Are you not familiar with the 3145 lore? Clan Ghost Bear is relegated down below being an IS House Army... it's only part of an IS Army at this point. There are Drakons, Hussars, Freemen, regiments again... they're just called clusters is all. Sure, the Warrior Caste is still semi-"in charge" in the Dominion's diarchy... but the larger point is so is the sphereoid civilian government. So sure technically the Clan hasn't handed over ALL political power to the sphereoids... but they've very significantly handed over roughly half.
I feel like Xeno426 gave the same answer I would give. The former KungsArmé units were conscripted into reserve Clan galaxies, organised and trained along Clan lines, and I think fairly openly denigrated as inferior to the 'true' Clan units?
(Which I find a little amusing considering the KungsArmé's straight win in the Great Refusal - they indisputably could go toe-to-toe with frontline Clan formations and win. Though maybe the Bears feel that the Horses don't count?)
At any rate, the unit descriptions in FM:3145 suggest to me that that predominantly trueborn, Clan culture galaxies do tend to look down on the Rasalhagian forces? There is still a division, with the Ghost Bear forces evidently seeing themselves as being more prestigious, more professional, etc., than the native forces, even while at the same requiring the native forces to assimilate to Clan culture and Clan military standards. It does not look like an equal partnership to me, despite what FM:3145 and ER:3145 claim. It looks to me like an ongoing and largely successful attempt by a new Clan aristocracy to reform Rasalhagian culture along their preferred lines.
Clan Ghost Bear isn't necessarily under command of the civilian government of the Dominion, but neither can they ignore its demands. Contrast that with say the Raven Alliance, where the civilians there have little to no say over what their Clan 'partners' do. Also compare it to the Falcon or Horses Occupation Zones... native sphereoids make up a huge part of the military (all those Drakons, Hussars, etc clusters...). The Ghost Bear Touman at this point can't campaign without the participation and cooperation of the "KungsArmee" descendants.
To what extent, though, do we see meaningful Rasalhagian resistance to or control over Ghost Bear priorities?
I agree that the Dominion is not as bad as the Wolf Empire, Raven Alliance, or any of the OZs, but at the same time that's not exactly something worth bragging about. Part of it is just an OOU irritation of mine: I feel like the Wolves, Falcons, etc., are still more-or-less openly written as villains. They're the bad guys, we know they're the bad guys, and there's no pretense otherwise. Whereas it can feel like the Bears are attributed some sort of moral high ground, even if the only major difference is that they've been more successful in taking over and integrating with a conquered populace.
I guess I also find it rather jarring because, as I understood it, one of the defining cultural traits of Rasalhague was this long-term resistance to Combine domination. It just... feels incredibly uncomfortable, to me, for these people with this history of resistance to the imposed culture of a militarist, caste-based foreign aristocracy to seemingly just roll over when, after successfully obtaining their independence after centuries of trial, they are conquered by another militarist caste-based foreign aristocracy. From an OOU perspective, I wonder if it's just that the Bears are also vaguely Scandinavian, so rolling together the two Scandinavian factions makes sense? I suppose from an IU perspective the argument would be that, unlike the Combine, the Bears showed a degree of respect for native custom and proved willing to compromise, to the extent of actually surrendering a reasonable degree of political power?
Hm. You raise several good points. I might reserve the strength of my own language, for the reason that, as you say, the GB Touman calls all the military shots, such that RD foreign policy must pass the scrutiny of the Khans.
That was more-or-less my sense. Are there various subtle pressures the Rasalhagians can exert to try to moderate or sway Bear policy? Yes. But if the Bears are determined to do something, they will do it, and the Rasalhagians can't stop them. We know where power ultimately lies in the Dominion.
