OBT Forum

Just six factions? I haven't checked for that but weren't there still multiple factions per world? If you mean factions as in groups from each SL nation, there would have been 10 factions and they seem to have cross-pollinated pretty quickly.

Probably they'd still see themselves as a 'Star League in Exile' at that stage but they do seem to have had some warships and combined resources could well outmatch the Clans, particularly since they should still have a lot of cached hardware.

If one of the five worlds managed to unify relatively swiftly then that would probably be a decent power base from which to move on the others or on the Kerensky cluster. If you want to destroy the Clans early then one of the colonies unifying and then seizing the colonies of the Kerensky cluster as 'soft targets' before moving on the others could work well.

Alternatively, if the Pentagon united before moving into the Kerensky Cluster then the clans might survive on the fringes of the new empire - effectively becoming the equivalent of the 'dark caste' that harried the edges of the Clan homeworlds for centuries.

You could well have a 7th faction as well with the non factional Spacers

Definitely a strong case for stockholm syndrome with the way that everyone after Klondike bought into the Clan mentality. True Wolverine's didn't and thats why they were exterminated. But you would have thought there would have been more of that not less. SL Caches everywhere it seems on the Pentagon worlds, little population spread out over a large area. Ripe for guerrilla fighters.

I mean here you have the epitome of Star League soldiers and they're like sure we'll totally abandon Star League traditions for this new cult of animal totems. Hey Nick, pass me the Kool-aid.

That actually makes a huge amount of sense right there

Interesting plot twist there. Especially if he was able to keep his daughter and son-in-law and their kid from joining Nicholas. Cool little history lesson with the Magnus Bloodname from this.

Rafe Kardaan and Stephen McKenna would make sense as well. Will have to research the founders see if any marines were mentioned

Looking at notable people from Klondike

Arcadia
Chief Minister Niron Hastur (Kill)
The brother of the founder and first leader of the Nation of Hastur, Niron was just as brutal a dictator, but far less stable and competent. He kept his fiefdom under control through fear—of his military and his wrath.

Shogun Wiki’i Leonov (Keep)
Having learned at the feet of a Combine-born SLDF MechWarrior who believed in the ideals and ways of bushido, Leonov is a principled leader who (like her sensei) considers herself a modern  samurai. She will fight with honor, and will act to protect her own people, even to her detriment. In return, her people support her leadership wholly, and when she makes the call she is rarely without volunteers.

Premier Nathan Ravisham (Kill)
Like Hastur, Premier Ravisham is a petty warlord who rules through fear with the help of his henchmen—loyal only because of the gifts and power he heaps upon them. Ravisham himself is a habitual user of hallucinogens, but fancies himself a gladiator of old, keeping fit with a regimen of combat training. Paranoia and a willingness to kill subordinates who show any hint of disloyalty has kept him alive, though a few attempts in the past two decades have come close to ending his rule.

Sheriff Tiberius Reed (Keep)
Reed was just an SLDF company commander when the Civil War struck, but both popular with the lower ranks and an obvious up-and-comer. Already feeling guilty for abandoning the Inner Sphere, he refused to abandon the Pentagon and in fact convinced most of his regiment to remain behind. They were unable to prevent Arcadia from falling to war, and ultimately fell back to a small portion of the world, defending it as a bastion of freedom. Reed still considers himself and his soldiers to be part of the SLDF, and though he rules under martial law, he and his troops follow both Star League law and SLDF regulations. Though they have had to turn to raiding to keep their small nation alive and operating, Reed’s ultimate goal is to reunite Arcadia, even if that has to be by conquering—freeing—one settlement at a time.

Babylon
Callandra Witch (Either)
As much legend as fact, the Callandra Witch is an outstanding and uncanny MechWarrior.

Reichsgeneral Orsson Maier (Keep)
Captain Maier was one of the first new members to join the SLDF after colonizing Babylon. A staunch Lyran traditionalist, he recruited other like-minded soldiers to defend an alpine paradise in the Oppenmons. He is a cautious leader that tends to act only when he has the advantage.

Marshal Vince Membek (Keep)
Membek was an impressionable youth that learned how to pilot a BattleMech along with many others in the first days of the Pentagon Civil War. Twenty years later, he was the leader of a powerful rebel faction, due as much to his political maneuvering as his command of the battlefield. Five years before the KLONDIKE invasion began, he negotiated a limited ceasefire between his faction and two other rebel groups that mostly kept the peace in his corner of Solath. Membek sees himself as the best opportunity to unite the rebel forces on Solath and bring peace to Babylon; even if he seemingly negotiates away leadership, he places himself in a “reserve” position and maneuvers the action so that he can jump in and take charge or otherwise save the day.

Colonel Jenek Tao (Kill)
Once little more than a gang leader, Jenek Tao took his small gang of ruffians and petty thieves and turned them into the predominant force in Sumra after allying with the local garrison to defend against a FedSuns attack that killed the garrison’s senior officers. Overnight, that battle and his petty protection schemes turned him into the de facto garrison commander. Despite his criminal past and a lack of military training, the burden of responsibility transformed Tao into a rough but capable leader. He is still something of a ruthless disciplinarian, though such measures are now usually measured in prison sentences and cuts in rations rather than physical punishments. While his tactics are still based on street-level guerrilla warfare, they are successful.

Circe
Michael Guillory (Keep)
Once a true believer who idolized the Kerenskys and strove to keep alive the ideals of the Star League until their return, Guillory and his Kerensky Dominion at first allied with the Clans, but soon grew dismayed at how few of the SLDF’s virtues Nicholas’ followers retained in their transformation. This realization quickly eroded their alliance, culminating in the Battle of Bitter Tears in and around Dehra Dun, when Guillory’s tolerance and sense of honor were pushed beyond their limits.

Michael Connelly (Keep)
Raised in the Eiran culture of Arc Royal, with role models such as Cu Chulainn and other notables of the Ulster Cycle, Michael Connelly was a staunch believer in martial strength tempered with honor and responsibility. These beliefs helped Connelly forge his followers into war bands that would claim no land but would instead protect all against predation, the Brotherhood of Fianna.

Dagda
James McMillan (Kill)
James McMillan and his McMillan Collective didn’t maintain control of Dagda’s sole SDS system because they were nice. They did so by doing whatever was necessary to achieve their goals. To James McMillan and his followers, the ends always justified the means.

Kaline Escher (Kill)
Kaline Escher believed herself a divine prophet, sent by God to lead her people (the Chosen) through the Armageddon she believed the Pentagon Civil War to be. Charismatic and driven, Escher raised a band of followers who were fanatically loyal to her.

Eden
Rikka Talmoudi (Keep)
Surprisingly, the leader of the militaristic and chauvinistic Sarbat Khanate proved to be a woman—former-SLDF Major Rikka Talmoudi. Talmoudi’s dogged leadership in the defense of the Asmara Palace would earn her the (admittedly posthumous) respect of Khan Hazen. When Talmoudi takes an active role in a battle (at the controls of her battered Warhammer), her inspiring leadership allows her force to re-roll one failed attack or piloting roll each turn.

Major-General Mathieu Tillam (Keep)
Major-General Tillam was one of many who saw General Aleksandr Kerensky’s death as an opportunity to advance his own position and to undermine Nicholas Kerensky’s succession. In the aftermath of the Star League in Exile’s fragmentation, Tillman and his associates seized command of large tracts of Eden, forming the Levic Ascendancy, one of the most cohesive and technologically advanced proto-states in the Pentagon. Years of warfare under Tillam’s leadership honed the Ascendancy’s combat skills and their determination.

Before we get to any other Clanner turnover how about General Ethan Moreau? A senior SLDF commander he stayed on Dagda too (near Grec) and was eventually found by the Clans, you know the rest with the Goliath Scorpions. These two characters and Dagda could be the center for the Pentagon Supremacy.

CAAN units were the Star League Marines and would be an interesting core force for the Pentagon to assemble.

For the state I am thinking something modeled on the Star League with some democratic institutions perhaps an elected legislature (or lower house with a senate like high council composed of faction or world leaders).

Babylon not Dagda according to Sarna.

Love the little history lessons learning through all this research.

The only notable person I could find with traces to the CAAN units was Absalom Truscott.

What about finding someone that might succeed General Kerensky?
After all, an Army (even in exile) is no democracy or hereditary.