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PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2005 3:13 pm 
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Corporal
Corporal

Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:42 am
Posts: 32
Location: ohio
do you have the greg death legion being rebuilt?

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PostPosted: Thu May 12, 2005 4:31 am 
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Loki
Loki

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Location: Minnesnowta
Well, there is the new Grey Death plant on Glengerry IIRC. That is in the Federation of Skye now.

I see no reason why a member of the Death family could not reform the unit using those factories.

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PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2005 6:14 am 
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Loki
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Marian Hegemony

History

The year 3063 proved to be a turning point for the Marian Hegemony. Until that year most considered it to be little more than a pirate realm trying to ape its betters. And those few who considered it more than that, knew it to be a threat to peace in the region. It’s conquest and subjugation of the Lothian League earned it few friends and persistent rumors that Sean O’Reilly killed his own father left other realms distrustful of his intentions. But in 3063, his son Julius O’Reilly came home in command of his legions, fresh from victory against the Illyrian Palatinate. What many had considered to be just another conquest of the Hegemony proved to be the stepping-stone to a new era for the Marians.

He threw out the Word of Blake whom he did not trust, and forged an alliance with ComStar that netted him Leonis Legion and numerous other forms of help. When he assaulted the Circinus Federation in 3066 and ComStar found evidence that the Word of Blake was supporting them, they gave Caesar Julius the aid he needed to hold off the Word and conquer Circinus. Caesar Julius himself killed President McIntrye and gave the remaining Black Warriors a simple choice. Surrender or die. They chose to surrender and Julius used those that could be trusted (mostly) to form the Aquilum Legion.

The time remaining to the Hegemony before the beginning of the Jihad was spent slowly consolidating their control of the former Federation and numerous other worlds in the region, including Comstock, Francas, and Decus Arae, site of a major ComStar base. This cooperation promised to bring the Hegemony many riches and new technology, but the Jihad reared its ugly head and ComStar found itself fighting the Word of Blake as the Inner Sphere fell into chaos. The Marian Hegemony remained out of the war, a bastion of calm for once in the chaos that surrounded it, but the Caesar continued to allow ComStar to move through Marian space at their need.

In 3070 that decision cost him his life, and the life of Elena Logan and thousands of others, when the Word of Blake dropped a neutron bomb on the capital of the Marian Hegemony. At the same time they assaulted Circinus, badly mauling the Aquilum Legion, Illyria, and the core Marian territories as the decapitated Hegemony struggled to survive. More Word forces and allied raiders, including the pirates of New Circinus, smashed the Hegemony on all sides and chaos reigned. With all fronts collapsing, Imperator David Gladding took command of the Hegemony and desperately shuffled the legions around in an attempt to confuse the Word of Blake. The children of Elena Logan and Julius O’Reilly he sent to other worlds under the protection of The Praetorian Guard while other legions assaulted the Word and their allies directly.

They finally arrived at Decus Arae, protected by ComStar and the only calm world left in the Hegemony, in 3071 and for a time it was hoped that they would be safe there. But as the other legions fell or were shattered the Word of Blake assaulted ComStar directly and Leonis Legion, The Praetorian Guard, and ComStar WarShips fought the Word tooth and nail. Unable or unwilling to defeat the troops on the ground, the Word of Blake nuked the ComStar complex after breaking through the orbital and WarShip defenses, but the deep underground complex protected the legions and the heirs. When what was left of the ComStar naval force proclaimed victory in the system though, the main fort and city in the interior of the world’s primary continent were gone. They dug the survivors out and the legions fanned back out into the shattered Hegemony to face the remaining allies of the Word.

The Praetorian Guard returned to Alphard with Sebastian O’Reilly and formed up with the Caesar’s Own and the Cohort of the Dead to bring order to the worlds of the Marian District. With HPG communications unreliable though Imperator Gladding found his ability to control the rest of the Hegemony impossible.

One symptom of this is fracturing is the flight of the remains of Leonis Legion to Lothario. They took Liesal Logan with them and formed Glacialis Legion to support her rule of the Lothian District. She was too young to rule of course but the Wheel of Fire Legion supported her, less as a betrayal of Alphard and more as a simple expedient to bring order to the worlds of the old Lothian League. Oddly, neither force nor Liesal’s regent ever claimed they were leaving the Hegemony, but simply worked to fight the Word of Blake and their allies on any world they could find. Communications with Alphard were almost nonexistent so they followed their own plans.

Similarly on Illyria, news of the death of the Caesar and a Word of Blake assault on the Imperial Legionnaires that killed its commanders resulted in the rise of the first of the new Caesars. Centurion Julie Gupton distinguished herself again by leading what was left of the unit into an ordered retreat that saved the survivors of the first assault. When it became apparent that no reinforcements would come from shattered Alphard or the rest of the Hegemony, she took the rank of legatus and commanded the cohort-sized remaining force in battle against the Word occupiers. Using unorthodox tactics to confuse and capture the Word troops while drawing volunteers from the locals, she had soon expanded the force back to a legion in size and was forced to take the rank of prefect. The legion hailed her as their new Caesar after they drove the Word of Blake from Illyria and she has held that rank ever since.

The rise of Michael Cirion on Circinus on the other hand was decidedly less loyal. The assault of the Word had cut them off from Alphard, like the other districts, and he took the opportunity to seize the world his father had once claimed and fought the Word off. It turned out to be as long and hard as it was for the other elements of the Hegemony, but when it was done outside observers assumed the Circinus Federation was about to rise again. They were wrong.

When Imperator Gladding and ComStar restored solid communications with the other districts of the Hegemony in 3076, he quickly came to the realization that to force them back under his rule would be nearly impossible. The Lothians and the Illyrians were proud of the young Dame Leisal and Caesar Julie while the Circinians looked like they were ready to tell him what he could do with himself if he tried to retake command. Instead of fighting another series of wars to reform the Hegemony he accepted the situation, officially gave the districts control over their own affairs, and named their leaders as official Caesars, much as the old Roman Empire had done three thousand years ago. In addition, he “accepted” the rank of Emperor and left the Caesars to rule their parts of the Hegemony as they saw fit.

And then he commenced to attempt to rebuild his shattered legions into an effective fighting force. The task soon proved impossible for the remains of the Hegemony, and most historians project the realm would have collapsed into anarchy in the 3080s if the Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey had not approached the Emperor with an offer he literally could not refuse in 3078. The Duchy had money while the Marian Hegemony had the ability to build BattleMechs thanks to pre-Jihad Word of Blake and ComStar efforts. The Duchy offered to pay the Hegemony to build factories for vehicles and BattleMechs in the Duchy and Emperor Gladding jumped at the chance to bring the much needed money into his realm.

By 3079, the increased trade and income that arrangement brought had shown a profound increase in the quality of life, and the quality of military forces, in the Hegemony and the Emperor was looking outward for a way of unifying the realm under his leadership. The Duchy suggested the Lyran Commonwealth’s StarCorps Supremacy, and their Son Hoa and Loburg factories, as a target for a joint operation and the Emperor agreed. He knew that Michael Cirion would be ecstatic to get his hands on the factories of Son Hoa and agreed to support the Duchy plan.

It only took a matter of months to convince Caesar Cirion to support it as well and the Emperor reformed Leonis Legion by requesting volunteers from the districts to support the invasion. From the Marian District he sent new graduates of the Collegium Bellorum Imperium while the Lothian District sent elements of Glacialis Legion and the Illyrian District sent the survivors of the Left Arm of Thor and a number of Legionnaires to watch over them. The Emperor then shipped the new Leonis Legion to the Circinus District and ordered them to work with Aquilum Legion to assault the StarCorps Line.

The assault on Son Hoa itself came in 3080, and though Leonis and Aquilum Legions failed to take the world, they sucked the defenders off the rest of the StarCorps Line, allowing the Duchy to smash into the border. By 3083, a slow advance by the Hegemony forces had surrounded Son Hoa and the Hegemony was prepared for another assault on the world but the Emperor realized that the two legions could not do so alone. He reinforced them with the Limitanei Legion and in January of 3084 the assault began again.

The second battle for Son Hoa was nearly as costly as the first, and all three legions suffered badly, but they secured the world in April despite their losses and Caesar Cirion ordered all forces to stand back and defend their new worlds while performing repairs. This allowed StarCorps to move what remained of their forces to fight the Duchy and forced the Duchy to end their offensive early, without claiming Loburg. The Emperor pushed Cirion to resume the invasion but the Caesar declined, stating that he would not lose any more men to support another realm. That stand brought the Limitanei Legion over to him, but gained him the hatred of Photon Brett-Marik of the Duchy.

The Emperor recalled Leonis Legion home in disgust, and its component forces returned to their districts to rebuild and expand. The Illyrian contingent became the basis of the new Legion of Thor while the Lothian contingent rejoined the Glacialis Legion and began teaching the Wheels of Fire and Ice the lessons of the latest war. The Emperor did not disband Leonis Legion though, using the Marian contingent as the base to rebuild it and put his production into expanding it to a full legion in size.

The last fifteen years have seen the Hegemony doing little more than recovering and rebuilding, finishing new factories and forming the core of its new naval fleet. The majority of that fleet remains under the Emperor’s personal command, part of the Praetorian Guard, but he has assigned some ships to each legion in the Hegemony in return for oaths of loyalty and other more binding ties that hold the promise of keeping the Hegemony together in the years to come.

The modern Hegemony is advancing in technology and power, and the discovery of another stockpile of germanium in 3090 has given them the funds the Emperor needs to pay for those improvements. We understand that the majority of that stockpile has been spent though, leaving the future of the Hegemony in question. Will it find another source of income or be forced to cut back on military expenditures? And can it survive either path?

Only the passage of time will answer that question.

Military

While there are numerous reserve forces in the Marian Hegemony, the capital of Alphard will not recognize a force as a Legion unless it has integral transport and naval units. This normally entails three Liburnia-class frigates and the fifteen Centurion-class DropShips required to move a full legion. A reinforced legion usually has one more Liburnia, three Centurions modified to carry an air-maniple of fighters, and two Incidio-class assault DropShips. The full squadron of fighters such a force can field, supported by the WarShips and DropShips, are a formidable force. A Caesar commands the legions of each district, while the Emperor personally commands the Praetorian Guard.

Marian District

The Praetorian Guard, fanatically loyal to Emperor Gladding, is the most advanced and powerful legion in the Marian Hegemony. Comprising the ground elements, the required naval attachment, and the bulk of the Hegemony fleet, the Praetorian Guard is led by the Emperor personally from a maniple of Impavido-class WarShips. It rarely leaves Alphard and is tasked with the mission of protecting it and the throne against any threat to the Emperor or the Hegemony, in that order. Caesar Alexander commands the Cataphracti Legion and spends most of his time on the League and Magistracy frontiers, protecting the Hegemony from raids. The Stalking Lions, though having lost all of their original number to the Lothian Glacialis Legion, are the most mobile of the Legions and are generally sent to act as the Hegemony’s shock troops when on the assault. Otherwise they are left to defend the outer border of the Marian District from pirates. The Cohort of the Dead is and always will be the place where politic dissidents or vanquished rivals that are too valuable to be killed are sent to await their final sentence. Death or Commutation.

Frontline Formations

Martia Victrix Legion: The Praetorian Guard
Cataphracti Legion: The Caesar’s Own
Leonis Legion: The Stalking Lions
Cohors Morituri: Cohort of the Dead

Lothian District

The vast majority of the Lothian BattleMechs are Phoenix Hawks built on Lothario, making the Lothian legions highly mobile and very adaptable. Not able to withstand or dish out as much punishment as the other legions, they work well against the pirates they normally fight. The Wheel of Fire is the old Marian legion that protected the Lothian District before the Jihad while the Wheel of Ice was formed during the Jihad by the remnants of the Leonis Legion and her dependents when they brought Dame Liesal Logan to Lothario. Both legions are fanatically loyal to Lothario and Dame Liesal.

Frontline Formations

Glacialis Legion: Wheel of Ice
Ignis Legion: Wheel of Fire

Illyrian District

The pride and joy of the Illyrian legions are the Marauder IIs built on Illyria, and they often stand up against League raiders. The Imperial Legionnaires are a battle hardened force of veterans that has guarded the Illyrian District since before the Jihad while the Legion of Thor is a new addition, originally formed around the survivors of the old Left Arm of Thor mercenary force. Since expanded, the Lightning Brigade is known for quick strikes and retreats against enemy forces that sow confusion.

Frontline Formations

Comitatensis Legion: Imperial Legionnaires
Legion of Thor: The Lightning Brigade

Circinus District

Constantly on watch against StarCorps and Duchy raiders, or raiding those nations, the Circinus legions are based around the Aquilum Legion. Formed out of the remains of the Black Warriors after President McIntrye died under the feet of Caesar Julius’ BattleMech in 3066, the Aquilum Legion has been trained into a superior combat force that holds Circinus and the neighboring worlds against Duchy predation. The Sentinels are now tasked with protecting the outer border of the Circinus District from pirates, mainly the New Circinus band, while the more mobile Cavalry holds the border against the StarCorps Supremacy when it is not out on “supply runs” to other worlds.

Frontline Formations

Aquilum Legion: In Blackest Night
Limitanei Legion: The Sentinels
Ripariensis Legion: The Caesar’s Cavalry

Factories

Marian District

Alphard – Emperor and Warhammer OmniMechs; Locust BattleMech; Gladius OmniTank; Thunderbird AeroSpace Fighter; Centurion (Union) and Incidio DropShips; Liburnia frigate

Comstock – Shadow Hawk BattleMech

Lothian District

Lothario – Phoenix Hawk BattleMech

Illyrian District

Illyria – Marauder II BattleMech

Circinus District

Baltazar III – Marauder BattleMech

Circinus – Goliath and Ostroc BattleMechs

Son Hoa – Cirion Industries – Avatar, Emperor, and Warhammer OmniMechs; Highlander BattleMech; Manteuffel OmniTank

Systems

Marian District

The heart of Marian power and the seat of Emperor David Gladding, the Marian District controls what is generally accepted to be the “old” Marian Hegemony before the Great Expansion. The single greatest concentration of economic and industrial might in the Hegemony, it is from Alphard that power emanates into the Hegemony. Caesar Michael Alexander commands the military of the Marian District in the Emperor’s name.

Addhara
Algenib

Alphard – A treasure trove of old Star League storehouses, nobody knows how much germanium is stored on this world, but every few decades another vault or complex filled with that important material is found that helps the Marians flourish even more than before. The last major find was located in 3090 beneath the capital city. The capital and heart of Marian power, Alphard is the most heavily defended world in the Hegemony.

Baccalieu
Ballalaba

Comstock – Designed by the Star League to be a maker of shoes, this world continues to specialize in such endeavors to this day, though its people build BattleMechs for the glory of the Hegemony. Comstock shoes are seen throughout the Human Sphere and are known to be one of the best styles of shoes in existence with very high quality leather.

Decus Arae – On the fringes of the Hegemony, Decus Arae was originally colonized by a mercenary unit. Absorbed into the Hegemony after Caesar Julius supplanted his father as ruler, this world was reportedly the home of a Star League factory complex. Unfortunately, when the Word of Blake assaulted the Hegemony they made of point of performing a nuclear bombardment on the complex and nothing seems to have survived. The Hegemony does share the world with ComStar though, who uses it to administer their anti-spinward Explorer Corps expeditions.

Francas – A world of covered in ranches for various animal species, this world is the primary source of the high quality leather that Comstock uses to make shoes. Like Comstock, it was designed during the Star League for just that purpose but has diversified to survive since the fall of that government.

Horatius – A remote, desert world, it is the base of the Cohors Morituri, the Marian Hegemony's penal cohort. It is also the home of the Operationes Abscondites, the covert ops section of the Hegemony’s Ordo Vigilis.

Islington

Marius' Tears – Imperator Marius O’Reilly died in a climbing accident in 3048, on the Marian Hegemony colony world of Herculaneum. His son Sean, renamed Herculaneum as Marius’ Tears, instituted a 10 day period of mourning for his father, and then declared himself Caesar of the Marian Hegemony amid heavy speculation that he was somehow to blame for his father’s death.

New Venice
Paulinus
Pompey
Stafford
Suetonius

Lothian District

The only district not bordering the Inner Sphere, the Lothian’s only major worry is of pirates. Though the New Circinus pirates are something to be worried about, the Lothian District is the least militarized of the Marian districts and her people have access to more luxuries than other districts. Dame Liesel Logan only uses her title of Caesar in official Marian functions and the independent Lothians rarely have those in their space. Many outsiders, and those within the Hegemony as well, consider the Lothian District to be the least dependable of the Marian districts, but as long as the Marians maintain a hands off approach to the Lothians we do not believe this district will ever run with the secessionist fervor that it had during resistance movement of Liesal’s mother, Elena Logan.

Dersidatz – Conquered by the Circinus Federation and renamed Blentleff, when the victorious Marian Legions came in 3066 to claim the world the Lothians happily renamed it Dersidatz and have maintained control of it ever since. Mainly known for farming, it is one of the few warm worlds in the Lothian District.

Lammas – Orbiting a slowly dying star on the anti-spinward edge of the Lothian District, this is officially the coldest world under Lothian control. Used for training cold weather survival and combat, the population is small but hardy and more than willing to deal with the harsh weather in exchange for the peace and quiet they get from not having many neighbors.

Leximon
Lindassa
Logan Prime
Lordinax

Lothario – The capital of the Lothian District, Lothario is typical of worlds colonized by the Lothians. This small world has a thin atmosphere and is perpetually covered in ice and snow, with only marginal zones of habitation centered upon the planet's equator. A rather beautiful world, it is known for its spectacular aurora arising from the frequently intense solar winds of its parent sun. Lothario exports large quantities of furs, iron, and copper ores to worlds throughout the Human Sphere thanks to Sea Fox factors. Indeed, its trapping industry has created impressive revenues as demand for the rich pelts has grown in the last century. Most of the planet's inhabitants exist in subterranean conclaves, though a few hardy souls continue to scrap out sustenance on the planet's surface, fiercely defending their small agricultural plots. The average Lotharian is highly territorial and suspicious of any offworlder.

Lummatii
Maximillian

New St. Andrews – Ruled by Clans MacGregor and Stewart, New St. Andrews is more peaceful now than it has been in centuries. During the Jihad Clans Brannigan and Sterling used Word of Blake aid to nearly destroy the two stronger Clans. Elements of Glacialis Legion supported the larger Clans in 3071 and when they destroyed the smaller Clans and their Word aid, the battered world requested further protection. To this day, the remnants of Clans Brannigan and Sterling continue to raid the other Clans but their power has been broken.

Valerius – A colony founded by Caesar Julius to act as a secret base for his successful invasion of the Circinus Federation, this warm world has become a vacation spot for the Lothians. Still chilly by the standards of others, it is warm enough that it feels tropical to the cold-hardened Lothians.

Illyrian District

Ruled by Caesar Julie Gupton since the chaos of the Jihad thrust her into the position after her commanding officer was killed, the Illyrian District borders the Free Worlds League and is constantly on the defensive should the League ever attempt to regain its lost worlds. Caesar Julie has allowed the rich trading families that ran the Illyrian worlds before the arrival of her Legion to maintain control of day-to-day issues but reserves a veto “in the interests of the District and the Hegemony” that she has rarely used.

Hazeldean

Illyria – Ruled by an Oligarchy of rich trading families, Palatinate citizens live a relatively tranquil existence on this capital of the Illyrian District. Home to a number of major factories and repair depots, this world is also home to one of the largest Coliseums in the Hegemony. Hosting BattleMech fights much like those seen on Solaris VII, Illyria is second only to Alphard’s Coliseum in prestige.

Huntington
Lahti
Landfall
Reykavis
Trasjkis
Trondheimal

Circinus District

Ruled by Caesar Fritz Cirion and defended by the elite Aquilum, Limitanei, and Ripariensis Legions, this district is second only to the Marian district in power. The factories of Son Hoa, Circinus, and other factories left over from the Word of Blake machinations before the Marian conquest flood its Legions with powerful BattleMechs. Primarily made up of farmers, the Caesar leaves local rule to the locals, preferring to guard his territory through force of arms and not deal with mundane matters.

Althastan
Andiron
Baltazar III

Circinus – A dry world rich in crystals, gemstones, and radioactives, Circinus is the seat of Caesar Cirion’s power, the home of revitalized Star League training facilities and numerous factories, it is heavily defended from raiders at all times.

Clayborne II
Diedre's Den
Hardisey's Haven

Khon Kaen – Khon Kaen is hot and humid because of the tropical rainforests and swamps that dominate the planet's surface. The world bears many scars from repeated raiding during the Succession Wars and the Jihad.

Madiun

Poulsbo – A small world with a large moon that keeps the seas constantly churning, this isolationist world takes the rule of other thrones unhappily. Once a forgotten Lyran world, the people of the world offered little resistance to the Marian attackers but have proven less than willing to be Marian citizens. Caesar Cirion has wisely allowed them self-rule and only maintains military command, making them less likely to show their displeasure.

Sierra – Once a member of the Trinity Worlds, a pirate realm before being conquered by the Free Worlds League, Sierra is a hot, dry world who’s citizens are descendents of residents of the ancient Terran states of Chiluahua, New Mexico, Arizona, Sonora, and Israel. A curious mix of Cowboys, nortenos, Indians, and Jewboys, this world is also a major center of trade between the Circinus District and the Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey.

Son Hoa – The primary goal of the Marian invasion of the Lyran Commonwealth, after they captured this factory world they shut down their invasion and have sat back to rebuild ever since. A major source of BattleMechs for the Hegemony, it is heavily defended at all times.

Thadora's Land
Zorn's Keep

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible :blah:
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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?


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PostPosted: Wed May 18, 2005 7:18 pm 
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The Walkin' Dude
The Walkin' Dude

Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2003 2:20 pm
Posts: 1716
Location: End-World
Quote:
A curious mix of Cowboys, nortenos, Indians, and Jewboys...
Jewboys? :-?

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PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2005 3:00 am 
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Commanding General
Commanding General

Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2002 8:00 pm
Posts: 1928
Location: At the base of America's Mountain
Jewish Cowboys, it's straight out of Milan's Camacho's Cablleros novels. And before you go PC, it's a name the Jewish people came up with themselves, as explained in the books

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PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2005 6:02 am 
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Loki
Loki

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2001 8:00 pm
Posts: 11444
Location: Minnesnowta
Yes. Straight out of the books. :-)

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible :blah:
[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?


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PostPosted: Thu May 19, 2005 11:01 am 
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The Walkin' Dude
The Walkin' Dude

Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2003 2:20 pm
Posts: 1716
Location: End-World
Ok, I believe you. Just checking....

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PostPosted: Mon May 23, 2005 2:20 am 
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Loki
Loki

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2001 8:00 pm
Posts: 11444
Location: Minnesnowta
hehehe

I don't think I could have come up with that name if I'd tried...;-)

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible :blah:
[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?


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PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 3:37 am 
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Loki
Loki

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2001 8:00 pm
Posts: 11444
Location: Minnesnowta
If you like the DropShip Irregulars, you might want to read this one. They actually figure prominently in the saving of Solaris and still have relations with the world. ;-)

Just warning you...hehehe

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible :blah:
[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?


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PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 3:38 am 
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Loki
Loki

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2001 8:00 pm
Posts: 11444
Location: Minnesnowta
Solaris Cooperative

History

The Jihad came to Solaris like a thief in the night, with the Word of Blake smuggling many BattleMechs onto the world and taking over numerous minor stables and cooperatives. The warriors of Solaris, having no warning of the coming assault, welcomed the time of the Star League Council with celebratory fights and parades marched through the streets as they prepared to close out the year in a dramatic culmination of matches. The year closed out more dramatically than Solaris could have ever imagined.

The Word of Blake struck soon after beginning the Jihad, catching Solaris by surprise. They hadn’t expected the Word to come to the games world after all. What the Word did after taking over Solaris City and the main arenas shocked Solaris even more. They staged executions of captured MechWarriors and broadcasted them throughout the Inner Sphere. It shocked both Solaris and the Inner Sphere, and a call went out to assemble a force and liberate the world. From throughout the Inner Sphere mercenaries and soldiers who had once fought on Solaris smuggled themselves onto Solaris to fight the Word and join the resistance.

Then Erik Gray, the MechWarrior that had secured the help of the cooperatives, fell in battle against the Word and it appeared as if resistance would collapse. Until Grand Champion Kelly Metz and a company of former Solaris warriors arrived in Nowhere, the resistance’s holdout. They rallied the fighters and went out on the assault, opening up the Word positions. Within days they destroyed the HPG with a targeted assault that stopped the broadcasts of executions before beginning to hit widespread targets that hampered the Word’s ability to defend Solaris City.

Most histories credit her with saving the resistance on Solaris, though more thoughtful analyses note that others had far more to do with it than her. They note the sudden support of the Yakuza as a turning point, and their ability to smuggle more former Solaris warriors on-world would prove to be a major part or the resistance’s success. But whether she was the brains of the operation or a figurehead, few debate that as Grand Champion she was a symbol the other warriors could rally behind.

By the end of the first week, “true battlefield holos” of her had achieved major circulation both on Solaris and beyond, though military analysts of the time rolled their eyes and labeled them as obviously staged. Feminist movements protested her “untoward posture” to which their detractors just laughed. “The Word of Blake is nuking people and you are worried about a little skin?” was one of their more common refrains. Within months, she became the most popular postergirl since the famed Black Widow, a not-insignificant feat on its own merits.

By the time Erik Gray, much the worse for wear, returned she was entrenched as the new leader. She wisely welcomed him back though and chose to work with, rather than against, him. The two led the resistance after that, and with the help of the Yakuza and a continuing supply of former Solaris warriors began to shore up the resistance’s ability to fight even as the Word recovered their breath and pushed them out of Solaris City again. They also received aid from the DropShip Irregulars, a mercenary unit that had fought the Word of Blake in the past and were looking for another chance to teach them a lesson. Doctor Raisley, wanting a bit of payback for his capture at the Word’s hands, moved his research from Bethel in the neutral Syrtis Federation to Solaris where he used it to help the resistance fight the Word. The war continued for years though, with the DropShip Irregulars and the resistance, who quickly coined themselves the Solaris Irregulars, barely able to hold onto Nowhere and Blue Point Weapons and the Word unable to completely crush them due to the resistance of the various crime syndicates that had begun to follow the Yakuza’s lead.

By 3073 though, the Irregulars were beginning to lose heart. Unable to push the Word off, every former Solaris warrior that would come had arrived and they were running low on everything from pilots to spare parts. The handful of hardened warriors that remained were dangerous individuals accustomed to fighting with each other and able to fight like demons, but with resources drying up even the most stubborn of them were coming to the conclusion that they could not win. Then in June the Fourteenth Skye Guard RCT arrived to support them.

The Word of Blake hammered them with all their AeroSpace assets and destroyed three-quarters of the force, but the survivors landed and linked up with the Irregulars in Nowhere. Stunned by the Word’s fanatical resistance, the Skye soldiers nearly didn’t venture out of Nowhere to fight again but as the Word ground forces stepped up their assaults to a fevered pace they moved out to support the resistance. With most of their chain of command shattered they followed the orders of the remaining Solaris warriors rather than being the conquering heroes they’d planned to be. But they gave the Solaris and DropShip Irregulars the infusion of manpower and machines they needed to push the Word back from Nowhere once and for all.

The Irregulars and the remaining Fourteenth followed the Word back to Solaris City and continued to hammer the occupiers, as the Yakuza and the other crime syndicates stepped up efforts to break the Word’s back from behind. It took several months, but by February of 3074 they had finally smashed the Word forces down far enough that they were able to assault the dropport directly. The Word of Blake crumpled under the attack, but not before gutting the bulk of the surviving Fourteenth and leaving Solaris City in ruins. Most of what remained of the Fourteenth chose to remain on Solaris and joined the Solaris Irregulars.

The quarter century since then has seen the Solaris Irregulars expand into a multi-regiment force with integrated naval units, but in 3074 they only numbered a few spaceships captured from the Word of Blake and what remained of the Fourteenth’s spaceships. In BattleMechs, after all salvage was taken into account, they had nearly enough machines to fill out a battalion. The DropShip Irregulars had another short battalion and the surviving vehicles gave the world a total of a regiment in combat power.

With the Word driven out, many of the surviving Solaris warriors came out of hiding or left the Irregulars to return to the arenas, and for years the arenas hosted battles between battered vehicles or BattleMechs so badly damaged the Irregulars couldn’t use them. It wasn’t until 3080 in fact that new BattleMechs began to show their faces in the arenas again, but in the meantime Kelly Metz, Erik Gray, Doctor Raisley, and the other leaders of Solaris agreed that a buffer zone would have to be formed to protect Solaris from anything like this again. The Federation of Skye hadn’t supported them for years and couldn’t be trusted to defend them in the future. Defense would have to come from Solaris itself.

In March, Solaris officially seceded from the Federation of Skye and sent envoys to the surrounding worlds, offering them membership in the new Solaris Cooperative. Part of the offer included the placement of Solaris Circuit arenas on any world that joined the Cooperative, promising new jobs, money, and recognition. The worlds they targeted, including Uhuru and Rochelle of the Free Worlds League, agreed to join up with Solaris and have had few reasons since then to regret their decision.

The modern Solaris Cooperative is one of the most, if not the most, concentrations of wealth in the Human Sphere. The Solaris Circuit brings in royalties from action figures, toys, and mere transmission rights for matches that dwarf the economies of entire nations. Most of this is sent back into the Circuit in the forms of researching new technologies to make the fights more eye catching, or into maintaining and expanding the arenas. The Cooperative also plays host to a large gambling industry, which pays taxes of its own, and it is commonly known that in the Cooperative you can bet on anything you can imagine, and more things you couldn’t before seeing them.

This concentration of wealth guarantees that pirates and privateers consider the Cooperative a plump target, but while raids are common the Solaris military has become good at repelling such attacks. The rich Cooperative can afford to spend money on its defenses, and it is a generally secure area to live. Battles are still common, both within and without its borders as the Solaris military returns the raiding favors, but the populace is safe from danger as most fights take place outside populated areas. Very rarely to pirates or privateers attempt to battle inside a city and most who have tried have not gained the benefit of a trial afterwards.

The Solaris Cooperative sports interesting relations with its neighbors. While raids are common, Solaris considers them to be “extended Circuit battles” where her military tests itself against others, and often such battles devolve into duels much like how the Clans fight. Solaris doesn’t need the resources as much as they like to show themselves as being better than anyone else after all. This method of raiding has engendered a form of friendly rivalry with neighboring nations that has never threatened to spill over into full-scale warfare, and Solaris programs are common and highly rated there. It is common for Solaris warriors to fight in official tournaments in the surrounding nations as well, where the locals lustily cheer for their hometown heroes against the “evil invading Solarian” for instance, and their good-natured (in most cases) acceptances of the fan “heal treatments” has made Solaris many good friends and friendly adversaries.

The Solaris Cooperative, in conclusion, appears to be a stable and rich nation in the modern Human Sphere. It is recognized throughout the Sphere by competitors as the best at what it does, even as they try to best it, and its programs can be see everywhere holobroadcasts, and even ancient single-dimension broadcasts, are sent. Few nations can boast that, and it appears as though the Solaris Cooperative will be a powerful nation for the foreseeable future.

Military

The Solaris Cooperative Navy is composed mainly of Noton-class frigates. Fast and mounting numerous banks of short-ranged weaponry, these frigates are responsible for moving the Army from world to world to deal with raiders, or to perform punitive raids on others. The Hirsch-class DropShips they carry have numerous configurations, such as cargo carrier, BattleMech transport, AeroSpace Fighter carrier, and assault ship, and civilian models are common. Military models look identical to the civilian model and pirates rarely know whether or not a military model is in a convoy until they approach within weapons range.

The Solaris Cooperative Army is composed primarily of militias manned by competitors in the Solaris Circuit. Accustomed to fighting solo in small matches, these warriors are minimally-trained in group tactics, rarely fight as an organized whole, have individualized machines that any but “their” tech can’t work on, and simply do not excel in group combat. Luckily, most raiders don’t take advantage of this weakness.

The sole organized force, outside the navy, in the Solaris Cooperative is the Solaris Irregulars. Like the famed DropShip Irregulars, the Solaris Irregulars have turned practical jokes, especially ones that can be used to defeat an enemy, into an art form that must be practiced as much as possible to hone it into a deadly weapon. They are encouraged to practice on each other rather than other hapless individuals, but are known to make exceptions, especially in cases where friends or enemies are in other units. False weapons ports, exotic holographic emissions, and strange weapons invented for the Solaris Circuit are common, and the Irregulars use them all. They prefer to duel, consistent with their origins, but their birth of fire during the Jihad made them competent in large unit tactics to the chagrin of many enemies they have faced since.

They have a personal rivalry, friendly thank God, with the mercenary DropShip Irregulars and whenever they meet warriors fill the bars from either force telling and retelling increasingly impossible stories about the indignities they have performed on their enemies (or friends) as they seek to outdo each other. Usually these debates turn into mini-wars as the two forces pull practical jokes on each other to prove they are the best. Enemies who learn they are about to face either force after such a “reunion” have often fled the field of battle rather than fight, knowing that they have just learned new techniques and are looking forward to trying them out on a new enemy.

The Irregular’s naval detachment is commanded by the Cabol Hirsch, an Impavido-class cruiser they normally call Cabol to keep from confusing it with the DropShips, and is protected by three Notons and a large number of Hirschs. Nephilim fighters constantly patrol space around the fleet and have supported the larger elements in many battles.

Supporting both the naval and ground forces of the Irregulars is the regimental-sized force of Land-AirMechs. Made up nearly completely of Archangel and Serraphim-class LAMs, there are also some other LAMs that survived the Succession Wars and the Jihad in the unit, as well as LAMs purchased from the Ozawa-Addicks Mercantile Alliance, but these rarer birds have all been refitted with modern Solaris technologies.

The core force of the Irregular’s ground forces is one regiment strong and composed entirely of BattleMechs. Kotos with their swift movement, and the heavier but very mobile Morpheus and Tsunami BattleMechs dominate the Solaris Irregular’s scout units. Lynx and Maelstrom BattleMechs make up the majority of the main combat arm, while the slower Cestus, Nightstar and Colossus BattleMechs maintain firepower in the assault forces. There are other machines in this regiment but they are rare as the regiment wishes to maintain as uniform a structure as possible. The BattleMech regiment is supported by vehicles, but as no standard vehicle is produced on Solaris the vehicle forces are decidedly less uniform, though still of excellent quality. The vehicles tend to be those salvaged or captured from other nearby nations, but custom vehicles are also seen.

Factories

New Kyoto – Doering Electronics – electronics
– RAMTech - lasers

Solaris – Crowded with design firms and small factories, these are only the major factories that produce weapons for the Solaris Cooperative Army and Navy.
– Blue Shot Weapons – Cestus, Lynx, Maelstrom, and Nightstar BattleMechs
– OmniTech Industries – Colossus, Koto, Morpheus and Tsunami BattleMechs
– Solaris Naval Yards – Hirsch DropShip; Noton frigate
– Trisagion Aerospace – Archangel and Serraphim Land-AirMechs; Nephilim AeroSpace Fighter

Systems

Algorab – The sole habitable planet in a binary system, this world sports two polar seas where life is relatively comfortable, and hundreds of thousands of kilometers of wasteland (where the Solaris Circuit performs matches) in between linked by maglev rail lines and airships studded with climate-controlled mining outposts. Valuable for the raw minerals and fuels that can be found here, this world is regularly raided by Skye forces.

New Kyoto – An exotic yet terrestrial world, and dominated by the founding Japanese culture, this is a major center of Buddhist teachings and the temple of Tooshodai-ji possesses the Inner Sphere’s largest Amida Buddha sculpture (over 110 meters in height). The Kyoto College, devoted to the study of myomers and medical applications, is one of the best colleges of its kind in the Human Sphere and has an open enrollment policy that brings in money from all of known space. The particularly vicious local wildlife is used on the Solaris Circuit and is exported to Solaris where they are crowd pleasers in the arenas.

Rahne – Wracked by its massive moon Caliban, this inhospitable planet has four seasons: Storm, Calm, Cold, and Melting. Of the four, only Calm and Cold prove safe for humans to leave the subterranean cities as Storm sports winds that make any vehicular traffic treacherous and during Melting the temperature rises above 100 degrees Celsius. Humans remain on this world because of the rare metals, gems, and radioactive deposits on this world that make it valuable. The Solaris Circuit’s best Rahne ratings come from fights during the Storm and Melting seasons.

Rochelle – A rich world in resources and soil, it was highly prized during the expansion of mankind to the stars and during the Star League. These riches nearly destroyed the world during the Succession Wars though, and by the time of the Jihad it was a mere shell of its former self. Its inclusion into the Solaris Cooperative however has brought a renaissance to the world, especially since 3080 when the first Solaris Circuit arena was permanently established on world. The proud and stubborn locals continue to live life as they always have, mining precious resources for the factories on Solaris, while the irradiated southern continent has become the permanent base of Solaris Circuit matches on Rochelle, and a way to tempt dissatisfied youngsters away from the mines into more exiting work. The high radiation and acid rains have proven to be popular obstacles for BattleMechs on the Circuit.

Solaris VII – The capital of the Solaris Cooperative and heart of the Solaris Circuit, this terrestrial world is home to one of the densest concentrations of wealth in the Human Sphere. The imaginative engineers and technicians of Solaris constantly think of new ways to out-design their competition, while factories watch to see what they want to build and gambling houses are home to wagers on who will be a success. Gambling, many say, is the heart of Solaris, and you can place a bet on anything you can imagine, from BattleMech fights to the next bed-buddy of the rich and famous. But it is truly the MechWarriors that are the heart of Solaris, and they fight in countless matches throughout the Circuit to prove that. Some of the most exiting matches take place on the comets that regularly fly in system, where the dangerous and unpredictable shifts have bested numerous warriors that claimed to be the best.

Uhuru – Devastated by the Succession Wars, entrance into the Solaris Cooperative has proven to be popular in recent years. The rising standard of living brought by the influx of funds and the Solaris Circuit has made life more enjoyable, and the Circuit has drawn off many dissatisfied individuals who see a greater life ready for them on Solaris. The local Circuit is widely regarded for the rough terrain it offers, especially the numerous nuclear craters that have proven to be fan favorites.

Zaniah – Largely land, with only small seas dotting it, Zaniah lacks significant natural resources or major industries, and the locals appear to concern themselves with little more than fishing and moisture farming. Famous for being the host world of the St. Marinus House, it has been the home of famous personalities such as Morgan Kell and Peter Steiner-Davion over its history, but this monastery is most known for the countless numbers of MechWarriors that have retired from the death and destruction of combat here. Numerous Solaris Champions have retired here over the centuries, and the Solaris Circuit hosts matches in the many deserts of this world in their names.

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible :blah:
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PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 4:43 am 
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Commanding General
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Excellent job, Med!

The DropShip is Eternal even though some our Warriors may not be.

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Last edited by St33lf4ng on Tue May 31, 2005 2:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 11:30 am 
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Loki
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:o

Wait a minute!

Who said our warriors aren't eternal?

:alien:

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[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
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Who is John Galt?


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PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 2:01 pm 
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Commanding General
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Edited to appease the Colonel

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[b][color=#BC851A]Wielder of the Ferro-Carbide Bat of Doom™[/color][/b]
[color=#400080][i]I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.[/i] - Confucius[/color]
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PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 9:04 pm 
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General Loose Cannon
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Quote:
:o

Wait a minute!

Who said our warriors aren't eternal?

:alien:
Indeed the next generation is already in place.
Long live the Dropship Irregulars

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Having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have-Rush Limbaugh
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PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2005 10:46 pm 
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Loki
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hehehe

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[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
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Who is John Galt?


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 12:08 am 
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Lieutenant, JG
Lieutenant, JG

Joined: Sat Mar 16, 2002 8:00 pm
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OK, I gotta a dumb question.

Am I missing something or isn't Kelley Metz dead? I thought in the little rulebook thingy that came with the Solaris Map Pack (in the short story at the beginning) that Kelley was executed "facing off" against a lance of Word of Blake Mechs in the Steiner Arena (or is this a case of author fiat?)... :confused:

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:05 am 
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This an Alternate Universe. It takes a sharp left turn from the 'canon' universe at the start of the Jihad.

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:14 am 
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Loki
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Exactly. And there are places where it takes the left turn BEFORE that as well.

As noted in Chaos March for instance, the Ridzik Brothers take over Hall and grow up to be a powerful part of the Chaos March. That was retconned in recent stuff that came out in the official universe.

I also don't reinvent the Taurians into Uncle Liao's Rent-a-Corpse and Jeffrey Calderon lives until the Jihad. Then he's wacked by Uncle Wobbly's Rent-an-Asteroid Planetary Renewal Service. Or at least at the same time...most assume it is the asteroid but some evidence has always pointed to more...erm...direct renewal services used...;-)

The Marians maintain their standard 5-10-50 100(150) Maniple-Century-Cohort-Legion setup rather than the one created for FM:P that just...goes different without explaination.

In general, the IS factions become weaker and the Periphery factions become stronger. By 3100 they are around parity, with the Periphery realms not totally outmatched by the IS but actually able to affect stuff. Sorta like 3025 where they were a (sorta) going concern.

And yes. Kelly Metz got out of Solaris City alive, thanks to the help of some ex-Solaris warriors who smuggled themselves onto the planet to kill some Wobblies and save their old stomping ground. They helped her get out at about the time Erik Gray disappeared, which ended up helping the resistance. That whole ex-Solaris warriors thang is something else I added. It made sense to me. I don't know if TPTB will go that route or not, but it made sense to me.

One of the reasons I started doing this was because I didn't think that the Wobblies were powerful enough to fight off the entire IS. Another was that I liked the idea of having a large number of smaller nations. The two ideas worked hand in hand and resulted in what is here now. More factions, though most of them already existed just as part of a larger faction, and a logical reason for how the Wobblies were able to survive as long as they did was generated.

The official universe is doing well from what I've seen so far to try to make the official universe more believable, but I think I prefer my timeline with the rise of Tikonov and the survival of the Star League over the dead Star League and the League of Stoners....;-)

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible :blah:
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 8:33 am 
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Lieutenant, JG
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Sorry about that. It has been a while since I read your other entries, so I forgot about Jeffrey Calderon and the Brothers Ridzik...

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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2005 1:26 am 
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Loki
Loki

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No prob dude.

I've got a few words involved in this so I'm not surprised that some of it is forgotten from time to time.

;-)

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[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?


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 5:22 pm 
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Sergeant
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Location: Pennsylvania
I liked em both Medron, Marians and Solaris CoOp


Hope to see more soon as is always my request.


Good work, and hope your doing well.

*A wayward friend swamped by real life*

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 11:28 pm 
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Loki
Loki

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Location: Minnesnowta
Thanks. They were both fun to write.

Now to get on the Canopians...I think I could have some fun there....;-)

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[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
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Who is John Galt?


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 24, 2005 5:11 am 
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Loki
Loki

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2001 8:00 pm
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Location: Minnesnowta
Magistracy of Canopus

History

Since before the formation of the Star League, the Magistracy of Canopus has based itself primarily around two basic principles. The first was the refusal to submit to orders of the Inner Sphere, only violated by the Star League subjugation of the Periphery, and the second was the pursuit of pleasure. Inclusive of, but not limited to, the sexual fantasies that many think of when they hear the term pleasure, the Canopian pursuit of pleasure is more a pursuit of happiness, fun, and joy in all its forms, for a price. The higher the price, the higher the happiness gained.

The riches this pursuit brought into the Magistracy made it a prime target of the Star League, but the Free Worlds League’s Captain-General had reservations about the invasion of the Periphery. Ordered to adhere to the Ares Conventions, the Free Worlds League military earned little of the hatred that the rest of the Star League gained as it ground the Magistracy down. A generous rebuilding program returned the Magistracy to a comfortable level and allowed the League to remove its occupation troops in sixteen years in fact, and the Magistracy was allowed to return to its ways of trade.

The days of the Star League and the Succession Wars that followed it nearly destroyed the Magistracy’s pleasure circuses though, as first the other more puritanical nations forced the Magistracy to stay away from the “most morally objectionable practices”, and then the war that followed shattered trade routes. The end of the Succession Wars brought back the trade lanes though and by the 3060s the pleasure circuses had returned with a vengeance, brining in much needed money to the Magistracy.

A byproduct of the pleasure circuses, the Canopian understanding of the human, and numerous semi-human genetically engineered species, was unmatched in most of the Human Sphere by that time. Only the Clans when they came boasted a greater understanding, thanks to their advanced science, but the Magistracy has happily incorporated Clan technology and knowledge into their medical establishment in the last half century, making it the recognized authority on all matters of medical treatment. The NAIS and other organizations continue to challenge them though, and this competition has forced all who wish to flourish in that field to continually experiment in new fields. The NAIS’s discovery of a cure for the Brisbane Virus, and Free Worlds League age-freezing techniques were blows to the Canopian establishment, but they have fired back with improvements on those and other medical advancements that have continued to improve the lot of humans in the Human Sphere.

The Magistracy would be more powerful now had fate not intervened over the years. During the early thirty-first century the Taurian Concordat attempted to form an alliance with the Magistracy but Magestrix Kyalla cared little for it. By the time Magestrix Emma had risen to power, Protector Edward Calderon’s paranoia had become easily discernable to anyone with medical understanding and Emma refused to work with him. It wasn’t until Jeffrey came of age and began to work with her that the chance of an alliance began to bear fruit. The Treaty of Taurus was signed on 31 March, 3056 and promised the realization of a dream the Periphery had long looked to. The capability to stand united against any Inner Sphere aggression.

It also began to improve the fortunes of both states. The Taurian Concordat had long languished economically while the Magistracy’s military suffered from limited production of war machines to replace losses. The Concordat aided the Magistracy in building new industrial plants while the Magistracy helped spur the Concordat’s economy to a level it hadn’t seen since the early thirty-first century. Had the Magistracy and Concordat allied at that time, their star would have shown bright far earlier than it did and perhaps they would have been ready for the Jihad when it came. But they didn’t.

Oblivious to the coming storm in the 3060s, the two nations worked together to build new factories, improve trade and economic relations, and to colonize new worlds along the amorphous border between them. The New Colony Region and its Colonial Marshals, an odd conglomeration of Taurian and Canopian values, soon realized that they didn’t wish to live under either government and began to campaign for their independence. At first, neither the Magistracy nor the Concordat accepted the regions arguments, but when Sherman Maltin calmly compared, with historical analyses backing him up, the occupation of the region to that of the Star League’s occupation of the Periphery States, they were forced to see his point. They entered into negotiations which culminated in the 15 May, 3061 recognition of the Fronc Federation and the alteration of the Treaty of Taurus to include the Federation. The alliance soon became called the Trinity Alliance.

3061 also saw Magestrix Emma learning of the death of her eldest daughter, Danai, while fighting against the Clans with the Star League. She seemed to accept the loss of her daughter calmly and officially named Naomi, on Detroit with Emma and Jeffrey Calderon at the time, her heir. The year 3063 saw the collapse of St. Ives to the invading Capellan Confederation, and the Magistracy happily took advantage of the various technologies the Taurians acquired in that war to upgrade their military, building up their defenses on the Capellan border. Emma had little trust for the Confederation, and especially for Sun Tzu, and refused to lower her guard especially now that he no longer had a major war to fight.

This guarded condition continued on the border until the fall of 3067, when first Janice Calderon returned to Taurus under her own power, cured by the NAIS to the chagrin of the Magistracy medical establishment, and then Taurus was attacked. On 15 December, 3067, exactly two months after Janice’s return, a number of DropShip-sized asteroids appeared over Taurus on a direct course for Samantha City. How they escaped detection by the Taurian asteroid detection net has not been discovered to this day, but we know it was made possible by the Word of Blake’s Erinyes system. Unfortunately, the complete destruction of the Word of Blake in the Jihad made study of the system impossible. Naomi, in conference with Jeffrey Calderon at the time of the assault, managed to escape the city before it was leveled, but Jeffrey was never heard from again. The Concordat Constables later found the ruins of his escape craft on the fringes of the devastated Samantha City.

Though some evidence suggested the attackers to be the Federated Suns, Janice Calderon wisely held her people back while the investigators attempted to learn the real truth. This kept the Trinity Alliance out of the chaos of the early months of the Jihad, and the Canopian and Taurian investigators soon found evidence that the real culprits were the Word of Blake rather than the Davions. While this did little to make the Taurians like the Davions any more, it did at least greatly hurt Grover Shraplen’s power base and removed all thoughts of him building enough support in the military to take control of the Concordat.

Before the Trinity Alliance could form a force to move into the Inner Sphere and support the beleaguered Star League against the Word of Blake though the Word came for them. On 10 June, 3069, a massive Word force arrived over Detroit and leveled the factories from orbit. A regiment of Magistracy troops died under the assault before the Word force split up and moved into the other Trinity Alliance nations to deal with them.

The Word forces shattered one Magistracy force after another as it moved from system to system at seemingly random intervals. Sometimes they used nukes, sometimes they used “conventional” orbital bombardment, and at other times they landed troops. As 3069 passed into 3070, which passed into 3071, the Magistracy fought a losing battle for its life, desperately trying to uncover the Word’s plans while trying to defend its worlds from assault. In March, a Magistracy operative broke Word security and discovered their plans. A final assault on Canopus itself to break the back of what remained of the Magistracy military.

Magestrix Emma ordered all surviving Canopian units back to Canopus in secret, keeping just enough people on their previous worlds to make it look as if they were still there, and prepared for what could possibly be the last battle of the Magistracy. The Word fleet arrived on 19 June into the middle of a Canopian trap. The Word DropShips had barely enough time to escape their JumpShips before nuclear mines erased them from existence, and the sole Word WarShip barely survived a near miss. The five day battle that followed as the Word of Blake tried to first break through and then escape the Canopian defenders left the Magistracy navy in ruins but destroyed the Word fleet to the last vessel.

The Magistracy had survived but the Word had successfully stopped them from interfering in the Jihad. By the end of the year, representatives from the Fronc Federation and the Taurian Concordat arrived to inform the Magestrix that the Word had been driven from their realms as well, but the three nations together had barely enough forces to defend their realms against a determined Boy Scout troupe, let alone take any war to the Word. And with piracy rampant on their borders, they were forced to take what remained of their militaries and send them out to deal with the pirates.

The Trinity Alliance soon turned to the battered Colonial Marshals to be their primary defense against pirates and rebuilt the factories of Detroit to supply them. They also began to use something the Fronc Federation had developed while fighting the Word. Smaller than any known BattleMech, the Fronc miniature BattleMechs were neither as advanced nor as capable as the Clan ProtoMechs, but they were easier to train for, took fewer resources to build, and were capable of threatening BattleMechs, especially when present in heavy numbers. The Trinity Alliance nations cooperated fully to rebuild the Colonial Marshals and sent them out to deal with the pirates as they tried to return their own shattered militaries, industries, and economies to a semblance of order.

By 3075, the Trinity Alliance was well on the way to recovering and Janice stepped down on 15 November of 3078 to give the Protectorship to Jeffrey Calderon’s son Erik. On 23 March of the next year, Magestrix Emma followed suit, handing her control of the Magistracy over to her daughter Naomi. Unfortunately the rebuilding took a back seat when the Syrtis Federation assaulted the St. Ives Compact and the Taurian Concordat moved forces to support their ally again.

The Magistracy and Fronc Federation continued to rebuild as much as they could, but with the Taurians occupied their efforts proved to be less successful than before. When the Taurians finally called for aid in 3082 though, the Magistracy and Fronc were more than capable of giving them that aid. They shattered the Syrtis defenders and spilled across the border, taking system after system. The Federation proved incapable of stopping them, and by late 3084 the Trinity Alliance had driven deep into Federation territory, with only the Pleiades Cluster still actively resisting. In 3085 the Cluster officially seceded from the Federation, joining the Concordat, but by then all thoughts of using it as a jumping-off point for an assault on New Syrtis had been long forgotten and active campaigns with the Federation had come to an end.

In August of 3083, the Alliance had engaged the Capellans over Mendham, and that flashpoint resulted in a decade of devastating war between the Alliance and the Confederation. Using every weapon in their arsenal, including the arrival of the Duchy of Andurien in 3085, the Trinity Alliance pounded the Confederation into the ground, actually achieving an absolute technological advantage by 3088 that should have destroyed the Confederation. The Capellans fought on though, bleeding the Alliance white until they found themselves draining forces from the Colonial Marshals to maintain their main military formations on the Capellan border.

By 3093, the Trinity Alliance, Andurien, and the Confederation were beyond exhaustion, none able or willing to end the war, but all realizing that they simply could not continue any longer. The reduced Colonial Marshals were finding themselves stretched thin fighting reinvigorated pirates, and the main military formations could barely hold their adversaries back. All sides were being ground down until they could no longer fight.

Then the Raven Alliance sent a squadron of WarShips to support the Trinity Alliance and helped them shatter the Capellan Second Fleet over Mendham. They then reminded the Taurians quietly of the “promoting peace” section of the Treaty of Taurus and said that the war had to end immediately or pirates or the collapse of numerous governments could seriously destabilize the region. Naomi’s daughter Kossandra, then only twenty-five years old, added her voice (and reportedly other methods of persuasion) to the Raven’s argument and Protector Erik agreed to send his aunt Janice Calderon to negotiate a peace treaty with Treyhang Liao. On 3 December, 3093, the Trinity War ended and all three sides returned to what would be many years of rebuilding.

After the better part of a decade spent rebuilding, the Magistracy has done well to return her economy to a more bustling nature. Canopian pleasure circuses can be found throughout the Human Sphere, often flying with Clan Sea Fox convoys, and the Magestrix has used these to initiate favorable relations with numerous realms. The only nation in the Trinity Alliance to accept membership in the Star League, the Magistracy uses their many allies on the council to keep it from repeating the many mistakes of the first Star League.

Once again, the fortunes of both the Magistracy and the Trinity Alliance appear to be pointed nowhere but up. Thanks to the friendly relationship between Erik and Kossandra, cooperation between the Magistracy and Concordat is at an all-time high, and the Fronc Federation has continued to be a happy member of the alliance as well, contributing as it can to the good of all. In addition, the Trinity Alliance of 3100 is easily the largest alliance in existence, outside the Star League, but its size does not necessarily reflect its power. Most of its military forces are spread far out throughout the realms, keeping it from concentrating it forces enough to threaten other nations. But because of the Magistracy, the riches that poor into the Alliance have allowed them to build highly advanced machines of both war and medicine that make them highly competitive throughout the Human Sphere.

Military

Colonial Marshals

Funded and manned by the Concordat, Magistracy, and Federation, the Colonial Marshals are the symbol of the alliance that brings the three nations together to in the eyes of the citizens they protect. Primarily deployed on the outer edges of the Trinity Alliance where they face pirates on various colony worlds, the arrival or presence of Marshals, no matter which nation they are from, is a joyous occasion often resulting in impromptu celebrations. Composed of machines built on Detroit, all Colonial Marshal BattleMechs, ProtoMechs, and BattleArmor suits have hands that allow them to help in construction or other heavy lifting and their ships make a practice of carrying luxury items tailored for whatever colony they are jumping to, making them far more than a simple defense force.

Nearly all towns on colonial worlds have a squad or a maniple of Colonial Constables, while Deputies and Sheriffs are normally deployed on a world or system-wide basis. Colonial Rangers and Marshals are the final arbiters of justice in the colonies and move from system to system like the ancient roving paladins. When moving in force, the Destrier frigates and Mustang DropShips can transport two full Colonial Companies and a Colonial Division of AeroSpace fighters into battle. Concentrations of this magnitude or greater are reserved for worlds that are the constant targets of pirate raids or when hunting down said pirates.

Magistracy Armed Forces

The Magistracy Armed Forces are designed mostly around the idea of maneuvering to defeat an enemy. Considered light but swift, they make up for their lack of individual firepower by training to act as cohesive units. The navy is based around the Magestrix destroyer, missile-armed Leopards, fighter-carrying Unions, and the small Sabre AeroSpace Fighter. The massive Thunderbird OmniFighters are used to pin and destroy enemy ships while the Sabres harass the enemy flanks.

The ground forces are composed mostly of medium BattleMechs, primarily the swift Shadow Hawk OmniMech, supported by the equally swift Rommel OmniTank. Lighter designs are primarily used for scouting of harassing, while the heavier Marauders are the hammers of the Magistracy military. The rare Marauder IIs in the Magistracy military, purchased from the Taurian Concordat, are only brought into action rarely, but have stopped more than one Marik or Liao raid in their tracks.

Major Military Formations

Magistracy Royal Guards
Raventhir’s Iron Hand: Undying Service
1st Canopian Cuirassiers: Danai’s Finest
2nd Canopian Cuirassiers: Emma’s Flight
3rd Canopian Cuirassiers: Naomi’s Own

Chasseurs Ẩ Chaval
1st Canopian Light Horse: Defiance at all Cost
2nd Canopian Light Horse: Centrella Honor
3rd Canopian Light Horse: Defiant to the End
4th Canopian Light Horse: Defilers of the Word

Canopian Fusiliers
1st Canopian Fusiliers: Defenders of the Realm
2nd Canopian Fusiliers: League Killers
3rd Canopian Fusiliers: Pirate Hunters

Magistracy Cavaliers
1st Magistracy Cavaliers: Thraxa’s Own
2nd Magistracy Cavaliers: Addasar’s Own
3rd Magistracy Cavaliers: Umka’s Own
4th Magistracy Cavaliers: Weistheimer’s Own
5th Magistracy Cavaliers: Abilene’s own

Magistracy Highlanders
1st Magistracy Highlanders: Long’s Light Lancers
2nd Magistracy Highlanders: Nellie’s Naughties

Raventhir Cuirassiers
1st Raventhir Cuirassiers: Stalwart Allies
2nd Raventhir Cuirassiers: Warrior-Diplomats
3rd Raventhir Cuirassiers: Federation’s Rock
4th Raventhir Cuirassiers: Motown Madness

Factories

Canopus IV – Majesty Metals and Manufacturing – Locust, Marauder, Stinger, and Wasp BattleMechs; LRM and SRM Carriers, Maultier APC

Detroit (Trinity Alliance) – Alliance Consolidated – Marshal and Ranger BattleMechs; Deputy and Sheriff ProtoMechs; Constable BattleArmor; Charger and Sabre ASFs; Mustang DropShip; Destrier frigate

Dunianshire – Majesty Metals and Manufacturing – Shadow Hawk OmniMech; Rommel OmniTank, LRM and SRM Carriers, Manticore and Pike tanks; Leopard and Union DropShips; Thunderbird Omnifighter, Sabre ASF; Kossandra JumpShip; Magestrix destroyer

Umka – Kerr-McGinnis – various armor

Systems

Adhara – Canopian history remembers Gorraine Centralla as one of the most important Magistixes because of her sponsorship of an exploration program that added several worlds to the Magistracy, the world of Adhara being one of them. Her airship crashed on Adhara on 17 June 2680, cutting her reign short, and that date has forever been remembered as Gorraine Remembrance Day.

Canopus IV – Founded in 2530 by a band of ex-Marik soldiers, this worlds resources were strip-mined for centuries until it appeared as if the entire environment would collapse in the mid-31st century. The ascension of Emma Centrella to the position of Magestrix in 3040 proved to be a lifeline for the damaged world though as she ordered environmentally-friendly methods be taken. She spent personal money to the pleasure circuses as well and the world prospered throughout the rest of the century. Canopus has maintained its livable status and her surviving plants and animals have begun to expand in numbers again, though the Canopian storm watchers have become known throughout the Human Sphere for their knowledge and training.

Cate's Hold – Originally founded as a major gambling and entertainment world along the lines of the planet Canopus, it became, by default, a major supply and repair facility for the Magistracy navy during the Reunification War. It lived under Marik rule during the reign of the Star League but rebelled after the League fell and returned to the Magistracy where it has continued to fulfill both of its missions. Now a major trade center that links the Magistracy with the rest of the Trinity Alliance, this world has become rich and hopes to become richer.

Crawford's Delight – One of the outer worlds of the Magistracy, Crawford’s Delight is well-known throughout the Human Sphere for its jeweled “leisure cities” where any form of rest and relaxation can be found.

Early Dawn – Home to Magliss Spirits, the largest producer of wines, brandies, and other alcoholic beverages in the Outer Sphere, though it is technically within the Inner Sphere, this world is dominated by the vineyards that grow its most prized vintages.

Eleusis – A popular vacation spot for boaters, the odd collection of lakes, ponds, lagoons, and rivers spreads out for hundreds of miles in any direction and can be seen from orbit where it looks like a decoration from some copies of the Koran. The minorities of various religious sects, Moslems being the most populous, have reacted badly to the influx of Canopian “morals” and a constant “holy war” has been in action here for the last two decades. While the Magistracy has been reluctant to “go in guns blazing” as many have suggested in those years, the recent bombing of Canopian Delights Limited headquarters on Canopus has resulted in a change in attitudes. It will be interesting to see how this affects the future of the area.

Hardcore – One of the most financially successful of the Magistracy's celebrated entertainment centers, the pleasure planet Hardcore caters to the upper crust of Canopian society as well as the wealthier Inner Sphere clientele. With a permanent staff of over 300,000 professional entertainers, this warm temperate world boasts every conceivable type of pleasure palace along its equatorial and northern latitude rim. With a capacity to serve well over fifty million guests annually, Hardcore's entertainments range from the tame to the terrifying, and from ballet to full-scale blood sports. In particular, Hardcore hosts a series of MechWarrior games affiliated with the Solaris Circuit, turning vast regions of the planet's northern hemisphere over to competing BattleMech teams while the planetary populace enjoys the carnage live and in color on the public monitors. Beyond this Hardcore is famous throughout the Magistracy for its film industry, which produces thousands of Solaris Circuit videos and full-feature erotic epics quarterly for distribution throughout the Human Sphere.

Luxen – Provincial capital of the Magistracy’s Outer Sphere possessions, the Word occupied this world during the Jihad to be used for treating their wounded. They strip-mined its precious metals and gemstones for use as well but left the University of Luxen alone when they were pushed out of the system. Housing the Canopian Medical Sciences Research and Training Complex, it is considered one of the most advanced institutions of medical practice in the Human Sphere. Nobles from thoughout the Human Sphere come to Luxen for treatment, bringing important monies into the Magistracy.

New Abilene – New Abilene is a rough-and-ready border world that has been given over entirely to food production, primarily the raising of cattle and sheep. Since its settlement in 2581 until the formation of the Treaty of Taurus, the Canopians fought with the Taurian Concordat several times over control of the planet. New Abilene is divided into a number of large baronies, millions of hectares of pastureland owned by wealthy landlords. During the Jihad, the Word of Blake effectively took this world out of the war by inflaming tensions between the baronies and several rich families were all but wiped out and their holdings razed to the ground. A number of newer families have risen to replace the old ones but these “new money” families are universally looked down upon by the “old money” baronies. Tensions have been high between the families since 3097 when the son of a prominent baron found himself accused of raping a “new money” daughter. Though acquitted of the crime, the “new money” families derided the jury as “purchased lock, stock, and cattle” by the baron and have vowed to bring justice. The Magestrix has deployed a number of Colonial Marshals to keep the peace, but some see it as a losing battle.

Ruschegg – With terrain consisting of low rolling hills leading to a rocky desert, this arid world was the target of raiders throughout the 3050s and 3060s. The local baron, Archibald Keeling, built up a sizable defensive force to protect the world and when the Jihad erupted he quietly declared neutrality in the war and defending the world as he saw fit. When the Magistracy came calling later, he recognized the extra funding they could bring his world and happily accepted the offer of (re)joining the Magistracy after “centuries of Marik occupation” and the world has seen a marked economic improvement since.

Thraxa – A border world lying near the edge of the Marian Hegemony, for over a century, this semi-arctic world has developed a variety of local commercial concerns, including a lucrative fur trade, forestry, coal mining, and a modest textile and wool industry to provide necessities for its own population as well as for export offworld. The inhabitants of this "maverick" world are among the more individual-minded and stubborn of all the Magistracy's peoples and declared neutrality during the Jihad. After the Word fell they returned to the Magistracy, recognizing the better position it would leave them in against pirates, but maintain a semi-independence to this day.

Thurrock – Though the passage of time and change of borders has not been kind to the trading centers of Thurrock, the old timers and more knowledgeable traders continue to make port in Thurrock when moving to or from Andurien space. The locals are surprisingly up to date in their knowledge of Magistracy and League politics and are known to give the traders pointers on where to make the best profits. The tradition that traders who return successfully to this port give a cut to anyone whose advice directly contributed to their success has made many a pocket millionaire and increased the locals' willingness to talk to outsiders.

Trznadel Cluster (60) – A cluster of sixty closely-packed star systems, the Trznadel Cluster is used by the Canopian Navy for high-intensity training jump and combat training. Often supported by Taurian advisers, this training has helped to make the new navy a powerful force in its area of space.

Umka – A major trading center, this world’s small island chains are dotted with small spaceports used by legitimate traffic and smugglers alike.

Vakarel – The asteroid shoals of Vakarel house a major Canopian Navy base that protects this region of space from League raiders.

Vixen – This cool and temperate world is run by a consortium of small corporations dedicated to making it a major entertainment center on the border of the Inner and Outer Spheres. One of its main draws is the variety of winter sports that make it their home including skiing, extreme snowboarding, bobsledding, and hunting. The planetary hockey leagues, both male and female, also draw in many fans and generate impressive revenues through holonet broadcast licensing throughout the Magistracy and to targeted markets in the rest of the Human Sphere.

Wildwood – Protected by an impressive orbital defense network dating back to Star League times, this world’s agricultural concerns ship food and wines throughout the Magistracy. Outside the plantations, this world is maintained in its wilderness state and generates further revenue by sending bird-watching expeditions out on a regular basis.

_________________
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[img]http://faileas.greywolf.googlepages.com/WOTD.png[/img]
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 2:28 am 
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Sergeant
Sergeant

Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2003 5:37 am
Posts: 56
Location: Pennsylvania
I like it, but I do have a few questions.

First off the planet Umka, was that annexed from the FWL or did the planet go independent and then join the MoC.

Their technology level is still around the 3050 lvl or are they slowly getting ER ML's, ER LRMS etc. etc.?

Where are the shipyards for the destroyers they produce?



Other then that I'd love to see the Taurian Concordant and Fronc Federation (in that order *wink*). And I'm still requesting the massive map that people can look at with all the planet names upon it along side the nations along with those nations represented on the map as well.

Looking good Medron, hope to see the rest. Keep it up.

-Banlish

_________________
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.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:39 pm 
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Loki
Loki

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2001 8:00 pm
Posts: 11444
Location: Minnesnowta
Quote:
I like it, but I do have a few questions.

First off the planet Umka, was that annexed from the FWL or did the planet go independent and then join the MoC.
Yes. Membership in the FWL is nebulous at best. If you aren't a member of a major powerbloc, you have to depend on yourself for protection because the FWL military is rarely able to mobilize major defensive operations. The major mobilization they have ongoing for now is against the Capellan Confederation and it took some time, and both Oriente and Andurien voting as a bloc for it, before they were able to do anything. In the case of Umka and the other Magistracy systems that were taken during the Star League invasion, they had the choice of being in a crumbling League during the Jihad or a part or the Magistracy that was also showing itself off as being rather rich. They chose, some thanks to gunboat diplomacy, to join the Magistracy.
Quote:
Their technology level is still around the 3050 lvl or are they slowly getting ER ML's, ER LRMS etc. etc.?
The Magistracy sports the most advanced designs of the Trinity Alliance. They are the richest nation by far and can afford it. As noted in the Magestrix design, they are well past the 3050 level, and they do have access to every major technology in use in 3067, as well as some rather interesting technologies that aren't. The Taurians, outside of their special forces, on the other hand tend to use more basic technologies. They have the largest military and tend to keep things minimalistic.
Quote:
Where are the shipyards for the destroyers they produce?
Dunianshire – Majesty Metals and Manufacturing – Shadow Hawk OmniMech; Rommel OmniTank, LRM and SRM Carriers, Manticore and Pike tanks; Leopard and Union DropShips; Thunderbird Omnifighter, Sabre ASF; Kossandra JumpShip; Magestrix destroyer
Quote:
Other then that I'd love to see the Taurian Concordant and Fronc Federation (in that order *wink*). And I'm still requesting the massive map that people can look at with all the planet names upon it along side the nations along with those nations represented on the map as well.

Looking good Medron, hope to see the rest. Keep it up.

-Banlish
The map may come, but there are numerous systems that have been colonized, especially by the Trinity Alliance, that are not on the maps and that I have to name. Not that there is any way that I will add EVERY little colony world or anything. There are MANY worlds that have been colonized by numerous realms that will NOT be on the maps whenever I make them.

As for the Taurians...I'm working on them now.

:D

Hope to have them done soon.

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible :blah:
[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
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Who is John Galt?


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 2:32 pm 
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Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:42 am
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Location: ohio
did you or are you going to have anything on the rim collection?

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PostPosted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 8:29 pm 
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Loki
Loki

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2001 8:00 pm
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Location: Minnesnowta
The Rim Collection is the last post on page 5.

:-)

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[url=http://www.pryderockindustries.com]P.R.I.[/url] - The home of BattleTech programs and files
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 4:54 pm 
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Sergeant
Sergeant

Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2003 5:37 am
Posts: 56
Location: Pennsylvania
we sooooooooooooooo need to see the new TC :wink:

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-George S. Patton, Jr., War As I Knew It


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 6:21 pm 
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Colonel
Colonel

Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2002 8:00 pm
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Actually, there is a part of me that can wait until it is the last faction left. Not that there are many left anyway... :D


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 10:38 pm 
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Loki
Loki

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I'm mostly done now with it. Have the construction stuff finished. Have the planetary bios finished.

Now I just have to take all those stats and historical notes and make them into a nice and fun to read bit of fluff history.

I should have it down sometime this coming week.

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible :blah:
[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
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Who is John Galt?


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 1:12 pm 
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Lieutenant, JG
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Joined: Sat Mar 16, 2002 8:00 pm
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Location: I can't. Sorry...
I have a question Medron. Are you going to post the designs that you mentioned in your Human Sphere writeups on your Human Sphere website?

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PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 1:37 am 
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Loki
Loki

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2001 8:00 pm
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Location: Minnesnowta
Yes. That will take a while but I do definately plan on putting them up on the website as well.

Along with the hm files so people can play with them.

That is obviously a long-term plan...;-)

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible :blah:
[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?


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PostPosted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 5:28 am 
Offline
Loki
Loki

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2001 8:00 pm
Posts: 11444
Location: Minnesnowta
Wow...I think this is one of the longest yet...possibly THE longest. Well, the rest won't be nearly as long.

Fronc Federation, Raven Alliance, a general idea of the other smaller worlds, and then a general update on the New Periphery and I'm done. Well...I still have all the BattleMechs and ships to do....

*sighs*

hehehe

Anyway, here it is... :-)

Taurian Concordat

History

The Taurian Concordat’s history has been long and rocky, from the days of its formation to the heady days of power and influence before the coming of the Star League. That organization’s invasion and subjugation of the Old Periphery left the Taurian Concordat unable to publicly educate its children outside of Star League-sponsored reeducation camps, and forced it to move military construction underground.

The collapse of the Star League did even more to bring the Concordat low than the centuries of “benevolent rulership” had. As spare parts for critically needed machines that had only ever been built in the League were used up, civilization in the Old Periphery all but disappeared. Only a handful of places held onto that civilization by bootstrapping themselves back into space or by holding on to what little they had been able to keep. The Hyades Cluster, with Taurus at its heart, was one of those areas.

As the Succession Wars ravaged the Successor States, the Concordat fought to maintain control of the remains of its once great realm, rebuilt its educational system to pre-Star League levels, and slowly rediscovered itself. The thirty-first century would be the time in which centuries of work by Taurians would finally be realized. Explorers found new colonies and old Star League bases, and their educational system began to output scientists capable of understanding higher technologies.

By the 3050s in fact they had begun to take their technological base past anything they had ever enjoyed, even before the Star League imposed a technology dark age on them. A trade alliance with the St. Ives Compact and a full alliance with the Magistracy of Canopus cemented this rebirth of the Concordat. The Magistracy had an economy that the Taurians could only dream of, and the Compact had the highest technologies the Inner Sphere had developed. Technologies they were willing to help the Taurians understand and build in exchange for military aid.

But if the 3050s promised to shine on a new and brighter history for the Concordat, the 3060s and 3070s proved how far into the darkness it could fall. First St. Ives found itself under attack by the Capellan Confederation and the Taurians sent aid to protect their friends. Casualties were heavy and when St. Ives fell and the Compact surrendered, the remnants of the Taurian regiments returned home to rebuild with numerous St. Ives loyalists who refused to live under Capellan rule. They brought with them more examples of new technologies though and the Concordat began working to replicate them.

The 3060s also saw the “loss” of the New Colony Region, but the rise of the Fronc Federation under the leadership of President Maltin would prove to be good in the end for the new Trinity Alliance. They also saw the utter defeat of the pirates of the Haven Star Cluster. On perhaps the brightest note of the decade though, Janice Calderon, beloved by everyone in the Concordat for decades, was cured by the NAIS of the debilitating Brisbane Virus in 3067. Everybody thought that the fortunes of the Concordat could go nowhere but up after that, and the euphoria of her return to Taurus from the NAIS lasted for two months. It would have lasted longer, but fate intervened to remind the Taurians the depths of evil that lay on Terra, the homeworld of mankind that they had fled centuries before.

Naomi Centrella, Jeffrey Calderon, and the recovered Janice Calderon had been working for nearly a month on plans to further strengthen the alliance when the Word of Blake struck. Nobody knows how the asteroids passed through the Taurian sensor network or evaded detection by the elite Special Asteroid Support Forces to this day, but many theorize that the Erinyes system utilized a form of stealth technology to hide the asteroids until they were at terminal velocity above Taurus. The Taurians, now realizing that the asteroids can be a weapon as well as a defensive measure, have since greatly increased their tracking and detection systems to stop another similar assault. But on 15 December, 3067 none of those enhanced systems existed and a rain of DropShip-sized asteroids shot down towards Samantha City with little warning.

The close naval defenses did what they could, and more than half of the asteroids exploded into smaller pieces that burned up in the atmosphere, courtesy of defense stations, assault DropShips like the new Super Leopards, and swarms of fighters hastily launched. Ramming attacks designed to deflect or destroy the asteroids forced more off Samantha City as the Concordat Constables tried desperately to evacuate over a million civilians in a matter of minutes.

Over two hundred thousand Taurians died under the rain of the surviving asteroids, and the capital of the Concordat simply ceased to exist as the asteroids hit the planet with enough force to bring molten lava bubbling up to the surface. Another half million Taurians, trapped in the remains of shattered buildings or in bomb shelters, burned alive when the lava found them. But over three hundred thousand Taurians survived, mostly on the outskirts of the city where the devastation was less catastrophic.

Unfortunately, those survivors had to deal with a nuclear winter that would last for over a year and sent the average temperatures of the colonized regions of Taurus well below freezing. The polar regions reached temperatures that no living being could survive and only recently has life begun to return to them. Taurus bares the scars of the Word of Blake assault to this day, a reminder to the Taurians that Terra can never ever be trusted to do anything but kill them.

Naomi Centrella and Jeffrey Calderon, in conference when the attack began, evacuated the city as quickly as possible, but Jeffrey’s escape craft never cleared the city. The Concordat Constables found the craft later, partially burned by a small lava flow, and Janice Calderon was forced to take over the role of Protector of the Concordat. Naomi Centrella survived and returned home to Canopus as Janice tried to rally her people. Initial evidence pointed to the Davions, and the Pleiades regiments first requested, then demanded the ability to punish the Federated Suns.

When Janice refused their requests and demands they tried to take over the ships necessary to launch their punitive raids, but she had already been successful at locking down the JumpShips and calling them away from those regiments. Governor Shraplen of MacLeod’s Land publicly questioned her actions and support began to grow, especially amongst those who waited for The Return to the stolen worlds, for her removal. The Magestrix sent her best investigators to help the Taurians and in a matter of months they found the evidence they needed to prove the Word of Blake and not the Davions performed the assault, dismantling much of Shraplen’s support. But the Pleiades regiments have never forgiven the Calderon family for her “betrayal” and continue to be listed as questionable in loyalty to the Concordat while being fanatically loyal to the Shraplen family. Unofficially, they are considered just this side of being traitors to the Concordat at large, but of course the Concordat military is politic enough not to say so officially.

St. Ives sent aid to their former allies and Janice eagerly accepted it, happy to have another friend in the suddenly much more dangerous galaxy. The St. Ives and Magistracy aid did much to help the Taurians begin to build New Samantha City, at first little more than tents and then simple bunkers to protect the survivors from the deepening winter. And as aid flowed to help the civilians, the military siphoned off even more desperately needed funds to build more machines of war to protect them. Across the Concordat citizens built makeshift fortifications and small defense satellites began to appear over the most important worlds as many Taurians continued to protest that Janice wasn’t punishing the Davions for their murderous assault. Only decades of adoration kept them from taking her down by force, but few believe her rule could have lasted through the end of the decade if the Word of Blake had not shown its hand.

When they struck Detroit on 10 June, 3069 and destroyed a full regiment of Magistracy BattleMechs and over a decade of new factories, that brought the majority of Taurians around to the truth and they hunkered down as always in war. Throughout the rest of 3069 and 3070, the Word of Blake began to burn the Taurian Concordat to the ground, smashing planet after planet into the stone age in an attempt to the destroy the most powerful of the Old Periphery realms. But the Taurians fought back with everything they had, even when hideously outnumbered. Civilian DropShips rammed the Word fleets rather than surrender, forcing the Word to destroy everything that moved. Orbital bombardments of entire islands and continents were the only way to pacify worlds, and the sheer expense of munitions proved to be their undoing.

On 12 July of 3071, low on munitions and with their latest supply shipments sent to more important conflict zones, the Word fleet assaulted Illiushin with the intention of using its factories to fabricate what they needed. But the Magistracy had placed spies in the fleet and the Taurians knew the Word was coming. Every ship and regiment that could make it had jumped to Illiushin, including the pride of the Taurian fleet, the TCW Vandenberg, and took up position to catch the Word with their proverbial pants down. The Word jumped right into the trap and the Taurians mobbed them with everything they had, from civilian ships packed with explosives, to dedicated ships of war. The three-day battle over and on Illiushin lacked any mercy from either side as they fought to the death in ruined ships and BattleMechs that should have been retired from battle. In the end, the ruins of the Taurian fleet and army had stopped the Word but few called the battle a victory. It would take five years for the TCW Vandenberg to fly again, and the rest of the fleet was effectively non-existent. The army was little better, shattered to a tithe of its original size.

The Taurian Concordat was out of the Jihad with nothing left to send to fight the Word, billions dead, and billions more homeless or in need of aid. By the end of the year communications with the rest of the Trinity Alliance showed them to be in similar circumstances, but St. Ives aid continued to flow into the realms and the Taurians gratefully accepted it. Taurian, St. Ives, and Magistracy resources flowed into rebuilding the shattered Concordat economy, never the strongest of the Old Periphery to begin with, and the military spent most of its time building shelters and homes for the civilians. Every able-bodied citizen served during the years of the Jihad and the rebuilding, either performing civil works or training for the next war they somehow knew the Inner Sphere would drag them into.

They helped rebuild the Colonial Marshals and the factories of Detroit, began building the new Fronc-developed ProtoMechs, built New Samantha City into a proud statement of the Taurian ability to survive, and expanded factories throughout the Concordat, putting massive complexes on Hellespont, Erod’s Escape, in the Haven Star Cluster, and on numerous other worlds to act as central nodes to protect and supply the military and civilian populations in the event of another catastrophic war. If the Concordat were denied the factories of Taurus again, those satellite worlds would be capable of supplying the remnants of the Concordat.

Then on 15 November, 3078, with the Concordat once again on the road to recovery, Janice Calderon stepped down from the Protectorship in favor of her nephew, Erik Calderon. In the next year Magestrix Emma stepped down to Naomi Centrella and a new generation of leaders ruled the most powerful realms of the Trinity Alliance. It was a bright new era that promised peace and continued growth. An era that would soon prove to be further away than many hoped.

In 3079, Prince George Hasek of New Syrtis assaulted the St. Ives Compact and the Taurians sent their forces to aid the allies that had saved so many of their people. After three years of fighting the Federation for little gain though, the Taurians finally requested military aid from the rest of the Trinity Alliance. The fresh Fronc and Magistracy forces spilled across the border, shattering tired Federation regiments, and the front collapsed, allowing the Trinity Alliance to capture vast tracks of systems that had been Taurian before the Star League assaulted the Old Periphery. In March of 3083 the smashed shipyards of Panpour and the systems around it, undefended by any major nation, fell to the Taurian’s V Corps and the Concordat began pouring money into the system to rebuild the yards as the bulk of their military moved back to hit the Federation.

Then in August III Corps engaged the Capellans over and Mendham in the first act of the Trinity War. III Corps was pushed back but Protector Erik Calderon wanted the factories of Mendham and poured I and II Corps into the fray for Mendham and the surrounding systems as IV Corps Finally jumped into the Pleiades Cluster. III Corps soon fractured, with the Pleiades Hussars following the Lancers into the Cluster, and the Protector was forced to send the Taurian Velites to support the drive against Mendham. The Capellans fought back, driving them from the system again and again while sending forces to claim the nearby systems. The Taurians struck back, and the systems around Mendham became one of the hottest war zones since the First and Second Succession Wars.

Protector Erik sent every spare spaceship, ’Mech, vehicle, or infantryman into the meat grinder around Mendham, and the Magistracy and Fronc Federation supported him fully. The Pleiades regiments on the other hand were nearly ignored by Taurus, and were forced to find their supplies in other ways. Grover Shraplen was one of those ways, and he redirected numerous weapons and men to the Cluster and surrounding systems where the Syrtis Federation was collapsing even against what remained of the Taurian assault.

By late 3084, the Federation front had completely collapsed, except for their dug-in resistance in the Pleiades Cluster where the remains of five regiments fought to stop the Taurians from reaching New Syrtis. The Federation considered the Cluster to be the final defensive line around their capital and refused to give it up easily, but the Pleiades regiments continued to grind them down, sapping strength away from the Capellan front to do so. In 3085, the Cluster’s governments bowed to popular outcry and officially seceded from the Federation, joining the Taurian Concordat. With that official support the Pleiades regiments finally drove the Federation troops from the Cluster and then stopped, unable to move any further.

A one-year investigation had finally found and neutralized Shraplen’s conduit into the Concordat’s supply chain, and orders to arrest Shraplen for betraying the Concordat were issued. He and his family fled to the Pleiades Cluster with all the wealth they could carry and the Pleiades regiments have protected them ever since, refusing to ship Grover to Taurus. The Shraplen family has held the governorship of Merope numerous times in fact, playing on the fact that Grover helped liberate them from Federation hands.

With the resources pulled away from the Pleiades regiments and back where the Protector thought they belonged though, the Trinity Alliance military finally pushed the Capellans out of Mendham and began to send deep raids further into the Confederation, especially after Andurien entered the war. But with the St. Ives War finally over, the Capellans struck them hard and the front once again began to move back and forth across the stars. Years went by and the Trinity Alliance pushed everything it could into defeating the Capellans once and for all, and by 3088 actually achieved complete technological superiority over them as the Capellan economy and scientific establishment simply collapsed. New WarShips from Panpour joined ships built in the Hyades and Haven Clusters, but the Capellans fought back with a bloody-mindedness that gave even the Taurians pause.

The Trinity Alliance and the Confederation continued to trade Mendham and the surrounding systems back and forth, neither able to hold the region for more than a few months, and the years passed as other nations looked on while they rebuilt. The Concordat pushed itself to the brink, rationing everything that didn’t directly affect the war effort, and its economy fell to levels that even the old Thomas Calderon would have blanched over. By 3093, the Concordat was beyond exhaustion, but Erik refused to surrender Mendham to the Confederation. The reduced Colonial Marshals were finding themselves stretched thin fighting reinvigorated pirates, and the Corps Marshals were sending reports showing their inability to hold or take the lines. But reports showed that everybody else involved in the Trinity War was in the same boat and Erik knew if he could just break the Capellans one more time he could hold Mendham. He thought that the last time they’d broken Capellan defenses, and the time before that as well, but he knew sooner or later they simply wouldn’t be able to come back swinging. The Corps just had to hold out long enough.

Then the Raven Alliance sent a squadron of WarShips to support the Trinity Alliance and he had the victory he needed. The Capellan Second Fleet effectively ceased to exist over Mendham as the Trinity Alliance and the Ravens hit the defenders in a single strike that shattered all resistance. Then the Ravens reminded Erik quietly of the “promoting peace” section of the Treaty of Taurus and said that the war had to end immediately or the region could be seriously destabilized. Nobody could afford to continue fighting and it had to come to a stop. Erik on the other hand thought that if the Ravens helped them they could destroy the Confederation once and for all and tried to talk them into doing so. The Ravens wanted nothing of that though and Naomi’s twenty-five year old daughter Kossandra was instrumental in persuading Erik to give up that dream. He accepted the Raven’s terms and agreed to send his aunt Janice Calderon to negotiate a peace treaty with Treyhang Liao. On 3 December, 3093, the Trinity War ended and all three sides returned to what would be many years of rebuilding.

The last decade has seen the Taurian economy, ravaged by the long bloody wars, slowly recover as both St. Ives and the Magistracy have once again pushed massive amounts of aid into its worlds. The Concordat has returned that aid by given them access to one of the largest military industriplexs in the Human Sphere. Their economy continues to lag behind their allies, but the Taurians have built enough factories to support an army and fleet more than three times their size, an impressive redundancy level. Much of their current production is sold to mercenaries and to friendly governments, but the modern factories of the Concordat average little more than sixty-five percent of their theoretical maximum production. The Concordat can’t afford to increase production, but they have taken the long road view of making every sector capable of surviving on their own even if every other sector is destroyed. Every sector can build and maintain its own army and navy, and has its own command and control for military and civilian matters, even if they answer to Taurus in the end.

The Taurians have also expanded further into the Outer Sphere, claiming many more colonies further away from the Inner Sphere. The official Taurian policy is that the future of the Taurian people is out there, away from Terra and the evil that comes from it, and membership in the Far Lookers has skyrocketed. Colonists looking for a better life continue to land on any moderately-habitable world explorers find, keeping the Colonial Marshals and the New Colony Lancers busy protecting against pirates.

The Concordat of today is constantly expanding, swallowing up tracks of space as quickly as possible, but this has helped to cause further friction. The Pleiades and Panpour sectors do not appreciate the large amount of money sent to the “backwards sectors” rather than to help improve “real civilization” while the Hellespont and Erod sectors call themselves the future of the Concordat and can’t abide the snooty “Inner Concordat.” Taurus has been forced into a delicate balancing act where it supports new colonization but keeps money flowing into the decidedly independent-minded reclaimed sectors in what many see as a losing battle to keep everybody happy. Many wonder if Taurus will be able to maintain its control of the entire Concordat, and point to the vast divisions in the political, military, and cultural structures between Pleiades, Panpour, and the “Outer Concordat” as a taste of things to come. Many believe that it is not a matter of “if” but “when” the Concordat will fracture.

Only time will tell, but for now none can dispute that the Taurian Concordat is the heart of military power in the Trinity Alliance, or that no matter what happens there will be a Concordat in some form for some time to come.

Military

The Taurian military is a diverse force, with each sector commanding its own defense. Mercenaries are still considered a very important part of the military, with most of the Corps supported by at least one such regiment, and the Pleiades Sector sees the largest numbers of those units. Unsurprisingly, the Pleiades and Panpour militaries are maintained almost exclusively by their own resources and while being technically under the command of Taurus they are the least reliable and most willing to follow other orders over those of Taurus. The Hellespont and Erod sectors are much more loyal to Taurus, but are still rather independent thinking.

Most frontline regiments are known for the Commando, Shadow Hawk, and Warhammer OmniMechs, as well as the Omnitanks that support them, though a number still use more standard BattleMechs and tanks. The Panpour military uses the locally-produced war machines nearly-exclusively though, making their military look much more like that of the nearby Filtvelt Coalition, and in fact they have cooperated in a number of areas in the past.

The Taurians navies are similarly regimented, with the Wagon Wheel frigates being the most common ship in space. Often supported by Destriers commanded by Winchester cruisers, the Wagon Wheels are the primary combat arm of most Taurian fleets. The Pleiades and Panpour fleets however make heavy use of the Magnum and Remington frigates, with Panpour especially limiting its use of the core Taurian designs as much as possible.

Mobile Reserve and Raiding Force

Hyades Light Infantry: Taurian Nomads
Hyades Heavy Mechanized: Taurian Wanderers

Hyades Sector

Taurian Guard
Hell’s Heart Regiment
Concordat Commandos: By the Horns
Taurian Velites: Limp Sword Terrors

I Corps
Concordat Jaegers: Strength Through Pain
Red Chasseurs: Bright Flame Regiment

II Corps
Protector’s Pride: Defenders of the Realm

Haven Sector

III Corps

The Concordat Cuirassiers: Pirates’ Bane
The Haven Cuirassiers: Pirates’ Wrath

IV Corps
First Taurian Lancers: Battlefield Brethren
Second Taurian Lancers: Starbright Regiment

Pleiades Sector

Pleiades Hussars
First Pleiades Hussars: Brinksmanship Refined
Second Pleiades Hussars: Terror of Syrtis
Third Pleiades Hussars: Federation’s Bane

Pleiades Lancers
First Pleiades Lancers: On the Warpath
Second Pleiades Lancers: Merope’s Guardians

Panpour Sector

Panpour Lancers
First Panpour Lancers: Panpour’s Pride
Second Panpour Lancers: Fontana’s Edge

Macintosh Rangers
First Macintosh Rangers: Apple Power
Second Macintosh Rangers: Weippe’s Rangers

Erod Sector

V Corps
Third Taurian Lancers: The Edgewatchers
First Gaul Legion: Pirate Hunters

VI Corps
First New Colony Lancers: Taurian Pride
Second Gaul Legion: Gemini’s Watch

Hellespont Sector

VII Corps
Second New Colony Lancers: The Border Guards
The Hellespont Commandos: Death by Degrees

VIII Corps
Fourth Taurian Lancers: The Dirt Soldiers
The Carthage Sacred Legion: The Guilded Warriors

Factories

Trinity Alliance

Detroit – Alliance Consolidated – Marshal and Ranger BattleMechs; Deputy and Sheriff ProtoMechs; Constable BattleArmor; Charger and Sabre ASFs; Mustang DropShip; Destrier frigate

Hyades Sector

Brinton – O/P Computer Electronics – Electronics systems

Girondas – Taurus Territorial Industries – Locust and Wasp BattleMechs

Hyades Cluster – Taurus Territorial Industries – Shadow Hawk OmniMech; Marauder II and Ranger BattleMechs; Deputy, Matador, and Sheriff ProtoMechs; Constable, Picador, and Space Cowboy BattleArmors; Charger Omnifighter; Mustang DropShip; Samantha JumpShip; Destrier frigate; Winchester cruiser

Illiushin – Vandenberg Mechanized Industries – Commando OmniMech; Griffin, and Stinger BattleMechs; Colt, Mustang, and Union DropShips; Wagon Wheel frigate

Laconis – Taurus Majoris Mining – Various armors

MacLeod's Land – Pinard Protectorates Limited – Locust and Stinger BattleMechs

New Vandenberg – Vandenberg Mechanized Industries – Archer, Marauder, and Stinger BattleMechs; Hunter tank; Chippewa ASF

Pinard – Pinard Protectorates Limited – Marauder BattleMech; Plainsman hovertank
– Pinard-Dicolais Electronics - electronics
– Vandenberg Mechanized Industries – Warhammer OmniMech; Thunderbolt BattleMech; Vedette tank

Sterope – Sterope Defense Industries – Lasers, Autocannons, Missiles, and Flamers
– Taurus Territorial Industries – Maultier Omnitank; APCs and Hunter tanks; Seydlitz ASF; Colt, Mustang, and Union DropShips

Taurus – Taurus Territorial Industries – Warhammer OmniMech; Locust, Marshal, Marauder, Musketeer, Thunderbolt, and Wasp BattleMechs; Lightning and Thunderbird Omnifighters; Super Leopard DropShip;
– Magna – ICE and fusion engines; Lasers and Particle Cannons

Haven Sector

Haven Star Cluster – Haven Stormworks – Commando OmniMech; Gunslinger BattleMech; Matador ProtoMech; Constable, Picador, and Space Cowboy BattleArmors; Lightning Omnifighter

Organo – Pinard Protectorates Limited – Sabre ASF; Mustang DropShip; Samantha JumpShip; Destrier and Wagon Wheel frigates

Perdition – Pinard Protectorates Limited –Shadow Hawk and Warhammer OmniMechs; Wasp BattleMech; Fulcrum, Maultier, and Rommel Omnitanks; SRM and LRM Carriers, J. Edgar and Vedette tanks; Thunderbird Omnifighter

Pleiades Sector

Horsham – Pleiades Defense Limited/Challenge Systems – Magnum and Remington frigates

Mendham – Pinard-Dicolais Electronics - Electronics

Pleiades Cluster – Pleiades Defense Limited – Commando, Shadow Hawk, and Warhammer OmniMechs; Matador ProtoMech; Constable, Picador, and Space Cowboy BattleArmors; Fulcrum, Maultier, and Rommel Omnitanks; Thunderbird Omnifighter; Mustang DropShip; Samantha JumpShip; Destrier and Wagon Wheel frigates

Panpour Sector

Basantapur – Basantapur Fine Metals – Centurion OmniMech chassis

Macintosh – Apple Computers Interstellar – Electronics

Panpour – StarCorp/Jalastar Industries – Centurion, Sunder, and Thanatos OmniMechs; Fulcrum and Manteuffel Omnitanks; Manticore and Typhoon tanks
– Jalastar Aerospace – Thunderbird Omnifighter; Sabre ASF
– Challenge Systems – Mustang DropShip; Monolith and Samantha JumpShips; Magnum and Remington frigates

Erod Sector

Erod's Escape – Kithrong Industries – Commando, Shadow Hawk, and Warhammer OmniMechs; Matador ProtoMech; Constable, Picador, and Space Cowboy BattleArmors; Fulcrum, Maultier, and Rommel Omnitanks; Thunderbird Omnifighter; Mustang DropShip; Samantha JumpShip; Destrier and Wagon Wheel frigates

Hellespont Sector

Hellespont – Poseidon Metalwerks – Commando, Shadow Hawk, and Warhammer OmniMechs; Matador ProtoMech; Constable, Picador, and Space Cowboy BattleArmors; Fulcrum, Maultier, and Rommel Omnitanks; Thunderbird Omnifighter; Mustang DropShip; Samantha JumpShip; Destrier and Wagon Wheel frigates

Systems

Hyades Sector

Brinton – A cool, temperate world located on the border of the Taurian Concordat with the Confederation, it is a major producer of a number of advanced electronics. It has been the target of raids for centuries and the Concordat has maintained a strict “no visitors wanted” policy over the system for generations to combat them. Several WarShips patrol the system at all times and all arriving ships are given a full search immediately. Only those ships with legitimate business are allowed into the system and all others are “encouraged” to leave immediately.

Brisbane – Home of the once-feared Brisbane Virus, this world is prized for its abundance of fresh-water sea life as much as for the water purification plants dotting the southern hemisphere. It exports both food and water to nearby systems via a space elevator constructed in 3095, and has become a major contractor of iceships that bring ice-laden asteroids to the planet, taking the long view that maintaining the planetary water levels is important enough to sink some profits from sales into taking care of. With over 80 percent of its landmass in small island chains, it is home to the oldest Concordat-maintained naval force.

Bromhead – A nondescript and arid world with very little to offer except a strategic position, its position along the Capellan border has kept the world garrisoned with a significant offensive and defensive force. It has two continents, one located in the northern and one in the southern hemisphere, covering more than half the planet. Zanzabar, the northernmost continent, has the more temperate of climates and is home to the majority of the world's population. Brom's Home, located on Zanzabar, is the capital of the planet, serving as the center for all commerce on the planet. The southern Salazaar is a vast wasteland of desert divided by a large mountain range. The Salaam-Zurkan range is so high that few have ever attempted to climb it, with many peaks higher than the famed Mt. Everest on Terra. Salazaar has become a major desert and mountain environmental combat training ground for the Taurian Corps.

Camadeierre – Taurus Majoris Mining has major holdings in this system, and devotes substantial resources to defending it with mercenaries at all times.

Coromondir – An oil-rich world with a large refinery complex, this world was raided by the Magistracy in 2896 but has seen little action since then.

Hyades Cluster (Flannagan's Nebulae) – Long considered the final line of Taurian defense, the Hyades Cluster is one of the most heavily defended regions in space. Asteroid fields dot the cluster, making navigation difficult for those unused to their presence, and defense stations and naval fleets protect it at all times. The Taurians have also spread new construction factories and yards throughout the cluster, making it difficult for outside agencies to find them, and use those systems to continue to improve the numbers and quality of their military.

Ishtar – Deep inside the Hyades Cluster, this world is the best-known exporter of foodstuffs in the Concordat. Is also the only world in the Concordat to not have any military presence, a fact which saved it from Word of Blake assault during the Jihad. An Idyllic world of lush natural environments, only basic farming and low-impact mining machinery is allowed on world.

Laconis – A world of lightly forested plains, its capital and site of Taurus Majoris Mining’s primary industrial center is heavily defended by gun batteries for use against both ground and orbital targets, as well as impressive trench works, and minefields. TMM commands a large fleet of JumpShips, DropShips, and mobile refineries that they use for prospecting and for acquisition of mineral resources throughout the Concordat.

MacLeod's Land – Since the fall of Grover Shraplen from power during the Trinity War, the powerful MacLeod clan has regained much of the influence and riches it lost to his family. They are now minority owners in the Pinard factories on planet and have helped to expand the major Taurian university here to accept more students. Most of its students come from the Pleiades Sector now, consisting of people turned away from the Pleiades universities because they are full.

New Ganymede – A barren desert world, New Ganymede lies in the interior of the Taurian Concordat near the edge of the Hyades Cluster. Swept by high winds and frequent dust storms, this bleak and unattractive world is valuable for its enormous deposits of radioactive ores. Its few fresh water sources are in the southern hemisphere while a major Taurian desert-training area is at the northern pole where the storms are less severe.

New Vandenberg – Considered by many to be more important than any of the sector capitals, with the possible exception of Taurus itself, New Vandenberg was the object of a harsh occupation by the Star League. Its locals continue to tell tales of it, expanded upon over the ages of course, and a defensive network of both orbital and surface fortifications that is easily the match of any seen on a sector capital protects the world. The Taurian Naval Institute, the largest and most prestigious naval academy in the Concordat, has long called New Vandenberg home, and possibly the best civilian university in the Concordat crowns the capital. The New Vandenberg University helped spur Taurian technological renaissance in the thirty-first century and has hired skilled instructors from throughout the Human Sphere to help expand and train the minds of the Taurians’ next generation of scientists and technicians.

Pinard – A mineral rich world that feeds the many factories it hosts, this world is also famous for its wines that are taken throughout the Human Sphere by Magistracy and Sea Fox traders. It is also home to a major Taurian university and Pinard-Dicolais Electronics, the largest privately-owned and operated industry in the Taurian Concordat. The return of numerous systems lost to the Inner Sphere during the Star League invasion of the Periphery has allowed this company to reintegrate a large number of stolen complexes back into their operating system, though most of those were destroyed in the Succession Wars or allowed to be run down until they were little more than worthless. The factories on Mendham were the most visible and powerful return, and have helped PDE to expand into a new era of high-tech and quality systems.

Rollis – During the Succession Wars, the Jihad, and the Trinity War, the ruling family of Rollis has been nearly wiped out numerous times. That they survive at all is a testament to their stubbornness, fully seen in the current head of the family, Maxwell Rollis. Named for his uncle who was killed in a Taurian raid in the early 3040s, he is no friend to Taurus but accepted the Taurian occupation force during the Trinity War at gunpoint. Since then, the increased rights given to the world under Taurian laws as compared to the severely limited rights under Capellan rule have helped him to accept Taurian rule, but a sizable Taurian defense force is kept on Rollis at all times, officially to defend it against Capellan raids. Unofficially, many believe it is to keep Prefect Rollis in line.

Samantha – Named after Samantha Calderon, the leader of the expedition that colonized Taurus and mother of the entire Concordat, this world is a center of learning in the Taurian Concordat. The Concordat AeroSpace Flight School is the most prestigious military academy of its kind in the Outer Sphere, except those in the Raven Alliance. It hires instructors from the Alliance to this day, as it has for decades, and unlike the Alliance universities it is open to foreign nationals, for a fee of course. It is also home to one of the Concordat’s major universities, also open to foreign enrollment for a fee that helps to bring needed monies into the Concordat.

Sterope – Often called “New Taurus”, this world was once one of the largest centers of military production outside the Hyades Cluster. Now eclipsed by the complexes of Panpour, the Pleiades and Hyades Clusters, Erod’s Escape, and Hellespont, it is still considered an important part of the Taurian infrastructure though it still lacks a permanent Taurian garrison. Sterope’s permanent defenses include orbital and ground fortresses manned by the local Noble Armed Forces, troops hired by what passes for a Taurian nobility to protect the state. These forces have so far held out against attackers, even during the Jihad, long enough for reinforcements to arrive, but many outside analysts believe their luck will run out sooner or later.

Taurus – Named after Victor Taurens, second husband of Samantha Calderon, this world has long been the center of Taurian power. Surrounded by the Hyades Cluster and its asteroid fields, it was long been considered to be invulnerable to outside attack, but the Word of Blake proved those thoughts wrong when it bombarded Samantha City with DropShip-sized asteroids. How they got the asteroids past the Concordat sensors no one has ever found out, but the Word of Blake’s Erinyes system is what made it possible. New Samantha City has been rebuilt within sight of the ruins of Old Samantha City, and the Concordat has spent impressive amounts of money and effort to make it a testament to their stubbornness.

Haven Sector

Dicallus – The primary military hub of the Haven Sector, this world hosts massive supply depots, a constant military presence, and a large enough transport fleet to move the supplies and war machines to any threatened world in the sector easily. Dicallus has lost importance over the years as the front with the Federation has moved far beyond its influence and as the Haven Star Cluster has become the primary naval base that protects the newer colonies, but its centrally-located position in the sector keeps its bases operational. Often times leaders too powerful to demote but too inept to be trusted on the front lines are sent to this world, the Concordat trusting that no one will move so far into their interior to hit that world.

Euschelus – Boasting an education system that many other nations in the Human Sphere have used as a model, the universities are free for any Taurian citizen able to pass the entrance exams, but foreigners have to pay for their schooling. The University of Euschelus is the equaled only be Norman’s World’s university in the Haven Sector and is heavily protected at all times by both a local cadre and substantial Taurian Defense Forces.

Haven Star Cluster (50) – Captured in 3064 by a major Taurian invasion force, the Taurians have taken to using the Haven Star Cluster as a major naval base to sortie from. They have heavily defended all of its approaches, as they do with all the stellar clusters they control, and made it into a virtual fortress capable of defending itself against nearly any attacker. Rumors suggest that they are trying to build naval yards there in addition to the planetary factories, but so far the heavy gravity shear of the close-packed stars has stymied all efforts, making the cluster reliant on outside production of large spacecraft to defend it for now.

Norman's World – Though the military supply center of the Haven Sector was built on Dicallus, the Norman family immediately saw the opportunity that Jeffrey Calderon had given them in creating the original four sectors. By 3066, the Norman family had financed the construction of an elaborate complex of beautiful offices and parks designed for a civilian government, and then donated them to the agency that would later become the official civilian sector government. They made back everything they lost in donating the complex by building various support services around the complex, such as fast food restaurants, recreational facilities, and other support services that a government needed. It is now one of the richest worlds in the Concordat and houses the largest and best university in the Haven Sector.

Perdition – A water-rich world, Perdition’s landmass is separated into numerous small islands, none of them large enough to completely house major factory complexes. Because of this the factories of Perdition are spread out across the islands and Perdition’s wet navy has become their primary defense. Trained to be able to rain fire down on any point of the planet, as well as to transport defending ground elements as needed, the wet navy also owns several ships armed with lasers powerful enough to hit ships in orbit when needed. More than once over the years a raiding DropShip has been brought crashing down into Perdition’s seas after being hit by one of these ships, causing raiders to become sneakier when attempting a raid.

Pleiades Sector

Flintoft – Situated near the Pleiades Cluster, this mining world has proven invaluable by shipping much-needed materials to the new factories in the cluster, helping to bolster the defense units of that sector.

Horsham – Site of a major Taurian naval construction yard prior to the Star League, this was simply one of many former-Taurian worlds that suffered under the Star League and the Succession Wars. Forced to watch as other systems got all the attention and monies, the industries the Star League captured failed over the centuries, but after the Trinity War ended in 3093 Challenge Systems and Pleiades Defense Industries cooperated to rebuild the long-decayed yards and they now produce WarShips for the Concordat again.

Mendham – A major producer of electronics since the Star League stole this world from the Taurian Concordat, its capture was a major goal of the Trinity War. The Protector refused to end the war until his hold on the world was secure in fact, a stance that many other nations in the area eyed with trepidation as the destruction of the Trinity War continued to expand. In 3093 the Raven Alliance finally acted and sent a naval squadron to support the Taurians and their claim to the world, before “suggesting” that the Concordat end the war before it became further out of hand. Since then, the electronics factories have been reintegrated into Pinard-Dicolais Electronics, the largest privately-owned and operated industry in the Taurian Concordat, their original mother company. Though Capellan raids are common, the world has flourished under Taurian rule and the locals are happy to see something close to peace after the long and chaotic wars that followed the Jihad.

Merope – The capital of the Pleiades Cluster and Sector, this is one of the most heavily defended worlds in the Taurian Concordat. Traders from the Federation are required to travel through the cluster under the guns of Taurian naval units to Merope where they are searched for contraband before being allowed to fly deeper into the Concordat. This guarantees Merope’s local businesses constant traffic and a major influx of monies. The University of Merope is the largest university in the Pleiades Sector, but has to turn many applicants away to the older universities in the Hyades Sector because it lacks the room for them. Hermion Shraplen is the current governor of the system and official civilian leader of the entire sector.

Pleiades Cluster (100) – The gateway to Taurian space, it is against the law for foreign ships to enter anywhere other than through the Cluster’s capital of Merope. Heavily defended, the Cluster is home to a large number of factories spread throughout the hundreds of planets and thousands of moons that move through it.

Robsart – A provincial capital of the Taurian Concordat before the Star League invasion, the titanic Battle of Robsart pitted over two hundred WarShips between the Taurian and Star League navies against each other in the largest naval battle of the invasion. Enraged at her losses in the battle, the Star League admiral bombarded the capital from orbit, ending all hopes of peace with the Concordat until the Hyades Cluster itself was threatened. Since recovering Robsart, the Taurians have spent much money rebuilding the shattered capital but have no plans of making it a sector capital at this time. They have rebuilt the stripped University of Robsart though and it accepts applications from any Taurian citizen, though many are transferred on to the University of Merope or the universities of the Hyades Sector because of space issues.

Panpour Sector

As Samik – Basantapur Fine Metals, who specialize in the production of rare alloys, have several large foundries on As Samik.

Basantapur – The city of Jupaipur is home to the head offices of Basantapur Fine Metals, who specialize in the production of rare alloys and have several large foundries on Basantapur and As Samik. This has made the company extremely important to the Taurian Concordat military since Basantapur’s capture, as its metals are needed for the internal framework of 'Mechs. Bad management hampered the company’s ability to live up to its potential until Marshal Brad Wolf used his family fortune, and some incriminating photographs, to take over the company. It has performed well since then, building Centurion OmniMech structures on site for completion at nearby Panpour, though no full ’Mech is completed there at this time.

Keuterville – A world of wide-open grasslands, it is known for its foodstuffs that are seen throughout the Concordat.

Macintosh – This system is home to the headquarters of Apple Computers Interstellar, an ancient company with roots extending clear back to the 20th century. Since its birth, the computer company has gained a reputation for always being slightly ahead of its stodgier rivals. During the days of the Star League, the company grew so fat and contented that it actually bought the planet Drekos in the Federated Suns and renamed it Macintosh after one of their legendary computer models. When the Star League fell, most of the company's factories and secrets were lost in the mayhem of the Succession Wars. Only the small personal computer factory on Macintosh survived. Apple continued to manufacture small computers of near-Star League technology throughout the Succession Wars, and helped to revitalize electronics technologies after the Fourth Succession War. Now a member of the Panpour Sector, its computers are used on most of the machines built in that region and are seen throughout the Concordat in both civilian and military roles. The University of Macintosh is known throughout the Concordat as the best place to go to learn about and research new computer technologies.

Malagrotta – Site of the battle that triggered the Reunification War, between the Star League and Periphery states, Malagrotta was a source of conflict between the Federated Suns/Commonwealth and the Taurian Concordat until the Jihad. The valuable titanium mines of Grex-Dex on the moon of Fontana were the principal target of Taurian raiders until the world defected to them as Federation power waned. Now a valuable Taurian system, it is protected at all times by substantial forces to stop pirates from doing what the Taurians once did.

Panpour – The civilian capital and military headquarters of the Panpour Sector, this world houses the primary industrial complex of the sector and is heavily defended at all times. It also houses a major university that specializes in teaching naval engineers and technicians. Both Jalastar Aerospace and Challenge Systems donate large sums of money to the University of Panpour and usually siphon off the best and brightest graduates for their R&D centers.

Tentativa – Home to a former Davion slave labor camp, liberated by the Taurians, the mines of this world have become fully utilized by the Taurians since they conquered it and remain important to this day.

Weippe – An agricultural world, it is known for the many grains and wheats it grows and ships throughout the Concordat and beyond.

Erod Sector

Belle Isle – Originally settled during the Taurian Concordat's expansion programs of the 3020's and 30's, this is a productive agricultural world that ships foodstuffs to many nearby worlds in the Taurian Concordat. Some of its products are also shipped throughout the Trinity Alliance and even into the Inner Sphere proper, bringing much-needed revenues into the continually cash-strapped Concordat

Erod’s Escape – When Marshal Cham Kithrong moved to Erod’s Escape in 3065 he dedicated his fortune to building a new factory complex that would make the world self-reliant and capable of protecting the other worlds around it. By 3066, the Taurian government had begun to flow money into the project as well and Erod’s Escape became one of two major industrial sites in the outer reaches of the Taurian Concordat. Now war machines from Erod’s Escape patrol the new outer reaches of the Concordat, alongside Colonial Marshals, fighting pirates and other menaces to civilization. Erod’s Escape is also home to a top quality Taurian university devoted to educating the best and brightest of the Erod Sector.

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.

Lastpost – A harsh world only colonized for its raw materials, this was once the last in a line of colonies stretching far away from the core Taurian systems. It is now the last major military base short of Gemini and its ships and warriors patrol much of the outer colonies. The local businesses are primarily organized around providing for whatever the military personnel want when they return from long duties in the hinterlands of space.

Mirfak – A hot, dry world rich in germanium and radioactives, major defenses surround this world and its valuable materials at all times.

Hellespont Sector

Celano – Settled early in the thirty-first century, this warm, temperate world has proven to be a major boon for the Concordat. Originally home to a Star League division, this world on the outskirts of Star League power was used to help watch the Taurians for signs of rebellion. After the Star League fell, most of the remaining Star League troopers left with Kerensky and those that remained soon faded away. When the Taurians colonized it, they soon began to find signs of its former use and rumors ran rampant about it. Numerous small bases have been found in the last century, helping the Taurians recover lost technologies, and the Concordat continues to send teams to comb over the world. They have also placed a bounty on Star League artifacts, enticing many private citizens to come to the system and help in the searching, which helps the local economy by bringing in outside money. The small University of Celano is focused around studying Star League artifacts and its professors are considered the foremost experts on Star League history and technology in the Taurian Concordat.

Hellespont – This watery world rich in numerous valuable resources was once the headquarters of ComStar’s Rimward Explorer Corps expeditions before the discovery of Gemini. Now the major central production center for military technologies for an entire Taurian sector, it is heavily defended at all times. War machines from Hellespont travel throughout the outer reaches of Taurian space, patrolling the new colonies and protecting them from pirates alongside Colonial Marshals. It is also home to a major Taurian university devoted to training the best and brightest of the sector in advanced subjects.

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible :blah:
[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?


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PostPosted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 7:49 pm 
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Major General
Major General

Joined: Fri Mar 21, 2003 10:31 am
Posts: 776
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Wow! You've been busy over the last few months, Medron... I've just skimmed your last few entries so far, but I can see that I have some serious reading to do 8) Very nicely done!


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 30, 2005 10:29 pm 
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Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General

Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2004 3:54 pm
Posts: 615
Location: Springfield, Illinois
Awsome as usual Medron.


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 31, 2005 1:59 am 
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Loki
Loki

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2001 8:00 pm
Posts: 11444
Location: Minnesnowta
Thanks for the comments dudes.

I like that others like this. :-)

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible :blah:
[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?


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PostPosted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 4:47 pm 
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Colonel
Colonel

Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2002 8:00 pm
Posts: 433
Location: Vermont
*Jeyar has tears in his eyes.*

That was... that was...

BEAUTIFUL.

:yourock:
:thewave:
:angel:


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PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:04 am 
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Loki
Loki

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2001 8:00 pm
Posts: 11444
Location: Minnesnowta
LOL

Glad you liked it.

Not much more to do now to finish fleshing this stuff out...

Dang...I've been at this for over a year now. Just me myself and I...and even then its getting crowded in here....;-)

Though I would like to thank all the people whose ideas I ripp...ahem...borrowed for this...:D

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible :blah:
[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?


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PostPosted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 5:25 am 
Offline
Loki
Loki

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2001 8:00 pm
Posts: 11444
Location: Minnesnowta
Fronc Federation

History

The Fronc Federation is a very new name for a very old region of space. Since before the Star League invaded and subjugated the Old Periphery, the Taurian and Magistracy realms have colonized this region of space, though they have taken a mostly hands-off posture with the region in recent centuries. Part of that is because the Star League so badly reduced their ability to maintain any semblance of control in the region, though both governments began falling back after the short war fought over these worlds in 2813.

From then until the 3050s, the Taurian and Magistracy colonies in the region of space now commanded by the Fronc Federation found themselves mostly on their own with only limited contact with their homes. This meant that for nearly two and a half centuries they grew mostly alone, developing their own distinct cultures, and learning to fend for themselves. Therefore, it was not with universal acclaim from all involved that the Treaty of Taurus was signed in 3056.

The old colonies did appreciate the increased resources flowing into their nations, the new colonists that were more than willing to work hard for new lives, and the Colonial Marshals that came to protect them. A large number of locals from the established colonies joined the Marshals in fact, but a quiet majority disliked that now they were noticed again and, after over two centuries of mostly-independent rule, were suddenly being forced to follow the laws of outside governments. And calling it the “New Colony Region” really was salt on the wound as far as they were concerned. They’d been around longer than many worlds in either the Concordat or the Magistracy and found that name rather insulting.

And the taxes. Those really annoyed them. While the Magistracy and Concordat founded numerous new colonies, it soon became apparent to all involved that it was the old colonies that paid the lion’s share of the taxes that went to pay for all of improvements. The old colonies really didn’t like that, but they never did anything more than protest the taxes because of the gentle leadership. Sherman Maltin had been an inspired choice for command of the region, and it took him very little time to realize exactly what was going on. He did everything he could to keep the old colonies mollified and as happy as possible with the situation, while also expanding the new colonies as his superiors wanted.

It was a losing battle of course, as he didn’t have the resources to do both, but his efforts caused many of the more prosperous families to take notice and support him. They realized that he was their best hope to hold things together after all, and perhaps to force Taurus and Canopus to see what it was like in the region. The aging Marie-Jacques Fronc in particular supported him and he funneled enough resources to her world to expand its already-impressive industrial capabilities.

By 3060 though, it was becoming clear that Maltin simply did not have the resources to offset the taxes being taken from the region, and resentment was growing despite his best efforts. The citizens publicly and vocally demanded their freedom from “taxation without representation”, but neither Taurus no Canopus took the demonstrations seriously. Until Sherman Maltin showed them an historical analysis that compared their actions to that of the Star League so many centuries ago. They didn’t like that comparison.

Their attention firmly in his hands, he requested that they send representatives to Detroit to negotiate a compromise that would be better than the outright rebellion that was on the horizon. He brought the various planetary nobles, headed by the prosperous Fronc family, into the negotiations as well to make certain the Taurians and Canopians did not forget who they were dealing with. The locals wanted independence, but the Taurians and Canopians didn’t want to lose the major corridor their increased trade traveled through. And they’d spent a lot of resources in expanding the area that they didn’t want to lose as well. In the end, the discussions brought about the compromise Maltin wanted, though not as much as some wanted.

On 15 May, 3061 the Magistracy and Concordat signed a treaty recognizing the Fronc Federation as an independent nation. And unwilling to completely lose the region, they also modified the Treaty of Taurus to include the Fronc Federation. Many people in the Federation did not like that at all, but the vast majority was mollified by finally having their independence fully recognized and returned to their normal lives. They elected Maltin as their president within months of the treaty signing.

Numerous Colonial Marshals joined the Fronc Legions after that, revitalizing it with their BattleMechs, but the main firepower of the Legions came from the tanks that the Fronc family had long maintained. They brought new tanks off their manufacturing lines and soon their tanks, and the handful of BattleMechs, waved the flag of the Federation on every world in Federation. This spread them thin though, and they continued to rely on the protection of the Colonial Marshals to protect their worlds.

By 3066 the Fronc Federation had been able to build most of what they required to defend themselves and had even brought a BattleArmor factory online to increase the capabilities of their infantry units. New tanks, including the massive mobile fortress they called the Char, came off other lines and showed that the Fronc Federation was becoming a power to be reckoned with, even if it was the weakest power in the Trinity Alliance.

The future was looking good for them, but as with every nation in the Human Sphere 3067 would prove to be the end of their prosperity, even if they didn’t realize it at the time. The Word of Blake assaulted numerous nations, and Taurus itself became the target of asteroidal bombardment. The Taurian efforts to repair the damage and prepare for the war dried up remaining support they had been sending the colonies in the Fronc Federation, but Maltin realized that his realm had to be ready. He increased production at every factory he could, and increased monies spent to placing new technologies in the existing tanks, preparing for the war he knew would come soon.

It came in 3069 when the Word of Blake flattened the factories of Detroit and then fanned out to assault the three nations of the Trinity Alliance. The Fronc Federation found itself the target of the smallest force by far, but it was the smallest nation by far as well, and its military failed to stop the Word forces. The massive Char mobile fortresses proved to be less capable than expected, and Fronc losses were heavy. What passed for a Fronc navy was swept from the skies and the Word forces smashed world after world on their march to destroy the Federation.

On 3 May, 3071, with the rest of the Fronc Federation shattered, the Word of Blake finally dropped their hammer on Fronc itself. The Fronc family had been preparing though, and they threw everything they had, including the last of their carefully horded BattleMechs, their new ProtoMechs, and a newer and more powerful Char mobile fortress, into the defense of their home. They stopped the Word assault outside the capital city, but could do little more than hold the battlements around it as the Word soldiers ravaged the countryside. After a month of sparring on the line though, the Word forces tired of it and launched another determined attack on the weary defenders. It started with an artillery barrage that began on 5 June and continued for two days without respite. On the 7th they began to assault the outer sectors of the city more forcefully to suck defenders in to fight them, and then fall back to allow artillery to blanket the area.

Fronc casualties were atrocious, and the capital city was a ruin, but what remained of the defenders continued to fight in the rubble. By the 9th though they were on the verge of collapse and the Word could taste their victory. They waited until the morning of the 10th to begin their final assault on the capital, and simply began to march forward while shooting anything that moved, civilian or military, in complete and utter contempt of what remained in the city. They surrounded the capitol itself, slaughtering the remains of its defenders, and then marched on the Fronc estates where the last military forces and civilians remained, still shooting anything that moved along the way.

Then their artillery went silent. Before they could react to that loss, the remaining Fronc defenders charged them. They died by the hundreds, but they held the Word’s full attention for precious minutes, and when the Colonial Marshals attacked the Word from the rear, the Blakists were caught between one desperately insane force and a fresh force eager to spill blood. The Word soldiers fought to the end, gunning down their opposition in a fanatical refusal to surrender, and when the last of the fighting was over the remaining Colonial Marshals and Fronc Legionnaires commanded the desolate landscape that had been their capital.

Fronc has never claimed victory in that battle, only survival. They survived and the Word had not. That was all that mattered. They began to rebuild, marshaled what remained of their fleet (supplemented by the ships the Colonial Marshals had captured on their way to Fronc), and reestablished contact with the other Federation worlds and then the rest of the Trinity Alliance. The Jihad had passed them by, even though it continued in the Inner Sphere, and left them all in ruins. And so they did what the Old Periphery realms had always done in the past. They knuckled down and began to rebuild the damage that Terra had inflicted on them.

The Magistracy is less vindictive towards Terra, as exemplified in their membership in the Star League, but the Taurians had grown to completely and utterly hate Terra and all it stood for. The Fronc Federation is mixed, as it should be based on its mixed cultures and history, but by and large when it comes to Terra the Federation sees the homeworld of mankind in the same light that the Taurians do. The center of death and destruction in the universe. They want nothing to do with it, and as they began to rebuild they began to colonize further outward away from Terra to increase their distance from it. Only during the depths of the Trinity War did they stop colonizing worlds, and they now control a sliver of worlds nearly reaching out into the New Periphery, one thousand light-years from Terra.

The bulk of the 3070s however were spent rebuilding what the Word destroyed. New versions of their venerable war machines came off the lines, and the Federation rebuilt its Legions as quickly as it could, knowing that another war could come for them any day. The Garde Fédérale, built around the survivors of the last battle over the capital, formed the core of the new Legions, and soon began to receive the best equipment. They had proven their utter loyalty to the Federation and only the best of the best were ever allowed into their ranks.

The Federation also built a new BattleMech factory during that time, bringing out its first line of BattleMechs in 3078, just in time to be ready when New Syrtis assaulted St. Ives in 3079. By 3082, when the Taurians asked for aid in their war against New Syrtis, the Garde Fédérale moved out to prove their worth in battle. They did well for a force their size, taking numerous worlds before moving on to other systems, and proved to everyone that they were a force to be reckoned with.

But the Federation was forced to push more and more of their resources into supporting the Garde as the years went by. Taxes increased, the majority of the high technology manufacturing capability was tasked to replenish material losses, and their transport fleet found itself doing little more than traveling to the front and back. Citizens were encouraged to donate anything they had that was made of high electronics for recycling to the war effort and rationing of food to only the barest of sustenance food stuffs was common, especially on worlds with little ability to grow their own food. Small victory gardens became common as individual citizens grew luxury foods for themselves or friends, but as they worked day in and day out to survive or to support the war, high technology items were simply not available to purchase, and even the with the higher tax rates savings account balances soared throughout the Federation.

By 3093 though, despite all the efforts the Federation made to replace losses, the Garde Fédérale had been hammered down to barely half their optimal size and everything from spare parts to food were running low. When the war ended, they returned home to a heroes’ welcome and were given a full year of leave to recover. All of them were offered retirement at the end of that year, with full benefits. Twenty-five of those physically capable of serving accepted the retirement. All of the others returned to form what is now known simply as the Vieux Garde.

The years since then have seen the Fronc Federation returning its military spending, which had nearly bankrupted their economy, back to the citizens via massive tax breaks, though they continue to maintain their military sufficient to defend the realm. Wages long forced to remain in saving accounts quickly began buying luxury items the factories were retooling to make. The pent-up demand of a decade of war has fueled a building boom without compare in that region of space, and the economy of the Federation is nearly bursting at the seams as it tries to keep up.

The modern Fronc Federation, still insular and only maintaining contact with the Magistracy and Concordat, has become a burgeoning economic power. It is a brave new region that promises riches for anyone willing to work (or steal) hard enough, and the vast tracks of the Wild Wild Rim as many call it are full of opportunity. You can find anything out there, from mad scientists working on some new invention that will change the universe, to bandits leaching off the common folk. Farmers plow the fields or raise animals, and plant workers manufacture new weapons or refrigerators. If you think of it, you can find it out there. It is a land of opportunity, and a land of change. Fresh faces and cultures have invaded a region that has been largely the same for centuries, and the change is not always easy, but the Fronc Federation is becoming a veritable melting pot of cultures. It is an exciting place to be.

Military

Composed of four Corps, the Fronc Legions follow the old French model, with three to four regiments of troops under each command. The Garde Fédérale is the most powerful of the Corps, and has no single geographical area it is required to protect. Generally sent wherever help is required, they are constantly on the move. The Corps du Noyau protects the systems near the Capellan Confederation, the Corps du Milieu protects the newer systems further out from the original Federation, while the Corps de la Jante protects the furthest colonies that stretch almost to the New Periphery, on the rim of known space.

Vehicles dominate the military, being cheap and easy to produce, as do armored infantry in the line units. In militias they are uncommon though. ProtoMechs have been used in large numbers since the Jihad, and often form a secondary battle line beside the main battletanks. Finally, BattleMechs are used when mobility is most prized, and during large battles. Their expense keeps them rare though, and they are only devoted to battle when nothing else can handle the enemy. Designs seen are mostly those built in the Federation, though they do purchase some production runs from Detroit and the rest of the Trinity Alliance.

The Federation navy is composed primarily of spacecraft purchased from the Magistracy or the Concordat, though a large number of their fighters are built on Fronc. This eclectic mix of designs, from the Magistracy’s advanced technology craft, to the Taurian and Fronc rugged and low-tech designs, leaves the Federation navy mixed in capability. It has proven sufficient to guard their borders most of the time though, and efforts appear to be underway to manufacture sufficient orbital yards over Fronc to build their own naval units.

Garde Fédérale
Vieux Garde
Milieu Garde
Jeune Garde

Le corps du Noyau

Le Corps du Milieu

Corps de la Jante

Factories

Detroit (Trinity Alliance) – Alliance Consolidated – Marshal and Ranger BattleMechs; Deputy and Sheriff ProtoMechs; Constable BattleArmor; Charger and Sabre ASFs; Mustang DropShip; Destrier frigate

Fronc – Fronc BattleArms – Tirailleur BattleMech; Voltigeur ProtoMech; Flanquer BattleArmor; Char, Renault, and Somua Tanks; Mortaigle ASF

Systems

Detroit – Site of the famed Alliance Consolidated industriplex, Detroit is one of the most heavily defended worlds in the Trinity Alliance. The world is officially considered a part of the Fronc Federation, and her people enjoy the rights of Fronc laws, but the new factory complex and Alliance City are on property that belongs to the Trinity Alliance as a whole and in those areas Alliance law rules. This has left Detroit with an odd mixture of cultures, from the old farming families and cooperatives that ran Detroit for centuries in a slow-paced lifestyle, to the fast and furious lifestyle of Alliance City and the rough and tumble factories and bars.

Fronc – The capital of the Fronc Federation, this world boasts the most powerful industrial presence in the Federation outside Detroit. The capital city of the world and the Federation is very new, having been razed to the ground by the Word of Blake during the Jihad, but the new construction perfectly reflects the French ancestry of the Fronc family which dominates the modern Federation.

Portland – Primarily an agricultural world, Portland was mostly avoided by the Word of Blake during the Jihad, though in 3070 a small Word of Blake force did take over the system. Elements of the Second Taurian Pride and its supporting forces assaulted the Blakists and defeated them soundly, capturing two Word Magellans and a number of Word BattleMechs and Battlesuits. It wasn’t until after the war ended that sufficient resources to repair the damage the Word caused could be sent to the world, but the people have never forgotten the Taurian’s actions in saving them.

_________________
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 4:50 am 
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Loki
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Well, I did mean to post the Raven Alliance next, but got sidetracked into this. I'm mostly done with the Alliance though and hope to have it done this week. Maybe early next week.

Hope you enjoy a glimpse into the history of The Deep. :-)

Civilizations of The Deep

The Periphery, both Old and New, has long been the dumping ground of the worst traits the Human Sphere had to offer. It has also been the place where those who felt the established governments were too oppressive traveled in search of freedom. Whatever the reason for traveling out so far from Terra, most who live and travel in The Deep are accustomed to hardship and to relying only on themselves. This has made both the Old and New Peripheries regions of space where only the hardy and driven survive.

There are pockets of civilization though, some great and some small. Some, such as the Hanseatic League, we know well. But for every civilization in The Deep that we have studied there are numerous worlds our explorers have not been to since the days of the First Star League, or perhaps even then, that house humans. Most nations in the Outer Sphere (the Old Periphery) and the New Periphery control fewer than six worlds, and command minimal space fleets or armed forces. Raids by fallen pirates unable to make their mark in the Inner Sphere are common, but are rarely as dangerous as those nearer civilization.

Major Players

The major players of the New Periphery have substantial manufacturing capabilities, fleets or armies large enough to make them major powers in their own rights, and the organization to use those assets effectively. While not as powerful as many realms in the Inner or Outer Spheres, these major players have no equal in the New Periphery.

Hanseatic League

Formed in the thirtieth century, the Hanseatic League is a realm built on trade and treachery. The Hansa became the most powerful realm in their area of space and used their monopoly on JumpShips to gain an iron control over dozens of worlds and some smaller states, though in recent decades their control has slipped. Until the 3060s, they effectively controlled the fighting in nearby Nueva Castile, but in 3068 the Castilians assaulted the Hansa in retribution.

The Hansa fought hard, but lost nearly a quarter of their systems, including Bruges, before marshalling their army and navy to stop the Castilian advance. Unfortunately the forces it would take to push them out were being drained away from convoy escorts and pirates were preying upon the easy spoils, causing the merchants to scream for support. Instead of driving back the entire invasion, the Hansa planned and executed a quick assault on Bruges designed to drive the invaders off world and teach them a lesson.

The assault achieved one of the two goals, nearly destroying the Castilian force holding the world. The Umayyads arrived to support the Castilians shortly before they would have completely collapsed though and began to heavily hamper the Hansa assault. As the assault bogged down, the civilians began to support the Umayyads and Castilians, hitting the Hansa with improvised explosives and car bombs at any opportunity. But the Hansa military leadership knew they could win. All they need was a few more troopers and an “open hand to deal with the terrorists.”

But the merchant council had had enough. The war no longer made business sense. Too many of their interests were taking losses because of the preoccupation of their military assets, and they didn’t want to worry about pacifying Bruges. And it wasn’t like the invaders had captured any other world worth more than a few kilograms of germanium. It was more cost effective to simply write the systems, even Bruges, off as capital losses and expand elsewhere.

In June of 3070 the Hansa army and navy lifted off Bruges, leaving it to the Castilians and Umayyads. They returned their forces to protecting their convoys, though left enough to watch the exhausted invaders, and went back to the business of making money. A cool war dominates the two realms now, with raiding common but outright conquest much more rare.

A council of merchants rules over the Hanseatic League and has placed extensive resources into building control over worlds anti-spinward of their core space. This has helped them recover the power the League once enjoyed, but much of their profits are tied up watching for Castilian assaults into more Hanseatic worlds. The Hanseatic League enjoys cool relations with the Sea Foxes and Jàrnfòlk, as well as many other nations deeper into the Human Sphere, but has built up an impressive fleet to protect their interests.

Small WarShips protect their fleets and worlds, supported by assault ships, fighters, armed JumpShips, and even atmospheric ships as needed. BattleMechs and vehicles are built and used as well, but are not considered as important as the space arm. The military is spread throughout Hansa-controlled space, its mission to maintain Hansa control and to stop any who would challenge it. An unofficial mission it often approaches is actively raiding its rivals, such as the small Khwarazm Empire and Nueva Castile, in order to bolster its JumpShip fleets. These actions have gained them few friends and many enemies, but so far few enemies have been powerful or driven enough to take action.

Jàrnfòlk

A loose alliance of over two score families, the Jàrnfòlk (literally Iron Folk) have a trading empire second only to the Sea Foxes, and even that is open to interpretation. While the Sea Foxes are without question far more powerful than the Jàrnfòlk, the Jàrnfòlk maintain trade relations across a larger range of space. Jàrnfòlk trading ships are often seen traveling with Sea Fox convoys throughout the Inner and Outer Spheres in fact. The practice of each of those trading alliances to paint their ships in bright colors and designs is of particular interest and may have something to do with their close relations.

Beyond the Outer Sphere though, the Jàrnfòlk appear to trade a full one thousand light-years spinward of their homeworlds, and the fairness of their trading practices has made them welcome in nearly any port. Their homeworlds have expanded to nearly a dozen worlds since the 3060s as nearby systems have been colonized or inhabited systems joined the Jàrnfòlk in space. Due to the later growth, the Jàrnfòlk are no longer strictly Scandinavian in ancestry, but are host to a number of other cultures including German, French, English, American, and Japanese derivatives. This has made the Jàrnfòlk alliance more fractious than in the past, but also more broad and powerful.

Some of the newer families, most having purchased their JumpShips from the Sea Foxes, are more willing to use weapons of war than the older families, and did not back down when raiders began to prey on Jàrnfòlk convoys. They hunted the raiders down with any weapon they could build or purchase, many from the Sea Foxes again, and left the remains as a warning to future pirates. Never mess with the Jàrnfòlk. These actions have allowed the Jàrnfòlk to continue to trade throughout the vast range of space they service with few problems, and their continued fair trading practices have kept them a welcome arrival at nearly all ports, unlike the Hansa.

The Jàrnfòlk are still known for making the best personal weapons in space, with Sea Fox support being able to build Clan-level weapons, and dueling has become an accepted practice in all families. The Kaufmann, Warwick, Lucas, and Yoko families have also embraced the heavier weapons of war such as ground, air, and space vehicles. They do not use BattleMechs though, considering them to be too expensive and hard to hide while maneuvering for battle. It is known that they have also purchased a number of frigates from the Sea Foxes, giving them a formidable fleet that has on occasion faced off against the Hansa favorably.

Those who wish to trade with the Jàrnfòlk should remember that when they take offense they do call for duels. And outsiders rarely have the practice to match a Jàrnfòlk dueler. Trade with them on your best behavior as they highly dislike it when they think they are being taken for a ride. They trade fairly and expect others to trade fairly with them. Those that do not do so have an uncanny ability to drop dead soon there after, sometimes due to duels and other times to more mysterious means. Trade fairly and they will trade with you often. Cheat them and you had better be able to run very fast and have a very deep hole to hide in.

Nueva Castile

Colonized by Iberians in 2392, Nueva Castile never knew about the rise or fall of the Star League or any of the other nations in the Inner or even Outer Spheres. A handful of JumpShips maintained communications between the nine worlds of Nueva Castile, but they had no wish to explore systems outside their territory and they lived their agrarian lifestyle in peace. In 2830 that peace came to an end as a single JumpShip brought invaders in BattleMechs, an alien war machine to the Castilians. They named the invaders Umayyad and as the years went by the invaders proudly accepted the name.

The war continued for more than two centuries, as factionalism robbed the Umayyads of their central power, and the Castilians abandoned their agrarian ways to live under despotic kings intent on taking power for themselves. They slowly drove back the Umayyads until the invaders were nearly removed from the worlds of Castile. But in 3062 evidence came to their attention that suggested an outside source had been playing them off each other to keep the war going rather than allow either side to fully win.

At that discovery, the Umayyad and the Castilians called an unofficial truce as they searched for their victimizer, planning to impose the ancient golden rule on them. The Word of Blake showed them evidence implicating the Lyrans, and the two forces nearly jumped on the Alliance. Only a last-minute hesitation caused by their distrust of the Word of Blake kept them out of the start of the Jihad. At the Word’s assault of the Lyrans their distrust turned to a burning suspicion that the Word had lied to get their support, and they more closely studied those closer to them. They compared notes on the various contracts the Hansa had negotiated for them to acquire mercenaries and spare parts and soon came to the conclusion that it was the Hansa that had played them.

They assaulted the Hanseatic League in March of 3068, the Umayyad’s Star League-era BattleMechs cutting a swath through the numerically superior Hansa. Even the Castilians acquitted themselves well, proving that the hard-fought battlefield experience they had gained over the centuries fared well against the inexperienced Hansa forces. They conquered world after world, smashing one Hansa force after another, but the Hansa had the numbers to weather the losses and come back for more. It took them nearly two years to marshal a response from their combined army and navy and drop it in front of the lightning assault that had cost them a quarter of their worlds, including Bruges.

Realizing that further war with such numbers would destroy them, the Umayyads and Castilians fell back to the conquered territories and began fortifying their gains. The Hansa followed the Castilians to Bruges, nearly destroying the Castilian force holding the world. The Umayyads arrived to support the Castilians shortly before they would have completely collapsed though and began to strike the Hansa from all sides, hopelessly bogging down the invasion. Then the civilians began to support the Umayyads and Castilians, hitting the Hansa with improvised explosives and car bombs at any opportunity.

In the end the Hansa retreated from Bruges, leaving it in the hands of the remaining Castilian and Umayyad forces. That was the effective end of the war, though a cool war of assassinations and raids continues to rage to this day. But the war between the Umayyad and Castilians was over for good. The Umayyad had withdrawn all military and civilian forces from Cordoba to fight the Hansa. The Castilians recognized the gesture and Umayyad control of Granada in return, and began to look towards the newly conquered worlds to see what they could do with them.

Now, after three decades of working together closely, the differences have begun to disappear. Without the constant war to maintain the king’s power, the Castilian citizens have demanded and gained numerous democratic rights. They have also taken a greater interest in the arts and other matters of high society that the Umayyads brought with them. The younger Castilians (Castilians, Umayyads, and former Hansa) see each other as kindred spirits now and happily work together to bring more power to their new realm. The elders do not forget the old wars but the younger generation now drives the various peoples together.

A handful of Hansa merchants have maintained their trade on Bruges, and have begun to make the Castilians a true merchant power in the immediate area. While having nowhere near the power of the Hansa or the Jàrnfòlk in trade matters, the Castilian merchants have begun to make a name for themselves. The old Umayyad technologies have filtered into all levels of Castilian life, making both the military and civilian opportunities superior to that enjoyed a mere three decades ago. Limited local production of ships, vehicles, and BattleMechs, as well as purchases from the Sea Foxes and Lyran Commonwealth, give the Castilians the security they need. And though the cool war continues with the Hansa, both sides are careful not to kill the civilians, keeping it as a general non-issue to the Castilian voters.

In short, the Nueva Castile of today is a democratic, progressive, enlightened place to live. They accept millions of Hansa refugees searching for freedom every year, and these immigrants have begun to be a major part of the growing military that protects the Castilian territories. Many entire planets have tried to join Castile since the end of the official war in fact, but so far the Hansa have been able to maintain control. Projections suggest that they will not be able to do so forever though, and that Castile will supplant the Hansa as the primary power in that sector of space within the next fifty years.

Lesser Players

Fiefdom of Randis

Colonized by refugees of the Succession Wars, the world now known as Randis was for centuries simply one of many small colonies in the dregs of the Old Periphery that even pirates refused to bother with. That changed when Erdelmaine Randis formed the Brotherhood of Randis in 2988. The Brotherhood of MechWarriors proved to be less than effective though, despite harsh training practices, and the fortunes of Randis did not begin to rise until 3037 when Galahad Frews challenged Randis and defeated him for command of the Brotherhood.

His reforms made the reinvented the Brotherhood into a cohesive force of MechWarriors, and brought a technological renaissance to the world. The lives of the civilians improved along with the qualities of the MechWarriors, and Randis became a strong magnet of trade in the Old Periphery. This brought pirates of course, and the Brotherhood fought them and won across much of the Old Periphery, including Antallos.

The former Clansman Lucas Beckett took over command of the Brotherhood in 3060 and has driven the Brotherhood to cleanse the area of all pirates since then. Despite his advanced age Grand Knight Beckett continues to defeat all challengers for command, and Brother Galahad Frews aids him to this day in curbing his idealism with reality. Still, the Brotherhood has taken nearly a dozen nearby systems under its wing, protecting them from the pirates of Tortuga.

The majority of their machines come from Taurian factories now, as they have joined into a pseudo-alliance with the larger nation, but they also purchase machines from the Sea Foxes as well. This gives the Brotherhood impressive capabilities and has kept them alive against the Lady Death so far.

Franklin Fiefs

For nearly half a millennium a world of haves and have-nots, fifty or so principalities had commanded Nova Franklin for as long as anyone can remember. The social pecking order of the educated landowners and the uneducated workers ended in the 3060s though when the workers finally began to successfully revolt against their “betters”. Unfortunately, the workers had none of the education of the landowners and have squandered their newfound freedom. Chaos rules the world with only three of the former principalities approaching the standard of living once considered normal. Commanded by three of the most intelligent of worker-leaders, they have banded together to attempt to bring order to the world but have only been able to maintain their small areas of responsibility. At least they maintain the majority of the remaining BattleMechs on the world, the only organized militaries, and protect the only spaceport. Beyond their zones of control where the rights of everybody, except the families of former landowners, are protected, the chaos of roving gangs, bandits, and surviving landholder guards rules supreme.

Herotitus

Herotitus. Known throughout the galaxy as a place to go to have fun. Or to trade or meet with people when you don’t want anybody to know you are meeting with them. In the 3060s it appeared as though the forces of imperial morality would conquer the world, to the great dismay of traders, smugglers, diplomats, and spies everywhere. Luckily for these people, the citizens of Herotitus rose up against the vile morality enforcers and told them exactly what they could do with themselves during the Jihad. The world avoided harm during that conflict, as well as the Trinity War that came later, and continues to be a neutral system where anybody can come for a good time. There still remain a handful of cities that are the “refuge of moral peoples” but travelers tend to avoid them like the plague, preferring to spend their money on more carnal appetites than humming on hard benches under stained-glass windows.

Khwarazm Empire

A merchant empire like the Hansa and Jàrnfòlk, the ruling Khwarazmi merchant princes ply space in their pursuit of profits while the average Khwarazmi continue to survive at subsistence levels. Conquered by the Jade Falcons during the Clan Invasion, the Khwarazm weathered the occupation well. In the 3070s though Jade Falcon interest in the realm dwindled and they pulled out their forces. The Khwarazmi merchant princes have been happy to have their freedom since then and have continued to their old ways of life, trading wherever they can and ruling their subjects. JumpShips that have slipped too far into space the Hansa consider “theirs” without escort have often disappeared, bringing the merchant princes to heavily distrust the Hansa. They continue to do well in their own corner of the universe though, cooperating with ComStar, the Sea Foxes, and the Jàrnfòlk. They own few BattleMechs, relying primarily on ground, air, and space vehicles to protect their interests.

Mica Majority

A former mining system, the majority of the accessible resources dried up a century ago. Since then the system’s habitation domes have supported themselves by mining asteroids and, after the 3050s, bringing in tourism. It appears that many rich Spheroids like to try “roughing it” in the mines and the Micans are only too pleased to divest of them of their money if they wish that experience. In the 3060s though the Micans began to expand their trading practices again when they began looking outward to exploit nearby systems. Now having mining concerns on a dozens worlds within two jumps of their home system, the single large trading station at Mica’s zenith jump point is the center of trade for various rare metals, minerals, and even organic products. While still not rich enough to warrant raids by anything more than the smallest of pirates, the Mican government is working to increase the size of their local militia.

Niops Association

A former Star League multi-generational research outpost, Niops had everything it needed to survive when the Star League failed. They actually had no idea of its failure until a wave of Capellan refugees fleeing the destruction of the First Succession War found Niops, but quickly adapted to the new reality. They allowed the Capellans to live on Niops, guaranteed them a comfortable standard of living, and commenced to rule over their new serfs for centuries. Benevolently of course. In the 3050s though they began to run out of resources to maintain the standard of living and begin looking outward for support. Unfortunately those who could help they soon learned not to trust and those they could trust couldn’t even help themselves.

Rather than see their home destroyed by outside conquest or internal strife due to their inability to maintain the status quo, the scientists set aside their power and gave the serfs an equal vote. The former serfs, upon realizing the true situation and being given full rights, stepped up and did what needed to be done. With the full population of the system producing at a greater rate, Niops was able to pull out of the downward spiral and began to recover.

It also began to sell the product of centuries of research to private corporations through the Inner and Outer Spheres, pulling in more money for expanding their educational systems and military forces. They remained neutral through the Jihad and the other wars that have ravaged the nearby realms, selling information to anybody that needs it and has the funds. Now a bastion of calm and tranquility in the Human Sphere, Niops is a rich system with a navy powerful enough to protect it from any pirate force and most governmental forces. It still shows no interest in expanding to other systems, happy to stay where it is and perform research as it has for centuries.

Mysteries of The Deep

The Old and New Peripheries are rich in vast unknown regions, some that the Star League once claimed and some that even it never explored. ComStar’s Explorer Corps, the Taurian Far Seekers, and numerous other agencies are devoted to exploring the unknown, but have so far come up with more questions than answers. Dozens of small proto-states have been discovered out there, and hundreds if not thousands of inhabited worlds have been brought back into intermittent contact with civilization. But not all who live in the depths of space are so willing to meet with other Terrans.

The insular White Wings that Taurian explorers have run into rimward of Taurian space are the most visible example of an organized force that avoids contact. Flying Star League craft from WarShips to fighters, the White Wings have been spotted watching numerous worlds throughout the rimward New Periphery and Outer Sphere. They have never responded to communications and avoid contact, jumping out if necessary to do so. The only way to recognize them is that they paint their ships in a uniform white with the only markings being angel wings on the flanks or wings. The Far Seekers believe that the White Wings are related to the centuries-long rumors of the Vandenberg White Wings and the Battleship of Merope, but the Explorer Corps hypothesize this may be a new group. Despite decades, or centuries if you count the Far Seekers, of searching their base or bases of operations have never been found.

There are also rumors of vaguely human peoples living on worlds throughout the New Periphery. Oh, we know about the Merfolk of the Trinity Alliance and more minor but still recognizably human genetic mixes that are seen on many worlds throughout the Human Sphere. Homo Stellaris is far different from those who once were born, lived, and died only on Terra after all. From the earliest days of stellar exploration until the great days of the Star League, genetic research and modifications were common to allow us, a race born of a single world, to colonize thousands of worlds. Our aging process was slowed, the biological clock that once counted down the doom of human reproduction was permanently defeated, and our immune systems were fortified to help our bodies survive the bugs of the galaxy. Engineering designed to make us both healthy and attractive was common, and designed to replicate down the lines of humanity through dominant characteristics. We know of course that some Terrans are closer to our ancestors in genetic content than to the epitome of Homo Stellaris, but the majority of the basic bioengineering designed to allow us to see the stars has held true over the centuries.

But there are peoples out there the rumors say that are at best vaguely human. Snake-like skin, bodies with more joints than normal, and other such oddities are only the least of what has been reported. Some people report seeing genuine aliens, beings that are totally non-human in form and yet demonstrate human-level intelligence. This does not mean the “snuggle bears” of Gemini or other similar beings. Rumors of much larger creatures living in areas that no human should have a right to live have been heard. Some suggest that these creatures are the result of heavy genetic manipulation, citing the known Clan ability to manipulate the human body. Some say that they are aliens while some say dismissively claim that they are the figments of too much coffee in the morning.

Whatever the truth of these rumors and the other organizations we have found or haven’t found in depths of space, we know this for certain. We still only know a small fraction of what there is to know out there.

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible :blah:
[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?


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 11:22 am 
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C.O., 1st Kilted
C.O., 1st Kilted

Joined: Thu Sep 13, 2001 8:00 pm
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Quote:
planning to impose the ancient golden rule on them.

"...and do it first..." :evil:



Teemo

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"Three Shall be the Number of The Counting; And the Number of The Counting Shall be Three "


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 11:11 pm 
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Loki
Loki

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2001 8:00 pm
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Location: Minnesnowta
Do unto others as you would have them do onto you.

The Hansa did onto them.

So they did onto the Hansa....

Ain't life grand?

:devil2:

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Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible :blah:
[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?


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:28 pm 
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Sergeant
Sergeant

Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2003 5:37 am
Posts: 56
Location: Pennsylvania
*cough*

More medron, more....

*cough*

Ahem. :P

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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


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 11:09 pm 
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Loki
Loki

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2001 8:00 pm
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Location: Minnesnowta
[Egor]

Coming Master

[/Egor]

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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?


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 3:48 am 
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Loki
Loki

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2001 8:00 pm
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Location: Minnesnowta
Ah...the last of the faction writeups. Over a year of work and the basis of the Human Sphere is finally complete.

I feel happy now. :-)

Raven Alliance

History

The Raven Alliance, a merger of the old Clan Snow Raven and Outworlds Alliance, is one of the more interesting realms in space. Much like the Rasalhague Dominion, it is the result of two nations with much in common, despite having originated over a thousand light-years apart, coming together in war and staying together in peace. In this case, both nations prized the power of AeroSpace superiority and honored the pilots over all else. Not that the Ravens realized that before an Outworlder AeroSpace force defeated them in a trial of possession. They took greater notice of the small Periphery nation after that affair, and even helped them design a newer and better AeroSpace fighter the Outworlders then called the Corax, Latin for raven. That also held the Raven’s attention. The Outworlders did not forget those who helped them.

The Snow Ravens continued to take over and create outposts in the Old Periphery as they began the delicate courting of the Outworlders that would end with the merger, even if neither of them realized it. At the time, it was two nations simply beginning to know each other more. But matters would soon transpire that would force them to come together faster than either expected. In the Inner Sphere the Word of Blake was planning the Jihad to destroy the Successor States, and in the Clan Homeworlds the Blood Spirit and Star Adder feud was beginning to boil into a war that was sucking in the other Clans one by one.

Seeing the writing on the wall, many of the Invading Clans that still had access to the Homeworlds began to evacuate their enclaves. The Snow Ravens, having the single largest transport fleet in the Clans, helped make that possible as they kept enough of their fleet available for their evacuation. The evacuation did not go easily though, as the Star Adders attempted to disrupt them with heavy raids. Numerous Raven WarShips, including the Avalanche and Morning Violence, died to protect the transports taking their people out, but they and their escorts destroyed or crippled three times their number in the process. Their sacrifices have never been forgotten and the DNA of every warrior who died there is used to make new children on Ramora.

The main Snow Raven fleets began to arrive in early 3071, only a few months after the Word of Blake started their assault on the Alliance. The Outworlders were no match for the Word fleet that smashed Ramora and went on to hit the other Alliance factory worlds, ravaging one Alliance fleet after another. Seeing an opportunity to secure a new homeland, the Ravens moved into the chaos of the Outworlds Alliance and hunted down the Word forces. They gave the Word the justice the Clans reserve for all bandits, painful death, and stepped into the power vacuum to bring security back into the Alliance.

Many vocally disliked the idea of allowing the Ravens to “take over”, but the Clan moved to deal with the various pirates and terrorists plaguing the Alliance. Their typical ruthlessness in dealing with the scum of the universe gained them much acceptance throughout the ravaged Alliance they wouldn’t normally have received. The Ravens also began work rebuilding the shattered infrastructure of Ramora, sending the vast majority of their workers to that world. It soon became the center of Raven power in the Alliance, and has continued to grow to this day.

By 3073 they had lost all contact with the Homeworlds, but had consolidated their holdings in the Alliance and become the de-facto military of the Old Periphery nation. They had also given up control of the various Old Periphery worlds taken to make their relocation to the outskirts of the Inner Sphere possible. An island of calm, surrounded by the chaos of the Jihad, the Ravens began looking around for worlds to add as a buffer zone to protect the Alliance. The most notable of the worlds they captured was Antallos, a lesson aimed at the Band of the Damned who fell back away from the Alliance.

In 3074, secure in their position, the Ravens sent Beta Nova, led by Montbatton and Arc Royal, to support the Star League invasion of Terra. Officially sent under the flag of the Alliance, many Outworlder fighters joined the Raven fleet and fought with them. Many Ravens and Outworlders alike died in the Terran system, but when they returned in 3079 the Veterans of Terra no longer saw their differences. They had fought and died together, and they returned together.

They became the nexus of the Raven Alliance, warriors of both cultures who respected and liked each other. They returned to their homes and units and taught their people the lessons they’d learned in Terra. The 3080s saw the evolution of the Raven Alliance we know today, spurred on by the Veterans of Terra. The civilian government that had commanded the Alliance for centuries remained, and continued to govern the affairs of the Alliance as before. It even continued to maintain a military, mostly limited to planetary militias and the two Alliance Air Regiments to survive the chaos of the Word assault. The majority of the military though remained in the hands of the Snow Ravens, with their own military government and independent decision making abilities. This duel government system worked well for the Alliance, keeping friction between the Outworlder and Raven populations low in the early days of the new Alliance.

The Raven Alliance maintained its neutrality from the other realms in space as it consolidated itself, only expanding from time to time into systems abandoned by the larger powers. This neutrality ended when the Draconis Combine tried to destroy the Nova Cats though, and the Ravens began to launch heavy raids into the Combine. In 3090 those raids were expanded into a full-scale invasion designed to teach Coordinate Ricol of the error of his ways. The invasion netted many worlds at minimal cost and helped force the Coordinator to end the war with the Nova Cats, both meritorious goals to the Ravens. The Nova Cats may be Abjured, but there were few Clans remaining in the Human Sphere and they had to look out for each other.

When that war ended the Raven Alliance returned to running its own concerns, doing its best to ignore the outside galaxy except in matters of trade. Unfortunately the Trinity War involving the long allies of the Alliance and the Capellan Confederation forced them to look outward again. The Trinity War had become a struggle towards exhaustion that nobody could win, and the continued loss of life and materials was becoming critical. With the Trinity Alliance and the others in the region unable to fight pirates, piracy was on the rise and was spilling over into other areas. The Raven Alliance feared that one or more of the nations involved would collapse under the strain, and that no one else would have the power to maintain control over the systems. That would shatter much of what civilization remained in the Human Sphere and the Alliance really didn’t like that idea.

Rather than see that happen, the Ravens sent Gamma Nova, led by the Conqueror, to support the Taurians. It arrived over Mendham in 3093 and supported a Trinity alliance squadron in shattering the Capellan Second Fleet. With the Capellans on the run and unable to hold the world, the Ravens reminded the Taurians of the “promoting peace” section of the Treaty of Taurus. They also informed the Taurians of their projections about the future of the war and strongly suggested that the Taurians pursue peace. The Taurians listened and sent Janice Calderon to secure an end to war.

The Conqueror and Gamma Nova returned to Alliance space in 3094 and the Raven Alliance has successfully maintained its neutrality since. Raids are common, allowing the Ravens to gauge the quality of their neighbors, but full-scale warfare is averted. The Robinson Republic in fact buys many aerospace assets from the Raven Alliance, including fighters, some DropShips, and even some small WarShips. They also hire Raven technical support programs to keep them running, a business model the Ravens are rather proud of. Relations with the Draconis Combine are less friendly, but that realm is surrounded by nations unfriendly to it and lacks the ability to concentrate on the Ravens. Still the border is not friendly and raids tend to be more damaging on that border than on the border with the Republic. But the Raven Alliance continues to be a strong realm in the Human Sphere, with a powerful fleet to back up the growing power of its recovering economy.

Military

Like both the Snow Raven Clan and the Outworlds Alliance that came before, the Raven Alliance emphasizes the might of a navy over that of ground forces. With one dozen ships of battleship class or greater in their fleet, they field a navy that is a match for any force in the Human Sphere. Escorted by smaller WarShips, combat DropShips, and fighters, the Alliance fleets have brought many pirates low. A regiment or galaxy of ground forces supports each naval formation, though these rarely see action due to the capability of the fleets to stop attackers cold. They prefer to remain in Alliance space though, minding their own business, or flying with Sea Fox trading convoys to make extra money as escorts on the side. Elements of the large Alliance transport fleet also often deploy with Sea Fox convoys, especially the Bold Venture convoy whose commander they like. The Raven Alliance military accepts anyone who can pass their tests, whether they are freeborn or trueborn. While some trueborns still hold to the old ways of denigrating freeborns, such actions are not accepted in the Raven Alliance. What you can do is what matters, not whether you were born in a tube or a womb.

The Combat Fleet

First Alliance Air Regiment: The Flying Nightmares – Conqueror-class Courageous
Second Alliance Air Regiment: The Thunderbirds – Conqueror-class Illustrious
Corvus Keshik – Nightlord-class Snow Raven; Aegis-class Blue Quest
Alpha Nova: The Swift Wings – McKenna-class James McKenna; Aegis-class White Terror
Beta Nova: The Storm Crows – Texas-class Montbatton; Conqueror-class Arc Royal
Gamma Nova: The War Hawks – Conqueror-class Conqueror; Aegis-class Black Justice
Delta Nova: The Shadow Griffins – Conqueror-class Colossus; Aegis-class Blue Lancer

Conqueror-class Implacable under construction

The Transport Fleet

Carrack-class Nestling, Venture Star
Potemkin-class Bonaventure, Eden Rose, Rook, Snowflake, Treachery, Wild Swan
Volga-class Scavenger and Tenacity

Factories

Alpheratz – Alliance Defenders Limited – Locust IIC, Merlin IIC, Phoenix Hawk IIC, Stinger IIC, and Wasp IIC BattleMechs; Centaur and Satyr ProtoMechs; Elemental BattleArmor
– Mountain Wolf BattleMechs – Night Hawk IIC BattleMech
– Arenthir Electronics – various electronics systems

Cerberus – Hades Industriplex – Black Raven (Viper), Horned Owl (Peregrine), Incubus (Vixen), and Shadow Hawk IIC BattleMechs; Roc ProtoMech Hydaspes AeroSpace fighter

Lushann – Lushann Industrials Limited – energy weapons

Medron – Axel Industries – Griffin IIC, Phoenix Hawk IIC, and Stinger IIC BattleMechs; Minotaur and Roc ProtoMechs; Icarus BattleArmor; Issus AeroSpace Fighter; Anhur and Donar VTOLs; Ishtar and Svantovit tanks

Mitchella – United Outworlders Corporation – Hunter IIC and Vedette IIC tanks; LRM and SRM Carriers

Praxton – Praxton Fusion Products Limited – fusion engines

Quatre Belle – Conqueror Battleship

Ramora – United Outworlders Corporation – Bashkir, Corax-C, and Visigoth Omnifighters; Lightning IIC and Seydlitz IIC fighters
– Yatsura Industriplex – Black Hawk, Kit Falcon (Uller), Timber Hawk (Mad Cat), and Warhawk (Masakari) OmniMechs; Cererops, Chrysaor, Gorgon, and Roc ProtoMechs; Aerie and Sylph BattleArmors
– Rumiko Industriplex – Arcadia, Carrier, and Overlord-C DropShips
– Lum Memorial Industriplex – Fredasa destroyer, Alliance frigate; Comitatus JumpShip

Sevon – Alliance Motors Ltd. – ICE engines
– Alliance Mining and Geology – armor

Tancredi IV – Precision Weaponry – Griffin IIC, Rifleman IIC, and Stinger IIC BattleMechs; Roc ProtoMech; Chaeronea AeroSpace Fighter; lasers

Systems

Alpheratz – The capital of the Raven Alliance, this world is simultaneously one of two hearts of Alliance industry and research, and a major grower of foodstuffs that support the population in the cities. It has been free of enemy raiders since the Snow Ravens moved in, a state of affairs that has kept the populace happy and willing to work with the Clan.

Antallos (Port Krin) – A hot, dry world slightly smaller than Terra, Antallos consists mostly of rough terrain and hard baked deserts. A small patch of jungle runs along the equatorial belt, and the world has two small polar caps. Antallos' surface is a single landmass with no oceans. Several seas dot the surface, only one of which contains any sizable islands. It was originally colonized as an independent system by numerous businesses during the twenty-seventh century, but the Succession Wars destroyed its ordered government and left dozens of city-states vying for control. It once again became a neutral trading port, but the trades became more piratical, with slavery being common. The Raven Alliance captured the world from the pirates that controlled it in 3073 and have maintained loose control of it since then. Port Krin has become a safe city, guarded by their ground and air forces, and is the primary neutral port in that region of space, seeing traders from every realm in the Human Sphere. The rest of the world they have allowed to continue as the inhabitants wish, leaving the city-states to fight their wars with each other and the Free Zones remain a threat for anyone without an Alliance citizenship. All a citizen of the Alliance has to do is show their papers to any raider and they are fully cared for and given full freedoms as the Alliance has razed entire city-states for harming a single hair on a citizen’s head. Or for allowing harm to come to one.

Bad News – The headquarters of the Nineteenth Galedon Regulars, a force suspected of performing numerous piratical actions in the decades before the Jihad, when the Raven Alliance assaulted the Draconis Combine in un-official support of the Nova Cats, this was one of their primary targets. They hit the world in 3089, utterly destroying the Nineteenth while ignoring any attempted surrenders of the bandits. This is simply one of many instances where the Ravens have shown their complete antipathy towards pirates.

Baliggora – Once a major Explorer Corps headquarters, this world continues to be important to ComStar and they maintain an advanced base there to this day. Working with the Ravens, is believed that they have developed a number of new technologies here in the last twenty years.

Bryceland – Known for placing pragmatism over politics, the Bryceland DMM was quick to accept the Word of Blake’s demands during the Jihad. Wishing only to keep the worlds under their protection safe, they declared themselves neutral and the Word ignored them in favor of more important targets. After the Jihad ended, Bryceland continued to maintain its independence from the surrounding nations. In the years since, Bryceland found its systems slowly spinning away, some going independent, some returning to the Robinson Republic, and some joining the Raven Alliance as its power expanded. With only a handful of worlds still under its direction in 3095, Bryceland finally chose to join the Raven Alliance, seeing its growing power as the best chance for Bryceland to become stronger. The fact that Bryceland was once a member of the Outworlds Alliance oddly had little to do with its final decision, though the former Alliance worlds under its command were overjoyed in many cases. The worlds that had never been a part of the Alliance though either spun off on their own or joined Robinson, leaving Bryceland with only a fraction of the control it once had.

Budingen – The massacre of civilians by the Star League in 2582 has never been forgotten and it leaves this world heavily against the new Star League. It slipped into the Raven Alliance in 3090 without any measurable conflict though, an oddity considering the Raven’s ancestry as the Star League. This duel hatred of the Star League, odd acceptance of the Ravens, and even more odd acceptance of membership in the new Star League is a pattern in the Alliance where the Old Periphery peoples heavily dominate the population.

Cerberus – A desert world, this was one of many Alliance worlds to feel the bite of General “Baby Killer” Forlough during the Star League invasion of the Old Periphery. After Forlough was removed though, this world hosted the peace talks that resulted in the Alliance’s full surrender to the Star League. The Ravens have rebuilt its long-shattered industrial base in hopes that it will never again be forced to host such a conference.

Dante – An agricultural world with a mild climate, it grows many grains and other seasonal crops. Home to the remains of the Omniss cult, during the Jihad terrorists from this world caused much damage to the Outworlds Alliance. The Ravens made short work of the terrorists, destroying their primary training centers, though the ground occupation proved to be much harder than the initial aerial campaign. It took ten years for the terrorists to be fully rooted out, and even to this day small pockets remain. The Omniss cult itself, almost critically injured by the war, is oddly enough a pacifist cult that preaches the use of no technology. The Ravens have placed a constant garrison on the world, a reversal over 150 years of tradition, and have installed an HPG in the system to keep their garrison in touch with the rest of the Alliance. What few Omniss remain protest the presence of this technology, but so far incidents have been kept to a minimum.

Delos IV – This world’s only claim to fame is that it was here that the Wolf’s Dragoons arrived in the Inner Sphere almost a century ago in 3005. One wonders how they would have been accepted had we known at the time how drastically the future would change with their arrival.

Dormandaine – Dormandaine is a rich agricultural planet settled in 2990 by the Gregorian Creed, many of whom have managed to acquire considerable wealth by building large cattle and other meat-producing herds. The Gregorians live in large extended families, which reflects the basic Gregorian belief that multiple marriages are necessary to repopulate the many shattered and war-weary worlds of the Alliance. Most Gregorians are married to several different spouses, with internal family councils playing the role of political legislatures and councils.

Groveld III – Groveld III is an arid mining world, with its population centered in seven cities.

Haynesville – The citizens of this world still celebrate their victory over the Star League in 2582, where farmers and merchants forced the invaders to surrender their arms. General “Baby Killer” Forlough had the commander of the Star League force executed for “cowardice under fire” after he arrived to “teach the riffraff how to treat their betters.” The date of Forlough’s death is a recognized planetary holiday here, much as it is on many other worlds.

Jordan Wais – This world is named after the founder of an ancient game company whose name is lost to time and corporate takeovers. Numerous companies claim to be the original, but none of their claims have been verified to this day. This world is devoted entirely to the art of gaming design, and the companies make anything from board games to hyper-advanced virtual reality computer games. MechWarrior 3098, the most recent game in the hyper-realistic BattleMech simulation genre, has sold hundreds of trillions of copies throughout the Human Sphere, making Microsoft’s Sony Gaming Division a very impressive profit. Of more interest is the tabletop version where players move small metal representations of BattleMechs that they paint across maps that represent the battlefield, using tablets and pointers or paper and pencils to mark off damage. Dice or random number generators are used to randomize the chances of victory or defeat, meaning that even the most perfect ambush can go horribly wrong with a string of bad rolls. The hardcore version without any computer support is taught in schools to help children gain the understanding of basic maths, though often adults use tablets to automatically generate the information they need, and sometimes even to role the dice for them. This game and derivations of it are played throughout the Human Sphere. One of the most famous players of the game is Doctor R. Raisley of Solaris who claims to have a Warhammer made out of the armor of the Black Widow’s old Warhammer, making it a very rare and very valuable miniature.

Kennard – This is one of the many agricultural worlds in the Raven Alliance. Denied basic technologies for centuries, the majority of the worlds in the Alliance have little need for technology beyond that needed to farm. The arrival of the Ravens has helped very little. The Ravens mainly send small recruiting teams with advanced technologies to the various worlds of the Alliances to find the rare freeborns capable of matching trueborn piloting and fighting capabilities.

Kilbourne – The Kilbourne Academy happily spearheaded a revolt against the Federated Suns when the Word of Blake gave them the choice of dying for the Davions or living alone. They remained independent until 3072 when a Raven Alliance force arrived to support them against the various raiders beginning to prey on the fracturing Federation Outback. The Academy has since become a valuable part of the Alliance, with the Ravens upgrading the AeroSpace pilot and technical training degrees to Clan education levels. With enrollment open to anyone in the abandoned Outback, as well as to Alliance citizens, the civilian side of the school especially sees a number of students from the Outback looking to improve their lot in life.

Lushann – A semi-arctic world, Lushann is the main source of petrochemical production and refinement in the Alliance. Because of the planet's lengthy orbit and the weakness of its parent sun, much of Lushann's northern hemisphere is covered in permafrost. A number of small domed cities house the planet’s technicians, and the arctic regions are home to a regular series of martial games where MechWarriors and pilots compete with others of their kind to prove their capabilities.

Medron – Home of Axel Industries, after General “Baby Killer” Forlough conquered this world in late 2581, he ordered one in ten civilians executed as an example to others. This “Red Christmas” has never been forgotten, even when most of the inhabitants fled the world after the Star League failed. Those that remained slowly recovered from the loss of Star League technologies and bootstrapped themselves back to self-dependency on a far lower level of technology than that enjoyed before. A Raven survey squadron found the world in 3083 on a routine mapping expedition of formerly colonized systems, meeting the world’s primitive chemical rocket propelled spacecraft in orbit. They have helped modernize the world’s industrial base and Axel Industries is now one of the Alliance’s primary BattleMech, AeroSpace fighter, and vehicle construction centers.

Pitkin – Another agricultural world, life here is simple, with little of the hustle and bustle of more technologically-rich worlds.

Pondicherry – The capture of this world, and its impressive number of civilians so far out near the Old Periphery, was a major goal of the Raven Alliance when it attacked the Draconis Combine in 3090. Combine defense of the population center was minimal, due to their efforts in other sectors, and Ravens have defended the world well since then to keep the Dragon from taking it back. The world is constantly home to a large number of recruiting teams attempting to find the rare freeborns capable of matching a trueborn in warrior instincts and reflexes.

Praxton – Home to a major defense force designed to protect its fusion engine factories, this world rarely sends support to other planets when hit by raiders. This has generated a certain amount of friction between it and the rest of the Alliance, but the planetary presidents have enforced this policy for decades regardless.

Quantraine – A xenophobic world, resulting from a plague that wiped out 60 percent of its population in 3020. The Islamic survivors called out for support from the other Islamic enclaves in the Alliance and nearly five hundred thousand colonists now service the planet’s mines. Traders from outside the Alliance, except the Sea Fox traders that are known for being careful, are categorically banned from entering the system. This means that only Alliance factors and the Sea Foxes have access to the precious gems and metals mined here.

Ramora – The nexus of the Taoist religion in the Alliance, when the Snow Ravens effectively took over the world they were careful not to antagonize the locals. While they have greatly increased the manufacturing capabilities of the world, the Ravens live on reservations separate from the older Outworlder cities. This separation has allowed both the Clan and the Taoist cultures to thrive as they support each other with products while not interfering with each other. Ramora has the single largest concentration of Snow Ravens in the Alliance, as it was the first place Raven convoys arrived while they were evacuating the Clan Homeworlds. Most civilians have chosen not to leave their new home, only moving elsewhere when directed by the Clan. As there are more than enough civilians on other Alliance worlds, this is relatively rare, resulting in the large concentration of Clan civilians here.

Sevon – A temperate and largely unsettled world, Sevon was a principle target during the Reunification War, when most of its agrarian population was killed outright. Presently, some two million inhabitants occupy the planet, most gathered along the planet's equatorial zone. The planet's southern continent boasts House Avellar's private estate of several hundred square kilometers. Generally, Sevonities are hard-working but suspicious of any offworlder, whether he is a citizen of the Alliance or not. The principle city of Sevon is Shandahar, located on an island chain near the planet's equator.

Tabayama – Once the capital of the Combine’s Periphery Prefecture, the capture of this world from the Dragon effectively shattered what remained of Combine power near the Old Periphery. Menaced by whitetail deer for centuries, the world employs nearly 3 million hunters only to hunt the fast little breeders. The Ravens have offered to aid the planet with their advanced medical science, and have actually bred a deer with dominant genes that would make future generations of deer infertile. The Hunters’ International Labor Union has blocked the introduction of these methods of deer control to this day.

Tancredi IV – Not colonized until the 2570s because the original survey report was lost, this world promises bountiful harvests of food and rich metal veins beneath the surface. Once one of the production powerhouses of House Davion, the First Succession War shattered the world and its factories. During the Jihad it followed Bryceland into independence and used its remaining factories to support the Bryceland military. In 3095 it was one of the last worlds still under Bryceland control, and was one of the few that followed it into the Raven Alliance. The Ravens have since heavily retooled and expanded all of its factories, allowing it to now produce full Clan-tech weapons of war.

Tellman IV – An arctic mining world, this was the site of the Day of Vengeance in 2583, when the Outworlds Alliance trapped and stopped General Forlough’s “Baby Killers.” Though the mammoth battle was not enough to stop the Star League, it did badly bloody Forlough’s troops. The Day of Vengeance is still celebrated every autumn, with burning effigies of the “Baby Killer” favorites of the locals.

Weisau – This system has two inhabited worlds, Fire and Brimstone. Brimstone, the first of the colonized worlds, is an extremely tectonically active world, thanks to its twin world Fire that continually assaults it with tidal forces. Rich metals are continually churned to the surface by volcanic explosions that taint the air and make it unhealthy, though not deadly, for humans. Brimstone’s density gives it a gravitational pull higher than Terran normal, and its natives tend to be stronger than the average human. It is here that the vast majority of freeborn elementals come from in fact. Fire was not colonized until after the Raven Alliance conquered this system in 3090. The colony is still very new, but it promises to be profitable in the future. It has a low density and gravity and lacks many of the riches of his larger brother, which is the reason it was never colonized before. The limited volcanism of the world makes it easier to build on though, and the Alliance has begun to use it as “off world housing and support” for the mines of Brimstone.

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible :blah:
[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?


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 9:10 am 
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Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General

Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2005 1:43 pm
Posts: 549
Location: Muskego, Wisconsin
So out of morbid Curiuosity Medron, I don't suppose you have condensed this down to a written form which can easily be read (mainly not sifting through all the posts and revisions), and would you be willing to post it?

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"Yesterday is history; Tomorrow is a Mystery; and today is a gift, which is why it is called a present." Master Uguay Kung fu Panda.


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 10:02 am 
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Sergeant
Sergeant

Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2003 5:37 am
Posts: 56
Location: Pennsylvania
*cough* you haven't mentioned anything about the clans in the homeworlds in any detail medron. Come on ;-) your better then that :D Your not done, your just getting started! *cough* Especially the Star Adders and their Uplison galaxy they sent to the IS in 3067 *cough*


Oh and as for the rest?



*stands*

*clap*

*clap* *clap*

*clap* *clap* *clap*

*clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*

*clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*

*clap* *clap* *clap* *clap*

You better take a bow for all this hard work and effort man, this is how I think the Dark Ages should be. It's thought out, it's concise, and it doesn't give any power a major advantage over the others.

Well done my friend, seriously and with as much praise as I can give, Well done!

_________________
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


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 10:50 am 
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Loki
Loki

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2001 8:00 pm
Posts: 11444
Location: Minnesnowta
*Medron blushes*

Upsilon Galaxy...

*Medron waves his hand*

That is not the Galaxy you are looking for. ;-)

As for a place to look at this stuff.

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

Not all of the nations have been uploaded there but they will be soon now that I have time to do it...:-)

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible :blah:
[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?


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 11:21 am 
Offline
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General

Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2005 1:43 pm
Posts: 549
Location: Muskego, Wisconsin
GReat, So far from what I have read I have liked it tons better than the Other Alternate reality. At least yours gives a starting place to continue on in the same type of technology instead of reverting back. Noit too mention the possibilityies for Mercernaries

_________________
"Yesterday is history; Tomorrow is a Mystery; and today is a gift, which is why it is called a present." Master Uguay Kung fu Panda.


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 5:24 pm 
Offline
Loki
Loki

Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2001 8:00 pm
Posts: 11444
Location: Minnesnowta
There are Mercenaries all over the place. :-)

The most visible and the "big daddies" of the mercenary trade are the Federated Suns Mercenary Corps and the Allied Mercenary Command of the Wolf's Dragoons.

Darn it...bloody heck. I DO have another faction to writeup. Two bloody planets and I bloody didn't think about it.

*Medron whimpers*

Anyways, back on target, mercs are common and those are just the big ones. There are many many others, many who used to be in House militaries and left during the Jihad in fact. hehehe

_________________
Medron Pryde - The Great and Terrible :blah:
[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?


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