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 XXXI: Challenging the Void—Clan Sea Fox Ascendant
From its inception among the often-desolate and resource-poor worlds of the
Pentagon and the Kerensky Cluster, the Sea Fox Clan has striven to amass material
wealth, equating riches and resources with survival. As the Sea Fox Clan, it forged an
economic empire, less dependant on Trials than on deals, but the inevitable rivalries
forced it to change, to evolve into the Diamond Sharks, a Clan more democratic in
nature, yet often guided as much by the passions of war as the lure of opening new
markets. With the invasion of the Inner Sphere, the pendulum once more swung
slowly back to the nature of the Sea Fox—less bloodthirsty, more honorable, but still a
predator to be feared and respected. It was, however, an evolution, as should be
expected, that would take several decades to complete.
The early 3060s saw waves of fighting in both the Clan home worlds and the Inner
Sphere. With a Clan destroyed, another Abjured, and still another entirely relocated to
the greener pastures of the Inner Sphere, a massive power vacuum was created which
all the remaining home Clans tore into each other to fill. The Wars of Possession, as
they were known, would take years to burn themselves out, even as the Inner Sphere
erupted in the fires of several wars, ranging from the Capellan–St. Ives war to the
FedCom Civil War. But even as the initial conflicts ended, new ones began. The Word
of Blake Jihad was launched in 3067, turning the war-ravaged Inner Sphere upside
down once more, and as the Spheroids fought for their very way of life, the Clans,
too, felt the strain.
The match that lit the fuse came from an unexpected source, however. Clan Hell’s
Horses, an ascendant home Clan, which had recently been forced out of its briefly
held Inner Sphere occupation zone, initiated its own plans for an invasion, aimed at the
Crusader Wolves. Recognizing the long journey ahead, and having learned from their
earlier failures, the Horses recognized the need to relocate at least a healthy portion of
their support structure with their armies. To assist in this endeavor, they turned to the
Diamond Sharks as their nemesis, Clan Ghost Bear, had done a decade before. Unlike
the Bears, however, the Horses’ move was not subtle enough to be overlooked, and
the apparent wholesale departure of yet another Clan may have ignited the chaos in the
Clan home worlds that followed.
The lack of hard details on what some historians have called the Clan Civil War has led
to many prevailing theories on what exactly happened in the 3070s and 3080s. The
massive upheaval that apparently followed the Horses’ relocation, and the brief Ice
Hellion incursion, evidently led to the severing of all effective contact between the
invading Clans and their brethren back home. However, the exact details are still a
secret jealously kept by those Clans in the Inner Sphere. What is known, however, is
that one of the many results was the loss of the Diamond Sharks’ enclaves back
home, forcing a truncated Clan to remake itself once again.
Reorganized, and revitalized, even as the rest of the Inner Sphere dealt with the
horrifying aftermath of the Jihad, the Sea Fox Clan could make its presence felt
anywhere in the Sphere that a new market beckoned. The arrival of their modified
WarShips (today known as ArcShips and CargoShips) soon became a welcome sight,
signifying the presence of a Khanate in one system while its five attendant JumpShip
fleets (Aimags) extended their offer of goods and services to other nearby worlds,
often supporting worlds left stranded by Blakist attacks. During the final days of the
Jihad, and the first decade following, these JumpShip fleets claimed only a small
percentage in profit for their services, but the sheer volume of markets opened by
these nomadic Khanates created the single greatest boon to the Clan’s economy since
the creation of its Chatterweb. Thus, the Aimags and Khanates assured their own
continued existence with their proof of profitability, bringing the wealth, prominence,
and of course glory of the mercantile Clan to Inner Sphere—and even Periphery—
markets, wherever they might be found.
In the last part of our look at the ways of Clan Sea Fox today, our tour will take us
inside the gypsy ArcShips and CargoShips of the Sea Fox Clan. Come join us as the
tour of the stars continues! 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 XXXI: Challenging the Void—Clan Sea Fox Ascendant
From its inception among the often-desolate and resource-poor worlds of the
Pentagon and the Kerensky Cluster, the Sea Fox Clan has striven to amass material
wealth, equating riches and resources with survival. As the Sea Fox Clan, it forged an
economic empire, less dependant on Trials than on deals, but the inevitable rivalries
forced it to change, to evolve into the Diamond Sharks, a Clan more democratic in
nature, yet often guided as much by the passions of war as the lure of opening new
markets. With the invasion of the Inner Sphere, the pendulum once more swung
slowly back to the nature of the Sea Fox—less bloodthirsty, more honorable, but still a
predator to be feared and respected. It was, however, an evolution, as should be
expected, that would take several decades to complete.
- [Clan Diamond Shark/Sea Fox] was an enigma during the early years of the
Clan invasion. To the citizens of the Sphere, they were the invaders who were
never seen. To the other invaders, they were more like remoras than sharks
themselves, parasites swimming with the real predators of the deep. Yet few
among the Clans could say the Sharks had no place in their society. As each
Clan functions under the collective efforts of the five castes—warrior,
scientist, merchant, technician, and laborer—so the Clans as a whole had their
castes—those who led as warriors, and those who served, as the Shark
merchants did so well.
But the Sharks were a democracy compared to the martial nature of the other
Clans, and in a democracy, even the common folk have a voice in their destiny.
So it was for the Sharks. Born, bred, and raised to seek strength through profit
and wealth, they brought with them to the invasion that same sense of manifest
destiny the more warlike Clans embraced. In their view, however, there were
other ways to get there. The Clan’s failure at Tukayyid became stark evidence
of this, and with the resulting decline of Khan [Ian] Hawker, the Crusader
mentality burned itself out in favor of a new Warden philosophy. If the Sharks
couldn’t beat the Inner Sphere on the field of battle, they would carve their
own conquests in the marketplace.
Much like spoiled children, the warrior Clans, of course, protested the Sharks
at every turn, but the Sharks won all the right Trials and said all the right
things. They sold their services to Clan and Inner Sphere patrons alike.
Ironically, however, serving both would lead to the choice of one over another
during the dark years of the Jihad.
—Sean Lasko, PhD, Professor of Clan Society and Politics, University of
Thorin
The early 3060s saw waves of fighting in both the Clan home worlds and the Inner
Sphere. With a Clan destroyed, another Abjured, and still another entirely relocated to
the greener pastures of the Inner Sphere, a massive power vacuum was created which
all the remaining home Clans tore into each other to fill. The Wars of Possession, as
they were known, would take years to burn themselves out, even as the Inner Sphere
erupted in the fires of several wars, ranging from the Capellan–St. Ives war to the
FedCom Civil War. But even as the initial conflicts ended, new ones began. The Word
of Blake Jihad was launched in 3067, turning the war-ravaged Inner Sphere upside
down once more, and as the Spheroids fought for their very way of life, the Clans,
too, felt the strain.
The match that lit the fuse came from an unexpected source, however. Clan Hell’s
Horses, an ascendant home Clan, which had recently been forced out of its briefly
held Inner Sphere occupation zone, initiated its own plans for an invasion, aimed at the
Crusader Wolves. Recognizing the long journey ahead, and having learned from their
earlier failures, the Horses recognized the need to relocate at least a healthy portion of
their support structure with their armies. To assist in this endeavor, they turned to the
Diamond Sharks as their nemesis, Clan Ghost Bear, had done a decade before. Unlike
the Bears, however, the Horses’ move was not subtle enough to be overlooked, and
the apparent wholesale departure of yet another Clan may have ignited the chaos in the
Clan home worlds that followed.
The lack of hard details on what some historians have called the Clan Civil War has led
to many prevailing theories on what exactly happened in the 3070s and 3080s. The
massive upheaval that apparently followed the Horses’ relocation, and the brief Ice
Hellion incursion, evidently led to the severing of all effective contact between the
invading Clans and their brethren back home. However, the exact details are still a
secret jealously kept by those Clans in the Inner Sphere. What is known, however, is
that one of the many results was the loss of the Diamond Sharks’ enclaves back
home, forcing a truncated Clan to remake itself once again.
- With only three worlds to stage from, and the entire Inner Sphere at war, the
Sharks saw a unique opportunity, even in the grip of disaster. Fleets of their
JumpShips, arriving in the Inner Sphere with whatever they could carry,
became an instant lifeline to other factions in the Inner Sphere; their supplies
sold at bargain prices, often in exchange for raw materials and components the
Clan itself had lost.
As the Jihad continued, and security issues became paramount, the Foxes
included their WarShips—the troops’ attachment only a short time before
proving almost prescient—leaving the balance of their Touman to guard their
market worlds.Military and logistical needs hastened these changes, and
crystallized the Aimag-and-Khanate organization used today, including the
creation of additional saKhans to oversee each Khanate fleet, as well as the
institution of the formal rank of ovKhan (Aimag leaders).
As the last of the Blakist holdouts fell to the coalition of Inner Sphere forces,
Clan Sea Fox began to morph into the four roving Khanates (spacefleets) seen
today—Spina, Skate, Tiburon, and Fox—each led by a saKhan, under a fifth
(the ilKhanate), that is led by the Clan Khan. Though it would take until the
dawn of the thirty-second century for the Sea Fox to fully blossom into their
current incarnation, there can be no doubt that the Jihad proved a catalyst
which shaved decades off of what would otherwise most likely have been a
century-long transformation.
As the new century began, to signify their own new beginning and win over
additional Spheroid markets, the Clan leaders voted to change the Clan’s name
back to Sea Fox in 3100.This event was pulled off with nowhere near the inter-
Clan fighting that had erupted before the invasion years, as the Grand Council
simply was in no position to refute them.
Though derided by their fellow Clans as mere gypsies, the Sea Fox Khanates
proved themselves an effective adaptation to the chaos of the Jihad and its
aftermath, and a natural extension of the Foxes’ evolution.
We should all learn such lessons, and implement them so well. . . .
—Petiri Nova Cat, Survival of the Fittest: Clans of the Inner Sphere,
Commonwealth Press, 3127
Reorganized, and revitalized, even as the rest of the Inner Sphere dealt with the
horrifying aftermath of the Jihad, the Sea Fox Clan could make its presence felt
anywhere in the Sphere that a new market beckoned. The arrival of their modified
WarShips (today known as ArcShips and CargoShips) soon became a welcome sight,
signifying the presence of a Khanate in one system while its five attendant JumpShip
fleets (Aimags) extended their offer of goods and services to other nearby worlds,
often supporting worlds left stranded by Blakist attacks. During the final days of the
Jihad, and the first decade following, these JumpShip fleets claimed only a small
percentage in profit for their services, but the sheer volume of markets opened by
these nomadic Khanates created the single greatest boon to the Clan’s economy since
the creation of its Chatterweb. Thus, the Aimags and Khanates assured their own
continued existence with their proof of profitability, bringing the wealth, prominence,
and of course glory of the mercantile Clan to Inner Sphere—and even Periphery—
markets, wherever they might be found.
In the last part of our look at the ways of Clan Sea Fox today, our tour will take us
inside the gypsy ArcShips and CargoShips of the Sea Fox Clan. Come join us as the
tour of the stars continues! I’m Bertram Habeas.
