Battletech/Mechwarrior Lore : The Amaris Civil War / Collapse of Star League - Part 1

hey folks it's that time again for Dex stomps battle tank your go-to source for angry and surly whiskey-soaked panel tank and mech warrior lore this time around were discussing a major historical event well truth be told it's not just going to be a historical event it's going to be the historical event the main show the depth of star league work more specifically the Ameri school the Civil War and its direct aftermath this is the single biggest event in the setting by impact please do know it has taken tremendous time and extensive research to put all of this together and considering its overall importance on the setting as a whole it's going to be a long talk however while there is a tremendous amount of information we have to cover I may not be able to include every last minor detail so these in turn may be subjects that I may elect to cover individually at a future point in time so fret not this series has a lot of ground to cover and we'll get to everything in the end lastly before I go on the editor and I have decided to split this into two portions as it is stupidly huge the research for this episode required a solid month and a half of reading note-taking 13 drafts and many pots of coffee so without further ado get comfy we're gonna talk history as with all histories were going to do our best to start at the beginning to properly frame our history in this story let us begin mid to 26th century July the 9th 2571 stands as the official signing of the Star League Accords by Ian Cameron and the five major house Lords of the Inner Sphere keep in mind this wasn't just an overnight development as what we'd come to know was star league had slowly emerged from the treaties of mutual understanding in defense signed between matheran a Gemini the capelin Confederation in the free worlds League in nearly two decades before by the late 25 sixties the Lyon Commonwealth federated sons and vicunas combined had also decided to buy in no doubt interested in all of the mutual benefits cooperation brings these five major houses elected in Cameron as First Lord who in his wisdom immediately realized the need for a single party defense apparatus with the loyalty to star league placed above any individual house while star League provided a single bureaucratic instrument to rule and coordinate a United human coalition of states it needed something with actual teeth to keep the houses in line houses which often as much enjoyed the occasional mindless war against their neighbor because they were born or frustrated the military arm of star league was established as the Star League Defense Forces and from the inception they were laid out to be the greatest military force in human history the Star League Defense Forces or hereafter SL DF were initially organized into multiple military commands spanning the entire Inner Sphere each regional demand would be made up of troops from varying member states in attempt to in theory prevent blatant favoritism or more likely insurrection further loyola Geminid divisions formed the core of each command of regions structure noble and design and practical and doctrine the Star League Defence Force was a multinational military command with loyalty to Star League above all for 500 light years in all direction the Inner Sphere was a single cohesive government defended by the biggest military ever assembled and supported by a vast and relatively efficient bureaucracy the Lords of the Great Houses bought into the notion of the SL TF for no other reason than it was power not in their opponents hands in theory it was for the first time a military that served the purposes of all for the defense of all and potentially allowed house militias and private armies to be a vestige of development of a more ambitious time the first ambitious order of political business for Star League was to bring the periphery into the league the ear sphere had always I'd the periphery with a healthy dose of fear after all they'd long ago decided they wanted nothing to do with the Inner Sphere and there are Fringe civilizations or a constant reminder that Star league's authority was not all-encompassing humanity has had a long history of eyeing those on the fringes of civilization as barbarians at the gain and thus Star League saw military intervention as a necessary step to safeguard their borders and acquire new taxpayers this campaign of reunification under Star league's control was largely a political move as nothing quite brings allies together like good old-fashioned military adventurism further it would prove in fact what had been theorized as far as the capabilities of the SLD of when a titanic demonstration of star league's defense apparatus would practically unify the Inner Sphere under one rule but would also serve as a key reminder to member states star league above all thus began what would later be called the reunification Wars or from the periphery perspective oh god the Inner Sphere is invading because they need something to do holy [ __ ] god help us by 25 96 the outworlds Alliance the magistracy of Canopus Rim world's Republic and Torian Concordat were all brought to heed these campaigns were not easy as the periphery saw this for what it was it military adventurism and a large governments need to absorb lesser entities at gunpoint the periphery resisted is well they could but they were not a single cohesive organized government like Star League and as history won't remind us the strategy of divide and conquer works best against isolated civilizations with vastly different governments cultures and military capabilities despite in many places a judicious application of scorched earth defense the periphery was conquered under the massed forces of the Inner Sphere the vast industrial complexes of the Inner Sphere and the logistical capacity of Starly overwhelmed the scattered in utterly unprepared periphery stains the conquered periphery states were initially treated as occupied territories forcibly undergoing extensive reconstruction and integration at their own great expense before being given non-voting status as a Starleague territory the near destruction of their governments and catastrophic infrastructure damage was so extensive that even nearly 500 years later some periphery states would be far below reunification war levels of prosperity and economic output and while most of the periphery accepted their new rulers for the time being with judicious jack booty being the alternative some would solemnly vow to never forget and thus began to plan for the future you see the periphery has always had a very strong streak of Independence and by exercising its mayates Tarly again confirmed everything the periphery suspected about the inner sphere proper yet they were nothing more than conquerors intent on ruling by force alone by flexing its mints military might Star League had brought mankind under a single banner a single government the single bureaucracy and all that entailed by conquering the periphery star league's defense forests had demonstrated the value of star league to its members stains through the 2600 star league kept the peace as best able it kept unstable member states mostly placated and through every available means kept disagreements in conflict more or less hidden that in mind incidents did engage happen such as the hidden Wars but well that is potentially a subject for another time it is of note that by pouring enormous public funds toward research and development it is during this Iran that new technologies further expanded the power and reach of Starleague such as breakthroughs like the HPG network which allowed for rapid communication over vast distances the prime circuits of the Starleague communications net or SL ComNet were laid at the heart of the terran hegemony in this era forming the hub of what would become an inner sphere wide HPG network for the first time in human history mankind could shitpost across the light years with minimal effort it was an enlightened era with the power of FTL communication the reach of Starleague extend more easily into the day-to-day bureaucracy of running an interstellar government further international commerce flourished during this period as accurate information regarding market economies throughout the earth sphere assisted the vast growth of industries throughout Starling but a hefty el communication was only one tool in the arsenal of star league's vast bureaucracy to further combat the threat of instability within star league the SL DF was built up massively for the first time since the reunification Wars breakthroughs and technology allowed for the rapid evolution of battle mech design worship capabilities and accordingly force projection capabilities with a strong policy toward star league first the royal regiments of star league would receive massive technological upgrades and breakthrough technological advancements first with new technologies reaching those house units sometimes as late as a decade later House Lords put up with this because none of them could gain access to favourable technologies before the other and thus the balance of power was maintained as well during this time massive space defense systems were built up across the hegemony worlds consisting of advanced drone battleships enormous battle stations at jump points and ground-based space defense batteries hold position to make assault into the heart of Star League a theoretical impossibility as cell DF fleets were massively upgraded with the latest in all inspiring firepower and command and control technology is allowing fleets to rapidly respond and counter any threat to the state with overwhelming firepower Starleague fortresses were built on hegemony worlds and later throughout the Inner Sphere to act as Garrison's research and development centers command and control points and weapons caches Starleague academies for science and military training were established to provide the very best education to an ever-expanding government that's not to say there weren't challenges or problems during this time a second hidden war between carita and House Davion nearly spilled over into greater conflict it was only put down when star league deployed five elite divisions to break it up this heavy-handed force shocked the Great Houses as before this point Star League was not something that openly visited its wrath upon member states as far as the Great Houses saw it star league was their tool and something to keep the periphery in line not something that could or arguably should and check their ambitions after all they'd bought into this central government for their benefit not to have their own ambitions checked by it as well in this era the periphery was beginning to chafe under the yoke of Star League some military observers began to report of military buildup in the periphery that could rival the SLD F if given enough time at this point the only notable periphery power that openly supported Star League was the fantastically wealthy and massively powerful Rim world's Republic it is a fact that s LD F observers reported that the rim world's Republic forces were potentially at this point as far as they could determine two or three times they're allowed mustered strength under s LD F Charter some suggested that the Rim worlds Republic had been building a military and supporting industrial base for generations for the purposes of open war tragically this warning went largely unheeded by 2751 the Star League was long established as the de facto legitimate government of the Inner Sphere despite major and minor controversies and a few difficult challenges to its primacy as a ruling body Star League and word by effectively maintaining the peace in the quality between the great houses in this era it ran the banks regulated trade facilitated FTL communications directed public and military research to further development of all inspiring and incredible technologies and do not forget that on paper it had the most powerful military ever devised under the leadership of utterly brilliant military minds its schools and training centres were the envy of the great houses and private institutions Star League offered the reality of peace and relative prosperity that had never been known prior or since in the Inner Sphere the Star League had managed to even diminish the once burgeoning private armies of the Great Houses by placing ever-increasing funding in clust into the very able star league defense forces while regulating and restricting the size of non SL DF units for a time the balance of power was maintained in all was seemingly well from the rim world's republic to the terran hegemony humanity coexisted in relative peace under one banner for six generations house cameron had acted as first lords and protectors of star league for six generations star Lee had given humanity the nearest thing they'd ever gotten to a golden age but if the Inner Sphere has any constant it is this we are our own worst enemy in 2751 first star Lord Simon Cameron had an accident by accident I mean an engineered accident that resulted in his untimely demise Star League protocols dictated an immediate transfer of power and so with the death of first Lord Simon Cameron the mantle of First Lord passed to his eight-year-old son Richard who would become the sixth and final First Lord of star league in the Cameron dynasty Richard Cameron was then only aid and therefore the five House Lords exercised their authority to convene an appoint an official protector for the young man this was not only to guide him to adulthood safely but to instruct him in the finer points of rulership after all there was no weightier crown than the first lord of star league as well all oftentimes petty the great lords of star league were not fools and they each knew that any dynasty is one mistake away from tyranny madness and ruin fearing the stabilization of their own fortunes the great Lords unanimously decided to steer this next generation toward greatness and prosperity for their own interests if nothing else the further that aim they appointed the highly-decorated utterly brilliant star league general Alexander Kerensky to serve as a regent and protector though he had lost his father of the young First Lord found himself under the watchful eye protection and guidance of one of the most formidable mine's the universe said ever seen in the end Kerensky would be far more important than anyone could ever imagine as with any tragic drama the road to ruin started with good intentions and miscalculation when Richard Cameron came of age and no longer needed Kerensky he tried ruling by his own hand after a short time young Richard Cameron was befriended by Stefano Maris provisionally the president but in reality the absolute ruler of the grim world's Republic and ever so carefully through kindness gifts and flattery and even renaming a planet to honor the First Lord stephannie Maris slowly wormed his way into young Richard Cameron's heart and confidence before long this young noble had found a close confident and trusted adviser and Stefano Maris and ladies and gentlemen the unchecked madness of Stefano Maris would ruin everything I mean looking at phase that's Kubla Khan that's Kublai Khan who's been kicked out of an all-you-can-eat buffet because unlimited crab legs is a theory and not a fact that's a bib it's not a shirt that's a [ __ ] bib you just sang so who in the hell was Stefano Maris and why was he so goddamn important well for the sake of this story he's certainly dramatis personae so let's dig into him for just a moment stephannie Maris hailed from the rim worlds Republic which was at that time a terrifically powerful periphery state and its height the rim world's Republic managed to control 248 systems and had a ridiculously powerful military a military it had without pause been building for generations the Maris line had for a good span of its history been building the rim world's republic into a military superpower through massive investment into its defense industries military training academies and industrial sectors through careful deflection of scrutiny bribes politicking promises and flattery the rim worlds Republic maintain this military buildup for the most part without pause and in relative secrecy through careful maneuvering through kindness and flattery through court intrigue and through supporting the first lure through governmental decrees and initiatives mr. Amyris crept all the way to the throne all the while biding his time for what would come mr. Ramirez had a plan and needless to say it was a master course an inner sphere dickery 101 when Richard Cameron turned 18 he made the first official proclamation of any merit to history executive order 156 executive order one five six was issued on February the 6th 2762 dictated by authority of the First Lord that all house armies including private militaries militias and honor guards must immediately disband or join Star League's defense forces in addition the order made illegal and prohibited to possess any firearm larger than a laser rifle or more destructive than a grenade the idea of this order was to make the Star League Defense Force the sole military authority and a search star league as the primary power and all strategic considerations the idea was to create no room for private ventures that would undermine the strength of the league into place all might and trust in a single administrative body the order was aimed to prevent further in fighting secret Wars and the recklessness of house ambition but with a long-standing history of private armies it would be a very difficult law to pass this order was first reviewed by General karinski who admired the noble idea but immediately knew it was completely impossible to enforce in the past the Great Houses have been made to decrease substantial percentages of their private armies and place a great deal of cost in the SL DF but they never disbanded their own fruit completely after all each state as a signatory of the Star League charter was guaranteed the right to maintain their own militaries to defend their own borders and to see to their own security needs over a Kerensky's objections and attempted guidance the order was still pushed forward when presented with Richard chemins arrogant executive order the great Lords of the Inner Sphere perceived it with nothing less than betrayal anger and outrage this was precisely what the Inner Sphere House Lords had feared an upstart who would try to curb their power were diminish their house for they rightfully considered the order to be a flagrantly illegal power grab they perceived the order as a direct threat to their sovereignty and decided to check the young Cameron's power before he got any ideas immediately an emergency High Council meeting was called the first laws unanimously declared the proposed document and legal instrument of government oppression they rebuked the First Lord openly they were furious at an overreaching seemingly power-mad First Lord who was dabbling with their inherent rights and freedoms before the situation spiraled out of control karinski stepped in to maintain the peace karinski barely managed to defuse the situation by siding with the first lords stating that in direct principle the document undermined if not violated his oath to defend Star League and the uniqueness of each constituent member state Richard Cameron the now thoroughly embarrassed and publicly humiliated First Lord managed to meekly countersign his own offer this small act was the turning point to know karinski was trying his best Krinsky was many things but above all he was dutiful he knew his place he served this his parents served the state his loyalty was everything his oldest to protect the inner sphere the Star League and the peace it brought were more important than power struggles or personal friendship to Kerensky didn't matter if the First Lord was a friend or near family to Kerensky it didn't matter that he raised the child to adulthood it didn't matter that Cameron was a peasant or a First Lord or a banker it made no difference to Kerensky what walk of life Cameron was for he saw duty to the state as everything and accordingly there was room for nothing else and while most would see this simple disagreement on a political issue this one act was absolutely critical this pivotal moment marks the beginning of a series of mistakes that would in Starleague in the fires of hell from this moment onward Richard turned towards Stefan America's influence and his advice as Kerensky stood as a reminder of what he couldn't or shouldn't do Amyris through and through was very supportive Amaris was a yes man he was an enabler karinski was a sour reminder to the limits of his power his reach in his ability by refusing to side with first Lord Richard Cameron karinski had pushed himself out of the first Lords circle of trust Kerensky was more or less exiled from the court by remembering the oath he had made to Star League above all ego being what it is the First Lord could not simply accept being denied by the great lords of starlene with America's influence growing the First Lord saw his place was to act and soon he did in magnificent ly foolish retaliation and urged on by Amaris the First Lord Richard Cameron dissolved the High Council completely again was Stefan Amaris being a very strong influence Richard Cameron embraced the full power of the First Lord began to rule with iron fist Richard Cameron issued the taxation Edict of 2763 which significantly increased taxes across the Inner Sphere and worse the tax burden was not equal the tax burden on the periphery was catastrophic aliy higher this was a problem as it was a highly illegal act and more importantly a flagrant violation of the reunification treaties which held the Inner Sphere and the periphery together fearing the worst and with good memory of the Inner Sphere as previous military adventures into their realm the periphery began to arm itself were a throw down the periphery knew full well how the Inner Sphere liked to throw its weight around by first making unreasonable demands and then acting on them for the resistance groups rapidly forming across the periphery intent on resisting Starleague they found that they had a new friend soon enough the periphery was all too ready to fight Star League because of help from no other than Stephan Amyris you see Amaris had been planning for all of them Amaris was playing both sides to further his own aim Amira's had after all inherited a nation from a family hell-bent on building the biggest military in the periphery and certainly more than many times the size of great house force strength Maris had even used his friendship with the first Lord Richard Cameron to buy mothball vessel TF ships by the flotilla boosting the rim world's republic fleet to 270 warships something that s LDF intelligence pointed out until people stopped listening stephannie Maris had even leveraged his nation-states vast wealth to commissioned and launch battleships that were larger and better protected than Star league's best available and he didn't stop their force for the insane are quite oftentimes methodical convincing Richard Cameron the periphery needed development funds and investment from the gratuity of star leagues enormous coffers Amyris applied for and gained access to in this government grants in untold sums that he doled out to the periphery states with these extensive funds he attracted all those who had felt the leash of Starleague from Patriots keen on once again earning self-governance to the bitter dispossessed a Maris supplied them all with enormous funds came self defense contractors from the Inner Sphere who soon armed the periphery with the best weapons money could buy with seemingly unlimited resources and access to powerful war fighting technologies unrest in the periphery accelerated exponentially requiring the eventual deployment of some 98 SL DF divisions into the greater periphery military region the SL da found itself spread thin fighting terrorists insurrection movements and mired in a series of hidden won engagements against a sophisticated guerrilla movement one adept at hiding in and fully supported by a civilian host population star league's Defence Force was well equipped for open warfare and in doctrine was the Hobbesian Leviathan force applied to an intense insurrectionist movement the Star League Defence Force found itself incapable of gaining ground it wasn't a military design to be a police force and without an opponent to match an overwhelm it struggle in addition with the vast distances of the periphery to cover the star league's defense force found itself quickly overwhelmed by a population that wanted them gone it seemingly any cost meanwhile a Maris playing friendly as ever offered general Kerensky information on terrorist groups operating in Victorian Concord at information that Kerensky dutifully acted on in the name of State Security when Kerensky found and captured a powerful Torian insurrection group's leadership he discovered that the group was in turn operating with the full blessing and support of the Torian Concord at this then resulted in karinski using the SL DF to tighten star league's grip on an increasingly unruly periphery which then increasingly saw the SLDS military presence as the criminal occupation by tyrants every heavy-handed s ldf response to the rising militancy of the periphery emboldened the more to resist the periphery now saw the SL DF as the enemy of enemy is the instrument of oppression of a distant and unwelcome Starleague they firstly felt the abuse of massive taxation and then the massed presence Starleague forces is an obvious prelude to conquest and God knows what else for the periphery they had to resist or submit the periphery being the periphery the choice was easy and soon enough things boiled over catastrophic lay [Music] you're trespassing on death 2765 the 265th Starleague heavy assault regiment was annihilated by a nuclear device smuggled into their garrison and things got worse from there all hell broke loose with a new Vandenberg uprising 17 worlds from the Torian Concord ad broke away in open rebellion Kerensky immediately traveled to the front tried to disarm the uprising without further blood being spilled these were after all his countrymen fellow citizens of star league that he was sworn to protect he ordered local militia units to stand down to return home and to not support further conflict local forces increasingly refused supporting the independence movement or really anyone who was giving it to Star League which inspired similar defiance across the periphery after all local units had stood up to the big bad government which flinched instead of annihilating them outright Kerensky's unwillingness to absolutely crush them out of compassion resulted in widespread perception in the periphery in that Star League had gone soft the uprising quickly spread through the periphery the magistracy of Canopus and the outworlds alliance garrison des LDF units woke to find themselves surrounded by a very hostile and well-armed periphery some SLE DF Garrison's were attacked some were functionally annihilated and well coordinated attacks while many others were surrounded and seized by civilian population tired of Star League oppression a few even switch sides deciding to join the periphery in an uprising distributing their weapons and in turn becoming rebels themselves the SLD F desperately tried to contain the spreading insurrection but to no avail the periphery was now willing to pay an enormous price to push Star League out and free themselves from their oppressors suicide attacks were the most common tactic of the early uprising and traffic alia effective when a fuelling vessel detonated inside the Star League battleship Nebraska karinski saw perhaps for the first time the true strength of enemy resolve they weren't interested in merely pushing Garrison's off planets anymore they were taking the fight to the SLD F wherever they were but was initially sporadic suicide attacks and disorganized resistance blossomed into organized military resistance from America's military funding the periphery raised some 50 odd regiments karinski was facing an actual war and defended what he could karinski nearly died as he took to the field to defend his headquarters piloting an atlas on new Vandenberg this was beyond his worst fears the Star League was now fighting its own citizens order was breaking down this wasn't an insurrection or an isolated movement this was a civil war being spread horribly thin and surrounded by endless hostiles Kerensky was rapidly losing territory and man doing his best to suppress what was a substantial enemy dedicated towards seeing the SLD F all-star League Defense Force Garrison's were cut off and unable to reinforce each other communications routinely failed sabotage and terrorism claimed warships drop ships and jump ships governments concealed insurrectionist groups or disavowed them while funding them and at the same time wishing them luck karinski was unwilling to use his full authority to crush the rebellion with maximum firepower for total war against his fellow citizens regardless of their Star League territorial status was unthinkable and with every victory the periphery was emboldened soon enough the periphery quickly became a lost cause with more and more systems declaring Starly to be occupiers and tyrants First Lord Richard Cameron called on all the Great Houses to assist the SLD F and putting down what he saw as an open rebellion to his just and honest rule the great Lords internal refused because this dumb kid had disbanded the High Council while pouting over executive order 156 the Great Lord saw the tax edict as the direct cause of the rebellion and reason that it was the first Lords problem after all their militaries were diminished and far too small to help anyways that's what the SL DF was for they reasoned this was a hammerin problem and they'd hold off jumping in until Cameron had solved it meanwhile karinski begged for reinforcements from all points trying his best to protect what he could he ordered all SL DF units capable of transport to move at best possible speed to reinforce his tenuous hold on the periphery the heart of star leave that Terra new Germany was emptied of its forces and a bid to reinforce Kerensky leaving only skeleton crews to man defense stations and garrison those worlds by mid-year 2765 there were barely ten SLD of regiments left in the terran hegemony everything else was locked in Garrison's elsewhere unable to transport were a fusing to leave their regional Military District undefended the s own DF never had to mobilize on this scale before as this was an unthinkable nightmare scenario the great Lords had been greatly offended by First Lord Cameron and now they were completely uncaring as to the fate of Star League under his control accordingly each of the Great Houses adopted a sit and wait approach to this period of massive instability offering token assistance to the SL DF through transportation to the front and nothing else many Lords were quite content to watch this play out defend their own Holdings and prepare to deal with the aftermath many predicted this would merely be the beginning unfortunately they were very ride the wound the periphery had become a meat grinder the SL DF had not prepared for by the end of 2765 the SL DF in the periphery were in dire condition cut off surrounded and refusing to surrender the loyalist SL DF regiments found themselves snuffed out one at a time often enough with overwhelming nuclear bombardment 13 entire divisions were glassed by nuclear fire for refusing to surrender to join the rebels pleas from cutoff units one unanswered as Kerensky was himself desperately holding on to rapidly disappearing friendly territory all he could do is listen as his forces died for reasons they couldn't grasp by the end of 2765 combat losses were so horrific in the periphery that half the SLDS units originally stationed there had to be disbanded as they were utterly destroyed they could not be reconstituted as any meaningful fighting for us by the end of 27 65 Kerensky had decided to evacuate the periphery with the remnants of his Task Force the general had no choice but to evacuate to the Inner Sphere and wait for reinforcements many months away he had been sent into the periphery as a policing action and barely survived with his command and tact he was wise enough as a general to walk away to reassess and reinforce and to recuperate what he had he was content to wait until the time was a riot the periphery war was an engineered unwinnable nightmare scenario and Kerensky had the wisdom to see through parts of it he waited patiently in the Inner Sphere waited patiently to rebuild his forces with SLDS reinforcements from the hegemony and other military districts as the surviving SL dia from the periphery uprising trickled in his intelligence of the situation developed he made plans to go back into the periphery but only when the SL TF was ready this would no longer be a police action this was war his plan was to reinforce first replace losses and bring a fresh man powered than to systematically conquer the periphery destroying the rebellion and restore star league's rightful order and the end it would take until January of 2767 a year and some months of hard campaigning to even gain the upper hand the total cost of the periphery uprising and rebellion to the SL DF was at the end of 2766 in beginning of 2767 106 divisions and 61 independent combat regiments additionally 61 divisions and six combat regiments had been rendered functionally in operative and disbanded out of more or less compassion as catastrophic as that sounds as slack-jawed as your veteran friends are right now at those numbers dark deeds unfolding in that jemma knee would prove the periphery uprising in guerrilla war to be nothing been a horrible distraction in a prelude for the hell to come now I have to wind back a bit and tell you about what had been transpiring in the hegemony as the periphery burned you see the Maris's [ __ ] was advanced on the periphery complained rebelled and then opened the word against our league the rim world Republic had been surprisingly in exceptionally loyal their military rounded up and executed traitors to the league their military expelled attacks from the periphery they had gone out of their way to be incredibly helpful to the needs of star league and as such they gained a most favored nation status with the first Lord Richard Cameron this demonstrated loyalty and greatness allowed Amaris to engineer a deal with a young Richard Cameron the year before Amaris in the rim worlds Republic had pledged his significant military forces to assist in the event of trouble crumble which was now certainly knocking on the door by 2766 as stated most of the Star League Defence Force was fighting an unending insurrection in the periphery most of the hegemonies outstanding Garrison's had been emptied to feed necessary manpower and supplies to the war front it is notable that even the bulk of house Cameron's own royal troops were diverted as Richard trusted Amaris completely the rim worlds Republic offered assistance in star leagues time of need was well universally accepted after all each of the House Lords had refused to help Sir Richard Cameron accepted the help of his close friend and trusted confidant Amaris through mass mobilisation the rimworld Republic sent an enormous number of units to garrison the now abandoned post throughout the egde M&E some s LDF commanders obviously saw this as a problem and tried to raise alarm as they were able but the signature of the First Lord pulled a lot of weight these troops were loyal under Richard Cameron's blessing the rimworld Republic had free reign and total access to all s ldf defensive systems totally integrating with the government in doing whatever they pleased including gaining access to these space defense network systems in the massive amount of armaments stockpiled throughout the hegemony by 2766 half the damn Rim worlds Republic military had been deployed to the center of the Inner Sphere for every SL DF division that left to fight on the front to rim worlds Republic divisions would arrive to reinforce the hegemony the very hardest Starling rim world's forces trained and drilled and Starling facilities and availed themselves of all the intelligence coming in from the front in particular they paid very close attention to the Star League Defense Force deployments and after-action reports from this observation they gained direct working knowledge of the SL DF its order of battle tactics operational deployments war fighting capacity and accordingly its weaknesses through integration into a hegemony defense systems they gained working knowledge of the space defense systems the Garrison's and armed caches throughout the heart of the Inner Sphere the armies of the rim worlds Republic were perfectly poised world would unfold they took their time and prepared accordingly with Kerensky far off fighting an insurrection and then open rebellion in the periphery in the rim worlds military at his back Stefan Amyris had decided it was well enough time to act after all Maris's life had led up to this very moment driven by his own insanity his own ego his own madness and to a finished imagined perceived wrongdoing to his family his destiny and his house by house Cameron and Star League Amyris had acted to undermine at all from 27:53 onward he worked to befriend Cameron saying yes when others said no being friendly when others sky's supporting him when others refused from 27:53 to 2766 and Maris had been the best friend of Richard Cameron there for him in any capacity and behind the scenes he worked to de stabilized star league from within he pushed for the tax reforms that would in turn drive the periphery insane and before that the edict to strip house Lords of their power abrogating many long-standing treaties in the process he pushed the periphery to the boiling point and then ensured a determined and stubborn general was there to feed their worst fears and not back down through this all stephannie Maris built trust in the First Lord by always being the voice of kindness friendship and benevolence and on December of the 27th 2766 stephannie Maris took the final step of his plan stephannie Maris had such an enormous amount of trust in the First Lord that he was allowed to walk into the audience chamber with his personal bodyguard and no one raised an eyebrow after all this was normal Maris was often seen doing what he pleased in the halls of power as he was a friend and trusted confidante of the First Lord in fact Maris had brought a present a gift in a carefully wrapped bonds Richard Cameron accepted the gift like many others finding underneath all that wrapping the jewel encrusted gilded magnificent work of engineering a laser pistol bearing the crest of stephannie Maris and in full view of all in attendance of the greater court stephannie Maris picked up the gun he raised it to the light showed how the jewels caught the Sun Sparkle and his first Lord Richard Cameron sat there staring at his bride stephannie MERIS smile and blew his [ __ ] brains out and that's how you get ahead in the inner sphere but a COO isn't just the removal of the head of a state or in this case the head of states had no the trick is to follow through and Amaris was most certainly thorough over time he'd managed to gain access to the palaces defense systems as Richard Cameron had shown their operation in great detail to his best his best friend many a time however Stefan had himself a [ __ ] problem the goddamn Black Watch let me tell you about the Black Watch the Royal Black Watch or 191st royal battle mech division could trace its lineage back to ancient Scotland of Terra in 1725 as a volunteer militia for the purposes of keeping watch for crime by the 28th century they had significantly evolved in the purest terms and the Black Watch was no joke they were not a parade unit they were not a propaganda piece to scare people into leaving the royal family alone and they did not idly bask in their royal regiments status they were the chosen protectors of house Cameron and thus the first family of Starleague the Black Watch was not a bauble or a plaything there were a ruthlessly loyal fighting force dedicated to their duty they were a hardened group of war fighting experts given the finest equipment humanity could muster along with the best training of any Regiment in the Inner Sphere in addition each and every one of them were graduates of the gunslinger program which in Battletech is the equivalent of saying they're all pretty goddamn amazing at their job and have spent their entire military career in Special Forces level training just for instances like this they had a single duty in which they took very seriously that duty was to protect the royal family the royal family in which Stefan had just decided to harm when one of Stefan's idiot goons managed to trip an alarm in the throne room and get vaporized in the process the Black Watch was alerted activated and immediately went into battle that's not to say the rim worlds Republic military hadn't planned to fight them Amaris had been thorough Amaris had ensured his best were armed and equipped for the task at hand America's elite forces had expended an enormous amount of time and effort to train for the purposes of taking Unity City securing a Maris's person and eliminating any remnant of the SLDS forces on the planet before the day was out for months and months they had brought equipment and personnel to the region and trained for this day they knew in full the operation of workings of the SL DF their garrison strengths and battle plans the coup required total suppression of all has so DF Garrison's on Terra for this to work and Amyris had reinforced his own forces to ensure total victory Maris's forces had in fact drawn up extensive plans to kill every last member of the Black Watch and trained exhaustively for a very long time to accomplish this singular mission with high efficiency unfortunately for them though the Black Watch was the stuff of legend immediately after the alarm was tripped America's goons almost lost their initiative is the first wave of royal defence troops jump packed onto the roof of the palace and tried to breach to slay all opposition while Amaris had the foresight to cause an hbg blackout cutting communications offworld the palaces alarm systems were sterner stuff as first responders the Black Watch Marine infantry proceeded to assault the throne room the job was to secure the royal family eliminate any threats and get them away from danger while the rest of the Black Watch powered up their equipment at nearby Fort Cameron cutting through the roof and throwing satchel charges the Black Watch marine infantry assault teams almost killed the Marus right then who did his best to hide and scream for reinforcements meanwhile the fourth Amaris dragoons commander had a problem he needed to get his main forces to the palace and unity city where a Maris's bodyguard was desperately fighting against the Black Watch Marine infantry the main issue was that between his position and a Maris's was the Black Watch garrison which was now on full alert all Amyris would have to do is get his fourth dragoons into the city and force and his coup would be secured all the black watch would have to do is fight like Mad Bastards until the SLDS reinforcements arrived and in this outcome the entire Inner Sphere held in the balance Amaris had prepared his men extensively for this very moment they had the initiative training in numbers and all the data required to make this happen all they had to do was to defeat a depleted garrison just now waking up this would however be easier said than done the coup was not isolated to the palace alone America's men had set off explosives and fires throughout Unity City to wreak mass confusion among first responders Maris's troops had even the foresight to affect as I said a communications blackout before deploying a series of precision nuclear strikes on the plaque watch base as soon as the alert went up with the nuclear strike wiping out most of Fort camryn remaining slda forces in the capital were down to just a black watch commander Hani Schmidt and her eight MEK warriors who had just escaped destruction moments earlier by being on standby alert when things started to go to [ __ ] Colonel Henny Schmidt was hard as nails and she knew her forces were the only thing in the way to stop America's fourth dragoons from entering the city in full force she decided to stop them for as long as humanly possible she knew every second she held would be potentially to save the day every second she held Mike grant the Black Watch Marine infantry time to kill a marys who they now had pinned down in the throne room every minute might give a chance to reverse the communications blackout and get an alert broadcast to the Inner Sphere at large every minute might give the royal family time to escape so Hani Schmidt took her MEC warriors into hell to buy time and amazingly for a time she stopped the fourth Amaris dragoons dead no matter what America's lead forces with all of their preparation training advantage in numbers and equipment through it the Black Watch that kept coming they nuked their base and still some of them had survived they then threw wave after wave of mechs tanks infantry and aerospace assets which all bore down on the Black Watch and onward the Black Watch marched crushing and burning and destroying everything the dragoons could muster dutifully they fought repelling every attempt of America's forces to break through they knew they had to buy time they knew no fear but a job undone outnumbered infighting like Mad Bastards to Lance's of the Black Watch held up the entire fourth Ameri strike tones and so began the final stand of the legendary Black Watch it forced flats with Puget Sound to one side and forested hills on the other the Black Watch made their final stand forcing the vastly superior numbers of the fourth Amyris dragoons to engage them at essentially point-blank range desperately the fourth Amaris dragoons sent everything they had at them and watched an absolute horror as the Black Watch blew them away like dandelions wave after wave some of the best Amyris had died - the Black Watch effortlessly who cut them down with mechanical precision the Black Watch held the line hoping to tie up the Amaris dragoons long enough for loyal forces to regain control of unity city or at least Killam eras the second battalion of America's 4th dragoons were pushed into action and were nearly annihilated in an instant two of the very best companies that REM world's Republic ever had were cut to pieces before they could respond to cry out no matter what the dragoons threw at them the Black Watch refused to die every single attack was repulsed often with no survivors save the black watch waiting somewhere out there in the dark Maris was by this time panicking this wasn't going down like it should have no one was supposed to be this hard to kill time was ticking down and sooner or later SLT of reinforcements would arrive potentially ending the cool he saw all of his hard work all of his family's hard work is a legacy slipping through his fingers he urged his troops to do anything to stop the Black Watch desperate and running out of time the fourth Amaris dragoons lost so much goddamn equipment to the Black Watch that they have one desperate option left the 4th Americans and they're rushed reinforcements resorted to surrounding the Black Watch with sheer numbers pinning them down with all the firepower they could muster and continually throwing inordinate amounts of manpower to prevent them from moving and then dropping a series of nuclear bombs on the whole lot decimating their own forces in nuclear hellfire just to try to kill them just in the threat of the Black Watch the last surviving footage of the battle shows the Black Watch commander and four remaining Black Watch mech warriors gunning down a rim worlds Archer as the double flash hit Marisa zone for threat goons barely survived in time to save him from the Black Watch Marines trying to cut their way into the audience chamber and gut him like a pig as most historians will say the Black Watch was technically destroyed that day except for a handful of the regimen that still escaped all of that and survived yes the Black Watch is that hard to kill nukes are merely inconvenient these crazy lads and lasses did not sulk for their dead comrades they had work to do they did not disappear as one might after a Kuno they had a duty from the irradiated rubble of fort Cameron deep from the bunkers beneath it five members of the Black Watch survived under Captain Elizabeth Haysom they would escape the battlefield to form the ghosts of the Black Watch as a guerrilla movement in order to carry the fight on for generations if need be they vowed vengeance upon Amaris they vowed vengeance upon his people his armies his administrators and his cause the Black Watch would haunt Amaris until he died and well someone suggests those who died in a nuclear attack were buying time for something far greater trading their lives for the purpose of distraction rumours and later controversial evidence would indicate some of them escaped with an unknown of house camera despairing far beyond the reach of Amyris but I've covered that elsewhere all across the Inner Sphere similar betrayals were applying out with the rim world's Republic forces suddenly and decisively turning on the depleted on demand and under equipped s LDF Garrison's for many months these Garrison's had been emptied to reinforce karinski in the periphery for many months rim worlds Republic forces had replaced their numbers worming their way into defense systems and preparing for the day of betrayal Amaris had an enormous cost to him and his rim worlds Republic amassed an army of over 450 regiments to hold the hegemony this army had for the past year slowly wormed its way into the hegemony and prepared with extensive training for it just this very moment a coup designed to be a sledgehammer blow against the heart of star league often enough rim world's forces would use nuclear a biological weapons and a sneak attack to ensure that the regular SL DF units didn't have any chance of retaliating or warning other Garrison's suddenly star league forces found themselves overwhelmed by an enemy that had worked alongside them long enough to know their weaknesses inside and out massive nuclear bombardment was the reward for anyone who resisted if anyone was capable of resisting with sufficient force stephannie Maris began using the threat of killing the first Lord who none safe Amaris knew was already dead faced with their lord being possibly alive some Garrison's would lay their arms down out of loyalty or hope that the First Lord would somehow survive others surrendered that day sing star league is a lost cause and laying their arms down to save their skins many more died at their stations till their last screaming for help that would never arrive a bare handful though escaped to fight and resist for years to come in a single day Maris had achieved his objective near total rim world's republic control of many quarter and hegemony systems throughout the hegemony rim world's republic military operations struck with perfect synchronization occupying SDS platforms and planetary defense installations throughout the heart of Star League slda forces were surprised and murdered at their posts in a single day the majority of the hegemony was occupied by the rim worlds Republic and stephannie Maris the orchestrated communications blackout had enabled the rim worlds Republic to strike with near total surprise and many months of preparation made transition of power nearly clean soon enough the entire a Gemini and chorus LDF Holdings would be under America's thumb one man now controlled two vast empires and potentially the whole of the Inner Sphere is new Serpa he controlled in theory the banks the FTL communications first circuit the vast starlit bureaucracy and the assets of two tremendous empires however there was a one last piece of business to attend the rest of the family camera you see the Cameron's word Starly Starly glow go is their house seal after all for generations that ruled it wanted and for better or worse held it together Maris realized they were a threat and decided to sort them out in the traditional manner of a new server first he gave them the chance of joining him which some took after considering the alternatives regardless of what was promised or threatened in the end Damaris was [ __ ] crazy once the killing started he just continued on killing until they were all gone with the last of their bodies on the cold throne room floor he sealed it turning the seat of humanity's power into house Cameron's final two throughout all the Germany territory vast efforts were soon underway to wipe out any relic of Cameron rule or star League this was to be a new empire after all in the old ways had to be ground to dirt through this transition the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere took a neutral tag they were smart enough to realize that eventually all governments topple and on occasion new blood comes at the expense of old blood as well the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere were eager to see how this all played out after all in the rise house Cameron had this coming house military's individually didn't have the power to conquer Amyris nor did they have the one to do so Maris had not conquered their holdings after all in addition there was a nun salt issue the Star League Defence Force was the single most expensive military industrial investment in centuries and while their assets in the Germany were now captured or gone the remainder of the SL DF were still fighting in the periphery at this time was soon clear that until the matter of the SLDS ultimate loyalty was handled Maris only really ruled is in the Serpa until via Silvia was aligned to the rule of Stefano Maris or disbanded the permanency of the coup was still hanging in the air the SL DF was waiting for news having in the meantime conquered new Vandenberg and more or less gained an upper hand in the periphery however a karinski sent news to the now-deceased Richard Cameron and he received no reply this wasn't immediately a cause for panic Kerensky knew Richard and he were on shaky ground at best Kerensky knew the kid didn't favor him regardless of why and so Kerensky waited in January news began to circulate about an h PG glitch in the hegemony the first circuit of SL calm now being seemingly crippled while the communications had been rerouted through secondary channels the h PG traffic to the hegemony had not been restored by late January people began to notice in panic that no traffic from Terra was forthcoming then gemenese central bank defaulted by failing to authorize routine SL DF wage and upkeep it is known that in the event of hbg malfunction the Starly government would revert to courier handled communications traffic however every Starling courier sent into the hegemony failed to ever report in again general Kerensky's smelled a rat he began to send his own Scout ships to bring back news any news but it would be Amyris who would break the silence the merits would declare himself emperor on 31 January 27 67 ananova addressed to the inner sphere he indicated he had who served and replaced Richard Cameron but left his ultimate fate unknown it would take until February the 4th for it to reach new Vandenberg and the Kerensky's ears as self-proclaimed First Lord stephannie Maris's first official order was to try to get a hold on the SL DF and either gain their loyalty or keep them busy until he could neutralize them as a threat after declaring star league to be renamed the Amyris Empire Maris ordered as Emperor for general Kerensky to maintain pressure on the Torian Concord at breakaway region he offered to make general karinski a very powerful man offering to have Kerensky as his sword arm to bring law and justice and order once more to humanity karinski was no fool for he had long suspected Hua Maris was and he realized what was going on and so Kerensky made a choice that would change everything Kerensky said no thus began the American [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] now open [Music] [Music] and we - broken by a vinyl Xmas bowl and we are only four men as they gather we meet the boys weapons [Music] one day we'll win our land Holt will go ready never more now will be the hand to plunder it will be an end to war when razor cuts set the peace wait women wine and song to celebrate survival both We're warriors [Music] until the dropships Thunder dropping down through open skies while we got where our people gather with them all would die then open fire hold the line focus we will draw their homes and families as warriors [Music] you I don't care what any of you think America's wearing a [ __ ] bib and you can't prove me wrong

Channel: The Black Pants Legion

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Keywords: battletech lore history, battletech lore, battletech universe lore, tex talks battletech, black pants legion tex, tex black pants legion, tex talks battletech lore, tex battletech, battletech lore explained, battletech lore video, battletech universe lore explained, battletech lore blackpantslegion, battletech lore atlas, battletech lore clans, battletech lore amaris, battletech lore Kerensky, Battletech lore Star League, Battletech lore amaris civil war

Id: c71x68uWd5k

Length: 69min 47sec (4187 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 18 2019