Shadow Lords - House Amaris Sourcebok [Archiv]

Joker

28.08.2004, 16:59

Hier sind die ersten zwei Kapitel. Vielleicht sollten wir uns auf 1 bis 2 Übersetzer einigen.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction and is an unofficial sourcebook based on the Classic Battletech game. Classic Battletech is a property of WizKids LLC. All rights reserved. All artwork is the property of their respective artists.

Writing: Triptych
Rank Insignias/ Battlearmor & Vehicle Designs: oriontwin
Illustrations: Squigglysquid, Alex Iglesias, Solarmech, Wombat, Tommy “crayonred” Colon
Dioramas and Miniatures: Heiko “Joker” Haeublein
Featured Artists: Jean “Moebius” Giraud, Christopher Foss, Jason Warren
WarShip Designs: Dr. Love
Web Hosting: Galen “Captain Martius” Tucker
Special Thanks: www.battletechuniverse.org, www.classicbattletech.com, ComStar Historical Archives, www.mektek.net

SHADOW LORDS:
House Amaris Sourcebook

WOLFNET CLASSIFIED REPORT: OMEGA LEVEL CLEARANCE

From: Lieutenant Sheila Dumont, Wolfnet Analysis Department, Outreach
To: Commander Jaime Wolf
Date: 1 December, 3067

My sincerest apologies for the lateness of this report. When I had shown the uncompleted first draft to General Maeve Wolf back in October of this year, she immediately ordered me not to submit the report to you until it was completed and we had confirmed the information. Although the report is now pretty much complete, I am afraid that we have been unable to corroborate or confirm the revelations that are listed herein. Much of the information about the history of this dreaded faction had apparently come into our hands as a matter of chance: earlier during this year a man who was on his way to Temptown in Wolf City was accidentally struck by a speeding motorist. His injuries were severe and he ultimately died on his way to the hospital. When our local law enforcement units attempted to identify him they went up against a stone wall. The man had absolutely no positive identification; biometric analysis and subsequent filing of his records were sent to ComStar’s universal personal directory database but to no avail, there were apparently no prior records of this man as far his identity went. Suspecting that the deceased might have been an intelligence agent for a foreign power, I immediately authorized the dissemination of his belongings. The deceased clearly had forged identification papers as well as a few other personal items of no importance.

One particular piece of evidence on the other hand, presented a chilling revelation that prompted me to investigate further. It was a datadisk that contained passages from a book titled “Vicissitudes” by a certain writer named “Meridian”. Although the name of the author is unknown to us, I have included a brief bio from the ComStar archives in regards to the Amaris Civil War on a certain MechWarrior who bears the same callsign. I am personally convinced that there is a connection here.

The other sources that we have accessed and compiled this report on are our intercepted and decoded HPG transcripts from Word Of Blake. As you well know, ever since we have begun forming a coalition against these former ComStar fanatics in the Sarna March, Wolfnet has also stepped up surveillance tenfold. When we had archived all the intercepted transmissions from them, I had then run a pinpoint search with a number of keywords and phrases and that is how I was able to retrieve a chilling analysis on this faction’s military and technical hardware. Quite a lot of these HPG transmissions also comes from Clan sources in regards to their newfound problems with the Dark or Bandit castes. I must further add that it seems that this new power is either in league or may even be controlling the Blakist cause due to their technical and military assistance with them. Although this last revelation has not been confirmed, it represents a terrifying prospect not just for our anti-Blakist coalition, but for the former member-states of the Star League as well.

I pray to our beloved founders that I am not too late in submitting this report to you.

In order to see what lies in the future, one must return to the past. The past is the key to our ultimate destiny and one must study it carefully in order to see clearly what lies ahead. The past serves not only to anchor us in the present, but it is an oracle for what must be done in the future. The destiny of our people and our cause is now at a juncture, we must remember what has been wronged in order to fight for what is right. One must return to the beginning if one is to see the end.
-From Vicissitudes, by Meridian

THE RIM WORLDS REPUBLIC

Although most of the information regarding this Periphery nation was lost because of the complete destruction of the Hegemony Central Library during the SLDF retaking of Terra in 2779, bits and fragments remain to present a partial knowledge of this once great power.

What is known is that the Rim Worlds Republic was once a Periphery nation located at the borders of the Lyran Alliance. Early records tell us that the most influential planet of the Republic was Apollo. First settled in 2250 by Hector Worthington Rowe and his band of misfits and malcontents, Rowe was a romantic who had a warped vision of ancient Greek myths and philosophy. A number of historians even state that Rowe might have been mentally deranged to the point of being psychotic, based on these case files, it might very well be true. In accordance with his ideal of a utopian society, women were forced to choose either marriage with his henchmen or demoted to the status of slaves. One exception that Rowe did allow was that anyone with technical skills be exempted from mundane, hard labor tasks in order to concentrate on more important duties such as the construction of weapons and industry.

During Shiro Kurita’s formation of the Draconis Combine in 2330, many refugees, mostly artisans and technicians, began to colonize the worlds in the Rim Worlds region of space. With their technical expertise and exemption from hard labor, these future Rim Worlders opened the first University in the Periphery just four years later. A further wave of refugees from the Rasalhague district also added into the melting pot. The rulers of the Combine assumed that these refugees just vanished from the Inner-Sphere due to the fact that no one outside of Rim Worlds space knew that the Republic existed; the Rowe dynasty virtually controlled all JumpShip transports with an iron fist and forbade any contact with the outside. Although lacking in natural resources, the worlds along the Rim were blessed with an abundance of refugees with advanced technical skills and knowledge. This in turn made it easy for the first cities to develop and thrive. Within a few decades, the Rim Worlds economy grew in leaps and bounds as advances in biotechnology and heavy industry created several large cities, mostly in the world of Apollo. But beneath the façade of prosperity, there was enormous social unrest, especially among the Helots, who were treated as virtual slaves. In late 2338, the Rim Worlds Republic accidentally revealed itself to the Tamar Pact, which was on its way to form part of the Lyran Commonwealth. All this time the Rim Worlds existence was in virtual secrecy but it had ultimately grown too large for it to be hidden away forever. Within several months, the hereditary ruler of the Republic, Maxwell Rowe, made his first political visit to the Tamar Pact and signed a treaty of non-aggression and neutrality. Although he had managed to diffuse a potentially volatile situation, Maxwell Rowe did not realize that his actions would spell the end of his ancestor’s vision of utopia.

In 2340, a massive social upheaval began when Arabella Rowe started a revolt to free the Helots that were kept in thrall for nearly one hundred years. Maxwell Rowe, the deposed ruler, fled Apollo with a handful of his followers and disappeared into the Deep Periphery. Arabella Rowe then declared herself First Consul of the newly democratized Rim Worlds Republic and freed the Helots. Under the new leadership of First Consul Arabella Rowe, a new period of exploration and colonization began as the Republic tried to expand as close as possible to its predetermined borders with the newly formed Lyran Commonwealth. The reasons for this change in foreign policy were unclear but it might have been perhaps prudent for Rowe to desire a “buffer zone” between her realm and the massive Lyran state. A string of new colonies under the Rim Worlds banner would have added benefits in the long term.

With the passing of Arabella Rowe in 2376, her son, Michael Durant became the new hereditary First Consul of the Republic. By this time the Rim Worlds consisted of 23 inhabited star systems, over 12 billion citizens and 2 million soldiers. The Durant family then ruled the Republic in a generally peaceful, unbroken succession until 2459, when Heather Durant, the last of the Durant dynasty, decided to pass on the reigns of succession to Lady Terens Amaris.

THE AMARIS DYNASTY

Once just nothing more than a minor family of nobles hailing from the Terran Hegemony, the first recorded instance of the Amaris family occurred when Lady Terens Amaris was placed in charge of an investigation of a failed assassination against First Lord Jacob Cameron. Based on her background, Lady Terens Amaris was a former star operative in the Hegemony Central Intelligence Bureau and she therefore had experience in covert, clandestine operations. Nothing conclusive came out of this incident but it does spread to light about the conspiracy theories in relation to the Amaris family. In 2463, a scant four years after proclaiming Lady Amaris as her successor for First Consul in the Rim Worlds Republic, Heather Durant died of an undiagnosed heart condition. Almost immediately, Lady Amaris began to consolidate her power, using everything from blackmail to bribery in order to entrench her family firmly in power. A number of delegates from the Republic Senate complained but mysteriously became sick and died or else met with horrific accidents that virtually crippled them and forced them to retire within the next few years. By 2488, the Republic had become a de-facto fiefdom of House Amaris.

A number of disturbing questions began to arise in 2499, when an unarmed exploration vessel was attacked and destroyed by what seemed to be a Rim Worlds WarShip in Lyran space. Onboard that ship was a future First Lord of the Star League, John Cameron. It wasn’t common knowledge for foreign powers to know the composition of crewmen in the SLDF fleet and yet a number of historians point out that Lady Amaris already began to organize one of the most ruthless and efficient spy networks ever created to the point that she could have easily learnt whether a member of the Cameron family was either part of a ship’s crew or their general whereabouts. Did the Republican WarShip act on her direct orders? This is a question that has not yet been answered.

Both a shrewd politician and a charming hostess when the situation demanded it, Lady Terens Amaris was an enigma. Not much is known about her past prior to her becoming a celebrated undercover operative in the Hegemony’s Central Intelligence Bureau. Possessed of great intellect and character, Lady Amaris could alternately charm or cow anyone into submission. Her ambitions, to say the least, were no less than to see her family’s power and influence eclipse even that of the lofty dynasties of the Camerons and McKennas. Was this aspiration borne of jealousy or just pure greed? A number of other historians point out her failed attempt to win the heart of Jacob Cameron as the turning point in her otherwise uneventful life, that she had developed an intense hatred for the Cameron line after the future First Lord of the Star League spurned her. Whether any of this was ever true may probably be never known. All traces of the Amaris family’s histories, including their most intimate records, were personally destroyed by General Aleksandr Kerensky just before the SLDF exodus.
-Thelos Auburn, The Rise and Fall of House Amaris

Lady Terens Amaris’ son and successor Gregory Amaris, nearly undid what her ambitious mother had worked so hard to gain. Unlike his mother, Gregory Amaris was not a shrewd politician, in fact many complained about his gruff, tyrannical attitude towards his own citizens. As a politician, Gregory was prone to outbursts of temper and habitually miscalculated every time he tried to push forward an unpopular law. Whereas his mother would have used subtle political maneuvering to achieve her goals, Gregory Amaris used open threats to his opponent’s families and would stubbornly refuse to compromise on anything. All these matters came to a head in 2573, when Gregory Amaris (without any prior consultation from his advisers) unilaterally enacted the Universal Act of Loyalty, a law that required all Rim Worlders to swear loyalty to House Amaris and the Star League. The people of the Republic were marked by strong streaks of individualism and a healthy contempt for authority and the attempted enforcement of this law was all too much. In response, many Rim Worlders began the creation of an underground Rim Republican Army, dedicated to overthrowing the Amaris dynasty and restoring democracy across the Republic.

In 2575, the Rim Provisional Government, the political wing of the outlawed Rim Republican Army, was formed and immediately attempted to take over the Republic. Gregory Amaris then attempted to suppress the revolt using his personal House troops but was rapidly overwhelmed by superior numbers. With his inexperienced (and largely untrained) units in full retreat, Gregory then evacuated Apollo with his remaining troops and immediately called on the Star League to intervene on his side. In asking the Star League for help, Gregory Amaris used the trump card that he was cultivating all this time. Many analysts believed that this was the one thing that Gregory Amaris did right, in the past several years he was courting influential politicians and generals within the Star League should his own citizens ever turn against him. Now that his worst fears were realized, Gregory used his ace in the hole to regain his mother’s empire.

The Reunification War was a bloody affair not just for the Rim Worlds Republic but also for the other Periphery States who rebelled against the might of the Star League. Although the Rim Provisional government sparked the Periphery-wide revolt, the other Periphery powers had bided their time and built up their respective militaries to try and resist the SLDF and joined together in a loose coalition to wrest control of the Periphery from the Star League forever. The outcome, however, was never in doubt as the Periphery states each fell one by one and the war ended in their defeat in 2597. As the Rim Worlds Republic became a Territorial State of the Star League, Gregory Amaris returned to Apollo and had every member of the Rim Provisional Government executed.

Just two years later however, Gregory Amaris was unceremoniously assassinated by a military junta from his own core of “loyal” troops. His son Richard Amaris succeeded him as President, apparently the junta felt that they could use the seemingly timid Richard as a figurehead in their new government. For the next five years, Richard Amaris ruled quietly until 2604, when his personal bodyguards made a coup of their own, deposing the military junta and executing their leaders. Richard then once again ruled uneventfully until his death in 2619. His daughter Amanda Amaris ruled for just one year before being assassinated in a botched coup attempt. Amada’s brother Jeffrey briefly stepped in as President but soon abdicated in favor of his niece Selanta Amaris. Selanta then reigned for close to two decades until she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer for which she underwent treatment in 2649. During that time she chose her cousin Tadeo Amaris to serve as regent of the Republic during her absence.

Unlike Richard and Selanta, Tadeo Amaris possessed an ambition that bordered close to that of his ancestor, Lady Terens Amaris. During his brief time as regent, Tadeo’s most important contribution was the reorganization of the House Amaris military. Tadeo had correctly come to the conclusion that his House troops were woefully under-equipped and was full of incompetent commanders who held onto their positions more from loyalty and political influence to the Amaris clan than from having any real aptitude for warfare. Having served in the Amaris military as a young officer as well as having been exposed to the SLDF command structure and doctrines under their Officer Exchange Program, Tadeo Amaris was a man perfectly suited to rearming the woefully under-equipped and ill-trained Rim Worlds military. With the absolute authority given to him by Selanta, Tadeo Amaris began purging the officer corps of the Rim Worlds military, weeding out incompetent commanders and promoted young, innovative officers into command positions. With his past experience as an observer in the SLDF, Tadeo also instituted a new doctrine for the Republican military, one suited to harnessing combined arms warfare. Within six months of his reforms, a special (and secret) military academy began construction in Apollo and was in operation a year later. After realizing that the majority of the citizens of the Republic were either apathetic or even antagonistic towards his family, Tadeo Amaris also began to woo disaffected members from the Great House militaries, even going to the point of attempting to recruit retired SLDF personnel to serve as advisors in his military reforms. Because of this, not only did the quality of his troops increase, but also the military’s loyalty to his family improved as well.

Not content with the status quo, Tadeo Amaris also began secret negotiations with the Draconis Combine to grant him shipments of advanced military hardware. The leaders of the Combine, feeling that they needed a future ally that could strike along the rear of their Lyran enemies, agreed and began to covertly ship war materiel to the Republic in 2650. However, all did not go Tadeo’s way. In that very same year, Star League intelligence found out about the illegal shipments and First Lord of the Star League Michael Cameron ordered the immediate halt to the weapons shipments. It was at this moment that Tadeo’s weakness became apparent: he was not a shrewd politician but rather a military man. Instead of trying to diffuse the situation, Tadeo replied that he had done nothing wrong and would continue. In response, Lord Cameron ordered five SLDF regiments on maneuvers just outside Rim Worlds space in 2651. A panicked Tadeo Amaris then sent the bulk of his newly reformed regiments along the Lyran border. The situation remained tense until Tadeo seemingly complied with Cameron’s demands. In reality, Tadeo Amaris was still secretly receiving the arms shipments, but in a more covert way. He had learned an expensive lesson.

Just four years later, Selanta Amaris returned as President of the Republic. Recognizing her cousin’s contributions to the revitalization of the Republic military, Selanta retained Tadeo as a trusted advisor so that he could continue his military reforms in secret. Tadeo gratefully accepted and continued his military improvement programs until his death in 2676. In 2687, Selanta Amaris died of the cancer that had seemingly returned. Selanta’s son and successor Bertram was almost immediately assassinated by Gregor Siever, a distant relative whose ancestor was once Selanta’s Regent when she was an infant. Gregor in turn was then killed by his brother Carl who then became the new President of the Republic. Carl Siever then ruled as President until his guilt feelings over his bloody rise to power made him abdicate the position in deference to Selanta’s granddaughter Cynthia Amaris in 2692. Just as when the power of the Amaris family was ready to wane, a rapid turn of events thrust them into destiny’s stage once more.

Joker