#1107
Not as big as the other changes, but how about a mercenary unit serving in the Rasalhague Republic and buying food from the locals.
But one week while there, a mudslide (or other natural disaster) happens and several families in a nearby town have damage to their homes. As a kindness the mercenary unit donates some of the food they received from the local farmer.
The mercenary unit makes sure everyone in the dining hall knows who the food came from, and thanks to others the mercenary unit is able to prove that the food was not tampered with after the mercs received the food.
But before people can get in line to start getting a free hot meal, the farmer has to tell everyone to stop. The farmer had put in an additive in the food that would cause the merc unit to get very sick because Rasalhagians don't like mercenaries. Result is that all the hot food that was going to be served to hungry people now has to be secured as hazardous waste, the farmer is disliked by the crowd, and the mercs show that they can play dirty too.
(The mercenaries suspected something like that would occur, so had brought along a LOT of rations and testing supplies. After the first few batches of food tested positive, the mercs knew what was going on.)
#1015
The Federated Commonwealth Civil War, and the subsequent departure from the Star League of the two halves of that once great realm, marked the beginning of a new era for the Inner Sphere. Despite efforts by the Word of Blake to hold the Second Star League together through their influence over the Free Worlds League and (to a lesser extent) the Capellan Confederation, the end was in sight. Conflicts within the Free Worlds League erupted into their own civil war, with the Blakists as one faction, and the result was the collapse of the Star League.
House Steiner struggled to retain control of the Lyran Alliance, with new conflicts against the Jade Falcons and a new Skye Revolt straining what had once been the strongest economy in the Inner Sphere. House Davion's leadership was similarly lacking, with the border marches engaging in independent wars against their neighbours - the Draconis Combine, the Capellan Confederation, the Taurian Concordat and the newly forged Raven Alliance. While these were not without victories, these were the victories of Hasek and Sandoval, not Davion. And both the Free Worlds League and House Marik shattered, with provinces forming new alliances in a power struggle that was a microcosm of the larger strategic situation.
Three great houses had shown weakness and this undermined the entire order of the Inner Sphere.
House Kurita was the next to fall. The death of Hohiro Kurita facing Clan Ghost Bear in the Second Dominion War left a disputed succession. Clan Nova Cat supported Minoru Kurita, claiming the needs of stability, while Omi Kurita's son Kitsune narrowly avoided becoming a puppet of the Black Dragon Society. With such uncertainty, the Dragon's proud ambitions tore the Combine apart, with warlords calling on their own adherents to 'defend the frontiers' as they carved out private empires.
The Ghost Bears were in no position to exploit this, the divisions between Rasalhague and the Clan brought out during the war and leaving them in a position of retrenchment as they struggled to establish the identity of their new nation and to hold off probing raids from the Wolves, Horses and other neighbours - not to mention the brief invasion of the Ice Hellions as part of the larger War of Reavings that were similarly tearing apart the Clan Homeworlds.
Khan Vladimir Ward's ambitious attempt to establish a Wolf Empire tore into his distracted neighbours, coming close to taking Tharkad and further shaking Lyran stability, only for Ward to be dragged down by Jade Falcon, Diamond Shark and Hells Horses seizure of key industrial worlds for themselves, unwilling to see Wolf elevated above them by such victories.
House Liao stood as the last united Successor State and for over a decade they achieved much of which Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao hoped, reclaiming worlds lost for decades of centuries. However, with enemies on every flank there was always potential for disaster. That disaster finally emerged in the Terran front, fighting the Blakist Protectorate.
In an era of instability, the Blakists had continually picked up support from ComStar adepts who wanted something more certain than the limited visions of the Precentor Martials. By this point, ComStar had been forced to relocate from Tukkayid, much as they had once been driven from Terra, and their headquarters had been centred on Outreach with the mighty ComGuards shrunken to little more than a mercenary command. Fighting under Capellan colors, the Waco Rangers mercenary regiment struck at Wolf Dragoon and ComGuards forces that had been hired to protect some of the few independent worlds, right as the Word of Blake Militia made their own invasion. The result was a three-sided conflict that spiralled out of control to draw the Capellan March and the Orloff-Zion Pact into the fighting.
The Capellan Crusades killed Sun-Tzu Liao, Victor Steiner-Davion and many other leaders, further shattering the region. It also left the unstable and megalomaniac Daoshan Liao on the throne of Sian, rapidly alienating his mother and sister on Canopus, his cousins on St Ives and most importantly House McCarron, who were increasingly influential among the CCAF's forces on the frontlines. Insurrections broke out as Daoshan tried to roll back some of his father's reforms to take tighter control of the Confederation.
By the early 32nd century, the five Great Houses control perhaps a third of the Inner Sphere between them. In the spaces between them, smaller realms have splintered away. It is an age of chaos, an age of war. Far from a resurgence of prosperity and strength, the 31st century proved a false-start. The Succession Wars are over, the Secession Wars have gutted worlds over and over ago.
A new generation has arisen, the chance to emerge as regional hegemon is open to new and dynamic rulers from the Great Houses or from those who stand against them. It is an age of ideologues, mercenaries and explorers. Without any unifying force behind them, each HPG station is a hub of communications that must be protected because they are no longer inviolate, instead making them desirable targets to seize or destroy.
This was an excellent read.
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