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With the collapse of the Terran Alliance Government following the failure of the Colonial Marines against the Outer Reaches Rebellion, the human sphere fell into warring camps rather quickly. 

By 2236, when the new Isolationist Alliance Government withdrew to within 30 light years of Terra, the Expansionists thought tier day was long over.  However, a new faction of the party, the Militarists took control of the party and within a year had toppled the existing government and initiated martial law.  This increased the number of people fleeing Terra, but such an event suited the militarists, who saw those leaving as more trouble than they were worth.

In the years leading up to and after the Alliance withdrawal, the major colony worlds, those with more than a million colonists, began to exert more direct control on smaller worlds within a jump.  By the time of the withdrawal, forty three small polities came into official existence, including the Alliance, and each began to push outwards, sometimes against other realms.

Some of these states were peaceful, whilst others were of a more aggressive bent.  Terra led the way in the new era, with the militarists reconstructing the Alliance Global Militia.  In 2338 they struck at the rapidly strengthening Dieron Federation, wiping it off the map and restarting Terra's expansion.  By 2340, Terra had control over 32 systems and was eying off the Terran Free Alliance, its most vocal detractor.  However, Terra was not the only state expanding at its neighbours expense, as the forty odd micro-states fought over the hundreds of systems that were now independent, or attempted to pull them into political and economic alliances.

Within the human Sphere, 36 of the fledgling nations were able to deploy large field formations, the vast majority being infantry heavy.  However, some nations could deploy significant armour assets as well.  Across the sphere, newly raised formations, or those built on former resistance and Terran Marine forces, were numbered at over eighty, with each world deploying some sort of home guard.  However, not every state had the luxury of large forces and only a few could deploy large number, with Terra again leading the way with its 10 Divisions.

An Inner Sphere that is much more balkanized than in the canon setting... Hmmm. This might be interesting. And it has potential.

Ciao
Hessian

And I can honestly tell you that I have absolutely no idea where this will go.

Or the Lyrans in effect at this rate it's going to be an IS sized FWL

When did Babylon 5 sneak in

I just love that many of those planets really are "all alone in the night" and every single ship that passed through the system would be a news event for many of them, as well as a potential threat

?

2260 map attached.  Notes to follow later.

The pace of expansion for the multitude of young states in the mid-23rd Century picked up in the 2250s, as each found greater resources from their own previous expansion, natural population growth and émigrés from Terra and some of the other more heavily overpopulated core worlds.

Most states continued to behave peacefully towards each other, with diplomacy being the norm beyond the Terran regions and the states close to the old Alliance Core.  However, there were some areas where tensions were beginning to escalate, areas where states were seeking to cut other powers off from groups of independent worlds through the strategic acquisition of key systems.

Several of these potential flash points were notable, with the prime example being the race between the Taurian Concordat and the Hasek Demense for the edgeward reaches.  Other notable races included the closing off of systems anti-spinward of Watermael to the Duchy of Andurien by the Magistracy of Canopus, an ironic twist, as Andurien had initiated the movements that began that race.  Additionally, freedom of action by the generally peaceful County of Tyrfing was severely constrained by the strategic movements of both the Stewart Confederation and the Marik Commonwealth.

The active borders, where fighting was heaviest, was again concentrated around Terra and areas edgeward of there.  The Terran Alliance and Lockdale Marches continued to heavily punish the Terran Free Alliance which, despite having generally superior troops, was slowly whittled away, especially once their ally, the Lone Star State, was pushed back by the Terrans.  By 2260, the Terrans were readying themselves to break the Free Alliance’s troops on the bloody fields of Epsilon Eridani and move on towards Terra Firma itself.  Additionally, the rapid flanking sweep by the forces of the Lockdale Marches forced the Duchy of Liao to stop focusing on the Tikonov Grand Union and rapidly redeploy its forces coreward.

The Ozawa Mercantile Association tried to end the Tikonov Grand Union with a massed invasion of Tikonov itself, however, the defenders were able to hold the world long enough for the line formations of the Tikonov Grand Army to arrive and push the invaders off world with heavy losses.  The formally formidable Association now appeared as the paper man of the Terran regions.

The rapid initial advances of the Crucis Pact and Chesterton Trade Federation against the Empire of Muskegon began to slow and then bog down completely as the realities of long distance campaigning came home to roost for the allied forces.  However, the Empire was under extreme pressure, as fighting was now within a jump of the Imperial Capital.

The Sarna Supremacy attempted to take Capella out of the equation completely with an invasion of the Commonality homeworld, but the action of the Capellan Defence Forces, first on Bora and then on Capella, left the Sarnese Defence Corps in tatters.  The St. Ives Mercantile Confederation finally joined the fray against Sarna, but suffered a stinging defeat on New Sagan, confirming the Confederation’s earlier thoughts about open warfare.