Essence Wielding Social General [Battletech]

Imperator Pax · Mar 1, 2022

Essence Wielding Social General
Space Heir II & Essence of MegaMek

1st January 3015
He had the most Lyran name possible save perhaps if it had been Steiner. Truthfully he could have done without that given the situation that the ruling house of the Lyran Commonwealth had undergone as of late, as Odin Lowe had his own problems. He supposed the name wasn't horrible... and as the Lyran Commonwealth tried to be Imperial Germany in space he doubted he'd really ever been in the running for the paternal county anyway.

Morgantic unions being a thing and all.

More to the point it didn't matter. Graf, 'count', wasn't an especially impressive title when in the Lyran Commonwealth it usually given to landholders of large territories, such as an island or continent, or the owners of large industries. The passing of a space junkers of sorts just meant a trip the lawyers office, and then he would have been on his way... but it wasn't that simple.

Nothing was ever simple. Odin Lowe might have been a lyran name but he also had the memories of a 21st century Terran and another boon besides. At least he was in the Lyran commonwealth, he might not be in line to a paternal title, but the bloodline along illegitimate or not would make it easier in the Commonwealth to use money to buy his own. Or more correctly money and connections to build his own company. He had something to start out with there.

Because while Odin Lowe had left the offices of Frank and Walls not having inherited a noble title he didn't really need one. He had been left with plenty to 'earn' his own. Five Starlord class JumpShips by itself would have been an unfathomable bequest. He had more DropShips on top of that... more than he actually had collars for, and certainly more than he had crews for at the moment.

He wasn't sure whether he wanted to keep the five Seeker Dropships, some of them could probably be sold off, the same was almost certainly true for the Avengers. Finding a buyer for the Condors might be a bit harder, but he'd have to do market research... or hire someone to handle that. Monarch, Mule, Buccaneer and Mammoths would all be useful for a strictly civilian side spacing firm they could be retained on the books. The other DropShips well that would require more thinking on the matter. The Triumphs with as many of them as there were would probably be sold off... but some of the others... that would require more thought.

The more than a hundred million in additional liquid capital was another nice addition... never mind the rest of the metal. He needed operators though for them. He needed troops, and technicians, and staffing for other positions...

Technically speaking he had graduated early from university, a full year early if one wanted to be accurate, and the letter drafted wasn't hard to draft. His staff advisor had known that a departure was coming... and thus a death in the family and inheritance was an excellent fiction to bid adieu rather than continuing his studies. He could spin a yarn about need the time to invest in public partnerships and space before considering looking at research, but the implication would be clear that he didn't plan to return to pursue post graduate research. No, Odin knew his next step would be to find a moderately well off world within the Commonwealth that he could craft into the basis of a potential title, elevation to Viscount or Graf even. Duke wouldn't be practicable in the short term.... but perhaps one day.
--
Research, negotiations, as well as other matters on Tharkad was as his conversation over an unplanned lunch meeting with his faculty adviser suggested would likely take months. It was probably true, but it was also likely that it was an attempt to convince him to continue his studies in academia. Doctor Ravenwood was an aging man, pushing ninety, who had already seen his mother decline the scientific life in pursuit of being a glamorous mechwarrior, which he had always felt to be quite a pity. Leaving Tharkad University for business while understandably Lyran would be something of a waste in the old man's mind. Staying on Tharkad simply wasn't an option. The capital of the commonwealth was safe, but there no opportunity to carve out a landhold, and raise a company here. Any kind of firm would have too much competition and there wasn't a need for a mercenary company even if he found the personnel.

He ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. The worlds where dukes would be most likely to give him free reign were those closer to the frontiers. Ones who would be looking more for the military protection of troops, that would simultaneously give him a connection to existing power structures rather than just hanging out in the ass end of no where. Otherwise he might have leveraged his contacts from his proper schooling for Kwangjong-ni... but that was too far. Too far out was it worth trying to use those contacts for introduction on Antares... no probably not... that left Clinton as an option... or Rigil Kentarus.

The last would not just be near Galatea, right on Terra's doorstep, but was close enough to the borders to all of the other successor states. That might make the planetary ruler willing to take on a young unlanded man with the money looking to rectify that... it would require research though.

Clinton might be a better option, but he'd have to investigate that tomorrow. Tomorrow... or rather it would have to start tomorrow. Tharkad was the heart of the Commonwealth. Its capital... but of three hundred worlds any sort of research on any single one would take time... and Odin had to force himself to be realistic it might be better to take somewhere quieter. Running a commercial outfit within the Commonwealth's borders might well be the best option, why even bother with the other more barbarous houses at all?

Money of course.

Choosing a world insulated against the depredations of the combine's ruffians or the marik thugs meant less chance for profit. It was also a world less likely to place a greater value on the military assets he could bring to the domain. The worlds along the periphery were ripe for colonization, and lacked the threats of the great houses but would also be less chance for profit, and not just in the short term. Setting up somewhere nearer to the Inner Sphere was certainly going to produce better long term prospects than farther afield.

Running a hand through sun streaked dirty blonde hair Odin recognized that this was more likely to be something left to qualified business personnel. He had contacts from. His mother had left him with his grandparents, her parents, until he had been old enough to come along on her mercenary wanderings. Rather to send him to a Prep school, as his maternal grandparents might have preferred, he'd been shipped off to a military academy he had been able to go the university of Tharkad by dint of family tradition.

... his mother might have been able to swing the connections to enroll him in the Nagelring and thus a continuation of military education towards either a career in the LCAF or Mercenary life... but Tharkad and tradition had won out. If she found out though about the Mechs he had just inherited there was sure to be an expectation of some military service. He had five other siblings... but it was really only the paternal ones he was presently concerned with.

Father's heir... and presumably the spare. At the very least his paternal half brother had an advantage of coming from a maternal noble lineage... that was to say he was the product of a non morgantic union, which permitted him to inherit in the first place. That might be potential competition or a complication at some point.

Just because he hadn't majored in business management didn't mean he didn't understand how the game was played he just wasn't prepared to handle the more esoteric venues of business. He needed someone who had done that... and he knew where to find someone.

A lesson he had learned from going up in a mercenary command... or rather the application. Too many mercenaries thought to grab as many men as they could. A commander that did so ended up with a following of dogs, not a force of steel. You needed good foundation to build anything... and even that wouldn't necessarily be enough to get a company through the first year of business. There were ways to insulate against the dangers of the first year, he had connections... admittedly friends who would expect returns on the investment but those would be expectations in good faith.

That he could make good on. He needed land, which he could acquire himself, at least enough to set him on the way to holding enough to warrant letters patent. He needed letters of introduction, which he could get, to give to a planetary ruler who he needed to find to convince them to let him buy the land though.

A mote of light manifested as the clock struck midnight.

25 BP illuminated in a blocky gothic script became 50 BP. New Years day 3015 was over on Tharkad it was the 2nd January 12:00 3015.

3 January 3015
Freiherr, or baron, was the first rung of hereditary nobility. It was common enough that a baron could still participate in the estates general there were barons who ruled entire worlds... and if he had set out for the periphery border then he could probably joined their ranks... taken some rim world republic world the commonwealth had gobbled up ... but no. He had decided to avoid a direct military adventure... conquering Illyria was probably not a good idea.

Trying to do it with an inexperienced military force? Almost certainly suicidal. Expending the capital necessary to raise a force to carry such an expedition would win him prestige for his daring, and of course Lyran high society were always impress by a willingness to spend large sums of money on ventures... but he wasn't sure it was worth it.

So that option had been discarded. Research on Tharkad had also spoiled any hopes for Clinton... the mercenary Cranston Snord had already settled his land hold there so that struck off that planet from his list. If Snord hadn't held the world he would have moved on there and hoped to deter Snord from settling on it, but the mercenary was already there.

Antares and Rigil Kentarus. Alba was the largest city he doubted that he could convince the planetary ruler to cede it not with its vital water purification systems... not without either supplanting him or significant other reason. Rigil though... granting title to the moon as a whole was unlikely, but more reasonable chance of that than receiving Alba.

There were a litany of minor worlds that had no LosTech Caches he knew of, which wasn't implicitly a downside. It had been enough to eliminate Dixie from consideration though. If he started any program there it might attract the wrong sort of Marik attention, as the FWL had demonstrated it was willing to mount incursions against the world on rumor. He didn't want to be caught up in such a thing. That was a doubling down on eliminating Clinton from the list as well... and a black mark potentially against Rigil.

He wasn't sure if he could be so discerning as to eliminate every world within a jump of the Free Worlds League... never mind two or three though. Eliminating Dixie, and Clinton were a combination of factors. He had inherited a battalion of Mechs, a battalion of vehicles, and the score of DropShips but not the manpower to staff them. The initial thought had been to find a buyer... preferably someone who would appreciate the opportunity to acquire that hardware.

Odin stared at the blocky gothic script. The essence resonating inside his twin souls. He wasn't looking at the Battle Value, or the Volume of C-Bills in his bank. The options for creating new units, that was to design new units, likewise wasn't his focus... nor was load existing unit.

[Recycle]

He was weighing his options. There was no guarantee that he could find a buyer for the DropShips quickly... and he only had thirty collars which presupposed that he wasn't going to bring any contracts along... which meant travelling to wherever would have only his own cargo options, which admittedly he had plenty of...

He had too many DropShips. While potentially connections from the sale might be useful he would receive greater benefits from this.

[Recycle] Dropships.

The list of the hundred dropships he had inherited appeared in a drop down tab the spreadsheet that formed in open air in front of his desk listing name and class as they had been under his father. A man he had barely known.

He wavered. The Avengers and indeed some of the fancier DropShips surely could have been used for political bargaining. The Ten Union-class DropShips were easier to do away with. 3962 BV apiece... and he was recycling them for the Battle Value rather than the C-Bills he was fairly certain that he had the monetary resources the liquid currency for now.

The Unions were an easier matter. He had better Mech Carriers, and Unions weren't nearly as useful compared to the Mules as civilian haulers. So that was to lyran half's thinking was easier.

Made easier even more so by the notion that the BV value of a JumpShip was far far less than that of a Union even though a Union's C-Bill value was pocket change to that of a Star Lord. A single union's value wouldn't have been enough to cover all of the JumpShips necessary, but all ten were.

39620 BV.

Was the sum that appeared, and then drug over to the pool of tiny BV accrued. A massive sum given the BV of a single Star Lord was a mere 615 BV.

He had sixty ASF which would need to be carried. He'd leave decisions for the invaluable Titan and Vengeance class Dropships for last. The ten Buccaneers were next at 951 BV a pop he might have actually been better off recycling them for C-Bills instead of BV... but no.

9510 BV.

The ten standard Triumphs yielded another 28120 in BV. They had a value of 345 nearly 346 Million C-Bills... and there were there were five CV versions to sell off as well.

The Condor introduced early in the succession wars was worth a little less. 2584 BV, 266M C-Bills and while the money was tempting it wasn't hard to Recycle the Condor. It was probably the easiest to dispose of in this way. 12920 BV from those. The five Seekers would yield a similar bounty each being 2168 BV [1] amounting to 10840 BV.

101010 BV added to the paltry daily balance he had been slowly accruing. It was a heady sum. Making him swim in the things he could purchase.

... but it still left him need thirty more DropShip Collars than he had started with. He wanted to keep the Mammoth Mules and Monarchs for civilian shipping. It certainly didn't hurt that the Monarch's [Recycle] value was a paltry sum compared to the money it would earn as a civilian freighter. The Mammoth was in BV terms a fraction of the Union, even though its C-Bill return was greater, but even so it would yield substantially better returns as a freighter in the safety of Lyran space as a strictly civilian commerce vessel.

The Mule ultimately, he decided, needed to be cut. He needed to hire personnel for the ships he was going to retain after all. It was almost tempting to take the eight hundred million C-Bills for the five... 6075 BV. The Five Triumph CV variants yielded a much more impressive 15390 BV if still inferior to the ironically much more common Union.

That was half of his inherited Drop Ships recycled. It left the most desirable ones. Ten Overlords, ten Excaliburs, ten fortresses. He didn't need ten of any of them, and they might have been better served as the tool of selling off to the LCAF for political favors.

He looked at the results... and decided to stop.

He needed crews for the hardware he had... and while finding a procurement officer who might need a union would be hard given their ubiquitous nature finding someone discerning enough to be interested in an Excalibur or the Fortress would require patience for the word to get around the community. If nothing else he could just recycle them even if that did, absurd that it might have seemed, seem like a waste.

He could always spend the BV to buy another of the same model... or more likely once he had the personnel something more inline with the actual needs of the affairs at hand.
--

Tharkad, Lyran Commonwealth
January 3015.

Odin nodded as the maitre de' departed leaving him to take the final step up into the wings protecting the recessed dining booth.

He personally was hoping to avoid military adventurism along the League front. It was too fluid right now and he expected the league civil war to resolve itself in the following few months the problem was that was the exact opposite advice being given. That was the problem with contacts. Who you knew was critically important and given the Marik instability it was deemed an opportune time to invest in that direction.

That was without even knowing about the BattleMechs. In fact he doubted it had anything to do with the inheritance at all, but rather the possibility of him carving out a small barony in the frontier where it was only a matter of time before the Commonwealth in theory seized a bunch of frontier realms.

Except that he doubted that the Archon would sanction that kind of sweeping land grab. The LCAF probably didn't have the resources for that. The marik civil war did provide other options though. Odin held one hand to the side of his jacket as shuffled into the booth. "Rigil Kentarus?" Armand asked

"Its not a world in the best condition." The man's face was a natural ashen color, he was going white at the temples even with a full head of hair. He was leaning over a dataslate. His talent for understatement on the planetary condition wasn't intended to be deceptive. Rigil Kentarus had been hit hard, "New Earth might be a better option."

"I came into a source of Star League terraformers," He told the intermediary.

He got a raised eyebrow, "I had heard that your father had passed. I know, of course, that he was into los tech prospecting as a hobby. That would still mean a great deal of investment... but his serene highness believes he can make appropriate letters of introduction. Its quite a lot to commit to." The duke's representative on Tharkad tapped his fingers, "There is a chance of a commonwealth offensive against certain Marik worlds, those worlds will need proper rulers."

Odin didn't reply, and waited for the man to continue.

"You've graduated a year early," Not that this was a surprise, and the major domo steepled his fingers in front to contemplate, or give the impression of, "There are options." He made an oblique reference to Odin's age of twnety, "Consider that appropriate letters could be directed to those at the Nagelring, or even more expedient a direct commission." a pause "You've been piloting a mech since you were seven years old, the Nagelring would be a fine institution for establishing contacts, but a direct commission in the reserves could be written up on a border world. It would be a reservists position you wouldn't need to actually do anything, and of course if you had other contributions to the state letters patent would be sooner forthcoming, which would mean promotion in the army faster."

Odin considered, and reached for his own data slate and slid it over.

The major domo's business façade of detached aged expertise faltered. "That is quite the number of JumpShips, young master." He decided to declare. The man slid through the log, "Ah commercial shipping venture, something away from the front to keep insurance costs low. Low risk, decent margins. Reasonable. Very reasonable." He nodded, "I had heard you considered making arrangements with the Quartermaster corps," Armand clucked, "No, no that'd be a mistake you'd want to make arrangements directly with the Navy, I wouldn't go so far as to just give them anything for free." The major domo dismissed the idea of a naval commission in the reserves out of hand, it would be of limited value without a noble title and demesne to support it. "The JAG would prefer to appoint an army officer as military governor in any event, so no sense to letting the navy not pay. The Avengers would be useful. Selling or even gifting certain prestigious DropShips to equally prestigious units wouldn't be forgotten."

The conversation went on like that for quite a while. Odin didn't give him a complete list. Just hte big ticket items he had officially registered for the shipping company, and the military dropships he still had on hand.

The end of lunch and his return to his house and office left him wondering if there wasn't some larger Lyran offensive planned... but more likely given conservatism in the ranks. It could ... potentially have been the expectation that the Archon would continue her predecessor's plans of an offensive against the League. There were probably plans oriented that direction. He doubted the Archon would commit to that ... but a reservists commission in the army would help, and especially once he had attained a title... they'd work together. They would be complimentary, and more importantly in Lyran society they be complimentary to other forms of wealth and standing like large sums of C-Bills.

If the idea had occurred to him before... if he had better explored better considered the application of his 'Essence' he would have thought to strip out the weapons and equipment from the DropShips. Then he could have used [Recycle] to dispose of the parts that comprised the most BV in a unit and sell the most valuable C-Bill elements separately. It was something that had escaped him.

Only realizing it was possible in investigating the BattleMechs that he had inherited. No real harm done by it... but something to consider its application in the future. The ability to strip parts from an existing possession had other uses. Strip outdated... introtech... components out and replace them with Star League era pieces... or Clan tech... it was tempting. Very tempting. But no.

Especially not right now. The possibility was tempting though, and in the future ... he thought of upgrading the JumpShips, and DropShips but there were other things to contend with. Specifically now that he had the lunch meeting out of the way he needed to return ot the issue of the hundred plus eclectic mix of ICE and Fusion powered combat vehicles. That inventory needed to be taken stock of, and probably crated up for storage... and so to did the infantry equipment and support vehicles.

His office was dominated by a map of the Commonwealth across one wall. A great gap of of space existed in the direction of terra, a narrow corridor of stellar space. Tharkad Tetersen Thuban Gallery Chukchi Aristotle Clinton.

A pity. It was such a pity. Being able to one day hold Clinton would have meant, even just being a great noble on Clinton would have meant he could have JumpShips fill such an important route in the commonwealth safely and effectively. Such a pity. Snord was the sort to go out of his way to seemingly bait the Mariks as well. He didn't want to share a world with the man.

What he hadn't been expecting was a courier to bring him the history of the Winfield Guards not that the name was really appropriate given the damage the Regiments had taken... been gutted really fighting the Combine. He finished it in record time. It wasn't what he expected. Odin wasn't precisely sure what to make of the packet, not the least of which was its lack of explanation. It was information.

No indication of why and no suggestion that the LCAF might have a commission open in the unit, or that it was planning to restore the unit to strength. It was a strange unit anyway. Alessandro Steiner the previous Archon had patterned it after the Eridani Light Horse who were in term aping their Star League ancestors in organization.

Odin frowned... and conjured the blocky gothic script of the essence...he looked at the Battle Value total. Clearly this had not been the point of the couriered package.

--
Notes: this is a direct consolidation of the first snippets for this. This is a combination of the Essence Meta, which I will include in a seprate post, and the Space Heir II cyoa actually using the character creation system as directed in that (that is making a very overpowered character from A time of war tabletop).

RoyalTwinFangs · Mar 2, 2022

This I would be watching. Odin Lowe, isn't that the name of Heero Yuy's father from Gundam? Are you going to base Odin on any other characters? I would like to see him being like Treize Khushrenada, one of the greatest character in anime history in my opinion. Also his clothes' would fit into the Lyran setting. Also painting his mech blue and white.

Young

Older

Imperator Pax · Mar 2, 2022

RoyalTwinFangs said:
This I would be watching. Odin Lowe, isn't that the name of Heero Yuy's father from Gundam? Are you going to base Odin on any other characters? I would like to see him being like Treize Khushrenada, one of the greatest character in anime history in my opinion. Also his clothes' would fit into the Lyran setting. Also painting his mech blue and white.

Young

Older

I had actually planned to use Treize as the basis... for this... because yes Treize's clothes very much fit Lyran to a T. Young Treize is especially great for thisand OZ's uniforms while not quite as imposing as men in kilts are somewhat more practical

RoyalTwinFangs · Mar 2, 2022

Imperator Pax said:
I had actually planned to use Treize as the basis... for this... because yes Treize's clothes very much fit Lyran to a T. Young Treize is especially great for thisand OZ's uniforms while not quite as imposing as men in kilts are somewhat more practical

What mechs and other equipment does he bring with him? The Winfield Guards know to have use medium weight and high mobility mechs, show maybe having lance or two of heavies as reserves for breakthroughs and to plug holes would be a good idea. Also what will be his personal mech be?

Imperator Pax · Mar 2, 2022

RoyalTwinFangs said:
What mechs and other equipment does he bring with him? The Winfield Guards know to have use medium weight and high mobility mechs, show maybe having lance or two of heavies as reserves for breakthroughs and to plug holes would be a good idea. Also what will be his personal mech be?

As I use the Marauder in nearly everything else that is set in this period, I'm leaning towards the Orion, or an Awesome the Atlas is a distant third so long as the Marauder stays out of the running.

STrictly speaking with Essence of Meklab Odin can get clan invasion stuff, and have like LBX equipped Fafnir show up but no Clan Stuff is going to show up for a while. Some Star League stuff will show up, but that runs into the who upgrades to what in other stories as well.

RoyalTwinFangs · Mar 2, 2022

Imperator Pax said:
As I use the Marauder in nearly everything else that is set in this period, I'm leaning towards the Orion, or an Awesome the Atlas is a distant third so long as the Marauder stays out of the running.

Can I point out a mech? How about Black Knight? It's a good command mech and if you can upgrade it would be even better.

Imperator Pax · Mar 2, 2022

RoyalTwinFangs said:
Can I point out a mech? How about Black Knight? It's a good command mech and if you can upgrade it would be even better.

Thats, actually, a really good idea. I totally forgot about the Black Knight despite the fact I have five six that need to be painted.

RoyalTwinFangs · Mar 2, 2022

Imperator Pax said:
Thats, actually, a really good idea. I totally forgot about the Black Knight despite the fact I have five six that need to be painted.

Are you going to upgrade with clantech? It is your personal ride and you can't do anything if your dead right?

Imperator Pax · Mar 2, 2022

RoyalTwinFangs said:
Are you going to upgrade with clantech? It is your personal ride and you can't do anything if your dead right?

Looking at the Black Knight I kind of now want to go with the 9, the clan buster with the sword to start with. So what I will probably do, is have Odin start with the Orion, and then swap to the Black Knight in the second or third chapter.

RoyalTwinFangs · Mar 2, 2022

Imperator Pax said:
Looking at the Black Knight I kind of now want to go with the 9, the clan buster with the sword to start with. So what I will probably do, is have Odin start with the Orion, and then swap to the Black Knight in the second or third chapter.

Why not the the 18 with a Clan XL engine? That would allow for more free weight to work with.

Imperator Pax · Mar 2, 2022

RoyalTwinFangs said:
Why not the the 18 with a Clan XL engine? That would allow for more free weight to work with.

Is the 18 a clan XL I think its an IS-Light Fusion engine, but thats certainly an idea, but I'm leaning for something with some degree of melee capacity for added distinction that doesn't go straight to fisticuffs

RoyalTwinFangs · Mar 2, 2022

Imperator Pax said:
Is the 18 a clan XL I think its an IS-Light Fusion engine, but thats certainly an idea, but I'm leaning for something with some degree of melee capacity for added distinction that doesn't go straight to fisticuffs

I think the Clans don't use Light Engines, their XL ones are the same size but are lighter. Light Engines are IS because their XL are more vulnerable compare to the Clan's.

If you are going with the 9 then you should replace everything with clantech. Maybe trading the Pulse Lasers with ER ones, ER are much better then pulse ones with them having the almost same damage but with the better ranges and is lighter. With all that weight and space saved with clantech you can also retain the small laser and Beagle Active Probe that was removed. Even then you have enough for either more weapons, DHS, armor, better rate engine or even jump jets. If you add Triple Strength Myomers and Harderned Armor then it wouldn't even be fair for the enemy.

Imperator Pax · Mar 2, 2022

Prologue
Landed Opportunity
Part 1

April 3015
New Earth, Lyran Commonwealth

The journey, just from Tharkad to Clinton was a hundred and twenty three light years. Six Jumps. From Clinton it would only be another three jumps to the League border, or rather it was three jumps distant so that the Marik could attack. Before leaving Tharkad another courier had come bearing more documents. It seemed completely unrelated. Political information in the League.

Three worlds on paper, but in reality just two. Technically an entire league province.

Zosma. Alula Australis.

Marik stupidity and arrogance laid claim to a third. The Lyran world of Denebola which had had originally belonged to the Terran Hegemony. It had been liberated from House Marik in 2786, but the League hadn't forgotten so they lumped it in with their new 'Border Protectorate'.

Odin didn't like the implication. Either implication. The packet suggested that someone had designs on the world and it was just a reminder that the League border was dangerous.

Clinton to Galatea was Five jumps despite covering a hundred thirty four light years. It would take two more jumps from Galatea's nadir jump point to reach New Earth, and while they would be making a brief stop over there it would be another jump to Rigil.

The older man cleared his throat, "You have a Regiment of vehicles?" The forty something Broden asked.

"Yes." He replied casually. Odin had no intention of elaborating nor did it seem the LCAF officer filing the paper work seem intent on caring enough to ask.

... after all why would he, they were just vehicles. The battle mechs were the bigger matter. The truth was Odin hadn't been thinking he'd... for whatever reason been misusing the organization a full size down... but he wasn't going to admit that to the older man. It might have been better to swallow his pride and accept Armand's suggestion of starting the nagelring late... but he was already too far, he'd be buying his way into the reserves. That in turn meant his contributions to the Commonwealth would see that the army paid for the services of his inherited troops while they were in Federal service.

That might end up meaning nothing unless the unit actually had to be called to service. He didn't want to demonstrate more resources than that before he had factories up and running... no before he had been ennobled.

They danced around the battlemech matter somewhat, but he answered honestly. There wasn't any point to dodging the questions or lying. The questions themselves were simply too basic. That the Kommadant was more astonished that he had fewer tanks than he did mechs was amusing, but not unsurprising.

It was also a problem. Normally the way this would have worked was, if he had actually had a battalion to his name it'd have been simple. He'd have been a major and that would have been that... an entire regiment was... was another matter. Most likely the commonealth's reserve korps would split the difference name him a lieutenant colonel until he was ennobled and leave him alone.

... unless someone pulled the strings to mobilize the unit to attack one of the worlds detailed in the couriered documents. That left him wondering which one? Alula Australia or Zosma? If it was coming then how long did he have?

If it was Alula then that was ... good? In theory. It was only a single jump from New Earth, and while it was also only one jump from Rigil... it seemed more likely that the Commonwealth if they called up the reservists would want to muster them at New Earth.

Zosma was further away, but not by much. Two jumps fifty light years from Rigil.

The thought hadn't escaped him that success might mean the Commonwealth might want to press further. Cutting the league entirely from the terran corridor seemed ridiculous in theory, but on paper it would only be two more worlds. Graham and Procyon. Consolidating the Border protectorate would also likely entail moving against Castor and Pollux as well as Oliver and Devil's rock... and it was that that was most absurd.

For LCAF as it existed... but not for the Federated Commonwealth... but Odin expected that really would be getting ahead of himself. The Archon hadn't even extended her peace proposal to bring the third war to its end... assuming that she actually did that.

There was a potential solace in that if Armand had been willing to suggest starting the Nagelring was possible then likely whatever war schema for the protectorate was scheduled hopefully years in the future.

They filled out paperwork.

Lots of paper work just for the unique ones.

Then it all had to be done in triplicate. Some of it was turning dropships over, dropships he didn't need to the service of the Donegal Guards need. It was technically a lease not a gift, but the money wasn't the point. It was the service that was the point. It was rendering a service to a prestigious unit, and the good will that that in turn bought him that was the point. He was providing a material service with the real goal being political capital, and currency.

That would increase his value within Lyran society as his standing rose. He'd be beyond his father's shadow, while still being able to claim a fragment of that lineage but his legitimacy would derive from his own deed... and he would still have his own personnel connections as well.

But today the only real concern is the painstaking process of joining the reservists by filling out the monotonous bureaucracy of the Commonwealth's armed forces and contending with the Liaison of House Troops and all associated minutiae. Its an entirely different sort of journey than the one that involving JumpShips leaping from star system to star system. Infinitely more tiring than the weeks, months of space travel.

They were entirely different sorts of monotony, even when one knew what to expect. What made it all worse was that he was going to likely have to endure a similar if slightly different monotonous hell on Rigil Kentarus when he arrived. ...

"We are almost done." Broden remarked.

He sat the pen down beside the paper. Odin glanced around, and pondered that they weren't quite finished yet... worse ... they hadn't really even begun the true struggle.

He couldn't determine whether the scores of lawyers and other attendants waiting to notarize the matters would make things better or worse than this.

Probably worse. Buying a landhold would be the easiest of it. He had had the money for that since before he had started university... because of course he had aspired to the nobility, and reaching Baron would be the first rung in the ladder. A baron could still rule a planet, but he didn't want to be a planetary ruler as a mere baron, that would mean some pitiful dust ball on the fringes.

So he would gamble that he had the resources to make this work... and perhaps the duke was right perhaps he and the major domo knew a campaign against the League was in the works... and perhaps they wanted to turn a 'League Province' into a 'Lyran Duchy'. They certainly seemed sure something was coming.

Duke would be a long way off.

The Commonwealth had uncounted numbers of barons, and nearly as many counts. Freiherr, and Graf were easy distinctions to earn. It was why barons could still sit in the estates general. Landgrave was the step above count... was a distinction of the rank really... and was the much harder transition to make... and to ascend to Duke he would need to distinguish himself in the Archon's eyes.

That would take years... and of course the higher he rose the more resistance he would face from other families, and the greater expectation of returns his own allies would expect. That was the game, and it was one you played for life. Even shaving your head and joining a monastery wasn't always enough to get you out of the game.
--
Notes: What I had originally planned on, and that was sidetracked by other matters was expand out some of the early scraps, including in particular to address the Lyran ASF Shortage of production, which will come later, so this will receive several updates before it probably ends up in the Thursday regular update slot.

Ame · Mar 2, 2022

I believe Mr. Kell would like to disagree about becoming a monk not being able to get you out of the game..

RoyalTwinFangs · Mar 3, 2022

Just have a thought on Odin's name. Isn't his last name mean lion in German? The Lion of the Commonwealth or FedCom anyone?

Imperator Pax · Mar 3, 2022

Ame said:
I believe Mr. Kell would like to disagree about becoming a monk not being able to get you out of the game..

Kell is actually a great example of the Pacino meme, of they pull me back in... but in this case I was actually referring to some others, Yorinaga as it happens was explicitly pulled back from monastic life in canon as were several archons ... because Buddhism is big in the commonewalth and with steiners

RoyalTwinFangs said:
Just have a thought on Odin's name. Isn't his last name mean lion in German? The Lion of the Commonwealth or FedCom anyone?

Lowe does mean Lion. Lion of the Commonwealth, or later FedCom is possible, as is Lion of Midnight

If I hadn't already drafted a scrap on the basis of Clan Snord being a thing using Clan Fox I'd probably do one for Clan Lowe in regards to a certain other planet that Odin considered trying to get a landhold for.

Imperator Pax · Mar 3, 2022

Index #1 Notes

Space Heir, specifically refers to the Space Heir II CYOA by MageOhki: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SK7JCvb3J8ytG18XZtHDsi0KGVmUOtKdy84lQ-zCdtY/edit#

Its abridged list of goodies for this CYOA (that is discounting the attendant build for ATOW (The Battletech Tabletop RPG)) as a simplification for the JumpShip & Dropship Rolls as I would be required to roll more than once on it, I elected to just roll once and count it as five.

Jumpships 5+5 (12,8)
5x 8: five starlords, 11: Five: 2 Excalibur, 2 Overlord, 2 Fortress, 2 Triumph, 1 Triumph CV, 1 Condor, 1 Seeker, 2 Union, 1 Avenger, 1 Mammoth, 1 Mule, 2 Buccaneer, 1 Monarch & 1 Vengeance or one Titan (50% of either)
mce-anchor
Battlemechs: 15: 16 Assault 'Mechs, 36 Heavy 'Mechs, 36 Medium 'Mechs, 36 Light 'Mechs
ASF: 9: 20 Heavy ASF. 20 Medium ASF, 20 Light ASF
4 Assaults, 28 Heavy, 36 Medium, 36 Light
1 Battalion of Infantry, 4 Tracked Heavy APC, 3 Heavy Wheeled, 3 Heavy Hover
24 5-Ton trucks, 24 10-Ton trucks, 24 50-Ton Cargo Carriers, 12 MASH, 12 Mobile HQ, 12 Engineering Vees (and 3 PLT kit for Engineers), 12 Recovery Vees, 10 Wheeled APC (10 PLT kits for MP), 48 Loader ExoSkeletons, 24 Engineering/Salvage Exo, 4 Long Toms, towed 8 Thumpers, towed, 4 LoaderMechs, 4 Jabberwocky, 4 CON-1 industrial Mechs

mce-anchor A old SLDF orbital station in a Magistracy system (no longer inhabited, or on the outskirts)

mce-anchor 1d2 Jumpship slips with all needed support industry (only space based) and one machine shop. (160kt, 300kt, 450kt, equal chance of each

As to the other part of this (the Essence) that can be found here:

Ramble said:
An essence specifically for Battletech or if you want to insert battletech into other settings. I added more stuff to it, and then I thought I might as well make it available here.

Essence of MegaMekLab
You get access to the Megameklab, which looks and functions pretty similarly to the normal megameklab.

-The application can either be downloaded onto a computational device with an appropriately advanced GUI, or can simply be projected out onto the air in front of you. You can expand, minimize, rotate, and toggle the transparency of the screen. You can even make it so other people can see and interact with it if you'd like.
-You add 25 BV to your pool per day and can spend them on whatever you like. You can also use regular money in order to buy something at a rate of 1 dollar to the C-bill. The amount would automatically be deducted. Don't think too hard about where the money goes.
-Upon purchasing an item, it will appear either in front of you, in a safe spot near you, or in a safe orbit above you. Upon purchase, you may chose to instantly gain basic proficiency with the purchased equipment, rating approximately as "Green" initially.
-You may also purchase a specific historical item if you'd like. For instance, you can simply buy a Mckenna-class battleship but you can also buy the SLS Mckenna's Pride if you'd like. The history doesn't cost anything extra.
-Battletechnology is effectively durable enough to need minimal maintenance work at all assuming it's not outright abused or neglected, but you may also choose to gain enough basic proficiency to perform most rudimentary repairs to any equipment you buy. You may also spawn in spare parts for the cost of the Battle Value of each individual part, but a number of components will require a requisite hulk to pull from.
-Any units you buy will come fully fueled and fully loaded with ammunition. Ammunition can be purchased through the MegaMekLab, and fusion reactors can crack water into hydrogen fuel, but petrol, alcohol, and natural gas to feed internal combustion engines will be a continuing issue.
-Any item you buy can also come already crewed if you'd like. These crew start absolutely loyal and you can customize their appearance, personality and backgrounds, but after they spawn in, they become actual people and will have their own opinions, thoughts, and morals. For example, if you spawn in some Eridani Light Horse and tell them to massacre civilians, you're going to have a mutiny on your hands.
-When purchasing an infantry unit, you may chose to get only kit or gain soldiers wearing it.
-You can toggle "normalization" off and on. This makes it so that people will simply shrug and accept machines or people popping up out of thin air or anything anomalous that happened as a result of the Essence. The default is "on".
-Spawned in humans will conform to the physics of the world and any changes that you've made to the world. You may also chose if they need to eat and other facts of life, though this needs to be set from the start and can't be toggled afterward
-Bays and compartments don't come already filled. You need to buy an infantry unit to put it in an APC and you need to buy a mech to put it in a mech cubicle.
-If you'd like, support personnel can also be purchased for one BV each.

Campaign Operations ruleset

-In the case of pairing this essence with a CYOA, you can, before starting the CYOA, pick or build a single unit at the very beginning at no cost. It is recommended that you use this to obtain personal conveyance, but it's not necessarily required.
-Once at the very beginning, you may also use the infantry menu to customize your starting loadout, as well as any advanced gear, implants, or training (anti-mek, marine, Xenoplanetary Conditioning, etc) Your starting skills still count as "Green" though. This is free but you will not get the opportunity again.
-Should it be necessary, your starting personal conveyance and units you spawn in will start with the minimum necessary provisions to last until you reach a place where normal resupply becomes possible.
-You may at the beginning of your journey initiate a "campaign mode" of sorts in order to build up resources and forces more quickly than simply waiting for a long time to wait for the BV pool to fill. This is not necessary, but it could be fun.
-Spawned in humans may also be modified using parts of any cyoa which allows you to construct your or a companion's body/skills/personality (eg. Be the Girl, Big Beefy Husbando, Battle Maid etc.)
-"Campaign Mode" unlocks a "modifier" which forces all units other than capital units or dropships to spawn inside bays. Depending on difficulties or exact settings in the Interstellar Operations rule section, this can also be applied even to dropships and capital units other than space stations.
-"Campaign Mode" can also unlock an MRBC from which you can pull contracts even in universes in which an MRBC does not exist.
-You can toggle automatic repairs/maintenance, meaning the machines will simply maintain themselves. Normally Battletechnology is rugged enough that they don't need a lot of maintenance and repairs are easy even after the machine gets shot to bits. This however makes it so that repairs and maintenance are wholly unnecessary.
-You can toggle automatic Ammunition/Fuel so that both are replenished the moment a unit enters an appropriate unit bay.
-It is possible to buy units in a bulk package should you obtain the necessary resources or have saved up enough BV to do so. These units may be spawned in already grouped up into a unit with a set unit culture and shared values.

Interstellar Operations ruleset (WIP, non-functional currently)

BattleValue is by design a fairly scarce resource in order to encourage careful use and management, however it is understood that it is not necessarily suitable for waging or interstellar wars. Thus, the Interstellar Operations ruleset addon allows for an industrial manufacturing system almost independent from BattleValue.
As land based factories or even land based structures are not covered by MegaMekLab, it is not possible to create land based structures. The standard building blocks of the MegaMekLab Essence industrial ruleset are the 1000 ton machinery space/cargo bay of the MML default small space factory equipped with an SRCS (referred to as "small factory unit" or SFU) and the 6900 ton machinery space/cargo bay of the MML default medium space factory equipped with an SRCS (referred to as "medium factory unit" or MFUs).
SFUs are able to handle the production of simple things such as refining ores, or machining relatively simple components such as armor panels, myomers, spark plugs, mechanical actuators, and steam engines.
MFUs are able to handle manufacturing or assembly of more advanced components using materials from 4 or more SFUs such as "complex" engines, chassis, electronics, and neurohelmets. MFUs are also required for final assembly of a completed unit, assembling the components produced by multiple factory units into a finished unit. Note that a final assembly MFU cannot be used to produce components at the same time.
It's also possible to design additional factories and separating the cargo bay into SFU and MFU units.
In order for a shipyard to manufacture a spacecraft, it must be supported by a constellation of 25 SFUs and 15 MFUs for a dropship, and 50 SFUs and 30 MFUs for a jumpship (either a "normal" jumpship or a warship).
Factories can also optionally be manned, though it does not necessarily confer any sort of bonus.

-It is possible to also set the spawn limitation to also include capital vessels and dropships as well, leaving space stations as the only units which can be spawned into thin air after the initial personal transport spawn.

Errata- LAMs
As it's an extremely divisive topic, you can chose to use the default ruleset or you may modify them in the following ways
>Cancel Advanced technology penalties - use advanced technologies (DHS, Endosteel, Ferro Fibrous Armor) like any other mech
>+2 free thrust (to bring fighter mode in line with normal fighters)
>free wing pylons for drop tanks or bomb munitions
>Transformation time becomes a non-issue

So you may recall that of CYOA's to which I would like to get an update, yes?

Space Heir, well there is a good reason for that, as I've broken open my copy of a Time of War and Space Heir's roll happy foolishness and we're going to do this in two parts.

Now, with this done:
You total up the points spent in Stage 0, 1, 2, 3(or 4). Subtract this from 10,000.
This is your total free XP minus the ATOW book Stage 0, 1, 2 and 3 or 4 (depending on which one you took).
Points gained or lost above *do not count unless explicitly stated*
Otherwise build your character as normal per ATOW (if using) Use ATOW Companion Life Path Rules. Do not subtract any modifiers. You gain 2 rolls at Stage 1, Stage 2, and Stage 4 (even if you went to Stage 3 instead) You are not allowed to spend Free XP on the following attribs: Wealth, Title, Connections, Reputation outside what's given in the CYOA path.
You *may* level them to the next rank if you do have them, however Traits that do not apply to this: (Put points in something similar, such as Wealth, Connections, et al): Extra Income, Vehicle, Quirks, Equipped. If you are using this as a SI generator, you add 50+4d6 XP times your age, that may be applied to the following traits/skills/Attrib: WIL, EDG, Any non pure physical trait, any INT, WIL, CHA skill (or tiered skill), and you must put points into Interest (BattleTech) You gain a number of friends (see table at end) equal to your *total* connection+wealth+reputation(treat negative as a positive) ranks, plus any modifiers Now, onto your father's last (or only) gift to you!

Space Heir II A Time of War Build part 1
Male
Lyran Commonwealth
Father Origin Lyran Commonwealth, Background: Phenotype Trait with an addtional 800 XP
+2 Other Paternal siblings, Male heir doesn't care
Father's Noble rank: Count

Maternal Siblings +3, Background She came from a noted family of scientists and scholars INT[+100 XP], Natural Aptitude[500 XP] in science or knowledge skills, and any left over XP applies to those skills. C* is also watching you. +50 XP to 2 Science skills, 2 Interest skills
History: Piloting (Mech), Gunnery (Mech), Technician(Weapons), Technician(Military), Protocol (Merc or Faction), Survival, Martial Arts, Small Arms Heightened BOD, Heightened RFL or Dex

Advantage Phantom MechWarrior, Ki Potential, Exceptional Attribute
Life experiences:
Training Table (2) You found a martial art mentor who saw promise in you. First time gotten, Fit trait,+50 to REF and BOD +50 XP to Martial Arts, +50 XP to Acrobatics. 2nd time taken, half the skill bonuses, half the stat bonuses, gain Combat Sense.
Contacts Table (2) You came to the attention of a noble.or another rich person He or she decided to spoil you by showing you off, giving you things or having elite tutors. (200 XP into Wealth, Connections or skills of choice) You developed the knack of being a people person, and made constant impressions and contacts no matter where you went. (First time, Gregarious, Second time Connections [200 XP})
Experiences(3) You chose (or had chosen for you) a stay at a religious retreat. Receive +100 XP WIL, +25 XP Interest/ Religion, +25 XP Protocol/Faction, +150 XP Connections, You partied hard, and built up a tolerance. (Poison Resistance) You came very close to a violent death, only a sense saved you (Sixth Sense Trait)
University for what ComStar Might Kill You : Must be University, with Fields 1 Basic (Scientist or General Studies), 1 Advanced (Science or Engineering Based) and 1 Special (Doctor, Tech/Mech, Tech/Mil)
ATOW: Stage 0 Affiliation Obviously Lyran Commonwealth: 150 XP Primary Language German

Fixed XPs: [Attributes] WIL (–50 XP), EDG (–50 XP); [Traits]
Equipped (+100 XP), Extra Income (+50 XP),
Wealth (+100 XP), Choose either Combat
Paralysis or Glass Jaw (–100 XP); [Skills]
Negotiation (+15 XP), Appraisal (+10 XP),
Protocol/Lyran (+15 XP)

Stage 1 Early Childhood

BORN MERCENARY BRAT
Module Cost: 300 XP
The child born to mercenary parents (or adopted by a
passing mercenary command early in life) is an army brat
of the most transient nature, whose family travels to distant
and foreign realms with regularity, and who knows no
true nationality or culture beyond the confi nes of military
DropShips and fi eld bases.
Prerequisites: Independent/Mercenary affi liation; STR 4+,
BOD 4+, WIL 4+
Fixed XPs: [Attributes] STR (+75 XP), BOD (+50 XP), RFL
(+100 XP), WIL (+25 XP), CHA (–25 XP), EDG (+25 XP); [Traits]
Equipped (+50 XP), Illiterate (–50 XP), Reputation (–50 XP);
[Skills] Career/Soldier (+10 XP), Interest/Military History (+5
XP), Language/Any (+10 XP), Martial Arts (+15 XP), Melee
Weapons (+10 XP), Negotiation (+5 XP), Perception (+5 XP),
Streetwise/Any (+10 XP)

Stage 2 Late Childhood MILITARY SCHOOL
Module Cost: 500 XP

Prerequisites: WIL 3+
Fixed XPs: [Attributes] CHA (+50 XP); [Traits] Connections
(+15 XP), Fit (+15 XP), Rank (+20 XP); [Skills] Career/Soldier (+25
XP), Computers (+35 XP), Interest/Any (+30 XP), Interest/Military
History (+40 XP), Leadership (+20 XP), Martial Arts (+30 XP),
Medtech (+10 XP), Melee Weapons (+20 XP), Protocol/Affi liation
(+30 XP), Running (+30 XP), Small Arms (+50 XP), Strategy (+10
XP), Swimming (+30 XP)
Flexible XPs: +40 XP (may only be applied to Skills)

Stage 3 Higher Education University (Required University for what ComStar Might Kill You : Must be University, with Fields 1 Basic (Scientist or General Studies), 1 Advanced (Science or Engineering Based) and 1 Special (Doctor, Tech/Mech, Tech/Mil))

University (710 XP + Field Costs)
Universities represent the upper crust of higher education among
civilians. Many developed worlds have their own universities, but the cream
of the crop are those that draw on students from across their native realms,
such as House Davion's prestigious New Avalon Institute of Science or the
Lyrans' University of Tharkad. Universities are expensive, and most have
strict entry requirements, but off er students access to the skills for lucrative
careers in science, medicine, law and technology.
Prerequisites: Minimum INT 4+. Also, if character did not take Preparatory
School as a Stage 2 module (or Nobility or White Collar as a Stage 1 module),
apply the following: [Attributes] WIL (+100 XP), EDG (–100 XP); [Traits]
Connection (+200 XP), Reputation (–100 XP), Wealth (–100 XP)
Automatic: [Attributes] INT (+150 XP), WIL (+75 XP), CHA (+25 XP), EDG
(+25 XP); [Traits] Connections (+200 XP), Equipped (+50 XP), Reputation (+75
XP), Wealth (–200 XP); [Skills] Computers (+25 XP), Interest/Any (+20 XP),
Perception (+25 XP), Protocol/Affi liation (+20 XP); [Flexible XP] (+220 XP)
Fields:
Basic (+1 year): Scientist,
Advanced (+2 years):
Engineer,
Special (+2 years): Technician/'Mech,

From 10000 XP that should be 8340 minus college field costs the rules of which I'm going to have to review later...

Yeah, you see why I feel space heir needs a revamp... but I plan to actually use this for something that will go up in my misc thread so maybe it'll be worth it. EDIT: Oh right forgot:

Universal Fixed Experience Points
Regardless of their original affi liation, all characters in A Time of War must purchase a mandatory universal allotment of fi xed XPs in Stage 0 that establishes a minimum level of Attributes, as well as the character's general awareness of his surroundings and his ability to understand at least one of his home realm's main languages. Also provided are XPs toward the common tongue of English (which is spoken in all corners of human-occupied space). Thus, in addition to all XPs awarded from the character's starting affi liation, all characters using Life Modules must purchase the following (at a cost of 850 XPs): +100 XP to each Attribute, Language/Affi liation Primary or Secondary Language Skill (+20 XP), Language/English Skill (+20 XP) and Perception Skill (+10 XP).

So thats minus another eight fifty, so free XP 7490 + Field Studies cost university [30Xp per skill in the field]
Scientist

Career/Scientist
Computers
Interest/Any
Investigation
Perception
Science/Any
Training

210Xp
Engineer

Appraisal
Career/Engineer
Perception
Technican/Nuclear
Technician/Any

150 XP

Technician – 'Mech

Technician/Electronic
Technician/Jet
Technician/Mechanical,
Technician/Nuclear
Technician/Myomer

150 XP
Total 510 XP: 6980 XP unless I've missed something somewhere... like I said there is a reason that this is two fucking parts. I'm not going to fuck with the god damned companion book, because I'm tired: buyout, -200 XP Lyran , Merc Brat -125 XP, University -500 =6155
so the character sheet is going into a spoiler in part because I'm still working on it

WiP

Phenotype Special:800XP extra
Natural Aptitude[500 XP] in science or knowledge skills, and any left over XP applies to those skills. +50 XP to 2 Science skills, 2 Interest skills

Attributes

Attribute	Strength	Body	Reflex	Dexterity	Intelligence	Willpower	Charisma	Edge
XP Stage	175	225	275	100	350	400	175	150
XP Spend	425	375	325	500	350	300	425	450
XP Total	600	600	600	600	700	700	600	600
Score	600	6	6	6	7	7	6	6

3005 XP Remaining.
Skills Mother:
Piloting (Mech), Gunnery (Mech), Technician(Weapons), Technician(Military), Protocol (Merc or Faction), Survival, Martial Arts, Small Arms

Heightened BOD, Heightened RFL or Dex

Traits
Combat Sense.
Gregarious,
(Poison Resistance)
(Sixth Sense Trait)
Fit trait,
(200 XP into Wealth, Connections or skills of choice)
Connections 600XP,+165 XP Connections,
Equipped (+200 XP)
Extra Income (+50 XP), Wealth (+100 XP),
Fit (+15 XP), Rank (+20 XP);
Reputation (+75 XP),

Language/Affiliation Primary or Secondary Language Skill (+20 XP), Language/English Skill (+20 XP) and Perception Skill (+10 XP).Perception (+25 XP),
[Skills] Negotiation (+15 XP), Appraisal (+10 XP), Protocol/Lyran (+15 XP)
[Skills] Career/Soldier (+25 XP), Computers (60) Interest/Any (+30 XP), Interest/Military History (+40 XP), Leadership (+20 XP), Martial Arts (+120), Medtech (+10 XP), Melee Weapons (+30XP), Protocol/Affiliation (+30 XP), Running (+30 XP), Small Arms (+50 XP), Strategy (+10 XP), Swimming (+30 XP) Flexible XPs: +40 XP (may only be applied to Skills)
[Skills] Career/Soldier (+10 XP), Interest/Military History (+5 XP), Language/Any (+10 XP), Negotiation (+5 XP), Perception (+5 XP), Streetwise/Any (+10 XP)
[Skills] Interest/Any (+20 XP), Protocol/Affiliation (+20 XP); [Flexible XP] (+220 XP)
+75 XP to Acrobatics.
+25 XP Interest/ Religion, +25 XP Protocol/Faction,

Skills

Language/Affiliation Primary or Secondary, Language English, Perception

--

Imperator Pax · Mar 3, 2022

Prologue
Landed Opportunity
Part 2

Lowe's Landing, Rigil Kentarus

Lowe's Landing.

Such an inventive name, his creativity should be praised from here to mecha stranty ... or whatever the clan's capital homeworld whatever was called. It was alliterative at least surely that was a plus... and it wasn't as if Odin's Landing would have been any better. He looked at the smaller holographic projection of the planet's surface.

Rigil Kentarus had gotten the shit kicked out of it during the doom of the hegemony, the Amaris civil war had seen the liberal orbital bombardment of the planet, but it had weathered the rest, no pun intended, a bit better than New Earth had. New Earth had faced more serious attacks than Rigil... and thus New Earth was a bit more desperate for troops... which was of course why his commission with the reserves expected him to station a portion of his troops on that world when they were in federal service ... two months out of the year in normal time. Armand had managed to beat him to New Earth and had been waiting with advice on how it might be a good idea to expend a little more money to purchase a landhold on New Earth as well to fulfill those obligations.

... and have the Commonwealth reimburse him for the expense... naturally. It was good material advice. Odin knew when to heed advice, especially when advice was generally a cue to follow along, if you didn't have a good reason to not heed it and it blew up in your face, or even if it didn't, it ran the risk of damaging those connections. That and that the new Archon was still searching for some answer for the Commonwealth's perennial ASF production issue.

Once upon a time though Lowe's Landing had had another name. Kentarus had been settled by colonists before there had even been other colonies to quibble with. Rigil Kentarus and Riken Minor had been explored in the distant days of the Terran Alliance.

Massive gray slab sided 'markers', column like pylons, painted with Star League symbols slid into the earth that had been contaminated by bioweapons used by invaders dating back to Amaris, but had also included post liberation use by Kerensky's forces, and the subsequent attacks by the combine and Free Worlds league... and of course League collaborators and the Marik Militia in the original planetary capital had eaten a nuke courtesy of the LCAF.

Riken was a sparsely populated world to which he was now committed a king's ransom to restore. A hired PR expert on retainer from a Tharkad firm that specialized in this sort of Grandiose protypical lyran genoristy of social work was happy to blare Lyran uber Alles and all attractions to such things, such a generous use of a father's bequest etc etc. Lowe's landing though was a landhold on Rigil Kentarus , and his real plan was to build ... 'Odin's Hall', again much praise to his wisdom and creativity, was to build a base on Riken Minor rebuilding on the original SLDF site and more importantly Centaur Castle underneath it.

So while the PR guru ministered to the public about how their lives were going to improve Odin Lowe watched machinery controls descend. Or rather he had been until all the lights had confirmed green and the automated control systems took over. His part was done. He had followed the manuals to the exact specifics as if he were carrying out a religious rite. Of course part of that was the damned point he was passing off pristine, factory fresh terraformers for an inheritance from a deceased los-tech prospector of a father he had barely known. It was a grand sweeping gesture, and of course his entry to regional works also brought with it the prospect of bringing prosperity and investment, the Lyran way, to the roughly seven hundred million inhabitants of the planet.

He had even written most of the speech being played on the trivid clips making the news himself, with some adjustments by the PR expert, but now he had other things to do. Odin ran a hand over the case holding the sheathed iron claymore and glanced at the older officer. "This sword?" He said responding to the man's curious expression more than the actual question, "This was sword was carried for Charles Stuart at Culloden." It meant nothing to the career LCAF officer, and that was apparent in the dumb look, "Culloden Moor, in Scotland, on Terra. House Cameron was defeated, a loss admittedly largely a result of the opposing force's superior artillery, but interesting in other sense as it pitted House Cameron against the Black Watch of the day. Of course this was before House Cameron was anything more than a minor provincial clan on Terra fighting for their own feudal overlords rather than the much grander House they would be in the days of the Terran Hegemony." He waved the matter away. "Regardless I am quite glad to have you along. I am sure that there is a great deal from each other we can learn." Which might very well prove to be true. The man was a careerist... but one with poor prospects of being promoted beyond his current rank never mind the next one. He wasn't a member of hte nobility, and had if not no friends at court then precious few.

They could be useful to one another, but to the older man he was a young noble's brat with more money than sense... and there was little that he would be able to do to discourage him. Even beating him in a BattleMech duel wouldn't dissuade that... and Odin was sure he could manage that.

"No, no don't say anything, we both have our respective strengths I'm sure," Odin continued, "But I have a great deal of things on the business side that need to be seen to," By which of course he had staff for that to address his deficits there, "Why in a few months we will have factories and people employed, and then we will go from there. You will see." He declared gregariously. That was important trait in nobles and while Odin had spent his childhood in a mercenary command, his later formative years had been learning other skills. He had friends in high places, and they had polished natural charisma into honing his own leadership talents. It wasn't the same leadership talents being cultivated by the military curriculum of the school he'd been attending at the time, but the civilian side of managing people.

--
Hours later Odin stood alone on the central command platform, basically killing time until he needed to make his next public appearance. Rigil Kentaurus was an interesting world. There were places where you couldn't even see the planet's moon no matter what night of the year it was. There was a fortune up there. An intact Castle Brian.

Kentaurus still hadn't been his first choice. Clinton's position in Lyran space would have been preferable. Antares would have been nice too. Kentaurus though did beat out a world on the periphery edge of Lyran space.

It wouldn't have been his first choice but he was going to make it work.

Odin Lowe was a fit young man. Tall, and muscled from sports and martial arts running ten kilometers in the morning before breakfast would have been nothing. He'd been on the school rowing team, as well as played rugby in his high school years. He hadn't been able to carry on with the latter at Tharkad University it clashed too much with his packed schedule he had had to give the game up in return for classes. That had been something he had expected, but he had also kept up the training drilled into him from mother, and from monastery.

He was looking at a man his own age that might as well have been him. The resemblance was uncanny even... but then he supposed it should be the young count was his half brother after all. There were differences of course. The Count of Hoenn might have had the same physical build as Odin, but his hair was pure blond. It lacked the weathering and the sun streaked quality that made his more brown. The newly established Graf von Hoenn was apparently an adept MechWarrior, though whether he would fight in the LCAF would be only determined in the future.

The father's genes showed less clearly in their sister. She had shrewd eyes like all of them but lacked the physical presence but one of the clips showed her reflexes on the tennis court as could only be described as superlative in quality

He wouldn't have been surprised if she could make a BattleMech dance. There was always the possibility that as she matured she'd develop the compact rigorous physical bulk he and the count shared... but he doubted it. While Odin would never be described as anything so vulgar as built like a brick shithouse his physical solidity had come early before his teenage years. There were plenty of bigger men, but the physical hardiness wasn't the same as the reflexes... and reflexes were plus in a battlemech... though heat resistance was another benefit of good conditioning.

The files suggested that well... like all of his siblings if he were being honest that they had already been in the possession of BattleMechs. The count certainly, and was almost certain that was the case with the sister he'd never known. It was actually unthinkable that she wouldn't have a mech of her own really.

What he was certain of was that most likely he had until in the most average scenario that he had considered... he had until Graf von Hoenn reached the same age he was now. The same applied for their younger sister. The count if he was going to do something would probably have to wait until then... without assistance from his mother's family... which was possible. Paternal assistance, a side of his family he knew nothing of, was possible but Odin considered that unlikely.

No the count might not do anything he had gotten the title after all. If he did though make a move... the best shield would be a strong reputation as a Lyran noble of his own standing. Reputation was a shield, and in the right situation it was also a sword.

A sound chimed on the panel, "Sir," A feminine voice called.

"Yes Tanya." He replied.

"The Regiment is assembled for inspection."

He nodded, "Thank you Lieutenant Schmitt. I'll be down forthwith," He had inherited from the recently deceased Graf von Hoenn a regiments worth of Mechs, which were now duly enrolled with the House Troops liaison in the Lyran Reserve... and a good reputation began at home. IF he was to have any hope at all of fending off challenges to his rights from his legitimate siblings it had to begin here. So it was time to get in his Orion and show the flag a bit for the locals.

Flag in this case was the Flag of the Commonwealth, and then a smaller blue ensign with a golden lion. Both devices painted on the assembled company of heavy and assault mechs, assembled looking out over one of Rigil Kentaurus's impressive Sargasso seas. A collection of other Lyran mechs joined them bringing the force of mechs up to battalion strength, and they started a grand heavy metal parade.

RoyalTwinFangs · Mar 3, 2022

Nice chapter there. A nice parade to show the heavy metal.

Why not name his new Castle Brain, "The Lion's Den".

Let see what he is planning next.

Dakkaface · Mar 4, 2022

Imperator Pax said:
Is the 18 a clan XL I think its an IS-Light Fusion engine, but thats certainly an idea, but I'm leaning for something with some degree of melee capacity for added distinction that doesn't go straight to fisticuffs

I don't think any official Black Knight has a Clan XL engine, just IS Light or XL. The Dark Age Black Knights (the ones made by Robinson, I think) do sport Clan-spec weapons and double heatsinks though. I think the latest one has Angel ECM and a Plasma Rifle, if you really want that wow factor.

Imperator Pax · Mar 4, 2022

Dakkaface said:
I don't think any official Black Knight has a Clan XL engine, just IS Light or XL. The Dark Age Black Knights (the ones made by Robinson, I think) do sport Clan-spec weapons and double heatsinks though. I think the latest one has Angel ECM and a Plasma Rifle, if you really want that wow factor.

There is actually a Clan Black Knight IIC with a clan 300XL I was confusing it with the eighteen.... in my defense I was tired, the 18 is in fact a 300 Light engine (The 16 is a IS XL, the 15FC sports a standard Fusion but has a gauss rifle)

RoyalTwinFangs said:
Nice chapter there. A nice parade to show the heavy metal.

Why not name his new Castle Brain, "The Lion's Den".

Let see what he is planning next.

Centaur Castle is the canonical SLDF name. So many minis I need to paint. I like that screencap though even if for this thats probably too much black, not enough blue for this story. Admittedly I was leaning towards something more like the Donegal Guards paintjob

Dakkaface · Mar 4, 2022

Imperator Pax said:
There is actually a Clan Black Knight IIC with a clan 300XL I was confusing it with the eighteen.... in my defense I was tired, the 18 is in fact a 300 Light engine (The 16 is a IS XL, the 15FC sports a standard Fusion but has a gauss rifle)

Is that from something new? I've never heard of a Black Knight IIC, and it's not on Sarna or the MUL.

Imperator Pax · Mar 4, 2022

Dakkaface said:
Is that from something new? I've never heard of a Black Knight IIC, and it's not on Sarna or the MUL.

IIRC its volume 12 of the Il Clan recognition guides. I'll pull my pdf later so I could be wrong

RoyalTwinFangs · Mar 4, 2022

Imperator Pax said:
Centaur Castle is the canonical SLDF name. So many minis I need to paint. I like that screencap though even if for this thats probably too much black, not enough blue for this story. Admittedly I was leaning towards something more like the Donegal Guards paintjob

Why not the blue and white of the Talkgeese 2? A more heroic coloring.

Imperator Pax · Mar 4, 2022

RoyalTwinFangs said:
Why not the blue and white of the Talkgeese 2? A more heroic coloring.

As command mech parade (Orion, Black Knight, Atlas, other) coloring yes, but for general regimental colors (i.e. 'grunt' mechs') its likely going to be Donegal or Winfield Guard Gray/blue/greens

RoyalTwinFangs · Mar 4, 2022

Is he going to include ionic mechs from the Clan Invasion era like the Wolfhound and Bushmaster? Or something on the heavy side like the Götterdämmerung or Thunderbolt II (Thunderbolt IIC)?

Imperator Pax · Mar 8, 2022

Prologue Part 2
Landed Opportunity

June 3015

The news was about what he expected.

The Marik Civil had petered out about as he had expected. What he hadn't known to expect was the tit for tat along the Commonwealth border. The Mariks had taken a world so the Commonwealth had seized one of theirs. Odin didn't particularly care for that... and while he was probably not the only one he could guess it was the Archon hoping to keep things at a relatively low level of aggression. She was hoping to entreat the successor houses to a peace treaty.

Thus he suspected one of two things were going to happen. Janos would either attack outward against the League's external enemies. A very probable course of action. Not necessarily one that would force the league into battle with the commonwealth against the archon's wishes. No, the marik civil war had involved one side being supported by the capellans... if Janos were to mount an attack he might choose to attack them. It was also possible he might not launch any further attacks.

... however it was possible that regardless of the Archon's wishes there were those within the LCAF who wanted to commit to an offensive. Either because they had been planned under Alessandro Steiner... or because they viewed it as necessary for some other reason.

He hoped he was wrong. The news from the League was that they were holding very publicized trials for traitors. Hopefully the bloodletting would keep them busy. He doubted it, it hadn't escaped his attention that the Wolfs Dragoons had switched sides. Assuming things went as he expected them to... the Dragoons would come over the border.

Presumably not here, but he couldn't discount it entirely.

People might have questioned using the terraformers and setting that up on a meager planet like Rigil Kentarus. It was one of the very first colonies of humanity, but its heyday was long since passed. It, New Earth, and other Hegemony planets brutally savaged and degraded from the time in the sun that had been the Star League of the 27th century... and truthfully while important Rigil Kentaurus had never been the most important of the Hegemony's colonies.

The title of Baron was far beneath the standing of such an expense... but you had to start somewhere... and more importantly his friends on Tharkad had insured that the Archon knew of the service to the world. If he had been able to settle on Clinton, or Antares his first letters patent and nobility would have likely had to be from a local planetary noble.

He had still had to negotiate land purchases and secure space negotiating with the local aristocracy... but he was now among their ranks and with a demonstration to show for it. Actually more than one, none of his peers had anywhere close to his military or indeed economic power. The JumpShips alone were a tremendous value, but he was going to be opening factories on Rigil, and on its moon.

But for the young baron that wasn't his only concern. He had been hasty in hoping to leave Tharkad. Impatient even. His decision to use [Recycle] on part of his inheritance had been too quick by far for a number of reasons that had developed since then. That many dropships just disappearing... and from on Tharkad the capital of the commonwealth of all places.... that had been even more foolish than his wastefulness in not using the essence in a more controlled manner.

The DropShips had been easy to legally eliminate from the books... but that official end wasn't the end end. People would want to know where the deceased count's dropships had gone. Worse since he had terminated their registry he couldn't simply bring them back without paperwork. The best case scenario were people would assume he had gifted the DropShips... or broken them down for parts, which was more accurate in a sense he supposed.

The problem would be if anyone had seen them vanish and hadn't simply assumed they'd been dreaming or rendered insensate by drink or other means. There were no rumors circulating about JumpShips literally vanishing they were talking about hundreds of thousands of tons... and it had been reckless.

He had to hope that the matter would settle that most would accept that he had simply bartered or gifted away those DropShips for other resources, which was true in sense. They had been used to gain other resources. The problem was the inquiry von Hoenn, or more correctly the lawyers working for his regent... presumably the count's mother ... had underway. Truthfully there had probably always going to be questions asked about the DropShips. It would have been rather idiotic not to. While they weren't the Federated Suns it certainly wasn't unheard of for one branch of a family to seize a title from a relative by force.... even if it was quite rare and more suitable for holovid fantasy stories than anywhere else. It was very rare for one noble to take his house troops against a cousin and seize power in pitched, the Lyran commonwealth didn't work like that.

It was a ridiculous fear of course. Odin had no such designs, and the capital one would have needed to make such a conquest stick was more than just who you knew. Usurping your relatives without exceedingly good cause, i.e. They'd been convicted of treason was a massive black mark to a reputation even if it worked. A scorch to his shield he couldn't afford.

... but if von Hoenn's people were asking about the DropShip he had less time than he thought. They would eventually come here, and there was nothing that he could do to stop them. Beyond just civil hospitality to the envoys of another noble they were the envoys of a related house turning them away would be a black mark against him... and he couldn't put too much effort in ducking them either. Being merely a locally created baron would have drawn less attention, but the PR campaign had emphasized his use of the bequest and that had one him an 'imperial' baron's title. If they were asking about the DropShips they would likely poke around for the rest... ask questions about what else had been in cargo holds and storehouses and other spaces.

Odin started at the noise, but glanced at the window. Rain. Of course Rigil Kentaurus and Riken Minor were both heavily saturated with water. The rain was unexpected but it meant the terraformers were doing their job. The planet was recovering, and they could keep moving forward. He hadn't needed to be a noble in order to buy land, but the baronial land grant from the Archon provided him vastly more protection, and leeway to how he pursued matters.

Odin looked at the rain drops splattering the windows heartily now. That meant a planetary militia. Devastated by the war against Amaris, and having been colonized originally in a far flung manner of settlement to begin with Rigil was spread out across her island land masses. Rigil Kentaurus even as a world of the Hegemony had never broken a population of two billion people. Instead it had been a favorite of Terran nobility, of the genteel and wealthy souls of the hegemony a favoirte stop for visitors.

... and Kentaurus's own native (Terran Hegemony) nobility had happily sided with Amaris after the bombardment for economic 'reforms' for wasteful short term gains... so of course when the SLDF had returned there had been reprisals and fighting. A military coup a year later, and then again after Kerensky had shirked his duties again and run away to the periphery. Kerensky was the absolute worst sort of social general, he was actually good at the fighting but bad about fulfilling his actual social obligations, an unfavorable sin in a lyran's eyes, especially when committed by someone who had graduated the Nagelring. After Kerensky was gone and the infighting began between the successor houses things had declined but stabilized only with the commonwealth's liberation. The commonwealth though hadn't been able to restore the world to its Star League heights modest as those had been.

Of course the Archon had other concerns besides just one world.

Odin focused a fragment of will summoning the familiar blocky script. He had stumbled really over the matter on Tharkad. A paltry sum. A union cost more... but then Unions in BV were really quite ridiculously expensive for something so common. Not that the 'small factory' wasn't an excellent purchase in C-Bills, but it cost so much less to spend in BV. If he had waited before reaching here he would have had enough since he accrued BV at twenty five a day. He could have waited and recycled the DropShips here and avoided risking any sort of attention rather than disappearing so many dropships on Tharkad.

Rash. Stupid.

He'd have to be more careful.

As for the factories, well a medium factory for a billion C-Bills was a bit steep for him, but it was merely the cost of a good Mech. A good lyran knew a good investment. Knew the better price. He needed four Small factory units to every medium at minimum. 2508 BV for just the SFUs. The additional 1693 brought the total for just a basic matter to 4201. Then of course he needed another medium to handle assembly. Almost six thousand, 5894 BV, or just shy of 2000 more than the cost of a Union.

He would not make the same mistake as on Tharkad. He had had his retainers carefully erect coverings and work spaces and excavate the spaces where the SFUs would be place. It gave the impression of heavy construction work. Gratitude father, for all of the support equipment, it really sold the impression to anyone watching. There was actual construction going on. There was plenty of building projects that he had needed to spend kroner on. It needed to be Kroner this was a Lyran world, use C-Bills to pay foreign merchants wasn't that what the point of it was for? Even that didn't stop stupid people in other states from trying to fuck with the C-Bill, but it was worse with house bills. Fewer people wanted to futz the exchange rate of a c-bill at least for actively malicious reasons... there were plenty of sound reasons for a currency to fluctuate Lyrans understood this.

Odin Lowe was exhausted. He was a scientist, an engineer, by professional education. He had a MechWarrior's talents and a soldier's fitness... but that wasn't why he was tired. He was tired because of all the press conferences and all the other Public Relations. The factories were public now.

If he hadn't used [Recycle] it would have taken him most of a year to accumulate the necessary BV naturally. Four SFUs for component construction, to feed into a medium, and a medium to do the assembly. One building block.

Ordinarily, and thus what would have required him to invest years, a decade of his life, the process of starting a factory would have meant finding experienced professionals. Not impossible of course. The Lyran Commonwealth was the most heavily industrialized in the Inner Sphere. He could find line engineers, veterans even the best of the best given time but he would have needed more than that. He would have needed the tools to make the tools. Doable, but would have taken time. Time had had planned on... not planned on having years shaved off his plans.

That was why he was exhausted. The truth was he had left his research and much of his other academic work on Tharkad at the university. He wasn't going to need them. Not with the inheritance, and not with the essence. Not with the way both came together... and he was going to make a grand speech to the men talk about being Lyran, and the great standard of living that Commonwealth citizens enjoyed in comparison to the immense poverty deprivation and superstitious rampant else where. That hadbeen something about the Mariks he had never understood, why they were so militantly opposed to cybernetics at time.... but the real work would be after the speech investing money into the community to be Lyran. To be proud lyrans.

--
Notes: and this brings us to the last snippet of what would have in the original plan gone up in the misc thread, so in theory Next Week we will start Chapter 1

RoyalTwinFangs · Mar 8, 2022

Is it a Aerospace factory. Also so close to Terra and ComStar, so you better keep close eye or that factory will be going up in flames real soon.

Imperator Pax · Mar 9, 2022

RoyalTwinFangs said:
Is it a Aerospace factory. Also so close to Terra and ComStar, so you better keep close eye or that factory will be going up in flames real soon.

no, we're not that far yet, these are sub component manufacturing facilities, ammunition, myomer bundles small things.
--
As an aside:

Odin's Predeployment Activities Article 1 A Parade
Yes with this music in the background.

View: %5BURL%5Dhttps://www.reddit.com/r/NonCredibleDefense/comments/t85yc5/what_a_time_we_are_living_in/[/URL]

Huh that didn't work. oh well link and brief montage clip.

RoyalTwinFangs · Mar 10, 2022

So any rivals in mind for him later on?

Essence Wielding Social General [Battletech]

Talon Master

For The Chancellor!

Talon Master

For The Chancellor!

Talon Master

For The Chancellor!

Talon Master

For The Chancellor!

Talon Master

For The Chancellor!

Talon Master

For The Chancellor!

Talon Master

Not too sore, are you?

For The Chancellor!

Talon Master

Talon Master

Talon Master

For The Chancellor!

Magical Defender of Justice

Talon Master

Magical Defender of Justice

Talon Master

For The Chancellor!

Talon Master

For The Chancellor!

Talon Master

For The Chancellor!

Talon Master

For The Chancellor!

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