BattleTech FanFiction Tribble Emporium

[VhenRa]

Wouldn't the Invasion of Neuva Castile be the last straw that revealed the Clans to the Inner Sphere. By that point Inner Sphere Merchants were trading directly with the Hansa open worlds, the Hansa supplying Mercs to the Castilians and Umayyads (probably from the IS) and Hansa themselves in contact with both Neuva Castille and the Inner Sphere?

[Sharpnel]

I love Drak's Tribbles as they are very in depth. This latest is very interesting. I can see the OTL invasion being delayed until well in the 3050s as the Clans reconquer recently lost colony worlds and rebuild the forces lost in this Reconquista.

[drakensis]

Wouldn't the Invasion of Neuva Castile be the last straw that revealed the Clans to the Inner Sphere. By that point Inner Sphere Merchants were trading directly with the Hansa open worlds, the Hansa supplying Mercs to the Castilians and Umayyads (probably from the IS) and Hansa themselves in contact with both Neuva Castille and the Inner Sphere?

It's certainly a risk. However, the Clans may not be aware of how much or little contact there is and more to the point the potential rewards may have them being reckless and greedy.

I love Drak's Tribbles as they are very in depth. This latest is very interesting. I can see the OTL invasion being delayed until well in the 3050s as the Clans reconquer recently lost colony worlds and rebuild the forces lost in this Reconquista.

Thanks.

[knightowl]

An then either the Smoke Jaguar's or Ice Hellion's will make the dash to destroy the "Weak" Scavenger Lords an declare then themselves the IlClan. Remember there was a Inter Hellion Fight because of the Dragoon Compromise. The Khan an atleast 2 Galaxies want to still Invade the Inner Sphere.

[Novacaptain]

An then either the Smoke Jaguar's or Ice Hellion's will make the dash to destroy the "Weak" Scavenger Lords an declare then themselves the IlClan. Remember there was a Inter Hellion Fight because of the Dragoon Compromise. The Khan an atleast 2 Galaxies want to still Invade the Inner Sphere.

Jena Norizuchi and Alpha Galaxy were destroyed by an unnamed saKhan and Beta after Norizuchi began plans to invade the IS without Grand Council sanction.  If colonizing other worlds and winning glorious victories were an option, it seems almost certain that Norizuchi and her supporters would have channeled their energies ferociously in that direction.  The Hellions might even have done well, considering the canon statement that their lower-castes work quite well together with a "pack" mentality.  Unfortunately, anti-freeborn prejudice (which seems to have been very strong in the Hellion warrior caste prior to the invention of the Flurry units) as well as the characteristic Hellion tendency shoot off half-cocked more or less constantly would probably have undermined their efforts.

[paladin3030]

Tribble #487

I would give my left arm to see this done. ;)

[SulliMike23]

Tribble 488

Deep beyond the Periphery, within Clan space, lies a secret society. A society dedicated to the restoration of the Star League the way it was under Aleksandr Kerensky's leadership. Forged prior to the Pentagon Civil War after Kerensky's death, they chose NOT to follow his son Nicholas to Strana Mechty and help forge the Clans. Instead, they fought the various factions that rose up in the ashes of the Star League-in-Exile's collapse and to try to reunite them under their banner with little success. When Operation: Klondike arrived with the Clans coming to do what they failed to do, they were appalled to see Kerensky's army turned into savage warriors genetically enhanced to lethal capacity. Rather than face them head on, the society, who call themselves "The True League," went into hiding among various hidden worlds outside of the Kerensky Cluster. They sent spies to the Clan Homeworlds under the guise of lower caste members and those among the so-called "Bandit Caste" to see what had become of their long-lost brethren. After learning more about their society, The True League then dedicated themselves to ridding the galaxy of these monsters in a guerilla campaign that lasted for nearly 300 years.

After learning of their failed invasion of the Inner Sphere, the True League knew that the soldiers of the Inner Sphere would launch a counterattack to the Clan Homeworlds and knew that their time to reunite with the Inner Sphere had come. But first, the needed to help their brethren from their ancient homes by launching attacks on Clan holdings. After that, it was all a matter of making contact.

[drakensis]

Tribble 489

The Clan genetic programmes take slightly different directions. They develop mechwarriors who are tall and slim to handle high temperatures, with ears adjusted for better balance. They develop muscular and thick-skinned infantry with immense stamina and broad environmental tolerances. They develop short, broad pilots who can cope with the strain of powerful acceleration and whose bones and muscles suffer minimal decline in low gravity. By the 31st century the Warrior Caste of the Clans is dominated by trueborn elves, orcs and dwarves. (The Laborer Caste has significant minority of large, not too intellectually impressive 'trolls' - not all Clans think this is a good idea).

Keeping their warriors viable has led the Clans to invent extensive cybernetics, and electronic warfare has been honed into a major facet, with the development of a genuinely immersive mind-machine interface. While formal, honourable combat is their ideal, there's a sub-culture of low-grade warriors supported by the more ambitious civilians that embrace low intensity warfare - espionage in all but name - for the sake of their Clans.

Break out the shadowrun sourcebooks...

[Giovanni Blasini]

Tribble 489

The Clan genetic programmes take slightly different directions. They develop mechwarriors who are tall and slim to handle high temperatures, with ears adjusted for better balance. They develop muscular and thick-skinned infantry with immense stamina and broad environmental tolerances. They develop short, broad pilots who can cope with the strain of powerful acceleration and whose bones and muscles suffer minimal decline in low gravity. By the 31st century the Warrior Caste of the Clans is dominated by trueborn elves, orcs and dwarves. (The Laborer Caste has significant minority of large, not too intellectually impressive 'trolls' - not all Clans think this is a good idea).

Keeping their warriors viable has led the Clans to invent extensive cybernetics, and electronic warfare has been honed into a major facet, with the development of a genuinely immersive mind-machine interface. While formal, honourable combat is their ideal, there's a sub-culture of low-grade warriors supported by the more ambitious civilians that embrace low intensity warfare - espionage in all but name - for the sake of their Clans.

Break out the shadowrun sourcebooks...

Tir Na Niops already has dibs on elves:



(Though, with Niops' Star League ties and red dwarf sun, you can always have Niops inhabited by dark elves)

[Takiro]

Never deal with the Dragon!

[Terrace]

Tribble 490

Among many newly-independent worlds on the Periphery border in the wake of the Jihad, one world is relatively unique as being a black hole where pirates attack, but never get away. One desperate band of mercenaries-turned-pirates decides to try their luck anyways. What they get is a world where the terrain all over the planet makes travel extremely difficult without either jumpjets or VTOLs. And no sooner to the defenders become aware of them than the pirates get swarmed by SRM-equipped Jump Infantry and similarly hopping Battle Armor.

For you see, this formerly Taurian world has retained the ability to train and equip Battle Armor troops and Jump Infantry. They long ago realized just how difficult the local terrain made using most standard military equipment, but they made up for it with some of the best Jump Infantry the Taurian Concordat ever had. When the Concordat acquired the ability to manufacture Battle Armor, a factory was set up on this world in an underground facility. With the tight terrain, the defenders regularly make short work of any pirates that come calling.

The poor, luckless shmucks that thought looting this place was a good idea would love nothing more than to leave and never come back, but the defenders have already blown up the Dropship. They have a reputation to maintain, after all!

For the pirates are going to become very familiar with the phrase "ARGH! GET 'EM OFF! GET 'EM OFF!" for the rest of their short stay on the planet Roach Motel...

[drakensis]

Tribble #491

Rather than committing to the Exodus, Aleksandr Kerensky instead throws in with Jerome Blake to try to hold the Star League together. Using the core worlds of the Terran Hegemony as a jumping off points, SLDF Corps and Divisions set out to act as peacekeepers by engaging and subduing the armies and navies of the House Lords as they waged war on each other.

While the SLDF was the largest single military force still in the Inner Sphere, it wasn't the equal of all the House's armies combined. Their logistics had never recovered entirely from the Amaris Coup and the readiness of many SLDF soldiers to fight against the armies of their home nations was often questionable. Nonetheless, they still had a degree of technological advantage and their personnel had unparalleled combat experience.

For a while it seemed to work, except that the House Lords did not give up. They adapted to the situation and now anticipated SLDF intervention. Conflicts escalated with weapons of mass destruction being used by all sides. The military intelligence arms of the Great Houses pulled out all the stops to subvert the SLDF's commanders and soldiers.

By the early 2790s General Kerensky realised that his strategy wasn't working and shifted the focus to crippling the military production of the Great Houses, hoping that this would force them to stop fighting. The fact that the SLDF's sources of equipment simply hadn't recovered to the point they could make good the losses they were taking was also a factor - in the long run Kerensky had needed to - and failed to - win the war psychologically.

Given broad authority to determine what industries were military and strategic, hardened veterans of decades of war set about taking the war to the core worlds of the five Member States. As the House Lords responded, the situation escalated and raids struck deep into the Terran Hegemony - one of them killing Kerensky's deputy, General Aaron DeChevalier in 2799. Shortly after the death of his old friend, Kerensky authorised strikes on the capitals of all five Member-States.

The HPG network was no longer a coherent network since the Houses had realised Terran control of this would place them at a terrible disadvantage and seized or destroyed every station they good. Three weeks after the strike forces departed, Aleksandr Kerensky suffered a fatal stroke. Within months, the Member-States had been functionally decapitated - only one House Lord was dead but the infrastructure of their core bureaucracies were shattered.

Even this, however, couldn't stop the Succession Wars. Worlds and provinces broke away from central authority and border armies took advantage of openings that resulted. With no clear successor to Kerensky, the SLDF fractured into dozens of factions and even Terra itself found itself fought over.

The resulting chaos seemed unending, until 2821. After two decades of silence, Aleksandr Kerensky's sons Nicholas and Andery had returned from the Outworld Marches. After their father's death, the two young men had rallied several divisions and shiploads of machinery to evacuate Terra as the SLDF regiments turned on each other. In a remote corner of human space they had arrived as saviours to the collapsing economies of the outlying worlds of the OWA and forged a new nation and a new military force.

They were called the Clans and their intention was nothing less than the complete reunification of humanity under their leadership, and the reorganisation of all human society upon the 'rational model' which they had already applied to the Wastes...


Edit:
I'd envisage that the Clans are rather larger here. 25 Clusters of 40 Bloodnamed Warriors (and a varying number of unblooded warriors depending on exact composition) per Clan, for 1,000 Bloodnamed per Clan. This means that each of the five task groups sent out to bring the Inner Sphere to heel would have had 100 Clusters at their disposal. On the other hand, their warship strength is lower - typically one capital warship or 2-3 smaller ships per Clan.

The Task Groups are as follows:
Task Group Alpha: Clans Ghost Bear, Blood Spirit, Steel Viper and Star Adder. Coreward regions of the former Draconis Combine, Lyran Commonwealth and (eventually) the Rim Worlds Republic.
Task Group Beta: Clans Sea Fox, Ice Hellion, Coyote and Cloud Cobra. Rimwards regions of the former Draconis Combine and corewards regions of the former Federated Suns and Terran Hegemony.
Task Group Gamma: Clans Nova Cat, Mongoose, Wolverine and Snow Raven. Coreward regions of the former Capellan Confederation and Free Worlds League, rimwards regions of the former Terran Hegemony
Task Group Delta: Clans Fire Mandrill, Widowmaker, Goliath Scorpion and Burrock. Rimwards regions of the Federated Suns and Capellan Confederation, as well as the Taurian Concordat.
Task Group Episilon: Clans Hells Horses, Jade Falcon, Wolf and Smoke Jaguar. Former Magistracy of Canopus, rimwards regions of the former Free Worlds League and Rim Worlds Republic.

[Takiro]

Interesting drak, would the Clans be allowed to grow or would they be snuffed out in their infancy? It took years for the 20 clusters to come together and mount Operation Klondike. Would the Draconis Combine, Federated Suns, and/or an SLDF adversary come along to wipe them out first?

[drakensis]

For these purposes I'm calculating that the Clans managed to thrive in isolation for two decades and by the time they were making a bid for domination, the various factions have fragmented and the continued fighting has left the Inner Sphere a patchwork of vest-pocket empires, with the Clans being among the largest surviving forces and among the few that have managed to maintain some approximation of SLDF Royal technology.

[SulliMike23]

Question is, how long will their campaign work? I doubt they'd make the entirety of the Inner Sphere capitulate or acquiesce to their demands.

Anyway, I've been thinking of getting my tribble of a Babylon 5 crossover with Battletech to start; but the problem is, where to begin? Which episode would be the best start off point? Furthermore, how will I incorporate the different B5 characters into the series? I can't exactly have Londo, G'Kar, Delenn, or the various species from B5 be in this. All of the human characters will be no problem, just gotta adjust their histories and exclude any telepaths.

[DoctorMonkey]

Question is, how long will their campaign work? I doubt they'd make the entirety of the Inner Sphere capitulate or acquiesce to their demands.

Anyway, I've been thinking of getting my tribble of a Babylon 5 crossover with Battletech to start; but the problem is, where to begin? Which episode would be the best start off point? Furthermore, how will I incorporate the different B5 characters into the series? I can't exactly have Londo, G'Kar, Delenn, or the various species from B5 be in this. All of the human characters will be no problem, just gotta adjust their histories and exclude any telepaths.

I tried


I used the locus of Epsilon Eridani being both the location of B5 and a known world in BT. I had an SLDF WarShip misjump there.

[SulliMike23]

Well if you look at the tribble, I wasn't going to do something like that.

[SulliMike23]

Tribble 492

When the Minnesota Tribe disappeared, there were many theories before and after the Clan Invasion about their whereabouts and their origins. While ComStar did confirm that one of the downed pilots of the Tribe's mechs did carry technology similar to what the Clans and the Star League used at the time, they also said that this said MechWarrior also had the patch of the so-called "Not-Named-Clan" the other Clans refer to, Clan Wolverine. But one question still remains; where did they go?

Some theorize that they completely circumvented the Inner Sphere itself and settled on worlds away from the former Rim Worlds Republic; some say that they settled on worlds just near the borders of the Capellan Confederation, Magistracy of Canopus, and Taurian Concordat; there are even rumors that they had been integrated into the Word of Blake's forces. But what if they just simply...went beyond known space? What if they kept going from where ComStar lost contact...and found something?

They found a new cluster of stars filled with habitable planets and moons; but some, contained ruins of an ancient civilization similar to the Pyramids of Giza on Terra and images of beings that were not human ruling over these worlds and leaving towards the stars to find a new home...only to be closer than they think.

The remnants of Clan Wolverine had discovered the unimaginable; a civilization of non-humans that had managed to develop technology similar to humanity's only better. But they had also learned what had happened to them; they were wiped out by another race that was poised to strike at humanity as a whole. Being the only ones to stand in their way, they spent the next 200 years readying themselves to fight these invaders...just in time for them to arrive in the newly dubbed Wolverine Cluster.

[wolfcannon]

"There are those who believe that life here began out there, far across the universe, with tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. They may have been the architects of the great pyramids, or the lost civilizations of Lemuria or Atlantis. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who even now fight to survive far, far away, amongst the stars."

"There are those who believe that life here began out there, far across the universe, with tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans. Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who even now fight to survive, somewhere beyond the heavens."

   "Fleeing from the Clan tyranny, the last of the SLDF, leads a ragtag, fugitive fleet, on a lonely quest."   eh?

[gladius]

You're not the first to make the connection: look up 'Hunted Tribes' by Hotpoint ...

[Vehrec]

Can we not?  I'm sick to death of 'The Wolverines find something and fight against it for HUMANITY' plots.

Hell, I even toyed with a crossover plot bunny where they found Megatron and he killed them without it taking more than four hours out of his schedule.  A Nemesis-class stealth-battleship is a nightmare to fight by design, and if it closes to boarding range your ship will be literally torn apart by the robo-tentacles.

[SulliMike23]

I won't give up on the idea that Clan Wolverine is still out there somewhere. I refuse to accept the idea that they joined Comstar and the remnants of their forces were integrated into the Word of Blake.

[drakensis]

Tribble 493

The Minnesota Tribe continued their chain of raids through the Federated Suns and presumably to points rimwards. After the last known raid, on Tortega, no one heard from them again...

Or drew a connection to the Wasteland Wolverines, a pirate empire that rose up amid the many lost worlds of the Outworld Wastes over the late 29th century and by the early 30th century had a firm grip on the region. As the Third Succession War went on, raids and counter-raids by the AFFS and DCMS provided that this young Periphery realm had a determined, if small, military force. Increasingly however the raids fell off in number and trade replaced it. By the 31st Century the Wasteland Wolverines were an established, if fairly minor state with forty worlds under their control and a military sufficient to deter piracy in the area. As a knock-on effect, the Outworlds Alliance had actually grown a little more secure once it became clear that the Wolverines didn't intend to expand further at their expense.

In 3005 the Wolf Dragoons arrived over Delos IV in the Federated Suns. Discussions with House Davion were still underway when a significant task force from the Wolverines arrived and without any preamble launched an all-out attack on the Dragoons - aggression that the new arrivals met head on with equal enthusiasm. Massively outgunned, the local AFFS could do little but watch as over 1,200 pristine BattleMechs fought the sort of brutal, ferocious battle that no Inner Sphere power had risked in generations.

The victorious Wolverines, little more than a regiment in strength, had at least been cut down to the point the Kilbourne DMM thought they might have a chance but diplomacy broke out. The Wolverine commander apologised for the border violation but explained that the Dragoons were a large pirate force that had inflicted genocidal damage on a Wolverine colony. As recompense for the various collateral damage, the Wolverines ceded the salvage of the battlefield and withdrew.

While this was a very nice windfall of material for the AFFS, it wasn't as nice as 5 regiments of mercenaries. And almost as soon as time allowed, a DCMS raiding party reached Delos IV and the Kilbourne DMM had to fight to defend the salvage. (Let's not jump to conclusions and blame ComStar. A slight hop to conclusions should suffice).

It was only a matter of time - admittedly of a few years, but nonetheless time - before word of this trickled into the Deep Periphery. And while Ian Davion might not know what to make of this, the Khans of the Clans certainly did. The Wolverines lived. This was unacceptable. It was also a grand excuse for the Crusading Clans. A large force was amassed to strike for the Wastelands.

Of course, the Wastelands are a very long way from the Clan Homeworlds. They're of roughly equal geographic size and population. They might not be quite so advanced technologically, but they did have SLDF level gear as a starting point. And they knew that the Clans were far too predictable not to come after them...

[VhenRa]

I won't give up on the idea that Clan Wolverine is still out there somewhere. I refuse to accept the idea that they joined Comstar and the remnants of their forces were integrated into the Word of Blake.

Honestly... I don't think they did. And even in-universe they don't seem to have. That entire section seems questionable as hell, given how it was awfully convenient that Chandy finds something that links the Wolverines with the Word of Blake... and yet nothing since has been found linking them.

[Takiro]

Nice idea drak, I could see the Wolverines becoming a Bandit Kingdom and the Outworlds Wastes is a nice area for them to set up shop. An encounter with the Dragoons in that area as they proceed to their first planned tour of duty is certainly plausible. Such an encounter could lead to hostilities between the Dragoons and the Wolverines but what if we acknowledge Warden desperation at this time. Could a partnership develop over the Crusaders ascendance to power which is a corruption of Kerensky's ideal? What if this changes or is the Dragoons mission which is to investigate the InnerSphere for a possible invasion. They were always out to stop that invasion. Perhaps the remnants of the Wolverines are step one in a new agenda. Recruiting enough allies to return to the Clan Homeworlds and confront the Crusaders thus halting the invasion preserving the isolation of the SLDF begun by Kerensky. Be interesting to see ComStar good guys here willing to join such a quest. Certainly they are committed to maintaining the status quo.

So instead of the Outbound Light arriving above Huntress circa 3050 how about a taskforce of Wolf mercs, Wolverine pirates, and ComGuard crusaders?!

[drakensis]

I'd have a hard time seeing the Wolf Dragoons circa 3005 being willing in any way to co-operate with the Wolverines. Or vice versa, since the Wolverines would have no reason to trust the Dragoons.

[snakespinner]

I am just wondering about omnimechs.
Apparently WD had the schematics, the Wolverines could have retrieved them and by the time the clans arrived they would be on an even footing.

[Intermittent_Coherence]

I am just wondering about omnimechs.
Apparently WD had the schematics, the Wolverines could have retrieved them and by the time the clans arrived they would be on an even footing.

That's assuming they can salvage anything from whatever wreckage is left once the battle is done. Besides, WD doesn't have anything except SL quality kit at their first arrival. Clan grade manufacturing specs came during a later resupply, IINM.

[DoctorMonkey]

More importantly the Dragoons would have Techs and probably a few Scientists among them with familiarity in Clan Tech as well as Star League tech

[Chris OFarrell]

Carrying on the Wolverine theme;

Tribble 494

Wolverines revenge. Cylon Style.

The Wolverines as it turns out didn't flee into the Inner Sphere and join ComStar. The Minnesota Tribe never existed, but this had pretty much zero impact on history going exactly as it did.
Indeed, the Wolverines last stand was even more successful than the Clans had thought, buying time for the Wolverines to carefully pack up a complete industrial base, knowledge and the link and flee *Coreward* a good 500 light years or so. There they rebuild and form a weird society that's almost a kind of hybrid of a Clan society and a neo-feudal society like in the Inner Sphere. Not a cast based civilization exactly, think more Capellan with Citizens and non-citizens. Albeit not as dickish as Capellans are about the whole thing.

But they have let their hate for the Clans slowly fester until it has become an all consuming rage.

Its say 3055 and the Wolverines have been very quietly infiltrating the Clans now for several decades, their intelligence teams vastly better at this than the Clans pretty pathetic counter-intelligence. They soon enough know more about what is going on in the Kerensky Cluster than the Khans do and at the right time in 3055 after building up the capability, they launch a Cylon style decapitation attack, shutting down SDS systems across the cluster where they exist and using essentially what would be 3060s era pocket warships to nuke the absolute ****** out of the entire Clan military where practical, stomping it flat. After dealing with mobile defenses and seizing many of the Clans warship caches as possible to add to their own fleets, they with a pretty chilling calmness work their way through Clan space, wiping out every Clan warrior they can find and 'liberating' the civilians into the greater Wolverine empire.

Thanks to the sheer scope of the operation, there are plenty of windows for thousands of Clan jumpships to load up VIPs, some military units who evaded the first attacks, some scientists and so on and they go running for the Inner Sphere as fast as they can in a handful of fleets. They make it there just as the Clans are starting to get a little concerned about the whole sudden silence from the HPG chain. Then the Clans are even more alarmed at the possibility (nay probability given some encounters on the Exodus road) that the Wolverines are following them to the Inner Sphere where they will wipe them out. And although the invading Clans and a few galaxies worth of troops who made it out are a formidable force on paper, they have no real industrial base worthy of the name...

Leaving open the somewhat pressing question of what in the hell do they do about it?!