OBT Forum

Regarding Sub-Saharan Africans, there's no one region of space that appears to have been predominantly colonised by them. That doesn't mean there aren't such worlds, just that they didn't wind up dominating an area. New Capetown, in the Lyran Alliance, is a pretty obvious example of such a world being a South African expy.

Racial division isn't a huge factor in the Battletech universe. On individual worlds it may be an issue but largely black, white and yellow band together in the common cause of sticking it to "those assholes across the border". Culture is a far more significant division than colour. The FRR worlds are a mix of the original scandinavian colonists, settlers from the Lyran worlds incorporated by the Combine into the old Rasalhague District over the Succession Wars (this was from the Tamar region which was fairly multi-ethnic ) with an overlay of Japanese culture from the Combine.


The FRR situation depends on the era. There's a wiki entry for the state. The 20 Year Update probably provides the best information on the short history of the FRR up to 3050.

From the mention of the WoB it seems likely you're talking about the Jihad era. The Rasalhague region had seceded from the Draconis Combine around 3036 - thirty years before the Jihad. Before this time it had been a contentious region - once an independent state that was conquered years ago. Most of the worlds had been Lyran worlds conquered by the Combine over the centuries. As a result the FRR had a significant pro-Lyran population, a significant pro-Draconis minority and a strong but shallow nationalism. The Combine was not only a former oppressor but also something of a bulwark against the Federated Commonwealth and later an ally against the Clans.

Any characters under 30 would have never known Combine rule but they'd probably have long memories of the Clans sweeping in and almost entirely conquering the Rasalhague region. Older characters would likely compare Clan rule to Combine rule.

ComStar and the Word of Blake would be viewed in a similarly fractured way. ComStar supported the formation of the FRR and after the Battle of Tukkayid (fought on a FRR world) ComStar troops were the bulwark of their defense against a further invasion. On the other hand, the Word of Blake formed from the same sect of ComStar that had originally supported the FRR and could be seen as another small state struggling to survive among the vastly larger successor states.

My one character from the FRR in a RP was ethnically mixed Japanese-Scandinavian, wore a samurai topknot and went mercenary after his homeworld was conquered by the Clans. This made him somewhat among Rasalhaguans as they had recent memories of mercenaries who fought for them during the secession exploiting loopholes in their contracts and occasionally leaving the rebels exposed.

The Inner Sphere's been a huge melting pot over the centuries. Don't be afraid to mix things up.

Hey Ghost Cub, welcome to the OBT Forums.

First thing I thought of was the Black Muslims from the original Steiner House Book (FASA 1621), paragraph below is a direct quote -

The Black Muslim faith is an offshoot of the Islamic tradition, with roots extending back to North America in the late 20th century, when Blacks were oppressed as second-class citizens. Several influential revolutionary Blacks adopted the Islamic faith and adapted it to their plight. The belief survived the eventual affirmation of Blacks as citizens of equal worth and privilege in the 21st century. In the Lyran Commonwealth, the Black Muslim faith is strongest in the Coventry and Trellshire provinces, where Black Americans and Africans settled in the late 23rd century.

Now Trellshire is over by the Rasalhague border which moved a lot during the Succession Wars. Kurita took big chunks out of Steiner and added it to the Rasalhague Military District. Perhaps some of those peoples could have indeed been part of the FRR.

I'll have to do some research on Tukayyid before the giant ComStar-Clan clash of 3052, something from my memory tells me that the planet was settled by Sub-Saharans perhaps but my memory ain't what it used to be.

On loose canon connections have you check names of planets against regions or cities of the Sub Sahara? Not always a rule that there is a link but there could be.

Wow thank you Takiro that is great info. I'll have to run the planet names through Google to look for orgins. One thing I like about the Jihad era is that there are a lot more factions at play which creates a lot of good potential stories.  I know the pre clan eras tend to be the most popular,  but I like creating a pc group with a wide diversity of backgrounds. It seems to create more role playing situations.

A more general question. How much or little do people detail the mech support personal?  Do you find pcs to be interested in the techs, or are they only interested in their peers? Are most of your games centered around mechwarriors, and if they are do you tend to have mostly military oriented npcs?

The setup is the FRR elements within the Dominion are wanting to create a useful intelligence gathering operation.  They have set up the PCs as a mercenary company in order to gather information while they take contracts. I am trying to mix the merc genre with the spy genre. We are playing on roll20 and so far things are going well. I used the force creation rules out of Campaign Operations instead of making the pcs spend lots of xp on the vehicle trait.  We have six players total right now.  Here is a copy of the command structure.  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Bj_Vq8DLOCBwJS7BzSLwURTSZkKs_yBdtAz4umxFLEI/edit?usp=drive_web

The company has a star of infantry and a point of Gnomes to assist with capturing and holding targets. I calculated 63 techs which I need to start detailing along with some of the infantry.

The company has a star of infantry and a point of Gnomes to assist with capturing and holding targets. I calculated 63 techs which I need to start detailing along with some of the infantry.

Why go for a Company with a Star and a Point? You should either go for a full Inner Sphere or a full Clan organisation.

If I might quote Guide to Covert Ops, which is where I found my inspiration for this campaign:

"Clan Ghost Bear:
Once considered just as ineffective as any other branch of the Clan Watch, the Ghost Bear program has shown a sharp improvement since the Clan took steps to equalize its standing with the largely Rasalhaguian population whose worlds in now claims. In fact, it is believed that in winning over the Rasalhaguians by allowing the civilian governments a degree of semi-autonomy under Ghost Bear Aegis, the Bears also won over their new countrymen's willingness to defend this joint Dominion. The Bear Watch thus appears to include a growing number of native Raslahaguians who can draw on a heritage of rebellion and covert operations from the Republic's long struggle for independence. With this new influx of experienced resistors now fighting for the Bears, we can expect this Watch agency to show a dramatic improvement in possibly all aspects of covert operations."