Hibernaculum: (Vacation) Home of Clan Star Adder

[Crimson Dynamo]

Wow! That's some insight from high places. Some good and bad from the info in that article as I see it.

The Good:

THE HOMEWORLD CLANS STILL EXIST! The Manei Domini didn't go on a hellride to Strana Mechty. The Aggressors didn't burn everything down. The Society did not return at the head of viral outbreaks and Genecaste hordes. They're still a potential factor even if nobody knows what to do with them for now.

They're staying away from REVIVAL and TF Serpent 2.0s. That is somewhat refreshing to hear, even if it does severely restrict the story possibilities for them moving forward. Although, word will reach them eventually that the Wolves took Terra, proclaimed a new Star League, and oh yeah, they've got the Great Father there too. How they won't feel compelled to invade will take some interesting storytelling. Though if the Adders still hold sway, their pragmatic bent could lead to some interesting possibilities for asymmetric approaches.

The Bad:

We're clearly not going to be hearing from them any time soon.

They seem to be focused on making grand sweeping plot movements with any reappearance of the HWs. IMO, they don't need to launch a full invasion or themselves be invaded. I've said it elsewhere, but they would make for an excellent inclusion in smaller-stakes stories. The Scorpions, known to wander and the closest to that region, could accidentally kick-over some anthill or other, but instead of ants it's Stone Lions that come out. Replace the Scorpions with IE, or members of Abdoun Ricol's alliance, or someone else entirely and draws a limited response from one or more Homeworld Clans. Maybe the Malthus Confederation receives some exotic equipment from parts unknown and plots to use it to further destabilize the Hinterlands (a la Intergang and Apokolips from DC). Maybe there exist in-universe rumors of a lost JumpShip from the final Diamond Shark or Snow Raven convoys fleeing the Reavings carrying germanium/riches/Kerensky's preserved toenail clippings and some ambitious ovKhan from the Foxes goes looking and inadvertently kicks off a limited campaign across the Exodus Road. It sounds like they're maybe overlooking all the small hooks that could be set in favor of getting something big going.

Although, I too am excited to hear more of pre-3085 Homeworlds. I want my dang Absorption War Historical, already! 

[JAMES_PRYDE]

Yeah, possible new micro conflict areas could be (again said) Scorpion / Homeworlds overlap area, and the Exodus Road, the part that is "nearer" to the IS

Also wait it out in ilClan years, then possibly in 20 years time, the Ravens discover the Adders/Hommies quietly lurking on their back door, readying to strike, and they are like "crap" we are out matched, Star Adder finally makes a move at SL ? Or comes on a burning crusade to purge "tainted" Clans

Or as discussed smaller Fox thing

[Fire Scorpion IIC]

Yeah, this news tracks with what I said based on WoR Supplemental: Homies are definitely alive, Star Adders let Aggressors make idiots of themselves in the Imperio and then have put their foot up everyone's butt and told them to get in line, start cleaning things up and working towards another Golden Century

I already suggested that the good way to bring them back into the story is resource conflict in Deep Periphery

Another good way to get them out is to have nature do the heavy lifting: A cosmic disaster of some kind (unstable pulsar, weird black hole or neutron star going boom in the near future...) could become impeding threat and force Home Clans to wholesale evacuate somewhere else, preferably in old Exodus Road (Yarnfolk neighborhood would be my choice but not too close, it would also bring Yarnfolk back to the story)

They would want to do it quietly and thoroughly which would explain radio silence and after a while they would start running into other factions in the neighborhood because you can't stay undetected forever

Important thing is to have the story of Home Clans be the story about Home Clans and not about the Inner Sphere or ilClan, there's no need to cram that into their narrative because that's how you end up with repeating Clan Invasion or  Operation Serpent which is what writers are trying to avoid

Let the Homies breathe a bit, four of them could go and do four different things in close proximity to each other and grow to four different sizes, they need to be allowed to go on their own

Goliath Scorpions were allowed to go on their own and it did wonders for the lore

[JAMES_PRYDE]

Well as said before there is a "homeworlds" novel symbol, perhaps a short shrapnel story in the closing days of the Wars of Reavings perhaps with Star Adder Ristar secret movement looking forward, as it could be a series of stories from each Homeworld Clan reflecting after the Wars ended, before the "Cut off for 100 years "

But resource wars, conflicts, lacking of them, another Golden Century could potentially turn out new tech, like Protomechs, but actually good this time, something involving "enhanced/healthy" enhanced Imaging, for want of a better word "Protomechs the size of a small mech", consisting of tech using MASC, Ferro Fibers, Myomer, and hargel into some mix of tech and "liquid metal" with a pilot in the middle, fully bonded to machine AI as a companion concept (like Cortana and Chief)

Also as you said Fire Scorpion, something happens naturally which some how evolves the Homies affected

[Alan Grant]

I'd love to see the Inner Sphere experience a new era of expansion at some point down the road. Expand the map of inhabited systems. Probably means both a linear expansion outward from the current edges of the map (see the periphery powers become bigger players in their own right, but that can also mean expansion of Clan OZ and Great House space), but also new pockets of humanity springing up out in the void, centered around particularly valuable worlds that were  neglected up to this point because of hostile environments or other factors (look to the early history of the Inner Sphere and the Great Houses for ideas as to what that looks like on a map). Maybe there's some big breakthroughs in terraforming tech or a new development in interstellar travel technology that explain why we've pivoted to a new age of expansion.

As a byproduct, the Homeworld Clans aren't so distant anymore and come back into the story. But it isn't an Operation Revival 2.0, it isn't Taskforce Serpent. First and foremost it's an expansion of humanity across the stars, largely a civilian/government driven effort. Rather than a military operation.

But naturally, this is Battletech, wherever humanity goes, war tends to follow eventually.

I think that would be very cool and it would be something we haven't really played out before. Yes, the expansion cycles that created the Inner Sphere and periphery have always been there as part of Battletech's history, but always in the distant past and predates the BattleMech for the most part.

[tassa_kay]

I'd personally like to see the Home Clans engage in a serious conflict with the Scorpion Empire. They're "close" (relatively speaking), they're already enemies, the Home Clans have already done the scouting work (between their Watch ops and their scouting of beachhead worlds to use as a jumping-off point for invasion), and honestly, if there's a current faction that desperately needs some sort of engagement (they're literally sitting there doing nothing) and/or humbling (have they suffered a single setback or problem of any significance since their Abjuration?), it's the Empire. The only problem I see is that the Home Clans, even after the losses of the WoR, still have a massive advantage in WarShips... and the will to actually use them for glassing planets. But I think there's serious potential in a conflict between the two extremes of Clan evolution: one side that's evolved to become less Clan and the other that's evolved to become more Clan. And selfishly, I'm A-OK with watching a bunch of factions I dislike to varying degrees beat the daylights out of each other.

[Gaiiten]

IMHO the idea of a conflict between the scorpions and Home Clanners shortly after theEmpire was founded was buried with Ben Rome`s departure.
Most of the original ideas how the Home Clans ongoing story was stopped and is to be rewritten.

About stories TPTB could tell us I would be very interested in something like a Historical or Brush Wars-style publication about the Star Adder-Blood Spirit war after the events of the Absorption War.
Including the grand invasion of York, ongoing battles on this planet on ground and in space, Spirit reprisals against Adder enclaves, political intrigues and powergames, secret moves , new battle technology made of the requirements of the conflict . And so on.

[Nerroth]

During the Bakumatsu period, the sonno joi ("Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians") movement was used by the anti-Shogunate forces coalescing to topple the Tokugawa bekufu in the run-up to the Boshin War. And yet, when the Meiji Restoration actually took place, the new government formed by the victorious Satsuma and Choshu domains - who were as acutely aware of Japan's relative vulnerability as the last shogun had been - promptly jettisoned any such talk in favour of a full-scale effort at modernization... to include abolishing their own home domains and replacing them with prefectures.

Similarly, I think of how the Star Adders used the Steel Vipers to evict the Invader Clans from the Homeworlds... only to turn on their former allies at exactly the point at which they ceased to be politically useful.

Alas, just as not all of those who fought on the Boshin War were content in the new Meiji-era Japan, leading to the ill-fated Satsuma Rebellion, the legacy of the Bloody IlKhan had by no means been fully digested as of The Wars of Reaving Supplemental - as seen with the rise of the Bastion and Aggressor factions.

-----

In any case, the Star Adders are, or were, supposed to be the self-proclaimed "grown-ups" in the room: using one of their Galaxies as an Inner Sphere OpFor; pushing to have all of the Clans go together during Operation REVIVAL; and, when that effort failed, bidding their entire Clan to be part of the invasion force.

But even if that would still be the case - as in, the Adders plan to essentially migrate to the Inner Sphere en masse - there's still the question of how to prepare for such a massive undertaking. Not least with so much to be done in order to rebuild the Homeworlds to the state that they can provide the resources needed to undertake such a reverse-Exodus.

And there's still the question of what to do once they get there. Taint or no taint, there is going to have to be some sort of plan in place to deal with their would-be Inner Sphere subjects in a way that is not entirely self-defeating. They are supposed to be the level-headed ones; surely that should also include taking the time to figure out what a would-be Star Adder Occupation Zone would look like?

And there is the question of how eager - or not - some within the surviving Homeworld Clans might be to say goodbye to Strana Mechty for good. What if, at the time a new invasion/migration is seriously being discussed, there are more than a few who are not ready to abandon the Pentagon Worlds and Kerensky Cluster, if the logic of the Adders' argument is to be followed through with?

Trying to answer any or all of these questions, and more, could help explain why it's taken so long for any contact to be made wit hthe Homeworlds as of 3152: it's taken that long, and more besides (such as, say, news about the McKenna's Pride and of the entombing of General Kerensky's body at Unity City to reach Strana Mechty), for this process of evolution to play out.

-----

Personally, I would suggest that the Coyote "problem" be dealt with by leaving them behind as the last Wardens: joined perhaps by whichever Cloud Cobra Cloisters vote to stay at home. While seeing the Star Adders, the Stone Lions, and the other Cobra Cloisters - to include their respective civilian populations - set out to make a permanent move to the Inner Sphere.

This would be the first time a Clan migration took place entirely on its own terms, rather than being the result of a rushed timetable (or a prompt expulsion).

I noted this in a separate thread, but I'd place their would-be OZs facing the old Exodus Road: with the Stone Lions on the far side of the Rasalhague Dominion from the Hell's Horses; the Cobras placed next door to the Raven Alliance; and with the Adders holding the centre position between the two.

That might lead to some unexpected alliances, if the Bears and Ravens were to see the Combine as the lesser of two evils. But then... what if the Horses end up siding with the new arrivals, and push to link up with their Stone Lion counterparts by cutting through Dominion space?

-----

Overall, I'd worry that, the longer the Gordian knot of what to do with the Homeworld Clans is left, the more difficult it might seem to untangle it.

Perhaps, at some point, this knot should be cut: better that then keep them off the board for the foreseeable future.

[Gaiiten]

Seriously, I would rather see the Home Clans giving up the return to the "tainted" Inner Sphere. Instead I would like to see them build up a new stellar empire of their own, colonizing new planets, developing new technologies (not only military, but civilian like terraforming and other engineering wonders).

A new, alternative and working Star League (far, far away).

[Fire Scorpion IIC]

Seriously, I would rather see the Home Clans giving up the return to the "tainted" Inner Sphere. Instead I would like to see them build up a new stellar empire of their own, colonizing new planets, developing new technologies (not only military, but civilian like terraforming and other engineering wonders).

A new, alternative and working Star League (far, far away).

This right here

Been saying it since forever, don't try to saddle them with leftovers of someone else's story, give them their own story

It's a big Deep Periphery

[CJC070]

This right here

Been saying it since forever, don't try to saddle them with leftovers of someone else's story, give them their own story

It's a big Deep Periphery

The only question is will they come out (of the Homeworlds) kicking and screaming or be yanked out kicking and screaming.  The writers can go either way but the most important part is it must be interesting.  Personally I only see the Homeworlds coming out if either Alaric invades them or if there is a rise in popularity (or rule change) with the Protomechs.

[Gaiiten]

The only question is will they come out (of the Homeworlds) kicking and screaming or be yanked out kicking and screaming.  The writers can go either way but the most important part is it must be interesting.  Personally I only see the Homeworlds coming out if either Alaric invades them or if there is a rise in popularity (or rule change) with the Protomechs.

Probably the Scorpions will do some kind of contact. The Tanite worlds could be an area of contest.

[Wotan]

But as we talk about just a backstory for a battle simulation game, there will not be a peaceful new star league with just some kind of technology progress and new colonies that work happy together. Every story written around the Homeworlds will open up new scenarios for a game of Battletech.
That means, there must be some kind of conflict. Either within the remaining homeworld clans or between them and the IS.

[Gaiiten]

Without competition among the Home Clans there will not be any progress. So they quarrel among themselves, test their battle acumen against each other, improving their capabilities and new technologies.

And maybe to keep their warriors busy, they are up to do some great engineering and infrrastructure projects as to Terraforming.
Old Rome`s Legions were kept busy with road constructing and other projects. Worked well for Rome (for some time at least).

[Metallgewitter]

Probably the Scorpions will do some kind of contact. The Tanite worlds could be an area of contest.

I thought the Tanite worlds are dead. I am pretty sure the Adders bombed them into the Sone Age when they wiped out the last Burrocks

[tassa_kay]

I thought the Tanite worlds are dead. I am pretty sure the Adders bombed them into the Sone Age when they wiped out the last Burrocks

They did indeed. The Adders pretty much wiped out their population when they retook the system, unwilling to allow any remnants to fester.

And it's highly doubtful that the Scorpions would intentionally seek out contact with the Home Clans anyway. They'd have no reason to invite that kind of conflict on themselves, especially given the fact that the Home Clans still have a lot of WarShips and the willingness to use them against "Tainted" Clans like the Scorpions.

[CJC070]

Without competition among the Home Clans there will not be any progress. So they quarrel among themselves, test their battle acumen against each other, improving their capabilities and new technologies.

And maybe to keep their warriors busy, they are up to do some great engineering and infrrastructure projects as to Terraforming.
Old Rome`s Legions were kept busy with road constructing and other projects. Worked well for Rome (for some time at least).

I could see them making some of the worlds more habitable but they are still a warrior culture first.  You bring in a star of troops to build a twelve story house and all I see is duelling with I-beams. 

[tassa_kay]

I could see them making some of the worlds more habitable but they are still a warrior culture first.  You bring in a star of troops to build a twelve story house and all I see is duelling with I-beams.

... why would they have warriors doing the building when they have an entire laborer caste to do that stuff?

[Metallgewitter]

... why would they have warriors doing the building when they have an entire laborer caste to do that stuff?

Only thing I could think of would be punishment duty. But that might be different with the Clans. Wars of Reaving already drew a picture of what warriors do when they have noi real target. They battle among themselves (mainly the Star Adders who have the biggest touman at that point)

[tassa_kay]

Only thing I could think of would be punishment duty. But that might be different with the Clans. Wars of Reaving already drew a picture of what warriors do when they have noi real target. They battle among themselves (mainly the Star Adders who have the biggest touman at that point)

The Star Adders specifically put their warriors who fight too much with the other Clans post-WoR to work on construction and rebuilding projects.

[Gaiiten]

So for the Home Clans the most important for surviving is to keep their warriors from starting another conflict which might be the last for them.

Reducing their numbers would be difficult, because they still need quite a number for their plans (new invasion) and for keeping their edge.

Building a strong pool of reserve warriors would be an alternative. They would keep their warrior status, have to fight their trials (e.g. once a year to keep their status) and fight in military trainings (even less than the active warriors), could get back in active status.

Working in engineering or other projects would help to foster the bands between the other castes and the warrior caste. Nevertheless the warriors would get precious knowledge and experience (e.g. using a Mech for constructing a building would greatly increase your piloting and handling skills).

Some Clans have done this before, especially the Diamond Sharks.

[Alan Grant]

I don't know that this is truly an existential crisis level dilemma. Particularly if they stick to Zell.

For most of Clan history, pre-3050, they just fought Zell fights for all kinds of things amongst themselves and this was more than adequate to keep the warriors busy. By sticking to these forms of Trials, they restricted the amount of damage and collateral damage they could truly inflict. So military conflict was rarely an existential threat to the society itself.

Yes, it's true that the writers leaned into warrior angst as a reason to send some of their warriors to attack the Hanseatic League. Yet others were put to work fighting Trials for genetic legacies from dead Clans like the Mandrills. However with time (generations) they can shift the expectations and norms of their warriors back to that pre-Revival mindset that restricted Trials fought in accordance with Zell is honorable and the best way for them to earn individual honor and glory and all that. If the warriors can accept that's sufficient, the Homeworld Clans should be fine.

This also isn't the first time the Clans have had to clean up a huge mess that is a lack of infrastructure and worlds shredded by unrestricted warfare. The Pentagon Worlds were a huge mess after the Exodus Civil War, that they found themselves having to manage after Operation Klondike. I'm not saying it's easy (and some individual worlds may be beyond saving). It's the work of generations of people. But they've done it before.

None of this is truly unprecedented territory. It just feels that way. The Homeworld Clans have experienced all of this before and come out the other side ok, their status is very akin to the early days of Clans post-Klondike. Trying to build up small Clans into larger ones, trying to establish themselves on worlds devastated by war, trying to grow their populations and infrastructure.

Things only really went wrong for the Clans when their perceived reality and place in the universe began to change. The reality that the Spheroids were equals. The reality that the Clans weren't the center of the future of the human race. The reality that the Clans in the Inner Sphere were changing from the Clans in the Homeworlds and that change was seen as bad. All of this was interpreted as there being something horrifically wrong that began to tear Clan society apart.

They could have taken a different tact and attitude toward change. It wasn't guaranteed to happen that way. To use a real-world example, for a long time Japan in the 1800s was an isolationist country trying to ward off influence from other countries to preserve its power and way of life even as ships from foreign nations began to try to stick their nose in Japan's door. When that isolationism finally couldn't be maintained anymore, they didn't just begrudgingly join the global arena, they actually embraced modernizing as quick as possible. There were plenty of problems and growing pains and mistakes made, but ultimately Japan decided it was going to be a peer nation to all those others. Not through isolationism but through joining that global community of nations.

So, the lesson for the Homeworld Clans is that interaction with outside cultures is alchemy. By coming into contact with other cultures, you will change, it will be culturally akin to a chemical reaction that changes two elements when you bring them into contact with each other. You can accept this reality, or you can keep trying to resist it by punching yourself in the face every time you feel a sneeze coming on that feels too much like a Spheroid sneeze instead of a Clan sneeze.

If they hold on to the ideas of taint and being tainted and all that and keep that front and center to their identity. Then I don't have a lot of hope for the Homeworld Clans doing much of anything. Pure isolationism and self-imposed quarantine will be their only mode of operation. They will, ironically, have adopted a very Blood Spirit way of life. To drift from that will always mean to be dissatisfied with the outcome, because try as you might, exposure to other peoples and other ways of life will change you. Whether it takes a year or 20, they'll be dissatisfied with what happens and may revert back to thinking that they need to isolate again or turn back the clock.

The writers have already said they don't want a Revival 2.0. They want something else. So pure aggressor philosophy fanatical invasion sounds like it's off the table to me. That's a big deal. That's a huge hint of where this has to go if the Homeworld Clans are going to go anywhere or do anything.

If Revival 2.0 off the table, then all other prospective paths forward have a common thread. They require the Homeworld Clans to change. To accept that interaction with other cultures will change them. They come to terms with that being ok, because they see it as just part of whatever journey they have decided to embark upon.

That will require a complete re-think of their prevailing philosophies from the last time we got an update about them, and views and goals and a certain level of acceptance of what's to come and how it will change them in the process.

I do think it's possible, above all the Adders have always been pragmatists, and they will be generations removed from 3085. Their perception of the Wars of Reaving, it's causes, why it happened, may have changed a lot across the generations.

[Metallgewitter]

There is always the option that in the end all Homeworld clans cease to exist and someday an expedition stumbles upon the remains of the old Star League in Exile, Clan Homeworlds what ever it's called

Or they merge all to one Clan just as Kerensky had intended when he introduced the concept of Absorption. And from there they will then send envoys to the Is Star League as a way to reconcile with the IS

[Fire Scorpion IIC]

There is alwaqys the option that in the end all Homeworld clans cease to exist and soeday  an expedition stumbles upon the remains of the old Star League in Exile, Clan Homeworlds what ever it's called
 .......

Developers went on record countless times that this headcanon will not be happening

[tassa_kay]

Developers went on record countless times that this headcanon will not be happening

Pointing out an option that exists is not "headcanon".

And speaking for the developers when they've changed course on things many, many times over the years is silly. No one here knows what's going to happen with the Home Clans until and unless it ends up in print.

[Wotan]

After a while they have merged to one clan and finally cloned the true Kerensky to resurrect the old Star League... ;)

[Gaiiten]

After a while they have merged to one clan and finally cloned the true Kerensky to resurrect the old Star League... ;)

IMHO it will be quite interesting what they will do with the Bloodheritage of Jennifer Winson. She was very likely the last of the Cameron (incest child of Richard Cameron and his younger sister Helena).
This might give the Home Clans a legal claim to the Star League throne.

[JAMES_PRYDE]

IMHO it will be quite interesting what they will do with the Bloodheritage of Jennifer Winson. She was very likely the last of the Cameron (incest child of Richard Cameron and his younger sister Helena).
This might give the Home Clans a legal claim to the Star League throne.

 

[Metallgewitter]

IMHO it will be quite interesting what they will do with the Bloodheritage of Jennifer Winson. She was very likely the last of the Cameron (incest child of Richard Cameron and his younger sister Helena).
This might give the Home Clans a legal claim to the Star League throne.

Or the other side, the last survivng spawn of Amaris. We might never know

Also, in terms of trials: pre Invasion the Clan society was a society which never had a quiet minute. Remember that example in the Wars of Reaving? One trial results in more trials because the Clan that lost something might just have to start another trial to meet their needs as most Clans couldn't even meet the demands of one month (except the Invaders and the Diamond Sharks). The main question is of course if they will slowly back away from this sort of society. On the one hand it kept their warriors sharp as they were basically in an endless cycle of battle without the fear of ever really destroying the support base. That came after they lost the Refusal trial when Clans suddenly took it to the extreme by destroying the objective they fought over. The main question will be if they can keep that genie in the bottle for the future.

[tassa_kay]

Even if the Home Clans are aware of Jennifer Winson's possible true origins (remember, it's not explicitly canon that she's even a Cameron, it's just an in-universe theory, and a secret at that), I highly doubt that after the Wars of Reaving, Alaric (or any Inner Sphere Clanner for that matter) will give the time of day to some silly Home Clan legal challenge. If the Home Clans want to claim the Star League throne, they're gonna have to fight for it. And that can only end one way: mutually-assured destruction and possibly the final end of the Clans.