The Inner Sphere: Periphery

Because it remains largely an unknown quantity, the region of space known as the Periphery has served as a rich source of function and fantasy for hundreds of years. Because it was virtually ignored by the leaders of the Inner Sphere since the beginning of the Succession Wars, the average citizen's sum total knowledge of the Periphery consists of the tiny trickle of information brought to the Inner Sphere by traders and soldiers.

The prejudice directed at the people of the Periphery has been a major source of tension between those realms and the Successor States for many, many years. The most widely accepted view of the Periphery characterizes the inhabitants of that part of known space as a collection of pirates, bandits, and religious extremists. Though the Periphery certainly harbors many such people, the population of that area is widely diverse. To take such a narrow view does a disservice to the majority of hard-working, decent people who went to the Periphery simply for the opportunities it offered for adventure, exploration, and the chance to be a part of something new.

Long isolated by ward and hardship, the Periphery states fought an uphill battle to gain economic stability and establish a technological level capable of competing with the Inner Sphere - and defending against incursions by the Successor States and other Periphery realms. The Magistracy of Canopus and the Taurian Concordat currently seem very close to reaching technological parity with the Inner Sphere, and other realms also appear to be taking firmer steps toward finding permanent solutions to their economic and military problems.

The First Periphery Settlers

The area of space surrounding Terra that came to be known as the Periphery was settled at the same time as the planets of the Inner Sphere, for some explorers simply went deeper into space than others when they jumped away from the cradle of humankind. Although the Terran Alliance succeeded in both supporting and administrating all the new colonies for a number of years, the rapid growth in the number of settled worlds eventually outstripped the government's ability to control the colonists. As the level of home rule neared total autonomy, it was only a matter of time before the colonists broke off relations with the Terran government.

The most dramatic declaration of independence took place in 2235 and resulted in the Outer Reaches Rebellion. Much to its surprise, the Terran Alliance had neither the military might or the political support necessary to defeat the distant colonists, and its failure prompted a political change. The new controlling party thought to punish the rebellious colonies by declaring all settlements beyond thirty light-years from Terra independent, but it only succeeded in creating greater political upheaval and disrupting the Terran economy.

Only the strongest colonies survived this forced self-sufficiency. Those communities living on marginally habitable worlds relied heavily on the technological and economic assistance of the Alliance to supplement the meager existence of their frontier lives. Many of these groups abandoned their established settlements and traveled deeper into the unexplored reaches, seeking more hospitable worlds to colonize. Known as the second Exodus, this renewed movement away from Terra strengthened the pride in self-reliance and love of freedom felt by the surviving colonists, and the realms established during this period were founded on the belief that they would make it on their own or not at all.

After a century of wars fought throughout known space to control the most resource-rich planets, the creation of the Star League in 2571 brought peace to what was by that time called the Inner Sphere. The member states of the League no longer needed their highly trained armies to war against one another, and First Lord Ian Cameron wisely chose a target for those troops to subdue - the fiercely independent Periphery realms. These nations failed to see the advantages of Star League membership as presented by the League's diplomats, and Cameron quickly decided to enlighten the Periphery realms by force of arms.

It took the Star League twenty bloody years to beat the Periphery states into submission, and though they bowed, they never broke. Having exhausted their people and their resources battling the Star League and still forced to accept that body's administration, the Outworlds Alliance, the Taurian Concordat, the Magistracy of Canopus, and the Rim Worlds Republic - referred to as the Periphery Territorial States - chose to take advantage of their reluctant membership to revitalize their nations. Willing to offer lip service to the League's ideals in exchange for technology, trade relations and industrial growth, the Periphery realms prospered under its rule.

Fall of the Star League

In the 2750s, during the Regency for Richard Cameron II, the Star League High Council passed an edict levying disproportionately heavy taxes on the Periphery states, funneling the extra revenue to the Inner Sphere states. The leaders of the Territorial States saw this as the beginning of the end - even as they protested against this action, they feared the worst was yet to come, and they were right. In the year after First Lord Cameron reached his majority and took his place on the throne of the Star League, he issued the Taxation Edict of 2763, which further strained the Periphery's finances. When the Periphery states refused to honor the edict, Richard Cameron sent the Star League Defense Force, under the command of General Aleksandr Kerensky, to teach them the folly of disobeying him.

The Usurper Stafan Amaris murdered First Lord Cameron and every man, woman, and child whose veins carried a drop of Cameron blood in 2766, shortly thereafter proclaiming himself to be First Lord of the Star League. As soon as he heard of Amaris's treachery, General Kerensky declared a cease-fire with all the Periphery states except the Rim Worlds Republic (Amaris's realm) and began fighting his way back toward Terra. He reached Terra and ordered Amaris killed in 2779. Almost from that moment the Star League was doomed, as the members of the High Council vied to become the new First Lord. Sick at heart to see the finest thing mankind had ever done destroyed by five individuals' pride, General Kerensky gathered together those members of the SLDF who believed as he did and left the Inner Sphere.

When they saw the House Lords building up their militaries and increasing their factories' output of war materiel, the Periphery states quickly cut all diplomatic ties with the Successor States and began preparing for the inevitable conflict. Though the Periphery realms managed to stay aloof from the Succession Wars, the loss of the economic stability provided by the Star League, the widespread destruction of factories and communication facilities, and the disruption of interstellar travel and trade pushed the Periphery worlds into a downhill slide from which they have yet to fully recover.

Recent Times

The end of the Fourth Succession War marked a few small but significant events in the Periphery. Assuming that House Davion had so weakened the Capellan Confederation that it would be vulnerable to attack from an unexpected quarter, the Magistracy of Canopus encouraged the always-factious Duchy of Andurien to finally secede from the Free Worlds League, convinced that together they could defeat the Successor State. Unhappy with the League practically since its inception, the Duchy accepted the Magistracy's invitation to war, announcing its secession and new alliance simultaneously. Though the initial stages of the invasion went well for the Andurien-Canopus alliance, the Confederation troops refused to admit defeat.

The Magistracy of Canopus and the Duchy of Andurien remained allies for the five years they fought to annex the Capellan worlds, but when the Free Worlds League launched its campaign to bring Andurien back into the fold, the Magistracy declined to assist its ally in remaining free from House Marik. Along with the stabilization and emergence of other realms, this breakup again changed the face of the Periphery. The Magistracy, the Taurian Concordat, and the Outworlds Alliance gained strength and recognized the Marian Hegemony and the Circinus Federation as nascent realms. The Belt Pirates and the Oberon Confederation, long-time bandit kingdoms, took steps towards establishing their nations as legitimate members of the Periphery states.

This period of relative prosperity ended when the Clans invaded. The descendents of Kerensky's Star League troops staged a violent return to the Inner Sphere, marching through the Periphery and crushing everything in their path. Though their corridor of destruction touched only the bandit kingdoms and the fledgling Oberon Confederation, all the Periphery states suffered once again from the widespread disruption of commerce, communication, and transportation.

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Will Day < wd@firstcircuit.net >
John Dutka < jdutka@pcnet.com >
Sep 23, 1996