The Rasalhague Dominion: Friend of a Friend (but not your Friend)

[(SMD)MadCow]

Dire... Moth? heh!

Fund it!

Sounds like a design challenge to me!

[Jellico]

Naw.  Not so much because the Balius overlaps with the Mad Dog III or the Karhu, but because it sucks so much.

I'd say start over and make a clean-sheet Bear quad.

Otherwise convert the Balius and/or the Black Hawk (Standard) lines at Manufacturing Site #3 to Stormcrows (or Skinwalkers?). 

Also reinvent the Viper (optimize at 7/11/7 speed, add TSM?) by converting the Parash and/or Black Hawk (Standard) lines.

And develop a hardened, more survivable Fire Moth from the Locust IIC line.

Of course who owns the factory and who geta the product are two different things with Trials in play.

The Horses could have a long standing Trial enforced order for Balius.
Or the Bears might not have the right to build any of these Mechs despite owning the factory.

[wantec]

Of course who owns the factory and who geta the product are two different things with Trials in play.

The Horses could have a long standing Trial enforced order for Balius.
Or the Bears might not have the right to build any of these Mechs despite owning the factory.

Not to mention the Balius was originally assembled by hand, so any "factory" they had could have been moved prior to taking New Oslo without our knowledge. Unless I missed it somewhere in the existing books.

[ANS Kamas P81]

Typically I run
3 Assaults, 2 Heavies
1 Assault, 2 Heavies, 2 Mediums
1 Heavy, 2 Mediums, 1 Light.

What about something like the 357th Assault Cluster?  Been reading up on 3145 some more, and the whole Vega situation, I kind of like that 'hanging out in the middle of a battlefield trying to keep order' situation they were in until the absorption of the protectorate.  I imagine they'd keep their general format for weight classes, so I do wonder how you'd break down an assault cluster by weight - one Striker Trinary like you have there, and then two Assault Trinaries with...say:

3 Assaults, 2 Heavies
2 Assault, 2 Heavies, 1 Mediums
2 Assault, 2 Heavies, 1 Mediums

for the rest?  First star, slip in fast assaults with slower gunboat heavies, the second and third star run slower gunboat assaults with the heavies as a maneuver force and the mediums as fast infielders?

[Jellico]

These are the big boys in Invading Clans

304TH ASSAULT CLUSTER
THE HOWLING BEARS
Star Colonel Paul Vishio
Supernova Trinary Command (Star Captain Dillan Vong)
Alpha, Bravo and Charlie Command Stars (5 OmniMechs, 5 Elemental Points each)

321 st Assault Trinary (Star Captain Vegara Ortiz)
Alpha, Bravo and Charlie Assault Stars (5 OmniMechs each)

14th Assault Supernova (Star Captain Bernard Bazso)
Alpha, Bravo and Charlie Assault Stars (5 OmniMechs, 5 Elemental Points each)

72nd Assault Tri nary (Star Captain Edwin Bekker)
Alpha, Bravo and Charlie Assault Stars (5 OmniMechs each)

1st Elemental Support Binary (Star Captain Ossin Vong)
Alpha and Bravo Elemental Stars (5 Elemental Points each)


332ND ASSAULT CLUSTER
THE IOWA BLACKLANCERS
Star Colonel Seija Harlow
Trinary Command (Star Captain Gosvoda Nuyriev)
Alpha, Bravo and Charlie Command Stars (5 OmniMechs each) Tango Fighter Support Star (10 Fighters)

469th Assault Trinary (Star Captain Pinter Hall)
Alpha and Bravo Assault Stars (5 OmniMechs each) Charlie Elemental Star (5 Elemental Points)

2133rd Striker Trinary (Star Captain Jillian Snuka)
Alpha, Bravo and.Charlie Striker Stars (5 OmniMechs each)

23rd Elemental Support Binary (Star Captain Alan Kabrinski)
Alpha and Bravo Elemental Stars (5 Elemental Points each)

Delta Fighter Trinary (Star Captain Lucien Bourjon)
Alpha, Bravo and Charlie Fighter Stars (1 0 Fighters each)



8TH BEAR CUIRASSIERS
THE BLINDING DRIVE
Star Colonel Dana Vishio
Trinary Command (Star Captain Trudy Devon)
Alpha, Bravo and Charlie Command Stars (10 Fighters each)

286th Assault Tri nary (Star Captain Dimon Bekker)
Alpha, Bravo and Charlie Assault Stars (5 OmniMechs each)

90th Striker Trinary (Star Captain Della Ortiz)
Alpha, Bravo and Charlie Striker Stars (5 OmniMechs each)

56th Elemental Support Trinary (Star Captain Tamm Hakimi)
Alpha, Bravo Charlie Elemental Stars (5 Elemental Points each)

47th Fighter Binary (Star Captain Endo Kabrinski)
Alpha and Bravo Fighter Stars (10 Fighters each)

To summarize,

304TH ASSAULT CLUSTER
So 9 Assault Stars, 3 Command Stars, and 8 Elemental Stars

332ND ASSAULT CLUSTER
2 Assault Stars, 3 Command Stars, 3 Striker Stars, 3 Elemental Stars, 4 ASF Stars

8TH BEAR CUIRASSIERS
3 Assault Stars, 3 Striker Stars, 3 Elemental Stars, 5 ASF Stars

I am going to assume the Command Stars are Battle Stars.

So Assault Clusters aren't that heavy. They just have a few Assault Stars ('Mech, ASF etc) to provide bite.

The 357th could be anything. It started the Vega campaign under strength due to the antebellum and may have been relying on tanks for firepower. I don't have the novel to know. They were certainly using Constables rather than Elementals. I suspect until 3145 they would have been happy with what they could get.
After then? Well there is a strong element of players here who consider Omega to be traitors with good reason. The 357th may well be facing a case of getting what they are given and having to like it.

[ANS Kamas P81]

Interesting POV.  And, I admit I haven't read a BT novel since...uh...before FASA shut down.  It's been a while.  I've read up on what happened in Vega, and the Omega Galaxy's effective defection and then reabsorption, but I noted that in FM3145 that after 3137 they use normal RD RATs, so it seems their supply problem has been mostly fixed.  Otherwise, it's just 'throw bones on the random tables and see what happens' I take it?

Gonna make star organization fun with that '2 kuritan, 2 raf, 1 rasdom per star' rule.

[Zeruel]

These are the big boys in Invading Clans
To summarize,
...
So Assault Clusters aren't that heavy. They just have a few Assault Stars ('Mech, ASF etc) to provide bite.

just to remind everyone (and I'm sure Jellico always has this in mind), Bear Clusters are generally heavier than their counterparts in other Clans to begin with, so saying Bear Assault Clusters aren't that heavy is relative

[Jellico]

Also you need to be smart. Eg. When I suggest 1 heavy, 2 mediums, and 2 lights the heavy would be a Mad Dog or Stormcrow rather than a Timberwolf.

[SteveRestless]

Stormcrow's a medium.

[Jellico]

I recognized that as I posted.

The Stormcrow and Mad Dog fill the medium trooper  role. Yes we say that all the time. The point is look at what the rest of the Star is doing. If it is clearly a Striker Star don't use a slow Mech.

[Jellico]

Okay. Here are some idealised Stars from various eras. Note. Idealised. Move equipment up from previous eras for battle damage etc.
Eg, post 3060 the PGCs were running a large % of Star League tech as the Bear Regulars lost their OmniMechs to the Frontline Clusters post Tukayyid with the 'Mech factories lost in Leviathan hulls traversing the Exodus route.

Front Line   2820         
Assault Star            
Assault   Assault   Assault   Heavy   Heavy
Annihilator   King Crab   Thug   Black Knight   Champion
            
Battle Star            
Assault   Heavy   Heavy   Medium   Medium
Thug   Black Knight   Champion   Sentinel   Wyvern
            
Striker Star            
Heavy   Medium   Medium   Light   Light
Champion   Crab   Sentinal   Thorn   Hermes

Front Line   3050         
Assault Star            
Assault   Assault   Assault   Heavy   Heavy
Executioner   Warhawk   Kingfisher   Mad Dog   Mad Dog
            
Battle Star            
Assault   Heavy   Heavy   Medium   Medium
Executioner   Summoner   Mad Dog   Nova   Viper
            
Striker Star            
Heavy   Medium   Medium   Light   Light
Mad Dog   Storm Crow   Viper   Adder   Firemoth

Second Line   3050         
Assault Star            
Assault   Assault   Assault   Heavy   Heavy
Kodiak   Kodiak   Supernova   Grizzly   Glass Spider
            
Battle Star            
Assault   Heavy   Heavy   Medium   Medium
Kodiak   Grizzly   Thresher   Shadowhawk IIC2   Wyvern IIC
            
Striker Star            
Heavy   Medium   Medium   Light   Light
Thresher   Shadowhawk IIC2   Shadowhawk IIC2   Horned Owl   Jenner IIC

Front Line   3067         
Assault Star            
Assault   Assault   Assault   Heavy   Heavy
Executioner   Warhawk   Kingfisher   Mad Dog   Mad Dog
            
Battle Star            
Assault   Heavy   Heavy   Medium   Medium
Executioner   Summoner   Mad Dog   Nova   Viper
            
Striker Star            
Heavy   Medium   Medium   Light   Light
Mad Dog   Storm Crow   Viper   Adder   Firemoth

Second Line   3067      
Assault Star         
Assault   Assault   Assault   Heavy   Heavy
Kodiak   Kodiak   Supernova   Grizzly   Arcas
         
Battle Star         
Assault   Heavy   Heavy   Medium   Medium
Kodiak   Grizzly   Arcas   Clint IIC   Ursus
         
Striker Star         
Heavy   Medium   Medium   Light   Light
Arcas   Shadowhawk IIC2   Clint IIC   Horned Owl   Jenner IIC

Front Line   3085         
Assault Star            
Assault   Assault   Assault   Heavy   Heavy
Executioner   Executioner   Kingfisher   Mad Dog   Mad Dog
            
Battle Star            
Assault   Heavy   Heavy   Medium   Medium
Executioner   Karhu   Mad Dog   Nova   Viper
            
Striker Star            
Heavy   Medium   Medium   Light   Light
Karhu   Storm Crow   Viper   Adder   Firemoth

Second Line   3085         
Assault Star            
Assault   Assault   Assault   Heavy   Heavy
Kodiak   Marauder IIC 4   Bruin   Grizzly   Arcas
            
Battle Star            
Assault   Heavy   Heavy   Medium   Medium
Kodiak   Grizzly   Arcas   Ursus II   Ursus
            
Striker Star            
Heavy   Medium   Medium   Light   Light
Arcas   Clint IIC   SHD-12C Shadowhawk   Bear Cub   Locust IIC

Front Line   3140         
Assault Star            
Assault   Assault   Assault   Heavy   Heavy
Executioner   Executioner   Kodiak   Mad Dog Mk III   Mad Dog Mk III
            
Battle Star            
Assault   Heavy   Heavy   Medium   Medium
Executioner   Karhu   Mad Dog Mk IV   Mongrel   Ursus
            
Striker Star            
Heavy   Medium   Medium   Light   Light
Karhu   Storm Crow   Beowulf IIC   Locust IIC 8   Parash

Second Line   3140      
Assault Star         
Assault   Assault   Assault   Heavy   Heavy
Kodiak   Marauder IIC 7   Night Wolf   Arcas   Mad Dog
         
Battle Star         
Assault   Heavy   Heavy   Medium   Medium
Bruin   Arcas   Mad Dog   Ursus II   SHD-12C Shadowhawk
         
Striker Star         
Heavy   Medium   Medium   Light   Light
Kuma   Clint IIC   SHD-12C Shadowhawk   Bear Cub   Locust IIC 8

[ANS Kamas P81]

Four-Point stars in some of those secondline units?

[Jellico]

Blasted formatting. Fixed.

[Ascension]

Pardon me for bothering you all, on Thanksgiving no less, but I have a few questions I've not seen answered in anything I've read thus far about the Rasalhague Dominion (which, admittedly, doesn't include any relevant sourcebooks; I'm primarily going off Touring the Stars, Sarna, and hearsay)...

I'm 97% certain that, under unified RasDom rule, Rasalhague civilians have full use of their surnames, but what about the Ghost Bear civilians who were moved to the Sphere? Were they granted surnames of their own at some point? Are they assumed to have intermarried sufficiently with the Sphere-native civilians to have picked up their surnames (assuming the children of Sphere/Clan civilian pairings would be allowed to use the name of their Spheroid parent)? Would there still be any single-name civilians of pure Clan heritage around in the mid-3100s "present"?

How about Rasalhague natives who trial into the military? Would they lose the use of their surnames on becoming freeborn warriors? Might there be some kind of Bloodname-analogue trial in which they could potentially re-earn their names? Or would they only be able to resume the use of their surnames on retirement from the military?

Finally, is there any lasting distinction between Rasalhague-native freeborn warriors and Clan-native freeborn warriors? Would they generally be assigned to different Galaxies? Are the Rasalhague-native warriors considered to be Clan in the same way that bondsmen who earned their way into warrior-hood were/are considered to be Clan?

[SteveRestless]

I imagine the rasalhague civilians kept their surnames, though I doubt they get used for clan business/dealing with someone directly in the clan. I doubt that the lower caste members of the clans suddenly took up surnames though. I imagine that if you step up to being a clan warrior, you either don't use one, or use the honor name of "Ghost Bear" to show your pride at being deemed worthy. No trial to achieve a bloodname unless you do something that merits founding a corresponding bloodline/bloodhouse.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

On the other hand, native sphereoids in the Dominion's touman are using their own familiy names.. as evidenced by some of the officers listed in Fm3145.

I'd imagine both populations in the Dominion recognize both the significances of and differences beween family names and bloodnames.

I'd also imagine that given the hundreds of billions of sphereoids in the Dominion, there have to be lots of them that happen to have a family name that matches a bloodname.  I'd imagine that even in those cases the sphereoid isn't perceived as trying to usurp a title reseved for the elite of the warrior class. 

[Zeruel]

On the other hand, native sphereoids in the Dominion's touman are using their own familiy names.. as evidenced by some of the officers listed in Fm3145.

I'd imagine both populations in the Dominion recognize both the significances of and differences beween family names and bloodnames.

I'd also imagine that given the hundreds of billions of sphereoids in the Dominion, there have to be lots of them that happen to have a family name that matches a bloodname.  I'd imagine that even in those cases the sphereoid isn't perceived as trying to usurp a title reseved for the elite of the warrior class. 

regarding the native Rasalhagians in the touman using their own surnames...we know the RasDom has created new Bloodnames, so for all we know these are those new names and no native Rasalhagian in the touman uses a surname except those with these new Bloodnames...just a possibility

[WeaponX]

regarding the native Rasalhagians in the touman using their own surnames...we know the RasDom has created new Bloodnames, so for all we know these are those new names and no native Rasalhagian in the touman uses a surname except those with these new Bloodnames...just a possibility

Or maybe in the official documents its all spelt as one word, ie Star Commander Sven Eriksson is spelled as "SvenEriksson", so technically he only has "one" name :), and you can tell he was unbloodnamed and/or a freeborn, but in practice (ie outside of the official record keeping) they probably just spell it normally with the space between the name and surname (especially if he's posted to one of the Kungsarme descended Galaxies instead of the Ghost Bear ones).

[Ascension]

I doubt that the lower caste members of the clans suddenly took up surnames though.

I would be verrrry interested in a detailed look at how the Ghost Bear civilians are adapting to life in the Inner Sphere. Touring the Stars indicated that caste boundaries have been abolished outside the warrior phenotypes (although it also indicates that the warriors designated new "warrior-tech" and "warrior-scientist" castes to preserve and maintain their breeding program; at least some of the first generation of those castes could've been skilled civilian-caste workers quietly promoted to warrior because the alternative was losing their necessary skills), so they have theoretical access to significantly broader freedoms than they had under Clan rule. I imagine some have asserted and reveled in those freedoms, but there's inevitably a hardline Clan contingent tenaciously sticking to more Clanlike worlds and traditions. We've seen ethnically Rasalhague citizens struggling to adapt to living alongside their Clan neighbors, it'd be fun to see the inverse as well.

I'd also be interested in knowing if anyone, even at the level of scattered individual families, might've tracked any Clan civilian lineages with enough accuracy to know what a given freeborn person's surname would've been, if it hadn't been stripped at the founding of the Clans, but that's a highly speculative and off-topic matter.

Or maybe in the official documents its all spelt as one word, ie Star Commander Sven Eriksson is spelled as "SvenEriksson", so technically he only has "one" name :), and you can tell he was unbloodnamed and/or a freeborn, but in practice (ie outside of the official record keeping) they probably just spell it normally with the space between the name and surname (especially if he's posted to one of the Kungsarme descended Galaxies instead of the Ghost Bear ones).

Heheh, this idea I like.

T'would also be interesting to see non-Bloodnamed trueborn warriors beginning to wear their lack of a surname beyond "Ghost Bear" as its own mark of honor, firmly asserting their trueborn origin in the midst of an increasingly Spheroid nation. Better no name at all than a freebirth name, quiaff?

[ANS Kamas P81]

we know the RasDom has created new Bloodnames

Source?  I'd love to know where this is from and maybe see if I can slip some unofficial ones in myself.

[Ascension]

Source?  I'd love to know where this is from and maybe see if I can slip some unofficial ones in myself.

Sarna cites the profile of Lars Magnusson in Era Report: 3145 as the source of the information that they created a Magnusson bloodname to honor Ragnar Magnusson. I can't personally point you toward any others, though I do recall that the named RasDom pilots in Age of Destruction all had very Scandinavian-sounding names; some of them could theoretically have been bearers of new bloodnames. Might be worth taking a look through those profiles as well.

[Foxx Ital]

Darn, got beaten mid reply! But yeah they made a Magnusson bloodname and apparently the rest of the clans were too busy during the jihad to stop and say "wait a minute!"
 So its possible the new "names" we're seeing are new bloodnames, or just freebirths allowed to retain theirs. Given the Current Khan is conservative, I'm putting my money on them having new bloodnames. I'm also making use of the "whatever works in your game" motto since as far as i know theres no official ruling on it.

[ANS Kamas P81]

Well, without a game, campaign, GM, or other players here I'm kind of in a whatever-goes state.  So lacking any other constraints I'll roll with canon stuff.

[Tyler Jorgensson]

So I'm working up an AU and I need names for some CGB ships besides what we already have.

Have about a dozen Corvettes and a dozen other ships to name including a Leviathan III

[marauder648]

So I'm working up an AU and I need names for some CGB ships besides what we already have.

Have about a dozen Corvettes and a dozen other ships to name including a Leviathan III

Hrm...

CGB Thunderchild (capital ship for sure)
CGB Guiding Star
CGB Ice Walker
CGB Simlidon
CGB Den Mother
CGB Borealis
CGB Wojtek (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojtek_(bear))
CGB Polaris

Just some I could think of off the top of my head :)

[Ascension]

Kuma Arashi  ("Bear Storm" in Japanese, and the title of a novel and play about a real string of bear attacks that occurred in Japan in 1915) might fit as a (rather obscure, admittedly) taunt toward the Draconis Combine.  ;)

(Yurikuma Arashi, on the other hand, only applies if the WarShip has an all-female crew...)

[David CGB]

Kuma Arashi  ("Bear Storm" in Japanese, and the title of a novel and play about a real string of bear attacks that occurred in Japan in 1915) might fit as a (rather obscure, admittedly) taunt toward the Draconis Combine.  ;)

(Yurikuma Arashi, on the other hand, only applies if the WarShip has an all-female crew...)

both are good for Corvettes or any other quick strikers

[Tyler Jorgensson]

Thanks for a couple names keep them coming if you got em: Kuma Arashi sounds perfect for one of my captured DCMS ships

[(SMD)MadCow]

Some rejected CGB naval vessel names:
Misha's Tutu
Corbinian's Porter
Smokey's Hat
Baloo's Nessecity

[ANS Kamas P81]

Hm, art, including music, is a major thing.  Would a RasDom mechwarrior star perhaps put a band together called the Bearnaked Ladies?