Acamar 3058 Update

World Name: Acamar

Time to Jump Point: 9 days

Recharging Station: None

Recharge Time: 15 days

ComStar Facility Class: B

Noble Ruler: Various city-state rulers

Political Leader: Various city-state rulers

Orbiting a long distance from its sun, Acamar is a world of almost constant winter. Its vast mines of precious metals made it a jewel in the Capellan Confederation's crown for centuries. The Liao government gave Acamar's nobility the lion's share of profits from the planet's gold and silver trading, and so the nobles have always been staunchly pro-Liao. The merchant class, however, chafed under the status quo. Eager to see it changed, they threw their economic weight behind the rebel Pavel Ridzik during the Fourth Succession War and helped to found the Tikonov Free Republic. Upon Ridzik's assassination in 3029, the merchant class voted as a body to bring Acamar into the Federated Commonwealth. Under Commonwealth rule, Acamar's merchant class prospered. The nobles, though bitterly incensed, no longed had sufficient power to challenge the increasingly powerful middle class. They nursed their grievances along with their Liaoist loyalties, and bided their time.

The AFFC high command regarded Acamar as a secondary military target, stable, and secure in its loyalty to the Federated Commonwealth. Consequently, its planetary garrison consisted of a small conventional force made up of reserves from the nearby planet of Kawich. When Liao and Marik forces attacked Acamar in 3057, the pro-Liao nobility saw their chance. Acting in concert with Capellan agents and their own private armies, Acamar's nobles overwhelmed the garrison in a series of swift attacks. To celebrate their stunning victory, the victorious Liao loyalists forced the captured garrison troops out into Acamar's brutal winter with scant clothing and supplies. Most of the soldiers died; the few who found shelter were rescued a few days later by Patrick Gladden, the owner of a large silver mine.

Enraged at the thought of Acamar falling back under Capellan sway, Gladden persuaded several of his colleagues to form the Acamar Merchants Freedom Guild. In their first act, Guild members pooled their resources to hire a mercenary unit from Outreach to take back the planet. Better businessmen than generals, the merchants hired the Tiger Sharks, a combined-arms battalion that had served on the Marik-Periphery border. Unfortunately for the merchants, the Tiger Sharks looked far better on paper than they did in the field.

The Tiger Sharks hit the ground running, destroying numerous 'Mechs and vehicles and liberating two major cities in their initial engagements with Liao forces. A major counterattack by Liao troops, however, badly damaged the Tiger Sharks and prompted their commanding officer, Major Jason Timmus, to order an assault on Acamar's capital of Kalskag. Confident of Kalskag's defenses, the Liao government ordered the bulk of its troops to assault the headquarters of the Acamar Merchants Freedom Guild in the city of Flat.

The Tiger Sharks stormed into Kalskag, overrunning the few remaining government troops. They levelled the Capitol Building and killed several prominent nobles inside. In flat, government tanks rolled over much of the city center, and the leaders of the merchants' resistance fled before the onslaught. With thier employers vanished into hiding or offworld, the Tiger Sharks sought passage off Acamar, returning to Outreach to rebuild and seek a new contract.

No centralized government currently exists on Acamar. Most towns have become independent city-states with their own laws, many run by former members of the Freedom Guild and others by surviving Liaoist nobles. Acamar's people have largely ceased fighting and returned to mining, selling the ore to traders brave enough to travel through the Chaos March. A remnant of the Acamar Merchants Freedom Guild, determined to see the planet under the FedCom banner, has set up offices on Outreach, where they hope to raise enough funds to hire more troops to retake their world.

Defending Forces