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 XXX: The Shark and the Fox, Evolution of a Clan
The gathering of material wealth is supposedly beneath the Clans, who value martial
glory over all other pursuits. The only honor comes through victory in a fairly fought
Trial, where equally matched opponents put their lives on the line to prove their worth
and their way is superior. But what does that say about the mercantile nature of the
Sea Fox Clan? Does their relentless pursuit of commodities, information, and wealth
make them less of a Clan? Do they demonstrate the same kind of honor in combat?
Do they believe in the vision of Kerensky?
Like the Ghost Bear Clan, the Sea Foxes have adapted to life in the Inner Sphere, but
theirs was an evolution already underway before they even arrived. Granted freedoms
beyond those of other Clan civilians, the Foxes’ merchant caste grew to dominate the
politics and policies of their Clan. Driven by the guidance of Karen Nagasawa, one of
the Clan’s founding Khans, the Foxes sought material gain before all other objectives,
in hopes of quickly assuring their continued survival in the relatively resource-poor
worlds of the Kerensky Cluster. Yet in their quest to expand, the Sea Foxes never
truly violated the codes set down by Nicholas Kerensky. Instead, they merely tested
the limits of their flexibility, amassing wealth, resources, and power in the bargain.
However, the worlds of the Kerensky Cluster were few.
Indeed, in the wake of the Clan Invasion, the Diamond Sharks’ merchants suddenly
found their opportunity for the growth their Clan craved. The markets of the Inner
Sphere gradually opened to accept Clan-made goods, first on a sort of black-market
level, with smaller items in trade for Inner Sphere goods. Because Clan military and
engineering technology was forced for so long to rely on fewer resources, practical
tools and weapons made using Clan techniques were better than their Inner Sphere
counterparts and thus highly prized. But the Clans lacked luxuries and conveniences
that the Inner Sphere had long developed for its own use, even in the poorer realms.
Trade blossomed, gradually expanding to the point where even BattleMechs were
among the commodities exchanged. Though other Clans voiced alarm that the Sharks
were trading away their military edge, the Shark merchants noted that Inner Sphere
technical parity was inevitable ever since the invasion began, and trading obsolete
models of military hardware hardly did anything to upset the balance of power.
At almost the same time, the Sharks bartered their transportation services as well, first
to the Ghost Bears, and later to the Hell’s Horses, assisting in the relocation of whole
colonies aboard their surplus JumpShip fleets. As tensions rose in the Clan
homeworlds, these relocations would expand to include many Diamond Shark
holdings as well. It would not be until 3067, when Diamond Shark prominence in the
Inner Sphere became so great that they could seize and hold their own worlds from
among the other Clan Occupation Zones, that their fellow Clansmen realized what was
happening. For all intents and purposes, the Sharks were migrating to the open seas,
leaving behind the shallow depths of the home worlds.
It was also during this time that the Clan began posting permanent, large-scale forces
to its WarShips; a strange, but apparently insignificant change at the time that would
eventually demonstrate itself to be a precursor to radical sociopolitical changes for the
Clan to come.
The upheaval caused by a new generation of Clans leaving the home worlds apparently
proved too much to bear for those left behind. Though even the Sea Foxes today won’
t part with that kind of information, the rumors and reports of a massive conflict
engulfing the home worlds for over a decade have proven too persistent to simply
disregard. Whatever occurred there, the result was a hasty, enforced relocation of the
remaining Diamond Sharks to the Inner Sphere; a process made easier by the trading
alliances built up over the years and by the gradual relocation of much of the Clan’s
merchant and labor castes to support their recently won trading worlds.
Worlds such as Twycross in the Jade Falcons’ Occupation Zone, Trondheim in the
then-Ghost Bear Dominion, and Itabiana, among the Nova Cat holdings in the
Draconis Combine, all became holdings of the Diamond Sharks. These worlds were
transformed into the Clans’ clearing houses, bases of operations not for military
conquest, but for the perpetuation of trade, the Diamond Sharks’ single greatest
occupation. Yet inviting off-worlders to come and trade on these few planets would
not be enough to sustain an uprooted Clan. Newer markets had to be opened, without
making enemies of them. Though each world had been won by the rules of the Trial,
the Sharks knew their intended markets—those of the Inner Sphere—would not be
receptive to the warrior ways of the Clans. To open new markets, the Clan would
have to expand without conquest. Thus began the rise of the aimags, and the Khanates
they serve, and thus also did the Sharks reclaim their original name, presenting to their
new markets a face no longer sullied by the reputation of a failed invader, but honoring
their ties to the noble sea fox.
In our next volume, our tour of the Sea Fox will examine how the Jihad made possible
the unexpected but no less inevitable rise of this nomadic Clan of warrior merchants.
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 XXX: The Shark and the Fox, Evolution of a Clan
- Baking beneath a large, white-hot star, this world of sand and windstorms was
once the capital of the Trellshire Province of the Lyran Commonwealth’s
Tamar Pact. Today, however, the low, fat buildings of Camora, one of this
planet’s larger cities, surround a sprawling outdoor marketplace. Here,
holographic monitors and computer terminals stand beside low-technology
booths where live merchants in homey attire peddle their wares and make a fine
art of haggling. In the nearby spaceport, no less than five massive, ovoid
skyscrapers stand a silent vigil, constantly loading and offloading cargo, which
is taken into massive, subterranean warehouses, and is always under the heavy
guard of the finest Clan-made military hardware any currency can buy.
Emblazoned on the ’Mechs, the DropShips, and even the troopers who see that
all transactions and businesses run smoothly, is the ever-alert image of the Sea
Fox, coiling up from the waves and bowing, at once honoring and pouncing
upon its prey.
The gathering of material wealth is supposedly beneath the Clans, who value martial
glory over all other pursuits. The only honor comes through victory in a fairly fought
Trial, where equally matched opponents put their lives on the line to prove their worth
and their way is superior. But what does that say about the mercantile nature of the
Sea Fox Clan? Does their relentless pursuit of commodities, information, and wealth
make them less of a Clan? Do they demonstrate the same kind of honor in combat?
Do they believe in the vision of Kerensky?
Like the Ghost Bear Clan, the Sea Foxes have adapted to life in the Inner Sphere, but
theirs was an evolution already underway before they even arrived. Granted freedoms
beyond those of other Clan civilians, the Foxes’ merchant caste grew to dominate the
politics and policies of their Clan. Driven by the guidance of Karen Nagasawa, one of
the Clan’s founding Khans, the Foxes sought material gain before all other objectives,
in hopes of quickly assuring their continued survival in the relatively resource-poor
worlds of the Kerensky Cluster. Yet in their quest to expand, the Sea Foxes never
truly violated the codes set down by Nicholas Kerensky. Instead, they merely tested
the limits of their flexibility, amassing wealth, resources, and power in the bargain.
However, the worlds of the Kerensky Cluster were few.
- What’s perhaps most ironic about the Diamond Shark/Sea Fox Clan is how
they came to be in the Inner Sphere to begin with. Preferring the bargain to the
Trial, they always sought to avoid long-standing feuds, yet, in time for the go-
vote, they were in the Crusader camp. Some theorists suggest that this was
due to pressures from within—the merchant caste, smelling new markets the
way their totem could smell blood in the water—but the anomaly in that theory
is that their leader at the time was a rare warrior caste elitist. Thus, as the
merchants were finally gaining access to the untapped riches of the Inner
Sphere, they were brutally oppressed, their rights stripped away.
And yet the disastrous results of this leadership would ultimately pave the way
for success. Under Khan [Ian] Hawker, the Diamond Sharks would suffer
from a bad showing during the invasion—so bad, in fact, that he would be
forced to again relinquish control to the stifled merchant caste, in order to
rebuild and avoid absorption.
Thus, in effect, the Diamond Sharks’ decision to join in the invasion would
prove to be both their greatest mistake and their greatest boon. It would simply
take many more years before they truly swam their own path . . .
—Sean Lasko, PhD, Professor of Clan Society and Politics, University of
Thorin
Indeed, in the wake of the Clan Invasion, the Diamond Sharks’ merchants suddenly
found their opportunity for the growth their Clan craved. The markets of the Inner
Sphere gradually opened to accept Clan-made goods, first on a sort of black-market
level, with smaller items in trade for Inner Sphere goods. Because Clan military and
engineering technology was forced for so long to rely on fewer resources, practical
tools and weapons made using Clan techniques were better than their Inner Sphere
counterparts and thus highly prized. But the Clans lacked luxuries and conveniences
that the Inner Sphere had long developed for its own use, even in the poorer realms.
Trade blossomed, gradually expanding to the point where even BattleMechs were
among the commodities exchanged. Though other Clans voiced alarm that the Sharks
were trading away their military edge, the Shark merchants noted that Inner Sphere
technical parity was inevitable ever since the invasion began, and trading obsolete
models of military hardware hardly did anything to upset the balance of power.
At almost the same time, the Sharks bartered their transportation services as well, first
to the Ghost Bears, and later to the Hell’s Horses, assisting in the relocation of whole
colonies aboard their surplus JumpShip fleets. As tensions rose in the Clan
homeworlds, these relocations would expand to include many Diamond Shark
holdings as well. It would not be until 3067, when Diamond Shark prominence in the
Inner Sphere became so great that they could seize and hold their own worlds from
among the other Clan Occupation Zones, that their fellow Clansmen realized what was
happening. For all intents and purposes, the Sharks were migrating to the open seas,
leaving behind the shallow depths of the home worlds.
It was also during this time that the Clan began posting permanent, large-scale forces
to its WarShips; a strange, but apparently insignificant change at the time that would
eventually demonstrate itself to be a precursor to radical sociopolitical changes for the
Clan to come.
The upheaval caused by a new generation of Clans leaving the home worlds apparently
proved too much to bear for those left behind. Though even the Sea Foxes today won’
t part with that kind of information, the rumors and reports of a massive conflict
engulfing the home worlds for over a decade have proven too persistent to simply
disregard. Whatever occurred there, the result was a hasty, enforced relocation of the
remaining Diamond Sharks to the Inner Sphere; a process made easier by the trading
alliances built up over the years and by the gradual relocation of much of the Clan’s
merchant and labor castes to support their recently won trading worlds.
Worlds such as Twycross in the Jade Falcons’ Occupation Zone, Trondheim in the
then-Ghost Bear Dominion, and Itabiana, among the Nova Cat holdings in the
Draconis Combine, all became holdings of the Diamond Sharks. These worlds were
transformed into the Clans’ clearing houses, bases of operations not for military
conquest, but for the perpetuation of trade, the Diamond Sharks’ single greatest
occupation. Yet inviting off-worlders to come and trade on these few planets would
not be enough to sustain an uprooted Clan. Newer markets had to be opened, without
making enemies of them. Though each world had been won by the rules of the Trial,
the Sharks knew their intended markets—those of the Inner Sphere—would not be
receptive to the warrior ways of the Clans. To open new markets, the Clan would
have to expand without conquest. Thus began the rise of the aimags, and the Khanates
they serve, and thus also did the Sharks reclaim their original name, presenting to their
new markets a face no longer sullied by the reputation of a failed invader, but honoring
their ties to the noble sea fox.
- Night falls on Camora, and the markets are closed for the day. As the last rays
of the sun, cast in red by a distant sandstorm, fade off to the west, one begins
to realize how cold the desert wind has become. The city itself is not yet
asleep. Children still play in the streets, under the glow of lamps, engaging in
games that mimic the bargaining techniques of their elders. This is a merchant’
s city, and even the warriors do not interfere; their BattleMechs stomping off in
an endless patrol around the spaceport.
The towering ovoid buildings are fewer now, however, with only one left
behind as the last departing drive flare rises into the nighttime sky. With good
binoculars, one can make out the waiting vessel, an oblong form, its metal hide
gleaming as the last rays of sunlight reflect off it. Though WarShips hovering
in close orbit have in the past been a harbinger of invasion, on Twycross few
people notice, for the Sea Fox ArcShips are merely a harbinger of business as
usual, and on this night, the ArcShip of the Skate Khanate is preparing for its
next “fishing expedition,” the eternal quest for new markets, perpetuated in the
vastness of space itself.
In our next volume, our tour of the Sea Fox will examine how the Jihad made possible
the unexpected but no less inevitable rise of this nomadic Clan of warrior merchants.
I’m Bertram Habeas.
