Touring the Stars with Bertram Habeas
stars, touching worlds as far from our home as Clan space, more than two thousand
push outward and onward? I’m Bertram Habeas, and tonight, we’ll find the
answers to these and many other fascinating questions together, as we tour the stars!
Volume I: Rise of the Dragon – the Beginnings of the Draconis Combine
The Draconis Combine was officially “born� in 2319 after a long, brutal military
campaign by its founder, Lord Shiro Kurita, First Citizen of New Samarkand and
Director of the Galedon Alliance. The founder of the Kurita dynasty, however, did
more than single-handedly establish an empire. He also imparted his will and his beliefs
onto this new realm, a spirit that lives on even now, eight centuries later. More than
any other nation, the Draconis Combine reflects the culture and personality of its
Coordinator and ruling family, House Kurita; but where did it all begin? How did a man
born to a fractured world of city-states rise to create a nation today known at once for
boundless beauty and harsh determination?
The rise of House Kurita and the creation of the Draconis Combine can actually be
traced all the way back to the 2236 Outer Reaches Rebellion against the Terran
Alliance, long before Shiro Kurita’s birth in 2270. The two-year Rebellion ended
with the collapse of the Alliance government and the near-total isolation of its former
colonies. All cohesion between the far-flung worlds of the Inner Sphere shattered, as
every world suddenly found itself unsupported and left to its own devices. Filling the
void and maintaining a semblance of trade were numerous mercantile alliances. The
most powerful of these in the Galedon region was the Ozawa Mercantile Association,
a loose – but pervasive – trading coalition united under the Ozawa family of Terraâ
€™s Japan. The OMA enjoyed unrivaled dominion in the “northeastâ€� quadrant
of human-occupied space, controlling all trade among the struggling colonies.
Motivated purely by profit, though certainly unafraid to use their influence to extract
favors from local governments, the Association focused less on consolidating control
and more on expanding their influence and stifling competition. The excessive
arrogance of the Association’s merchants, however, and the flouting of their
wealth in the faces of those who barely managed to eke out an existence, led to
widespread bitterness among the peoples and governments of the region. Into this age
of simmering resentment came Shiro Kurita.
Shiro Kurita may well have been an extraordinary individual, but like every such
person, he was also a product of his environment. His father, Yamaro Kurita, was a
prominent statesman in Yamashiro, one of New Samarkand’s biggest city-states.
He was also a strict disciplinarian, a follower of 17th century samurai traditions,
which were en vogue on New Samarkand at the time.
Now, factoring in the post-Rebellion state of the Inner Sphere at the time, which was
pretty much like Terra’s Soviet Union, Shiro and his brother Urizen are growing
up in an age of chaos. Their world is divided, and the Ozawas, who had built up a
trading empire, are everywhere, rubbing the natives’ noses in their affluence. It
was even more personal for the Kuritas, however, who crossed paths with the Ozawas
as far back as the second Terran World War. The Kuritas believed their family honor
was stained by the Ozawas in that conflict, when Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa’s fleet
was destroyed at the battle of Leyte Gulf, leaving Admiral Takeo Kurita unsupported
and forced to retreat in the face of an American task force.
Shiro Kurita, raised – and dare I say indoctrinated – by his father to revere his
family’s martial history, took all this to heart. He actually felt it, and that’s
what gave him the drive to do what followed.
--Dr. Lorenzo Torres, Professor of History, University of Thorin
Shiro Kurita took an active interest in politics as he grew, following in his father’s
footsteps and far exceeding the elder Kurita with his relentless drive to unify the planet
under his rule. He and his brother Urizen embarked on a campaign of diplomacy,
blackmail, and even assassination. By 2296, at only 26 years of age, Shiro realized his
goal, crowning himself first citizen of New Samarkand. This conquest would not,
however, be enough. The Ozawas, after all, were a power to be reckoned with
throughout the quadrant. Tackling the Association, however, was beyond the means
of a single planet. Shiro Kurita wanted – needed – more.
Galedon V was a logical next step for Shiro Kurita in many ways. First, the planet
offered a heavy industrial base, a definite plus given the relatively resource-poor
world of New Samarkand. It was also nearby, and its population also chafed under
the perceived domination of the Ozawa clan. Wealth, productivity, and resentment
were all tools Shiro needed to expand his influence and ultimately oppose the OMA
directly. Playing to the collective ego of the Galedonians, he named his proposed
coventure the Alliance of Galedon, and “humblyâ€� offered to assume the â
€œdutyâ€� of administering the technological and military resources of both worlds
to oppose the Ozawas. Ever the eloquent speaker, it wasn’t long before Shiro had
the Galedonians eating out of his hands, and they signed onto his new alliance,
allowing him to use their resources and gather manpower. Already eyeing his next
conquests, Shiro went right to work raising an army – on New Samarkand.
--Doctor Lorenzo Torres
In 2302, the Alliance of Galedon became a reality. Soon thereafter, other worlds began
to join at almost breakneck pace, swayed by Kurita’s oratory gift and their own
bias against the Ozawa clan. When the alarmed Ozawas raised their rates to Alliance
worlds, the tide turned firmly in Kurita’s favor. Though the Ozawas attempted to
rally, Shiro Kurita’s agents dealt the Association a death blow in late 2303,
firebombing every known office within the Alliance – a violent reaction that has
become a hallmark of Kurita leadership. Less than a month later, Shiro Kurita launched
his next step in building an empire with history’s first interplanetary assault. His
target: the neutral world of Sverdlovsk.
If anything, Shiro Kurita was a man of action, not words. The OMA’s
metaphorical body was barely cold when he took the army raised under the blessings
of the Galedon Alliance and began invading his neighbors. Like many worlds of that
era, Sverlovsk was fragmented, and could not muster an organized response to Shiroâ
€™s well-trained army. The action also served as a warning to the rest of the Alliance
to stay in line – a message that came through loud and clear that he could do the
same to others what he had to Sverdlovsk.
--Dr. Lanie Dresdenova, Professor of Military History, University of New Earth
Over the following decades, Shiro Kurita would combine his golden oratory, iron will,
and the threat of military force and its occasional use to absorbing those worlds
around him or binding them to his Alliance. Though some protested, they quickly felt
his military might, and were brought to heel. By 2319, the collection of worlds sworn
to Kurita’s rule spanned almost from Terra to the Draconis Rift, and up to New
Samarkand. Declaring this new empire the Draconis Combine, and assuming as its
standard the symbol of the dragon, Shiro proclaimed himself Coordinator, establishing
at once the title, the state, and its ruling dynasty. The following decades would see the
expansion of the Combine until it met the borders of House Davion’s Federated
Suns, the Terran Hegemony, the Lyran Commonwealth, and the Principality of
Rasalhague. The Dragon had truly risen.
When Shiro died in 2348, he left behind a legacy that endures even today, an empire of
more than 60 star systems, tens of millions of citizens strong. More than that, he
forged a society, and through his daughter, Omi Kurita, even established the code of
conduct – the Dictum Honorarium – which still pervades Combine society.
Though successive generations might be credited for the Combine’s wholehearted
adoption of the ways of the samurai, Shiro Kurita, the first shogun of the modern era,
cannot be overlooked. Above all this, he established the Way of the Dragon, the
immortal spirit of strength and power that cannot be separated from the nation. In his
own words to his son, Tenno:
I have chosen the dragon as our standard and our symbol, reflecting many facets of
our existence. We must never forget the ancient Terran heritage of our line, with its
samurai greatness. I remind you, too, that in many mythologies, the dragon is feared
and respected for its strength, cunning, and willingness to destroy for the sake of its
own power. Always keep the virtues of the dragon in mind, and use them to defeat
your opponents.
Always preserve the dragon, and its magic will keep you strong.
-- Shiro Kurita to his son, Tenno, 2319
Join us next week, friends, as the saga of the Dragon continues into the glory days of
the Star League. I’m Bertram Habeas.
push outward and onward? I’m Bertram Habeas, and tonight, we’ll find the
answers to these and many other fascinating questions together, as we tour the stars!
Volume I: Rise of the Dragon – the Beginnings of the Draconis Combine
The Draconis Combine was officially “born� in 2319 after a long, brutal military
campaign by its founder, Lord Shiro Kurita, First Citizen of New Samarkand and
Director of the Galedon Alliance. The founder of the Kurita dynasty, however, did
more than single-handedly establish an empire. He also imparted his will and his beliefs
onto this new realm, a spirit that lives on even now, eight centuries later. More than
any other nation, the Draconis Combine reflects the culture and personality of its
Coordinator and ruling family, House Kurita; but where did it all begin? How did a man
born to a fractured world of city-states rise to create a nation today known at once for
boundless beauty and harsh determination?
The rise of House Kurita and the creation of the Draconis Combine can actually be
traced all the way back to the 2236 Outer Reaches Rebellion against the Terran
Alliance, long before Shiro Kurita’s birth in 2270. The two-year Rebellion ended
with the collapse of the Alliance government and the near-total isolation of its former
colonies. All cohesion between the far-flung worlds of the Inner Sphere shattered, as
every world suddenly found itself unsupported and left to its own devices. Filling the
void and maintaining a semblance of trade were numerous mercantile alliances. The
most powerful of these in the Galedon region was the Ozawa Mercantile Association,
a loose – but pervasive – trading coalition united under the Ozawa family of Terraâ
€™s Japan. The OMA enjoyed unrivaled dominion in the “northeastâ€� quadrant
of human-occupied space, controlling all trade among the struggling colonies.
Motivated purely by profit, though certainly unafraid to use their influence to extract
favors from local governments, the Association focused less on consolidating control
and more on expanding their influence and stifling competition. The excessive
arrogance of the Association’s merchants, however, and the flouting of their
wealth in the faces of those who barely managed to eke out an existence, led to
widespread bitterness among the peoples and governments of the region. Into this age
of simmering resentment came Shiro Kurita.
Shiro Kurita may well have been an extraordinary individual, but like every such
person, he was also a product of his environment. His father, Yamaro Kurita, was a
prominent statesman in Yamashiro, one of New Samarkand’s biggest city-states.
He was also a strict disciplinarian, a follower of 17th century samurai traditions,
which were en vogue on New Samarkand at the time.
Now, factoring in the post-Rebellion state of the Inner Sphere at the time, which was
pretty much like Terra’s Soviet Union, Shiro and his brother Urizen are growing
up in an age of chaos. Their world is divided, and the Ozawas, who had built up a
trading empire, are everywhere, rubbing the natives’ noses in their affluence. It
was even more personal for the Kuritas, however, who crossed paths with the Ozawas
as far back as the second Terran World War. The Kuritas believed their family honor
was stained by the Ozawas in that conflict, when Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa’s fleet
was destroyed at the battle of Leyte Gulf, leaving Admiral Takeo Kurita unsupported
and forced to retreat in the face of an American task force.
Shiro Kurita, raised – and dare I say indoctrinated – by his father to revere his
family’s martial history, took all this to heart. He actually felt it, and that’s
what gave him the drive to do what followed.
--Dr. Lorenzo Torres, Professor of History, University of Thorin
Shiro Kurita took an active interest in politics as he grew, following in his father’s
footsteps and far exceeding the elder Kurita with his relentless drive to unify the planet
under his rule. He and his brother Urizen embarked on a campaign of diplomacy,
blackmail, and even assassination. By 2296, at only 26 years of age, Shiro realized his
goal, crowning himself first citizen of New Samarkand. This conquest would not,
however, be enough. The Ozawas, after all, were a power to be reckoned with
throughout the quadrant. Tackling the Association, however, was beyond the means
of a single planet. Shiro Kurita wanted – needed – more.
Galedon V was a logical next step for Shiro Kurita in many ways. First, the planet
offered a heavy industrial base, a definite plus given the relatively resource-poor
world of New Samarkand. It was also nearby, and its population also chafed under
the perceived domination of the Ozawa clan. Wealth, productivity, and resentment
were all tools Shiro needed to expand his influence and ultimately oppose the OMA
directly. Playing to the collective ego of the Galedonians, he named his proposed
coventure the Alliance of Galedon, and “humblyâ€� offered to assume the â
€œdutyâ€� of administering the technological and military resources of both worlds
to oppose the Ozawas. Ever the eloquent speaker, it wasn’t long before Shiro had
the Galedonians eating out of his hands, and they signed onto his new alliance,
allowing him to use their resources and gather manpower. Already eyeing his next
conquests, Shiro went right to work raising an army – on New Samarkand.
--Doctor Lorenzo Torres
In 2302, the Alliance of Galedon became a reality. Soon thereafter, other worlds began
to join at almost breakneck pace, swayed by Kurita’s oratory gift and their own
bias against the Ozawa clan. When the alarmed Ozawas raised their rates to Alliance
worlds, the tide turned firmly in Kurita’s favor. Though the Ozawas attempted to
rally, Shiro Kurita’s agents dealt the Association a death blow in late 2303,
firebombing every known office within the Alliance – a violent reaction that has
become a hallmark of Kurita leadership. Less than a month later, Shiro Kurita launched
his next step in building an empire with history’s first interplanetary assault. His
target: the neutral world of Sverdlovsk.
If anything, Shiro Kurita was a man of action, not words. The OMA’s
metaphorical body was barely cold when he took the army raised under the blessings
of the Galedon Alliance and began invading his neighbors. Like many worlds of that
era, Sverlovsk was fragmented, and could not muster an organized response to Shiroâ
€™s well-trained army. The action also served as a warning to the rest of the Alliance
to stay in line – a message that came through loud and clear that he could do the
same to others what he had to Sverdlovsk.
--Dr. Lanie Dresdenova, Professor of Military History, University of New Earth
Over the following decades, Shiro Kurita would combine his golden oratory, iron will,
and the threat of military force and its occasional use to absorbing those worlds
around him or binding them to his Alliance. Though some protested, they quickly felt
his military might, and were brought to heel. By 2319, the collection of worlds sworn
to Kurita’s rule spanned almost from Terra to the Draconis Rift, and up to New
Samarkand. Declaring this new empire the Draconis Combine, and assuming as its
standard the symbol of the dragon, Shiro proclaimed himself Coordinator, establishing
at once the title, the state, and its ruling dynasty. The following decades would see the
expansion of the Combine until it met the borders of House Davion’s Federated
Suns, the Terran Hegemony, the Lyran Commonwealth, and the Principality of
Rasalhague. The Dragon had truly risen.
When Shiro died in 2348, he left behind a legacy that endures even today, an empire of
more than 60 star systems, tens of millions of citizens strong. More than that, he
forged a society, and through his daughter, Omi Kurita, even established the code of
conduct – the Dictum Honorarium – which still pervades Combine society.
Though successive generations might be credited for the Combine’s wholehearted
adoption of the ways of the samurai, Shiro Kurita, the first shogun of the modern era,
cannot be overlooked. Above all this, he established the Way of the Dragon, the
immortal spirit of strength and power that cannot be separated from the nation. In his
own words to his son, Tenno:
I have chosen the dragon as our standard and our symbol, reflecting many facets of
our existence. We must never forget the ancient Terran heritage of our line, with its
samurai greatness. I remind you, too, that in many mythologies, the dragon is feared
and respected for its strength, cunning, and willingness to destroy for the sake of its
own power. Always keep the virtues of the dragon in mind, and use them to defeat
your opponents.
Always preserve the dragon, and its magic will keep you strong.
-- Shiro Kurita to his son, Tenno, 2319
Join us next week, friends, as the saga of the Dragon continues into the glory days of
the Star League. I’m Bertram Habeas.
