Lewiston
Star Type: G4V
Charge Time: 185 hours
Transit Time: 7.96 days
Position in System: 4th
Diameter: 13,000 km
Gravity: 1.1
Day Length: 51 hours
Satellites: 2
Atmospheric Pressure: Standard
Atmospheric Composition: Habitable (Breathable)
Surface Water: 50%
Equatorial Temperature: 26 C
Highest Native Life: Fish
Population: 75,000,000
Government: Constitutional Monarchy
HPG Class: None
Recharge Stations: None
USILR Classification:
Technological Sophistication: C
Industrial Development: B
Industrial Output: B
Agricultural Dependence: B
Raw Material Dependence: C
The capital of a small collection of settled worlds known as Lewis County, Lewiston can be found rimward of the Canopean ruins roughly equidistant from the world of Skyfog and the Alexandrian Covenant. Lewiston was settled during the last four years of the Canopean campaign of the Reunification War by both citizens and soldiers fleeing the Magistracy in the wake of the fall of Canopus, with Contessa Abigail Lewis of Canopus' Froness Nobility quickly taking a leadership role. Her authority over the world was formalized in 2586 when she declared the world a free County independent from the Magistracy of Canopus and proclaimed herself Countess and ruler. In a blatant maneuver to avoid Star League attention, the notice of the declaration was back dated December 2, 2584, the day before the surrender of Magestrix Crystalla Centrella to Star League forces. Though Star League forces learned of both the colony's existence and its independence on the same day when word reached Canopus, they inexplicably accepted the argument of Crystalla Centrella that the world seceded before the surrender of Canopus, and thus was not actually a world subject to Star League rule. Historians tend to attribute this to the distance and relative unimportance of what was a newborn colony, however persistent rumors maintain that the Magestrix had some sort of leverage to convince Captain General Marion Marik from pursuing the issue.
Though only lightly populated at first, Lewiston prospered in (relative) isolation, quickly establishing a variety of thriving local industries while continuing to import (generally under the table) technology from the Magistracy. By the 28th century the world was prosperous enough to begin exporting finished goods, though these exports took on a distinctly sinister tone in 2755 with an order of one hundred thousand rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition by the Rim Worlds Republic. During the buildup to the Periphery Uprising, Lewiston became a regular contractor for the Secret Army, trading primarily small arms, ammunition, and chemical weapon precursors for both hard currency and advanced machine tools. Lewiston would continue to fill orders for the Rim Worlds Republic for the duration of the Periphery Uprising, though the Star League Navy made delivery difficult to say the least. The revelation that Stephan Amaris had abandoned the Periphery States to their fate led Lewiston to cancel all further dealings with the Rim Worlds, leaving the small state sitting on a huge supply of undelivered arms and munitions that it still has yet to fully dispose of.
While the fall of the Star League was a catastrophe to most the rest of human occupied space, Lewiston experienced explosive growth in those early years, with a steady stream of refugees from what would become the Canopean Ruins fueling expansion in every aspect of the economy, as well as the settlement of four other nearby systems. The influx of more recent Canopean citizens further strengthened ties to the old motherland, with Lewis County long regarding itself as the Magistracy's "Little Brother", always willing to support its parent state. During the Succession Wars this extended beyond simple trade and political support to regular military aid to the Magistracy, including shipments of arms and munition and the use of County troops in times of crisis. From 2900 to 3063, the County contributed a company sized formation of battlemechs, with appropriate support elements, on regular rotation with the Magistracy armed forces. These contingents saw heavy action during the Adurien Campaign, and again against raiders from the Marian Hegemony, before the program was scrapped following the Canopean/Capellan alliance. Though never formally reinstated, the program saw a brief revival when details of the Jihad reached Lewis County, with County troops sent in to aid in the Magistracy's defense. Believing that the lightweight, technology poor county forces would be unable to stand up against the Blakists, these troops were used primarily to free up better equipped Canopean troops, indirectly contributing to the liberation of Canopus (a single lance of County forces, outfitted with modern Capellan and Canopean machines, did participate in the battle for Canopus, where they acquitted themselves well).
Postwar, the County has kept its distance from Canopus due to the later's Capellan ties, concentrating instead on its own internal security and fending off the occasional probe from the Marian Hegemony. Though the Canopean government sees nothing wrong with this, reputedly Chancellor Daoshen Liao of the Capellan Confederation consider the County's continued independence a calculated insult, and he regularly encourages his sister the Canopean Magestrix to bring the "rebel territory back to the fold". Though the bulk of Liao's focus lies elsewhere, it is whispered that it is no coincidence that pirate activity in the region is steadily increasing.
For the rest of the Inner Sphere, the only significance Lewis County holds is as a destination for lostech prospectors, fringe investigators, and certifiable kooks. In many minds, the long rumored "hidden stockpiles" of the Magistracy of Canopus are indelibly linked with Lewis County, and many come to the state looking for hidden caches or evidence left over from the Star League, Rim Worlds Republic, Genecaste, Clan Wolverine, Word of Blake, or whatever secret society they believe might be pulling the strings. Most go home empty handed. Some go home with a few crates (at a significant discount) of the weapons Lewiston once manufactured for Amaris' Secret Army. A few go home with what they regard as genuine evidence of something greater or more sinister, which as a general rule isn't really either.
Lewis County still shows many of its Canopean roots, with a central government clearly derived from the pre League Canopean government. The Count or Countess (presently Count Allain Lewis) rules directly, balanced by the "Crimson Council" of the Baron of each lesser member world, which is able to overrule the Count's edicts by a two thirds vote. There is little in the way of representative government, and only a skeletal judiciary appointed by the Count. The County expresses most of the same cultural traits as the Magistracy, save for perhaps their most prominent. The County is not a matriarchy, and the cultural and legal biases that long favored women in the Magistracy have largely faded away in favor of a more egalitarian society. Also, though the County could be said to share the same lack of inhibition as its mother country, it doesn't have the developed, pervasive pleasure industry of the Magistracy, nor does it see many tourists coming in to seek such entertainments.
Though in general offering a high standard of living with ready access to education, health care, and legal protection for all, the divide between the upper and lower classes is clearly visible, and not just because of the great wealth of the County's hereditary nobility. Though expensive clothes and ornaments are a pretty much universal sign of status, in the County this is taken to an unprecedented extreme. Lower classes are expected to dress in simpler clothing with few to no ornaments and in muted, subdued colors, while the upper class (generally speaking the nobility) are known for their brightly colored, heavily ornamented garb. This even extends to an individual's body. All citizens regardless of class will dye their hair, but among the nobility it is common to grow the hair out to extreme lengths and thread it with a net of carbon fibres (or even surgical grade myomer for the most opulent) to allow it to be formed in otherwise impossible configurations. The "ideal body type" pushed by local culture, which is tall, thin, and largely androgynous, can often lead to considerable cosmetic surgery or even elective implants among members of the wealthy who don't feel they measure up, and eating disorders among the lower class. Since the Jihad, cybernetics have become a new fad, though only the wealthiest among County society can afford to make the trip to the Magistracy necessary to receive implants. Legally, none of these are or can be restricted to a specific class or denied anybody able to pay, however, it is easy to price the lower classes out of having access to the trappings of the upper class, and culturally it is considered vulgar to dress above, or below, one's station. Tatooing or piercings are considered equally vulgar, and as a result are popular among the counter culture.
With such effort put into making an individual's place in life readily visible at a glance, it practically goes without saying that status among the elite of society is a vicious battleground, very often literally. Duels, fought using the Sabers that serve as a standard badge of nobility, are a constant fact of noble life, even among those without military training (A proxy may be hired to stand in for either or both combatants in the case of age, infirmity, or a clear imbalance in skill). Duels are not generally fought to the death, though serious injury is common. This culture is ingrained from birth (Children are taught swordsmanship at a young age and occasionally settle dispute with harmless training weapons or stun weapons), as is the notion that dueling is the exclusive privilege of the nobility. Though non-nobles have engaged in duels with each other as well as nobles, it is legally identified as assault with intent to harm. The same is true for a noble if they challenge a commoner, but not if they accept the challenge of a commoner.
The military is just as subject to the divide between the upper and lower classes, as well as the petty squabbles of the nobility. By convention, mech and aerofighter pilots, as well as all officer positions, are recruited exclusively from the nobility, and the question of status haunts them as well. Because of the truncated rank system (The highest field officer rank in all branches is Captain. Above them are Generals who function primarily as bureaucrats to make sure the military runs smoothly), the military uses a sort of point system called Primacy to determine relative seniority between different officers of the same rank. This painfully complicated system takes into account an individual's time in service, accomplishments, general social standing, adherence to the military code, the prestige of his assignment, and numerous other poorly defined variables to arrive at a specific score that determines a soldier's place in the pecking order. As a concession to military necessity, this Primacy score cannot be changed while a given officer is in the field, and certain branches are considered to have automatic Primacy over others. For example, a mech commander has automatic primacy over an infantry commander, and a ship's captain has primacy over all transported officers. Though enlisted personnel are exclusively commoners subject to the nobility, in battle these troops tend to be highly motivated, as heroism on the battlefield is one of the easiest paths into the nobility.
Gamemaster's Section:
In addition to Lewiston above, Lewis County is composed of the star systems of Randle, Mossyrock, Cinebar, and Harmony. Without going into too much detail, these worlds are primarily agrarian, with little to no industry and populations ranging from a few hundred thousand to a few million, and they function primarily as a source of cheap raw materials for Lewiston.
Interstellar transportation is provided by a small fleet of jumpships and dropships (primarily older reunification war vessels including a single Leviathan and four ancient Liberty class jumpships). Persistent rumors among the lostech and fringe community claims the state possesses a functioning or semi-functioning Athena class cruiser, either hidden away after the Reunification War or Periphery Uprising depending on who you ask. This is considered highly unlikely, and you should use your best judgment.
Lewis County has never shown any particular expansionist militancy, but it has begun probing around the worlds of the Alexandrian Covenant. This is mostly for the sake of exploration, but there have been clashes, and some officers, hoping to make a name for themselves, are advocating a more forceful intervention for "humanitarian reasons". The territory has also been occasionally raided by the Marian Hegemony, and pirate attacks are increasing at a suspicious rate that might be linked to either the Hegemony or the Capellan Confederation's mad Chancellor. Lewis County has attempted the occasional counter raid against the Marians, however their equipment makes them a poor match for the Hegemony on their home ground.
Nominally speaking, Lewis County fields six battlemech regiments, however this is extremely misleading. Lewis County uses an organization of four mech lances, and four lance squadrons (alternately called ranks), with a squadron being the standard field unit. Regiments are purely organizational structures, which can have any number of Squadrons assigned to them. In practice, Lewis County has a bit less than two regiments worth of battlemechs broken up among their six paper regiments. Supplementing these mechs are several regiments worth of light armor, and a large, well armed infantry force. Supporting these is a respectably sized aerospace force. Heavy equipment primarily consists of imports from the Magistracy, with the Wasp, Stinger, and Locust dominating the battlemech forces supported by a small number of Shadow Hawks and Phoenix Hawks. Armor is mostly Scorpion Tanks supplemented by missile carriers. Aerospace stands out through their use of the otherwise extinct MM-1 Dragonfly aerofighter. Advanced technology is almost completely absent, save for a single advanced tech battlemech brought back from the Jihad, and a few choice advanced weapons in the possession of officers of high station.
The chain of command among County military forces can best be described as murky and acrimonious. To simulate this, if two battlemech commanders of the same rank are operating together during the same engagement, or if the seniormost officer of any conventional units in play out ranks the senior most battlemech officer, the entire force suffers a -2 penalty to initiative rolls. As conventional units work together in larger groups more often, this penalty does not apply. Naval forces take the same penalty in any engagement where more than one County dropship or jumpship is in play, though aerofighters may operate together without penalty.
As a humorous added penalty, the long, artificially sculpted hair common among the high nobility presents a unique difficulty among mech and aerofighter pilots of the County military. At the start of a battle, roll 1d6 for every County mech or aerofighter pilot in play. On a result of 1, that pilot takes a -1 penalty to all piloting roll target numbers, due to a poor neurohelmet signal caused by their elaborate hair.
Lewis County once possessed an extensive small arms manufacturing industry that has remained largely idle since the end of the Amaris Coup. The County still possesses considerable stockpiles of infantry weapons and munitions left over from orders placed by Amaris, enough to meet their needs and support brisk export for the foreseeable future. Lewis County's industrial capacity is also much understated. In addition to combat vehicles and spare parts to keep their battlemechs running, the County is able to produce the MM-1 Dragonfly, as well as a trickle of Wasp and Stinger battlemechs.
Characters from Lewis County use the Independent: Generic affiliation without modification. Those who take the nobility module add Blades (+20 xp) to their list of skills and increase the XP cost accordingly. The Nobility module is also a pre-requisite for the University, Military Academy, and Family Trained modules, and when any of these modules are chosen, add the Blades skill to their first skill field (Basic Training for Military Academy and Family Training, whichever field is chosen as your basic field for University). This skill receives the same 30 xp, and counts to the total number of skills in the field for purposes of calculating your skill field XP rebate.
Finally, because of vast stores of small arms and ammunition, all generic personal and support ballistic and missile weapons improve their availability code by one level, and reduce their cost by 25%.