Tribble #0010
Shattered Sphere
The fourth succession war was, Comstar would later reflect, their finest hour. A combination of brilliant plotting and sheer dumb luck would set the stage for them to finally achieve Blake's vision.
It started when a ROM plant gave Duke Hasek-Davion food posioning, keeping him from running off to Sian, and keeping his treachery suspected, instead of confirmed outright. It continued when they kept Aldo Lestrade save from his own son, and killed off his sons friends.
In the war of 3039, when the Federated Commonwealth failed to achieve any real victory over the Draconis Combine- hated enemy of the entire FedCom- Duke Hasek-Davion formally succeeded from the FedCom. Lestrade quickly followed suit, and the Isle of Skye succeeded.
Then the St Ives compact threw off its chains, and declared itself truly independent from both the FedCom and the Cappellan Confederation. At the same time, the Tikonov Free Republic tore itself free too. The TFR offered Outreach to the Wolf's Dragoons, in exchange for military support.
As this was happening, the Free Worlds League- helped quietly along by Comstar- finally fell apart, leaving half a dozen provinces and hundreds of lonely worlds.
The Deiron Dieron District, longing for the days when it was part of the Terran Hegonomy, and embolden by Rasalhague, also declared sovereignty.
Theodore and Takashi Kurita argued so strongly over Theodore's reforms that they tore the nation in two between them, each gathering warlorlds under their banner and fighting each other.
Various reigons in the FedCom, disgusted by how the alliance between the two nations was causing them to loose so much for no gain, succeeded. The Suns Periphery march declared itself independent, because of how little support they got from new Avalon. The Draconis March ignored the Suns, too focused on the Combine. In the Lyran half, various social generals and businessmen, egged on by Ryan Steiner, set up their own nations.
By 3042, the Federated Commonwealth was no more, and the inner Sphere consisted of nothing but small nations, none larger than a hundred worlds. Suddenly, the Periphery nations were on an even footing with any other nation.
The entire situation was only helped by Comstar, liberally blocking, changing and fabricating messages to help all this along.
By 3049, the Shattered Sphere, as it was known, consisted of 34 nations. Comstar had taken a dozen of the closet worlds to Terra as Protectorates, and fully expected to rule the Shattered Sphere within 20 years.
And then they started getting reports of invaders from the Periphery, with strange Mechs and technology beyond what even the Star League had...