Wild theory ahead, use your grains of salt as you will:
One time I was looking at the maps in FM3145 and for the life of me couldn’t work out the order of the clan holdings maps in the table of contents. When you go through the major IS factions they are in alphabetical order, makes sense, except for the RoTS which is at the end of the book, which also makes sense as it is easy to find and a prime area of interest in this setting. The clan holdings, in the table of contents for the maps are listed as:
- Wolf Empire
- Rasalhague Dominion
- Raven Alliance
- Clan Hell’s Horses
-Clan Jade Falcon
So the question is, why not in alphabetical order or a clockwise or anticlockwise direction on the map?
Going back and reading the fiction at the start of FM3145 I hadn’t noticed that Devlin’s wake-up call was 1 April, 3145. The recent forum discussions about April Fools product and releases had me thinking back to the 2014 Mr G. Bear ilClan ‘outline’.
A review of the ilClan ’outline’ shows the following:
Forced Absorptions by Cloud Adder in order (Clan Hell’s Horses were absorbed in a staged trial):
- Wolf Empire
- Rasalhague Dominion
- Raven Alliance
- Clan Jade Falcon
Death of Khans in Order:
- Wolf Empire (Alaric)
- Rasalhague Dominion (both Khans)
- Raven Alliance (both Khans)
- Clan Jade Falcon (Miss Malvina)
While the Horses don’t fit into the absorption timeline above, due to a staged trial, one could infer their khans were killed in the events between the Raven Alliance and Falcon absorptions.
So strange map orders in FM3145, aligning with absorptions of IS Clans in the Mr G. Bear ilclan ‘outline’ which was a 1 April release which matches the wakeup day of Devlin Stone in the FM3145 fiction, 1 April. Coincidence, I think not!
Destroy to your hearts content O0