The Reunification War really resulted from a combination of two underlying factors. The origins of Periphery states meant that the denizens of the Periphery tended to fiercely desire their independence. Comforts like better education, higher standards of living, improved technologies, and increase in wealth (among the higher classes of society) were meaningless to a people who left the Inner Sphere (and these amenities) in favor of freedom.
Conversely, the Inner Sphere had a vested interest in controlling the Periphery. The common Spheroid desired protection, not necessarily from the Periphery states themselves, but from the unknown which the Periphery represented. The high standards of living and wealth meant that the people of the Inner Sphere feared loss, and desired the security provided by the knowledge nothing sinister was occurring outside their gaze. For the most part, the Periphery had far more to fear from the undivided attention of the Inner Sphere. Spheroids simply did not see it that way.
The Inner Sphere also desired the Reunification War for a far more sinister rationale. After the close of the Age of War, the militaries of the Inner Sphere were idle for the first time in over a century. Inner Sphere militaries feared the outcome of not using their forces, fearing a lack of experience or discipline, and the possibility of rebellion.
"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want." General William Tecumseh Sherman
"Loss of hope, rather than loss of life, is the factor that really decides wars…"
Sir Basil H. Liddel-Hart
"No innocent man ever rebelled against lawful authority, and we, the Star League, are the Law."
Coordinator Hehiro Kurita
The Reunification War really resulted from a combination of two underlying factors. The origins of Periphery states meant that the denizens of the Periphery tended to fiercely desire their independence. Comforts like better education, higher standards of living, improved technologies, and increase in wealth (among the higher classes of society) were meaningless to a people who left the Inner Sphere (and these amenities) in favor of freedom.
Conversely, the Inner Sphere had a vested interest in controlling the Periphery. The common Spheroid desired protection, not necessarily from the Periphery states themselves, but from the unknown which the Periphery represented. The high standards of living and wealth meant that the people of the Inner Sphere feared loss, and desired the security provided by the knowledge nothing sinister was occurring outside their gaze. For the most part, the Periphery had far more to fear from the undivided attention of the Inner Sphere. Spheroids simply did not see it that way.
The Inner Sphere also desired the Reunification War for a far more sinister rationale. After the close of the Age of War, the militaries of the Inner Sphere were idle for the first time in over a century. Inner Sphere militaries feared the outcome of not using their forces, fearing a lack of experience or discipline, and the possibility of rebellion.
The combination of these factors led to several incidents before the official start of the war:
Timeline:
2571
Star League member states begin circulating propaganda against the Periphery. Propaganda either calls for a crusade (to bring back the wayward kin) or defames Periphery denizens.
2572
Star League Directive 21, the garrison of worlds within the Outworlds Alliance by the Inner Sphere armies.
The Santiago Massacre, Kuritan forces kill 27 civilians.
2573
Malagrotta Incident, a clash between the Federated Suns and the Turian Concordat over a mining colony.
The Efrimal Long prison uprising, and the Universal Act of Loyalty.
Jonathan Grenvaux proposes Star League/Periphery summit on Terra - only Gregory Amaris attends.
3rd Amaris Dragoons deployed to Lackhove to enforce Universal Act of Loyalty.
Heavy tariffs and port fees are levied against Periphery traders.
2575
Director-General Ian Cameron issues the Pollux Proclamation.
Protector Mitchell Calderon places the Taurian Concordat on a war footing the next day.
First Consul Gregory Amaris endorses the Pollux Proclamation and issues the Manchester Directive.
Apollo rebels.
The Rim Provisional Government is created.
End of an Age, Dawn of an Empire:
While the end of the Age of War is commonly attributed to Ian Cameron, it was Deborah Cameron who paved the way by advancing the Hegemony as mediators in the Second Andurien War between the Free Worlds League and the Capellan Confederation, at the start of her Aggressive Peacemaking doctrine. Though only lasting two decades, that doctrine showed that dispute resolution need not be along the barrel of a gun, something Ian would utilize constantly in the early years of his reign, though his rise to power was not without incident or controversy.
In 2542 Joseph Cameron had succeeded his mother Deborah after a career in the Terran Marines and the Department of Foreign Relations, including a stint as ambassador to the Lyran Commonwealth. A decorated veteran who bore the physical scars of his service, his decision to continue his mother's policies caused waves of resentment in the Hegemony Armed Forces (HAF), particularly among the so-called Warrior Cabals. In one of the great intelligence failures of the Age of War, the Hegemony Central Intelligence Bureau (HCIB) dismissed this growing dissatisfaction and continued to focus its attention on the Capellan Confederation.
In the early hours of 21 September, Marine Captain Henry Green, a radical cabalist, albeit one who had never seen action, shot the Director-General as he exited his limousine. From 270 meters, a qualified marine shouldn't have missed his target but Green's first shot went wide. His second, however, caught the Director-General in the upper torso. Joseph died six days later and the Hegemony teetered on the brink of chaos.
Blaming itself for the disaster, the HCIB launched a witch-hunt against the cabals within the HAF, unmasking the largest within a few days. The cabals were themselves shocked that one of their own had stooped to violence, but found themselves in a difficult position. Many backpedaled and distanced themselves from Green, advancing themselves as loyal members of the Hegemony. Into this chaos stepped Ian Cameron, Joseph's younger brother who, realizing the fragility of the situation, declared himself the new Director-General and moved to secure the reins of power.
Though decried by some as a blatant power grab, for the most part Ian's move was accepted as a necessary evil. However, some disgruntled cabalists chose to use his unconventional (and in many regards unconstitutional) accession as a pretext for a coup. The Fifty-first Dragoons, the Green Devils, left their barracks late on the evening of 29 September, quickly moving to seize key buildings in Geneva. Not yet moved into his official residence, the new Director-General escaped the coup attempt and took steps to ensure his control over the HAF. He required an oath of loyalty to the Camerons and the Hegemony from all troops. Most units complied, and Ian ordered loyalist troops to isolate Geneva.
Within ten days the siege was over, but not before Loyalist troops had been forced to intervene to protect civilians from feuding rebels. It would be another month before the last pockets of rebellion were dealt with, and Cameron soon found himself walking a fine line in his treatment of the rebels. He recognized that the sidelining of the HAF was counterproductive, but rebellion could not be tolerated. The sentences imposed on the rebel leadership were severe but fair, a number were executed and the remainder imprisoned, but the HAF as a whole was spared. Suspect commanders and troopers found themselves retired in favor of Cameron appointees. The Director-General bolstered the HAF's budget, with particular emphasis on technological advances, but also expanded the HCIB, adding the Department of Military Investigations to ensure the loyalty of the armed forces.
Uniting the Houses:
It was during these early years of his reign that Ian dreamt of restoring Terra to its prominence as the home of humanity. Alongside his revitalization of the HAF he expanded the Department of Foreign Relations with a view toward building political and economic bridges to the neighboring states. The first reference to this "Star League" appears in his private journals in 2553, but it is clear from his comments that he expected the task to take the rest of his life to complete.
The mid-2550s saw little in the way of hostilities, with trade becoming the principal interaction between nations. Free trade zones sprang up along borders and it seemed everyone stood to profit. Many wondered, though, how long peace and prosperity could last without formal structures?
In 2551 hostilities resumed between the Capellan Confederation and the Free Worlds League. The Third Andurien War threatened peace everywhere, and in 2556 the Director-General intervened to negotiate a settlement between the feuding states. The Andurien Peace Treaty of 2556 is commonly acknowledged as the end-date for the Age of War but it is often overlooked in favor of the Treaty of Geneva agreed in parallel. While the Andurien Peace Treaty ended the political and military clashes over Andurien, formalizing the deal between the Confederation and the Free Worlds with the Hegemony as combined witness and arbiter, the Treaty of Geneva was signed by all three powers. Cameron hadn't wanted to reveal the details of the Treaty of Geneva to the public but its scope was so large that it proved impossible to keep secret.
Similar to the Treaty of Rome that bound European economies together in the Twentieth Century and the Berlin Accords that founded the Western Alliance, the Treaty of Geneva committed the Hegemony, Free Worlds League and Confederation to a political and economic partnership. He found in Albert Marik, the diminutive captain-general of the Free Worlds, an active partner in the quest to unify humanity. Marik's willingness to concede Andurien to the Confederation had opened the door for the second treaty, convincing the chancellor to join their cause. The Capellan and Free Worlds economies surged at the prospect of an alliance with the Hegemony and the prospect of an unassailable tripartite alliance gave the other states cause for concern.
Though it wouldn't become clear for years, this pressure was a deliberate policy on the part of Cameron and Marik, who saw it as a great bargaining chip in their efforts to draw the other states into the Star League. Though never stated explicitly, the economic and military disadvantages of staying outside the union were immense. No state could afford to do so and risk being marginalized.
Archon Craig Steiner of the Lyran Commonwealth had been Ian Cameron's first target almost as soon as he came to power. Economic ties between the two powers were already strong, with cross-investment between the Hegemony and Commonwealth commonplace. However, Steiner feared that joining Cameron's alliance would hamper his nation's buoyant economy. Some Lyran analysts suggested it was a deliberate attempt to shackle the Lyran economy by rivals in the Free Worlds or Hegemony.
Craig's daughter, Tracial, who succeeded him in 2555, was more receptive to Ian's overtures, particularly when details of Star League Defense Force (SLDF) academies to be built on Tharkad and Skye were made clear, academies whose graduates would bolster the mediocre LCAF officer corps. After some economic sweeteners, the Archon and Director-General signed the Tharkad Accords, bringing the prospective members of the Star League to four. The Federated Suns and Draconis Combine proved more difficult to persuade.
Mutual animosity and internal politics made association with the Star League a difficult topic in both realms. Both powers were fearful of showing weakness to the other and faced serious domestic political issues. Alexander Davion's realm had only recently emerged from civil war and he was wary of appearing weak and hiding behind the skirts of the Terran Hegemony. Hehiro Kurita, on the other hand, faced severe cultural issues: Kurita supremacy was a cornerstone of the Combine's culture; how could it be subservient to the Star League?
Persuading the Suns was a matter of leverage, with Ian and Albert playing good cop, bad-cop. Ian dangled the prospects of alliance with the Hegemony and access to advanced technologies much as he had with the Commonwealth. At the same time, Marik's Free Worlds secretly continued to undermine the Davion economy, slowing the post-war recovery. Membership in the Star League would allow the Federated Suns economy to escape the doldrums and, on 27 October 2567, Davion signed the New Avalon accords after assurances that the SLDF would side with the Federated Suns in any conflict with the Combine, acting preemptively if needed. Backed into a corner, Hehiro Kurita found himself isolated, but Cameron soon made the same offer of military assistance and on 15 August 2569 the final piece of the Star League fell into place with the signing of the Treaty of Vega.
The Star League Accords:
The treaties between the Great Houses affirmed their intention to join the Star League but the legal framework for the agreement had yet to be reached. Preliminary working parties had already met but the signing of the Treaty of Vega pushed the negotiations into high gear. Over the next two years, nineteen working parties met on Terra to discuss the sundry political, economic and military aspects of the Star League. Special interests could easily have sunk the deal but a mix of horse-trading and persuasion whittled down the problem areas. The thornier problems were delegated to subcommittees, rather than bog down the main negotiations and, on at least three occasions, the direct intervention of a House Lord cleared away seemingly intractable issues. Sections of the draft were examined by lawyers of each realm, both in Geneva and in their respective capitals (which in this pre-HPG era was a long and drawn-out process) but by the summer of 2571 the Star League Accords were approved.
On 9 July 2571, the six House Lords met in Geneva to sign the 2,000-page document. Hehiro Kurita was the first to sign a political concession intended to show the Combine leading the way. Alexander Davion signed next, passing the quill to Viola Steiner-Dinesen, then Ursula Liao, and Albert Marik. As befitted his central role in the drama, Ian Cameron was the last to sign, having shaken hands with each House Lord and reciting the Star League preamble from memory. His dream had become reality.
The Campaign for War:
Courier JumpShips took the news of the Star League to every corner of the Inner Sphere, though it was several months before copies of the Accords reached every world. By that point many of the Star League institutions were well on their way to becoming reality, including the Department of Social Relations, the Department of Revenue, and the Department of Education and Information, all of which operated under the umbrella of the Bureau of Star League Affairs (BSLA), itself founded in 2573. The Department of the Attorney General began work on harmonizing the legal and penal codes of the member states, a task so massive it would not be concluded until the middle of the next century.
Efforts to build a Star League military, the SLDF, proceeded at a much faster pace. By the end of 2571 Cameron appointed his wife, Shandra Noruff-Cameron, as Chief of Staff and Commander in Chief of the SLDF, charging her with merging the six different militaries into a unified whole. The HAF would form the backbone of the new force, bolstered by substantial numbers from each House military. The member-states (with the exception of the Hegemony) would retain their own armed forces to handle internal matters, but each was charged with drawing down the numbers from the extravagant forces of the Age of War.
The SLDF would have no rivals.
Many military commanders (particularly in the AFFS and DCMS) grumbled at these reductions, saying it left them weak and exposed, but the reduction in member-state military power and increased reliance on the SLDF was a key part of the Accords. Ian Cameron's plan to ensure peace in the Inner Sphere, to counter the martial permissiveness of the Age of War, was to remove the tools of the trade.
Integrating the troops of the SLDF into a cohesive whole, and gaining acceptance from the member-state militaries, would not be a simple process. The issuing of common uniforms and paint schemes gave the appearance of a unified force but reality was very different. Equipment varied considerably between troops (even down to the calibers of ammunition) and training levels and doctrine were politely described as inconsistent.
Even the unified rank and TOE structures (based on the HAF structure) proved problematic, alien as it was to many of the new SLDF soldiers. External issues played a role, too: SLDF protocols placed severe limits on the number of SLDF troopers who could serve in their home realms and so most transferred troopers found themselves in foreign lands, regarded with suspicion (and in some cases outright hostility) by the locals. After two ex-DCMS troopers assigned to the SLDF on Robinson were killed in what the local constabulary described as a racially-motivated attack the SLDF was forced to consider political sensitivities in its assignments. Such consideration was at best a stopgap measure. The SLDF would have to be accepted everywhere, irrespective of national origins. The troopers' loyalty had to be to the Star League above all others.
Even the SLDF's Royal units (the elite core that had been the HAF) found themselves in the difficult position of winning the trust of member-state populations who regarded them as little better than occupiers. On Milos, the Twenty-second Royal Regiment found itself under attack by CCAF troops after the Capellans had called the SLDF in to deal with rampaging brigands (who were in fact CCAF deserters and whom the CCAF troops had refused to fight). The repercussions of this embarrassing incident, which thankfully cost few lives, echoed through the Star League.
United Triumph:
A solution to the integration and excess manpower issues soon arose; First Lord Cameron ordered the staging of a massive series of exercises. Codenamed United Triumph, these exercises were designed to provide participants with simulated battle conditions to hone their skills and forge bonds within and between SLDF units. The first exercise involved thirteen SLDF divisions (around forty regiments) with around thirty regiments of Great House troops as opponents.
The participants' operational duties were covered for the duration of the exercise by contractors who formed temporary regiments. Staged across fifty worlds near the Periphery in the fall of 2572, the exercises revealed the poor state of the SLDF, with bad coordination and communication leading to needless losses and few defeats. The worst was some very expensive damage to naval vessels in collisions. That the SLDF was technically more proficient than its opponents and had greater stockpiles of materiel exacerbated the embarrassment of their defeats.
The only good to come out of the debacle was the establishment of a series of logistical bases for the exercises and the passing, in late 2572, of the Border Guards Agreement that allowed for the establishment of bases throughout the Inner Sphere. Returning to Terra, General Cameron-Noruff faced difficult questions over the performance of her troops while the people of the Periphery breathed a sigh of relief; without a well-honed war machine, they couldn't be compelled to join the Star League. Or so they believed.
A Clash of Ideologies:
Albert Marik died in 2573, and with his passing Ian Cameron found himself bereft of his closest ally and advisor. His vision of a united humanity remained, and the founding of the Star League was a great step forward. The recalcitrance of the Periphery states was galling, though. Only the Rim Worlds Republic, with its longstanding ties to the Hegemony, showed any sign of wanting to join the Star League.
Within the High Council, different ideologies found themselves in opposition. On one side were Marion Marik, Albert's heir, and Ursula Liao, both of whom advocated a measured, peaceful approach to incorporating the Periphery realms into the League. On the other side were hawks like Hehiro Kurita and, to a lesser extent, Alexander Davion, who saw military intervention as the only viable option. Davion's approach was pragmatic, the Taurian Concordat was an ever-present (if not overly significant) thorn in the side of the Federated Suns and needed to be neutralized if the Suns were to maximize the benefits of the Star League, particularly the mandated force reductions.
Additionally, he believed that the best way of forging the SLDF into a unified whole was in the crucible of war, not a game like United Triumph. Hehiro Kurita, on the other hand, saw in the Periphery realms a way of expanding the Combine's wealth and influence. Though the samurai trappings of the modern Combine would not come into being for another seventy-five years, the idea of "might makes right" was already ingrained in the Kurita psyche. So far as Kurita was concerned, the peons of the Periphery were made to bow before the betters in the Star League.
The First Lord was caught between these camps. He couldn't, or wouldn't, accept the Periphery states' refusal, but neither would he sanction the use of armed force against them. He directed the Department of Foreign Relations to redouble their efforts to bring the "lost worlds" back into Terra's fold and called for a summit of the Periphery leaders on Terra, which all save Gregory Amaris refused to attend. Carrots were dangled before the realms, favored nation trade status for the Taurian Concordat, tax breaks for the Magistracy of Canopus, but to no avail. In any case, two incidents would soon make diplomatic negotiations irrelevant.
Bloody Santiago:
In late 2572 the Star League learned of significant 'Mech forces in the Outworlds Alliance, something that escaped the intelligence services and immediately launched a police action under the auspices of the First Lord's Directive 21, which called on the Alliance to accept the presence of SLDF troops for protection and to control the outlaw forces that had been gaining a hold in the region. A mixed task force of SLDF and DCMS troops landed on several Outworlds planets, tasked with locating and neutralizing the threat posed by the 'Mech forces.
The SLDF operated with restraint, focusing their efforts on their assigned task and leaving the locals pretty much alone. The DCMS was more heavy-handed, terrorizing the population and causing untold damage to property. Matters came to a head on 14 December 2572 in Santiago City when the Seventeenth Galedon Regulars found itself facing hostile crowds. Demonstrations against the occupations were commonplace and generally peaceful, though vehicles and 'Mechs were often pelted with stones and fruit. Indeed, many of the local children had begun to see this as a game, daring each other to throw fruit and paint at the SLDF troops.
One Combine warrior took action against the children, throwing a can of coolant at her tormentors. The can burst and splashed over one boy, who immediately began to scream as the chemicals burned his skin. The crowd went wild and the 'Mech, a Locust, was isolated from its lancemates, tripping and crushing several people. The attacks against the fallen 'Mech escalated and, fearing for her life, the MechWarrior opened fire with the 'Mechs weapons. Twenty-seven people were killed and thirty more hospitalized. The deaths sent shockwaves through the Star League and the Periphery. The damage to the League's image was irreparable. Demonstrations erupted across the Periphery and even on some Star League worlds. Both the Concordat and Magistracy temporarily broke off relations with the League.
The Malagrotta Crisis:
The Omsol Accord of 2511 had established the world of Malagrotta as a jointly controlled and demilitarized system between the Concordat and the Federated Suns, its mineral riches exploited by both sides. The Accord held for sixty years until 19 February 2573, when a flotilla of Taurian naval vessels, four WarShips, and an auxiliary vessel, on maneuvers after the Santiago Massacre strayed into the Malagrotta system. The vessels, suffering electrical faults that compromised their communications systems and life support, approached the mining colonies seeking aid. However, the Federated Suns' outpost, believing themselves under attack by the Concordat, dispatched couriers warning House Davion of the "sneak attack." The AFFS responded swiftly, dispatching a ten-ship task force that destroyed or captured all but one of the Taurian vessels in a three-hour battle.
Simple mistakes on both sides, the Taurian navigation error, and the Davion response led to the crisis and either side could have backed down. Instead, intransigence accelerated the descent toward war. The AFFS, eventually realizing their misreading of the Concordat's intentions, chose to hide their mistake and use the incident as political leverage. They lodged an official complaint with the Star League against the provocative actions of the Taurian Concordat. The AFFS geared up for war, and the Concordat did likewise, refusing to recognize the Star League's right to mediate between the Suns and the Concordat. This refusal angered the First Lord, who realized that his efforts at finding a diplomatic solution to the "problem of the Periphery" were doomed to failure.
Cameron took an increasingly hardline stance, siding with the Federated Suns and going so far as to propose unilateral military action. The Star League High Council divided on the issue, the First Lord, Prince Alexander Davion and the Coordinator Hehiro Kurita for action, Captain-General Marion Marik, Archon Viola-Steiner-Dinesen and Chancellor Ursula Liao against. Unless this impasse could be broken, there would be no military action.
The Council did, however, agree on economic sanctions and in March 2574 a series of trade restrictions and tariffs were imposed on the Periphery States, hampering their ability to undertake lucrative trade with the Inner Sphere. Initially, this seemed to have the desired effect, with Periphery trade cut by almost eighty percent, but the House Lords noticed their own economies faltering. Many companies, most notably in the Free Worlds and Lyran Commonwealth, but in all states, we're reliant on cheap imports from the Periphery. Cut off from their source of supply, companies faltered and failed, some spectacularly, and numerous Periphery-facing districts saw their economies slipping into chaos. Despite the spin enacted by the Star League, it was the House Lords who bore the people's ire, cited for intransigence and greed.
To the Brink: The Pollux Proclamation:
Meeting away from prying eyes on the Hegemony world of Pollux in December, an emergency session of the Star League's High Council discussed the crisis. Economic and diplomatic gambits had failed and there seemed a little alternative to war. With her state in crisis, Archon Viola's stance shifted toward support for the hawkish camp, leaving Marion Marik and Ursula Liao in the minority. Lords Davion and Kurita wanted the SLDF to launch immediate offensives against the recalcitrant Periphery, but Marik and Steiner pointed out that doing so would be both unconstitutional and would likely drum up more support for the Periphery states among the dissatisfied Spheroids. There need be, Steiner-Dinesen said, just cause for the conflict, she stopped short of saying pretext. There was one last chance for diplomacy to work, and if the Periphery refused that overture, on their heads be it.
The result, delivered to the Periphery capitals by courier chains of JumpShips on 2 January 2575, was the Pollux Proclamation. It didn't mince words and soothe egos, it wasn't meant to, quite the opposite in fact. The Periphery governments had three months to reply. The response was a foregone conclusion, and no sooner had the couriers been dispatched than the BSLA began to whip up media support against the Periphery, in favor of the looming war. Such preemptive action did not sit well with all members of the government, prompting a number of resignations, but when the single ambassador from the "Independent Worlds of the Periphery" presented their response to the High Council on 1 March, the First Lord's orders began to look prophetic.
A Most Peculiar War:
The reply to the Pollux Proclamation marked the start of the Reunification War and within a year SLDF troops were engaged in the Periphery. Since war was not officially declared until 2578, the early campaigns were "police actions," operating (officially at least) under more restrained rules of engagement. Reality was often bloodily more brutal and it soon became clear that even the improvements within the SLDF might not be sufficient to win against three opponents simultaneously, the Rim Worlds Republic not being initially regarded as belligerent.
Logistics played a role; it became apparent that while the SLDF had significant military might, 270 regiments and 500 WarShips, they didn't have the supplies or the transport assets to utilize all of these resources at once. The decision was made, therefore, to stagger the offensives against the Periphery States and to bolster the SLDF with line troops from the Great Houses.
In April 2575, First Lord Cameron issued Directive 22, ordering each member-state to provide additional forces (with their own transports) for the military action against the recalcitrant Periphery, joining the allied Star League Expeditionary Force (SLEF). Already stretched by the mandated drawdowns of their forces, the move was not popular but the member-states had no legal ground to refuse the call. With these reinforcements, the combined SLDF and SLEF exceeded 300 regiments, though many of these remained in garrison within the member-states.
General Shandra Noruff-Cameron took overall charge of the operation but the command of each of the four Regional Operations Commands (ROCs) fell to the general responsible for seizing the Periphery states. For the Taurian ROC, this was Major General Charles Manstein Wexworth; for the Magistracy ROC command fell to Captain-General Marion Marik; for the Rim Worlds front it was General Nathan Isaacson; for the Outworlds ROC, General Amos Forlough. Each ROC was allowed significant flexibility in achieving their goals, with total control over the ground and naval forces employed. The Star League Intelligence Command provided intelligence on their opponents, but much of the information was patchy and outdated. Some units went into action equipped with stellar charts dating back to the Fifth Grand Survey of 2389.
The choice of the SLDF's first target was never in doubt; the Taurian Concordat was the most heavily armed and belligerent of the Periphery realms and four of the seven SLDF corps were tasked with dealing with it. The generals and High Council hoped that a short, decisive campaign by the massed SLDF and allied forces would bring the Concordat to its knees and prompt the other states to capitulate without a shot being fired. What could go wrong? "We'll be home by Christmas 2580" they said….
The Mighty Bull:
The Hyades Cluster was colonized in 2253 by dissidents fleeing the Outer Reaches Rebellion. Eighty-two years later the Taurian Concordat officially formed, initially claiming almost twenty colonized worlds and over a billion citizens. Founded by citizens fleeing the oppressions of the Terran Alliance, and bolstered by millions more that fled the war, chaos and strong-arm tactics that so typified the formation of the six Great Houses, the Concordat was xenophobic and incredibly protective of its borders. By the late Twenty Fourth Century, despite remaining "hidden" in the expanses beyond both the Capellan Confederation and the Federated Suns, the Concordat formed a strong military to keep those borders secure.
A chance 2369 encounter cemented those emotions within the Concordat and further inspired its centuries-long feud with the Federated Suns. Three decades later, the Age of War brought the Concordat into direct action against both Davion and Liao forces. The Concordat gained the BattleMech by the mid-Twenty-fifth Century and soon established its status as the strongest Periphery nation, possessing a large and advanced industrial base.
By the dawn of the Star League, the Taurian Concordat was on par technologically and militarily with the six nations united by Ian Cameron, and boasted a higher literacy rate. The one and only statistic the Taurian Concordat could not compete in was sheer numbers, Taurus claimed less than sixty incorporated colonized worlds, a mere fraction of the thousands united under Terra and the Camerons.
Prelude to Perdition:
Leaders in the Periphery knew the formation of the Star League in 2571 would sooner or later, likely sooner, lead to disaster for their nations. The Star League would not stop until it had united all of Humanity under its aegis. The League at first attempted to coax the Concordat into alliance with diplomatic and economic offers, such as the Galactic Summit on Terra in early 2572 (to which no Periphery nation, save the Rim Worlds, sent delegates), the Critical Services Modernization Initiative in summer 2572 (a thinly-disguised attempt at industrial espionage coupled with the establishment of a pro-Star League propaganda machine within the Periphery), or even the establishing of favored-nation trade status with the Concordat at the outset of 2573 (which Taurians believed would end up shipping more Star League products into their nation than they would be exporting). The Periphery nations, led by the Taurian Concordat, rejected each of these measures.
In response, First Lord Ian Cameron flexed his Star League's military muscle in an effort to convince the Periphery to give in, but those moves only fostered more solidarity on the part of the Periphery nations. After Cameron issued Directive 21 in 2572, Taurian industry began retooling for military production, while its military redeployed to respond to any border incursions in the wake of the 2573 Malagrotta Incident.
Star League Plans:
The Star League issued the Pollux Proclamation in January 2575, and the four major Periphery nations gave their terse rejection just two months later, knowing that the Star League would respond in only one way. Within hours of hearing the Periphery nations' response, the Star League Council voted for war, determining that their armies would target the Taurian Concordat first.
An actual declaration of war and invasion would still be some years away, however. The plan to conquer the Concordat would require four full SLDF corps, forty percent of the SLDF's combat strength, as well as a fifth brigade of Federated Suns House troops. Additionally, the SLDF would have to transfer its primary battle fleets to the Taurian border. It would take well over a year to make these movements, but that, too, was a part of the plan. Moderates within the Star League Council, especially Captain-General Marion Marik, didn't see war with the Periphery as the answer; it was their hope that the huge show of force along the border might encourage the Concordat to reconsider diplomacy.
Between March 2575 and December 2576, four SLDF corps moved to the border: I Corps (occupying worlds from Mandaree to Sanurcha), III Corps (positioned on Firgrove and Drienfontaine), IV Corps (taking up station on Enchi and Senggang), and VI Corps (with responsibility from Agliana to June). At the same time, First Prince Alexander Davion formed the Federated Suns Auxiliary Corps, which took up positions between Panpour and Naka Pabni. Major General Charles Wexworth assumed command of the Taurian front on 4 May 2575.
The Bull's Horns:
In the five years between the formation of the Star League and its declaration of war on the Taurian Concordat, Protector Calderon doubled the size of his military and built strong militia forces on nearly every inhabited planet, placing additional BattleMech and aerospace fighter contingents on the Concordat most industrialized worlds. By 2575, the Concordat possessed more than thirty frontline BattleMech regiments and nearly three times that many frontline armor regiments, deployed in key systems throughout the nation. As impressive as these measures were, Calderon and his advisors knew they would represent mere speedbumps against the Star League juggernaut.
Naval power was the one parity that Calderon and his military leaders knew they possessed, and they leveraged the Concordat's true strengths, its large, dedicated population, and massive industrial base, to expand upon that. From 2573 until the end of the war, the Concordat quadrupled its output of WarShips and military DropShips, and further produced thousands of aerospace fighters. Four battle fleets formed the core of the Taurian navy, patrolling the border systems and waiting for the inevitable.
Case AMBER:
As war preparations continued, both the Federated Suns' and the Taurian Concordat's navies heavily patrolled their border systems, ready to react decisively to any incursion. This state of heightened readiness had existed since the Malagrotta Incident, and despite not a single actual confirmed incursion, scores of DropShips and JumpShips were seized on both sides of the border.
Tensions continued to mount as more and more Star League troops took up positions along the border, prompting the Concordat's military leaders to propose a daring strike at their old enemy, House Davion. They hoped to stall the impending invasion and convince the Star League that the price of invasion would be too great. Protector Mitchell Calderon, desperate to leverage any advantage, agreed. The Taurian plan, codenamed Case AMBER, began in early 2577.
Well aware that the Federated Suns was closely watching its fleet movements, the Taurian navy withdrew the majority of its WarShips from the border. Meanwhile, Taurian intelligence services set up an operation within the Caldwell system designed to look like the Concordat had assembled a massive invasion fleet there.
Instead, the Taurians assembled their fleet in an unnamed system near Tentativa, hoping Davion would take the bait. In September of 2577 he did. Davion's intelligence agencies picked up the weakened Taurian naval presence, and even correctly surmised the operation within the Pierce system was a ruse.
Unfortunately for Davion, his analysts and advisors believed this elaborate operation was designed to obfuscate the Concordat's weakness in the region. The Prince ordered them to immediately exploit this apparent weakness, initiating the Reunification War with what they all hoped would be a blinding victory against the Concordat.
AFFS Admiral Sarah Vincent took charge of Task Force Four on 7 August, assuming command of over half of House Davion's WarShip fleet for this important operation. She led Task Force Four into the Tentativa system on 28 September 2577, immediately overwhelming the meager defenses stationed in-system. Ten days later, Admiral Vincent took her task force to the Pierce system, again encountering little resistance, and finding no signs of the Taurian WarShip squadron apparently still operating in the region. While Vincent and her staff debated whether they should continue on to uncover the Taurian deception within the Caldwell system, a courier brought news of a major Taurian naval assault within the Federated Suns.
As soon as he'd received confirmation of Davion's attack on Tentativa, Taurian Marshal David Santos led his own fleet to Panpour, a known Davion military staging area. There, he led just half of his combined fleet against Davion's Task Force 2.7, a twelve-WarShip squadron composed mostly of troop transports and light escorts. Marshal Santos' overwhelming force destroyed nine Davion WarShips and eighteen DropShips, and captured three WarShips, three JumpShips and eight DropShips loaded with war supplies. In return, Santos lost just one WarShip and a handful of DropShips. They remained in the Panpour system only long enough to recharge their drives and jump back out.
Admiral Vincent didn't learn that, however, until Task Force Four returned to the Tentativa system. Vincent followed standard doctrine, splitting her task force between Tentativa's two primary jump points and moving to secure the remainder of the system when enemy forces were detected. After studying Davion fleet tactics for two decades, Santos knew precisely how Vincent would respond. He also had ships well hidden within the system (as well as in five other nearby systems) watching for the Davion fleet; they gave Santos the Davion fleet's exact positions.
Vincent's fleet detected what they believed was a Taurian WarShip squadron orbiting the system's fifth planet, in reality, a single Taurian monitoring ship putting out enough decoy signals to seem like five WarShips. Vincent herself led a strong force from the zenith point to investigate and eliminate the potential threat (while her deputy did virtually the same at the nadir point). Twenty-four hours later, Santos jumped three squadrons of WarShips to the zenith point. Of the ten escorts and six supply Jumpships they ambushed, the Taurians destroyed six WarShips and captured the remainder.
Admiral Vincent immediately turned around to attack the Taurians. Some twenty hours later, after a hard return burn, Vincent's squadrons attacked but soon found themselves surrounded as the remainder of Santos' fleet jumped in. Outnumbered more than two-to-one, Vincent nonetheless attempted to battle her way through the Concordat fleet. An hour later, all but four of the Davion WarShips were crippled, destroyed or captured while the rest were on the run, in an attempt to link up with the other half of Task Force Four. Admiral Vincent's flagship, the FSS Lucien Davion, was destroyed with all hands.
Vice Admiral Brimin Davis-Peckholt turned back to reunite the remainder of Task Force Four at the nadir jump point, but by the time that they arrived Santos' fleet had already quick-charged and jumped to the nadir, savaging the ships Davis-Peckholt had left behind. Vice Admiral Davis-Peckholt attacked, knowing the odds he and his crews faced; they acquitted themselves well, losing only five capital ships and taking two enemies with them before reaching minimum safe jump distance and departing the Tentativa system. Three of the four ships that fled the zenith point likewise escaped the system. Marshal Santos had delivered House Davion a humiliating defeat.
Twenty-eight Davion WarShips were destroyed or scuttled, with eleven more captured or otherwise recovered by the Taurian navy. Dozens more combat DropShips and hundreds of fighters were destroyed, and the Taurians managed to capture the bulk of Task Force Four's tenders. Between Panpour and Tentative, some three-quarters of the Federated Suns' fleet had been destroyed or crippled, including many of the troop transports and supply ships that would be needed to support the invasion of the Taurian Concordat, at a cost of a mere three Taurian WarShips destroyed.
Peace Through the Arms of War:
The defeat of the Davion navy at Tentativa had significant repercussions throughout the Inner Sphere and the Periphery. Alexander Davion's military had never suffered quite such a resounding defeat, especially in such a public way. Moreover, the loss of so many ships and supplies all but neutralized the threat posed by the Davion Corps stationed on their border, precisely the result Protector Calderon and his advisors had hoped.
Across the Inner Sphere two reactions emerged: anger, at the Taurian Concordat and the rest of the Periphery for making this "unprovoked attack," and ridicule, directed at the Federated Suns' military for suffering such a humiliating defeat in what hindsight showed was so clearly a trap. Though Tentativa was a disaster for one of his staunchest supporters, First Lord Ian Cameron enjoyed a massive boost in support for war against the Periphery, a level his propagandists could never have generated on their own. On the other hand, Alexander Davion's nation faced problems in the Star League Council from the leaders of both the Capellan Confederation and Draconis Combine, who took political advantage of Davion's weakness. The AFFS and their Prince spent nearly the entire war trying to acquit their most public failure. To the Periphery, Tentativa was proof that the Star League was not invincible.
A strong nationalistic fever swept the Concordat; military recruitment stations were packed, while industrial output in support of the war effort seemed to double. This furor would serve the Concordat throughout the war.
Most critical, however, was the response to the Tentativa debacle within the Star League Council and the SLDF. The Taurian Concordat was a major military power that needed to be dealt with immediately and decisively. Its rapid defeat would signal to the rest of the Periphery that they could have no hope against the might of the Star League. The Star League Council declared war on the Taurian Concordat on 30 April 2578. The invasion would begin fifteen days later.
Credit for Write Up:
History was taken from Battletech Historical Reunification War by Chris Hartford and Christoffer "Bones" Trossen, a Sourcebook for the game Battletech.
Welcome!
Welcome one and all to Battletec: Reunification War, a game set within the Battletech Universe and taking place just after the Star League has formed. Players will take command of either forces from the Star League as they invade the most powerful Periphery nation and "threat" to the Star League, or they can rally to the cause of the Taurian Concordat, a nation that has been preparing this war for their independence for many years. Players will take control of the military aspect of operations with each player making Original Characters (OC). The reason for this is some command positions are unknown or are just a name with no background and only three known Canon characters with backgrounds. There is a lot of information is presented below, please don't let it overwhelm you and put you off from playing the game, it is more for your viewing pleasure and knowing background and details about the militaries within the game. It is not required reading to play the game.
Disclaimer:
I am now a full-time paralegal for a Non-Profit, which means sometimes I will have to go out of town or take several days off to concentrate on work, especially during the weekdays. I also suffer from several health conditions that sometimes also force me to take a day or three off to recuperate. This means that there could be periods of less activity from me, so please be aware there could be slowdowns, but I will do my utmost to make sure questions are answered and updates come out in a fairly reasonable time.
Characters:
As said above, each player will make a OC character when claiming. Below I will be providing write-ups for some of the canon characters to help give you an idea of what I am looking for and help you fill out important details. Military commands will be provided below as well, so that you may claim which you wish to command and experience. There are two types of commands, naval and ground, so make sure you are satisfied with which one you sign up for when doing so. I shall also provide a template for your OC's, making it easier for you when signing up. https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Main_Page is a good resource when coming up with stuff for backgrounds. Please note that for Characters from the Star League you should either be from the Terran Hegemony or the Federated Suns, as they are the two main forces fighting on this front, though if you wish to be from another House I will accept it with a good backstory. If you are going for the Taurian Concordat you should be from a planet within that faction. Mercenary forces are very small or even non-existent in this period therefore they won't factor into this scenario.
I shall also allow characters to serve under a character, that being in command of a Division within the Star League or a Regiment in the Taurian Concordat, which you can ask me what is able while coming up with a Background or after you have been accepted.
Template:
Name: Pretty Obvious
Age: How old are you?
Sex: Are you Male or Female?
Loyalties: Either Star League or Taurian Concordat, though if you are with the Star League you can put one of the Six Great Houses as your true loyalty.
Homeworld: Where are you from?
Command: What do you wish to Command? Navy - ? Army - ?
Preferred Mech/Flagship: List will be provided below, same for naval forces if you are going for a Blackwater Navy Command.
Biography: Please do at least a paragraph or two, more would be better for details and how you got to your position and help with developing possible Role Playing opportunities.
The Star League
Command:
Service:
Commanding Officer:
Taurian Concordat Regional Command
Star League
Major General Charles Wexworth [Canon Background]
Star League First Corps [3 Divisions]
Star League - Army
Major General Ilaria Zennaro [No Background]
Star League Third Corps [3 Divisions]
Star League - Army
Major General Elisska Wright [No Background]
Star League Fourth Corps [3 Divisions]
Star League - Army
Major General Amar Lagat [No Background]
Star League Sixth Corps [3 Divisions]
Star League - Army
Major General Harmond Vriss [No Background]
Federated Suns Auxiliary Corps [3 "Brigades"]
Federated Suns - Army
Major General Troy Neville [No Background]
Star League First Battle Fleet
Star League - Navy
Admiral Janissa Franklin [No Background]
Star League Second Battle Fleet
Star League - Navy
Admiral Cassius Bekatorou [No Background]
Star League Third Battle Fleet
Star League - Navy
Admiral Kristopher Minn [No Background]
Star League Fourth Battle Fleet
Star League - Navy
Admiral Yukiko Pequeno [No Background]
Federated Suns Task Force
Federated Suns - Navy
Admiral Helden van der Geest [No Background]
Taurian Concordat
Command:
Service:
Commanding Officer:
Taurian Defense Force
Taurian Concordat
Marshal Lucinda Grimm [No Background]
Taurian Guard Corps [5 Regiments]
Taurian Concordat - Army
Marshal David Lopez [No Background]
Taurian First Corps [5 Regiments]
Taurian Concordat - Army
Marshal Ulindor Vanshi [No Background]
Taurian Second Corps [5 Regiments]
Taurian Concordat - Army
Marshal
Taurian Third Corps [10 Regiments]
Taurian Concordat - Army
Marshal
Taurian Fourth Corps [4 Regiments
Taurian Concordat - Army
Marshal
Taurian Fifth Corps [3 Regiments]
Taurian Concordat - Army
Marshal
Taurian Sixth Corps [3 Regiments]
Taurian Concordat - Army
Marshal
Taurian First Battle Fleet
Taurian Concordat - Navy
Marshal Gisela Cardenas [See Below]
Taurian Second Battle Fleet
Taurian Concordat - Navy
Marshal
Taurian Third Battle Fleet
Taurian Concordat - Navy
Marshal Benoit Cyscoe [No background]
Taurian Fourth Battle Fleet
Taurian Concordat - Navy
Marshal
Taurian Fifth Battle Fleet
Taurian Concordat - Navy
Marshal David Santos [See Below]
Sample Canon Characters:
Amos Forlough:
Amos Forlough grew up the third child of five in a lower-middle-class family on the Hegemony world of Rigil Kentarus. He won a scholarship to the Rigil Kent Military Academy after serving a year in a preparatory school, where despite perpetually low grades he graduated a MechWarrior with a commission in the HAF. His career spanning reputation as a perfectionist started at the RKMA where he continually reported classmates for disciplinary and uniform infractions, earning him enmity from his peers and even many of his superiors, but despite those poor reviews his tactical acumen won him promotion and highly competitive postings.
When the HAF ceased to exist in 2572, becoming instead the genesis of the new SLDF, Forlough's name was known well in military circles across the Inner Sphere: he was a tough, mean son of-a-bitch, but he led some of the best trained and most disciplined soldiers in the Sphere. Though a little too rough and plain-spoken for service on Terra with I Corps, or in royal circles with the Star Guard Corps, he was the ideal choice to whip II Corps into shape. His corps reached full operational status before any others (despite not yet meeting his own personal standards) and trained hard, with the majority of his regiments missing out on the United Triumph exercises because of their own training regimen. Though Forlough was disappointed that General Lee had not chosen him to command the Taurian invasion, he was also wise enough to know that, with so much scrutiny on the Taurian front, his words and actions would have likely caused a number of interstellar political incidents that would have quickly robbed him of the opportunity.
The Outworlds operation, on the other hand, offered him the freedom to fight a war on his own terms. Saddled with what he considered a weakly-led, undisciplined, and ill-prepared V Corps as well as an opportunistic Kurita auxiliary, he relied heavily upon "his" II Corps, which rarely let him down. His name was reviled throughout the Periphery as the "Baby-Killer" and the "Butcher" because of his brutal tactics that often targeted civilian populations, while many of his own soldiers hated him for his similarly brutal methods of dealing with insubordination. Nevertheless, those were the tactics that led the Star League to victory against the Taurian Concordat and likewise led to the peace agreement with the Outworlds Alliance; though Forlough was no longer in command of either of those fronts when the war ended, there was no question that Amos Forlough was responsible for the successful conclusion of the war on two of the Star League's four fronts.
Amalthia Kinclaid:
The product of two military families, the Kincaids from the Federated Suns on her father's side and the Briggs family from the Free Worlds League on her mother's, Amalthia Kincaid's parents were both aerospace pilots that met by chance during simultaneous raids upon the Capellan world of Gan Singh in 2531. Each had been shot down by Capellan fighters, but were recovered by the other's SAR teams. They met briefly in orbit when the Davion and Marik commanders arranged for an exchange and continued to correspond for years until they left their respective services and settled on the Hegemony world of Murchison, where they married.
Amalthia dreamed from an early age of being a fighter pilot like her parents, and learned to fly a variety of aerospace craft during her teens before entering the War Academy of Mars. She was disqualified from flight status, though, because of a medical issue, prompting her to transfer to MechWarrior training, where her keen perception and analytical mind distinguished her as an outstanding tactician. She found herself in staff assignments just as often as field assignments during her first several years of service. She contracted Pingree Fever when she was twenty-five. Though she survived, the often-fatal disease left her emaciated and without the constitution she needed to remain on the front lines. Her brilliant tactical mind nonetheless kept her in a series of staff positions.
She was a colonel when the SLDF formed, and served in the Strategic Simulations Command under General Carlos Lee. She took over the Strategic Simulations Command two years after Lee became commanding general, serving as its head as the youngest full general in the SLDF until Lee needed her to take charge of the Taurian front, to which she brought new energy and a host of new ideas, including the development of the striker regiment. She was killed in a Taurian commando strike, having served in command for less than eighteen months.
Carlos Lee:
Carlos Lee was born on Lyons but emigrated to Zebebelgenubi with his parents shortly after birth, where he gained dual Lyran- Hegemony citizenship and lived until he was sixteen. He hopped a freighter that took him back to the Terran Hegemony, where he could enlist in the Hegemony Armed Forces. He renounced his Lyran citizenship and served two years in a variety of menial positions until he was finally accepted to the Saint Cyr Military Academy, where he excelled.
He graduated a MechWarrior with a HAF commission and saw some limited action against Combine raiders, but faced his greatest challenge as a young officer in 2549 when his regiment became embroiled in the September Revolt. His unit, the Seventh Cavalry, was the first Cameron-loyal HAF regiment on scene in Geneva, but instead of engaging the mutinous Fifty-First Dragoon Regiment, his battalion commander ordered Captain Lee and his fellow MechWarriors to reinforce the rebel Dragoons while the major staged his own coup within the regiment. In the confusing hours that followed, Lee and a core group of loyal officers ended the major's revolt, but not before the regimental commander and another battalion commander were killed, and almost half of the regiment either defected to the Fifty-first Dragoons' cause or were destroyed by them.
His actions won him a commendation and early promotion, but more importantly brought him into contact with Director- General Ian Cameron and his wife, now-General Shandra Noruff- Cameron. Throughout the next twenty years he often crossed paths with the two Camerons, including a four-year term in command of Cameron's private guard and later service as Commandant of the Royal Sandhurst Military Academy. When the Camerons formed the SLDF, he was their first choice to lead the Strategic Simulations Command, and soon also became Noruff-Cameron's deputy commanding general. Thanks to years in and around the Camerons and the royal court, the intelligent and capable Lee developed a keen political sense, which served him well both as Noruff Cameron's deputy and during his own two-decade term as SLDF commanding general. Those political skills allowed the general to build a multi-national force and keep it supplied with men and equipment despite countless disputes between the Council Lords and thousands of other minor crises across the Star League that threatened to rip the SLDF. Though Noruff-Cameron often derided him in private for compromising his principles or making the wrong decisions for the sake of political expediency, she and the First Lord just as often praised his leadership.
Twenty years of unremitting warfighting took their toll on the man, however, who retired shortly after the end of the Reunification War. He never quite recovered from the strain, especially after serving as honorary pallbearer for both Camerons, and died quietly in his Unity City home.
Charles Mainstein Wexworth:
Charles Wexworth, like most of the senior commanders within the SLDF at the outset of the Reunification War, was a product of the HAF. He entered the HAF after graduating from the West Point Military Academy, and in his first twelve years, he served as an armor platoon, company, and battalion commander before he moved on to assignments at HAF headquarters on Terra. There he both gained an appreciation for politics and proved a capable planner, two skills that aided him immeasurably as he continued to rise in the HAF. After two more field assignments, he found himself back on Terra during the formation of the SLDF, leveraging himself into command of I Corps. Relying heavily upon his deputy and staff to train the corps, he focused his energies upon building battle plans for the inevitable campaign within the Periphery. He worked hand in hand with General Lee to design the Taurian invasion, ensuring that he would be chosen to command the greatest and most powerful army yet assembled, a command he received despite Shandra Noruff-Cameron's private misgivings.
Wexworth designed a campaign that would surround and cut off the Hyades Cluster while minimizing collateral damage to the Taurian industry and population. He expected to make lightning strikes that would quickly knock out the Taurian planetary garrisons, pacifying worlds in a matter of days or weeks and occupying them with reserve or coalition units. He also hoped to leverage his conquering of the Taurian Concordat into a second career in politics.
Gisela Cardenas:
Hailing from the family of one of the Calderon's closest political allies, Gisela Cardenas was afforded every opportunity as a child and into adulthood. She was the fourth of seven children but detested the thought of arranged marriage or life as a doting mother. Instead, she used her father's political connections to win an appointment to the Taurian Military Academy, where she graduated as a fighter pilot. She gained some distinction as a skilled pilot, but seeking higher rank than her skills alone were garnering, she once again used her family's connections to gain her promotion into the fleet. She commanded a five-ship escort formation during the Battle of Tentativa under Marshal David Santos, which earned her in short order command of the First Taurian Battle Fleet.
David Santos:
David Santos hailed from a long line of Taurian naval officers, able to trace his family's service to Captain Elias Santos, who commanded the TAS Cortez during the 22nd Century when it charted more than two dozen worlds for the Terran Alliance. He graduated from the New Vandenburg Naval Academy, but due to a long series of infractions that resulted from his mischievous nature, he was assigned as navigator aboard a cargo JumpShip. He found a mentor in his captain, however, who encouraged him to test his abilities.
His uncanny ability to plot the most difficult jumps brought him first to the attention of his fleet commander, who used the young navigator to bring an invasion force into a supposedly impossible pirate point in the Hyades Cluster during an exercise. Within weeks, after a perfunctory admonishment for breaking TDF astrogation regulations, he was assigned as the navigator on the Concordat Navy's flagship.
Within fifteen years he had served as the Concordat's chief astrogator and was in command of the Taurian Fifth Fleet, with responsibility for the more than half of the Concordat's border with the Federated Suns. One of his first actions as commander was to ready his fleet for a number of different scenarios that would place them in direct conflict with the Federated Suns or the Star League. One of those plans found its way to the TDF headquarters and became the impetus for Case AMBER, which Santos returned to plan and eventually command. With a third of the Taurian navy under his direct command, he delivered the Federated Suns the worst naval defeat in its history. He fought bravely for the Taurian Concordat and continued to roam the Concordat with his fleet, seeing very little additional decisive action but harassing the SLDF enough that its transport ships refused to move without a powerful naval escort.
Star League BattleMechs
Light Mechs
Medium Mechs
Heavy Mechs
Assault Mechs
Firestarter FS9-A (Scout) (2550)
Dervish DV-1S (Artillery) (2520)
Archer ARC-2R (Artillery) (2474)
Banshee BNC-3E (Sniper) (2475)
Locust LCT-1V (Scout) (2499)
Hoplite HOP-4A (Support) (2578)
Blackknight BL-6-KNT (Brawler) (2578)
Emperor EMP-5A (Juggernaut) (2502)
THE-N Thorn (Striker) (2549)
Hunchback HBK-4G (Juggernaut) (2572)
Catapult CPLT-G1 (Artillery) (2563)
Longbow LGB-0W (Artillery) (2529)
WSP-1A Wasp (Scout) (2471)
Phoenix Hawk PXH-1 (Skirmisher) (2568)
Galahad GLH-1D (Juggernaut) (2570)
Mackie MSK-6S (Brawler) (2439)
Scorpion SCP-1N (Skirmisher) (2570)
Griffen GFR-1N (Sniper) (2492)
Striker STC-2C (Brawler) (2571)
Shadow Hawk SHD-2H (Skirmisher) (2550)
Guillotine GLT-3N (Skirmisher) (2499)
Thug THG-11E (Brawler) (2572)
Helepolis HEP-2H (Artillery) (2488)
Victor VTR-9B (Skirmisher) (2510)
Orion ON1-K (Brawler) (2525)
Ostroc OSR-2C (Skirmisher) (2511)
Pillager PLG-1N (Juggernaut) (2575)
Rifleman RFL-2N (Sniper) (2556)
Thunderbolt TDR-5S (Brawler) (2505)
WHM-6R Warhammer (Brawler) (2515)
The Federated Suns BattleMechs
Light Mechs
Medium Mechs
Heavy Mechs
Assault Mechs
COM-2D Commando (Scout) (2463)
DV-1S Dervish (Artillery) (2520)
BKX-7K Battleaxe (Artillery) (2459)
Banshee BNC-3E (Sniper) (2475)
Firestarter FS9-A (Scout) (2550)
Shadow Hawk SHD-2H (Skirmisher) (2550)
HMD-3D Hammerhands (Brawler) (2475)
Longbow LGB-0W (Artillery) (2529)
LCT-1V Locust (Scout) (2499)
SWD-2 Swordsman (Brawler) (2482)
TDR-5S Thunderbolt (Brawler) (2505)
MSK-6S Mackie (Brawler) (2439)
WSP-1A Wasp (Scout) (2471)
Wolverine WVR-6R (Skirmisher) (2575)
WHM-6R Warhammer (Brawler) (2515)
Taurian Concordat BattleMechs
Light Mechs
Medium Mechs
Heavy Mechs
Assault Mechs
LCT-1V Locust (Scout) (2499)
GLD-1R Gladiator (Brawler)
Archer ARC-2R (Artillery) (2474)
Banshee BNC-1E (Sniper) (2475)
LCT-1S Locust (Scout) (2567)
HBK-4G Hunchback (Juggernaut) (2572)
GFR-1N Griffin (Sniper) (2492)
Emperor EMP-1A (Juggernaut) (2502)
STG-3R Stinger (Scout) (2479)
SHD-1H Shadow Hawk (Skirmisher) (2550)
OSR-2C Ostroc (Skirmisher) (2511)
Longbow LGB-0W (Artillery) (2529)
THE-N Thorn (Striker) (2549)
TLS-1B Talos (Brawler) (2532)
TDR-5S Thunderbolt (Brawler) (2505)
MSK-6S Mackie (Brawler) (2439)
TR-A-6 Toro (Artillery) (2548)
WHM-6R Warhammer (Brawler) (2515)
WSP-1A Wasp (Scout) (2471)
Star League WarShips, JumpShips, DropShips, & AeroSpace Fighters
WarShips
JumpShips
DropShips
AeroSpace Fighters
Dreadnought-class Battleship (2300)
Aquilia-class JumpShip (2148)
Black Eagle-class DropShip (2470)
HMR-HD Hammerhead (Heavy) (2571)
Farragut-class Battleship (2448)
Leviathan-class JumpShip (2468)
Czar-class DropShip (2468)
LCF-R15 Lucifer (Medium) (2526)
Monsoon-class Battleship (2368)
Liberty-class JumpShip (2469)
DroST IIb-class DropShip (2470)
LTN-G15 Lightning (Light) (2519)
Black Lion-class Battlecruiser (2315)
Merchant-class JumpShip (2503)
Jumbo-class DropShip (2423)
SB-27 Sabre (Light/Interceptor) (2519)
Avatar-class Heavy Cruiser (2531)
Leopard-class DropShip (2537)
SL-25 Samurai (Medium) (2472)
Aegis-class Heavy Cruiser (2371)
Pentagon-class Assault DropShip
SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk (Light) (2510)
Dart-class Light Cruiser (2305)
STU-K5 Stuka (Heavy/Attack) (2530)
Baron-class Destroyer (2520)
TRB-D36 Thunderbird (Heavy) (2480)
Davion I-class Destroyer (2510)
Essex-class Destroyer (2351)
Lola-class Destroyer (2345)
Congress-class Frigate (2542)
Quixote-class Frigate (2350)
Bonaventure-class Corvette (2317)
Congress-class Frigate
Vigilant-class Corvettes (2320)
Vincent Mk 38-class Corvette (2432)
Tracker-class Surveillance Vessel (2407)
The Federated Suns WarShips, JumpShips, DropShips, & AeroSpace Fighters
WarShips
JumpShips
DropShips
AeroSpace Fighters
New Syrtis-class Carrier (2557)
Aquilia-class JumpShip (2148)
Jumbo-class DropShip (2423)
CNT-1D Centurion (Light) (2473)
Defender-class Battleship (2380)
Leviathan-class JumpShip (2468)
Leopard-class DropShip (2537)
LTN-G15 Lightning (Light) (2519)
Davion I-class Destroyers (2510)
Liberty-class JumpShip (2469)
Manatee-class DropShip (2449)
STU-K5 Stuka (Heavy/Attack) (2530)
Davion II-class Destroyer (2552)
Merchant-class JumpShip (2503)
TRB-D36 Thunderbird (Heavy) (2480)
Essex-class Destroyer (2351)
Congress-D-class Frigate (2542)
Vigilant-class Corvettes
Vincent Mk 38-class Corvette
Robinson-class Transports (2560)
The Taurian Concordat WarShips, JumpShips, DropShips, & AeroSpace Fighters
WarShips
JumpShips
DropShips
AeroSpace Fighters
New Syrtis-class Carrier (2557)
Aquilia-class JumpShip (2148)
DroST IIb-class DropShip (2470)
EGL-R6 Eagle (Heavy/Attack) (2501)
Monsoon-class Battleship (2368)
Merchant-class JumpShip (2503)
Gazelle-Class DropShip (2531)
LTN-G15 Lightning (Light) (2519)
Winchester-class Cruiser (2364)
Jumbo-class DropShip (2423)
SB-27 Sabre (Light/Interceptor) (2519)
Dart-class Light Cruiser (2305)
Leopard-class DropShip (2537)
SYD-21 Seydlitz (Light) (2504)
Lola-class Destroyer (2345)
Manatee-class DropShip (2449)
TRB-D36 Thunderbird (Heavy) (2480)
Concordat-class Frigate (2506)
Vulture-class DropShip (2420)
Wagon Wheel-class Frigate (2570)
Pinto-class Corvettes (2502)
Vigilant-class Corvette (2320)
Vincent Mk 38-class Corvette (2432)
Combat, Losses, and Replacements:
Combat is a fact of life, more so in the BattleTech universe and this game. I shall once more be providing a chart (I know there are a lot!) which shows just how many Mechs are in a Regiment, how many tanks, how many AeroSpace Fighters, and all that for both sides, fortunately, militaries of this era use the same structure making this a lot easier to keep track! Fighting within this campaign will be pretty brutal, with the possibility of whole units being wiped out in an instant from the loss of DropShips or the use of Chemical or Nuclear weapons. Yes these weapons are able, but they will destroy the planets you are fighting over and wipe out countless millions, so beware when you might use these.
Warning: If you make a character who is strictly designed to being a murdering crazed lad, you will NOT be accepted into the game. This is a serious game and I expect you to Role Play with that in mind. That said, as things become more desperate using said weapons might become more and more viable but I will not be accepting people writing or calling out for the wiping out or genocide of whole populations in ICs just for the fun of it and the "meme".
BattleMech Organization
Vehicle Organization
Infantry Organization
AeroSpace Fighter Organization
Lance - 4 Mechs
Maniple - 2 Vehicles
Maniple - 5 Soldiers
Lance - 2 AeroSpace Fighters
Company - 3 Lances - 12 Mechs
Lance - 3 Maniples - 6 Vehicles
Squad - 2 Maniples - 10 Soldiers
Flight - 2 Lances - 4 AeroSpace Fighters
Battalion - 3 Companies - 36 Mechs
Company - 3 Lances - 18 Vehicles
Platoon - 3 Squads - 30 Soldiers
Squadron - 2 Flights - 8 AeroSpace Fighters
Regiment - 3 Battalions - 108 Mechs
Battalion - 3 Companies - 54 Vehicles
Company - 3 Platoons - ~120 Soldiers
Wing - 2 Squadrons - 16 AeroSpace Fighters
Regiment - 3 Battalions - 162 Vehicles
Battalion - 4 Companies +HQ - 650 Soldiers
Regiment - 2 Wings - 32 AeroSpace Fighters
Regiment - 3 Battalions +HQ - 2,200 Soldiers
Division - 2 Regiments - 64 AeroSpace Fighters
The Star League, the Great Houses, and the Periphery have many different names for their units but for game purposes, we will have five basic ground units: BattleMech, Armor, Light Cavalry, Infantry, and AeroSpace/Planet-based Air Units. Space units shall be the individual ships, including how many DropShips and AerosSpace fighters they have assigned to them. While I could come up with exact compositions between the units, this could take a lot of effort and I wish to make it easy on both you and myself, therefore each unit will come with a percentage that denotes the current strength of a unit and how much it has been reduced in combat. Below is a chart giving you a general idea of how regiments and divisions are organized and what kind of weapons you might expect in units engaged in combat. I will also be adding in a very simple experience system that will go from Green [Never seen combat], Trained [Only a few missions under their belt], Experienced [Combat Veterans, been in a number of battles], and Elite [Best of the Best], each level making it harder for your enemies to kill your units and easier for you to kill theirs.
Divisions:
Regiments:
BattleMech: Two brigades (six regiments) of 'Mechs and one brigade (three regiments) of mechanized infantry. These were the principal offensive arm of the SLDF.
Heavy Assault/Dragoon: Heavy Assault BattleMech regiments consist of mainly heavy-to-assault weight BattleMechs, tanks, and hovercraftwith each battalion having a fourth company of artillery. The main assault force of the SLDF, most corps possessed at least a single Heavy Assault regiment usually found "Royal" Divisions.
Mechanized Infantry: Reversing the structure of the 'Mech divisions, Mechanized Infantry formations comprised two brigades of mechanized infantry and one of BattleMechs. Doctrinally they were "offensive support" units.
Hussar: Numerically the most common SLDF regiments, these line units began the war as combined-arms forces with a battalion each of 'Mechs, armor and infantry composed of medium-to-heavy 'Mechs, tanks and hovercraft. Taurian Regiments typically are made up per Mech Forces.
Armored: Two Brigades of Two Armored Regiments and One Mech Infantry Regiment and a One Brigade of Mech Infantry for 4 Armored Regiments and 5 Mech Infantry Regiments. These units are highly mobile and if used correctly can inflict heavy losses on BattleMech forces.
Light Horse: Principally infantry formations with only a reinforced company of 'Mechs per battalion with Light to Medium Mechs, Light Horse units are support formations, intended to provide specialists such as combat engineers and special forces troops to larger formations.
Infantry: Two brigades of non-mechanized infantry and one brigade of light
BattleMechs; infantry divisions were principally defensive formations but a number were adept at fighting in specialized terrains such as mountains, snow, and urban areas.
Cavalry, Armored, Aerospace and Naval (CAAN) regiments are independent Marine Corps regiments designed to operate on watery worlds, and so included blue water combat vehicles as well as 'Mechs, hovercraft and fighters.
Jump Infantry: Intended as shock troops, jump infantry divisions comprised two brigades of jump infantry and one brigade of BattleMechs. Their role was akin to paratroopers in earlier conflicts, to move quickly and seize objectives, which heaver forces could then secure.
Armored Regiments are classified by their weight, Heavy, Medium, or Light, and subdivided by their motive type, whether Tracked, Wheeled, or Hover. These regiments almost always consisted of just one or two types of design, though specialized battalions existed with divergent designs, and are usually attached to a division for anti-'Mech or assigned garrison duties. An armored division on defensive duties is usually assigned a battalion of mechanized infantry and engineers.
Infantry Regiments are organized as Mechanized, Line, Jump or Motorized units. Mechanized regiments operate in APCs while motorized regiments use Infantry Fighting Vehicles, or IFVs, faster and more lightly-armed than APCs. These regiments also contain organic armor support, typically one platoon of armor per infantry company plus an additional armor company per battalion. Line infantry has no organic transport.
Example:Second Taurian Guards [Hussars/100%/Experienced] would make this a unit composed of Medium/Heavy Mechs and is current at full strength and made up of combat veterans. Example:18th Light Horse [Light Horse/50%/Trained] would make this unit composed of Light/Medium Mechs and currently at half its strength, and composed of troops that have basic training a few minutes behind them. Example:2nd Taurian Air Division [Medium/75%/Green] would make this unit composed of Medium AeroSpace Fighters and currently at seventy-five percent strength and are made up of troops that are experiencing their first taste of combat.
These are just some examples but they should give you all an idea of how I intend to do things and keep track of stats in the game. Nothing to difficult and easy for you all to see how strong you are. Your main battle units on the ground will always be your BattleMech units, next coming Armor/Light Cavalry, and after that Infantry. Do not be surprised if you take heavy losses in your Armor and Infantry regiments, as they are quite easy for BattleMech units to engage and destroy. For space units, we will be much the same but their stats will be Strength, Experience, and DropShip/AeroSpace Strength if they have it.
Units are transported through space and onto planets through the use of JumpShips and more importantly DropShips, though some WarShips also can carry ground forces, with some having Marine compliments for fighting in Zero-G. These two units do come armed but the best way to think of these units in modern terms are JumpShips are considered Transports and DropShips are considered Landing Craft and should be something you protect when on the offensive and defensive.
Example:Monsoon-class Battleship Killer Bee [100%/Experienced/1/6 DropShips/24/36 AeroSpace Fighters]. Here the Killer Bee's hull would be at full strength, it is composed of combat veterans, it has only 1 DropShip able and carries 24 out of its 36 Fighters able to it. Example:Lola-class Destroyer [50%/Green/8/8 AeroSpace Fighters. Here this Lola-class Destroyer has only 50% of its hull strength, it has a completely green crew but has all eight of its AeroSpace Fighters.
Combat:
Each turn I will ask that each side develop "Standard" Tactics that their units operate under, making it a bit easier for me to GM and for you to decide how you want your units to behave in combat. You are able to adjust these tactics and doctrines each turn, you having both Ground and Naval Doctrines for your units. For ground units, I will be asking for how your BattleMech, Armor, Infantry, and AeroSpace forces should act while for naval forces it should be for WarShips, JumpShips, DropShips, and AeroSpace forces and how they will act in battles. I will allow you to put in specific instructions for planets if you feel like it is needed, but please limit this as much as possible as it will help me with Gming if you keep to established doctrines.
Planswill be developed each turn, with each side having an Orders Document on Google Drive. Here you will set out what your goals are for the turn, what planets you are invading, how you are dealing with possible partisan campaigns still being raged on occupied worlds, how you are replacing losses, if you are going to form new units, how you respond to special events, etc. etc. This will allow an easier time for me to process orders and with everyone being on the same page, there should be no need for you to PM me with "secret" orders unless I say otherwise. Order of Battles will be provided to both factions, with them maintained by myself and updated each turn as you prosecute your campaign.
Both sides will also be granted access to intelligence sources from SIGINT (Signals) to HIMINT (old fashion spies) to the use of ships that can scout out planets to try and gain information on enemy forces and resources stationed there. To make this easy on everyone each faction will be given between 1 and 10 teams based on how the campaign is going and able resources (focused on ships towards resources). You will simply say which planet you want to deploy a team and what you want to focus on: Ground Forces, Naval Forces, Defenses, Industrial Resources, or Chemical/Nuclear capabilities. You may place as many teams as you have able on a planet, and if you really wish you can put all teams on a single planet you just have to put what you wish to focus on for each team. Obviously the more teams you have on a planet and the more focusing on a single thing you will get more information. Each turn you will choose where you want to focus your teams, you free to change planets or focus as you please.
Ground Forces: Focuses on locating what your enemy has located on a planet.
Naval Forces: Focuses on locating what your enemy has within that star system.
Defenses: Focuses on what defenses are in orbit or on the ground as well as locating hidden bases upon a planet.
Industrial Resources: Focuses on finding factories and what they are producing, allowing you to gauge what their output is (mostly for the SLDF).
Chemical/Nuclear Capabilities: Focuses on locating weapons of mass destruction that could be used against your forces (mostly for the SLDF).
Replacements:
Replacing losses will be done a few ways, focused towards both the ground and naval sides, or in verse known as Blackspace, though it will be different between the Star League and the Taurian Concordat. For the SLDF/Federated Suns replacements are A LOT easier to come by with vast resources able to them over hundreds of worlds, allowing them to replace losses at a greater rate. The Taurian Concordat will have vast manpower resources but replacing equipment and forming new units will be much harder with only sixty worlds and only a few having the ability to produce BattleMechs, tanks, and ships.
The Star League:
Each turn the SLDF will be granted a Replacement Fund for ground units, this being a fixed rate of replacements able to be brought in from throughout the Star League with a separate pool for the Federated Suns. This pool will be very easy in that for every percentage point spent on replacements you will replace one percentage point lost for a unit. You may also use the pool to organize new units but know they will start out very green so be aware when taking this step. You can also take combat-trained forces from existing units [I.e. take some of their strength, reducing that unit accordingly] to beef up your new unit, and have the ability to form specialized units during the game. This pool can go up or down based on the successes or failures of your campaign and can also be affected by special requests or events that might pop up each turn. When it comes to forming/replacing support units, i.e. Armor, AeroSpace,, Light Cavalry, and Infantry Regiments, the cost from the replacement pool shall be 1 point equals 20% for Armor/AeroSpace regiments (5 Points for a Full Regiment), 1 point for 40% for Light Cavalry regiments (3 Points for a Full Regiment), and 1 point for 50% for Infantry regiments (2 Points for a Full Regiment).
For naval forces, there are a number of shipyards close to the borders that will allow the repairing of damaged ships and some minor construction of new ships. Replacing warships with new ones will be a long process and most of your replacements will be from stocks built up over the years or production from shipyards further within the Star League. Each turn a variable number of ships will be able to be called on, with a small fixed rate of new production coming in. When it comes to repairing ships this will be done very simply, a shipyard world can repair 10 Light ships a turn and 2 Heavy Ships a turn [Battleships & Carriers]. Something of note for the SLDF is the Taurian Front is battling along several other fronts for resources, so the more ships you draw from the "variable" pool could affect other fronts, which could also cause issues for yourself, even seeing units pulled from your front to reinforce other fronts due to losses. Be careful when pulling reinforcements.
Lastly, the SLDF must also watch how the campaign is going as if there is a large slowdown it is possible that units will be pulled from the front and transferred to another theater. If things are going well you might see more units shipped to you and allow you to strike more targets, so make sure you keep a good balance when planning your next moves.
The Taurian Concordat:
The Taurian Concordat is in a much different situation than the SLDF in that while they don't have nearly as many resources able to them due to only having sixty or so systems. Several systems have weapon, vehicle, and/or BattleMech factories that will produce replacement points for ground forces which can be used to replace losses or form new units. Like the SLDF forces can be taken from existing units to help for new units [I.e. take some of their strength, reducing that unit accordingly] to beef up your new unit, and have the ability to form specialized units during the game. If a planet is invaded, that planet can still produce at half capacity from locale resources and for ONLY the forces on that given planet until the facilities are either captured or destroyed. This will deduce the able replacement points faction wide accordingly. What each facility produces will be only known to the Taurian Players at the game start, including how many points come in each turn. SLDF forces will have a general idea of where starting factories are but it will be through the use of Intelligence Teams that they will be able to gain more details.
With the Taurian Concordat being invaded the vast majority of planets come with permanent garrisons of Armored, Light Cavalry, & Infantry Regiments with some even having AeroSpace or Planetary-based Fighters as well along with the Constabulary which will be mobilized once a planet is a target for invasion. Another resource able to the Taurian Concordat are what are known as Noble Regiments, units that have been equipped and financed by the small yet elite nobility, these nine regiments usually between 1,000 to 3,000 soldiers usually with a couple of companies of Mechs as well. While Militia and Planetary Defense forces exist, there are also professional forces in the form of Armor, AeroSpace,, Light Cavalry, and Infantry Regiments, which the cost from the replacement pool to rebuild/recruit units shall be 1 point equals 20% for Armor/AeroSpace regiments (5 Points for a Full Regiment), 1 point for 40% for Light Cavalry regiments (3 Points for a Full Regiment), and 1 point for 50% for Infantry regiments (2 Points for a Full Regiment).
Like the SLDF the Taurians also have shipyards but at a much more limited capacity due to more limited resources and physical facilities within the Taurian Concordat. Due to these facts, the Taurians have to choose between repairing ships or constructing new ones. Each shipyard world can repair 10 Light Ships and 2 Heavy Ships [Battleships & Carriers] each turn or that planet can shift to producing new ships with a class type costing "x" Points which will be discussed directly with the Taurian players and they only have that information at the start of the game.
Communications and Time Keeping:
While Humanity has come a long way in terms of technology communication remains a real concern for Military forces. A hyperpulse generator would not be developed until well into the Twenty-seventh Century, while other lines of research into interstellar communications have resulted in a number of technological dead-ends. From the time of the TAS Columbia until after the Reunification War, the only way to pass a message from one system to another was by courier.
Every nation has an established communications network, administered by a government or military office, that passes traffic much like a cross between the Pony Express of ancient Terra and a postal service. Individuals would record a tri-vid message, or otherwise compose a combination text/audio/video message, address it to another individual (or office or agency) on a different world, and pay a local interstellar message service (IMS) to ensure that message would make its way to the intended recipient. The cost depended upon how far the message had to travel and if any special priority handling was required. An IMS would then batch transmit all of its collected messages at a predetermined time (on major worlds, that might be every four to six hours, while on minor worlds that might be once a day, or even as infrequently as once a week on backwaters) to an IMS courier DropShip.
The DropShips would then mount a waiting JumpShip and travel to a neighboring star system, where they would transmit their messages either to the world (for traffic bound there) or to one or more waiting ships (for messages with further destinations). A veritable galaxy of DropShips is required in each nation to move these messages across the stars, as well as a series of commercial JumpShips that form command circuits throughout each nation (it is in part the cost of maintaining this massive fleet that has WarShip fleets so relatively small). In most realms, the same DropShips carry both civilian and military correspondence, though each also can call upon a fleet of military and government vessels to carry high priority traffic and diplomatic packages.
Given that each message sent has to travel from system to system by JumpShip, it takes ponderously long times for an average citizen's mail to travel between the stars. It isn't unheard of for a message to take six months or more to move from one side of the Inner Sphere to the other. Even priority official correspondence from the First Lord to each of his Star Lords can take days (and messages to the fronts upward of a week or more).
With communication between a nation's capital and its outlying worlds taking so long, each national leader is forced to rely heavily upon the judgment of his subordinates to make the right decisions and to interpret his or her policies without having to continually ask for clarifications. Governors, generals, and admirals alike wield much greater power during this era simply because their leaders could not micromanage them. But at the same time, those same governors and generals need to tread carefully, knowing that support might take weeks or months to reach them.
These factors reinforce the reason for having your doctrines in order as turns within the game shall be Six Months each turn. Fighting on any given planet can take anywhere from several weeks to months and possibly even years so be prepared for drawn-out campaigns but I want to make sure the game moves forward at a reasonable pace. Also during the course of the game and during the update, I might do what I call "Quick Time Events" which could just be some simple questions or could be a drawn-out process that allows you more freedom dictating actions of our assaults or defenses.
Maps & Exploration:
Below are two maps for you to use to plan your actions and orientate yourselves and shall be updated with any advances that might take place within the course of the game. However, there are still many unknown planets located within and outside Taurian Space, therefore each turn I shall allow you to send out exploration teams, which MOST be done by a JumpShip or above, the more you send the better your chances of finding a new world. If a new world is found stable enough you have the option to shift military forces there along with setting up new industry if you so desire. For the latter, if you wish to go this route you will have to subtract some of your production from your current value and send it on ships to the new location, using ships [Which I will tell you how many will be needed to move said production] and will take two turns to move and set up before producing again. This takes time but it could allow for you to continue the fight long after your main industrial planets fall.
General Rules:
First and foremost have fun! Remember it is a game at all times and just enjoy yourselves.
If you have any questions, please please ask me about them, I am always open to questions and will do my best to give an answer. I would rather you ask 50 questions and know the answer than not asking and thus something gets missed and we have an issue.
Claims: See Character Section!
Discord Convo/Orders: We are using Discord, but I want to make it clear that while planning can happen and I encourage it, all plans and actions MUST in the Google Doc provided to be official.
Metagaming will not be tolerated nor will players that act disrespectful to others. I reserve the right to kick a player if needed.
Biography:
Born to Taurian Nobility deeply entwined with the military, there was no other place in the Concordant than the Defence Force. Graduating VMI in the mid 2040s, he declined a prestigious position in the Taurian Guards to take command in the Conventional Military, he rose to Command of the Third Corps through his aggressive strategies, a brutal charisma, and sheer unrelenting patriotism - even by Taurian Standards.
Saul Midas Tavros is a competent but not overly shining mech Pilot. With his Emperor Assault Mech, he has the ability to beat off the majority of enemy 'mechs through sheer firepower alone, but against a dedicated and decorated Mechwarrior with the kit to take on the venerable Emperor he may struggle. His real strength lies in a very aggressive and innovative battle orientation as well as a strange charisma to keep his men in the fight for those strategies. An Ultranationalist at heart, Saul would rather die than surrender, and he seems capable of inspiring such feats in his men. Not that Taurains wouldn't do so otherwise - to prevent the enchroachment of the Innersphere is the highest cause of a Taurian Citizen, and their children will honor them for eternity for each and every sacrifice.
"Santiago was an accident brought about through high emotional stress and lack of self control. If it was done with orders, we wouldn't have left survivors." -Attributed when asked regarding the "Santiago Massacre"
Name: Jan Gustafsson
Age: 46
Sex: Male
Loyalties: Star League/Draconis Combine
Homeworld: Rasalhague
Command: Star League Fourth Corps (3 Divisions)
Preferred Mech/Flagship: WHM-6Rk Warhammer
Biography: Jan swore his life to the Dragon and it's commands. From the ranks of the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery, he showed aptitude enough to be permitted participation in their mechwarrior program, in which he preformed above the expectations of his peers. Excelling at the duties assigned to him with an almost fanatical zeal, Gustafsson participated in the battles that took place almost constantly on the borders of Draconis space, fighting skirmishes with the Lyrans, Federated Suns and various pirates and would be warlords that occasional emerged from the more isolated regions of the Inner Sphere. Though a loyal, skilled and dedicated warrior, transferring those skills to a relentless and agressive commander with a keen tactical eye, Gustafsson proved too blunt for the intrigues and social battles that took place within the court of the Coordinator in the waning of the Age of War, but too useful to be simply sent to use the gardens to prevent embarrassment.
Instead in 2571, Ian Cameron found himself "gifted" the usage of the samurai by Hehiro Kurita, a symbol of his willingness to comply with both the reduction of his substantially large military and the offering of a veteran commander for the fledgling SLDF. If it so happened that one of Cameron's commanders would ever be a loyal proponent for the Combine within the upper ranks of the SLDF command, so much the better.
Name: Korric Horn
Age: 55
Sex: Male
Loyalties: Star League
Homeworld: Terra
Command: 6th League Corp
Mech: Thunderbolt TDR-5S (Brawler) (2505)
Biography: Korric Horn was born into a Naval Officer family and from a young age had been groomed to command a navy vessel. But when it came down to it Korric decided to go onto the Army. Korric would earn himself a reputation for being a competent and reliable officer who would lead from the front and would gain a preference for the Venerable Thunderbolt BattleMech. Going on to personally pilot a modified Thunderbolt even as a senior officer. Often taking to the field to personally lead assaults on vital objectives. An action that has lead to admiration by his Enlisted men and worry and even disrespect from some of his lower officers. But Korric cares little for their opinions and continues on as he always has. Now he is anxious for the chance to cut the teeth of the 6th League Corp on Taurian Mechs and Infantry.
" The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."-Thomas Jefferson
Name: Marshal Jackson Sharpe
Age:48
Sex: Male
Loyalties: Taurian Concordant
Home World: Samantha
Command: Taurian Sixth Corps "Lucky Rollers"
Preferred Mech: TDR-5S Thunderbolt
Biography: A long time veteran of the Taurian Defense Force Jackson Sharpe grew up on Samantha and joined the TDF as soon as he was old enough. His favorite subject was History and he well learned the lessons of what happened when men bowed to the whims of Tyrants and Despots. He has sworn to defend the Concordant and its freedom from all who would seek to conquer and defile it in their greed.
Marshal Sharpe is in Command of the VIth Taurian Corps. The youngest of the Corp and used as a "catch-all" Formation mostly used as Border patrol and Colonial outpost defense. As such the VIth is the most wide spread of the Corp with each Officer expected to show initiative and improvisation skills to adapt to the realities of Interstellar War.
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Name: Marshal Shawn Thule (Discord Name: Spacedog)
Age: 42
Sex: Male
Loyalties: Taurian Concordat
Homeworld: Midale
Command: Taurian 2nd Corps "The Charging Bulls"
Preferred Mech: Warhammer-6R, the Mech chassis which he worked on in College
Biography:
Shawn Thule was born in an indistrial region on Midale. Fascinated with the workings of most military machinery, and specifically Battlemech Myomer, he set out to become an engineer. His college degree for Myomer Development& Application in hand a few years later, Shawn was planning on a career in a civilian corporation.
However, when he received news of his Brother Michael dying in service of the Concordat during one of the many border skirmishes with Raiders from the Inner Worlds, just two short years after his father had met the same fate, Shawn was gripped by a deep seated hatred for the "Inners". He therefore joined the TDF, earned a commission and made a stellar career, driven onwards to ever greater deeds by his determination.
During his service as XO in the 2nd "Charging Bulls", the CO fell sick, quite possibly terminally so, leaving Thule as Acting Marshal of the Corps at the start of the Reunification Wars.
His personal Mech is a Warhammer 6R, which he considers to be a perfect combination of firepower, mobility and endurance for the tasks of a marshal in the field. Additionally, he is intimately familiar with the workings of this specific chassis, since he spent most of his college degree working on a WHR-6R.
Marshal Thule is known for seizing the initiative on the battlefield, trying to avoid static slugging matches and instead using maneuvering and cunning ambushes to drain the enemy of resources. He prefers to employ "Bait and Hunter"-techniques, setting elaborate traps for enemy forces before withdrawing back into the familiar terrain of Taurian worlds.
Name: Tami Callagan
Age: 49
Sex: Female
Loyalties: Taurian Concordat
Homeworld: Sartu
Command: Army - Taurian Fith Corps
Preferred Mech/Flagship: ARC-2R Archer
Biography: Born into a frankly second rate military family near the coast of one Sartu's continents, Tami Callagan intended to follow in her fathers footsteps and enter the Taruaian military pipeline. Joining the military as soon as she was able, she proved herself a generally competent soldier in training, if not notably so. Reviews by her superiors evaluated her as a reserved mechwarrior driven by patriotism and a desire to advance her family's fortunes. Her service record continued to bear this out over the course of her career, with her maintaining a steady climb up the ranks until reaching the rank of Marshal 2 years before the start of the current conflict. Now, she prepares her corps to hold off an invader that she believes through confidence and competence, can be defeated.
Preferred Flagship: The Winchester-class Cruiser TCS Electra
Biography: Connor grew up in the world of Electra, one of the three major colonies in the Pleiades Cluster. His parents were the heirs of a proud tradition of explorers and colony founders. Unfortunately, they lost all this in a series of failures and exited the industry altogether. By the time Connor was old enough to comprehend things, his family had only a fishing concern. Connor spent his youth either in school or on the long trips required to harvest Electra's seafood.
This upbringing resulted in Connor suffering from agoraphobia. But time spent in deep-ocean fishing submersibles also gave him a hands-on lesson not only in command but in three-dimensional movement and combat. His understanding of these things helped him ace the entrance exams to the naval academy. He graduated near the top and would've been valedictorian if it weren't for his long list of infractions.
In the Inner Sphere, Connor's continual discipline problems would've ended his career. Or worse, his life. But in a society that prizes freedom, Connor climbed the ranks because of his undeniable skill. Superiors came to understand that his disciplinary problems never interfered with his orders. Nor with his ability to achieve results nobody else could. Now aged 37, Admiral Carpenter is the newest Admiral, in command of the Fourth Fleet.
![BattleTech: The Reunification War - The Taurian Concordat Campaign [Open]](/data/threadmark-index-icons/l/57/57574.jpg?1627690017){kind=icon}
