Sell Me On Your FWL Region

[Sartris]

So ComStar called...  ;)

THE EXTREMISTS GET WHAT THEY DESERVE

Honestly, if I ever get around to doing any FW Guards, I plan to take some artistic liberties and go with a base of light/metallic grey with secondary purple and gold accents like on the cover of the revised House Marik book.  Looks way sharper IMO.

This is intriguing

[Kojak]

I'll be honest, I'm an Oriente man through and through. They're the backbone of the League, the one state without which the League could not properly be called such.

[The Eagle]

I'll be honest, I'm an Oriente man through and through. They're the backbone of the League, the one state without which the League could not properly be called such.

And I'd argue that Oriente shares that claim with the Marik Commonwealth and Principality of Regulus.  When the League was founded, the Commonwealth brought military strength; Oriente brought culture and learning; and Regulus brought wealth and trade.  Together, they birthed a well-rounded state, and the League just doesn't seem like the League without all three working together.  I can admit that Regulus is my least favorite of the three founding provinces, but I appreciate the need for the Mariks to have a foil, and I'm glad that the post-Jihad madness is apparently over with now that Regulus has been re-incorporated.

[Kojak]

There's a reason it was Oriente and not the other two states that successfully re-established the League after its downfall; it's because Oriente was and always has been the strongest of those three states, not just culturally but militarily too. The Fusiliers of Oriente have always been the elite of the provincial forces for as long as they've been portrayed. And with the Oriente Hussars to boot, it leaves the Duchy as the one province that can field two full brigades of crack troops; the others can field one at best.

[The Eagle]

There's a reason it was Oriente and not the other two states that successfully re-established the League after its downfall; it's because Oriente was and always has been the strongest of those three states, not just culturally but militarily too. The Fusiliers of Oriente have always been the elite of the provincial forces for as long as they've been portrayed. And with the Oriente Hussars to boot, it leaves the Duchy as the one province that can field two full brigades of crack troops; the others can field one at best.

The reason Oriente was the only Free Worlds remnant state in a position to re-establish the League is not because it was the most powerful; it's because the MSC was too busy getting double-teamed by the Wolves and Lyrans.  I'm not denigrating Oriente, but the MSC possessed Keystone (site of Earthwerks-FWL, the largest 'Mech manufacturer in the League zone), and Stewart (home of Corean Enterprises, one of its most advanced 'Mech manufacturers), Atreus (points for being the League capital, plus there's the Eagle Corps and SAFE headquarters to consider; plus the Athene Combat School, Atreus OCS, and Free Worlds Technical Institute), and New Olympia (home of both the Allison MechWarrior Institute and Lloyd-Marik Stanley Academy).  That's a lot of military, government, and educational assets under the MSC's suzerainty. Oriente was stacked with excellent combat units, sure, but so was the MSC.  The difference was that Oriente faced a CapCon focused on the opposite direction and an Andurien content to leave well enough alone.  The MSC had the Lyrans and the Wolves beating down the front door while the Regulans were sneaking in the back.

[Sartris]

i feel like it took far too long for an argument to break out in a thread about FWL parochialism. we have failed as a nation.

[jklantern]

Y'know, I don't recall seeing a dedicated Oriente fan on here.  They're a faction that I WANT to like; they have the Crazy Second, they're Greco-Italian...but for some reason, I just have trouble getting into them.

[The Eagle]

When I first settled on the FWL as the "faction for me," I initially latched on to Oriente.  Harlan Allison was a tragic war hero, the Halas family has been a fixture of League leadership, both government and military, ever since.  Their military is large, well-equipped, and has lots of character (Ducal Guard?  Zero-G operators.  1st Fusiliers?  Crazy and inventive.  3rd Fusiliers?  Planetary assault specialists.  1st Hussars?  Heavy-weight bruisers.  2nd Hussars?  They're crazy.  3rd Hussars?  Experts at pre-planned operations under radio silence.).  But like you said, JK, I just had some trouble really feeling an attachment.  I decided to embrace the Free Worlds as a whole instead, and I've been a Parliamentary Federalist ever since.

[Colt Ward]

The Eagle, the MSC did not get Stewart back until they were nearly dead from Hammerfall . . . it was never a asset they could use post-Jihad.  Its why the Silverhawks got stomped IIRC.  And when Anson tried to grab it, he got burned by the Foxes & locals.

[Natasha Kerensky]

House Selaj and the Scourge of Death.  Regulan, but old school.