[spoiler]if the Scorpions wanted to go one step farther, perhaps they could consider going after the Rim Territories? The locals would no doubt welcome someone getting rid of their dezgra pirate overlords.[/spoiler]
Plus, with all of the goings-on over in Tamar Rising, [spoiler]even a relatively modest Scorpion presence so close to the Hinterlands would be enough to make things quite interesting. So long as that still (hopefully) leaves enough of the Touman to safeguard the Empire proper, on the off chance that one or more of the Homeworld Clans ever actually get around to showing up in force...[/spoiler]
[spoiler]One thing I endeavored to show in OTP: Hanseatic Crusade is that the Scorpions have learned from the mistakes that the Invading Clans made. Instead of conquering vast swaths of territory far from home, and splitting their forces and focus, their conquest of the Hanseatic League began first by establishing colonies between the Empire and the League. This reduced the distance between the two parts of what would become the larger Empire after the conquest, making it easier to govern the whole. To undertake an invasion of worlds on the edge of the Inner Sphere would require considerable effort and an abandonment of the model that worked so effectively. While the Scorpions are very invested in anti-piracy efforts, even those far afield (as I showed in one of the reborn ComStar trio 'Mechs in the RecGuide), this is as much about maintaining a keen edge on their troops' abilities as cleaning up the neighborhood. Most assuredly, their forces will engage any pirates from the Rim Territories, if the pirates are foolish enough to seek prey outward rather than in toward the Inner Sphere. Since the latter is much closer and thus requires less time and investment to raid, and since they've been around for 70 years, they'd be well-advised to mind their manners. But any attempt to occupy or conquer those worlds by the Empire isn't something I see develeloping given how long it would take to engineer. After all, the Scorpions now have a fully self-sufficient nation. They're not content to sit on their laurels, and they've added at least one Galaxy to their
touman since the Crusade. They know what dangers lurk in the depths, after all. I'd say they're busily preparing for the next war, which is more likely to come to them than vice versa.[/spoiler]
