 Solaris City on Solaris VII
 The Margrave's Royal Court on Summer
The descriptions of the major planets of the Federation of Skye (and other planets of note in the Lyran Commonwealth) were Copied/Quoted From: House Steiner Battletech Game Sourcebook, Copyright 1987, FASA Corporation, and the Star League Battletech Game Sourcebook, Copyright 1988, FASA Corporation.
SOLARIS VII
Star Type: K1V
Position in System: 7 ( of 12 )
Surface Water: 80 percent Atmospheric Pressure: Standard Equatorial Temperature: 25°C Days to Jump Point: 5 Recharging Station: Zenith, Nadir ComStar Facility Class: A Coordinates: X = -123.36 Y = -7.04 (Coordinates from Terra in light years) OVERVIEW
Solaris VII is the largest of the twelve planets in its system. Exploration of the system's other worlds has found them unsuitable for habitation, though the fourth planet is the site of an extensive though only marginally profitable mining operation. An earth-sized, water-rich world, Solaris has only two major continents, Grayland and Equatus, only one of which is extensively inhabited. Roughly the size of North America on Terra, Grayland is a place of great, shallow seas and wide, sluggish rivers. Vast stretches of taiga in the north give way to forests of conifer-like trees in the central region and open into grasslands in the south. The climate of central Grayland, the location of Solaris City, is damp and chill. A brief spring season brings a waning light for a few weeks before the rains close in again. Were it not for the 'Mech games, Solaris City would be a dismal place, indeed. The rest of Grayland is comparatively pleasant. Many nobles maintain summer homes along the southern coast, where rainfall is rare and the cool sea breeze moderates a warm climate. Some sections of central Grayland boast forests vast enough to support a profitable timber industry, but even in such communities, the 'Mech games are still the most important industry. Solaris' other continent, Equatus, has considerably less arable land. Populated with only a few coastal fishing and inland mining communities, Equatus is the planet's "wild frontier."
HISTORY Despite its prime location along the Steiner - Marik frontier, Solaris VII 's history has been relatively peaceful. Originally a Free Worlds planet, Solaris fell to the Lyrans during the First Succession War, then suffered heavily from Free Worlds depredations through out the Second Succession War. In 2928, a Marik raid severely damaged Solaris City's 'mech repair facilities, but four years later Steiner forces roundly defeated a major Free Worlds invasion in September 3002. BattleMech contests are the major industry upon which the entire planetary economy is based, and this has been so almost from the earliest period of Solaris history. Those corporate executives who first used Solaris VII as a testing ground for new 'mechs could never have imagined that these test trials would one day become gladiator-like contests of a nightmarish form.
3058 Update In 3057, as Marik and Liao forces invaded the Sarna
March, Katrina Steiner-Davion announced the formation of the new Lyran Alliance,
declared Lyran neutrality in the invasion, and called for all Lyran military
units to withdraw from Federated Commonwealth possessions in the March. With
this act, ownership of Solaris VII transferred from the Federated Commonwealth
to the newly-christened Lyran Alliance. TERRA
World Name: Terra
Star Type: G2V Position in System: 3 Time to Jump Point: 9 days Recharging Station: zenith, nadir Present Affiliation: Word of Blake Population: 12,000,000,000 during Star League; 7,000,000,000 today Percentage and Level of Native Life: 100%, Mammal Terra was, without doubt, the most beautiful planet in the universe when the Star League was in full flower. By the 26th century, technology had eliminated pollution. This, coupled with the exodus of more than three-fourths of the planet's population over the years, allowed Terra to regain some of her natural beauty. Forests grew back over abandoned farms; streams and rivers washed themselves clean; and the air became sweet once again.
Because so many people left Terra for the colonies, many cities were abandoned and were eventually reclaimed by Mother Nature. The cities that remained, usually ones with great historical significance, were restored and improved to take advantage of modern transportation and sanitation. Heavy industries were confined to parks outside the cities.
During the years of the Star League, there were two capitals on Terra. The capital of planetary and Hegemony politics was Geneva, on the continent of Europe. It had little industrial importance but was the center of the Hegemony bureaucracy, with more than 100 government buildings. The seizure of Terra by troops of Stefan Amaris in 2766 caused extensive damage to the city, especially to the government buildings and their precious records. Today it is the location of Earth University, a major liberal arts college.
The war to liberate Terra from Stefan Amaris did not damage the planet as extensively as it did some Hegemony worlds. Every crater, every crushed city, every defacing of a Terran landmark seemed twice as upsetting because it was a wound against the Cradle of Humanity. All five continents were touched in some way by the Amaris occupation or the fight to liberate the planet. North America suffered the most damage, especially around the capital of the Star League. The Court of the Star League, once called "the brightest jewel worn by Mother Earth," was turned into a city of ghosts by the coup. The initial fighting caused considerable damage to the city. Once there, the conquerors became more systematic in their destruction. Buildings were demolished on a whim, or left to stand, only to be desecrated in some foul way.
After its liberation in 2780, the city could still support thousands, but those who had fled did not return. The few who had been in the city during the Amaris occupation left soon after the shooting was over. They said that too many evil things had happened in the city, that the city had to be haunted.
It is easy to see why they thought this. The buildings' soaring architecture contrasts uneasily with the horrors that went on inside them. Now, only the curious, criminals looking for sanctuary, and our archaeologists willingly venture into the Court of the Star League. Over the years, the removal of artifacts from the city has produced many discoveries. Soon the city will be left empty.
Other places of major importance are the 20 HRAD (Hegemony Research and Development) facilities scattered across the planet, the 10 known HMSL (Hegemony Military Science Labs), the 20 Castles Brian, and the 500 SLDF bases.
In recent years, however, ComStar has managed to restore Unity City and the Court of the Star League to their former glory. The cities have been repopulated and are used by ComStar as museums and administrative buildings. Unity City has been restored as the diplomatic center of the Inner Sphere and a place where all states can meet to resolve their problems.
Primus Mori and Precentor Martial Focht's reforms have done much to improve living conditions on Terra and in our Order, and releasing the bonds formed by the heavy religious overtones of the past has allowed the population and members of ComStar to work that much more effectively in restoring Terra to its rightful position as jewel of the Inner Sphere and precious cradle of the human race.
3058 Update
The Liao-Marik invasion brought Word of Blake loyalists to the Sarna March in droves, either following in the wake of invading troops or taking advantage of insurrections to overthrow ComStar administration of HPG stations on disputed worlds. On worlds conquered by Marik forces, Word of Blake acolytes immediately displaced ComStar personnel at all HPG facilities. Those ComStar personnel who did not escape the Word of Blake have been forcibly relocated somewhere deep within the League, possibly on the Word of Blake's stronghold on Gibson. The fate of ComStar personnel on Liao-controlled worlds is in question, though the Word of Blake does not seem to be moving onto those worlds en masse.
Of the newly formed minor powers within the March, only the Terracap Confederation has allowed the Word of Blake to take control of its HPG stations. As far as can be confirmed, ComStar retains its ownership of the HPG stations in the Sarna Supremacy, the Styk Commonality, and the Saiph Triumvirate. At this point, no one knows for certain who controls the HPG facilities within the Sirian Holds.
On several of the Chaos March's independent worlds, ComStar and the Word of Blake are engaged in running conflicts, with forces from one side or the other taking a facility one week and then losing it to their opponents the next. This low-level warfare has severely disrupted offworld communications on these planets, further isolating them from outside influences. Offworld communications from these disrupted worlds, when such communication exists at all, functions through a "pony express" system in which a JumpShip collects messages and then jumps to the nearest star system with a stable HPG facility. This facility then transmits the messages to their destinations.
Of particular interest to mercenary commanders looking for a berth, reliable rumor has stated the Brion's Legion recently left ComStar's employ on Terra to accept a rather lucrative contract on the planet Pleione and become one of the key units in the Tikonov Reaches. Of all these events occurring in the late 3050s, this was the one which led most directly to the Word of Blake conquest of Terra.
After skirmishing with the Second FedCom Regimental Combat Team on Hsien, the 21st Centauri Lancers seemed to need a chance to rest and recover from that bloody battle. After recruiting new personnel to fill their losses and arriving on Terra, the Lancers drilled with ComStar's Terran Defense Force. Impressing Precentor Lisa Koenigs-Cober, charged with the defense of Terra, as being more skilled than the new recruits would have suggested, the stage was set for the Word of Blake's conquest as the new recruits proved to be Word of Blake agents.
On February 28, 3058, the Word of Blake struck. The day was a rather symbolic one, being the 276th anniversary of Jerome Blake being given control of Terra and what would become ComStar. It was also the 38th month since the official naming of Sharilar Mori, and Jerome Blake had a 38-year reign, a terribly complicated matter and bound up in the malignant theology of the Word of Blake terrorists. The Word of Blake and 21st Centauri Lancer forces attacked and destroyed Hilton Head and the Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, inflicting considerable losses on the ComGuard 201st Division. As the attack continued, Precentor Koenigs-Cober destroyed everything of value which could not be taken and retreated off-world with Primus Mori, the First Circuit, and remaining ComGuard forces.
As the news reached Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht as he was on his way to a strategy session with the St. Ives Compact, Federated Commonwealth, and Draconis Combine on Tukayyid, it was decided not to contest the Word of Blake conquest at that time, leaving them the trouble of defending Terra should the Clans break the truce. With three Word of Blake regiments burning in to bolster their forces on Terra, the decision seemed a wise one, especially in light of rumors that the Word of Blake is in the process of hiring mercenaries to further strengthen their garrison force. With this conquest of Terra, ComStar has moved its base of operations to the Free Rasalhague Republic world of Tukayyid, where it prepares to once again defend the Inner Sphere when the Clans continue their invasion.
THARKAD
World Name: Tharkad
Star Type: G6V Position in System: 5 Time to Jump Point: 8 days Recharging Station: Zenith, Nadir Percentage and Level of Native life: 45%, mammal Tharkad was discovered in 2310 by an explorer group from nearby Donegal. Though the rugged mountains and windy, arctic climate extending over most of its surface made it seem a dreary place for humans, the world also contained major radioactive and gem deposits. When Seth Marsden visited Tharkad in 2311, he found the cold, peaceful solitude to be breathtaking. So taken was he with the long nights and their spectacular aurora borealis that Marsden managed eventually to control and claim it as his own. He then began a program of massive importation of cold weather plants and animals from Terra and other worlds to spread across his new home.
He had soon created a world with large pine forests populated with deer, caribou, wolves, Skye boars, and Tharkan gazelle. In many ways, Tharkad is like the arctic wilderness of Terra, except that its arctic regions extend all the way down to the 30th latitude of the planet. There are five major continents and three major island chains of Tharkad. Tharkad City, the capital, is located on Bremen, the largest continent.
When Tharkad became the capital of the Lyran Commonwealth in 2407, space was cleared in the middle of a large forest ten kilometers to the north of Olympia for the construction of the Capital city. The large and somberly elegant Royal Palace, Government House, and Royal Court form the three cusps of the Triad, a triangular complex of buildings all devoted to the administration of the Commonwealth. Today, the Triad includes over 300 buildings of all types and styles, whose purposes range from hospitals and houses of worship to apartments for nobles and representatives from distant worlds and a botanical garden. It is a common saying that there is a building for every populated world in the Commonwealth somewhere in the Triad.
Even the fusion reactor operating deep beneath this modern city to generate power and heat cannot completely hold back the Tharkan cold. At the first sign of winter snowfall, the people, both rich and poor, begin unpacking clothing designed for the coming Tharkan blizzards and bone-chilling cold. Attending the Royal Court during a Tharkan winter is an unusual experience for those used to visiting courts in warmer climes. The Lyran Commonwealth nobility likes to dress in furs during the winter months, more out of necessity than vanity. Women wear long, fur-trimmed gowns, while the men wear fur hats and fur coats with chains of jewelry and precious metals. As people speak in the large and high-ceilinged Throne Room, their breaths sometimes rise in wisps of condensation to create a thin layer of shiny ice on the armor of the two Griffin BattleMechs guarding the Archon.
Set on the crest of nearby Mount Wotan is Asgard, the military headquarters of the Steiner armed forces. It is a fortress with one major tower flanked by four smaller ones. All five towers are heavily armed; below them are hangars for a regiment of 'Mechs, two of infantry and tanks, and a Wing of AeroSpace Fighters.
There are no roads leading to the Triad, and so all traffic must enter by VTOL craft or by one of the three separate subway systems that link the Triad with Olympia to the south, Asgard to the west, and the rest of Tharkad City five miles to the north.
During the Good Years, the planet underwent a boom in mining and steel manufacture. The Star League also established a military base with major storage facilities on the tropical Tatyana Islands during this era. With the fall of the Star League, Tharkad's industries were plunged for a time into deep economic depression. With the need to produce weapons and other military equipment for the Succession Wars, Tharkad's industries revived. With Katrina Steiner-Davion's September 18, 3057 declaration of independence of the Steiner half of the Federated Commonwealth, Tharkad became the capital world of the newly-christened Lyran Alliance.
SKYE
World Name: Skye
Star Type: G8V, M0V Position in System: 4 Time to Jump Point: 8 days Recharging Station: Zenith, Nadir Percentage and Level of Native life: 30%, mammal Skye is the emotional heart of the Federation. Within its contrasting landscapes and cool climate, the early English, Irish and Scotch settlers quickly came to feel at home. The many succeeding generations on Skye have developed a deep emotional attachment to this world of green mountains beneath twin suns.
Despite all the publicity given to the planet's unspoiled landscape, Skye is a very industrialized planet. There are enough smelters, refineries, and manufacturers to make any greedy businessman's heart happy. To counter the effects of these potential environmental disasters, the early founders of the planet kept over 50 percent of the planet wild and untamed. While this saved the land, it stifled economic prosperity and kept wealth in the hands of certain nobles and businessmen. Who was rich and who was poor remained fairly static for hundreds of years since. This has made the social hierarchy rigid and stagnant, with few people able to move up the social ladder and many more actually descending.
The economic boom created by the Commonwealth's alliance with the Federated Suns has created considerable social unrest on Skye. Though many welcome the opportunity for stimulating new influences, and hope for eventual social, economic, and land reforms, others still consider the Federated Suns an enemy. These hold rigidly to the old ways of doing things, including defending the wilderness to the death. Despite this clash, every long-time citizen of Skye has the same deep attachment to the planet and most born there never contemplate leaving it.
ALEXANDRIA
World Name: Alexandria
Star Type: M4V Position in System: 3 Time to Jump Point: 7 days Recharging Station: Zenith Percentage and Level of Native life: 20%, reptile Alexandria is one of the most war-ravaged planets in the Federation. When not the target of an all-out invasion, Alexandria suffers almost constant raiding by House Kurita. The result is that this once idyllic world of pastoral beauties and rich resources has become a virtual sea of mud churned up by the weight of marching 'Mechs.
There was a time during the Good Years when Alexandria was a cultural center whose art collections were famous throughout the Inner Sphere. Hints of that more graceful era still exist in the far flung cities of Lam Pole or Cherboug, which have no military importance and so were relatively untouched by war.
There have been efforts recently to rebuild Alexandria's shattered cities and torn lands. So accustomed to war, the planet's people stoically wonder to what good use they can put the remains of the new buildings after the next battle reduces them to rubble.
SUMMER
World Name: Summer
Star Type: M4V Position in System: 1 Time to Jump Point: 3 days Recharging Station: Nadir Percentage and Level of Native life: 20%, plant Summer is the political center of its province. The separatist movement promoting the independence of the Federation of Skye from the rest of the Commonwealth congregates around Duke Arturus Steiner's palace looming above Curitiba, Summer's largest city.
A darker twin of Skye, Summer's weak sun changes hills that would be considered beautiful and stirring on Skye to dark and ominous shapes covered with the purple scrub-grass native to the planet. Dark hills loom over valleys steeped in shadows. In the summer months, the wind is often tainted with the peculiar odors of its native blooming plants.
The major industries on Summer are refineries for the planet's large deposits of oil and radioactives as well as factories manufacturing components for Jump Ships.
RAHNE
World Name: Rahne
Star Type: G7V Position in System: 4 Time to Jump Point: 6 days Recharging Station: Nadir Percentage and Level of Native life: 90%, mammal Rahne is a small world lacking adequate water and growing seasons. Because the planet's surface is wracked by major dust storms, the need to protect exposed machinery has greatly hampered above-ground exploitation of Rahne's gems and radioactive deposits. Geologists report that Rahne originated from a planet twice its size that collided with a huge asteroid. As a result of the collision, the original planet split into Rahne and its moon, Caliban.
The gravitational effect of massive Caliban upon the planet's atmosphere and its one sea give Rahne its severe weather conditions. The planet has four seasons: Storm, Calm, Cold, Melting. Of the four, Melting is the most dangerous, as temperatures rise above 100 °C. Fortunately, each season only lasts 21 days.
How native life evolved on such a world is a mystery. the Rahne Toad-Fox, a squat beast with red fur and an evil disposition, is an example of what it takes to survive on this planet. During the Storm and Calm seasons, the Toad-Fox is a nocturnal hunter. Using its foot-long ears and ten-inch claws that drip with poison, it seeks out and kills prey, usually Slimy Rock-Huggers. During the Cold, the toad-Fox looks for a mate by drumming out an invitation upon its chest. Once mated, the Toad-Foxes bury themselves by literally ripping through a mountainside, where they give birth and live during the Melting.
For humans, only the Calm and Cold seasons are hospitable enough to allow anyone to venture outside the subterranean cities.
HESPERUS II
World Name: Hesperus II
Star Type: F2IV Position in System: 2 Time to Jump Point: 10 days Recharging Station: Zenith, Nadir Percentage and Level of Native life: 30%, reptile Hesperus II has been characterized as having about as much physical appeal as an 80-year old lady of easy virtue. Approaching the planet, the visitor immediately notices the innumerable mountain ranges and canyons crisscrossing the four major continents like wrinkles or the grids of some warped game board.
And a game board it has been, for Hesperus, with its huge BattleMech factory in the Myoo Mountains, is the crux of the Commonwealth's military strength. It has been attacked 14 times by enemy Houses, but all attempts to destroy the factory have so far failed. The terrain of Hesperus is unforgiving and has proven to be as much an obstacle to foreign attackers as have the planet's defenders.
Not much can grow on Hesperus II, except in the Melrose Valleys or in the terraced mountains Just outside of Maria's Elegy, the largest city on Hesperus II. Due to the planet's lack of arable land, the population has always been small, consisting mainly of employees at the 'Mech factory.
PORT MOSEBY
World Name: Port Moseby
Star Type: F9V Position in System: 4 Time to Jump Point: 9 days Recharging Station: Zenith, Nadir Percentage and Level of Native life: 35%, mammal Port Moseby has become a rich business center of sprawling cities, major spaceports, and a steady traffic of Jump Ships in and out of the system. The reason for the planet's good fortune is that it is almost completely surrounded by the Draconis Combine. Of course, this advantage could easily become the planet's downfall if House Kurita should so decide, but for now, Lyran traders ply their trade with eager customers from the Combine in Port Moseby. It would be easier to say what is not traded in Port Moseby than what is. The needs and wants of the Draconis Combine are legion, and the Commonwealth merchants are more than willing to fill the demand, with the usual overcharge, of course.
The planet itself is rather plain. Non-descript terrain, common weather, and the average number of hidden natural resources all tend to focus life back into the cities, where the Lyran merchants have their colorful bazaars.
RYDE
World Name: Ryde
Star Type: F5V Position in System: 3 Time to Jump Point: 11 days Recharging Station: Zenith Percentage and Level of Native life: 0% Ryde was discovered a few years after the Exodus from Terra had begun. The survey crew's report described a young planet whose continents still creaked, groaned, and erupted with earthquakes and volcanoes. Ryde also had three seas, but the steaming hot water tainted yellow with sulfur and heavy metals made them unusable.
Despite the planet's hellish appearance, colonists chose to live on Ryde, creating the city of Heaven's Gate on one of the more peaceful continents. Seven hundred years later, Ryde is still violent with quakes and volcanoes. Thanks to the persistence of those early settlers, it is also capable of sustaining a large population with food grown in the rich volcanic soil. The world's volatile condition does benefit the population by giving them easy access to geothermal heating during Ryde's harsh winters. The planet's geology has also resulted in the relatively easy and profitable growth of a chemicals industry.
MIZAR
World Name: Mizar
Star Type: A2V Position in System: 6 Time to Jump Point: 24 days Recharging Station: Nadir Percentage and Level of Native life: 35%, mammal Basking beneath its huge sun, Mizar is one of the most well-groomed worlds in the Commonwealth. Its people have been willing to allocate huge sums of money and effort to prettify their homeworld, even at the cost of further developing a promising crystal and metals operation.
Some observers suspect that this beauty fetish is a hangover from the Good Years when Mizar was considered one of the most fashionable resort worlds in the League. Mizar still has a large tourist industry based on the allure and beauty of its many tropical isles. Others speculate that the people of Mizar are obsessed with proving their planet is better than the nearby world of Summer. Why a world lit by a brilliant sun and possessing a colorful, harmonious landscape would want to compete with one that is dark and gloomy defies explanation.
Whatever the reason, the natives of Mizar are fanatic about maintaining physical appearance, their own and their world's. These tanned and relaxed people are also obsessed with the symbols of wealth such as ground vehicles, mansions, mistresses and/or gigolos. Visitors to Mizar are generally unconcerned about what motivates the inhabitants, as long as the weather is clear and sunny and Fire Lizards, a famed Mizar drink, flows freely. The capital of Mizar is New Venice Beach.
 NEW KYOTO
World Name: New Kyoto
Star Type: G5 Position in System: 3 Time to Jump Point: 7 days Recharging Station: Zenith, Nadir Percentage and Level of Native life: 75%, mammal When New Kyoto was first discovered, the virulence of the native lifeforms was not immediately apparent. When colonists attempted to import plants and animals, the results were disastrous, because the native fauna either consumed the newcomers or local diseases killed off the competition in other ways. After some very lean and difficult years, the scientists on New Kyoto managed to discover an opening in the previously impenetrable armor of native lifeforms. Though progress has been slow, imported life has begun to gain a foothold on the planet. There is a strict ban against exporting native species of New Kyoto to other worlds. Furthermore, no one should be foolish enough to venture either alone or unarmed into the many wild areas of the planet. As fearsome as this sounds, New Kyoto is relatively safe and free of the major Kyotan carnivores like Armor Bears and Ki-rians.
Many major industries have been constructed along the coasts of the planet's four continents, and several spaceports are being built to help promote the growing trade with the Free Worlds League.
 YED PRIOR
World Name: Yed Prior
Star Type: F0III Position in System: 5 Time to Jump Point: 11 days Recharging Station: None Percentage and Level of Native life: 45%, mammal Yed Prior is a world in the throes of rebellion. As part of a program to attract more business to the planet, Duke Keskula wishes to construct a major spaceport on land owned by and considered sacred to a Shinto monastery. For several years, the Duke has made numerous offers of money, other land holdings, political favors, and anything else he could think of. the Shintoists have turned a deaf ear, but the Duke is equally stubborn in refusing to look for an alternate construction site.
Walter Jensen, President of the Yed Prior government, has stepped in on the side of the Shinto priests and their large forest of Yed conifers. This so enraged the Duke that he ordered elements of the planetary garrison to seize the disputed land by force. President Jensen retaliated by having the police force of the nearby city of Kezma enter the forest and dig in. The commander of the planetary garrison, Leutnant-Colonel Greston Patterson, wisely decided that the Duke's orders were an illegal use of Commonwealth weaponry. He countermanded the marching orders and confined the garrison to its bases.
At the time of this writing, the private forces of Duke Keskula have surrounded the forest and its defenders in an attempt to starve them out. Riots in support of the forest defenders have broken out in many cities. An envoy from the Steiner government has arrived to attempt mediation. Curiously, a major portion of the planetary garrison has just gone on maneuvers quite near the Duke's palace, possibly to intimidate him.
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