Author Topic: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars  (Read 480687 times)

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1290 on: 24 July 2016, 06:41:09 »
I seem to recall a few cameos of Chandra Ling with a speaking role in the Warrior trilogy, but that aside you're spot on.

You are correct - She gets two scenes in Riposte (October 15, 3027 and February 29, 3028), one where she authorizes the creation of the "crisis team" that reports directly to her, and one where they discuss the upcoming Davion-Steiner nuptials.  Still, she's much more of a mover and shaker in "Think Like a Liao," whereas in "Riposte," she just seems exhausted and stressed.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1291 on: 24 July 2016, 08:46:32 »
Date: January 12, 3026

Location: Poulsbo

Title: Sniper

Author: Jason Schmetzer

Type: Short Story

Synopsis:  In a dive bar in the city of Caramel, the Rusty Trigger, the waitress and bartender argue over the source for a lingering ozone smell.  It turns out to be coming from Private "Sniper" Jones, who's been sitting there quietly drinking Glengarry Black Label whiskey until a pair of Halsten's Brigade MPs come to bring him to the Colonel.  Sergeant Petty welcomes Jones back to the depot where his tank, "Headhunter," is parked.  Jones personally thinks of the tank as "Hell," and morosely wonders if the technicians managed to hose all of his former driver's remains out, killed during a clash the previous week with the Marik Militia forces that have been raiding Poulsbo for the last month.  Petty tells him to move out in ten minutes, with orders to target the Marik Militia commander.

Halsten's Brigade's Hammer Battalion, under Major Tucker Sears, moves to intercept a Marik Militia probe.  On "Headhunter," Sergeant Petty commands, Sniper mans the guns, and Private Delacroix is the new driver.  Hammer Battalion consists of one company of Schreks (Headhunter Company) and two companies of Demolishers (Granite and Echo Companies).  A medium Marik Militia lance attacks, and Headhunter takes out a Griffin and a Hermes II.  Delacroix is unsettled by a quirk of the tank, which redirects most of the fusion plant's power to the guns when they fire, cutting power to the drive train to a bare minimum until the system resets.  The Demolishers take out the rest of the FWL force.

The tanks halt at a field camp for the night.  Petty, Jones, and Delacroix sleep in Headhunter.  Jones still sees afterimages from the retina burns left by looking at the PPC shots during the battle.  He ponders that Halsten's promotion of Jones as "Sniper" has been overplayed for public relations, and notes that he's only put all three PPC shots through a 'Mech cockpit once - most of the time he just hits with one.

Major Sears congratulates Jones on his gunnery in they day's engagement, and asks him to go out with Headhunter and three other Schreks to scout the Marik Militia's defensive perimeter, identifying the optimal attack vector for Hammer Battalion the following morning.

Notes:  The title character in "Sniper" comes from Technical Readout 3026's Schrek entry, which notes that Private Frederick "Sniper" Jones never fails to pick out enemy commanders that kill them with a triple PPC shot to the head.  He first appeared in Dragon Magazine #114 (in the "Running Guns" article by Margaret Weis and Kevin Stein - October 1986) when the Schrek entry was reprinted there as part of a FASA effort to promote the upcoming TRO:3026 (copyright 1987).  Interestingly, the entries in Dragon Magazine are slightly longer and more detailed than the final versions in the Technical Readout.  The Dragon Magazine article makes Frederick less impressive, noting that he got a head hit with his PPC on the enemy commander three times, rather than "never failed to hit the head with all three PPCs," a significantly harder feat.

Actually, the Hetzer entry in "Running Guns" is even more divergent - with a tale that two bored Capellan commanders on the world of Exit slaved all their Hetzers to robotic drone controls, programmed autonomous algorithms, gave them live ammunition, and sent them out to battle each other for their amusement.  A Marik raiding force dropped right into the middle of the exercises, and were swarmed under.  Their last message warned of a planet crawling with berserk Hetzers.  The final TRO entry changes the setting from "Exit" to "Barras" and eliminates the robotics, just having live-crewed Hetzers destroying a Marik raiding force while on field maneuvers.

Halsten's Brigade is an interesting all-armor mercenary brigade that brings significant firepower to the battlefield and enjoys an excellent reputation, but gets ignored by ComStar and other sourcebook authors in favor of the flashier 'Mech regiments.  Still, while many 'Mech units are wiped out in the Civil War and the Jihad, Halsten's Brigade is still around by 3145, by which time it's working for the Venaria planetary government. 
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1292 on: 24 July 2016, 12:34:46 »
That would have been cool is the robotic controls had remained.  So the world Exit dont exist?
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Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1293 on: 24 July 2016, 14:03:13 »
That would have been cool is the robotic controls had remained.  So the world Exit dont exist?

There are now rules for drone controls for vehicles (and even for 'Mechs), so the drone Hetzers could be done for real. 

There is no world of Exit.  As I noted, that came from the "preview" article that appeared in Dragon Magazine - Margaret Weis probably wasn't working from an official map when she named "Exit."  By the time the final version came out in TRO:3026, FASA had done a lot more work to formalize the official starmap, and they changed it to Barras, which does fit, since it's on the Capellan/FWL border.  (If they'd wanted to be closer to the original version, though, they could have set it on Exedor, which is also on the League border.)
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1294 on: 24 July 2016, 15:16:09 »
Date: January 13, 3026

Location: Poulsbo

Title: Sniper

Author: Jason Schmetzer

Type: Short Story

Synopsis:  In the pre-dawn darkness, Jones' Schrek platoon moves towards the Marik lines.  A Wasp on picket duty approaches, but Jones cores it with his PPCs.  Advancing to a viewpoint, they find a Marik Union DropShip sitting in some defensive works that Marik Militia 'Mechs are in the process of constructing, only 500 meters away.  The DropShip shoots out a warning flare, and the 'Mechs turn towards the tank as the DropShip launches a spread of missiles.  Jones fires a triple PPC blast back and yells at the driver, Delacroix, to retreat.  Incoming fire from the Mariks destroys one of the Schreks, filling the platoon frequency with the crew's death screams.

Petty radios in a report that a Union is anchoring the Marik siege line against Caramel.  The other Schreks fall to enemy fire, with a Phoenix Hawk in hot pursuit.  Jones expertly brackets the 'Mech with two PPC shots - it dodges, but that lines it up perfectly for Jones' trademark headshot.  The "Headhunter" speeds back to friendly lines leaving the headless wreck of the Marik 'Mech behind. 

Colonel Halsten takes the report directly from Jones, shutting down Petty's attempt to contribute. He identifies the Union's location as a strongpoint, and orders his commanders to destroy it.  Major Sears doubts Hammer Battalion can break the strongpoint, and suggests Major Haughton's cavalry battalion would be a better choice.  Colonel Halsten orders both battalions to go in.  Haughton protests that the Union is LosTech, and Halsten retorts "I want it lost, gentlemen."

Having been awake for 20 hours, Jones heads for his rack.  Petty complains that the report to Halsten should have gone through her, but Jones points out that the Colonel asked him directly.  They sleep in tents next to the tank.  He has a nightmare about the Phoenix Hawk destroying Headhunter and crushing him underfoot.

Notes:  Throughout "Sniper," Jason Schmetzer has portrayed Jones as bearing a significant psychological burden.  It's a nice take on the character, who was pretty much defined in TRO:3026 by his exceptional lethality.  It's actually rare, in the tabletop game, for enemy pilots to die.  Much more commonly, the 'Mechs suffer catastrophic system failures, and the MechWarrior ejects.  In such a context, having a gift for burning out cockpits means Sniper is directly responsible for a lot more deaths that the average tank gunner. 

It's interesting that Haughton refers to the Union as LosTech and is horrified at the idea of destroying it.  DropShips and JumpShips indicates the Union is only "Uncommon" circa 3025, with every Successor State having a shipyard making new ones. 

It seems odd that the heavy tanks would be sent to scout the Marik positions.  Why not the cavalry battalion, with fast hovercraft?  Those would be more likely to be able to break contact and return.

Of note, the Union is described as sitting atop the defensive works formerly occupied by Halsten's Brigade, implying that the Brigade has been losing ground against the Marik Militia, with the League troops steadily pushing forward, though the lines are still hours away from downtown Caramel.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1295 on: 24 July 2016, 16:00:13 »
Date: January 14, 3026

Location: Poulsbo

Title: Sniper

Author: Jason Schmetzer

Type: Short Story

Synopsis:  Haughton's Striker Battalion - Saladins, Condors, and Drillsons - lead the way, with the remnants of Hammer Battalion following behind.  When they reach the Marik strongpoint, one of the Marik lances chases after Striker Battalion.  A Condor platoon engages a Clint.  Hammer Battalion pushes in through the valley towards the Union, and opens fire on the DropShip's laser-scarred hull, destroying a missile launcher. 

A second lance of Marik 'Mechs emerges from the Union, consisting of an Orion, a Warhammer, and two Crusaders. The Demolishers start taking hits from the return fire, and one explodes.  Jones takes out a Crusader's leg and hits its missile magazine as it falls.  The three remaining 'Mechs turn their attention to the "Headhunter" in unison.  Petty calls for help, and a full company of Saladins swarms in to make a run at the Orion and the Warhammer, distracting them. 

With Jones keeping the Marik 'Mechs suppressed, sixteen Demolishers push forward to attack the Union from short range.  Before they can even reach the Union, however, Jones opens the company channel and orders all the remaining Schreks to combine their fire on the Union. 

After the battle, techs pry Jones out of the burnt-out corpse of "Headhunter."  His final shot at the Union caused the capacitors to arc and backfire into the tank - frying Delacroix and Petty, but leaving Jones alive in the insulated turret.  The Marik forces have surrendered, ending the Marik Militia invasion of Poulsbo.  Colonel Halsten offers Jones some leave, noting that the unit is standing down and getting ready to participate in some large scale wargames near Terra in 3027.  Halsten plans to sell the captured 'Mechs for enough money to buy new tanks and hire new crews.  Halsten promises Jones a new tank and a new crew.

Jones responds that he needs a rest, and knows that he'll have a nightmare about the DropShip that night.

Notes:  This is a great look at the high-turnover life in an armor brigade.  In the tabletop rules, if the internal structure on any side is eliminated, the tank is destroyed and the crew is dead.  Only the Puma, to my knowledge, has an ejection system for the crew.  Seeing so many of his fellow tankers die in every battle must be at least partially contributing to Jones' fatalism. 

Jones destroys the Union, as ordered, but he actually does so after the Marik forces have already begun surrendering.  They could have captured the Union instead.  At 160 million C-Bills, it could have enabled them to buy 44 new Schreks. 

The 3027 exercises are, of course, the Operation THOR '27 maneuvers that provided cover for positioning Lyran troops to launch Operation GOTTERDAMMERUNG in 3028. 
« Last Edit: 24 July 2016, 21:59:05 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1296 on: 24 July 2016, 18:11:22 »
Date: January 18, 3026

Location: Quinn [See Notes]

Title: The Valley of Tears

Author: Dale L. Kemper, Blaine Lee Pardoe, Anthony Pryor, and John Theison

Type: Scenario

Synopsis: During the fighting on the Davion world of Quinn, the Combine faked a retreat to draw the Davion forces out of position, then sent the 36th Dieron Regulars into the Westham Valley, where Davion civilians had sought refuge, slaughtering them all.  Sorenson's Sabres was guarding the Regulars' flanks, and were investigating the killing fields when the valley's garrison - the mercenary Swann's Cavaliers, returned bent on breaking through to stop the Regulars from continuing their grisly slaughter.

The Sabres deploy a Marauder, Warhammer, Phoenix Hawk, Longbow, Rifleman, Trebuchet 7K, Stinger, and a Samurai aerospace fighter. 

The opposition is Martin's Company of Swann's Cavaliers - a Wolverine, two Locusts, a Stinger, an Archer, a Crusader, a Shadow Hawk, a Rifleman, a Thunderbolt, a Scorpion, an Ostroc, and a Warhammer

The Cavaliers score points for destroying Sabre 'Mechs (more points for heavier ones, and increasing points the longer the scenario goes) and for getting their units off the Sabres' edge of the board to pursue the Regulars (more points for heavier units, with decreasing points the longer the scenario goes).

The scenario is finished at the end of turn eight.  Turns 1-2 are fought in the late afternoon/early evening.  Turns 3-5 are at dusk for a +1 penalty to hit, and turns 6-8 are at night, with all to-hit rolls at +2.

Notes:  Quinn could be interpreted as a misspelling of Quentin, since the spelling is similar, and the Sabres' next scenario is less than a month later on Quentin.

Swann's Cavaliers were first featured in Mercenaries Supplemental I.  After serving the Federated Suns since the Second Succession War, the Cavaliers transferred to the Free Worlds League in 3026, so this must have been one of their last contracts in the Suns.  (Getting suckered and letting their civilian charges get slaughtered may have come up during the contract renewal negotiations...)  If you want to use special abilities, the Cavaliers have the ability for 2/3 of their units to use Off-Map movement, though this makes the scenario too easy, given the points awarded for exiting off the enemy side of the map - hard to stop them if they're going around you.

The time progression is very rapid, moving from "late afternoon" to "night" in six turns...one minute.  Either the sun sets very, very quickly on Quinn/Quentin, or the engagement is intended to be more abstract - more or less along the BattleForce time scale, rather than the BatteTech Total Warfare timescale. 

For the Sabres, you want to keep your troops intact, and keep the Cavaliers from crossing off the board, or at least delay them as long as possible.  Since you're fighting in a broom closet, with five lances taking the field on one map, you can't really evade the numerically superior Cavaliers.  Aside from the Phoenix Hawk and Stinger, your units aren't terrifically mobile, so I'd recommend putting your five slow 'Mechs towards the center and having the P-Hawk and Stinger act as your mobile reserve.  Concentrate your fire on any unit trying to break through, and shift to meet probes.  Since the enemy scores points for destroying your units, pull heavily damaged ones back, so that the enemy will need to expose themselves to heavy counter fire if they go after the wounded one. 

For the Cavaliers, for both story and point reasons, you want to break through, not try to destroy the Sabres in detail.  Rather than just sending your troops running towards the target edge as quickly as possible (which will make your units strung out and vulnerable to getting fed into the meat grinder without support), have the heavy guys take the lead, with the faster units keeping pace and guarding the flanks.  If the Sabres mass to stop you, have the jumpers go right over them while the non-jumpers go around.  Concentrate your fire on the easiest to hit (and the most damaged), since you're going for kills.   
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1297 on: 25 July 2016, 06:01:15 »
Date: January 21, 3026

Location: Kali (Algol System)

Title: Think Like a Liao

Author: Susan Putney

Type: Short Story

Synopsis: Tormana Liao leaves Warex Base in his Vindicator, heading out onto the mining world of Kali, in the Algol system.  He's told his staff he's going on a patrol to check the booby traps at the entrance to the canyon where the base is located, but his actual destination is to make a rendezvous with an unknown individual who slipped a note under his door implying a connection to his wife's dissident group. 

He travels sixty kilometers west of the base through a maze of canyons.  He suspects a trap, and decides to approach the rendezvous point from the south, rather than the east.  When he arrives at the rendezvous, an abandoned mine for radioactive ores, his Vindicator freezes up.  Another Vindicator arrives, and the pilot informs him that he's switched off Tormana's 'Mech, thanks to sabotage performed by Sheila Po, Tormana's personal technician.  The man informs Tormana he's been sent to replace Tormana, having been surgically altered into a perfect copy by order of the Chancellor, who wants a more dutiful son, one who thinks like a Liao.  The doppleganger, who replaced a trooper named MacLean, says he'll be rewarded for his service with a Dukedom on Bandora.

Shocked by the allegations of his father's plan to replace him, Tormana asks MacLean if the MechWarriors at the old mine are with him.  MacLean laughs and prepares to kill Tormana, but is interrupted when one of the Davion MechWarriors at the mine accidentally makes a transmission in the open.  With MacLean checking out the potential threat, Tormana opens his control panel and looks for signs of sabotage, but finds nothing obvious.  MacLean returns and reports there are 21 raiders at the mine with the insignia of the Crucis Lancers, now headed for Warex Base.  Tormana suspects they're actually members of Sharp's Stompers, in disguise.  MacLean worries they'll destroy Warex Base - since that will place his own survival at risk, he asks Tormana if he has any ideas for how to get ahead of them and warn the base.

Tormana promises to help if his 'Mech's sabotage is undone.  MacLean tells him how, but warns him that Sheila Po will kill him if he doesn't give the correct pass phrase upon returning.  The two Tormanas link their cockpits together with a fiber optic cable so they can communicate without being monitored, agree on a truce against the Stompers, and set off in pursuit.  They ascend the Dragon Wall - a ridge that serves as a main transport artery running all the way through the canyon region. 

Tormana tries to bribe MacLean - offering his ComStar account passwords in exchange for the Maskirovka recognition passwords.  He notes that he has enough money put aside to buy a couple of planets, or finance a private army.  They agree to exchange information after the Davion threat is dealt with.  They reach a good point to ambush the Davion column, and, as agreed, exchange the passwords. 

When the Stompers arrive, MacLean fires his PPC to trigger a booby trap.  Gas settled in the canyon ignites into a wave of blue flame - Kali's Torch - putting the Davion raiders to flight.  Tormana fires his laser at the cliff under MacLean's Vindicator, causing the ridge to collapse and throw the impostor down amid a hail of volcanic boulders.  The Capellan booby trap trips as well, collapsing the floor of the canyon beneath the Stompers and crushing them in the debris. 

Tormana descends to check on the impostor's 'Mech.  He opens the cockpit and finds MacLean's dead body inside, along with the heavily wounded impostor.  He shoots the man wearing his face, and tells him he won because he thought like a Liao, and cheated on the truce. 

Notes:  This is a great story that ties into many other elements of BattleTech storylines.  Clearly, after using the doppleganger technology to create a surgical double for Hanse, Maximilian thought it would be a great idea to replace his disappointing son with another double.  Chandra Ling's warning at the party was really a subtle notification that if he didn't reconcile with his father and become a dutiful son, he'd be replaced with a copy who would.  This technology goes on to wreak massive havoc on the Inner Sphere, as Thomas Marik is replaced by a surgical double while the original organizes a secret army.

The seeds of Free Capella are planted on Kali.  We know that Tormana has enough money to finance a small army - which is exactly what Free Capella becomes.  His father's attempt to kill and replace him, with the full cooperation of the Maskirovka, would explain Tormana's willingness to work against his family's regime.  He also begins to see the value in scheming and manipulation, rather than just being straightforward and honorable.  Plus, he can do what he wants without Maskirovka interference, since they (and Max) will think he's the impostor.  He apparently carries off the charade for another three years, until being captured in the early stages of Operation RAT, during the Fourth Succession War.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1298 on: 25 July 2016, 07:12:06 »
Wow, what a forgotten jem of a story.  I didn't know that Tormana was attacked by his how replacement!
"Men, fetch the Urbanmechs.  We have an interrogation to attend to." - jklantern
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Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1299 on: 25 July 2016, 08:25:35 »
Wow, what a forgotten jem of a story.  I didn't know that Tormana was attacked by his own replacement!

This story, and the examples of Hanse Davion and Thomas Marik being doubled, raises the question of how widespread was the doubling technique?  How many dopplegangers were running around wearing someone else's face in the years following the Fourth Succession War?  Melissa's research into the subject brought up an instance when a key Star League policy advisor suddenly began acting strangely, and issuing damaging policy pronouncements - and the equipment is described as recovered LosTech, rather than a new technique. 

What are the odds that members of the Star League government were doubled from time to time?  And was it the foes of House Cameron doing the doubling, or House Cameron itself pulling the strings?
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1300 on: 25 July 2016, 14:40:59 »
Halsten's Brigade is an interesting all-armor mercenary brigade that brings significant firepower to the battlefield and enjoys an excellent reputation, but gets ignored by ComStar and other sourcebook authors in favor of the flashier 'Mech regiments.  Still, while many 'Mech units are wiped out in the Civil War and the Jihad, Halsten's Brigade is still around by 3145, by which time it's working for the Venaria planetary government.

Slight question. Where is that them still around in the 3140s from? Just curious.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1301 on: 25 July 2016, 14:44:08 »
TRO:3145 - Steiner.  They took the Venaria contract in 3142.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1302 on: 25 July 2016, 15:00:31 »
TRO:3145 - Steiner.  They took the Venaria contract in 3142.

Much appreciated.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1303 on: 25 July 2016, 19:15:44 »
Date: February 13, 3026

Location: Quentin

Title: Raid on Hell

Author: Dale L. Kemper, Blaine Lee Pardoe, Anthony Pryor, and John Theison

Type: Scenario

Synopsis: Sorenson's Sabres' pursuit lance, under Lieutenant Utsonomiya, raid Quentin in an attempt to secure it as a staging world for further strikes into the Federated Suns.  The temperatures on Quentin exceed 400 degrees Fahrenheit, doubling all heat for Light 'Mechs, and tripling it for Medium and Heavy 'Mechs, in addition to adding two heat every turn.  This is no problem for the Wasp and Hermes III, but severely crimps the style of the Phoenix Hawk LAM and Utsonomiya's Archer.

The AFFS garrison base is defended by Captain Pauling, with a Locust, Stinger, Wasp, Ostscout, and a Valkyrie.  Their base is represented by five light buildings.  The Sabres score one point for each 'Mech destroyed and another for each building captured, with a time limit of eight turns. 

Notes: Quentin is described here as being too hot for anything but Light 'Mechs to function.  That is certainly an argument that the previous scenario, which had no such limits, was intended to be set on Quinn, rather than Quentin, intentionally (despite Quinn not making it to the official maps.)  In Wolves on the Border, Quentin is described as being hot, but not to the point that 'Mechs couldn't function.  Of course, that was Quentin IV.  It was noted that there were settlements on the much hotter Quentin III, so perhaps "Raid on Hell" takes place on the inner planet, rather than the system's primary settlement, on Quentin IV.

The scenario plays out on a single map, so it's difficult to get out of range.  For the Sabres, I would recommend keeping a close eye on your heat, and trying to swarm enemy 'Mechs with physical attacks.  The Archer can't really play this game, though, so it should remain stock still and lob the occasional LRM volley when its heat allows.  Keep the LAM in AirMech mode hopping from building to building, and position your 'Mechs to pummel any AFFS 'Mechs that try to reclaim them.

For the AFFS forces, I would recommend using your speed and better heat efficiency to full effect.  Don't worry about keeping the buildings for most of the scenario - just keep running at top speed, and try to knock out any target of opportunity.  Don't jump, because the heat is crippling.  Pull back any units that get heavily damaged, to deny the Sabres the kill point.  Try to circle back to the buildings around turn six, and then race in and reclaim as many as possible - hopefully having drawn the Sabres too far away to recapture them before the end of turn eight.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1304 on: 26 July 2016, 06:03:15 »
Date: February 15, 3026

Location: Marduk

Title: Cossack Raid

Author: S. Craig Harris

Type: Scenario

Synopsis:  During a Combine invasion of the Federated Suns planet of Marduk, the 12th Vegan Rangers leads the defense against the 5th Sword of Light, supported by lesser mercenary commands.  When Vegan intel reveals the location of a major Sword supply dump, elements of Khorsakov's Cossacks and the Wild Geese are dispatched to destroy it.

The 5th Sword of Light garrison at the dump consists of a Marauder, Warhammer, 2 Thunderbolts, 2 Panthers, 2 Riflemen, Enforcer, Valkyrie, Phoenix Hawk, and Wasp, as well as seven hexes of vibrabombs, two Sniper artillery pieces, and three platoons of infantry.

The Cossacks include a Warhammer, Marauder, BattleMaster, Awesome, and Archer.  The Wild Geese add a Phoenix Hawk, Trebuchet, Javelin, Jenner, and two Phoenix Hawk LAMs. 

The battlefield is a 24 x 48 hex playing field - albeit one where one hex = 1 kilometer rather than 30 meters, so you'd need to make it 800 x 1600 hexes (47 BattleTech mapsheets vertically by 107 horizontally), with three hills and a lake.  This is a straight-up fight, with victory going to the last side standing.  Historically, the Cossacks and Geese smashed the Combine garrison and took out the supply dump.  The Sun Zhang Academy began using the scenario as an exercise to train cadets as of January 1, 3027. 

Notes:  I'm not sure how the scenario's author intended this to be played out - perhaps with the BattleForce ruleset?  This seems excessive for a simple company on company engagement, and unplayable unless you've got a few dozen mapsheet sets and an available basketball court. 

Neither Khorsakov's Cossacks nor the Wild Geese had previously appeared in BattleTech sourcebooks, but both graduated into official canon in the Field Manual series.  However, when they were made official, the Cossacks' origin was re-written as having been under a long term contract on Tikonov to defend the Earthwerks factory there, so their use as Davion mercenaries fighting House Kurita doesn't mesh with canon.  Likewise, the Wild Geese were inserted as long-term Federated Suns mercs who frequently operated in false colors, yet in this scenario they're referred to as Lyran mercenaries on loan.  Probably the best way to insert this into canon would be to have the "Cossacks" actually be the Wild Geese in disguise - painted as a Capellan/Corporate mercenary unit to confuse the ISF. 

Optional rules for the scenario give percentage chances for the Combine lances to be absent from the base when it is attacked, and adds a chance for another lance (Warhammer, Jenner, Panther, Awesome) to return at a random point during the engagement, seeking resupply. 

If you want to use special abilities, the Cossacks and Wild Geese get initiative bonuses, while the Sworders' FM special ability isn't applicable (Clan-tech upgrades).
« Last Edit: 26 July 2016, 06:10:01 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1305 on: 26 July 2016, 07:16:52 »
Mendrugo , where is this scenario coming from?  If it looks unplayable, the knowning the name of the source would help us readers to puzzle it out better.
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Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1306 on: 26 July 2016, 07:56:07 »
All the sources are listed in the index - this comes from BattleTechnology #13
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1307 on: 26 July 2016, 09:22:45 »
Date: February 3026

Location: Okenfenokee

Title: Kangaroo Jack's Last Jump

Author: Peter Fokos

Type: Computer Game

Synopsis:  An eight month transit brings Gideon Vandenberg from Lesnovo in the Free Worlds League to the Federated Suns outback world of Okefenokee, in search of the JumpShip Stone Arrow and its captain, Willard "Kangaroo Jack" Puritan.

During the long transit, Gideon notes a few interesting items about Ander's Moon in the newsfeeds, including a personal message from Jordan Rowe, on Ander's Moon, who sends birthday greetings, and an article announcing the McBrin family's creation of DW Financials, a financial services firm.

On Okefenokee, the bartender says Kangaroo Jack "comes in now and then" and recommends Gideon talk to a man in the corner for more information.  The man introduces himself as Kearney, an MIIO agent assigned by Quintus Allard to investigate the situation on Ander's Moon.  He tells Gideon that Kangaroo Jack was hired by a dissident ISF faction to transport a rogue unit of Wolf's Dragoons - the Black Widows - to Ander's Moon, false flagged in Dark Wing colors.  He gives Gideon an address, and says to meet Kangaroo Jack there in an hour.

Gideon finds an empty office park at the address.  In the office, Kangaroo Jack lies dead behind his desk, having recently been shot by a needler.  Gideon sees a shadow of a man with a rifle and hears a gun click, and responds with his Mydron auto-pistol, dodging the assassin's fire and putting him down with a full magazine to the torso.

The following day's newspaper attributes the killings to a local gangland war, and notes that both Kangaroo Jack and an assassin known as Grim Jim were found dead, with evidence implying that an unknown third party was involved.  The owner of the office complex is also missing, and authorities suspect he is involved.

Following up on Kearny's information, Gideon asks Jordan Rowe about the Black Widows.  Rowe says his MIIO sources indicate the Widows are based out of Proserpina for raids into Davion space, having just finished R&R on An Ting.

Notes:  "DW Financials" is, of course, a front for Matabushi's "Dark Wing" troubleshooter squad.  The naming convention is right out of a 1966 Batman Riddler episode...but given how prominently Wolf's Dragoons are flying the Kerensky flag, I suppose the people of the Inner Sphere are the type that don't make such connections very well.

I have a hard time figuring out the motivations of Jordan Rowe.  At the denoument of the storyline, he's revealed to have been in cahoots with the McBrin clan to depose the Vandenbergs...so why did he give Gideon a Jenner and some starting cash, and help him start his search for the Dark Wing? 

Perhaps he felt a bullet to the brainpan would have been too obvious, risking the exposure of his and the McBrins' connections to the Combine corporation and its mercenaries? 

Or did he hope that by fleeing offworld, Gideon could both look guilty and have a good chance of getting himself killed, whereas if Gideon stayed on Ander's Moon, he could try to sway the council and public opinion to his side, and assume the Dukedom even without the Chalice of Herne.  (Strange women, lying around in ponds, distributing chalices, is not a proper basis for a system of government.)

Again, if the game were remade today, there would be quite a few opportunities for X-COM style tactical combat scenarios outside of the BattleMech cockpit, or perhaps something along the lines of Fallout 1 or 2.  The fight with Grim Jim would be a nice bit of a running gun battle through the empty office park.

I can't help but suspect "Grim Jim" is the "barely restrained violence" gatekeeper for Grig Griez on Land's End.  He wasn't named in the Land's End encounter text, but he's introduced as "a grim, bearded man" with a Mauser & Gray M-27 needle pistol on his thigh, so "Grim Jim" fits - both in demeanor and choice of weapon.  If that's the case, though, why wouldn't there have been text of Gideon recognizing him after shooting him dead? 

One wonders why Gideon is following up on Kearny's lead, given that Kearny's info led him to an ambush.  Does he think Kearny got whacked, too?  He seemed, to me, to be just a little too eager to introduce himself as an MIIO operative.  Sure, FBI officers are expected to pull out badges, but I'd correlated MIIO more with the CIA, in terms of perferring to stay under cover in the field. 

I could also nitpick about young master Gideon getting recognized all over the place, but the Federated Suns sourcebook indicates the Suns has only fifty dukedoms, on average, so the potential heir to one of the fifty peerages would probably have a greater chance of recognition, even on a backwater dive like Okenfenokee.

The last time we saw the Black Widow Company, they were raiding Le Blanc, facing off against the Bounty Hunter in hopes of grabbing some technicians.  Their location changes every play-through, cycling through a number of Kurita border worlds.  Proserpina seemed the most likely of the various options, since it's close enough to Barlow's End and New Mendham, where the Dragoons are operating in September 3026 (around the time Gideon could get there, according to my chronology).
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1308 on: 26 July 2016, 09:28:38 »
Didn't some of the elements of the MW1 game, where this is from get sprinkled into canon just little bit?

I still laugh at the Dark Wing name, i keeping thinking of Dark Wing Duck when i see it.  ;D
"Men, fetch the Urbanmechs.  We have an interrogation to attend to." - jklantern
"How do you defeat a Dragau? Shoot the damn thing. Lots." - Jellico 
"No, it's a "Most Awesome Blues Brothers scene Reenactment EVER" waiting to happen." VotW Destrier - Weirdo  
"It's 200 LY to Sian, we got a full load of shells, a half a platoon of Grenadiers, it's exploding outside, and we're wearing flak jackets." VoTW Destrier - Misterpants
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Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1309 on: 26 July 2016, 09:43:42 »
The MW1 game drew heavily on the available source material (Matabushi, the Black Widows, MIIO, ISF, Wendall Puritan and his Scorpion, Quintus Allard, etc.), but the only reference to MW1 came in The Crescent Hawks' Revenge, where Gideon meets his fiery end fighting the Clans, with the Crescent Hawks arriving too late to save him. 

The Crescent Hawks are canon (though their official unit history may not exactly reflect the events of the two games), so there's a case to be made that the Blazing Aces are likewise canon (through the transitive property of cutscenes?), but that won't be official unless/until they get a sourcebook writeup, or at least a shout out in the novels (which is how Jason Youngblood first appeared in canon - a passing reference in the pages of the Blood of Kerensky trilogy). 

As far as the Dark Wing name goes, I don't see it as a problem in a universe where "The Fighting Intellectuals" or "Johnny Mace, 'Mech Ace" are valid monikers.
« Last Edit: 26 July 2016, 09:47:48 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1310 on: 27 July 2016, 16:04:17 »
Date: March 3026 [See Notes]

Location: Terra

Title: House Marik - The Free Worlds League

Author: Richard K. Meyer, Walter H. Hunt, C.R. Green

Type: Sourcebook

Synopsis:  This is ComStar's fourth report on the Successor States, intended as an educational primer for new Acolytes joining the Blessed Order. 

History:

The report outlines the rise to power of the founding families of the League.  Charles Marik served as the Terran Alliance senator representing the mining world of Marik until it declared independence in 2238, at which point he became the head of state.  He used political arm-twisting, threats, and bribes to secure a constitution with a strong executive, made alliances with three neighboring worlds, and then conquered 16 more to found the Marik Commonwealth.

Tomas Allison was also an Alliance Senator, representing Oriente, and also became the leader of Oriente after independence.  Unlike Marik, Allison managed to form a 20-world alliance, the Federation of Oriente, without military action.

House Selaj formed the Principality of Regulus by leveraging their five-world trading empire into a larger political unit by appealing to clients' self interest. 

George Humphreys of New Delos brokered negotiations between Raju Selaj, Detlev Marik, and Tomas Allison to sign the Treaty of Marik, forming the Free Worlds League in 2271.  The League expanded peacefully until 2293, when they annexed the Stewart Commonality (also referenced as the Stewart Confederacy) by force.  When the Terran Hegemony emerged, the League signed a non-aggression agreement with James McKenna, enabling the Hegemony to focus on "liberating" the worlds of the Dieron Federation without worrying about a flank attack.

The League seized Andurien and four other systems from the Capellan Confederation between 2366 and 2369, and warred with the Capellans over control.  The fighting was used to justify the appointment of a Captain-General - Peter Marik - to deal with the crisis.  His leadership brought victory, but also massive destruction, leading the League to join with the Confederation and other states to sign the Ares Conventions.  The Lyrans attempted to seize Dieudonne in 2416, and fighting continued on both fronts for the duration of the Age of War.  An attempt to appoint a House Selaj representative as Captain-General coincided with disastrous setbacks, so League citizens came to only trust House Marik in that role.

An internal coup overthrew Carlos Marik when he, in the depths of paranoia, prepared to invade the Terran Hegemony and seize Terra.  The Director General of the Hegemony chose not to retaliate for the attempted invasion, but instead signed a peace treaty - creating the foundation of trust that would result, nearly a century later, in the FWL and the Hegemony jointly founding the Star League. 

The FWL joined the Lyrans to subdue the Rim Worlds Republic, and orchestrated the battle to defeat the Magistracy of Canopus entirely according to the Ares Conventions. 

While other states had fairly peaceful Star League experiences, the League was wracked with terrorist attacks (House Selaj fled into exile after it was revealed they'd tried to wipe out the Marik line with their Scourge of Death organization) and civil war, as the paranoid Elise Marik battled her brother Oliver for control of the League.

Elise's son Bertram proved a great leader, but his offspring, Ewan and Kenyon were ill suited for diplomacy.  Ewan alienated the other Star League council members, and Kenyon worked to hinder Kerensky's efforts during the Star League Civil War and practically leapt at the chance to get into the First Succession War, during which he prioritized the Terran Hegemony, then the Capellan Confederation, with the Lyran front receiving the fewest resources after a massive fleet engagement in the Hesperus system cost the League most of its WarShip fleet.

Charles Marik rebuilt as well as possible, but apparent ComStar manipulation led him into war against the Lyran Commonwealth.  He grew to suspect that ComStar was manipulating the Successor States by leaking communiques, and destroyed the Oriente HPG station, where his sister (a ComStar Adept) was stationed.  Primus Toyama placed the League under interdiction for two years, as a result, allowing the other four Successor States to attack and plunder at will.

The League lurched through the 3rd Succession War from one major operation to the next - Operation RED ROVER, Operation KILLING STROKE, etc.  The provincial governments grew tired of the constant aggression, however, and pushed through the Home Defense Act, allowing them to withhold a percentage of their levies from the League for defense of their own worlds. 

Janos Marik came to power in 2991, calling for unity, then commanded an offensive against the Lyrans, while placing his brother, Anton, in charge of a similar thrust at the Capellans.  Both offensives bogged down, and Janos became increasingly isolated and morose.  Instead of unity, he found himself under attack by Anton, with the backing of Wolf's Dragoons.  He defeated his brother, whose rebellion collapsed after his death at the hands of the vengeful Wolf's Dragoons (whom he'd betrayed), but was emotionally spent thereafter. 

In 3022, Janos joined the Capellans and the Combine in the Concord of Kapteyn to counterbalance the threat of the Federated Commonwealth.

Sociopolitical Structure:

This section describes the role of parliament, the League Council (nine governmental ministers), the Captain-General, and the impact of Resolution 288 (the "continuing crisis" decree granting the Captain-General special "emergency" powers).  It also gives thumbnail sketches of the 3025-state of the Marik Commonwealth, Protectorate, Principality of Regulus, Duchy of Orloff, Duchy of Andurien, Duchy of Oriente, Stewart Commonaltiy, Silver Hawks, Sirian Concordance, Border Protectorate, Abbey District, Rim Commonality, Principality of Gibson, Regulan Free States, Duchy of Graham-Marik, Duchy of Tamarind, and the Ohren and Zion Provinces.

The report describes government departments - Defense, Foreign Affairs, Trade, Taxation, Intelligence, Energy, Communications, and Justice, and concludes with an analysis of the various forms of planetary government. 

Religion and Philosophy

This section covers the major trends in League public thought - entrepreneurship = good; bionics = bad.  There are also sections on the Way of Arme (a self abnegation cult), and the major religions - Judiasm, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

The Free Worlds Military 

This section of the report itemizes the current assets of the FWLM - 60 'Mech regiments, 700 conventional regiments, 50 JumpShips, and 150 DropShips.  It also details the command structure for these forces (divided between the Captain-General/LCCC and the provinces).  Key regiments get write ups, as do training academies (all the way down to the Hero Training Institute) and weapons manufacturers.  Output is the most detailed as well, manufacturing 500 'Mechs per year (with a full breakdown of production by type and location).

Culture and Arts

This section of the report describes the League's attempts to recover LosTech, its major universities, art forms, legal system, and leisure activities.  It also gives a description of SAFE and it's predecessor organization, the National Intelligence Agency. 

Socio-Economics

This section of the report describes the FWL's lightly regulated economy as second only to the Lyrans', but notes the problems caused by the disruptions of the Succession Wars.  Major corporations are profiled - including a fair number of non-military firms.  Trade is also addressed, noting what is traded, with whom, and which worlds serve as official ports of entry on each border.

Personalities:

This section of the report profiles Janos Marik, his mistress Bronwen Rafsani, his sons Duggan, Duncan, Paul, and Thomas, his daughters Therese and Kristen, head of the Marik Commonwealth parliamentary caucus Shane "Lefty" Eastwick, Parliamentary Speaker Hector Stewart, Minister of Taxation Olwine Greenwald, Duke of Oriente Christopher Halas, freshman MP Li Weaver, Earl Vicente Orloff, Dame Catherine Humphreys, IrTech President Sigmund Hughes, High Point Trader President Corey Chang, and successful LosTech prospector Pedro Ellingsen. 

A Brief Atlas

This section of the report profiles key worlds from many of the League's provinces: 

Marik Commonwealth:  Atreus, Angell II, Marik, New Olympia
Abbey District:  Maxwell
Duchy of Andurien: Andurien, Lopez
Border Protectorate: Alula Australis
Principality of Gibson: Gibson
Mosiro Archipelago: Mosiro
Duchy of Oriente:  Calloway VI, Oriente
The Protectorate: New Delos, Nova Roma
Principality of Regulus: Regulus
Rim Commonality:  Lesnovo
Silver Hawks: Amity, Shiloh
Sirian Concordat (written as Concordance elsewhere in the report): Procyon
Duchy of Tamarind: Simpson Desert, Tamarind
Unaffiliated: Camlann, Claybrooke, Dalton, Eleusis, Irian, Kendall, Oliver, Tellman's Mistake, Trellisane

Notes:  Authors Richard Meyer and Walter Hunt, who'd also collaborated on the scenario packs "Tales of the Black Widow" and "The Fox's Teeth," and the MechWarrior (1st Edition) Role Playing Game, join with C.R. Green, who also worked on the Federated Suns sourcebook, to bring us the definitive ComStar Archives report on House Marik's holdings. 

Interestingly, Meyer and Hunt are listed separately from Green in the credits, under the heading "Adventure Architects."  Doing a bit of digging, it appears that the "Architects" were a writing collective that worked on a number of game industry projects.  Their members included Walter Hunt and Richard Meyer, as well as Mark Bloom, Lisa Hunt, Christine Ivey, Evan Jamieson, and Bill Scammell.  Walter Hunt's website doesn't list his "Adventure Architects" credits, but he does note that he started writing in 1985, so the FASA projects would have been some of his first work. 

In-universe, the work is credited to George Ninetrees.  In his introduction, Ninetrees refers to Janos as being 68 years old.  Janos was born in 2957, mathematically implying a 3025 publication date.  However, as noted earlier in this thread, one of the pictures in the book has a caption indicating it's from 3026.  Since some of the mercenary contracts expire as early as May 3026, this would have had to come out before that, or the book would have stale info at the time of publication.  March 3026, then, seems like a good compromise date for accommodating the picture without getting too out of date.

History:  Like the Steiner sourcebook, the Marik report only spends one page on early history and gets right into the origins of the founding families. 

There are some internal inconsistencies - the main text refers to the Stewart Commonality, while the sidebar about David Genovese refers to it as the Stewart Confederacy.  References in the Periphery sourcebook call the people who fled Stewart after the defeat "confederates," implying that Confederacy is the official name.  However, it could be the case that it was called the Confederacy under David Genovese, and was renamed as a Commonality after his beheading.  The Stewart refugees scattered across the Inner Sphere, with some ending up in the Rim Worlds Republic and others settling on New St. Andrews. 

Of note, the whole "Fall From Grace" storyline with Rhean Marik was inserted into a large hole in the History section - which skips past the end of Marion Marik's reign in 2598 to Ward Marik's, which began in 2635.  I can just imagine Chris Hartford looking over the family tree chart on the back of the foldout map and deciding to craft Rhean's untold story in the model of "Heir to the Dragon," telling the story of the early days of the Star League and internal Marik politics along the way. 

Looking over Elise Marik's section of the History, I see a lot of parallels with Romano Liao.  She took her father's death poorly, and used it as a justification to unleash SAFE on her military and society in an ever-widening purge that sent tens of thousands of "traitors" either to prison or into exile, and placed government officials under constant surveillance, and enabled the government to expropriate private holdings.  Her reign arguably ended better than Romano's did - she was overthrown by Parliament and placed under house arrest, but rescued by her son Bertram, who succeeded her as Captain-General, as she was too far gone into madness to resume her duties.

The authors did a great job on the history section, with plenty of sidebars and throw-away references to elaborate political schemes, dire betrayals, and behind-the-scenes manipulations.  The League has always been portrayed as the most internally fractious of the Successor States, and the History section contains a vast amount of material that could be mined to generate rationales for conflict.   

Sociopolitical Structure:

This is certainly the most detailed account of a bureaucracy in the Successor State books.  Any players wanting to take "bold action" in the FWL in 3025 had best prepare to fill out some forms.

Religion and Philosophy

I never really got the "anti-bionic" bias element.  Here, it says that the FWL pioneered the technology, and that Type V (myomer) implants are common for MechWarriors and nearly indistinguishable form the real thing.  It also notes that the technology existed for functional organ replacement and even the frontal lobes of the brain.  The resentment came out of ethical concerns about having an enhanced pituitary gland and about the fact that the technology was only available to the wealthy.

But, during the Star League, weren't most people fairly wealthy?  How would anyone know someone else got a bionic brain? 

Don't get me wrong - it works as a societal quirk and can create some extra obstacles for players to surmount - plus it was the reason for the Thomas Marik switch - ComStar was worried people wouldn't accept a heavily bionic Thomas Marik as Captain-General, especially since his ancestor Gerald Marik had faced attempts to claim he was no longer human (and therefore unfit to be Captain-General) because of his cybernetic implants. 

It just seems like 1) nobody would notice unless it was pointed out to them and 2) wouldn't impoverished League hillbillies have greater concerns than telling someone with an ocular implant "We don't like yer kind 'round these here parts."

The irony is pretty sweet, though, that the anti-bionic League bigots were awash in Manei Domini before and during the Jihad. 

The Free Worlds Military

Far more than any of the other Successor State sourcebooks, the FWL book goes into exhaustive detail on the strength of its military.  This may have come from the authors' work on the MechWarrior RPG and the scenarios - where details are welcomed.  The League, circa 3025, has 60 'Mech regiments and 700 conventional regiments.  60% of the 'Mechs and 50% of the conventional forces are provincial. 

Beyond that, it provides full production statistics for every 'Mech type - how many per year, where, etc. 

This sort of information was solid gold for anyone trying to pull together a grand strategic campaign, but was probably a nightmare for fact-checkers in the days before text-search and for authors.  The fans' love of these sorts of numbers led to the Objective Raids sourcebook and the follow-up Objectives series, but the fact that there's no way to reconcile the Inner Sphere economy with logic means that hard numbers just raise uncomfortable questions that can't be answered without resorting to "a wizard did it," so official policy has become "we don't publish those numbers - or even track them internally - there are enough produced to meet the needs of the story."

I understand where they're coming from, but having this trove of data in the FWL book and not in the others made me gnash my teeth in despair when trying to set up that campaign. 

Culture and Arts

Granted, SAFE is a civilian agency, rather than a military one, but it still felt jarring to have its profile in "Culture and Arts" rather than, say, the Sociopolitical Structure. 

SAFE's acronym is described as "based on an old saying in an ancient Terran language, but its meaning has now been lost."  I'm guessing the authors had something (probably something rude) in mind, but it's remained a mystery to this day.  (Though, if push comes to shove, an argument can be made for it standing for Semper Aquilae Fidelis Est - rough Latin for "Always Faithful to the Eagle."  Since the NIA was disbanded for plotting against House Marik, having that as the motto would pretty clearly set forth the new spy agency's mandate.)

NIA was portrayed as being highly effective and dangerous in "Fall From Grace," "The Spider Dances," and "A Dish Served Cold," whereas SAFE - due in part to the restrictions placed on it after NIA got too powerful to control - has been portrayed as inept and clueless.

Socio-Economics

Again, the authors' background in creating the MechWarrior RPG is evident.  They give specifics on locales and practices that make this sourcebook very useful to game masters wanting to insert the players into an established setting.  They even provide a price list of the type you'd find in the RPG supplementary material.  This is the bread and butter of this sort of campaign source material, and it was good to see all the Handbooks adopting such elements as a model when the series was updated.

Personalities:

The personalities section is far more diverse than in many other House sourcebooks - in addition to Janos and his often fratricidal brood, there are power brokers of various stature in parliament, government ministers, provincial nobles (great and small), titans of industry, and Pedro - a LosTech prospector whose ship came in. 

These guys provide so many hooks for pulling players into compromising or deadly (or both) situations.  The only really sad thing is that no authors really took the bait and did anything with these hooks outside of sourcebooks.  If you know where to look, you can find all sorts of events involving these characters, especially once the survivors (sorry Duncan and Duggan) start taking sides for or against Thomas during the Jihad.

A Brief Atlas

This is pretty standard - but the authors clearly had a lot of fun building these worlds.  Kendall, where people live in abandoned giant beehives.  A world named after dessert.  A desert wasteland full of religious aescetics, etc.

Sometimes, through, the focus on quirky bits came at the cost of hard data.  If you look at the Regulus writeup, you see that it tells nothing about the climate or terrain - but spends a paragraph on the theatrical stylings of John "Icepick" Mellon.  It's clear that this was aimed at the RPG crowd, not the crew that wants to know what sort of terrain mapsheets to use when besieging the capital city (the name of which is also absent from the writeup.)  Fortunately, subsequent writeups have addressed these shortcomings.

We also get into a similar situation with that of Tayless Gromminger.  On Atreus, Precentor Pedragor Aliz is the ComStar ambassador, but we never hear him speak in any of Stackpole's Warrior or Blood of Kerensky novels.  In fact, no FWL representative ever makes an appearance at those scenes - it's just the Ambassadors to Tharkad, New Avalon, Dieron, and (on occasion) Sian arguing with the Primus.  Precentor Atreus, if there, never joins the conversation.  And yet, he's the guy who personally recruited Thomas Marik into ComStar.  Some of the later authors picked up on this conspicuous absence as well, and there's a "corrupted message fragment" in Historical: Brush Wars that indicates he was part of the Blakist cabal even before the schism, and up to his neck plotting and scheming.

Overall Assessment

House Marik - The Free Worlds League - is one of the standout gems of the early FASA sourcebooks.  It was written by some fairly ingenious guys with a background in developing RPG material, so they gave numbers where they knew the fans wanted numbers, they seeded adventure hooks throughout every page, and they really got down into the nitty gritty of the League's internal political struggles.

There's a very heavy focus on the Mariks (understandable in a document called "House Marik"), but that means that the unique character of the provinces is given short shrift.  You could fill pages and pages about these provinces, but most get a slim paragraph, leaving out a lot of the details about Oriente, Regulus, Mosiro, etc. and not giving us more than a bare bones sense that they exist and may or may not oppose the Captain-General. 

Later sourcebooks have done a lot to flesh out these provinces, but I wish there had been more done in this book so that the portrait of the League as an internally divided state with the Captain-General desperately working to keep provincial powers from rising up, breaking away, or running roughshod over their neighbors would be more complete.

I'm very glad that we got a stream of stories from BattleCorps where a stable of creative authors worked to flesh out these blank slates, making the League's canvas more vibrant (before, of course, it gets torn to shreds and thrown out the window into traffic during the Jihad).
« Last Edit: 27 July 2016, 16:07:46 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Wrangler

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1311 on: 27 July 2016, 22:57:09 »
House books were among my favorite items of the sourcebooks that were published, no matter how flawed sometimes they were.
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1312 on: 28 July 2016, 00:12:10 »
I always liked the notion, proposed by someone on the forums long ago, that the name comes from Tomas Marik selling Parliament on the idea of a successor agency to the NIA with the line of "Hey, better SAFE than sorry!"


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Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1313 on: 28 July 2016, 10:54:27 »
Date: March 2, 3026 [See Notes]

Location: Galatea

Title: Mercenary's Star

Author: William H. Keith Jr.

Type: Novel

Synopsis:  One of Duke Ricol's agents, disguised in the flowing robes of a trader, watches the DropShip Deimos land at Galaport, just as Duke Ricol's courier had warned several days earlier.

Once off the Deimos, Renfred Tor meets with Lyran Ambassador-at-Large Salvor Steiner-Reese.  The Ambassador rejects Tor's plea to send Commonwealth troops to fight on Verthandi - aghast at the idea of involving House Steiner in an interstellar war with the Draconis Combine for a handful of starving rebels on a world given to the Combine by treaty a decade ago. 

Tor shows the Ambassador his vanadium samples from Verthandi, and suggests that the Combine may be mining that and other valuable metals from the world.  He suggests that Lyran fleet maneuvers could be arranged with the Galatean Military Charge d'Affaires, and that a show of force might be enough to turn the tide on the planet.  The Ambassador brusquely tells him he doesn't know what he's talking about.

As Tor despairs he's failed in his mission, three assassins rush them, firing 10 mm slugs from Calaveri automatic pistols.  Two shots punch through Tor's sample case and throw him against a wall.  All three assassins then turn towards the Ambassador.  Tor, however, isn't out of the fight, and he kills all three with his own pistol, dropping three with six shots.  Tor shows the Ambassador how the vanadium in the case stopped the bullets.

Ambassador Steiner-Reese assumes the assassins were after him, and apologizes to Tor, but the captain points out that they went for him first, and convinces the Ambassador that they were afraid the Commonwealth would discover how valuable Verthandi could be.  The Ambassador invites Tor back to the Embassy to discuss the matter further.

Notes:  This scene comes from Chapter 28, immediately following the Chapter 27 scene where Nagumo arrests hundreds of dissidents and closes the University of Regis.  It comprises the first half of Chapter 28, and the second half has Grayson setting up its advance base camp at its old digs.  The implication would be that the two scenes are more or less simultaneous.  However, Renfred Tor and the Invidious were physically in the Norn system in early December, and since JumpShips can't use command circuits, it would take four months to get to Galatea the old fashioned way - one jump at a time.  Thus, the Galatea scenes can't be running in parallel with the scenes with which they share Chapter 28.

As with "Decision at Thunder Rift," the existence of HPGs would eliminate half the intrigue in the story.  There'd be no need for the revolutionaries to smuggle a person to Galatea - they could secure the contract through ComStar via HPG.  They could report on the mining operations and Combine atrocities.  And, per the passage in MechWarrior 1st Edition, all but a few named worlds in the Inner Sphere have been reconnected to the HPG grid, implying that Verthandi has an HPG, but that neither the revolutionaries nor Ricol are using it.

There are several possible ways to handwave it.  Perhaps the Combine has set up checkpoints preventing anyone but authorized Combine personnel from approaching the HPG Compound.  Perhaps Nagumo and Ricol don't trust ComStar not to read and/or manipulate their messages, and prefer to use their own couriers to ensure communications security.  As someone who's been involved in high level plotting for years (Ricol was "Ruby" in the cabal that tried to assassinate Takashi Kurita), he'd have more reason than most to be paranoid about leaks.

The last time we checked in with local politics on Galatea, in 3010 ("Not the Way the Smart Money Bets"), the senior Lyran government official appeared to be the garrison commander, General Volmer.  He caused no end of problems because he felt nobody from Tharkad was watching, and that they couldn't do anything to him in any event.  Volmer, of course, was replaced, but I wonder if Salvor Steiner-Reese was chosen to be Ambassador-at-large on Galatea because his name alone sent the message that Tharkad was watching.

There's a recurring theme in the early fiction (here, the BlackThorne comics) where people warn against certain actions on the grounds that they might start a war.  To me, this seems like the writers have missed the essential nature of the BattleTech universe - there's no war to "start," because the Third Succession War hasn't finished yet.  I could see them getting worried about an action inviting a reprisal raid or other form of retaliation, but I don't think you can declare a new war against the same foe with which you're currently fighting a war.  It's kinda binary that way.

As usual, when diplomatic personnel are involved, I remain aghast at the utter lack of security around these official envoys of the government.  Clearly, the security standards for 21st century diplomatic protective services are not standard for the neo-feudalism of the Successor States.  When U.S. ambassadors are outside the Embassy, they always have security details with them.  Not only does Steiner-Reese not have any security at all, but they both run off, leaving the dead men in a heap, so they won't be there when the Galaport constabulary arrive.  Tor notes that shootings like this are commonplace...so why no security detail?!!  (Yes, from a dramatic standpoint it lets Tor be the hero, but...) 

So, was General Volmer the Galatean Military Charge d'Affaires in 3010, with the authority to request fleet maneuvers?  Looking at the Lyran rank system, General corresponds with Theater of Operation commanders, also giving them the title Margrave.  In 3026, General Jack Sphire is the Margrave of Ryde Theater, but I suspect General Volmer was Margrave of Ryde Theater in 3010, though why the HQ of Ryde Theater would be on Galatea instead of Ryde is unanswered. 

Perhaps in 3010, it was the Galatea Theater, and Volmer's disgrace resulted in the Theater HQ moving to Ryde for a fresh start, since they'd be going to the Margrave, rather than the Galatean Military Charge d'Affaires, if they wanted fleet maneuvers and the Margrave was onworld. 

(Though, technically, Charge d'Affaires is generally a term for an officer who is filling in for an absent superior or in a temporarily vacant position - with the title conveying that the person has the authority of the position, but has not actually filled it.  Thus, the Military Charge d'Affaires might be standing in for General Sphire while he's off fighting or consulting on Tharkad.)

Looking at General Sphire's profile in the Lyran Commonwealth sourcebook, it seems he's a native of Ryde (an argument for his having moved the HQ to his homeworld), and he was appointed in 3015, which fits a chronology where Volmer was one of his predecessors in the role.  He despises politics and will go out of his way to avoid meeting a politician.  That sounds like exactly the kind of person Katrina would appoint to replace the highly political (and highly corrupt) Volmer. 
« Last Edit: 28 July 2016, 11:07:00 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Kojak

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1314 on: 28 July 2016, 21:04:46 »
As usual, when diplomatic personnel are involved, I remain aghast at the utter lack of security around these official envoys of the government.  Clearly, the security standards for 21st century diplomatic protective services are not standard for the neo-feudalism of the Successor States.  When U.S. ambassadors are outside the Embassy, they always have security details with them.  Not only does Steiner-Reese not have any security at all, but they both run off, leaving the dead men in a heap, so they won't be there when the Galaport constabulary arrive.  Tor notes that shootings like this are commonplace...so why no security detail?!!  (Yes, from a dramatic standpoint it lets Tor be the hero, but...) 

Do you remember the scene(s) in Unforgiven, when Richard Harris' character had his monologue about how "the majesty of royalty" would prevent an assassin from actually carrying out their attack? I suspect that after several centuries of extant feudal royalty in the Inner Sphere, the aristocracy has internalized a similar concept.


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Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1315 on: 28 July 2016, 22:43:59 »
Assassination seems to be a major element of statecraft in the Successor States, though. 

- Hanse and Michael fought a "war of assassins" for control of the Federated Suns after Ian's death. 
- The Saurimat, Thuggee, Nekekami, Santander's Killers, and JarnFolk are professional assassins (a subset of the JarnFolk, at least). 
- The Combine has codified the "art of vendetta" for assassinating each other within the strictures of the Dictum Honorarium. 
- The Death Commandos and Draconis Elite Strike Teams are both skilled at assassinations. 
- Duke Ricol was part of a plot to assassinate Takashi Kurita - and that was attempt #7.  (I think he was approaching #19 by the time Subhash Indrahar tried to have him put down, and then took his own life.)
- Takashi's own father was assassinated by one of his Otomo guards. 
- ComStar assassinated huge numbers of scientists during the HOLY SHROUD operations. 
- The Word of Blake brainwashed a guy and sent him to a conference to mass-assassinate (massassinate?) their foes. 
- The Word of Blake also poisoned Morgan Hasek-Davion, and then the ones who arranged that were blown up in a car bombing.
- The Dancing Joker famously assassinated Melissa Steiner-Davion, Ryan Steiner, and Omi Kurita. 
- Victor Steiner-Davion died at the hands of assassins (leading to my favorite Daoshen Liao line - "stab the body a few times, just to make sure.")
- Duncan Marik set off a bomb to kill off Janos, Duggan, and Thomas to clear his path to the Captain-Generalcy.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1316 on: 29 July 2016, 07:41:14 »
- Takashi's own father was assassinated by one of his Otomo guards. 

That one myself interests me. In Handbook: House Kurita, they point out said guard... was a personal aide of Takashi Kurita.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1317 on: 14 August 2016, 07:25:09 »
Date: March 26, 3026

Location: Mosiro

Title: A Cover of Paint

Author: Christopher Purnell

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Killian's Commandos (last seen on New Capetown in "Dingane's Day," also by Christopher Purnell) ambushes elements of the Third Defenders of Andurien where the Qallabat road cuts through the dunes of the Northern Painted Desert.  The mercenaries' 'Mechs are painted in "hasty coats of Liao green."  Andurien 'Mechs pursue Lt. Luys Claessens' recon lance into the ambush, and Lt. Miho Sadamori's strike lance takes them out.  The rest of the heavy Andurien company approaches, supported by six Galleons, forcing the Commando 'Mechs to retreat toward their DropShip, the Bogan.

During the withdrawal, Captain Killian contacts them and informs them that survivors of the ambushed medium lance have linked up with a heavy lance and a lance of Ontos heavy tanks, with another lance trying to cut the Commandos off from their DropShip.  He orders Sadamori's battered lance to flank the Ontos platoon while his Command Lance engages them directly at a cliff formation known as the Scorpion's Nest.  The Commandos engage the tanks, turning the tide with the use of inferno rounds and massed PPC fire.

To delay the Defenders of Andurien's pursuit, the mercenaries shatter a natural arch over the canyon entrance, then disperse through the maze of canyons that constitutes the Scorpion's Nest and return safely to the Bogan.  Back at the DropShip, Captain Killian confirms the successful completion of their contract - distract a company of Andurien troops from field exercises and do some damage.  Luys Claessens guesses their employer is House Davion, but Killian responds that the information is classified.

Several hours later, outbound on the DropShip, Luys angrily storms into the ship's mess with news reports from Mosiro.  He accuses Killian of having turned the unit into pirates - pulling the Defenders of Andurien away from guard duty at the winter estate of Tarak ben Aden, MP from Andurien, allowing a lone Vindicator to breach the walls and kill him.  Miho notes that Ben-Aden was an isolationist involved in a feud with Duke Halas of Oriente, who had accused Ben-Aden of trying to assassinate him previously.  Killian responds that the contract was bonded and negotiated through ComStar channels, with all indications being that House Liao raided the world.

The crew continues to speculate on the identity and motivations of their employer, but Killian remains tight lipped.  Miho notes that Ben-Aden had favored peace on the Andurien/Capellan border, and suspects Dame Catherine Humphreys might have been behind the assassination - eliminating a domestic political critic, increasing anti-Liao sentiment in the Duchy of Andurien, and pointing suspicion at her rival - Duke Halas of Oriente. 

Notes:  Mosiro's profile in the Free Worlds League sourcebook indicates it's an oligarchy, whose parliamentary representative Beatrice "Bloodhound" Rincius votes with the "Opposition" bloc in parliament, aligned with Andurien and Regulus.  It has a chemical industry which is reliant on imports of rare earths from Alula Australis.

The dominant religion is the Black Muslim faith (created by black Americans and Africans), per the section on religion.  The Mosiro planetary writeup, however, says that the people of Mosiro are primarily Arabic and Islamic in origin, which would seem to be an internal continuity issue.

It's interesting that the "false flag" camo used is "Liao green."  Field Manual Capellan Confederation notes that the CCAF ceremonial uniform is a light blue-gray jersey and pants trimmed with what is commonly called "Liao green," so that seems to be a specific hue used in dress uniforms.  But on 'Mechs?  Several units use "Liao green" as highlights, but only House Ma-Tsu Kai uses Liao green as a base, with ivory and gold highlights.  Thus, it would seem the mercenaries are attempting to impersonate Warrior House Ma-Tsu Kai.  This would make sense, since circa 3025, Ma-Tsu Kai (or Matsukai, as ComStar initially wrote it) was based on Bithinia, on the Marik border, about three jumps away.

The Third Defenders of Andurien, under Lieutenant General Menlo Drews, is the only one profiled in the Marik sourcebook - it is a rabid supporter of Catherine Humphreys and an opponent of Janos Marik.  The regiment is based on Shiro III, but seems to have elements deployed on other worlds, such as Mosiro.

The heavy armor element consists of four Ontos tanks.  Killian initially refers to them correctly as a lance.  Later, they refer to them as a platoon, which (thankfully for the Commandos) is inaccurate.  In the FWLM, a platoon consists of 10-15 vehicles, which would have utterly destroyed the Commandos.  (The Anduriens probably did have a platoon of vehicles - 6 Galleons + 4 Ontos = 10 vehicles = 1 platoon).

Tarak ben-Aden comes from the "Manner" section of Christopher Halas' profile, noting that "For the last several months, [Halas] has been engaged win a running feud with MP Tarak ben-Aden of Andurien, an ardent isolationist whom Halas once called "a spineless coward" on the floor of Parliament.  Halas believes that ben-Aden was behind a recent assassination attempt made against him."  Given Miko's speculation, one wonders if Catherine Humphreys wasn't behind that assassination attempt as well.  She is described as having "one of the most Machiavellian minds in the Free Worlds League." 
« Last Edit: 14 August 2016, 07:47:35 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Frabby

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1318 on: 14 August 2016, 07:40:21 »
Is the Andurien CO really spelled Menio Drews? Because he's spelled Menlo Drews in other canonical sources, and Menko Drews in an extended cameo in the apocryphal German novel Karma.
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Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1319 on: 14 August 2016, 07:43:30 »
Is the Andurien CO really spelled Menio Drews? Because he's spelled Menlo Drews in other canonical sources, and Menko Drews in an extended cameo in the apocryphal German novel Karma.

I was working off the OCR'd PDF - "l"->"i" is a known OCR issue.  I'll fix it above.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

 

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