Touring the Stars with Bertram Habeas
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 XLIV: The Periphery’s Long, Hard Climb from the Abyss
The Star League’s war against the Periphery was actually four smaller wars rolled into
one. In the Rim Worlds Republic, League troops, with House Steiner support, were
actually putting down a rebellion that had usurped a nominally pro-League
government, ruled by House Amaris. In the Taurian Concordat, the war was more a
Davion-led campaign to crush a defiant and well-armed neighbor, one willing even to
resort to the use of weapons of mass destruction and scorched earth to secure its
liberty. In the Magistracy of Canopus, the war’s theme ranged from severe fighting
against an impressively well-equipped army to a rather comical effort to resist the
seductive ways of the nation’s hedonistic culture, and atrocities here were lessened by
House Marik’s leadership and insistence on “a clean fight.” In the Outworlds Alliance,
despite the largely agrarian nature of its people, Kurita-supported League troops
quickly grew frustrated at the determination of the resistance, and resorted to mass
executions in an effort to gain compliance. This served only to drag the war on for
years as the Alliance ranks swelled, rather than diminished. In the end, however, all
four realms were forced to capitulate, with the Alliance surrendering in 2585, the
Magistracy in 2588, and the other two states succumbing to Star League rule in 2596.
By the following year, all four nations were placed under virtual Star League military
rule, branded as Territorial States of the League.
In the century and a half that followed, the Territorial States did eventually come to
recover, with some survivors of the Reunification War coming to realize that maybe—
just maybe—life under the Star League wasn’t so bad after all. But all of that would
come crashing down again in 2751, when First Lord Simon Cameron was killed in a
freak accident on New Silesia. The First Lordship passed to his juvenile son, Richard,
under the regency of General Alexandr Kerensky, and suddenly the five House Lords
were in effective political control of the Star League. They wasted no time in
consolidating their power, and even went so far as to pass taxes on the Territorial
States, placing a heavy financial burden on the conquered lands of the Periphery.
During this time, the young Richard Cameron was seduced by Stefan Amaris, leader
of the Rim Worlds Republic, the only one of the Territorial States that did not openly
complain about the unfair taxes. In the years leading up to his final ascension to the
Throne, Cameron fell more and more under the spell of the charismatic Amaris, and
came to see the other House Lords as jealous rivals. How many of Cameron’s edicts
were really the work of Amaris may never be known but, by the time he was of age to
claim the First Lordship, he had already been convinced that General Kerensky and the
House Lords were all against him, and he had alienated virtually every one of these
leaders. Worse still, a crippling tax levied by the First Lord himself set all Periphery
realms but the Rim Worlds Republic into rebellion, with several Taurian planets among
the first to secede. In response, Cameron mobilized the bulk of the Star League
Defense Force, under Kerensky’s direct command, leaving the Terran Hegemony with
a skeleton garrison, augmented by supposedly loyal House Amaris troops.
What happened next, one fateful December day in 2766, would mark the beginning of
a time so dark for all of mankind that only the Jihad, over three centuries later, could
compare.
Kerensky’s war to liberate the Terran Hegemony began with the effective annihilation
of the Rim Worlds government as he withdrew his forces committed elsewhere to
smash the power base that made Amaris’ coup possible. In the thirteen years that
followed, Kerensky and Amaris turned their energies fully upon one another in a
devastating war of attrition. By the time it was over, the Terran Hegemony was a
collection of charred cinders and hopelessly shattered industries, and the Star League
had effectively died.
In the Periphery, the fall of the League met with mixed feelings; an age of prosperity—
but one that had been forcibly imposed—had come to an end, freeing the surviving
realms to go their own ways. As the Inner Sphere states turned on one another, go
their own ways these realms did, rarely interacting with their counterparts in the Great
Houses (and then only at great cost). Still, freed of the constraints of the Star League,
these nations grew, though at a far slower rate, thanks to the predations of waves of
pirates and occasional infighting between neighboring realms, both ancient and
newborn.
Having started off hobbled by the Star League, the Periphery’s technological level
remained below that of the Inner Sphere throughout the Succession Wars era, though
in some areas these nations excelled even beyond the capabilities of their interior
neighbors. The Magistracy of Canopus, for instance, gained a reputation for medicine
that rivaled—and in some cases, even exceeded—the capabilities of the Great Houses.
The Taurians, meanwhile, boasted a remarkably high literacy rate. The Outworlds
Alliance, eschewing BattleMechs and mercenaries for much of its existence, raised a
highly adept aerospace defense force, completely homegrown and capable of fending
off pirates and Great House raiders alike.
As the thirty-first century dawned, new Periphery states had even begun to form,
many of them from among the bandit lords who had, for generations, preyed on the
borders of the Inner Sphere. The Marian Hegemony, a pirate realm with a government
based loosely on ancient Rome, and the Circinus Federation, a loose coalition of
agrarian worlds ruled by pirates and mercenaries, are perfect examples of these
“bandit kingdoms” that earned a semblance of respectability over time. Others, such
as Morgraine’s Valkyrate, the Confederation of Oberon, and the Tortuga Dominions,
also formed from pirate bands, but remained truer to their origins. Still others, such as
the Fiefdom of Randis, the Niops Association, and the Rim Collection, formed along
more benign lines, creating realms founded on ideals, rather than force of arms,
adding more color to the sociopolitical tapestry of the Periphery.
The trickle-down from the technological renaissance of the mid-thirty-first century
further boosted many of these powers, making the larger, more industrial realms, such
as the Magistracy and the Concordat, true players in the universe. Of course, as the
balance of power would shift in the Inner Sphere, both due to the recovery of lostech
and the political changes caused by the short-lived union of Houses Steiner and
Davion, so too would the realms of the Periphery suffer an upheaval from these new
events. Somewhat surprisingly, it would be the Magistracy of Canopus that would
first bring the nearly forgotten Periphery back into the minds of the denizens of the
interior worlds, in a bold move that would have ramifications for decades to come.
In part three of our special series on the Periphery, our spotlight shines on the
Magistracy of Canopus, one of the Periphery’s most powerful realms, and its trials
through mankind’s darkest hours. Our tour of the stars continues next week. 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 XLIV: The Periphery’s Long, Hard Climb from the Abyss
The Star League’s war against the Periphery was actually four smaller wars rolled into
one. In the Rim Worlds Republic, League troops, with House Steiner support, were
actually putting down a rebellion that had usurped a nominally pro-League
government, ruled by House Amaris. In the Taurian Concordat, the war was more a
Davion-led campaign to crush a defiant and well-armed neighbor, one willing even to
resort to the use of weapons of mass destruction and scorched earth to secure its
liberty. In the Magistracy of Canopus, the war’s theme ranged from severe fighting
against an impressively well-equipped army to a rather comical effort to resist the
seductive ways of the nation’s hedonistic culture, and atrocities here were lessened by
House Marik’s leadership and insistence on “a clean fight.” In the Outworlds Alliance,
despite the largely agrarian nature of its people, Kurita-supported League troops
quickly grew frustrated at the determination of the resistance, and resorted to mass
executions in an effort to gain compliance. This served only to drag the war on for
years as the Alliance ranks swelled, rather than diminished. In the end, however, all
four realms were forced to capitulate, with the Alliance surrendering in 2585, the
Magistracy in 2588, and the other two states succumbing to Star League rule in 2596.
By the following year, all four nations were placed under virtual Star League military
rule, branded as Territorial States of the League.
In the century and a half that followed, the Territorial States did eventually come to
recover, with some survivors of the Reunification War coming to realize that maybe—
just maybe—life under the Star League wasn’t so bad after all. But all of that would
come crashing down again in 2751, when First Lord Simon Cameron was killed in a
freak accident on New Silesia. The First Lordship passed to his juvenile son, Richard,
under the regency of General Alexandr Kerensky, and suddenly the five House Lords
were in effective political control of the Star League. They wasted no time in
consolidating their power, and even went so far as to pass taxes on the Territorial
States, placing a heavy financial burden on the conquered lands of the Periphery.
During this time, the young Richard Cameron was seduced by Stefan Amaris, leader
of the Rim Worlds Republic, the only one of the Territorial States that did not openly
complain about the unfair taxes. In the years leading up to his final ascension to the
Throne, Cameron fell more and more under the spell of the charismatic Amaris, and
came to see the other House Lords as jealous rivals. How many of Cameron’s edicts
were really the work of Amaris may never be known but, by the time he was of age to
claim the First Lordship, he had already been convinced that General Kerensky and the
House Lords were all against him, and he had alienated virtually every one of these
leaders. Worse still, a crippling tax levied by the First Lord himself set all Periphery
realms but the Rim Worlds Republic into rebellion, with several Taurian planets among
the first to secede. In response, Cameron mobilized the bulk of the Star League
Defense Force, under Kerensky’s direct command, leaving the Terran Hegemony with
a skeleton garrison, augmented by supposedly loyal House Amaris troops.
What happened next, one fateful December day in 2766, would mark the beginning of
a time so dark for all of mankind that only the Jihad, over three centuries later, could
compare.
- “General:
I, with my infinite skills and aided by my loyal subjects, have struck, with a
swiftness given only to the righteous, a blow that has corrected decades of
injuries and slights to my family. I rule where the Camerons once called home.
I control the Cradle of Humanity. All within the Hegemony have bowed before
me; those who didn’t are dead. Join me, General Kerensky. Become my sword
arm and help me impress my word and wisdom upon the other realms. I’ve no
reason to hate you; I wish only peace between us. Join me and convince your
men and women to follow you, and I will give you power second only to mine.
But should you dare turn a blind eye to the wisdom of my offer and decide not
to join, then heed my warning: I control everything the Hegemony has. All its
defenses, all of its fortifications, are now manned by people loyal to me. Should
you try to attack, every inch of Hegemony soil will be stained with the blood of
the fallen, and every drop will be a burden upon your soul, which must already
be heavy with guilt for allowing me to accomplish the complete control of your
homelands.”
—Communiqué to General Alexandr Kerensky from “Emperor” Stefan Ukris
Amaris, 16 May 2767
Kerensky’s war to liberate the Terran Hegemony began with the effective annihilation
of the Rim Worlds government as he withdrew his forces committed elsewhere to
smash the power base that made Amaris’ coup possible. In the thirteen years that
followed, Kerensky and Amaris turned their energies fully upon one another in a
devastating war of attrition. By the time it was over, the Terran Hegemony was a
collection of charred cinders and hopelessly shattered industries, and the Star League
had effectively died.
In the Periphery, the fall of the League met with mixed feelings; an age of prosperity—
but one that had been forcibly imposed—had come to an end, freeing the surviving
realms to go their own ways. As the Inner Sphere states turned on one another, go
their own ways these realms did, rarely interacting with their counterparts in the Great
Houses (and then only at great cost). Still, freed of the constraints of the Star League,
these nations grew, though at a far slower rate, thanks to the predations of waves of
pirates and occasional infighting between neighboring realms, both ancient and
newborn.
Having started off hobbled by the Star League, the Periphery’s technological level
remained below that of the Inner Sphere throughout the Succession Wars era, though
in some areas these nations excelled even beyond the capabilities of their interior
neighbors. The Magistracy of Canopus, for instance, gained a reputation for medicine
that rivaled—and in some cases, even exceeded—the capabilities of the Great Houses.
The Taurians, meanwhile, boasted a remarkably high literacy rate. The Outworlds
Alliance, eschewing BattleMechs and mercenaries for much of its existence, raised a
highly adept aerospace defense force, completely homegrown and capable of fending
off pirates and Great House raiders alike.
As the thirty-first century dawned, new Periphery states had even begun to form,
many of them from among the bandit lords who had, for generations, preyed on the
borders of the Inner Sphere. The Marian Hegemony, a pirate realm with a government
based loosely on ancient Rome, and the Circinus Federation, a loose coalition of
agrarian worlds ruled by pirates and mercenaries, are perfect examples of these
“bandit kingdoms” that earned a semblance of respectability over time. Others, such
as Morgraine’s Valkyrate, the Confederation of Oberon, and the Tortuga Dominions,
also formed from pirate bands, but remained truer to their origins. Still others, such as
the Fiefdom of Randis, the Niops Association, and the Rim Collection, formed along
more benign lines, creating realms founded on ideals, rather than force of arms,
adding more color to the sociopolitical tapestry of the Periphery.
The trickle-down from the technological renaissance of the mid-thirty-first century
further boosted many of these powers, making the larger, more industrial realms, such
as the Magistracy and the Concordat, true players in the universe. Of course, as the
balance of power would shift in the Inner Sphere, both due to the recovery of lostech
and the political changes caused by the short-lived union of Houses Steiner and
Davion, so too would the realms of the Periphery suffer an upheaval from these new
events. Somewhat surprisingly, it would be the Magistracy of Canopus that would
first bring the nearly forgotten Periphery back into the minds of the denizens of the
interior worlds, in a bold move that would have ramifications for decades to come.
In part three of our special series on the Periphery, our spotlight shines on the
Magistracy of Canopus, one of the Periphery’s most powerful realms, and its trials
through mankind’s darkest hours. Our tour of the stars continues next week. I’m
Bertram Habeas.