist the “upstart bastards of a traitor” and his army was slaughtered within hours, his estates dismantled piece by piece, he and his family pulled out, stripped of every possession, and marooned on a small island within view of their former home. The Ridziks declared that anyone who attempted to help them would be welcome to share the former Baron’s fate and reiterated their offer. The other nobles happily accepted the option to become a part of the Tikonov Free Republic with great enthusiasm that a subsequent celebration reinforced heartily.

The Ridziks, like the Federated Commonwealth before them, wisely chose to allow the nobles to do as they wished and tasked them with rebuilding the Fifth Republican Guard. After the fall of Elgin, the three Tikonov Republican Guard regiments in Lyran space took notice of the rise of the Ridziks and soon took the offer to leave the service of Katherine Steiner behind in favor of helping to rebuild their home. Yuri and Nikoli Ridzik met their half-brother, Caleb Peleao, with open arms and as much trust as they would have given to a hungry tiger.

They then focused their efforts on nearby Hsien, sending agents there to foment the fighting between the three major factions on planet. Their agents even helped Baron Luis Montong V find a mercenary unit desperate enough to work for him, and then organized matters so he could eventually win against the Capellan-loyal government as the Ridziks prepared to invade. The fateful day came on 15 February, 3063 as Montong’s forces hit the capital, captured an ancient Castle Brian from the government, and prepared to finish off the remnants of the government’s forces. The Republican Guards struck after the government forces were crippled, when Montong’s army was weakened and damaged, smashing it and surrounding the Castle Brian. Baron Montong held out for a year, hoping desperately for help from the Commonwealth that never came. In the end, with food supplies running low, he negotiated a peaceful settlement with the Ridziks and they allowed him to return to his home with what remained of his military in exchange for his fealty. It had taken nearly a year to pacify the planet, but Ridzik casualties proved minimal, and they gained the fealty of a man they knew would never surrender to another easily.

They continued to use their instincts at warfare in 3064, adding Capolla and Terra Firma to their possession, but it was then that Caleb Peleao struck, sending “his” three regiments against Hall. With most of their forces fighting on Capolla and Terra Firma, Caleb thought it was the time to strike. Unfortunately for him, while he’d been preparing to betray them, the Ridziks had been preparing to remove him. Caleb’s own second in command drugged and captured him, turned him over to his half brothers for justice, and ordered the Republican Guard regiments to stand down. After an elegant show trial the Ridziks marooned him and the worst of his men and women on the same island as former Baron Men Hou on Elgin.

Their internal difficulties taken care of, they returned to looking outward. Their first target was the system of Tikonov, the former capital of the long-dead Tikonov Union. They began sending resources to support the Free Republican Revolutionaries, a force that soon proved to be worth every C-Bill the Ridziks poured into it. While they proved incapable of taking the world in the end, they did manage to hold up the FedCom Civil War and keep those two hated houses fighting each long enough for the Ridziks to build up their power until they were too strong to easily defeat. In addition, seeing the military might of the Duchy of Small as a threat to their continued survival, the Ridziks began sending large amounts of aid to the Sheratan Knights, helping that beleaguered world to take the war back to the Duchy on nearby Fletcher and Epsilon Indi. Finally, they opened peaceful relations with the Styk Commonality, many think as a way of keeping them out of their next war.

Even though they thought the Duchy of Small could be a threat to them in the future, the Ridzik brothers saw the Saiph Triumvirate as a much more immediate threat and prepared to deal with it in the way the Ridziks proved best at. The year 3065 found them assaulting the Saiph Triumvirate and conquering Tall Trees in a lightning campaign. They were unable to conquer Saiph and New Canton until 3067, even with Styk remaining officially neutral, but by then the FedCom Civil War was finally rolling towards the end and the Ridziks realized it was time to stop trying to conquer worlds and prepare to defend themselves.

The Tikonov Free Republic likely would not have expanded further, content to build up all five Republican Guard Regiments and the other allied formations, had the Star League Conference on Tharkad in 3067 not resulted in the censure of Word of Blake and the beginning of their Jihad. The Ridziks, for all their willingness to sacrifice lives to build their power, couldn’t support the full-scale devastation that the Word of Blake performed on their enemies, and offered their support to the Wolf’s Dragoons and their Allied Mercenary Command. Within weeks the Republican regiments landed on Liberty and Epsilon Indi, supporting the local resistance forces against the Word of Blake and sending what Duchy of Small forces that remained on Epsilon Indi running and allowing The Triumvirate to hold the world. That started the long, slow march towards Terra as the abused Wolves, Highlanders, and even ComStar joined in to hit the Word.

Sirius Rising

The year 3068 not only saw the alliance between Allied Mercenary Command and the Tikonov Free Republic, a reaffirmed alliance between the Republic and Styk that included Republic aid to Styk, but also the emergence of the Sirian Concordance into power. Like other factions now powerful in the Human Sphere, it left its parent nation when the Jihad began. Also like most of those nations, it had a history of being anti-government. And like the rest of the Tikonov Free Republic, it found itself formed by the Marik and Capellan invasion of the Federated Commonwealth in 3057. Sirius and Procyon were left to rot by the League forces, under the sway of a madman that killed thousands of people. The Sirian Lancers rebelled against League orders to save their homeland, and the Sirian Concordance never forgave the League for its lack of concern.

When the Jihad began, they happily left the League to rot and die under Word assault, just as the League had left them to die before. They remained out of the war, comfortable and slowly collecting refugees from other realms as the Tikonov Free Republic, the Allied Mercenary Command, and ComStar waged war mere light-years away. Then in 3071, with the Word of Blake visibly weakening in both the League and the Chaos March, they assaulted the Word of Blake controlled Border Protectorate with Tikonov support. By 3072 they controlled nearly all of the worlds the League lost to the FedCom during the Fourth Succession War and turned to begin supporting the drive to Terra.

It was the with Third Sirian Lancer support for instance that the Second and Third Republican Guards, ComStar’s Third and Fifth Armies, Wolf’s Dragoons’ Beta and Epsilon Regiments, all three Dismal Disinherited regiments, and the Northwind Highlanders hit Caph. The remains of the Word of Blake’s First, Fourth, and Fifth Divisions fought and died there, unable to retreat because of heavy WarShip space superiority from the remains of the Wolf’s Dragoon and ComStar fleets that had started the war.

The Triumvirate’s Birth

The war between the Duchy of Small and the worlds that would form The Triumvirate, in the light of these massive battles, seems to be of little significance to most historians. A close study of the facts however will show that this war had much more impact than many believe. It had waged in a low fashion since 3058 when the first Small forces tried to take the single world of Sheratan. The Sheratan Knights, with Epsilon Eridani aid, held them off despite heavy casualties, and even sent forces to help the independence movement on Ingress, until 3064 when the growing Tikonov Free Republic began giving them heavy aid to fight the Duchy of Small. By the end of the year, Sheratan, Epsilon Eridani, and Ingress had officially formed the Triumvirate Military Command and the worlds of Fletcher, Epsilon Indi, and Ingress were enflamed by full-scale Triumvirate assaults that rocked the Duchy of Small back on its heals and kept it busy until the Jihad.

In 3068, the Allied Mercenary Command and Tikonov shattered all Small and Word forces on Epsilon Indi before moving into the Blakist Hegemony, leaving the Triumvirate to fight the rest of the Small forces alone. By 3071 everybody could see that the Word of Blake was collapsing and many small battered mercenary forces began fleeing their contracts. Some of them landed in the Duchy of Small, which happily paid them to help take care of The Triumvirate problem. It was the worst thing they could have done under the circumstances. With proof that the Duke of Small was working with mercenaries guilty of war crimes added on to the long rumors of them having worked with the Word, the Fifth Republican Guard was dispatched to help The Triumvirate remove the Duchy of Small from the equation. In January of 3072, Duke Blake Small surrendered his realm to The Triumvirate and Tikonov recalled the Fifth to the remains of the Blakist Hegemony, leaving Triumvirate forces to protect what the Ridziks considered Triumvirate property.

The War for Terra

In August of 3074, as the Star League fleet attempted to smash the Word of Blake fleet in Terra to pieces and after being pressured by the League government a little too hard, the Sirian Concordance signed a full alliance with the Tikonov Free Republic, making themselves an independent member state of the powerful nation. November of 3075 saw the Star League navy securing their hold on the outer Terran system, including the powerful Titan Yards, and the ground forces of the Free Tikonov Republic, the Allied Mercenary Command, and the other Star League forces invaded every major rock in the outer system.

Then in March of 3076, the final battle for the Terran system began. The Star League fleet breached the defenses around Mars and allowed the Star League member states to invade the world. It fell quickly under the guns of a dozen regimental formations and then all eyes fell on Terra. The invasion began in September, the Star League fleet smashing parts of the operational Reagan Space Defense System positions on Luna and Terra to rubble for the DropShips to land their troops. The Regulans used nukes to smash the Word defenses, but while others condemned them the Ridziks remained silent.

Tikonov and the Allied Mercenary Command were tasked with taking the Americas and hit South America first in a wave of firepower that smashed the defending Word of Blake warriors back. They joined up with the remains of numerous ComStar resistance movements along the way, using their intelligence to continue to route the defenders. Buenos Aires fell in January, shattering what was left of Word of Blake resistance in South America. Unable to maintain AeroSpace superiority they couldn’t support what was left of their men down there and pulled back to the northern end of the Andes Mountains.

Leaving the majority of Allied Mercenary Command to deal with the remaining Word troops there, the Wolf’s Dragoons, Dismal Disinherited, Northwind Highlanders, and the Republican Guards hit Panama and began to march up through Central America. In May, the battle of Belmopan in Belize shattered what remained of the Word forces in Central America, leaving the path to Mexico City and Monterrey easy going.

July saw them, along with support from ComStar’s Third Army, smash into the North American subcontinent with a vengeance. They captured Wichita, the base of North American Defense, in August and continued on to Hilton Head, marching in force. What remained of the Word of Blake defenses (mines, weapons turrets, dug in infantry, vehicles, BattleMechs, and even the last of their Aerofighters) pushed them off, just as they had defeated every attack by ComStar beforehand. Which was when the Regulan WarShip Xanthos erased Hilton Head from existence with a naval bombardment that leveled every building on the island and sent enough rocks and dirt flying that when it was done the sea came in and covered the old ComStar headquarters, flooding the many tunnels beneath it.

The war continued for a few more months, but with the loss of Hilton Head the Word resistance faltered. In April of 3078, Word resistance had been effectively wiped out in the entire Terran system.

Peace and War

With the war for Terra won and their forces no longer needed, the Tikonov Free Republic, Sirian Concordance, and The Triumvirate pulled their regiments back home to commence repairs. Purchasing many replacement vehicles from Terra, Outreach, and Northwind, they maintained friendly relations with ComStar and the Allied Mercenary Command. To this day in fact, Outreach and Northwind are both independent fiefdoms of the Wolf’s Dragoons and the Northwind Highlanders, though they are surrounded by Tikonov worlds.

For the next three years though, the Ridziks continued their policy of rebuilding and simply tried to stay out of trouble as they started friendly relations with Skye, the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth, Syrtis Federation, Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Alliance, and even the shattered Draconis Combine. Official treaties of alliance with Northwind and Outreach solidified the long friendly relations between them and the Republic, numerous mercenaries who had worked under the Allied Mercenary Command were granted landholds on worlds they helped conquer that were now a part of the Republic, and an official alliance was signed with ComStar, once again in charge of Terra, and its rebuilding. In 3079, The Triumvirate became an official member, much like the Sirian Concordance, of the Tikonov Free Republic as well. Tikonov also sold war equipment to Styk at only slightly above cost, making Styk a lifetime friend. Or enemy that they were simply keeping close.

The policy of quiet rebuilding ended when the St. Ives War began and the Styk Commonality hit Syrtis. The Ridziks began to see the possibility of taking over the worlds of the original Tikonov Union, a chance they would lose if they allowed Styk to take it all, and entered the war in 3081, starting with a four-prong attack that smashed the weakened Syrtis Federation troops back. Their new Chimera OmniMechs helped their drive greatly and proved themselves to be worth their expensive investment in that first year. The Ridziks then began to slowly leapfrog into Syrtis space, the elite Epsiloni Guard supporting them, one layer at a time as the Syrtis Federation tried desperately to hold onto Tikonov. In January of 3085, the Ridziks finally smashed through to Tikonov and defeated the last of the Syrtis troops in the region.

Exhausted and needing time to rebuild, the Ridzik brothers pulled most of their forces back to their core worlds and once again waited. They wanted the Chesterton Worlds, a collection of worlds that had once been a part of the old Tikonov Grand Union, but didn’t feel powerful enough to simply march in and take it. They didn’t want Styk to hold the worlds either, but also felt Styk was a good shield against Capellan and Sarn aggression so didn’t want to fight them. In the end, they decided upon the plan of continuing to maintain friendly relations, and support for, the Styk Commonality, but also began sending support directly to the Chesterton Worlds. Other nations have done the same over the last fifteen years, making the Chesterton Worlds a rich and powerful border region that keeps the Republic border secure.

Two years later, in 3087, the single largest surviving nation-state in the Human Sphere, began to break up into civil war. Long considered the greatest threat to the survival of the Tikonov Free Republic, the Ridzik brothers had watched the Draconis Combine warily for years. It filled them with profound happiness when the Nova Cats, Azami, and the core Combine began to fight each other. They also began to prepare to snatch up what they could, slowly building up and repositioning their forces. In 3089 they struck with Eridani Guard support, smashing through what remained of the Combine rearguard forces and taking several systems that had held off Azami attacks since the war began, including the heavily defended Dieron. What worlds they didn’t capture, the Azami took and held when the war ended, leaving Tikonov without a border to the Draconis Combine. While they have never officially ended the state of war between their realms, their soldiers never meet.

Peace at Last

In the last ten years, Tikonov has established warm relations with the Azami Caliphate, rebuilt the factories of Altair, Dieron, Nirasaki, and Quentin, and have maintained friendly relations with all of their neighbors. The Marik-Stewart Commonwealth and the Federation of Skye are too powerful, the Azami Caliphate is too fanatical, the Mercantile Alliance is too advanced, and Styk is too much of a shield against Sarn and Capellan interests for them to want to fight. Many have considered that they might want to take out Zion, but that small realm has powerful allies and purchases a large amount of Tikonov production, most likely keeping them safe from expansion. Other notable allies are ComStar on Terra, Northwind’s Highlanders, and Wolf’s Dragoons of Outreach, still the heart of the mercenary trade in the Human Sphere. Most analysts believe their next move will be to attempt to absorb the Chesterton Worlds, relying mostly on the interest they put into Tikonov two decades before they had the chance to take it. Based on that timetable, they believe that the Ridzik brothers may move in the next five years to forcibly absorb those worlds if they don’t come over willingly.

The Sirian Concordance, unlike the Ridzik-controlled part of the Republic, has been content to peacefully build its Lancers since the assault on Terra ended. While they have sent some forces to support the Ridzik initiatives, and have sold much of the production from Oliver and the newly-built factories of Sirius and Procyon to the Republican Guards, they have spent most of their time recovering from centuries of being fought over. Sirius itself is the home of several new factories, including a light frigate yard that Primus Twofeathers ordered built so that the Concordance would never again be forced to rely on others to protect it. Despite the Sirians’ notorious streak of independence though, they are loyal allies of the Ridziks, as long as the brothers never make the mistake of treating the Concordance as inferior.

The Triumvirate is the most peaceful region of Tikonov space, with only three major BattleMech units under its command. Bordering the peaceful Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Alliance, they have little to fear and have mostly gone back to their simple lives. Ruled by three Triumvirs, one from each founding world, the people vote from the three Triumvirs to select the Triumvir Prime. Gabriel Shu was first, using his position as the most powerful noble on Epsilon Eridani and the public relations capability of his sister take the seat in 3064. He held that position, winning every subsequent election, until 3075 when he announced his retirement to “take care of his homeland.” The photogenic and outgoing Romano Shu won the next election in 3076 and holds the office of Triumvir Prime to this day. A pliable member of the Small family rules Small World, suitably bought and paid for by Romano Shu with what rumors suggest may be compromising holos of her with other men and/or women of a range of ages, and keeps that world from being a problem for the Tikonov Free Republic or The Triumvirate.

Military

The Republican Guards and their primary allied units are dominated by the use of Chimera OmniMechs, extremely adaptable machines. When heavier firepower is required, they invariably call in the massed lances of Atlas, Marauder, and Cataphract BattleMechs, while Tessens provide most of their scouting capabilities. Other designs that they build are seen, but most are sold to other nations. The armored units are a mix of the various tanks they build with the Brutus being the most common, and SRM and LRM carriers purchased from the Concordance. The navy makes use of numerous fighter designs, with the Riever being the most common, while Mouhnr destroyers, and Riga and Krivak frigates make up their capital defenses against other realms.

1st Republican Guard – The Timberwolves
2nd Republican Guard – Montezuma’s Revenge
3rd Republican Guard – Guardians of Tikonov
4th Republican Guard – Ridzik’s Own
5th Republican Guard – Small Conquerors
Ridzik Guard
Burton’s Brigade

The Triumvirate primarily uses Grasshopper, Lineholder, and JagerMech III BattleMechs, their armored assets are mostly Blizzard and Brutus tanks, backed up by SRM and LRM carriers, and Riever fighters make up most of their AeroSpace assets. The Epsiloni Guard, commanded by General Tybalt Kelly, is the most powerful formation and regularly accompanies the Triumvir Prime as her honor guard when visiting the worlds of the Triumvirate. The Triumvirate has no native capital fleet though, relying entirely on Tikonov for heavy naval support.

Epsiloni Guard – Gabriel’s Host
Sheratan Knights – Roebinood’s Merry Men
Ingress Legion – Liberty or Death

The Sirian Lancers make heavy use of the Chimera OmniMech, and the Cronus, Crusader, Griffin, Scorpion, and Tessen BattleMechs in their ground regiments. SRM and LRM carriers make up the majority of their armored Lancers, though a number of Minions and Morningstars from Tikonov are seen. Their AeroSpace forces are primarily Rievers, and the Primus frigate is their sole homegrown WarShip design, seen on the Marik-Stewart and Skye borders at all times.

1st Sirian Lancers – Scourge of Jinan
2nd Sirian Lancers – The Dog Star Corsairs
3rd Sirian Lancers – Iron Guard
4th Sirian Lancers – Steel Guard

Factories

Tikonov Free Republic

Altair – Ridzik Brothers Munitions Corporation – Riever AeroSpace Fighter; Pavel Ridzik(Chimeisho) JumpShip

Bryant – Lantren Corporation – Grasshopper BattleMech

Dieron – Terada Yards – Pavel Ridzik(Chimeisho) JumpShip; Mouhnr(Lightning) Destroyer, Riga escort frigate, Krivak patrol frigate

Hall – Ridzik Brothers Munitions Corporation – Chimera (omni) BattleMech; Riever AeroSpace Fighter

Nanking – Kallon Industries – Shadow Hawk and Wolverine BattleMech; Partisan and Ontos tanks

Nirasaki – Maltex Corporation – Hatamoto-Chi BattleMech

Quentin – Independence Weaponry – Atlas, Chimera (omni), JagerMech III, Marauder, and Tessen BattleMechs.

Talitha – Gilmour MilTech – Cronus BattleMech

Tikonov – Earthwerks, Incorporated – Cataphract BattleMech; Thrush and Transit AeroSpace Fighters
– Ceres Metals Industries – Minion and Morningstar tanks
– Harcourt Industries – Various armors

Sirian Concordance

Oliver – Sirian Interstellar – Chimera (omni), Crusader, Griffin, and Scorpion BattleMechs; SRM and LRM Carriers

Procyon – Procyon Industries – Chimera (omni) BattleMech; SRM and LRM Carriers

Sirius – Sirian Interstellar – Chimera (omni) BattleMech; Riever AeroSpace Fighter; Primus patrol frigate

The Triumvirate

Epsilon Eridani – Kressly Warworks – Chimera (omni) and Lineholder BattleMech; Blizzard, and Brutus vehicles

Systems

Tikonov Free Republic

Acamar – A winter-like planet year-round, this mineral-rich world is ruled by powerful nobles. During the Fourth Succession War, the nobles gladly jumped the Capellan ship to join Pavel Ridzik, and later become a part of the Federated Commonwealth. Ripped from Commonwealth control by creation of the Chaos March, the world fell into anarchy and many of its ruling nobles were killed. It fell under the sway of the Federated Suns during the decade that based between the creation of the Chaos March and the Jihad, but when the Word of Blake attacked, the world did not protest when New Syrtis broke away from New Avalon. It was one of the first worlds attacked in 3081 when the Free Tikonov Republic joined the St. Ives War and has been a loyal member of the Republic since then.

Alrescha – Settled by Tikonov to give the Union a second source of food and textiles for its grown population, this world remained in the Union or in the Confederation until the Fourth Succession War. Never affected by the Chaos March, it remained under the control of House Davion or New Syrtis until December of 3084 when it fell to the Ridzik brothers on their way to take Tikonov.

Altair – A large, dry planet under an unstable sun, this world sports a major mining industry and a heavy factory complex in orbit. Though shattered during the Jihad, the Draconis Combine put many resources into rebuilding the factory complex afterwards. It was captured by the Free Tikonov Republic in 3089 during the Second Dominion-Combine War, and is currently the focus of a major building boom as ComStar funds the construction of a massive network of system fortifications that will act as a final line of defense against any assault on Terra.

Arboris – Settled by Capellans for its fertile ground, the Kansas Plateau wheat grows taller than BattleMechs. Also home to industries capable of supplying demand for technology in that system as well as others, it is a system that has prized its self-reliance for centuries. Perhaps because of that, it is a very rebellious system as well, having fought Liao, Davion, Hasek, and Ridzik rule throughout its history. Conquered by Tikonov in 3082 during their drive into New Syrtis space, it is an unhappy member of the Republic that often looks to the special relationship with the Sirian Concordance as the way it should be as well.

Asta – Once a major trade center between the Draconis Combine and the Free Worlds League, after its capture in 3090 it has continued its trading business, this time between the Republic and the Federation of Skye. Site of a major ComStar system defense grid construction project, Asta is considered an important system for the defense of Terra.

Athenry – A warm world with an oppressive atmosphere, this world resembles prehistoric Terra in many ways. Humans mainly colonized the highlands of the larger islands where the air was thinner and cooler, but ocean traffic is common now. The lowlands are filled with plants and animals, many of them making excellent material for medicinal purposes. Athenry Institute of Medicine, designed to study them for exactly that, was nuked during the First Succession War, but since Tikonov captured the system in 3090 ComStar has been working on rebuilding the facility. They expect it to be completed by 3104.

Azha – Captured in 3083 during the third wave of the Tikonov advance against New Syrtis, this world’s heavy defends held the Ridziks for nearly five months before collapsing and threw the time table of their invasion off by nearly a year due to the heavy losses incurred.

Basalt – A large world with an oppressively thick atmosphere, wild lightning storms, and a high gravity field, Basalt was a member of the Federated Suns from the fall of the Star League until the Syrtis Federation declared independence. It was captured by Tikonov in the second wave of their involvement in the St. Ives War.

Bharat – Colonized by Indians when mankind went to the stars, they brought dozens of species of animals and plants with them to take advantage of the world’s low gravity. Its two claims to fame have been the teakwood exports (some actually used in the Star League’s Unity City) and its use as a hunting resort for various nobles over the last several centuries. A non-industrialized world, it fell without a fight to Tikonov in their third wave of their assault against New Syrtis.

Bryant – Unlike many worlds near Terra, Bryant still boasts abundant chemical and metal deposits because of the storms that naturally wrack its surface. During the Star League, Storm Inhibiters placed in orbit lessened the severity of these storms, allowing people to settle anywhere on the planet, but Amaris’ soldiers destroyed the satellites, allowing the storms to return to their full strength. Captured by the Allied Mercenary Command and the Republican Guard during the Jihad, scientists from ComStar and the Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Alliance have helped rebuild the Storm Inhibiter network in recent years, and ComStar has begun the long-term construction project of a system defense network to act as a final defensive line around Terra.

Caph – A center for advanced engineering research during the Star League, the Succession Wars shattered ninety-nine percent of its buildings and left vast swaths of the land irradiated. Under the Federated Commonwealth, the lot of what few locals still lived improved. The League/Capellan invasion and collapse of the FedCom shattered the world yet again, and in the Jihad that followed it was nearly wiped out by ferocious Word of Blake defenders. Even with ComStar and Alliance technological support, the world is still a virtual wasteland and many of the survivors have begun to leave for greener pastures. Those that have stayed uniformly work on the massive system defense grids being constructed with ComStar aid as a defense network around Terra.

Capolla – Covered by vast mountain ranges filled with huge ore deposits and numerous jungles, many of the tunnels are large enough to house underground cities and BattleMech travel through them is common. Ravaged by the Fist of Mokal after the formation of the Chaos March, when the Ridzik brothers capture Terra Firma what was left of the Fist retreated to Capolla. Under most circumstances they could have fought for years from the tunnels without being caught, but the locals actively helped the Republican Guard hunt the Fist down and kill them. They have been loyal members of the Republic ever since.

Dieron – A cramped world because of its many large mountain ranges, what space is available exists in countless small valleys, and earthquakes are a frequent problem. Ravaged during the Jihad by Word of Blake forces, Dieron languished under Combine control, wracked by rebellion attempts, until Tikonov forces arrived in 3089 and shattered the Combine regiments making repairs there. The people have since seen their standard of living increase exponentially, making them some of the most loyal members of the Republic to this day. Like nearby Altair, it is the home of a major system defense grid construction effort funded by ComStar to protect its various shipyards from destruction by enemy forces and to act as the final line of defense for Terra.

Elgin – The large islands that comprise the main landmasses of the planet Elgin support a wide variety of lifestyles, ranging from manufacturing to farming to service industries. The first world captured by the young Tikonov Free Republic in 3062, the Ridzik brothers made an example of Baron Men Hou and his family as to what happens to those who attempt to stand against them. Men Hou’s island prison has become a dumping ground for undesirables since, giving Elgin a constant reminder of what betraying the Ridziks could cost them.

Fomalhaut – Only a pair of small landmasses - Oanhu in the southern hemisphere, and Lyria in the equatorial zone - and a few dozen islands rise from the Endless Seas, Fomalhaut's planetwide ocean. Dominated by Hawaiian and Filipino cultures, the lush semitropical forestlands, exquisite natural beauty, unique three-moon nightscape, and infinite emerald seas have made it a resort world for whatever nation claims it. It fell under Tikonov control in 3089, and ComStar is currently building a massive network of system defense fortifications that will act as a defensive line around Terra, but the locals continue to live as they have for centuries, welcoming outsiders, and their money, as much as always.

Genoa – A marginally habitable place with the smallest population of any system in a 60-light-year radius of Terra, the planet's attraction lies in its rich deposits of raw materials - always in demand by industry - and high-grade gemstones. Huge underground lakes teeming with many unique aquatic species are carefully nurtured, harvested, and exported as delicacies and exotic pets.

Hall – The birthplace of the Tikonov Free Republic, it was here that the Ridzik brothers started their drive to reclaim their father’s old realm. The capital city of Harney, shattered by the fighting between 3057 and 3060, has been rebuilt over the years into the Republic’s crowning jewel. Hall's annual precipitation is far below the average for Terra, which gives the planet several large deserts. Considered one of the most beautiful worlds in known space, Hall owes this reputation to the strange, compelling rock formations found in each of the planet's deserts. From the air, it can be seen that many of these formations consist of solid walls of rock about five meters thick and sometimes more than two hundred meters long and of varying heights. The most unique feature of these formations is that most of the rock walls run parallel to one another, creating a vast complex of hallways. Many times suggestions have been made to move the capital to Tikonov but the Ridziks have vetoed them, not wishing to leave the beautiful world for a planet on the fringes of Republic space.

Hamal – Hamal is a cold desert world dominated by arid, frozen tundra and windstorms the locals call "sand blizzards." Settlers from the highlands of Terra's South American continent established their only major city, Califa Hamal, on the planet's equator, where temperatures can reach above freezing. Hamal's surface is a single landmass with small, landlocked seas containing mostly crushed ice. The flags of Tikonov, the Hegemony, the Confederation, Commonwealth, Sytris, and now Tikonov again have flown over this world and her descendents are spread throughout much of the Human Sphere, having gone out to fight for her various parent realms.

Hsien – Ruled over by Duke Luis Montong VI, this world makes modest amounts of revenue through its lumber and canning industries. The Montong family have been loyal to a fault to the Ridziks since swearing fealty to them, making Hsien one of the most secure worlds in the Republic and home to a major Republic military base.

Kansu – Kansu is a rather small cold world with three continents that are all frozen wastelands. Kantuene is the largest continent, located at the equator and extending into the northern and southern hemispheres. The majority of the population lives in the capital, Raijianstad, the largest of Kansu's domed cities, built in and around a large crevasse. It was underground that the settlers discovered rich fields of radioactive and precious metals. The continents of Matawan and Fetid remained largely unpopulated, Matawan being where the radioactive ores are refined, while Fetid is used as a Tikonov training base. The local plants, mostly blue-gray in color, save what energy they absorb as methane, making them highly explosive and a valuable energy source if cultivated correctly. The locals avoid underwater travel with a passion though, as the sea floors are covered in explosive methane-hydrate ice.

Kawich – Ten small continents (Adaven, Armagosa, Darrough, Hannapah, Ione, Nyala, Ophir, Pactolus, Tolicha, and Wahmonie) dot Kawich's large but shallow seas. Kawich's soil is generally poor, but its rocks are rich in metal ores, minerals, and petroleum. Although mining and refining industries boomed on Kawich under the Terran Hegemony, Kawich's population has always retained a frontier attitude given the hardscrabble land they must work.

Keid – Home of an ore-mining industry and situated immediately next to Terra and the Sirian Concordance, Keid is dominated by bazaars and traders love the world. Staunchly Pro-Steiner before the Marik-Liao invasion, it was garrisoned by the Thirteenth Lyran Guards for the Lyran Alliance after the Marik-Liao invasion of the FedCom and the fall of Duke Joseph Hunsen due to revelations of his relations with underaged twins with ties to a Combine agent. In 3062 however the Thirteenth decided to go independent, take control of the world, turn the relatively young Duchess Arice Hunsen into a mere figurehead, and force her to follow their orders. In 3065, she managed to smuggle a request for aid to Word of Blake agents and their help arrived in late 3065 in the form of Clifton's Rangers and Hannibal's Hermits. By mid 3066, the Thirteenth were forced to surrender. It fell to Tikonov during the Jihad and Duchess Hunsen wisely saw that times were shifting and has been a loyal subject of the Republic since then, though some rumors suggest she is not as loyal as she says and may even have been behind her father’s removal. Tikonov agents are watching her closely for any sign that the rumors are correct. Now home to a massive system defense network construction process, ComStar projects that by 3050 Keid will be invulnerable to any known form of attack.

Liberty – Once called Carver V, more than 85% of Liberty’s surface is covered by pale blue seas, making it an important source of water for drier Republic worlds. The planet's many aquatic lifeforms, the ocean-going reptiles called Crocales being the most spectacular, are carefully protected by the local government but yearly harvests are performed to keep their numbers down and to generate trade revenue. Crocales hides make iridescent green leather much loved by the rich of the Republic. Liberty is also home to the massive Quantico Marine Fortification, one of the few Star League fortifications capable of holding off Amaris’ troops. Since absorbing Liberty, the Republic rebuilt the fortifications with ComStar help and now the Republic, ComStar, and the Star League uses them to train their marines, like the ancient Star League did. A new system defense grid is also under construction to act as a line of defense for Terra itself.

Nanking – One of the first trade centers developed during the Exodus from Terra, local deposits of platinum and copper attract considerable interstellar trade and exchange. Kallontown, named after the productive Kallon Industries, is the capital and home of one of major Republic universities, once used as a political training facility by the Capellans.

New Canton – A temperate planet with a diverse economy of light and medium industry, several commercial spaceports, fishing, and a thriving agricultural industry are its claim to fame. Approximately 80 percent of New Canton's population lives in large- and medium-sized cities that are evenly distributed on the planet's two continents. Saltwater oceans cover nearly 85 percent of New Canton's surface. The capital and primary power of the Saiph Triumvirate, it was the last world to fall to Ridzik soldiers but is, ironically, the least troublesome to their rule. A sizeable military force garrisons it against enemy raids at all times.

New Hessen – Founded by Albrecht von Hesse, a successful arms and munitions merchant, the planet New Hessen began as a private commercial holding and was converted into a planet-wide "battlezone-for-rent-or-lease" by the Hesse family. This novel concept provided neighboring governments a suitable stage for military contests across New Hessen's vast plains and mountains, without the risk of spoiling their own lands. The enormous profits gleaned from these enterprises allowed the von Hesse family to establish the largest military-industrial complex in the old Tikonov Union. After conquering New Hessen, the Ridziks restarted the practice of hosting BattleMech competitions on this world. Most of the year they are simple Solaris-style small-scale duels, but they culminate in massive quarterly multi-unit actions where Republican formations vie for the honor of wearing the Hesse Medal of Gallantry.

New Home – The planet's boasts a pleasant and temperate climate, mountainous, resource-rich highlands, and many freshwater lakes and rivers. It's mineral, chemical, and metal wealth make it a strategically important world for Republic, and the ancient Star League system defense fortifications have been rebuilt with ComStar support to act as part of a final defensive line for Terra should the distant Clans or another vestige of the old Star League mount another invasion. ComStar projections suggest it will be decades before the network is complete.

Nirasaki – Farms, cattle ranches, fishing communities and artistic communes make up the bulk of Nirasaki's population, though it is also home to two very important industries that make it of note to the Human Sphere. The first is Blue Heron Computers, a major producer of the Blue Lotus portable compads and noteputers used throughout the Human Sphere, and the second is a series of plush resort hotels that make it a favored vacation spot for many. These hotels receive much of their business thanks to the Hiyake solar yacht races, the premier event in that sport.

Nopah – Nopah's swollen, dying parent star has been a blessing to its flora, but all of the planet's native animal life has perished due to dramatic changes in Nopah's climate. Settlers from Terra recognized Nopah's agricultural potential but had to introduce their own insects to ensure that their crops were fertilized. Conquered during the second phase of the St. Ives War, the ancient rusting BattleMech hulks that have dotted its landscape for centuries have newer and younger friends now.

Pike IV – A high atmospheric pressure, small deposits of water, and extreme mineral reaches are the hallmarks of this world. Some people live high above sea level where the pressure is closer to normal, their cities surrounded by massive walls to protect them from the high-altitude storms, while others live in the calmer lower altitudes where every building is required to have air-thinning environmental systems. The duel societies on this world distrust each other and do not work well together when fighting, an aspect the Ridzik brothers took advantage of when they invaded the world in 3090 and took it from the crumpling Combine.

Quentin – A world of abundant raw materials, from basic industrial metals to rarer radioactive elements and even naturally-formed crystalline minerals useful in various optical products, the planet still retains the scars of First Succession War fighting in the form of its caustic atmosphere - the result of a massive biological-weapon attack, launched against the world by retreating would-be conquerors. Scientists from ComStar and the Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Alliance have spent the last decade attempting to formulate a way of restoring the world’s atmosphere but have made little progress at this time.

Saffel – A cold world slowly coming out of a mini-ice age, Saffel’s upper and lower latitudes are covered mostly in ice. Rugged, thickly wooded plains dominate the equatorial region where most of the people live to this day. Home to another massive system defense networks, ComStar has been busy in the system since the war with the Draconis Combine effectively ended.

Saiph – The heavily forested, mountainous terrain of this world has discouraged development, and the planets' populations rely primarily on mining, subsistence farming, livestock herding, and hunting to provide the necessities of life. Like most other governments before it, the Republic controls only the two small cities and their spaceports, with the rest of the planet controlled by the isolated inhabitants who refuse to bow to any foreign government. As long as they don’t attack Republic interests, the Ridziks have left them alone, but more than one purge has occurred after some “freedom fighters” decided to try driving them off.

Slocum

Styx – Large oceans and the gravitational effects of its three moons are blamed for the violent storms that rage across the Stygian surface, often causing damage from flash floods and mudslides during the planet's rainy seasons. A high quantity of metal and radioactive minerals have made it valuable to conquerors and raiders since before the Star League, and it was the location of the Hegemony’s first use of BattleMechs against the Draconis Combine. It is ironic that when Tikonov BattleMechs hit the world in 3090, the only major Combine force on world was a regiment of vehicles that died as quickly and easily as their ancient ancestors did against the Hegemony BattleMechs.

Talitha – Once the home of one of the Star League’s “Golden Ten” universities, the Ridziks have given ComStar and the Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Alliance free reign to rebuild the university into one of the most affluent centers of learning in the Human Sphere. Nearly half of its students come from the nearby Marik-Stewart Commonwealth, and it is the only world on that border that is never raided by Commonwealth forces.

Tall Trees – Easily conquered by the Ridziks when they declared war on the Triumvirate, it has proven a very difficult world to control. The mountainous terrain is heavily-forested and the locals have little use for high technology or foreign governments, staying in their small villages where they live alone and happily leave the Republic to do what it wants. The Ridziks control only a single city and its main spaceport, leaving the locals to the independence they want as long as they don’t consort with the Republic’s enemies.

Terra Firma – The home of the Fist of Mokal after they fled Sheratan, the Fist brutally oppressed this formerly peaceful and prosperous world for six years before the Ridzik brothers marched in to deal with the “mercenaries.” Though some of the Fist managed to escape their assault, most of them were captured or killed in the fighting. Those that survived were scrupulously tried for their crimes and then executed by the Republic courts. Since then, rebuilding efforts by the Republic have returned prosperity and peace to the world and cemented the loyalty of Terra Firma.

Tikonov – A large, mostly arid world that was colonized in the 22nd century, its large mineral deposits and heavy industries led it to form The Tikonov Grand Union, one of the earliest interstellar nations. A proud member of the Capellan Confederation for centuries, it fell to the Federated Commonwealth during the Fourth Succession War, and reverted to Syrtis management when the Syrtis Federation pulled out of the Federated Suns during the Jihad. Conquered by the Third Republican Guards during the Tikonov offensive against the Syrtis Federation, its many industries have helped rebuild the Republican military over the last fifteen years. Many champion the cause of making it the official capital of the Tikonov Free Republic, but so far the Ridzik brothers have declined to leave the more defensible Hall.

Van Diemen IV – The Armistice of Van Diemen IV between the Liao and Davion governments in 2903 started a quarter-century cease-fire between those two nations and set up a series of rules of warfare that the other nations unofficially began to follow as well, limiting the destructiveness of the Succession Wars.

Wasat

Woodstock – One of the first worlds to fall to Tikonov forces when they hit the Syrtis Federation, it is a temperate world devoted to raising agricultural products and a variety of livestock. The three continents cover 27 percent of the planet, while the three oceans are as rich and vibrant with life as the land is fertile. York, the largest continent, produces most of the beef and grows some tobacco for cigars. The continent of Sjardijin is home to ancient Star League research station that studied ways to grow crops and feed that old nation, but the continent of Essex is a shattered, burned out husk thanks to the assaults of Amaris’ troops. Scientists from ComStar and the Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Alliance have spent the last two decades trying to clean the poisons from the land but have had only moderate success so far.

Yangtze – Like the Yangtze floodplain on Terra, Yangtze's landmasses are flat and covered in a thick layer of fertile soil fed by seasonal flooding from the planet's many slow-moving rivers. Fearful of the destruction wrought by these inland floods, Yangtze's initial Chinese settlers huddled in small fishing villages and towns on the rocky coasts of the planet's two small continents, Han and Sung. The Star League built an elaborate system of dams and dikes across the planet, making it a prime producer of food, but the controls on Sung were destroyed during the Second Succession War by rogue mercenaries. The Ridzik brothers funded a long-term project to repair the facilities, and parts of Sung have begun to grow food again in recent years.

Zurich – A pleasant world with a temperate atmosphere, it has been a favored tourist attraction for centuries. Of limited use strategically, and lacking any major resources, it is never raided and citizens of many nations around the Human Sphere travel there for vacations. One of the premier attractions involves an old Star League DropShip and three BattleMechs with parks and opera houses surrounding it.

Sirian Concordance

Alula Australis – Originally a Steiner world, it was conquered by the Mariks in 2458 and has been the brunt of attacks ever since. Rare earths and gemstones form the basis of a rich mining industry, keeping its people productive and reasonably well off. It became a part of the Commonwealth after the Fourth Succession War and was reconquered by the League in 3058. During the Jihad it fell under the control of the Word of Blake, but was liberated by the Sirian Concordance in 3071. Since the Jihad, ComStar has begun a long-range project of building a large series of fortifications to act as a line of defense for Terra.

Callison – Possessing abundant water, mineral, and agricultural resources, like many other worlds in the Republic Callison has seen numerous flags hung over its buildings. Skye, Lyran, Marik, FedCom, Word of Blake, Sirian, and now Tikonov flags have all risen over it, and the locals long ago learned to live with the devastation that has brought. Even now, many cities remain abandoned due to war damage, but the Sirians have been making progress and its location has brought much trading wealth to it.

Castor – Long a major trading port between the Houses, this worlds fortunes have waned since coming under Concordance control. While many traders still come here, other worlds in the area have been slowly pulling business away, leaving some of the bazaars empty.

Devil's Rock – Like Castor, this was once a major trading center, but recent years have seen its fortunes waning as traders go to worlds on the borders of the Concordance.

Graham IV – Once a Terra-like world with vast metal deposits, mineral wealth, and fossil fuel resources, Amaris’ troops nuked anything they couldn’t easily capture and left the world in ruins. The remaining population centers are small and generally unimportant, with the planet barely able to eke out its existence. Much of the food is grown in orbital habitats because of the vast areas of the planet covered by nuclear radiation. In the decades since the Jihad, both the Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Alliance and ComStar have spent much time counteracting the poisons and dissipating the radiation, but projections suggest it will be decades before the planet is cleansed. ComStar has also been spending large amounts of funds in building a series of system defense stations that will make Graham IV a virtual fortress in the line of defense around Terra.

Marcus – A heavy world with an oppressive atmosphere and mountains squashed into mere rolling hills, Marcus is nonetheless a valuable world thanks to its abundance of radioactive and industrial mineral resources. It was also of value to the Word of Blake and they used its radioactive supplies to make many nuclear weapons that they used during the Jihad until the Sirian Concordance captured the world.

Oliver – The most distant part of the Terran System Defense Network, this rich world was colonized early in mankind’s Exodus from Terra. Now home to major Brigadier and Quikscell production facilities, the scars of early and current industrial development dot the landscape.

Pollux – Long one of the main trading ports between the Sirian Concordance and the Federation of Skye, this is a rich world full of trading bazaars and objects from the Clan Occupation Zones to the Free Worlds League can be easily found here.

Procyon – A largely agricultural world of sparsely populated farmlands and forests, the bulk of Procyon's surface outside of the two main continents takes the form of the Unspoiled Isles, a chain of miniature island-continents stretching along the southern hemisphere. Dominated by large numbers of Castles Brian in various stages of rebuilding, industrial growth is rampant but nearly all of it takes place in space where the waste products can be easily deposited in the sun. They have eagerly accepted the series of system fortifications ComStar is building, remembering Alisendar Gyrn’s reign of terror and not wanting anyone to have that chance again.

Sirius – Home to no less than three habitable worlds, Sirius is the heart of industrial and agricultural power in the Sirian Concordance. Officially ruled by a duly elected “Primus, Protector, and Sublime Princeps”, unofficially the Primus Jenny Twofeathers, originally of Procyon, rigs the elections to continually maintain in power and to keep a check on the power Gyrn family. Though that family lost much power due to the reign of terror one of their members instituted after Marik-Liao invasion of the FedCom, it still has enough to constantly threaten the Primus’ base of power, making the Sirian Concordance a decidedly unstable government.

Zosma – Orbiting a blazing-hot, white, A-class sun twice the size of Terra's Sol, which whips its few rocky planets around at breakneck speed and occasionally pulses in size due to its own inherent gravitational instability, Zosma is quite inhospitable, with its rocky terrain, brutal, year-round heat, and nutrient-poor soil that supports only a few limited species of native flora. Only its vast metallurgical resources keep mankind on the world at all. The inhabitants live in sealed habitats, shielded from the solar radiation, with limited protection against the odd planet-wide quakes that erupt when the parent star undergoes another brief contraction. Tight controls on the locals keep them from wasting resources and internal dissent is dealt with quickly in order to keep the defenses ready for raids from Skye.

The Triumvirate

Epsilon Eridani – Having a pleasant, if damp, climate, few of the world's frequent rainstorms ever become true thunderstorms. The southern continent contains large regions of swamplands, while the northern continent is drier and rockier, as well as containing large areas of hinterlands. The northern continent is also host to infrequent, but spectacular, thunder tempests. One of the few bastions of calm and trade in the Chaos March, the world broke into civil war between County Shu and the Palatine of Duvic in 3061. Though the war ended without victor in 3062, revelations shortly thereafter that Duvic had consorted with both the Word of Blake and the Capellan Confederation to end Epsilon’s independence shattered that realm, allowing County Shu to absorb it with little difficulty. Now the most powerful polity on Epsilon Eridani, Shu forces make up nearly half of the Epsiloni Guard and have fought in every war the Republic has entered. Epsilon has served as the capital of The Triumvirate, as home of the Triumvir Prime, since the founding of the Triumvirate, and few think that will change any time soon, especially considering that ComStar has been building a powerful system defense network since the Jihad to act as a defense network around Terra. It continues to be a center of trade in the Republic and The Triumvirate.

Epsilon Indi – A wasteland of deserts, empty seabeds, and bombed-out cities, whose population now inhabits only the polar regions, which were spared most of the fallout of Amaris’ nuclear scorched earth campaign. The rich mineral deposits across the planet’s four main landmasses are now accessible to mining operations based in the polar continents of Boreria in the north, and Kantiles in the south. Captured during the Jihad, ComStar and Alliance technological initiatives have made slow progress at removing the radioactive poisons from some areas of the planet while ComStar has been building a system defense network to act as a protective line around Terra.

Fletcher – A dense atmosphere and almost constant cloud cover keep this world damp and chilly, befitting a planet whose major claim to fame is its use as a burial ground for countless Capellan Chancellors. Because it has so little in the way of resources or beauty to recommend it, most realms have ignored Fletcher during the Succession Wars and even the Jihad. Only the Duchy of Small showed any major interest, after being pushed off Sheratan. The local militia was unable to drive them off, despite a decade of effort, until the Ridzik brothers allied with the nearby Triumvirate and gave them the support they needed to destroy the Duchy forces on Fletcher. To this day, The Triumvirate claims the system and has a small garrison there, but lets the locals do whatever they want.

Ingress – Ingress is a heavily populated world with a diverse economy. Trade and agricultural exports form the largest sectors, but Ingress also contains several light manufacturing facilities. Never a willing member of the Duchy of Small, they helped found The Triumvirate and welcomed Sheratan and Epsiloni forces with open arms. Extremely independent-minded, they have still become close friends with Sheratan and Epsilon.

Sheratan – Shattered by the formation of the Chaos March, the Fist of Mokal and the Sheratan Knights ravaged the lush forests of Sheratan in their fight for control of the world. In the end, the Sheratan Knights remained the only power on the world and successfully brought order to it in 3059, despite numerous assaults by the Duchy of Small. A founding member of The Triumvirate in 3064, since the Jihad ended they have content to sit back and rebuild. The past three decades have seen the restoration of much of the lost forests, but scars of those ferocious fires can still be seen.

Small World – Nearly 80 percent of Small World's landmass is covered by frozen tundra. The planet has a medium-sized population, and almost all of these inhabitants live in five large cities located on the world's two small equatorial continents. Small World's economy is almost totally dependent on its exports of radioactive elements and minerals mined from under its frozen exterior. Duke Synthia Small is considered to be a loyal member of the Republic, but she continues to this day to hide military resources and to build up a range of contacts she hopes one day will allow her to break free of Triumvirate and Tikonov control. Many of her negotiations are masked as elicit liaisons that she has allowed the Ridzik and Shu intelligent operatives to observe.

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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?

Very very nice Medron, looks like it all finally has fallen into place, looking forward to seeing more stories coming out of all this.

_________________
Everyone here is crazy except you and me, and I am NOT TO SURE about you.

People like you are the reason People like me need medication.

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

Thanks dude

I still have the Clammers (Jade Falcon, Hell's Horses, Wolf, Rasalhague Dominion, and Clan Snord) and the Peripery to do, but Tikonov was really the most bearlike of them all.

That was going to be the REAL pain, as noted by the bloody LENGTH of it.

And I need to do ComStar, Outreach, and Northwind as well.

ComStar I think will be the next one I do. I really need to show some of the tech revolutions they've brought around. The smaller jump cores and the stations that pack replacement Lithium-Fusion batteries and all that jazz.

But with Tikonov done at least I can breath a sigh of relief and go on to all of these factions that will be easier.

One of the big things with Tikonov is that it was a "new" faction whereas nearly all of my factions are old ones. Taken from books and jazz. This one had to be built from the ground up, while also respecting the existing fluff about the planets. My original idea for instance was that the Ridziks would be in charge of everything, and would actually have some of the Federation of Skye systems. It would have made things easier that's for certain. But study of the systems in question, and of the Sirian Concordance, and of what the Sheratan Knights were doing, ended up steering me in a different direction that, while more complicated and a real bear to get to fleshed out, I think makes for a more dynamic faction.

It was also fun to show the Ridziks up as not being good guys, but also not being bad guys. They are grey, doing what they have to to maintain order, whether that means working with the locals are dropping them Men Hoa's island for some long-term "R&R".

_________________
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 feel embarrassed right now, but Augustus pointed me to a little book called Initiation to War which takes place on Epsilon Eridani in 3061 and 3062. Right in the middle of this little nation.

I reread the book, after not looking at it since I bought it and read it right away, and realized that he was right and that Epsilon should be handled differently than I handled it. My only defense is that I was using the official 3067 as a template for what I was doing.

But the war on Epsilon Eridani made them trusting the Word of Blake a rather long idea without much basis, so I ended up doing some surgery on the writup, mainly in the Duchy of Sheratan.

In short, the Duchy of Sheratan never existed. It is the Triumvirate, founded by Ingress, Sheratan, and Epsilon Eridani to fight the Duchy of Small. And if you've read the book, you may recognize some names from it.

Anyways, I think this is a better writeup now, and I hope you like it as well.

_________________
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?

ComStar

History

Since the death of the Star League, ComStar has been the neutral (and sometimes not so neutral) center of learning and technology in the Inner Sphere. They were the organization that knew everybody’s secrets, the organization that controlled communications, the organization that had access to technology other realms could not hope to match after the devastation of the first two Succession Wars. Their mission was to lead mankind out of the fires of death and destruction into a brave new world, with ComStar in charge. It is ironic that in a way they have.

The Clan Invasion and the knowledge that their target was Terra irrevocably changed ComStar from the role of not-so-neutral religious watcher to that of the secular defenders of the Inner Sphere against the Invading Clans. Their conversion caused the schism of the Word of Blake, the heart and soul of the old ComStar, and indirectly caused the Jihad. Some believe that ComStar would have done something similar no matter what, but this historian is not so certain.

But whatever the case may be, post-schism ComStar had taken up its mantle as defenders of the entire Inner Sphere very, for lack of a better word, religiously. They became the martial arm of the Star League when it was reformed to take the war to the Clans, and it was in part their intelligence assets that uncovered the duplicitous nature of the Word of Blake before the fateful Star League Conference of 3067.

The Conference itself went well at first, with Thomas Marik voted in as the next First Lord of the Star League. The vote was unanimous, with none able to raise voice or hand against his nomination. But when matters came to the vote on Word of Blake membership in the Star League, ComStar brought forth its findings. Other nations noted similar suspicions, and in the end the Word of Blake was officially censored and declared persona non-gratis in the Star League. As before, the vote was unanimous.

The Word of Blake response was to attack those who had voted against them. They started with the capital of each House, and ComStar’s unofficial headquarters on Tukayyid. The battle of Tukayyid shattered a quarter of ComStar’s fleet, including the Sovetskii Soyuz-class Blake’s Vengeance, and left the rest of the orbiting fleet in ruins. The Word of Blake also fired a large number of nuclear warheads at Tukayyid, hoping to wipe out ComStar’s central command, but were thwarted by advanced anti-missile defenses placed around their compounds. Many of the warheads did hit the planet, causing heavy damage to the ecological system that has still not been repaired, but few military assets were lost.

ComStar wasted little time assaulting the Word of Blake in return, but to effectively fight the scattered Word forces they had to split their forces up and soon ComStar ground and naval forces could be seen throughout the Inner Sphere in small numbers fighting their former brethren. The Cameron-class Invisible Truth joined up with the damaged Wolf’s Dragoon’s fleet near Terra to support the main action against the Word of Blake near Terra. The Black Lion-class Blake’s Strength and its detachment on the other hand jumped into the Federated Suns to hunt down the Word fleet there. After a number of battles throughout the disintegrating House, they hunted the Word down over Dieron and Galax in 3071. Though the damage to those systems’ industrial capabilities was catastrophic, the losses inflicted on the Word fleet forced them to retreat from further battles with ComStar. ComStar split up further and a series of sharp battles between them, the Federated Suns, and the Word ran throughout the rest of 3071 and the better part of 3072 until the Word presence in the Federated Suns ceased to exist. Returning to Outreach in early 3073, the Blake’s Strength and the Federated Sun’s Avalon-class Melissa Davion’s escorts spent much of the year repairing battle damage and preparing for the next stage of the war. The Federated Sun’s ships, smaller in number, relaunched first, but the Blake’s Strength, horribly damaged in the last battle over Delavan, was unable to leave until late 3073.

Meanwhile, the Invisible Truth and the Wolf’s Dragoons’ fleet moved to engage the Word of Blake near Terra with a heavy assault across all fronts. Supported on the ground by the Allied Mercenary Command as well as the Ridzik brothers and their allies, it was ComStar and the Wolf’s Dragoons that fought the Word fleets, opening the worlds of the Word Hegemony up to ground assault. In late 3072, they surrounded Caph, destroying much of the remaining Word fleets, landed troops from every allied nation, and smashed the Word of Blake’s First, Fourth, and Fifth Divisions into wreckage. The last stronghold short of Terra, the Word forces fought to the death in a bitter scorched earth campaign that nearly wiped out the world. But under assault by overwhelming firepower and unable to retreat the system due to WarShip interdiction, the Word presence on Caph effectively ceased to exist.

In May of 3073, the Federated Suns fleet came out of the docks of Outreach to bolster the ComStar and Wolf’s Dragoons’ fleet under the flag of the Star League, and followed them into Terra on the first major assault. The Word of Blake pushed the Star League fleet out of the Terran system with heavy casualties and the fleets pulled back to Outreach for repairs. By the end of the year, as the Blake’s Strength and her force prepared to jump into Lyran Alliance space, a fleet from the Free Worlds League arrived to support the Star League. Small numbers of League and Federation ships supported the Blake’s Strength and her escorts, but most prepared to hit Terra again with the Invisible Truth. They entered the Terran system in late July, smashing through the first level of Word of Blake defenses but soon found themselves surrounded by over a thousand Word of Blake small craft and retreated rather than risk complete destruction of the fleet.

The Star League fleet centered around Blake’s Strength entered the rump Lyran Alliance in December of 3073, and quickly moved to quell the risk of Blake reprisals on worlds caught supporting Archon Adam Steiner and his shattered armies. A heavy battle over Gibbs resulted in a Word defeat and the Star League used the Ioto Galactic yards there to repair damages before jumping on to Donegal in March. Fierce Word resistance at Donegal destroyed a quarter of the Star League fleet but left the Word presence in tatters and allowed the Archon’s troops to take the world in mere months. The fleet returned to Gibbs for more repairs as the Archon finished his preparations to hit Tharkad. In September of 3074 the Star League and the Archon finally made their move and hit Tharkad with all of their remaining forces. The Word put up another heavy fight, leaving the Kimagure-class Katherine Steiner as the only Lyran WarShip left. Of the Star League force that hit Tharkad, the Aegis-class Avenging Sword was the largest survivor, but its K-F drive would never work again. In the end, the shattered ship was scrapped for spare parts. Only the Essex-class Hammerstrike returned to Outreach, but it brought with it the Katherine Steiner and the remains of the Archon’s army.

As the Star League fleet in the Lyran Alliance prepared for the battle of Tharkad, the Star League fleet at Outreach jumped out to hit Terra in August of 3074. A series of sharp naval engagements pushed the Word forces back until, by November of 3075, the Star League navy had secured their hold on the outer Terran system. The battle for the powerful Titan Yards in May was especially gruesome for all sides, but ComStar knew the Word would destroy it rather than let it fall into their hands again. They attacked it hard, forcing the Word to commit their small craft and remaining naval defenses to battle, and then put a secret plan into motion. An hour later, as the Word and Star League navies sparred on the outskirts of the yards, a series of powerful neutron bombs exploded in the yards, killing every living organism in them. The Word naval forces retreated with their small craft escorting them, moving to the inner system where the fortifications of Mars stopped the Star League fleet. Unable to advance further, the Star League forces invaded every major rock in the outer system as they repaired their damage at Titan Yards.

In March of 3076, the navy said it was ready and began the advance with the Lyran Katherine Steiner, leaving the Titan yards behind to begin accelerating into the inner system. After achieving a significant fraction of the speed of light, the navy launched a large salvo of missiles, turned around, and began slowing down for a final combat over Mars. The missiles shot in on their terminal runs, moving faster than any point defense system expected, as the fleet closed the range. They exploded in a rolling barrage of dirty nuclear explosions around Mars that shredded the minefields, the forts supporting them, and many of their fighters and small craft, allowing the Star League fleet to move directly to Mars.

But the Word of Blake refused to let them go in easily and marshaled what remained of their space forces to hold off the Star League fleet. The last five Word of Blake WarShips, over a hundred DropShips, over a thousand fighters, and nearly five hundred small craft went out to meet the invaders and drew a line in space. The Battle of the Line as it became to be known was a bloody fight that shattered half of the Star League fleet, including the Invisible Truth, and left its fighter assets in tatters, but left the Word of Blake without a measurable space force. The remains of the Star League fleet entered Martian orbit and supported the landings of forces from every nation involved in the war, subduing the planet easily.

Then the Star League fleet moved on Terra itself, the homeworld of mankind. The only resistance came from a scattering of old Reagan Space Defense System positions on Luna and Terra. The Regulan Black Lion-class Xanthos and the rest of her fleet simply nuked the Word of Blake positions in response and mushroom clouds billowed over Africa to the horror of the rest of the Star League. Precentor Martial Victor Steiner-Davion and many others protested the action, but few had little fire in their words. Every nation had seen the Word nukes, 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. By early 3077, the entire SDS had been wiped out by orbital strikes, but the Word of Blake fought on.

But even while the SDS survived, ComStar hit every continent of Terra with every ground force they could pull from every world in the Inner Sphere, and the true war for Terra began. On every continent, weapons flared and the world suffered as ComStar and the Word fought tooth and nail, no quarter expected, no quarter given. The FedCom Civil War was a mild sibling squabble compared to what ComStar and the Word did to each other as 3076 and 3077 passed.

In Africa, they found themselves supported by the Regulans, South America was primarily the Allied Mercenary Command and Tikonov, Western Europe was the target of Lyran combat drops, while the Federated Suns supported the attack on Australia. The Mariks, Stewarts, and the Oriente supported the war in Asia, but on Antarctica and North America they were alone at first. Antarctica fell relatively quickly to ComStar, as the African front collapsed into an orgy of weapons of mass destruction. North America soon proved to be a stalemate, but South America found the Word collapsing and the Star League slowly rolled up into North America as the Regulans marched through the ancient Middle East where fossil fuels had once been prominent.

The war in Western Europe and Asia proved painful as well, with the Word unwilling to surrender and the Star League unable to destroy them, until the Regulans hit Moscow and cut off the two sectors of resistance from each other. With the western steppes of Russia and their bountiful food production denied to the Word, the Star League slowly began to grind them down, starving them into submission. July of 3077 saw ComStar’s Third Army, with AMC and Tikonov support, smash into the North American subcontinent with a vengeance. They captured Wichita, the base of North American Defense, in August and continued on to Hilton Head, marching in force. What remained of the Word of Blake defenses (mines, weapons turrets, dug in infantry, vehicles, BattleMechs, and even the last of their Aerofighters) pushed them off, just as they had defeated every attack previous attack. Stalemated again, ComStar prepared for a long siege of Hilton Head.

And then, in a show of force that once again shocked the Star League member states and even the Word of Blake, the Regulan Xanthos flew into an orbital pattern over Hilton Head and wiped it off the face of the Earth in a sustained bombardment that all but erased the island from existence. 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. In reality, scattered pockets of Word resistance, along with the odd Word terrorist, continued to trouble Terra into the early 3080s, but their power had been broken and they received little support. There has been no discernable footprint of Word activity since the March 3085 bombings in London and Paris.

On the 24th of November 3078, Precentor Martial Victor Steiner-Davion declared a year of mourning for the lost lives in the Jihad, one that would end on the 25th of November 3079 with the first Star League Conference on Terra in four centuries. The various nations of the Star League returned to their own business for that year, beginning the long process of rebuilding as ComStar did the same on Terra. It no longer had a home in what had once been the Rasalhague Republic, having joined with the Ghost Bears during the Jihad, and put all of their effort into Terra, uncovering and reinvigorating its shattered industries and economy.

On the 5th of March 3079, a single JumpShip arrived from the Combine, claiming to carry a member of the Kurita family on it. With Hassid Ricol in command of the Draconis Combine it had become a hostile place for the Kurita family, but it was an open secret that the Azami protected their ancient allies, and had been trusted in turn by Theodore Kurita when he was Coordinator. When the Star League searched the ship, it soon became known how much Theodore had trusted them. Long thought dead to a bomber’s plot, Omi Kurita was alive and well, and had been in Azami care since her “death”.

Omi and Victor instantly began plans for the wedding, as the Star League Council grew closer. On the 25th of November, the delegates had arrived and the Council met to vote on who would be the next First Lord. None had been elected since 3067, though Victor had taken up many of the duties of that position. He was elected by the existing members of the Star League as the First Lord, despite Coordinator Ricol’s protests, and then the Council moved to the process of accepting applications from the various new states into the Star League. The debate became a howling match between the House Lords that refused to admit they no longer “owned” the nations trying to enter, and the House Lords who refused to allow the others to gain “ghost votes” in the Council. In the end, only the Tikonov Free Republic, having shown itself to be neutral in the matters of the Houses, was allowed into the League, though the Ghost Bears successfully defended the Rasalhague Dominion’s claim as sole benefactor of the Rasalhague Republic’s old seat.

But possibly the most explosive event in that Council was ComStar’s report on the status of the Inner Sphere and their plan to rebuild it. The flagship of that plan was a new form of K-F drive that weighed less than others recently discovered by ComStar in the ruins of a Star League base within the old Lyran Alliance. In actuality it was a very old form of K-F drive, one that predated the modern definitions of DropShip and JumpShip, from the pre-Star League days when JumpShips accelerated directly to planets on their own without relying on DropShips. ComStar passed the plans out, offered to support every nation in refitting their factories to build the new drives and the larger engines that would make the JumpShips mobile again, and once again affirmed its ancient role as neutral in all matters.

Then, as the Council closed on the 12th of December, Omi Kurita and Victor Steiner-Davion performed their marriage ceremonies before the assembled members of the Star League and the other nations that had come for the Council. Only Coordinator Hassid Ricol, after having his extradition request for the “renegade Omi Kurita” laughed out of the Council, refused to attend the ceremony.

During the following ten years, ComStar sat back as a neutral provider of HPG services, using the income to rebuild Terra and to begin manufacturing a massive network of defenses on every world within thirty-five light-years of Terra. To this day, the Federation of Skye has refused to allow ComStar to set up any defenses on their worlds, distrusting ComStar “neutrality”, though the Ridziks have seemed happy to allow someone else to fortify their worlds. In another area, ComStar helped the various factories in the Human Sphere to refit the JumpShip factories to the lighter K-F drive standard.

It also saw the Star League slowly accepting new members every three years at the Councils, though always with bitter arguments from many of the House leaders. More than once, ComStar negotiated favorable HPG contracts to gain votes for smaller nations, in exchange for more expensive contracts for the nation they were helping. This “vote buying” using ComStar as an intermediary expanded the Star League greatly in the 3080s but is no longer needed now as the membership has grown far beyond the original handful of nation states. The old Houses no longer have a stranglehold on votes in the Council, a fact they sometimes bemoan. The “new” members now hold the majority of seats in the Council, all of whom had ComStar as a champion. If any one organization can claim to control the Star League, it is ComStar. They of course do not claim to do so.

In the 3091 Council, ComStar came out with another proposal that has further cemented their position of power, though as with HPGs it is simply to help the Human Sphere become a better place. The proposal included a number of stations built throughout the Human Sphere with banks of batteries designed to replace spent Lithium-Fusion batteries on JumpShips to allow them to make a jump within a day of arriving in system, safely and for a modest fee. The first station was built over Terra in 3092, and a link to Outreach was finished in 3093, allowing for swift travel between the two worlds. It was extended to Hall in 3093, and has continued to expand since then as the “modest fees” continue to build up. Reinvesting the profits into the “Jump Stations”, ComStar now has a station at every system within 150 light-years of Terra, and “Jump Lines” out to many capital worlds further out. ComStar made it clear in the beginning, and has continued to do so since, that the “Jump Lines” are for commercial use only. They never replace batteries on WarShips and have made it clear that they will Interdict any nation that attempts to force them to do so. No nation has attempted to force the issue.

In addition to those endeavors, ComStar’s Explorer Corps has continued to explore the area around and in the Human Sphere, constantly looking for old Star League bases and for foes that could threaten it as the Clans once did. Or perhaps still do. Since the Jihad, even the Invading Clans have been cut off from the Homeworld Clans and no ship passing the Veil of Kerensky has ever returned. Coupled with the stories the Diamond Sharks (before retaking their old name) and the Hell’s Horses told of a major Blood Spirit-led assault on the Star Adders shortly before contact was lost, many within ComStar wonder what, if anything, hides behind the Veil of Kerensky. These questions have so far remained unanswered, but Precentor I Arthur Marik-Steiner-Davion has been spending the last three years assembling a fleet at Columbus to make a recon in force of the Veil and the Clan Homeworlds. A small number of destroyers and frigates from the member states of the Star League and the nearby Periphery realms have joined the fleet as well, and it is scheduled to leave on the 5th of January, after Precentor XVI Lisa Reine arrives with her flagship, the Manassas, to take command. ComStar plans to put their findings before the Star League Council of 3100 when it convenes in November.

Military

ComStar’s military is spread throughout the Human Sphere, guarding HPGs and working with local systems to fight pirates. They never take sides in inter-national fights though, maintaining strict neutrality between established states. The massive Dante-class cruisers built by Titan Yards, and the smaller Mars-class destroyers that escort them, dominate the main battle fleet, but smaller Terra, Venus, and Titan ships are often seen throughout the Human Sphere and beyond, patrolling or exploring the vastness of space. The Huscarl Omnifighter is the most common small escort seen surrounding ComStar ships, but others of Star League design are also seen often. Kept secret from all other nations is the fact that all ComStar WarShips can jump thirty-five light-years at a time. What few ships that survived the war have been retrofitted to the new standard, and all new production uses the new K-F drives.

The Viking OmniMech is the most common BattleMech seen on ComStar garrisons, capable of being outfitted for nearly any mission and of defending HyperPulse Generators against nearly any foe. A large number of Star League BattleMechs have also been seen in the ComGuard, but no one knows if they are new-builds or retrofitted old BattleMechs. Chevalier scout tanks and Beowulf OmniMechs accompany every Explorer Corps mission as well.

Known Factories
Other nations assume that the numerous other factories of Terra and other worlds under its command have been rebuilt, but have received no substantiation of their beliefs. Only these are confirmed, and only because new units of these classes have been confirmed built since the Jihad.

Terra – Titan Yards – Dante cruiser, Mars destroyer, Titan scout, Venus patrol frigate, and Terra escort frigate; Huscarl Omnifighter
– O'Neil Yards – Magellan JumpShip
– Mitchell Vehicles – Viking and Beowulf OmniMechs

System Information

Terra - Terra was, without doubt, the most beautiful planet in the universe when the Star League was in full flower. By the 26th century, technology had eliminated pollution. This coupled with the exodus of more than three-fourths of the planet's population over the years, allowed Terra to regain some of her natural beauty. Forests grew back over abandoned farms, streams and rivers washed themselves clean, and the air became sweet again.

Because so many people left Terra for the colonies, many cities were abandoned and were eventually reclaimed by Mother Nature. The cities that remained, usually ones with great historical significance, were restored and improved to take advantage of modern transportation and sanitation. Heavy industries were confined to parks outside the cities.

But the Amaris Coup and the Jihad shattered much of it, with nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons commonly used. The two wars devastated many of its greatest cities, causing the loss of thousands of years of civilization, but the years since the Jihad have seen a new beginning for the cradle of humanity. ComStar has spared no expense to rebuild the worst wounded cities, to cleanse the lands of radiation, chemical, or biological poisons, and to rebuild its lost defenses.

The Court of the Star League in Unity City, the capital of the new Star League, has been cleansed and rebuilt, the miraculously-spared Geneva is the capital of the Terran system, and dozens of factories in space and on Terra itself keep the rebuilding going. A busy world, the Jihad has driven a people long accustomed to sitting back and watching as things happen around them to work harder than they have in centuries. They have realized that Terra is vulnerable and now busily move from one task to another, always working to make Terra powerful enough to never again feel what happened in the Jihad and the Amaris Coup.

Venus – The second of four habitable worlds in the Terran star system, Venus is closest to Terra and arguably the most habitable outside of the home world. Ancient Star League atmospheric factories have been replaced with plants that feed off the local atmosphere, converting it to breathable gasses and keeping its temperature to a bearable level. Millions of people have returned to Venus, taking once again the ancient abandoned cities for their own and expanding out on a yearly basis. A world that once people thought would die now has new life and a new future, much like that of Terra’s. It is a world where people go to find a new life and hard work is rewarded.

Mars – The third of four habitable worlds in the Terran star system, Mars’ thin atmosphere requires all but locals, genetically engineered centuries ago, to wear breather masks, and in some cases even light environment suits, to survive. Home to numerous Star League and ComStar bases, it has a high proportion of military to civilian citizens. Its buildings tend to reflect its martial culture, low, heavily fortified, and lacking in most decorations. Martian trees are kept far away from nearly all buildings, as are any of the bushes that live on it now, to maintain clear-fire zones, and the Martian War Academy graduates hundreds each year in every major military branch.

Titan – The last of the habitable worlds in the Terran star system, the word habitable is considered a loose definition. Colonized to support the orbiting Titan Shipyards, every building sports its own atmospheric recyclers, and what cities there are reside under massive domes. Maintained for the sole purpose of supporting the shipyards, the only civilians are the workers and their families, all of whom live separately from the military that resides in its own bases.

Cambridge Perimeter Defense Station – Controlled by the Jade Falcons before they abandoned the system during the Jihad, ComStar stepped in to take over and expand the defenses. Now sporting a number of large armed military stations at both major jump points, a constant fleet presence maintains its position as a major ComStar base in the Periphery.

Bazaar – Jointly-held by ComStar and Clan Sea Fox, ComStar has defended this crossroads of trade in the Periphery since shortly after the Jihad.

Chainelane Lighthouse – A former Jade Falcon transfer and cargo station near the Chainelane Isles, this world has become a major port of call on the route between the Inner Sphere and the Deep Periphery. Its name comes from the ancient Terran lighthouses that warned of danger, much as this world warns that civilization is at an end. Corewards of it are the Chainelane Isles and The Barrens, lawless regions where pirates and small-time despots rule with an iron hand. Convoys protected by ComStar warships regularly take merchants from Lighthouse to Clan Snord space where they can easily find convoys traveling deeper into the Inner Sphere.

Columbus – The most prominent extra-Terran possession of ComStar, this Terran-like world has been the headquarters of the Explorer Corps for Coreward and Spinward missions since before the Jihad. DropShip yards on the planet allow it to repair any ship that can land, while its hollowed-out moon, Amor, can service or build any ship that can’t land. Though its importance has faded in the years since the Jihad and the loss of contact with the Homeworld Clans, ComStar continues to send expeditions to find out what happened to them from time to time. But even now JumpShips are rare, and none that have passed Kerensky’s Veil have returned, so such expeditions are rare. Recent years have seen it host to never-before seen levels of activity and ComStar has been assembling a large multi-national fleet of WarShips over Columbus for the last three years. Governor Haruka Otanashi has been working with these fleets closely, helping them generate plans to send them on another attempt to breach the Veil.

Ctesiphon – A simple cargo relay station in the Deep Periphery, this world sports a settlement barely large enough to service the needs of visiting DropShip and JumpShip crews from of any nationality.

Decus Arae – a small planet technically within the Marian Hegemony, this windswept world sports weather extremes that force most people indoors. Only the coasts are comfortable for human life, but mercenaries contracted by ComStar found a Star League storehouse and factory on it before the Jihad. All reports declare the factories destroyed during the Jihad by a Word of Blake assault, but after the Jihad ComStar established an Explorer Corps headquarters in system to administer anti-Spinward expeditions. Many wonder if the old factories are as dead as the reports declare, but information is scarce.

Gemini – A system with two habitable worlds orbiting a common gravitational null point, the larger of the two worlds has an oppressively dense atmosphere and a powerful gravity field. The smaller world is much more Terran and is a comfortable place for people to live. Discovered between Randis and the Taurian Concordat by ComStar shortly before the Jihad, the Taurians arrived in 3064 to claim the system as their own. ComStar has maintained their presence in system though, building a large base there that now administers all Rimward Explorer Corps expeditions.

Ghent – Approximately 300 light-years Rimward of Kerensky’s Veil, this is the most Coreward permanent garrison and cargo transfer point ComStar has been able to maintain. All attempts to start permanent bases closer to the nebula have failed, many for reasons unknown. Other humans removed some however, or so ComStar believes, but they have yet to find any proof.

Gwithian – A colony of Celtic ancestry occupied by the Diamond Sharks before the Jihad, ComStar took up formal protection of the system after that war. Clan Sea Fox continues to perform healthy trade with the small population, and has helped it to build up substantial local industries.

Harris – A major recon, defense, and supply base that ships visit when jumping between the Hanseatic League and Nouveaux Paris, as well as the various minor trading worlds in the Periphery.

Kinbrace – The primary junction that Hanseatic traders use to link up with the well-mapped trading route between the Inner Sphere and Nueva Castille, the edge of civilized space in the Coreward Periphery. It has grown a thriving colony in the last three decades, servicing traveling traders with a passion that would make a Herotitian or a Canopian blush.

Nouveaux Paris – A thriving world of two billion inhabitants in the Deep Periphery, this ComStar protectorate has made great progress in the last three decades. Having fallen nearly to nineteenth century technology in the years since ethnic French colonized the world in 2398, the influx of new technology that ComStar and Clan Sea Fox brought has started a revolution of sorts. In mere decades they have returned to space, exploring and placing bases throughout their system, and only the lack of ability to build JumpShips has kept them from becoming a major power in the Deep Periphery. They have however purchased several JumpShips and have been using them to colonize nearby worlds in order to limit “overcrowding” on their homeworld.

Ramsey – One of many systems on the route to Nueva Castille, only a small settlement services passing ships.

Santiago IV – Near Kinbrace, many people retire here where things are “quieter” but still close enough to easily travel to that central trade world. It also services traveling sailors but is a bit more reserved about its services than many other ports of call in the Deep Periphery.

St. Jean – A colony founded by Franciscan monks, this world is one of the last links in the jump line taking traders to Nueva Castille. Spanish influences from Castille are common here as many from that area of space have moved here.

Trinity – Yet another link on the jump line to Nueva Castille and the Hanseatic League, this small world sees many traveling traders.

Wark – Home to a former Steel Viper garrison, the animal that Clan was named after has managed to thrive here, to the dismay of the few people that live here. Mostly huddled around the space port and living behind walls, spacers are still cautioned about the dangers of that animal as they have found their way past the walls in search of “sweet meats” in the past.

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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?

I like it Medron, I like the idea of new jump cores and battery change out stations, will be looking for more information on what is happening in your time line.

Any chances of getting more details on the new drives and stations

_________________
Everyone here is crazy except you and me, and I am NOT TO SURE about you.

People like you are the reason People like me need medication.

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For the new drives, I need to do some research into HMA and see what works. I've been thinking somewhere in the area of 75% to 80% of ship weight but that is in flux until I can get the time at home to do something other than what I'm doing in HMA right now.

As for the stations, somebody posted a general idea for something like this some time ago. Essentially though, the stations are normal space stations, linked to multiple solar collectors, that have large banks of batteries where they store the energy. When a JumpShip arrives, and pays for the service of course, they move into a pressurized yard where their lithium-fusion system is opened up in a nice shirt-sleeve environment, and their batteries pulled out and tested to make certain they are in good shape and can be used by other JumpShips. Once that is done, the energized batteries are put in place, the lithium-fusion system closed back up, and the JumpShip is allowed to leave.

The process takes around 24 hours on average (1 hour for each 10,000 tons of JumpShip), greatly decreasing the amount of time required for each jump when travelling a Jump Line. A Scout could be ready to go in 9 hours, while a Monolith would take a day and a half, meaning that are some advantages to having a small JumpShip. Highly perishable supplies could be loaded into a small JumpShip and be taken anywhere along a Jump Line in a very short time. Bulk goods in large shipments on larger JumpShips would take longer.

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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?

I wonder just out of curiosity did you get the idea for the Battery swap out from TGSB? That sounds a lot like the exchange of batteries that Salvage I did at RS 17 when Sissie was dropped off to pick up Tunnel Rat and Psycho.

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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]

No. I think Cray came up with a space station who's purpose was to do that. Whoever came up with it, this is a version of that.

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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?

Hey Medron, just out of curiosity, when are you going to start posting the designs you mention in your history?

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

I've posted one or two of them, but at the moment my time on my home computer is extremely limited and that is the only one I have HMPro on. I do most of my writing at work, and that is where I have most of my time. And at the moment ALL discretionary home time is going into validating the HMAero files from 3057R.

I don't know when I will have time to make up stuff for here, but most of the designs are versions of existing stuff. Those that are truly new. I hope to get to sometime.

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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?

I updated ComStar with a few more planetary notations, out in the Coreward Deep Periphery to give a bit more idea of what is going on out there. Or what even ComStar DOESN'T know is going on out there.



It is all in the Planetary stuff so you don't have to reread everything...

_________________
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?

Rasalhague Dominion

History

History has been hard on Rasalhague, seeing it conquered long ago by the Draconis Combine, conquered and then given freedom by the Lyran Commonwealth, and conquered again by the Clan Ghost Bear. Always Rasalhague has seemed to be the smaller nation or the border between nations where the fighting occurs, but while the arrival of the Clans signaled the death of the old Free Rasalhague Republic, it also started a rebirth of sorts. For the first time in Rasalhague’s history, her conquerors hadn’t arrived to simply govern her from afar, they had come to live in her space. The Ghost Bears did what they could to keep the former Rasalhague population happy, including allowing self-government for planetary affairs, but many of the people would not accept being ruled, however benignly, by others and continued to resist.

That resistance all but ended in the Jihad after the Word of Blake hit Tukayyid. The battle of Tukayyid shattered a quarter of ComStar’s fleet and left the rest of the orbiting fleet in ruins. The Word of Blake also fired a large number of nuclear warheads at Tukayyid, hoping to wipe out ComStar’s central command, but were thwarted by advanced anti-missile defenses placed around their compounds. Many of the warheads did hit the planet, causing heavy damage to the ecological system that has still not been repaired, but few military assets were lost. ComStar pulled nearly all its forces away from the remnants of the Free Rasalhague Republic to fight the Word of Blake in response. With the Star League fractured and ComStar’s gaze elsewhere, what was left of the Free Rasalhague Republic knew that Clan Wolf could conquer them in a heart beat, especially since they did not consider the Great Refusal against the invasion to cover them.

Vlad Ward’s invasion came even sooner than they expected in early 3068, smashing into the Twelfth Army with a blitzkrieg that nearly destroyed Invader Galaxy. Wolf units hit Ueda, Karbala, and Dehgolan as well, enveloping over half of the Republic in the flames of invasion. Another force hit Grumium, and Al Hillah’s defenders rushed to protect the factory world. A week later, a major Wolf force jumped through Al Hillah and hit Orestes like a hammer. Neither the Rasalhague troops nor the Twelfth Army could stop them, especially with the ComStar fleets facing the Word of Blake.

Then the Ghost Bear fleet poured across the border with the Leviathan in the lead, ripping into the Wolf troops and fleets. Up and down the long border between the two realms, offensives exploded into action, drawing Wolf reinforcements away from what was left of the Republic. ComStar’s Twelfth Army and every other force involved took heavy casualties and volunteers from whatever planet they were on flooded to protect their realm in anything that could move. Within months armless BattleMechs, and other weapons of war that most didn’t consider combat worthy, moved on the battlefields as Rasalhague and her defenders fought the Wolves tooth and nail. The Leviathan died over Orestes against a fleet of WarShips and fighters, but it broke the Wolf fleet and forced them to fall back in late 3069.

The Ghost Bear and Rasalhague navy and ground forces had been shattered but the Republic had survived and Orestes did not see another invasion. ComStar’s Twelfth Army survived the war as well, in a fashion. By the end of the war less than half of her personnel harkened from ComStar, with ten percent of them being Wolf bondsmen and another forty-three percent being Rasalhague citizens. They had fought and died on the Rasalhague worlds, along side Rasalhague and Ghost Bear forces, obtained supplies and reinforcements from them, and had to all intents and purposes become them. They remained in the Republic when the war with the Wolves ended rather than support the war against the Word of Blake as both the Ghost Bears and the Republic attempted to rebuild.

The Ghost Bears for their part placed priority funding into bringing the Rasalhague online to bring them back up to two Leviathans, and by 3070 when the Hell’s Horses hit the Wolves it was in its final trials and ready to deploy. They instantly began work on building a new Leviathan, but work on it went slower as they pushed resources into expanding their ground forces and standard naval assets. They also began helping upgrade the Republic’s technology to Ghost Bear standards, sending numerous fully constructed weapons of war, as well as designs and directions for building, their way.

In 3071, as reports from the Homeworlds about a major Blood Spirit-led assault on the Star Adders came through the pipeline to Ghost Bear space, the Clan ordered what remained of its people on Strana Mechty to come home. The Ghost Bears have not received a single communication from the Homeworlds since their people packed up and jumped out. Then in August, Khan Vlad Ward and his flagship died over Csesztreg while trying to stem the Hell’s Horses’ assault. Seeing the Wolves weakening and about to collapse before the Horses, the Ghost Bears moved in to deny what worlds they could to the other Clan, their first strikes arriving in December.

As the new year rolled around, the Wolves-in-Exile under Khan Phelan Kell jumped into Wolf space to fight alongside them against both the Ghost Bears and the Hell’s Horses. The Ghost Bears continued to assault them throughout the year though, probing for defenses, checking their strengths, and taking over more worlds. But when the Wolves-In-Exile and Clan Wolf reconstituted their once-powerful union in 3073, the Ghost Bears pulled back to continue rebuilding and to defend against mounting Smoke Jaguar raids. And when 3074 saw the release of the Odin from Alshain’s dry dock, the Ghost Bears sent the Great Bear and a squadron of support ships to help the Star League assault on the Word of Blake. In 3076 it would die in the Battle of the Line, leaving only the Rasalhague and the Odin to hold the Ghost Bear flag.

While the Ghost Bear fleet supported the war against the Word of Blake, the Ghost Bears and the Republic continued to grow closer, helping each other through a number of difficulties. The most memorable moment of 3074 was the return of Elected Prince Ragnar Magnusson to the Republic where he took over from Regent Christian Månsdotter and began working with Christian and Khan Bjorn Jorgensson to make official what was becoming an unofficial truth. The Ghost Bear Dominion and the Free Rasalhague Republic were becoming one.

In 3075 it became official, and August saw the signing of the treaty that generated the Rasalhague Dominion. Throughout the rest of the decade and most of the next, the two nations tried to incorporate, a task they soon found to be much harder than they expected. In the military alone, troubles ran rampant. The Trueborn refused to accept old Rasalhague military ranks and the citizens of former Rasalhague stubbornly rejected Clan ranking systems. When the former Clansmen suggested that the old Rasalhague ranks be used in militia units so that the frontline units could use Clan ranks, the Rasalhague citizens screamed bloody murder. By 3078, the former Clanners found themselves thinking that it would have been less of a headache to just conquer the Republic and be done with it.

The military wasn’t the only area where confrontation was inevitable of course. In the civilian sector, the old Republic citizens demanded that the trappings of democracy remain, a notion that rankled the Clansmen. Many very prominent Clansmen stood up against the notion of allowing “the weakest amongst us to dictate our actions”, but when five of them were found dead on Radstadt in 3079, the Clan knew it had a public relations nightmare on its hands. The Elected Prince exhorted his people to be calm as work continued on a compromise that would allow the people to claim that a Republic ruled them while a Kahn could command the warriors.

The final compromise was inelegant, but it has worked after a fashion since its introduction in 3080. An Elected Prince, Ragnar to this day, commands the civilian government while a Khan commands the military. This compromise, while all that could be made to work at the time, has proven distracting in the last two decades. For instance, the document allowed for civil governments to prepare for the common defense, a broad statement that they have used to often built entire regimental militia units, rather than the simple fortification the former Clansmen expected. They understandably consider those units to be military and there have been a number of legal and not-so-legal attempts to force the civil militias into the military command hierarchy.

The civil governments have not taken to those actions kindly and have been known to “misplace” funding devoted to the military units attempting such actions. Being legally required to give twenty percent of all taxes collected to the military, this “misplacing” has been looked down upon rather greatly by higher officials in either branch. Some civil governments have taken more indirect routes to hit back at the military, slashing their taxes to the bone and releasing public services to “voluntary donation support.” While technically legal, these attempts to deny funding to the military have angered those trained in the ways of the Clans.

On the military front, a final decision to allow both the ranking systems of the Free Rasalhague Republic and the Clan Ghost Bear was made, though all active formations agreed to reorganize along Clan organizational lines. The different ranking systems, mainly split along old Rasalhague and Clan lines, have resulted in more problems. Each graduate is given his or her rank depending on which unit they are going to work with, and are given a choice as to preference. With the large number of Freeborn in the Dominion who unsurprisingly wished to have Rasalhague ranks, the Clan ranking and units soon found themselves to be losing their majority in numbers. The Clan Trueborns found themselves disliking the mere notion that any Freeborn unit could fight as well as they, and declining to use a superior ranking system was simply an added insult to their mere existence. The Rasalhague units on the other hand considered the Trueborn units to be overbearing and full of themselves, an attitude the Freeborn were happy to try to disabuse them of. The Trueborn units continued to be better on average than the Freeborn units, but their gap was not what it once was. By 3086, the military was split nearly equally and incidents between Trueborn and Freeborn units hit an all-time high, with a serious breach in the military itself becoming a real possibility.

Matters were coming to a head in 3087, with practical jokes and “not too serious” injuries beginning to escalate into fights resulting in wounds even Clan medical science had problems correcting. It was becoming an expensive problem, especially since the constant bickering was having negative effects on the ability of the Dominion to defend against raiders from the Draconis Combine, Federation of Skye, Smoke Jaguars, Wolf Ascendancy, or the Clan Hell’s Horses. The Dominion was very frankly in trouble and everybody could see the writing on the wall, even as they were too stubborn to heed its warning.

Then the Draconis Combine tried to subjugate the Nova Cats and move them on to reservations, and the Elected Prince and the Khan saw the chance to unite their realm. They answered Nova Cat requests for help with a denouncement of Ricol aggression and sent the Rasalhague and a fleet in to support them. They also sent the best units of both traditions into the war to support the Cats in the ground, air, and space where they would have the chance to either fight together or die. Those who refused to fight together would not survive and would no longer waste the resources of the Dominion. As casualties mounted, units were pulled back and replaced with unblooded units to teach them the same lessons.

By 3089, the warriors of the Dominion had seen what happened to units that refused to work with those of other traditions, and the worst of the aggressions had begun to fade away. After all, no matter what rank they wore they were still of Rasalhague. The Second Combine-Dominion War raged until 3090, with the Dominion forces beginning to work better and better as time went on, when the fleets of the Combine and the Dominion met over Meinacos. The Draconis Second Fleet was sent home in tatters, its command ship destroyed, but the Dominion paid a heavy price for its victory. A Draconis ship rammed the Rasalhague rather than surrender, leaving the Odin as the last Leviathan known to exist in or beyond the Human Sphere.

The last decade has been a quiet one for the Dominion, full of raids into the Dominion and from them to others, along with numerous runs into the Barrens to teach those pirates a lesson, but lacking any major threat to the life of the Dominion. The civilian and military infrastructure still quarrels over departments of control, such as the civil defense militias, and old Rasalhague and Clan ranked units continue to generally dislike each other, but the Dominion has learned the value of compromise. No one gets everything they want, but the Dominion continues to live, possibly more powerful than it would be if there was ever a “winner” in the constant internal pecking.

The Smoke Jaguars continue to be a thorn in the Dominion’s side, constantly raiding them without the honor of challenging. The Dominion responds in like fashion, considering the Jaguars to be too dishonorable to be worth anything more. The Nova Cats, Azami Caliphate, Tamar Pact, and especially the Wolf Ascendancy are good neighbors, and though trials are common they have generally peaceful relationships with those realms. The Federation of Skye allows trade through its space to Terra and Duchess Hermione has done her best to be friendly with the Dominion but it has been careful about letting relations warm too much with a realm that history books show has always been…prickly. Relations with Clan Hell’s Horses are cool as well, with honorable trials more than common along their small border. The Barrens on the other hand is an area of space the Dominion detests, and new classes of warriors are blooded in that area every year as a test to see if they are worthy of graduating into the military.

Military

Having lost three Leviathans in major fleet engagements, the Dominion has come to the conclusion that bigger and more powerful was not always best. The Odin remains the flagship of the Dominion fleet and the most powerful warship in the Human Sphere to this day, but the Dominion has no plans to build another, instead pushing its resources into building larger numbers of smaller ships, like the patrol frigates and the Storbjorn cruisers. Meaning “Great Bear” in Swedish, they are the standard WarShip of the Dominion. Regularly escorted by large numbers of frigates and destroyers, as well as fighters of course, DropShips are oddly becoming a rarity in the Dominion. Assaults are performed via orbital drops or small craft that can hold even the largest BattleMechs for the short trip from orbit to the surface, making for a confusing number of radar returns on the defenders’ screens. They maintain the capability to build DropShips but simply do not at this time. They do however sell civilian versions of the Loki frigate to interested parties who want a lightly armed JumpShip with good cargo lifting capability.

The ground forces are an interesting mix of designs, from the OmniMechs that fill out the Trueborn forces, to the standard BattleMechs that make up the majority of the other forces. Some civil defense militias sport BattleMechs as well, though mostly designs that were obsolete before the Jihad or newly-built production from other realms. Numerous vehicles are also common, but the Trueborn forces prefer not to work with them if possible. When forced to do so, their cooperation is reluctant. Of final interest, only used in Freeborn units since the Trueborn do not like them at all, are the Munin Land-AirMechs that have become a less uncommon sight since the Jihad. Often used to secure landing zones for raids, very few Trueborn pilot them.

The different ranking systems are still used between Trueborn and Freeborn units, and few Trueborn wish to mix with Freeborn, though the new First Förenta has begun to see substantial numbers of both. The First Förenta recognizes both the old Rasalhague and the Clan ranking systems, and has instituted the use of insignia that combines both insignias into one. No matter what ranking system is used, all organized military units use the old Clan organizational structure, though the civil defense militias often do not.

Ground Forces

1st Förenta

Alpha Galaxy
Beta Galaxy
Delta Galaxy
Rho Galaxy
Omega Galaxy

1st Tyr
1st Drakøns
2nd Drakøns
3rd Drakøns
1st Freemen
2nd Freemen
1st Hussars
2nd Hussars
3rd Hussars
1st Kavalleri
2nd Kavalleri
3rd Kavalleri
4th Kavalleri
5th Kavalleri
6th Kavalleri

Factories

Alshain – Bergan Industries – Ursus and Arcas BattleMechs; Executioner (Gladiator), Firemoth (Dasher), Mad Dog (Vulture), and Viper (Dragonfly) OmniMechs
– Joint Equipment Systems – Asshur, Huitzilopochtli, Ishtar, Mithras, Svantovit, Thor(LRM and SRM Carriers), Tyr, and Zorya vehicles
– Alshain AeroSpace – Ammon and Issus AeroSpace Fighters; Jengiz and Kirghiz OmniFighters; Heimdall (Fredasa) destroyer, Skadi, Freya, and Loki frigates, Storbjorn cruiser

Grumium – Grumium Creations – Viking IIC BattleMech

Orestes – Janesek Industries – Huscarl IIC OmniFighter
– Odin Manufacturing – Beowulf IIC BattleMech

Satalice – Gorton, Kingsley & Thorpe Enterprises – Archer IIC, Locust IIC, Panther IIC, and Phoenix Hawk IIC BattleMechs; Munin IIC Land-AirMech

Jarett – Gorton, Kingsley & Thorpe Enterprises – Panther IIC BattleMech; Anhur and Donar VTOLs

New Oslo – Gorton, Kingsley & Thorpe Enterprises – Archer IIC and Panther IIC BattleMechs

Spittal – Benson and Bjorn – Mars, Svantovit, Vidar(Vedette IIC), and Zorya vehicles

System Information

Al Hillah – Beneath a blazing class A7 star, the world of Al Hillah is a true desert planet. Completely uninhabitable at the equator without life support, the poles are the only places that the hardiest plant life can survive. Sunlight at the temperate zones is just barely tolerable to the unprotected human eye. Dominated by those of Azami descent, only the military power of the Rasalhague Dominion has kept it under Dominion control. The locals simply feel safer and have not attempted to rebel, though they maintain very friendly relations with the Caliphate and their system government is one of many seen in the Caliphate.

Alshain – It is a fair-sized planet with enough natural resources to support a BattleMech factory complex and various lesser industries. Beyond that, the world is not large enough to support anything larger than light industry on its own. Orbital factories that use the mineral wealth of other systems in the Dominion build the naval fleets that protect it. The general climate of the world is temperate, and it possesses large pine forests, which were started by the original settlers. The Ghost Bear, totem animal of the old Clan, has been introduced into the colder regions of this world where it has flourish.

Altenmarkt – Caught in the grip of an ice age, massive glaciers make land movement treacherous, but 'Mechs do not have much of a problem with overheating.

Ardoz – Unique in the Dominion, this world has lacked a ComStar HyperPulse Generator since the invasion when the original was destroyed. ComStar has since been able to confirm that the Ghost Bears found a Star League base on world, and have operated their own HPG on it since. Now the headquarters for a naval task force, ComStar has yet to uncover what exactly they found there.

Damian – On this world, during the invasion, the mercenary “Black Omen” earned the enmity of the Ghost Bears by fleeing combat, waiting until the majority of the Ghost Bears had left, and then killing the garrison. That action caused the Ghost Bears to hate mercenaries, and their merger with the remnants Rasalhague during the Jihad has only cemented their feelings. The Rasalhague Dominion takes great pleasure in destroying any mercenary unit they fight, without mercy.

Dehgolan – Also known as Canaris III, it is that rarity among planetary subtypes, a true jungle planet. It's surface area is evenly divided between low-lying landmasses and shallow, stagnant seas. It has no axial tilt to produce seasonal variation and it possesses a dense, fetid atmosphere, which evenly distributes the heat it receives from Canaris. Under these conditions, most of Dehgolan's land area, excepting the desert uplands and open plains at the poles, is covered in dense, impenetrable jungle. Dehgolan's cities, clustered along the shores of several of the world's seas, rely heavily on fishing and water-born transport. The interior is a place where few people care to visit. There are countless tales of life forms - large, vicious, and very, very hungry - which inhabit the deep jungle, including the Dehgolan Bear, a warm-weather-acclimation of the Ghost Bear. People have investigated the interior, however, and those who have returned have done so using BattleMechs. Dehgolan is a prime example of the lengths to which natural selection can go to produce life forms efficient at survival, though the Dehgolan Bears have proven themselves in the last decade as well. Whatever the truth behind the tales of truly enormous jungle creatures, much of the planet's native life is vicious with a bloodthirsty single-mindedness difficult for offworlder humans to understand. BattleMechs, at least, give humans an even chance when they venture into Dehgolan's interior.

Diosd – Sporting many swamps, forests, and mountain ranges, Clan Wolf never was capable of fully integrating this world because of the numerous resistance fighters that never gave up. When the Rasalhague Dominion assaulted the world, those fighters happily supported them and have become loyal members of the young nation.

Eguilles – The site of a near loss to an Azami regiment during the invasion, the Azami’s fierce fighting gained the Ghost Bear’s respect, which has contributed greatly to the current state of relations between the Dominion and the Caliphate.

Engadin – Its sole major industry is the construction of inferno rounds for missile launchers, a fact that greatly hindered Clan Wolf when it captured this world. When the Dominion came to take the world, they took the Wolves’ tribulations to heart and arrived with OmniMechs outfitted with extra heat sinks to counteract the infernos. Wolf resistance collapsed after they realized their traps were ineffective.

Ferleiten – Government by devoutly religious pacifists, this world fell to Clan Wolf without a shot being fired after they ordered the militia to surrender. When the Dominion came, the pacifists made the same order, and much of the militia followed it. Some though had become too infused into Clan Wolf and fought until victory was shown to be impossible.

Grumium – Home to the Frihet ("Freedom") Training Facility, which trains infantry and armor crews, the Dominion has drastically expanded the facility until it is the largest of its kind in the Dominion.

Gunzburg – A nightmare world of murky swamps and deep tropical rainforests, terraforming plants built during the Star League-era once dotted the planet but were destroyed during the Succession Wars. The years since the Jihad have seen them rebuilt and the world has begun to blossom again in places. Once home to Birnheart's Fever, a crippling, though curable illness, Clan technology successfully eliminated it. Gifted as a landhold to the Miraborg family by the Dominion, the current Duchess, Tyra Miraborg the Third, is devoutly loyal to the Dominion.

Idlewind – Shattered by the Smoke Jaguars during the invasion when they hunted down half of the capital’s population, this world has become a major center for trade in the area, but refuses to allow any Smoke Jaguars in the system. Jaguars are killed on sight without any batchell called.

Jarett – Home to a rebuilt BattleMech factory, this was one of the earliest worlds to fall to the Ghost Bears. Jarett’s governor was made a bondsman by the Khan during that fight and has fought in every major war since then for the Ghost Bears and the Dominion. He has since retired from that profession and now leads his homeworld, building up its defenses against the many raiders that assault it yearly.

Karbala – Once ComStar’s official Clan Liaison Branch, it still serves as one of their primary bases for working with the Rasalhague Dominion.

Maule – A hard world, it yields many gemstones but little plant life. The deserts of this planet are growing steadily, as the biting winds slowly grind all exposed rock into gritty sand.

New Bergen – The location of the counterattack that saved the Principality of Rasalhague from Combine expansion in the 2300s, by the thirty-first century it had become one of the centers of old Scandinavian culture in the Rasalhague Military District. It was with the help of many saved artifacts from this world and others like it that the Free Rasalhague Republic was able to rebuild its lost culture. When Clan Ghost Bear took the world, it did so with minimal loss of life and the Dominion has much to rebuild it.

New Oslo – Both Clan Wolf and Clan Hell’s Horses raid this location of a major BattleMech factory. Traders also come here often to barter with representatives of each Clan.

Nox – The Battle of Beckvern Hill on Nox was the first full-scale BattleMech on BattleMech engagement in 2475, and marked a change in warfare in the Inner Sphere of the time. Rich with gems, this world is home to Metals of the Earth, a mining company that dates back to the Star League. Originally created by a consortium of founders including a member of the Kurita family, and there was always a member of the Kurita family on its Board of Directors until the Free Rasalhague Republic came into being and nationalized the corporation. After the Second Combine-Dominion War came to an end in 3090, the Azami Caliphate noted that long history and the many Kurita family members living in their space. The Rasalhague Dominion took the hint and graciously offered a position on its Board of Directors to a member of the Kurita family. The current representative is Kitsune Kurita-Steiner-Davion.

Orestes – Capital of the Free Rasalhague Republic after the Clan Invasion, this world is still very important in the modern Rasalhague Dominion. Home to the Tyra Miraborg Memorial Academy, the most prestigious aerospace and naval school in the Dominion, only the best applicants are accepted. Graduation from the TMMA virtually guarantees command of an aerospace point, or a department command in the navy.

Outpost – On the fringe of Dominion-controlled space, this world has become a heavily-fortified nexus of Dominion military movement. Rarely the target of raiders or pirates anymore, it constantly keeps JumpShips in orbital pirate points to allow for swift responses to raids on nearby worlds.

Polcenigo – In 3050 the Ghost Bears actually liberated this world from a governor whose policies generated a full-scale rebellion. This world has been a happy member of Clan Ghost Bear and the Dominion ever since, and the Dominion military enjoys larger than normal numbers of volunteers from it as well. Raided often by the Smoke Jaguars and sometimes by the Nova Cats, the garrison in built around elite forces that look forward to prove themselves.

Pomme De Terre – A crossroads of traffic in the Dominion, this world surrendered unconditionally without a fight to Clan Ghost Bear when it arrived to claim the system. It is the base of operations of Fruit De La Terre, a network of fast food stands and restaurants seen throughout the Dominion.

Porthos – Once a member of the now-defunct Elysian Fields, this world had no real defenses of its own, relying on the Oberon Confederation for protection until the Clans came. It was defended by a single retired Kuritan warrior in his Archer, but his tenacity against the Ghost Bear invaders impressed them enough that the Khan named him the liaison between the world and its new rulers. It is now governed by Takashi Tikimodo, grandson of that brave warrior.

Radstadt – Home to a thriving fishing industry, and Radstadt Pine, a tree whose wood (if treated) literally shimmers as if it were flecked with gold, this world houses the largest prison complex in the Dominion. The Lotus Flower Correctional Institution dates back to Combine control of the system, and its Black Tower, a huge windowless, concrete building surrounded by a ring of fences and minefields, houses the worst criminals in the Dominion.

Ramsau – A planet of large cold deserts, ice covers over 50% of the planets surface, and its days are over 40 hours long. With these conditions, very little grows on the planet, and all foodstuffs have to be shipped in or grown in huge, underground hydroponics facilities with artificial lighting. The hydroponics farms are clustered round Ramsau's lone population center of Sauton. Ramsau’s single, large moon, Gordo, is an airless, cratered ball of rock and ice. Due to its very close proximity to Ramsau, only 14000km, Gordo's tidal drag has been acting like a brake on Ramsau's daily rotation for the past few billion years. This has caused Gordo to be locked in a geostational orbit above Ramsau. Sauton is located close to the planet's equator, and from there Gordo is always suspended in the sky directly overhead, never setting.

Rasalhague – The capital of the Dominion, as well as the Republic and the Principality before it, this is a beautiful world with rich resources. The Dominion governs from the Palace Hall, ancient capital of the original Principality. Also home to the Fenris Flu, a constantly adapting virus that has never been fully cured, the Dominion has learned to prepare for a new epidemic every summer and takes it in stride.

Richmond – Home to a former Combine prison and slave camp, it became a target of the famed Minnesota Tribe in 2826. Since taking the world the Ghost Bears have refused to use the prison for anything and it lies dormant now, wind whistling through its empty corridors. Their scientists study it and the local population for any link to the Minnesota Tribe, attempting to divine clues of its current location. So far they have come up empty, but continue to find out new information that even ComStar missed as the years go by.

Rubigen – Sporting a dark, cold atmosphere, over half its surface is covered in ice. Its two small seas perpetually filled with icebergs, navigation on Rubigen's seas requires great skill and precision, which may explain why 30 percent of the officers in the Dominion navy are from Rubigen. Furs from this world, particularly that of the Rubigen red wolverine, are highly prized among those not descended from Clan Ghost Bear. City Rubigen is the capital of the planet as well as the seat of the prefecture, but is near the Bassers Glacier, which continuously attempts to break through the large wall protecting the city. Having lost its first spaceport to the glacier in the late ’30s, City Rubigen puts much of its local resources into attempting that does not happen to its new spaceport, while slowly moving people away from the northern edge of the city as they await the eventual collapse of the wall.

Santander V – The Dominion’s most coreward colony, Santander V is the location of a major military base tasked with, ironically, handling the pirates in the area. This past center of pirate trade is a valuable part of the Dominion’s anti-piracy strategy and many times its units have conducted punitive raids on The Barrens and its collection of pirate scum.

Satalice – The world where Elected Prince Ragnar Magnusson fell to Clan Wolf, the loss of him and the world sent Rasalhague into a tailspin that only ComStar ended with its victory on Tukayyid and two decades of rebuilding. The Elected Prince now commands from Rasalhague, but he and Khan Phelan Kell of the Wolf Ascendancy make a yearly trek to visit the location of their fight.

Sheliak – Home to the first game of Football between Clan Ghost Bear and the Inner Sphere, it fell to the Clan by the score of 84 to 3. Now the yearly host of a Football game between the best players in the Dominion, Sheliak has learned to profit from its defeat.

Stanzach – Once the home of a Star League Mint, this world lost much during the Succession Wars, including its capital and the Mint. Now located on the border between the Dominion and the Wolf Ascendancy, it has become a major trade center again and its future appears to be blossoming.

Susquehanna – A temperate world, this is another center of old Scandinavian culture. It was here that the Ghost Bears fought the Regal Death mercenary company, who fought with such dishonor that the Clan declared all mercenary units dezgra and unworthy of honorable treatment. That policy continues to this day and only the most desperate of mercenaries can be pushed into raiding the Dominion.

Svelvik – The location of the first known raid in the Inner Sphere by the Minnesota Tribe, the Dominion has a constant scientific presence on this world. Finding any clue to the possible location or plans of that force are high on the Ghost Bear’s list of priorities.

Thessalonika – Thessalonika is a resource-poor world; only petroleum deposits and a few gemstone veins give this planet any industry. The real worth of the planet lies in its abundant life-forms. Although possessing only one small ocean, the planet somehow manages to maintain a number of types of life. The larger animals, such as oxen and Pesht butcher beasts, do quite well on the large, open, grassy plains on Thessalonika. Tyrsis is the capital city. Located there is a major museum, the Tyrsis McNeil Museum, which is devoted to the preservation of military technology.

Thule – This is the homeworld of saKhan Joannie Swigard, second in command of the Dominion’s military.

Toffen – Toffen is a mostly self-sufficient agricultural world. It has three continents, one of which is a small, barren wasteland covered with rocks and sand. The second-largest continent, Jacobitz, is the center of industrial activity, most of which is civilian in nature. Almost all the large cities are there, as well as extensive mining operations. Jacobitz is mountainous and has a rough weather pattern, no matter what the time of year. Graham is the largest of the three continents. The southern expanses are on the equator and are hot jungles and deserts. To the north, they give way to vast, rolling plains from the center of the continent to the western shores. The plains flood in the spring and are burned off by the locals during the summer. The eastern side of Graham is heavily forested. It is mountainous, with four major ranges and countless others. The largest city on Graham is Pied, which is only 30,000 strong. The rest of the population is spread throughout numerous farming communities. Home to an old Star League base, Toffen is the home of a Dominion garrison that often tests itself against Azami soldiers.

Trondheim – A large world scarred by numerous active and semi-active volcanoes, its climate is extreme. Hot summers and cold winters. Site of the second Minnesota Tribe assault, Dominion scientists are constantly on planet, attempting to uncover lost Tribe war machines that may have been buried by volcanic ash.

Tukayyid – First settled in the twenty-seventh century, Tukayyid is a relatively mild and somewhat arid planet. It is primarily an agricultural world, with most of the landmasses comprised of grassy plains controlled by agrocombines. During the era of Kurita rule, several minority religions came to this world and set up monastic communities in the mountains, and in one case under the Crucible Sea. As a result the population of the world is relatively small, the government decentralized, with each corporation running its holdings like a fiefdom, except where the theocracies have carved out their little domains. Mainly known now for the massive battle waged there between ComStar and the Clans in 3052, the world has returned to its mostly-quiet existence.

Utrecht – Its rocky surface and dry plateaus make for rugged terrain rich in natural alloys that the Dominion uses to build ferro-fibrous armor. The world where the Ghost Bears captured Elected Prince Ragnar Magnusson from the then Wolves-In-Exile, it has also become a tourist attraction of sorts, with a thriving business being made out of showing tourists where the major battles of that conflict took place.

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible
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Wolf Ascendancy

History

The Refusal War

Kerensky’s Chosen. Puppet masters. Greatest among equals. Subjugators. Clan Wolf has had many names and descriptions given by both its enemies and its allies. But no matter what they were called they have always been respected as one of, if not the, most powerful of the Clans. Until 3056.

In that year, the so-called Refusal War between Clan Wolf and Clan Jade Falcon brought both Clans to their knees. That both survived, after a fashion, is a testament to the pure stubbornness of the Wolves and the Falcons. But in survival their ranks were riven with death and chaos. The Warden Wolves, under the command of Khan Phelan Kell and the orders of Ulric Kerensky himself, fled into the Inner Sphere to Arc-Royal, Phelan’s homeworld, rather than shatter themselves against the Falcons. In the meantime, Ulric and the Black Widow Natasha Kerensky led the Crusader elements of Clan Wolf into the crucible of the Jade Falcons.

Natasha died against an un-Bloodnamed warrior, the laws of the Demon Murphy finally catching up to her after decades of service to her Clan and the Houses of the Inner Sphere. Ulric’s death that signaled the end of Clan Wolf was not so clear-cut. Later discovered to have been the result of treachery and dishonor, the Falcons responsible for killing him through cowardly methods were executed as befits such cowards by the last of the Wolves, Vlad Ward. He regained the independence of his Wolves under the name of Clan Jade Wolf, but soon returned them to the name of Clan Wolf and spent the rest of that decade and most of the ’60s rebuilding his shattered clan as its Khan.

Khan Phelan Kell of the Wolves-in-Exile did the same for his people, helping them to integrate with the Spheroids as equals, or at least as non-overbearing superiors, as he worked to establish a new industrial base to support his WarShips and other machines of war. By the time of the fourth Star League conference in 3067, the Wolves-in-Exile and Clan Wolf had healed themselves and were more than ready for a fight. When the Jihad came, they got that fight and realized they were less ready than they thought.

Rasalhague Gambit

November and December saw the Word of Blake responding to the censure they received, despite claims of innocence and loyalty to the Star League, by the council. By 3068, most of the major governments were in shambles, fracturing at the seams with their leadership gone or in hiding as they desperately tried to survive the Jihad an enraged Word of Blake leveled on them. One of their assaults hit Tukayyid, the nominal capital of ComStar, and Khan Vlad Ward looked on with interest at the opening he saw as ComStar moved their forces out to deal with the Word.

The new year came and it looked as though the false Star League would band together under the leadership of the False Lord Thomas Marik, but January saw it shatter as information that he was a Word of Blake stooge leaked out. Khan Ward looked on with glee as the Spheroids began to fall apart, returning to their own small wars with each other and the Word, leaving themselves open to assaults from afar. The Jade Falcons moved first, hitting the Tamar Pact and the Traitor-Wolves, as well as the disintegrating remains of the Lyran Alliance, but Vlad’s Wolves followed them in February, opening up a general invasion of the Free Rasalhague Republic.

Clan Wolf hit the weakened defenses of Tukayyid first, nearly destroying ComStar’s Invader Galaxy. More forces hit Ueda, Karbala, and Dehgolan as well, covering over half of the small Spheroid realm with OmniMechs and forcing each system to look after itself. Reinforcements came pouring onto the worlds, trying to stem the Wolf tide, but the Wolves hit Grumium instead, forcing Al Hillah’s defenders to move to protect the factory world. A week later, the Texas-class Touman and the Black Lion-class Stealthy Kill led a Wolf force jumping through Al Hillah and hit the Republic capital of Orestes like a hammer. Neither the Rasalhague troops nor the remains of the ComStar forces could possibly stop them as the Wolves marched towards victory.

Then the Ghost Bear fleet poured across the border with the massive Leviathan in the lead, ripping into the Wolf troops and fleets. Up and down the long border between the two realms, offensives exploded into action, drawing Vlad’s reinforcements away from what was left of his victim. Alpha Galaxy, with Vlad leading it, continued to smash the defenders of Orestes as the war waged between the Wolf and the Bear, but the Rasalhague defenders came out to fight in walking junk. They died, but forced the Wolves to spend precious time on them, holding up their invasion a meter or a kilometer at a time. Finally in September of 3069, the Ghost Bear Leviathan and her battlegroup engaged the main Wolf fleet over Orestes. Vlad sent the Stealthy Kill, the Touman, and their escorts to deal with the Ghost Bears. They killed the massive dreadnaught, but it took the Stealthy Kill with it and left the Touman a wreck that could barely jump. The remains of the Ghost Bear fleet claimed orbital control of Orestes from the Wolf fleet and Vlad was forced to admit he could no longer hold the Spheroid realm without losing far more warriors than the planets were worth. He ordered Clan Wolf to abandon the Republic and return to their OZ for repairs and rebuilding.

In the year that followed Clan Wolf rebuilt its damaged Galaxies and Naval assets, as it also pulled more production and factories out of the Homeworlds to lessen the time it would take to replace combat losses. When war came with the Ghost Bears again, he would not cede them the advantage of short supply lines. He also watched with anticipation as the Jade Falcons continued to bleed the Traitor-Wolves and their Spheroid allies white as he began making plans to sweep down on them and shatter their defenses. If he couldn’t take the weakling Republic from the Bears, he would take the next best thing and open up another route to Terra and the formation of a real Star League under his command.

Hell’s Fires

In September of 3070, the Hell’s Horses invaded the Wolf Occupation Zone and reports of disruptions in the Clan Chatterweb began to filter into the OZ, ending any other plans permanently. Khan Vlad Ward was forced to move his forces to meet the Hell’s Horses, and went to the new front to deal with them personally. And as reports of the Blood Spirit-led assault on the Star Adders arrived, he ordered a general evacuation of the Homeworlds of all remaining production and useful lower castes. Even after moving the majority of his forces to meet the Hell’s Horses though, the Wolves found themselves unable to stop them. The Horses had obviously seen the war in the Homeworlds coming and had taken everything with them when they left, putting all their hopes for long-term survival in carving out an OZ in the Inner Sphere. They fought with a tenacity few in the Wolf touman could match and slowly marched into their OZ.

Throughout 3071 the Wolves and Hell’s Horses sparred over the outer systems on the edge of the old Inner Sphere, until September when the Hell’s Horses made another heavy push, this time for Csesztreg. Khan Vlad Ward, Alpha Galaxy, and the main Wolf fleet met them head on in a bid to stop the Horses once and for all. Instead the Hell’s Horses destroyed the Touman, scattered or captured the rest of the Wolf fleet, and destroyed or captured all of Alpha Galaxy. Vlad died with the Touman, leaving Clan Wolf without a leader, without a fleet powerful enough to stop the Hell’s Horses, and without the best of its ground forces.

The Clan Wolf front began to collapse, falling back towards Terra as the Hell’s Horses rushed forward in an effort to take the Wolf worlds, including the major factory world of Kirchbach. In December, the Ghost Bears joined in and began taking worlds from Clan Wolf as well, the most damaging loss being the factory complexes of Satalice. By 3072, it looked as if Clan Wolf would soon cease to exist, absorbed by the Hell’s Horses and the Ghost Bears.

Exiles’ Salvation

As Clan Wolf fought the Ghost Bears, the Republic, and later the Hell’s Horses, the Wolves-in-Exile found themselves in a no-holds war with the Jade Falcons. Only the support of Skye kept them from collapsing as the Falcons refused to bid or fight honorably with the “Dark Caste” Wolves or their Spheroid allies. The Exile fleet soon found itself outnumbered and outgunned by the massive Falcon fleet, and began to fight a desperate series of delaying battles as they maneuvered to avoid the powerful Falcon Aegis WarShips. Unable to stop the Falcons, the Exile fleet finally went on the offensive, hitting Falcon systems far behind the lines and forcing the Clan to spread its fleet out to defend its assets.

The Exiles took advantage of that and began to pick off the smaller Falcon squadrons, costing the Falcons numerous WarShips, some destroyed and some captured. The Black Lion-class Implacable and the Aegis-class Black Paw died in these fast raids, but the Exiles captured the Fredasa-class Kerensky’s Blues and the Aegis-class Gold Talon and Red Talon in exchange. They also destroyed the Black Lion-class White Aerie before the Falcons consolidated and hit the Wolves again. The Exile Vincents fell giving the remaining ships time to escape, but the Potempkin-class Full Moon was crippled and could do little more than jump around after that, hoping to avoid destruction.

On the ground, the battles went little better, with total war being the standard and the Exiles took horrendous casualties against their enemies. But their Spheroid allies fought and died with them, holding the Falcons back from Arc-Royal and making them pay in cold, hard blood for every kilometer they conquered. But when the main support from Skye arrived, several regiments of troops and numerous AeroSpace fighters, the line against the Falcons began to hold, turning into a constantly churning mass of worlds covered in raid after raid from either side.

For years, the Exiles and their Spheroid allies held the bloody line against the Falcons, fleets and ground forces sparring again and again over the war torn worlds between them. Then in 3071, word reached the Exiles that Clan Wolf was on the verge of collapsing, its fleet shattered and its Khan dead to the Hell’s Horses. The Exiles responded in the only way they could. Khan Phelan Kell ordered the best of his troops to jump into the Wolf Occupation Zone in January to support their wayward brethren against the Hell’s Horses. He led them from the McKenna-class Werewolf with the rest of his fleet in support.

Pulling Wolf forces from the line proved to be disastrous for the Tamar Pact, compounded by the total loss of Lyran organization in the Melissa Theatre, and the Tamar Pact lines collapsed until Arc-Royal itself was at risk of invasion. The Wolf second-line clusters, Tamar, and Skye forces pushed them back at the cost of horrendous casualties, but Phelan refused to turn back, realizing that a gamble had to be taken to win the war. Whatever the cost, Clan Wolf had to be reunited and its full force brought against the Jade Falcons to stop them.

The Exile fleet met up with the remnants of the Clan Wolf fleet, led by the Black Lion-class Blood Drinker, at Tamar where they had fled before the Hell’s Horses fleet. The fleets nearly fired on each other, but Khan Kell convinced the remaining Wolves that he was there to help, not to fight them. When the Hell’s Horses arrived to take yet another world from the crumbling Wolves, they met far more firepower than expected. They brought more than expected as well though, surprising the Wolf defenders with the Aegis-class Chaos Sailor and Taney and several Fredasas and Lola IIIs that everyone thought Clan Ice Hellion in the Homeworlds controlled.

The battle over Tamar proved to be nearly as bloody as the one on the ground, shattering the remaining Wolf fleet and bleeding the Exile fleet white. The Blood Drinker died under the bombardment of the two Aegis-class WarShips, but they fell to the Exile fleet in return. The smaller WarShips proved to be a problem as well, harrying the defending fleets and protecting troop ships on their way to Tamar where some of the worst fighting in the Hell’s Horses invasion raged. Khan Marialle Radick fell under Horse guns, leaving Clan Wolf leaderless again, but in the end the Horse invasion failed and the two Wolf Clans reigned victorious.

Divided They Stand

Anastasia Kerensky, holder of the Black Widow’s Bloodname in Clan Wolf, rose to lead the remnants of the Clan and cooperated with Phelan in making plans to fight back the Ghost Bear and the Hell’s Horses. In the end, they agreed to have Phelan lead the fight against the Horses while she met the Ghost Bears in battle. Taking the most experienced of her remaining troops, she jumped to the border and did just that, taking the war to the Ghost Bears for the first time as Khan Kell led his Exiles through the recently-conquered Horse territory. Many garrisoned by little more than Trinaries in the Horse’s race to destroy the Wolves once and for all, the worlds fell again easily until Phelan reached Csesztreg and an entrenched force of Hell’s Horses and Ice Hellions, who had presumably decided to support the Horses.

Once again the fleets met in battle, but this time wounded ships fell back rather than fight to the death as each Clan sought to conserve what they had left. On the ground, matters were far bloodier though as the Exiles, Horses, and Hellions fought to the knife. In the end, the Exiles won a trial gaining the release of the Wolves captured in the last battle on Csesztreg before retreating from the system. They’d made their point though, showing the Horses and the Hellions that the Wolves were not as weak as they thought, and that a total war would be detrimental to all involved. Since then relations have been cool but nothing beyond normal trials has transpired between them. The Exiles had ended one of the invasions that threatened them all.

On the Ghost Bear front, outnumbered and outgunned, Khan Anastasia Kerensky drove her troops into the soft parts of the Dominion front, hitting supply depots and smaller garrisons, forcing the Ghost Bears to protect their rear. When the Bears diverted their forces to cover those areas, she hit their galaxies with enough to lock them down before jumping on to other targets while leaving enough people behind to keep the Bear’s attention. Within months the Ghost Bear front had stabilized with the rapid Wolf strikes stopping them from being able to advance while making the Bears believe they were facing far more troops than they actually were. Then the Exiles arrived on the Ghost Bear front, having stopped the Hell’s Horses invasion, and the Ghost Bears final understood that Clan Wolf was in no danger of collapsing. The Bears pulled off all worlds they didn’t currently control and consolidated their gains, leaving the Wolves to lick their wounds.

And lick their wounds they did, in typical Clan fashion. Both the Exiles and the Clan realized well and full that neither of them could stand alone after the wounds they’d taken, and that the only chance of surviving was for the two Clans to become one again. What they couldn’t agree on was who would lead. The Crusaders refused to be led by Wardens and vice versa. So they did what any good Clan did. They fought for command in a circle of equals. On 10 August of 3073, Khan Phelan Kell defeated Khan Anastasia Kerensky and rose to his feet, the leader of Clan Wolf. He immediately declared her his saKhan and asked if any wished to declare a trial to fight her for the position. None answered his challenge, despite the fact that she couldn’t possibly have won such a fight with her right leg broken in three places.

Over the next few months, the newly united Clan Wolf dealt with the issues of rebuilding and the various difficulties caused by their long split and their merging. First was the issue of Bloodnames, many of which had holders in both halves of the Clan. The number wasn’t as large as it would have been under most situations, considering the large number of casualties in the fight against the Horses, Hellions, Bears, and Falcons, but they were still uncomfortably large. And none that held a Bloodname would willingly give them up simply because another had been given a false name. In the end, the Khans agreed to recognize both names where they existed, but with the stipulation that the names in question would not be given to another until both those who claimed them died or otherwise no longer held the Bloodname. Of course, if one or both wished to dispute the other’s right to hold that name, a circle of equals would be allowed and he or she who walked out the victor would keep it, while the one who lost would be forced to try to win another Bloodname if he or she still lived. It wasn’t the cleanest of ways to handle the situation, and many trials resulted from it, but it worked after a fashion and allowed the Wolves to concentrate on other matters.

One of those matters was a certain Katherine Wolf, who in another life had been the sister of Victor Steiner-Davion and the ruler of the Lyran Alliance. She and some others from the Touman had reportedly escaped its destruction and been captured by the Horses on Csesztreg along with the remains of Alpha Galaxy. Khan Phelan’s assault on that world and liberation of Wolf prisoners had netted her too, unknown to him at the time, and now he had to decide what to do with her. As it came to pass, she found herself shipped off to the Fortress of Solitude, built for her many years past on Arc-Royal, where she resides to this day, an “honored guest” of the Wolves and Tamar.

Another matter, and what many considered the most important to begin with, the Khans then concerned themselves with was how to rebuild and reintegrate their shattered touman. They ruthlessly cut out destroyed galaxies, folding their survivors into other galaxies to bring them up to strength as the factories churned out any machine they could as fast as they could. It didn’t matter if their frontline galaxies went into battle with second-line ’Mechs or OmniMechs, it mattered that they had weapons of war to send into their next fight. The warriors grumbled, but they too understood that if the reunited Clan Wolf didn’t do something soon the Tamar Pact would fall. To the Wardens it was a matter of protecting the realm; to the Crusaders it was a matter of denying it to the Falcons so they could take it later. Whatever the motivations, they were united.

United They March

In February of 3074 the partially rebuilt Wolf touman hit Jade Falcon territory, supporting the Hell’s Horses and the Tamar Pact in their fight against the Clan. Helping the Hell’s Horses wasn’t in the plan, but sometimes war made strange bedfellows. The Tamar Pact on the other hand, the Wolves began to work with closely, not a surprise considering that many Wolves still fought from within the Tamar Pact against the Jade Falcons. The Falcons instantly began to fall back, trying to establish a more defensible position, as the Wolves marched forward, their fleets supporting the drive.

It was another long and harsh war, with more ships on either side lost, but the Jade Falcons had to hold against both the Wolves, as well as the Horses and Hellions, and found themselves unable to completely outclass either opponent. The Wolves and Tamar carefully selected their targets, hitting the Falcons with overwhelming numbers like had been done to the Smoke Jaguars so many years previously, and advanced into Falcon space, liberating many worlds that once belonged to the old Tamar Pact. By the end of 3075 though, the Jade Falcons finally managed to find the defensible formation they needed and dug in to stop the Wolves and Tamar cold. Rather than force the issue and bleed more men and women to death, the Wolves stopped their drive and began working to consolidate their gains as they worked to cooperate with the Tamar Pact on rebuilding.

This cooperation took on its most obvious face when the fifteen-year old Selvin Kelswa-Steiner began to tour the worlds of the Tamar Pact in September of 3082. His travels took him as far as Tamar itself, where saKhan Anastasia Kerensky accompanied him on his trips to see his ancestors’ homes. Selvin returned to Tamar again in 3085 to witness Anastasia defeat Phelan for the rank of Khan and the renaming of the Clan Wolf Occupation Zone to the Wolf Ascendancy. And after Duke Robert died to the bullet of a sniper, Anastasia traveled to Arc-Royal to visit the elements of Clan Wolf that remained there, where on Selvin’s twentieth birthday, 29 August 3088, she watched as he declared the independence of the Tamar Pact from the Federation of Skye. Reports suggest that they have continued to see much of each other in the intervening years, and official releases note their relationship as professionally frank with professional admiration and an eye towards national cooperation. Non-official reports suggest a closer relationship.

Whatever the particulars of the relationship, the twenty-five years since the end of major war against Clan Jade Falcon have been mostly peaceful for the Wolves, as Clans measure peace. Major raiding and preparations for war have taken place throughout this time, with the Wolves supporting the Tamar Pact while continually fighting trials, or just fighting, the nearby Clans. The borders are always in flux because of this, though they and the Clans around them, except for the Jade Falcons, have taken to the general Inner Sphere notions of granting safecon to JumpShips going through their space.

Trade has become lifeblood to them, though it often takes the form of trials of possession in which the winner is agreed upon beforehand. While outsiders usually laugh at that idea and suggest that the Clans have grown soft, they stop laughing when they see such a trial. Fought with training governors on so as to limit damage, and costs inferred in repairing them, all members in a trial fight to the best of their ability to attempt to win. If as the trial comes to an end the side that is supposed to lose is in fact winning, they “surrender” rather than defeat the last “winner”, having already made their point that they are better. Some Inner Sphere realms have begun to adopt this practice when trading with the Clans, but it is currently most often used only between the Clans. Unsurprisingly, the Jade Falcons and the Smoke Jaguars do not take part in such trials, feeling them to be yet another way that their traditions have been twisted. The Hell’s Horses take part in the “trials of trade” but only with other Clans.

The Clan Wolf of 3100 is powerful enough to hold its own territory, has spent nearly three decades hammering the splintered Crusaders and Wardens back into a cohesive military, and has moved past most of the difficulties associated with the Refusal War and its aftermath. There are only a handful of duplicate Bloodnames left, the vast majority of the owners having died or otherwise lost the names in contention, and even the most ardent Crusaders recognize that should the Ghost Bears ever make a drive for Terra to reform the Star League in the Clan way, they will be ready to move through Tamar space to catch them. But with the Star League already reformed, and with both Clans being members of it, such a drive is rarely considered and the Crusader mindset has become a distinct minority in the Clan.

Furthermore, most projections currently point towards the Clans targeting the Jade Falcons with a major offensive sometime in the next few years, rather than a strike towards Terra. The Sudeten Thumb separates much of the Wolf Ascendancy from the Tamar Pact, making its absorption an important goal of the alliance should it wish to establish itself officially. The Jade Falcons however have heavily fortified the region, making any attempt to do so extremely bloody. Only time will tell if such a war occurs, but in the meantime raids are common around Clan Wolf as it and the other Clans gauge each other’s strengths and weaknesses, keeping their armies ready for war should it ever come.

Military

Commanded by the Werewolf, one of the last McKenna-class dreadnaughts known to exist, the Wolf navy is feared throughout the Human Sphere. The Aegis and Liberator-class battleships Golden Paw, Bloody Paw, and Victoria Ward, as well as the Congress-class battlecruisers Rogue and Kerensky’s Pride command major naval formations made up of Great Wolf-class frigates, Dire Wolf-class destroyers, and the remaining lighter Star League-era WarShips the Clan still possesses. Even with this firepower, they still hesitate to engage the Jade Falcon fleet with its larger number of the dangerous Aegis-class battleships. Most naval engagements continue to be battles of maneuver, where the vast bulk of firepower or either side is denied relevance, as the Clans conserve their forces for a major war that may or may not come in the future.

The fast Adder, Gargoyle, Linebacker, and Phantom OmniMechs make up the majority of the Clan Wolf frontline ground military, with the Arctic Wolf II and Timber Wolf OmniMechs also making a strong showing for themselves in the touman. The Timber Wolves are mostly relegated to protecting Gargoyles though, while the faster Linebackers have completely replaced them in main combat formations that are designed to move quickly and easily. Special Naga artillery stars are used as well, though are rarely assigned to a front-line unit because of the dishonor still associated with them. They are normally assigned with garrison clusters, where vehicles and IIC BattleMech refits are common.

Frontline Formations

Alpha Galaxy (The Dire Wolves)
Beta Galaxy (The Wolf Spirits)
Gamma Galaxy (The Wolf Marauders)
Iota Galaxy (Down to the Bone)
Omega Galaxy (The Ghost Wolves)
Kappa Galaxy (The Werewolves)

Factories

Bessarabia – Heimdall OmniTank

Carse – Ares Medium Tank

Cusset – Interstellar Harvesters – IndustrialMechs; Locust IIC and Griffin IIC BattleMechs

Harvest – Svantovit Infantry Fighting Vehicle

Kobe – New Pompeii Industries – Glass Spider (Galahad) and Packhunter BattleMechs

La Grave – Bissau Industries – Arctic Wolf BattleMech; Arctic Wolf II and Timber Wolf (Mad Cat) OmniMechs

Moritz – New Coffton Manufacturing – Marauder IIC BattleMech; Naga OmniMech

Planting – Dantron-Sontor-Belax Indriplex – Mars Assault Vehicle

Sevren – Anhur Transport

Tamar – Adder (Puma), Gargoyle (Man O'War), Linebacker, and Phantom OmniMechs; Jagatai and Jengiz OmniFighters; Great Wolf frigate and Dire Wolf (Fredasa) destroyer

System Information

Basiliano – It is a small, water-poor backwater world, orbiting a tiny star

Bessarabia – In the heart of the Wolf Ascendancy, Cintosh is an important mining and industrial center, building war machines for the Clan. The sand dunes of Sirocco's Den separate it from capital city of Lothas and house the local garrison.

Biota – This is a water-bound world.

Carse – Orbiting binary suns, this world has four different season cycles. A home to major industries, the Wolves supplemented the existing base with their own mobile factories that have made it a common host of trials of possession with the Dominion.

Cusset – On the border with the Jade Falcons, this industrial world is raided often. The Jade Falcons rarely call for honorable trials, not considering the Wolves honorable enough for them.

Domain – Rolling hills and wide plains make up the majority of this world’s land.

Harvest – Auric II, commonly known as Harvest, is a major supplier of foodstuffs to the Ascendancy but is on the border with the Hell’s Horses. Often raided but heavily defended, most of the planet's major cities and industries are located on the continent of Ohio. Merchant traffic traveling from and to Clan Snord space and beyond regularly stops off here for rest and relaxation before traveling further. Unsurprisingly, the Sea Foxes won a trial of possession for a sizable enclave on this world.

Jabuka – The only world in the old Draconis Combine where Teak was successfully transplanted from Terra, the Ascendancy sells the wood to the Combine and the Azami Caliphate on a regular basis.

Kobe – A paradise world during the days of the Star League, volcanic eruptions that would leave three of the five continents uninhabitable began as the Star League fell. In bitter irony, New Pompeii was covered in molten lava, but has since been unearthed and recovered. The volcanic ash in the air forces the temperatures into the subarctic range, but the eruptions bring much needed heavy metals to the surface that are used in the many industries of New Pompeii and the other large cities. On the border with the Ghost Bears, this world is often host to trials of possession.

La Grave – Heavily industrialized and wooded, this world often sells its production to the nearby Tamar Pact.

Laurent – Directly between Tamar and the Jade Falcons, this world sports heavy defenses and a permanent fleet base to protect the capital of the Ascendancy from Falcon assault.

Moritz – Home to one of the many scattered mobile factories used by Clan Wolf, this world’s massive mountain ranges help protect it from the rare raids that hit it.

Rastaban – Rastaban Agricultural Products owns six trillion acres spread across a half dozen worlds in the Ascendancy, shipping its product to every major government coreward of Terra and some further rimward, often via Clan Sea Fox factors.

Seiduts – Covered in terrain that makes guerrilla warfare impossible, this world sees many honorable trials between the Hell’s Horses and the Wolves, as well as a few with the Jade Falcons though those are rare.

Sevren – A large agricultural world with a strong industrial complex on the border with the Jade Falcons, this world is heavily defended at all times.

Skokie – This world is an agricultural center.

Suk II – Nestled behind a defending wall of systems, this one is a major source of rare metals for the Ascendancy and is heavily defended at all times.

Tamar – The capital of the Wolf Ascendancy, this world is a major center of trade in its own right. Playing host to a number of mobile factories shipped in from the Clan homeworlds before contact was lost, it has also become the most heavily industrialized world in the Ascendancy.

Volders – A religious retreat that supports no local militia, this world is a major crossroads of traffic in the Ascendancy. Because of this, it hosts a constant naval presence and an Ascendancy-placed garrison force.

Wheel – The Valdis system sports two planetary bodies, a small airless planet called “Rock”, and a massive supergas giant officially called “Giant” but usually called “The Hard Place”. The Valdis belts are a truly massive array of asteroids that can be easily mined for a plethora of valuable metals. Wheel itself started out as a simple recharge station at the Zenith jump point, but has evolved into a mammoth conglomeration of habitation, recreation, and service modules that support the miners further in system. Tradition makes it a neutral trading spot that nobody ever assaults, and Clan Wolf has honored that tradition, allowing free trade at Wheel, as well as safecon to and from it.

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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?

I think I speak for everyone Medron. We want to See a map, and after working with you in 3+ games I know you can do it.

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There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to chance. It is: to use the means at hand to inflct the maximum amount of wounds, death and destruction on the enemy in the minimum of time.
-George S. Patton, Jr., War As I Knew It

http://www.pryderockindustries.com/down ... an_sphere/

The site is currently "in progress" and it will be some time before it is officially and fully online.

But one thing it has right now is a screen-sized map of the Human Sphere as it is now. Note that there WILL be some changes, especially in the Periphery where every major nation has colonized or re-integrated systems further out from Terra.

It should work to give you a general idea of what is what though. I hope you like. hehehe

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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?

1. The Kerensky's Blues was in the possession of the Blue Star Irregulars merc unit, not Clan Jade Falcon. So you might wanna fix that.

2. What happened to Marco Hall, the saKhan of Clan WiE? Was he demoted?

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

1) FM: Updates has it as a part of the Clan Jade Falcon fleet.

2) I never said. Anything in particular you had in mind?

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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?

1) Check FM: Mercenaries (Revised), pg. 46. The Kerensky's Blues was captured from the Falcons in 3055 by the Blue Star Irregulars and Hell's Black Aces. The Precentor Martial has been queried about this on the CBT boards, and has said that this will be corrected in the errata (as in, it will be removed from the Falcon naval rosters).

2) Two things I can think of: a) He was killed in combat at some point, or b) He accepted demotion back to Galaxy Commander of Beta Galaxy, as many saKhans have (Timur Malthus comes to mind).

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

MORE ! MORE ! MORE !

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I refuse to have a battle of wits with someone who is unarmed.

1) I will remove the Kerensky's Blues from the writeup then. I remember what you are talking about, but the name didn't click when I read it. I have a terrible memory for names.

2) I personally would go with the demotion bit. Of course, would it really be considered a demotion? Two "Clans" becoming one again? You really need to do SOME merging right? As for why...Phelan realized that if it was all "Traitor Wolves" in command the "Jade Wolves" would be rather annoyed and probably would not assimilate as well. So he made the decision to have his saKahn be a "Jade Wolf" that the other "Jade Wolves" would respect and follow, even if they didn't respect HIM as much. It ended up working after a fashion, and Clan Wolf survived.

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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?

Interstellar News Network Database Notice

Tuesday, April 5, 2005
Tikonov Free Republic and Draconis Rift Uploaded
For those of you waiting on them, the Tikonov Free Republic and the Draconis Rift summaries have been uploaded to the server. Those of you in the Outer Sphere, especially on the rimward area, may witness a significant lag time before this information is ready for your reading. ComStar reports difficulties with the Sian HPG that have momentarily reduced its ability to transfer data. They assure us that the HPG will be fully online by the end of the week. We apologize for the inconvenience.

http://www.pryderockindustries.com/theg ... umansphere

Yes...the long and the short of that is that I have uploaded some of the stuff to the website especially for this. I hope you like.

_________________
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?

Clan Jade Falcon

History

After Clan Jade Falcon’s Pyrrhic victory over Clan Wolf in the so-called Refusal War of 3057, few expected the battered Clan to recover. Its Khan dead and its victory tarnished by dishonor, most expected it to stumble along for a time, and many suggested it was time to remove them from the Invasion completely. Granted, the most verbal proponents of that suggestion were the Steel Vipers, but the mere suggestion that an Invading Clan lose its status before the reformation of the Star League was a shocking symptom of how far they had fallen.

Under Khan Marthe Pryde though, the Jade Falcons recovered quickly and threw the Steel Vipers out when they attempted to force the issue of removing the Falcons from the Inner Sphere. Marthe also sent her touman out to gain experience against the Lyran forces, raiding above the Truce Line as deep as Coventry. That this raid resulted in the formation of the Star League was unfortunate from Clan Jade Falcon eyes, but they shed few tears when the Jaguars drew the ire of the Inner Sphere. Instead they continued to rebuild and prepare for the Invasion to continue. Their victory against the ComGuard in the Great Refusal was seen as a sign that they could continue their own Invasion of the Inner Sphere, even if the Clans as a whole were denied it. It was also seen as visible proof of the strength that still filled the Clan’s talons.

During the FedCom Civil War, Marthe sent her forces into Lyran space again, this time to claim systems rather than simple raid them for experience, and though some systems were lost the Falcon proved its strength again. Though Epsilon Galaxy was defeated in the Dark Nebula by elements of “Clan Snord”, it and many other Galaxies did well elsewhere against the Lyrans and Clan Wolf when they came raiding. In the end, Falcon troops blooded and Falcon territory expanded even if not as much as wished, Marthe agreed to a cease-fire with the Lyrans with the knowledge that her Clan was ready.

The passing of the Fifteen Year Truce won by the ComGuard and the beginning of the Jihad simply gave the Jade Falcons the opportunity they needed to show again their strength. In January of 3068 Marthe ordered her touman to attack the Alliance and the Tamar Pact, thinking to find them sufficiently distracted by the Word that the war would be relatively easy. Instead they found the Kell family, the Wolves-In-Exile, the Tamar Cavaliers, six full regimental combat teams and assorted other units of mercenary and Lyran origins who had declared for the Pact waiting for them. The forces arrayed against them along the Lyran border were less impressive but still showed potential. In Falcon eyes it promised to be a good war.

Gamma Galaxy hit Graus like a hammer, wiping out the Twenty-Third Arcturan Guards to a man, and pushing both Wolf clusters there back further into Tamar space in a heavy fight that held them for nearly a month. Meanwhile, Delta Galaxy shattered the Third Lyran Guard on Crimond in a lightning campaign but the Kappa Galaxy ran into the Tamar Cavaliers and Sixth Lyran Guard on Tomans. It was a long and hard fight but Kappa Galaxy was unable to push them off and was finally forced to retreat to make repairs and replace destroyed equipment. Omega Galaxy, tasked with taking Graceland, ran into the Eleventh Donegal Guard, First Kell Hounds, and Third Wolf Guards, and were soon pushed off, retreating to Pandora. The Spheroids followed them, starting a battle there that went on until 3074 and became the worst meat-grinder in the war. Other Jade Falcon provisional galaxies smashed into other worlds of the Tamar Pact and the Lyran Alliance, rolling up Spheroid defenders by the bushel as the Tamar and Lyran forces desperately tried to shore up their defenses.

A part of that defense was the use of Traitor Wolf WarShips to blunt the edge of the Falcon attack, hitting the flanks and taking out one ship at a time. In a period of mere months, the Jade Falcons lost the Aegis-class Gold Talon and Red Talon to Traitor Wolf boarding parties and the Black Lion-class White Aerie found itself surrounded and utterly destroyed. The Falcons destroyed a Traitor Wolf Black Lion and Aegis in return, but found the situation to be intolerable until they hit the Wolves’ secondary Naval Star and destroyed it. They captured the Vincent-class Valiant, destroyed another Vincent, and sent a Potempkin and an Aegis running for their lives.

As the war continued, the Traitor Wolf ships, supported by the Fox-class Robert Kelswa in Tamar hands, continued to raid the Falcon edges, but the Falcons did not flag in their ground war. Galaxy after Galaxy smashed into the lines of the Spheroid realms, and for a time it appeared as though the Tamar Pact and the Melissa Theatre would collapse completely. But reinforcements from Coventry and Skye arrived to hold them off, turning the war into a long hard war that spent years instead of weeks marching across worlds. Raids designed to disrupt defending forces and prepare for invasions, many of which never occurred, become common on either side of the border as the combatants settled down into a meat grinder.

September of 3070 saw the invasion of the Hell’s Horses against Clan Wolf, as well as a major Blood Spirit-led offensive against the Star Adders in the Clan Homeworlds. Former saKhan Timur Malthus informed Khan Marthe Pryde of the chaos beginning to engulf the Homeworlds, and the escalating destruction as the two coalitions of Home Clans began to hammer each other harder and harder. He suggested a general withdrawal from the Homeworlds, as the Hell’s Horses and some other Clans appeared to be performing, and Marthe agreed, giving him the authority to bring whatever he could with him.

The rest of 3070 and 3071 continued the slow burning war that seemed to be without end, and many began to wonder if Marthe had finally overstretched her hand. Falcon gains were minimal and the touman found itself bleeding faster than new trueborn could be grown, forcing her to continue recruiting freebirths into the touman to make up the losses. As 3071 came to a close, opposition to her command grew, many suggesting that if they ended their war with the Spheroids they could send their touman back to the Homeworlds to deal with the Blood Spirit and Star Adder war. A Trial of Grievance threatened to bring Marthe down in fact, but she won it easily and silenced her detractors for a time.

As matters went, it was only time that she needed. January of 3072 saw the best of the Traitor Wolves abandoning their Spheroid allies to save the crumbling Clan Wolf. And in March a major Word of Blake of assault on Coventry badly damaged the world and forced it to look to its own defense rather than help the Melissa Theatre against the Falcons. Marthe recognized the weakness and ordered an all out assault on the Lyrans that resulted in the capture of Melissa and the complete collapse of Lyran resistance. With that thorn removed, she redirected her forces to Tamar and Arc-Royal, smashing their defenses into gibbering hysterics.

The Falcons marched across the stars in an unstoppable wave until they hit Arc-Royal itself with Gamma Galaxy and nearly took it, but the Kell Hounds and several mercenary units pushed them off after taking heavy casualties. Gamma and Delta Galaxies then dropped on Bountiful Harvest where they faced the Twenty-Second Skye Rangers and the Tamar Cavaliers, dug in and ready for a fight. The Falcons advanced across the planet, destroying one defending fortification after another and bleeding the defenders white. But the Spheroids pulled every trick in the book and inventing new ones as time went on, making the Falcons pay for every meter they took. By 3073, more than three-quarters of the planet was under Falcon rule, most of it smashed flat by the fighting.

Through all of this though, Marthe realized that her detractors were correct on one level. Even with the redeployment of the Homeworld Galaxies and resources to stem the Hell’s Horses incursion, she was simply burning her military too hard in its push to destroy Tamar. The Jade Falcon troops were being pushed to the ragged edge where experience gained was topping out and where it would begin to drop again thanks to needing to push any warm body onto the line. She refused to allow her touman to be so weakened. Add to that the slow ratcheting up of “Clan Snord” raids and she simply had to make a choice about which war to fight.

The choice was easy. The Lyrans were shattered and no more glory or experience could be won there. Tamar was fighting a dirty war on the ground in which there could be no victors. The Hell’s Horses and their allies, as well as Clan Snord, were fresh however and fought more honorably. It would be possible to earn further experience and glory against them and so she sent out the orders to abandon any Tamar world not firmly in Jade Falcon hands.

In March of 3073, the Falcons left those worlds to deal with Clan Snord and the Clan Hell’s Horses. The Tamar and Skye forces began attacking and taking worlds Marthe didn’t accept as important, but she did not stop sending reinforcements to Pandora where Mu and Omega Galaxies continued to fight Tamar. Her other Galaxies and her naval forces moved to take care of the Hell’s Horses and Clan Snord however, hitting them hard. There they found the Hell’s Horses supported by Clan Steel Viper naval and ground units, and went into battle with a bloodlust to smash their sworn enemies.

In the battles that raged, the Black Lion-class Blue Aerie, Texas-class Falcon’s Nest, and the Aegis-class Blue Talon died, but the Falcons broke the back of the Steel Viper fleet and allowed their galaxies to land and deal with the Viper and Hell’s Horses ground forces. The battles against Clan Snord were less expensive, following more standard Clan traditions that allowed either side to request hegira when a loss was inevitable, but the battle with the Hell’s Horses and their Steel Viper allies continued bloodily.

February of 3074 found Clan Wolf joining in the war and for the first time since the Jihad began, Khan Marthe Pryde began to wonder if she could win the war she had unleashed. She pulled her forces back from the fight with the Hell’s Horses, having suitably warned them of her strength, to deal with the Wolves and their Tamar allies again, but soon realized that holding onto Pandora and its region of worlds would be impossible. Rather than allow her Galaxies to be destroyed in a hopeless fight, she pulled them back to more defensible worlds. Though they chafed at the idea, they followed orders and began to fall back, holding onto worlds to buy time rather than simply to hold them. The Tamar forces were exhausted but determined to die if need be to take the worlds, and the Falcons slowly backed off, preferring to maintain their fighting edge while holding Tamar’s attention. The Wolves were more important, and dangerous, enemies after all.

Marthe ordered the bulk of her forces to hit them and attempt to slow their advance as well as she fortified Sudeten and the worlds around it. She also made certain that the Hell’s Horses paid for every world they captured in enough cold hard blood that they would decide the invasion wasn’t worth it. By April of 3075 the Hell’s Horses stopped the slow advance to consolidate their gains and to rebuild their damaged touman. Clan Wolf finally learned the same lesson later in the year and the Jade Falcons knew a measure of peace as 3075 came to an end. The first in eight years.

A truly massive number of trueborn and freeborn had been blooded, and it was time to rebuild and repair with that hard-won experience. Khan Marthe Pryde immediately set into motion her plan, using the numerous mobile factories brought to the Inner Sphere from the Homeworlds to begin revitalizing her touman. New technologies, many of them still bleeding edge, found themselves in testing, new and upgraded designs in naval and ground warfare saw the light of day or the darkness of space, and the battered but proud Jade Falcon touman began to look up.

The quarter century that has followed has seen Clan Jade Falcon raiding her neighbors with a continually more devastating military that has earned them respect and fear. No major war has erupted again though as the Falcons have limited themselves to “mere” raids or Trials. It is their job to blood their troops, not bleed them white after all. Khan Diana Pryde, having risen to the rank via a Trial of Position in 3080, has not set aside the final mission of conquering Terra, and has continued to label the Star League a sham. But the short-term goals of maintaining the strength of her Clan are decidedly more down to earth. Recent years have seen another major increase in Falcon weapon technologies, as well as troop movements throughout much of old Rim Worlds space. They are looking for something as they prepare for another major war that may or may not come. What it is they are looking for, and when they decide they are ready for another war is unknown. We can only hope that the Wolves decide they are ready first and hit the Falcons before they are ready.

Military

The Jade Falcons make little use of vehicles, especially in a combat role, and leave them mostly to freebirth garrison units. What vehicles they build have proven themselves to be very effective in the hands of the right crews though. Freebirth garrison and provisional Galaxies mostly use standard BattleMechs as they are cheaper and the Clan does not begrudge their loss as much. The main frontline Galaxies on the other hand use as many OmniMechs as possible, only falling back on BattleMechs if they have no choice because of equipment malfunctions or combat damage.

In particular demand are the new Night Gyr and Fire Falcon OmniMechs. Using a new and powerful laser heat sink system that operates a 150% efficiency compared to standard freezers, though they take up the space of Inner Sphere freezers, these two OmniMechs have been used to devastating effect in raids in recent years and plans are being made to upgrade other production plants to add laser heat sinks to the other designs used by the Clan.

Omnifighters are mainly used to protect the various naval stars that patrol the Falcon borders, as well as to support the ground forces as their secondary mission. Overlord-C DropShips are used in numerous configurations (from BattleMech transport, to fighter carrier, to cargo ship, and others) to support the naval stars and system pickets. Alpha and Bravo Naval Stars each have a large number of these DropShips in carrier mode, using the fighters to sweep space clear of anything short of an enemy WarShip. For those the Falcons use the most powerful remaining battleline in the known galaxy to do what they are supposed to do. Kill other WarShips. A large number of naval stars and trinaries made up of Great Falcon-class destroyers, Jade Lanner and Jade Hawk-class frigates, and the Vincent-class destroyers Valiant and Lightning Strike guard the Falcon’s borders and support local system defense networks.

Gamma Galaxy: Jade Falcon Galaxy
Delta Galaxy: Gyrfalcon Galaxy
Omega Galaxy: Tigerhawks
Rho Galaxy: Bloody Marauders
Mu Galaxy: Emerald Death
Lambda Galaxy: Black Death
Sigma Galax: Turkina’s Eyes
Zeta Galaxy: Turkina’s Beak

Alpha Naval Star
Nightlord-class dreadnaught Emerald Talon
Black Lion-class battleship Jade Aerie
Liberator-class battleship Gauntlet
Congress-class heavy cruiser Green Lantern
Whirlwind-class cruiser Emerald Tornado

Bravo Naval Star
Aegis-class battleships Jade Talon, Janice Hazen, Frost Falcon, and Hawk Eye
Carrack-class transport Ironhold Provider

Factories

Antares – Griffin IIC BattleMech; Anhur Transport

Barcelona – Jenner IIC, Phoenix Hawk IIC, and Rifleman IIC BattleMechs

Black Earth – Howler (Baboon) and Conjurer (Hellhound) BattleMechs; Indra Infantry Transport

Butler – Visigoth OmniFighter; Great Falcon (Fredasa) destroyer

Chahar – Trellshire Heavy Industries – Night Gyr and Fire Falcon OmniMechs; Jade Lanner frigate; Overlord-C DropShip

Devin – Huitzilopochtli Assault Tank; Bane (Kraken) BattleMech

Goat Path – Black Lanner and Turkina OmniMechs

Hot Springs – Von Jankmon Industriplex – Kit Fox (Uller) and Hellbringer (Loki) OmniMechs; Scytha Omnifighter; Jade Hawk frigate; Overlord-C DropShip

Melissia – Summoner (Thor) OmniMech

Roadside – Nova (Black Hawk) OmniMech

Sudeten – Olivetti Weaponry – Locust IIC, Pinion, Thunderbolt IIC, Spirit, and Warhammer IIC BattleMechs; J. Edgar IIC hovercraft and Hunter IIC LRM Carrier
– Trellshire Heavy Industries – Demolisher IIC and SturmFeur IIC Heavy Tanks

System Information

Aiyina – A world of verdant jungle, the 'brutto vapore,' or ugly vapor, is a major hazard to the unwary. These clouds of insects hit their victims with a narcotic sting, then implant their eggs. The victims generally remain unconscious for the two days it takes for the hatching, then the pupae leave for the swamp to continue their breeding cycle. Needless to say, the survival rate for hosts is not very high, although it has become a measure of courage in some circles for Jade Falcon elementals to purposefully become so infected to show their strength and ability to survive anything. Those that survive are either looked up to or considered completely nuts, depending on who is doing the looking.

Antares – Home of a major SLDF replenishment and resupply base, the Jade Falcons upgraded the base in the 3060s to support BattleMech construction. Now on the border between the Tamar Pact and Clan Jade Falcon it is raided often but is protected by a heavy force at all times. Efforts are currently underway to find a new location for the industries.


Baker 3 – Small and cold, Baker 3 is the only marginally terrestrial plant is a system populated by gas giants. Its twin domed cities house a modest population that serve's the 'Mech garrison and the administrative headquarters for a dozen orbital stations that mine the 'jovian' planets. The planet's thin carbon dioxide atmosphere gives the rocky wastes of the surface a distinctly orange hue.

Barcelona – Out on the edge of Jade Falcon controlled space, the vital industrial plants here are heavily defended from pirates at all times.

Black Earth – The sight of a Star League base, this world has become a major producer of war machines for Clan Jade Falcon is often the victim of raids by Clan Snord and pirates.

Blackjack – Home of the rebuilt Blackjack School of Conflict, commandant Mark Harris continues to train new warriors for Jade Falcon touman despite his advanced age and inability to serve the Clan as a warrior.

Blue Hole – The surface of Blue Hole is dotted with small clear-water ponds of surprising depth, and many of the pools are connected by deep channels.

Bone-Norman – A defense outpost against pirate raids, the wind-carved badlands have hosted numerous battles over the last decades.

Butler – The home of a major orbital dry-dock and construction facility, the slow Hell’s Horses advance has left this world barely under Jade Falcon command on the border. Clan high command is looking for suitable systems deeper in Jade Falcon space to relocate the facility but have had little luck at this time. In the meantime it is heavily defended at all times.

Chahar – The capture of this world in 3064 proved a boon to Clan Jade Falcon. The headquarters of Dobless Information Services, the local information database was captured without any damage and has proven to hold information even the Clan’s Star League-era databases lacked. Also sporting numerous heavy industries, this world has become a major platform of Jade Falcon war production, notably the Night Gyr and Fire Falcon OmniMechs that use the new laser heat sinks which have proven deadly in combat operations in the last two years.

Devin – Severe electrical storms and high winds rage across this desert world. The Boneyard, the crash site of an old SLDF Texas class battleship destroyed by Stefan Amaris' navy is an area of huge craters and mountains of wreckage. The Boneyard is used as a giant salvage yard for the local industries, having accumulated a mass of metal that rivals Ishiyama Arena on Solaris VII. Rendering radar and magnetic-anomaly detection devices worthless, numerous mock battles are performed here.

Goat Path – Goat Path's terrain is comprised of abrupt peaks and chasms, making conventional vehicles almost useless, and making defense of the factories the Jade Falcons have moved into position relatively easy.

Graus – A pacifistic world with beautiful vistas and light industries, it hosted a Kit Fox OmniMech factory for a time, but as the Tamar Pact and the Wolves have pushed the border back to it, the Jade Falcons moved this valuable factory deeper into their territory for safe keeping.

Hot Springs – First colonized for its vast mineral deposits and metal ore veins, Hot Springs became famous for its rich mineral water and therapeutic hot springs. The Jade Falcons conquered it because the founder of their Von Jankmon Bloodname was born there, and it now hosts a prolific industrial center thanks to their influence.

Kikuyu – A desert world rich in radioactive ores and rare metals, it has proven a valuable world for any nation that controls it and is often on the receiving end of raids for its riches.

Melissia – This world’s single continent covers it from pole to pole and is half as wide as its height. Sporting rich veins of Titanium, this world was a rich world under Lyran control and commanded an entire theatre defense region. Its collapse and capture by the Falcons shattered Lyran resistance during the Jihad and factories have been moved their since, pulling them out of more threatened systems.

Mogyorod – Mogyorod is a temperate world of rolling mountains and wine-dark seas.

Newtown Square – The Plains of Culd extend over some two-thirds of Newtown Square's primary continent. Actually a savannah, with pale sword grass and good soil, Clan Jade Falcon took advantage of its long growing season and began growing numerous foodstuffs here. These crops have made it a target for food raids from pirates in recent years.

Parakoila – A primary source of gold and heavy metals for Clan Jade Falcon, the Clan has moved the small manufacturing center here into worlds considered to be more secure from Tamar and Wolf assault.

Roadside – Full abundant and fertile soil, this world sports a number of microbes that have proven exceptional at fighting various cancers and other illnesses. It is also home to a major factory complex and Clan leadership is currently looking at it as a place for moving more production to in the near future.

Somerset – Home to the Military Academy of Somerset, this world on the edge of Jade Falcon control has been the victim of numerous pirate and Clan Snord raids in recent decades.

Sudeten – The capital of Clan Jade Falcon, this world is constantly under attack by raiders from the Tamar Pact and their Wolf allies. Hosting massive ore and petroleum deposits, as well as old Star League BattleMech factories, this world is the most heavily protected of the Jade Falcon worlds but they have been quietly preparing a fallback capital should they be forced to abandon it. Unlike modern Clan factories though, they are unable to simply move the old Star League factories and so have left them where they are and have continued to hold the world with a defiance that has proven capable of holding off Tamar and the Wolves since the Jihad.

Waldorff – A major source of munitions for the Jade Falcon touman, this world is heavily defended at all times.

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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?

ComStar and Federation Expanse nations added to the website.

Hope you like.

_________________
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?

Very nice layout there Medron I like it

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Everyone here is crazy except you and me, and I am NOT TO SURE about you.

People like you are the reason People like me need medication.

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

Cool. I can live with these new Falcons, at least more so than the MWDA ones. The pullout from the homeworlds has me annoyed, but the timeline is so radically different from the current one, so anything makes sense.

Not to threadjack, just for comparison, my delayed-Jihad universe (which is mostly in my head, sorry I can't post it, for now) has the Falcons doing very different things. The IS border is left alone, with five or six galaxies pulled back to Clan space, in a Trial of Absorbtion with the Ice Hellions. They win handily, at the cost of Khan Pryde. An ASF pilot becomes Khan and uses Camelot Command to start making more new Warships, after making amends with the Ravens. I had Diana Pryde as SaKhan, not Khan. Anyway, then they pretty much reorganize their touman from the ground up, mixing the Hellions into a revamped organization. While they are going through this massive logistical mess, shuffling troops around into entirely new clusters and sending troops back to the IS, their enemies realize their temporary disorganization and weakness and take a few worlds from them. Ultimately, those worlds are retaken by the revamped touman, now larger and definitely more experienced than even the Ghost Bears. I also had the Spirits and Adders fighting, and getting other clans to join them, but I had the Falcons join with the Spirits against their new rivals for preeminent Crusader Clan, the Adders. That's about where I left the storyline, because my Jihad is only delayed. Late 3075...Boom.

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Comstar: The original celebrated curiously strong HPG provider.

Oh, yeah...Are you going to post all those new warship designs. For mine, I have them streamlining their fleet by junking a lot of their old ships, and a lot of the Hellion's fleet for spare parts, then using the stuff to make a bunch of new Warships to have more standardization in a Clan fleet than ever before.

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Comstar: The original celebrated curiously strong HPG provider.

Are you aware that the Ice Hellions are third in Aerospace assets behind Snow Ravens and Cloud Cobras so it would be impractical to break up that fleet.

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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]

I'm talking just about Warships here. (From memory) The Adders and Falcons have more warships than they do, the Wolves and Coyotes have about the same, and the Bears arguably have a better (albeit smaller) fleet. The Hellions have only a couple decent warships, although one is a McKenna. My plan calls for the scrapping of all their largely useless Essex and Fredasa hulls and using the parts for better, newer ships. Course, they also had to sacrifice a lot of originally Falcon ships, and make a lot of new parts anyways.

I don't want to threadjack Medron, so I'll post the stuff for my universe (or at least the JF stuff) when I finish it, probably this weekend.

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Comstar: The original celebrated curiously strong HPG provider.

Good stuff Medron, can't wait to see more.

-Ban

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There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to chance. It is: to use the means at hand to inflct the maximum amount of wounds, death and destruction on the enemy in the minimum of time.
-George S. Patton, Jr., War As I Knew It

Having re-read your TFR piece, I have some commentary:

The Republican Guard regiments played a crucial part in the FedCom Civil War. Removing them from the equation would probably completely change the outcome of FCCW; Tikonov would have been over almost before it began, as would Algol...in fact, I daresay that the Republican Guards delayed the Allied victory by at least a year, if not two.

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

Another question, this time about the Rasalhague Dominion piece:

Who is the current Khan? You mention the saKhan (who, bizarrely enough, is apparently a freeborn), but not the Khan.

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

4250th view of this thread!!!

Go Medron!!!


Great stuff man, I wanted to ask if you have Twycross in Diamond Shark hands or HH hands just to know if you'll be making a Diamond Shark Dominion or something entry.

Second question, the map link you have is a broad view of the IS that are blips of light without names, are you by any chance planning on getting detailed and/or being able to put the names of the states on the map along with their borders and such?

Hope to see more from you soon, and hope all the other people who read all of this at least give a few seconds to thank you for it.

Talk to you later man.

-Ban

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There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to chance. It is: to use the means at hand to inflct the maximum amount of wounds, death and destruction on the enemy in the minimum of time.
-George S. Patton, Jr., War As I Knew It

Weasel - The true reasons for the abandonment of the Clan Homeworlds by the current Clans are not fully known by any non-Clan organization. What has so far been revealed is generally from the Spheroid point of view and the knowledge of what happened in the Clan Homeworlds is severly limited. All that is known beyond the uncomfirmed rumor stage is that the Homeworlds HAVE been abandoned by all Clans that have dealings with the Human Sphere and that NO contact is currently maintained with the Homeworlds. No ships to pass the Veil of Kerensky have returned, and permanent installations near the Veil do not survive long. The situation in the Homeworlds, and why the Invading Clans left them, are currently the subject of rumors and little to no fact.

And yes...I WILL post the various designs some time in the future. It should be rather fun to do that.

Flagg - 3058 is when the Human Sphere begins to make its break from "standard" history. Some breaks are small at first, like the fact that the Ridziks and Clan Snord are not forgotten, or how Protector Jeffrey Calderon does not die on Detroit. Some breaks may begin small but get bigger, like the fact that the Capellans do not get aid from the Periphery and has to take out St. Ives and the Chaos March without them...and is not as successful as it is in the official universe. The Republican Guards simply are not involved in the FCCW as an example. Their positions are taken by other units since said positions HAD to be covered by the FC. But do note that Tikonov never came under Capellan rule during the FCCW. Its history is not the same as it is during the official history.

And you are correct. The saKahn IS a freebirth. As for the Khan? Khan Bjorn Jorgensson. That he has been Khan for so long makes the more "traditional" Clans consider the Dominion even LESS honorable. After all, how could a Khan honorably survive challenges of position at such an age when newly bred warriors should be superior to him? Either he cheats as the Falcon Khans once did, or the Dominion Trueborns are not improving. The "traditional" Clans can see no other reason for his continued command of the Khanship.

Banlish - Clan Sea Fox currently controls Twycross and some other worlds in the old Occupation Zones. They also have certain holdings on many other worlds throughout the Human Sphere.

As for the map...such plans are out there. They may even be fulfilled.

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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?

A few other questions, then:

1. What happened to Solaris VII? Are you going to do a write-up on them?

2. I'm not sure if I've asked this before, but are you going to answer the question as to what in the blue hell happened back in Homeworlds? Or are you just going to leave things to people's imaginations?

3. Have you decided which group you're going to do the next write-up for?

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

THe Solaris Cooperative might have been overlooked or part of the Federation of Skye, I searched tho and it's not given it's own entry anywhere as so far.
Um the post above yours kinda tells you what he's willing to tell you in a story telling mode as for the clan homeworlds so far.
Seems like the very answer your looking for.

Medron seems to be working clockwise around the IS. I'd wager on Hells Horses, Sea Fox, Ice Hellion or retreading and doing the Solaris Cooperative since it might have been missed. Ghost Bears, Badlands and Chainelane Isles rank a far 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

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There is only one tactical principle which is not subject to chance. It is: to use the means at hand to inflct the maximum amount of wounds, death and destruction on the enemy in the minimum of time.
-George S. Patton, Jr., War As I Knew It

1) It is the capital of the Solaris Cooperative. I am not fluffing it until the Solaris Map Set comes out as some of the info used to do so will come from it.

2) I haven't come to a final decision on it actually. At the moment, the thought going through my mind is that most of the Clans that remained in the Homeworlds fried themselves in some really nasty fighting. But there is still some organization there capable of stopping anybody from getting there, meaning that they have become isolationist again. Whether it is because they are too weak to do anything, or because they don't want to be contaminated as the Invading Clans were by Spheroid values is something I haven't totally decided on. I'm leaning towards the second though, as otherwise it just wouldn't be as interesting when they make their reappearence. Yes. I do not plan on having simply wiped them out. That would be the destruction of a perfectly good set of factions that a lot of people like. There are still Clans there, and I see no reason right now for any of the Homeworlds Clans to have been totally wiped out. All of them will have a presence I think, though I think I know who will be the most powerful of them all. Or at least I've played that bit through my mind very often. hehehehe

3) Clan Snord, then Hell's Horses, then Clan Sea Fox. After that, Rim Collection, Marian Hegemony, and on around the Outer Sphere to show what each of the major factions is like. The pirate realms will be left mostly unfluffed, though I do plan on having a writeup on ALL of them in a general way, just not as many specifics as those given to the main factions.

Also note that the Outer Sphere and the New Periphery have numerous factions made up of people who fled the fall of the Star League, or were there already, the Succession Wars, the Clan Invasion, the Jihad, and for any number of other reasons. Most of them are currently unknown, even by ComStar and the major Outer Sphere and Periphery realms, though some of them have been contacted.

The Inner Rim, comprising the Magistracy of Canopus, Marian Hegemony, Taurian Concordat, and Raven Alliance, became more involved in the Inner Sphere during the Jihad and at other times, but has generally attempted to leave them alone to their own devices as they are once again looking outward. The Outer Rim, most notably the Jarnfolk, have almost nothing to do with the Inner Sphere.

The New Periphery, most notably the Hanseatic League and Nueva Castille, have even less to do with the Inner Sphere. Of all the New Periphery realms, the Hanseatic League is really one of the very few that does anything and that only because they like to trade with EVERYBODY. But the New Periphery is really what the Old Periphery was back in 3025. A vast unknown of factions, dead colonies, and places where anything can happen.

_________________
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?