We began on Terra, millions of years ago. Today, mankind stretches out among the
stars of the Milky Way, touching thousands of worlds, as far from our home as Clan
space, more than 2,000 light-years distant. Yet who are we, really? What have we
become in our relentless push outward and onward? I’m Bertram Habeas, and tonight,
let’s find the answers to these and many other fascinating questions together, as we
tour the stars!
Volume LI: Light and Darkness—ComStar’s Triumph and Tragedy
For good or for ill, ComStar remained the sole keeper of interstellar communications
for the Inner Sphere and Periphery through the three centuries that followed the
collapse of the Star League. Founded on the principles of Jerome Blake, and given a
spiritual bent by successors such as Conrad Toyama and Primus Raymond Karpov,
the Order grew increasingly mystical and secretive. Its influence in international affairs
was both subtle and extreme, depending on the needs of the moment, and yet it
retained the veneer of neutrality and peaceful intent as the guiding light for all of
mankind—until the Clans appeared in 3048.
One of the greatest ironies of the Clan invasion, perhaps, is the very event that
supposedly triggered it. Although the Clans had already spent perhaps a century
debating the matter of whether or not to invade and conquer the worlds Kerensky left
behind, the Warden faction—advocating a protectionist hands-off policy toward the
Inner Sphere—had managed to keep the pro-invasion Crusaders at bay. Societal
pressures might have eventually forced the issue anyway, but it was the arrival of a
ComStar Explorer Corps JumpShip in Clan space that lit the proverbial fuse.
Citing that the Inner Sphere had now found a way to the home worlds, the Crusaders
gained enough momentum through fear and paranoia to win a majority; the invasion
became a measure of self-defense against the inevitable arrival of barbarian hordes
from the Inner Sphere.
But what truly made the event ironic was that ComStar’s explorer corps was created
specifically because a past Primus, Adrienne Sims, had a vision of invading monsters
from beyond the Periphery. That Sims’ dream-inspired creation of an arm of ComStar
to explore the depths of space actually brought about the very holocaust she sought to
avoid has at once affirmed and damned the Order’s mystic practices in the eyes of
many historians.
—Rene Alosano, Broken Promises: The Legacy of the Jihad, Republic Press, 3127
As it happened, the Clan invasion began during the Primacy of Myndo Waterly, a
devout follower of the Word of Blake as interpreted by Conrad Toyama. Fully
dedicated to the prophesied time when mankind would turn to ComStar to be lifted
from the ashes, she saw the Clans as the force that would bring about the much-
anticipated Armageddon. Playing a dangerous political game, Waterly advocated
ComStar’s alliance with the invaders, under the guise of ComStar neutrality, offering
the warlike Clans her Order’s services in administering their captured worlds while
they continued to advance. Though this decision did not sit well with all members of
the First Circuit, ComStar did in fact facilitate the invaders for the opening years of
the invasion.
Until, of course, it became clear the Clans were after Terra itself.
What followed was one of the most epic BattleMech clashes ever fought on a single
world at one time. Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht, leader of the long-hidden
ComStar Guards (shortened to Com Guards) challenged the invaders to a proxy battle
for control of Terra on the Rasalhaguian world of Tukayyid. An elite-grade military
commander—though many historians have speculated on where Focht received such
training and expertise in an armed force that had not seen the light of day in
centuries—he studied the Clans at length, and squared his forces off against those of
all seven invading Clans in a grueling twenty-one-day war, with the fate of mankind in
the balance.
The battle of Tukayyid was an unqualified success for the Inner Sphere, but even as
Focht and his warriors battled the invaders, Waterly launched an attack of her own—
against all of the Inner Sphere. Attempting to bring the Inner Sphere and the Clans to
their knees in one fell swoop, Waterly ordered all HPGs throughout the Inner Sphere
to shut down, a command only a small portion followed. Warned in advance, many
Inner Sphere powers managed to secure numerous HPGs to keep the communications
lines open, minimizing the damage done in Waterly’s ill-fated Operation Scorpion. All
at once, ComStar had become both humanity’s saviors and its greatest betrayers. The
event also triggered the Schism, and created the Word of Blake as an actual faction.
The story goes that Precentor Martial Focht and Waterly’s own protégé, Precentor
Dieron Sharilar Mori, staged a coup within ComStar immediately upon Focht’s return
from Tukayyid, removing Waterly and immediately announcing the Order would begin
shedding its mystical trappings and trying to help the Inner Sphere. In Mori and Focht’
s minds, the Inner Sphere needed a unifying force willing to help stand up to the
Clans, and they were determined to do so as partners, rather than as manipulators.
The plans, of course, were far too progressive for most. Centuries of ingrained
training and dogma could not change overnight, after all.
Over the next few years, over half of ComStar defected, joining other hard-liners,
such as Precentor Blaine of Gibson, and First Circuit members, such as Precentor
Demona Aziz, in self-imposed exile within the Free Worlds League. Proclaiming Marik
their Primus-in-Exile, the Word of Blake, a collection of various ComStar sects united
in their belief that the old mystical ways of ComStar presented the true vision of
Jerome Blake, would eventually rise again; first by reclaiming Terra in 3058, and later
by launching the most horrendous war in human history....
—Rene Alosano, Broken Promises: The Legacy of the Jihad, Republic Press, 3127
Indeed, the saga of the Word of Blake/ComStar Schism, initially regarded as an
internal affair by most of the Inner Sphere, would become the most fateful
development of the Clan Invasion. The majority of ComStar’s ROM intelligence
service defected with the other hard-liners of the Order, along with close to half the
Com Guards, many of whom felt betrayed by Focht for so quickly embracing
secularity after their hard-fought victory in the name of the divine Blake on Tukayyid.
Despite this, ComStar insisted on regarding the Clans as the true threat, and helped
broker the formation of the new Star League in order to counter that threat in the late
3050s. Even the loss of Terra, regarded as merely a symbolic prize by this point, did
not seem to concern ComStar, which had made a home of its headquarters on
Tukayyid, overmuch. As a result, the rest of the Inner Sphere also seemed oblivious to
the danger.
Then came the fateful November day in 3067 when the assembled leaders of the Inner
Sphere finally acknowledged that the new Star League was little more than a means to
an end already realized. With the various House Lords too tied up in internal affairs
spawned by the last two decades of near-constant conflict, the Star League dissolved,
incidentally destroying a prophecy that all of the Word of Blake had lain in wait to see
revealed. . . .
Exactly what the “prophecy” was that the Word of Blake’s “master” hoped to see
revealed is a matter of much debate, especially since almost all of the Word’s top-
secret records and journals of this mysterious shadow leader vanished in the nuclear
fires on Gibson and Circinus. What is largely believed is that, with the “third peaceful
transfer of power” (a reference to the Fourth Whiting Conference on Tharkad, where
a new Star Lord was to be chosen), the Word of Blake was set to become a fully
active member of the new Star League.
Lying in wait in several key systems, ready to demonstrate its ability and willingness to
uphold the Star League as guardian of all its members, the Word was hoping to be
hailed as a savior, easily on par with its estranged kin in ComStar. In some cases, a
much more aggressive stance was assumed and plans for military actions were even
laid—as on Outreach, where the Wolf’s Dragoons had long maintained an anti-Word
military campaign, and were thus deemed a real threat—but all evidence suggests the
Word merely intended its emergence from the shadows of space over all Inner Sphere
capitals as a celebration of it—and the Star League’s—greatness.
Instead, the League had fallen into disarray. Its moment had been lost, stolen by petty
House Lords who could not comprehend the effort and the dedication that had gone
into this very moment. What came next was a tantrum on a scale the human race had
never known....
—Vladimir Toolippi, Enlightening the Dark Age: A ComStar History, New Avalon
Press, 3125
And so, with a wave of WarShips, nuclear weapons, biochemical attacks, and raging
hordes of BattleMechs, the Word of Blake, deprived of an ultimate glory promised
them during their long years in self-imposed exile, fueled by over three centuries of
pent-up anticipation for a collapse of humanity that Blake had prophesied, yet which
had never come, began a holy war against the universe. Trillions would die, planets
would be shattered, and entire nations would collapse into anarchy before the flames
of the Jihad finally burned themselves out, leaving behind an Inner Sphere forever
changed.
Join us next week for our final look at ComStar today, after the horrors of the Jihad
that nearly destroyed the keepers of interstellar communications, as we continue our
tour of the stars! I’m Bertram Habeas.
stars of the Milky Way, touching thousands of worlds, as far from our home as Clan
space, more than 2,000 light-years distant. Yet who are we, really? What have we
become in our relentless push outward and onward? I’m Bertram Habeas, and tonight,
let’s find the answers to these and many other fascinating questions together, as we
tour the stars!
Volume LI: Light and Darkness—ComStar’s Triumph and Tragedy
For good or for ill, ComStar remained the sole keeper of interstellar communications
for the Inner Sphere and Periphery through the three centuries that followed the
collapse of the Star League. Founded on the principles of Jerome Blake, and given a
spiritual bent by successors such as Conrad Toyama and Primus Raymond Karpov,
the Order grew increasingly mystical and secretive. Its influence in international affairs
was both subtle and extreme, depending on the needs of the moment, and yet it
retained the veneer of neutrality and peaceful intent as the guiding light for all of
mankind—until the Clans appeared in 3048.
One of the greatest ironies of the Clan invasion, perhaps, is the very event that
supposedly triggered it. Although the Clans had already spent perhaps a century
debating the matter of whether or not to invade and conquer the worlds Kerensky left
behind, the Warden faction—advocating a protectionist hands-off policy toward the
Inner Sphere—had managed to keep the pro-invasion Crusaders at bay. Societal
pressures might have eventually forced the issue anyway, but it was the arrival of a
ComStar Explorer Corps JumpShip in Clan space that lit the proverbial fuse.
Citing that the Inner Sphere had now found a way to the home worlds, the Crusaders
gained enough momentum through fear and paranoia to win a majority; the invasion
became a measure of self-defense against the inevitable arrival of barbarian hordes
from the Inner Sphere.
But what truly made the event ironic was that ComStar’s explorer corps was created
specifically because a past Primus, Adrienne Sims, had a vision of invading monsters
from beyond the Periphery. That Sims’ dream-inspired creation of an arm of ComStar
to explore the depths of space actually brought about the very holocaust she sought to
avoid has at once affirmed and damned the Order’s mystic practices in the eyes of
many historians.
—Rene Alosano, Broken Promises: The Legacy of the Jihad, Republic Press, 3127
As it happened, the Clan invasion began during the Primacy of Myndo Waterly, a
devout follower of the Word of Blake as interpreted by Conrad Toyama. Fully
dedicated to the prophesied time when mankind would turn to ComStar to be lifted
from the ashes, she saw the Clans as the force that would bring about the much-
anticipated Armageddon. Playing a dangerous political game, Waterly advocated
ComStar’s alliance with the invaders, under the guise of ComStar neutrality, offering
the warlike Clans her Order’s services in administering their captured worlds while
they continued to advance. Though this decision did not sit well with all members of
the First Circuit, ComStar did in fact facilitate the invaders for the opening years of
the invasion.
Until, of course, it became clear the Clans were after Terra itself.
What followed was one of the most epic BattleMech clashes ever fought on a single
world at one time. Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht, leader of the long-hidden
ComStar Guards (shortened to Com Guards) challenged the invaders to a proxy battle
for control of Terra on the Rasalhaguian world of Tukayyid. An elite-grade military
commander—though many historians have speculated on where Focht received such
training and expertise in an armed force that had not seen the light of day in
centuries—he studied the Clans at length, and squared his forces off against those of
all seven invading Clans in a grueling twenty-one-day war, with the fate of mankind in
the balance.
The battle of Tukayyid was an unqualified success for the Inner Sphere, but even as
Focht and his warriors battled the invaders, Waterly launched an attack of her own—
against all of the Inner Sphere. Attempting to bring the Inner Sphere and the Clans to
their knees in one fell swoop, Waterly ordered all HPGs throughout the Inner Sphere
to shut down, a command only a small portion followed. Warned in advance, many
Inner Sphere powers managed to secure numerous HPGs to keep the communications
lines open, minimizing the damage done in Waterly’s ill-fated Operation Scorpion. All
at once, ComStar had become both humanity’s saviors and its greatest betrayers. The
event also triggered the Schism, and created the Word of Blake as an actual faction.
The story goes that Precentor Martial Focht and Waterly’s own protégé, Precentor
Dieron Sharilar Mori, staged a coup within ComStar immediately upon Focht’s return
from Tukayyid, removing Waterly and immediately announcing the Order would begin
shedding its mystical trappings and trying to help the Inner Sphere. In Mori and Focht’
s minds, the Inner Sphere needed a unifying force willing to help stand up to the
Clans, and they were determined to do so as partners, rather than as manipulators.
The plans, of course, were far too progressive for most. Centuries of ingrained
training and dogma could not change overnight, after all.
Over the next few years, over half of ComStar defected, joining other hard-liners,
such as Precentor Blaine of Gibson, and First Circuit members, such as Precentor
Demona Aziz, in self-imposed exile within the Free Worlds League. Proclaiming Marik
their Primus-in-Exile, the Word of Blake, a collection of various ComStar sects united
in their belief that the old mystical ways of ComStar presented the true vision of
Jerome Blake, would eventually rise again; first by reclaiming Terra in 3058, and later
by launching the most horrendous war in human history....
—Rene Alosano, Broken Promises: The Legacy of the Jihad, Republic Press, 3127
Indeed, the saga of the Word of Blake/ComStar Schism, initially regarded as an
internal affair by most of the Inner Sphere, would become the most fateful
development of the Clan Invasion. The majority of ComStar’s ROM intelligence
service defected with the other hard-liners of the Order, along with close to half the
Com Guards, many of whom felt betrayed by Focht for so quickly embracing
secularity after their hard-fought victory in the name of the divine Blake on Tukayyid.
Despite this, ComStar insisted on regarding the Clans as the true threat, and helped
broker the formation of the new Star League in order to counter that threat in the late
3050s. Even the loss of Terra, regarded as merely a symbolic prize by this point, did
not seem to concern ComStar, which had made a home of its headquarters on
Tukayyid, overmuch. As a result, the rest of the Inner Sphere also seemed oblivious to
the danger.
Then came the fateful November day in 3067 when the assembled leaders of the Inner
Sphere finally acknowledged that the new Star League was little more than a means to
an end already realized. With the various House Lords too tied up in internal affairs
spawned by the last two decades of near-constant conflict, the Star League dissolved,
incidentally destroying a prophecy that all of the Word of Blake had lain in wait to see
revealed. . . .
Exactly what the “prophecy” was that the Word of Blake’s “master” hoped to see
revealed is a matter of much debate, especially since almost all of the Word’s top-
secret records and journals of this mysterious shadow leader vanished in the nuclear
fires on Gibson and Circinus. What is largely believed is that, with the “third peaceful
transfer of power” (a reference to the Fourth Whiting Conference on Tharkad, where
a new Star Lord was to be chosen), the Word of Blake was set to become a fully
active member of the new Star League.
Lying in wait in several key systems, ready to demonstrate its ability and willingness to
uphold the Star League as guardian of all its members, the Word was hoping to be
hailed as a savior, easily on par with its estranged kin in ComStar. In some cases, a
much more aggressive stance was assumed and plans for military actions were even
laid—as on Outreach, where the Wolf’s Dragoons had long maintained an anti-Word
military campaign, and were thus deemed a real threat—but all evidence suggests the
Word merely intended its emergence from the shadows of space over all Inner Sphere
capitals as a celebration of it—and the Star League’s—greatness.
Instead, the League had fallen into disarray. Its moment had been lost, stolen by petty
House Lords who could not comprehend the effort and the dedication that had gone
into this very moment. What came next was a tantrum on a scale the human race had
never known....
—Vladimir Toolippi, Enlightening the Dark Age: A ComStar History, New Avalon
Press, 3125
And so, with a wave of WarShips, nuclear weapons, biochemical attacks, and raging
hordes of BattleMechs, the Word of Blake, deprived of an ultimate glory promised
them during their long years in self-imposed exile, fueled by over three centuries of
pent-up anticipation for a collapse of humanity that Blake had prophesied, yet which
had never come, began a holy war against the universe. Trillions would die, planets
would be shattered, and entire nations would collapse into anarchy before the flames
of the Jihad finally burned themselves out, leaving behind an Inner Sphere forever
changed.
Join us next week for our final look at ComStar today, after the horrors of the Jihad
that nearly destroyed the keepers of interstellar communications, as we continue our
tour of the stars! I’m Bertram Habeas.
Touring the Stars with Bertram Habeas
