OBT Forum

I was actually planning on having the first Mechs arrive with the Einhenjar in 2558. With the 1st Marine Division serving as the Southern Cross' superb front line defense would be aggressors seldom got to atmosphere let alone the ground. However I could see the Militia being equipped with these fission power warbots that augment the more mobile line assets (aerospace, marines, and hovertanks). Mechs take a back seat until their proliferation begins to change that then the Einhenjar changes the face of that.

Also like the map MA. We gonna place the Royal Houses? And I'd like to include two other Southern Cross colony worlds before the arrival of the Star League. Santa Cruz (Brazilian) and Victoria (Australian).

Just tell me where on the map you want them and I will place them.  Maybe make Santa Cruz one of the first colonies . . . that as-yet unamed system between Perth/Arcanum/Dunedin might be nice.  For Victoria pick an open spot.

About the Royal Houses . . . I thought you were doing that seperate outside of the Southern Cross as a different polity?

As for the 'Mechs and the Einhenjar . . . the difference in capabilities between fission and fusion plants will QUICKLY become apparent.  But the fission 'Mechs are dirt-cheap, and I would expect them to fill out the militia until the SLDF introduces them to another quantum leap in capabilities.

MA

Just tell me where on the map you want them and I will place them.  Maybe make Santa Cruz one of the first colonies . . . that as-yet unamed system between Perth/Arcanum/Dunedin might be nice.  For Victoria pick an open spot.

Santa Cruz should be close to Perth yes and Victoria as well but I don't have specific ideas for them as I do for the Royal Houses. That said I'd like to keep the Southern Cross worlds close knit.

About the Royal Houses . . . I thought you were doing that seperate outside of the Southern Cross as a different polity?

No. I think it was Blacknova or Muttley who floated that idea but I specifically redesigned the other immigrants to the Southern Cross to fit this region prior to the Star League. Here is my list of worlds, dates settled, and location ideas.

Arcanum (House Stargazer - Arcanum Protectorate) [2125] Got this one placed nicely already
Sanctum (House Stargazer - Arcanum Protectorate) [2425] Closest inhabitable star to Arcanum
Benelux (House Orange - Benelux Association) [2396] Watery world above Churchill
Voordeel (House Orange - Benelux Association) [2573] The other end of the Southern Cross far from Benelux, past Sahara
Dracon (House Drake - Dracon Alliance) [2456] southern part of the Cross since they came from below, Marik space
Torkyn (House Drake - Dracon Alliance) [2480] same star system as Dracon, this is a small habitable moon
Neucrux (House Gilderoy - Saltire Federation) [2507] as far away from the Lyrans as possible, out past Queensland
Walhalla (House Fischer - Walhalla Holdfast) [2558] anyway possible you could plot a new star over Perth & Churchill
Helios (House Rowe - Rim Haven) [2580] Rim Haven is grouped closely together, above Sahara with Helios center top
Phoebus (House Rowe - Rim Haven) [2584] Rim Haven is grouped closely together, Pheobus nearest atop Sahara
Shen Yi (House Rowe - Rim Haven) [2590] Rim Haven is grouped closely together, One side of Helios
Shamash (House Rowe - Rim Haven) [2590] Rim Haven is grouped closely together, Other side of Helios

As for the 'Mechs and the Einhenjar . . . the difference in capabilities between fission and fusion plants will QUICKLY become apparent.  But the fission 'Mechs are dirt-cheap, and I would expect them to fill out the militia until the SLDF introduces them to another quantum leap in capabilities.

Perfect, increasing bandit capabilities and the Einhenjar would also be stunning eye openers. I see the traditional Crosser view of Mechs as being static defenders. And Dragon Cat I also have an idea for the CDL involving Benelux arms marketing. 

Walhalla is more towards the Innersphere I am thinking closer to bandits and the action. On the opposite side of Benelux were it is now. Nearest the border.

Well we could leave them for future expansion or do you want every system displayed here colonized by the time the Star League arrives? I was thinking this takes us to that time and we can advance through the Succession Wars later.

One more Brazilian colony nearest Perth would be cool. I'll look for a name and idea.

The other southern two colonies I would leave or have as two new outposts in 2711.

Lejeune

Star (Recharge Time):  Puller's Star (?? hours)
Star Type:  F1V
Number of Planets:  11 (including four gas giants)
Time to Jump Point:  ?? days
Recharging Station:  Nadir

Planet:  Lejeune
Position:  5
Planet Type:  Rocky
Gravity:  1.09
Atmospheric Pressure:  Standard
Atmospheric Composition:  Nitrogren, Oxygen
Percent Surface Water:  72%
Percent, Level of Native Life:  100%, Insects
Satellites:  1 (Tawara)
Population (2766):  100,000
Population (3025):  2,400,000
HPG Station:  Class B
Planetary Capital:  Pendleton

Description:  Lejeune is a . . . difficult world for its inhabitants.  Possessed of a moon half the size of the planet, the two orbit each other around a common center of gravty, being tidal-locked as they rotate around their fierce star.  Tawara is an airless rock (but the Marines based on Lejeune use it extensively for vacuum combat training).  Nearly three-quarters of the planets surface is covered in shallow brackish seas, with only one continental land-mass existing; formed by Tawara's pull bulging the planet.  Lejeune is an extremely hot world, and the inland highlands are desolate and barren, with vegetation forming only along the watercourses of the few rivers.  Along the coasts, however, the rocky highlands plunge into a verdant green hell of jungles and swamps.  Fetid and crawling with tens of thousands of insect species.

Tectonically stable, Lejeune possesses no known valuable or rare ores, nor is it especially suited to human inhabitation.  However, upon surveying the planet, the 1st Marine Divison claimed it as their own.  To this day, Lejeune serves as the training grounds of all Southern Cross Marines, as well as the Corps HQ.  The few non-marine colonists rely on the business generated by the Marines for the most part.  But after contact was established with the Star League in 2712, new technologies resulting in a growing number of high-land agricultural colonies, some of which have done quite well; others not so much.

Lejeune is detested by most citizens of the Southern Cross Congress, the Marines (although hate being assigned there) consider the training regime and combat against the native bug species to be a badge of honor.  One which they good-naturedly rib the SLDF troops about comparing the hardships of the two very different programs.

Not a bad idea!

And now to my idea of why the Southern Cross ended up out here.

Settlement Area (Heart of the Cross)
Unable to find any suitable spot for settlement in the InnerSphere and within the Southern Cross itself a new possibility was imaginatively created beyond. Center Cross is a place relative to Earth beyond the InnerSphere in the middle of the Southern Cross. It is on the opposite side Spinward of Earth where the Southern Cross can still be seen in much the same way. This became the groups final destination.

I like it.

MA

That works Epoch Rooster, it is post SLDF arrival but another House/Member of the Cross.

Politics and Governmental Organization of the Southern Cross
Interim Colonial period established a Provisional Government of sorts that lasts until 2332 when the Constitution of the Southern Cross formally established a federal democratic republic. This national government drew on the successful examples of the past and its member states to form a more perfect union.

Ceremonial Executive (Cross – Sanchez – Kennedy)
This Guardian is akin to a constitutional monarch that ensures the founders of the Southern Cross a place as Head of State
The real power would be in the hands of a Prime Minister nominated by the Guardian from among the legislature and elected by the people directly

Bicameral Legislature
Upper House represents the colonial groups that become the founding states of the Cross (5)
Elected Lower House represents the people (1 for every 5,000 per state)
The Constitution accounts for population growth by reapportioning representation according to the total populace of the Cross (national populace of 100,000 to 999,999 gives 1 representative for every 10,000 per state, while 1,000,000 sees it jump to 100,000 and so on)

Independent Judiciary

One more Brazilian colony nearest Perth would be cool. I'll look for a name and idea.

Pindorama. This was the name the natives gave to the region (Brazil), meaning "land of the palm trees" (according to wikipedia)

That fills up the Southern Cross, gentlemen.  Updated map below.

MA