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The Human Sphere is a BattleTech universe set in 3100. The Jihad has come and gone, leaving in its wake dozens of small realms in a perpetual cycle of raids and small wars. Will you seek money or defend your nation? Or both? You decide.
"Never test for an error condition you don't know how to handle." - Steinbach's Guideline for Systems Programming
Principality of Regulus
History
Once close allies of the Marik family and the Oriente, the Selaj family originally founded Regulus and it was their money and power that created the strong Hindu influence felt throughout the Principality to this day. They ruled until 2680 when Gerald Marik, in retribution for the death of his family in a bombing, attacked them and removed them from power. Several Selaj family members managed to escape his wrath and their descendents now live in the Magistracy of Canopus.
After the war, the Cameron-Jones family was place in charge of Regulus and until 2973 they maintained a close and friendly relationship with the Captain-General. Their loyalty to him was stripped away when the Sixth Hussars were decimated on Loric because Stephen Marik never sent them any support against their attackers. Since that day, Regulus and Marik have opposed each other, often bitterly.
After the fall of Andurien, they were the only major and vocal resistance to the Marik family, but they never crossed the line into treason. At least not openly, and never so fully as to be caught at it. As the 3060s began to come to a close, Prince Kirk Cameron-Jones ran interference for his Hussars, allowing them to ignore the orders of the League military to stop their “regional and backwards” ceremonies. He nearly lost the Fifth to the League as they managed to change commanders and nearly take its loyalty. He did lose the Ninth to the League, but by the time that happened it was barely a shadow of its former greatness.
To this day, he blames Marik for the destruction of the Ninth Hussars on Mcaffe, shattered by a Word of Blake assault that left nothing behind but shattered ’Mechs, vehicles, and personal armor. Kirk and Regulus contend that if the Mariks hadn’t diluted the unit with foreign-born pilots of substandard ability, the unit would have been able to fight its way out of the attack and return to Regulus. It is what the Fifth Hussars did in the end, even after being sabotaged by the League military. Bereft of their transport by the military, not wanting them to “accidentally” raid the Lyrans during the FedCom Civil War, the Fifth had to “acquire” transport after the Jihad started, and it took them nearly six months to fight their way home. The Second had to fight their way home too, from the periphery border in their case, and were nearly destroyed during the flight. Only the arrival of the Zechetinu II-class Scorpion saved them from a Word of Blake fleet and got them home to Regulus in March of 3068.
On Regulus, they found their Prince surrounded by Word of Blake forces as the Black Lion-class Xanthos and the Thera-class Delphi tried desperately to fight off a Word fleet. The Scorpion burned in to support them as the Second performed a hot drop and landed behind the Word of Blake forces, taking them by surprise. The resulting battle destroyed the Word both in space and on the ground, but the damage to the Regulans was heavy as well. The Scorpion, her aft end shattered by weapons fire, wouldn’t sail again for fifteen years, and the Delphi’s port AeroSpace bays were opened to vacuum.
But Regulus never once considered simply surrendering to the Word’s demands. They didn’t support the Mariks, but Kirk Cameron-Jones would have rather died than give up a good fight and live under the Word of Blake. Unfortunately the Word had shattered the HPG network bringing down nearly every station in League space and the Regulans didn’t know where they were. So the Regulan Hussars were ordered back out into the silent reaches of the Principality of Regulus to fight the Word of Blake wherever they could be found. In July, when the Word of Blake hit the Fourth Hussars with biological weapons, Prince Cameron-Jones opened up the storehouses of Regulus and returned the assault in earnest. By the end of 3078, weapons of mass destruction were a common sight in the Principality, used with abandon by either side.
Liberating one planet at a time, the Regulans smashed the Word again and again with weapons that had been outlawed centuries ago. But the Regulans were desperate and didn’t care about laws. It was possibly the dirtiest fighting seen during the Jihad, and every planet fought over bears the scars of the war to this day. In the end, Regulus was victorious on one planet after another, until they ran into Hongqiao. Its jungles proved hard to fight in and the locals supported the Word of Blake. For a few months the Hussars tried to root the Word out, but they finally accepted the inevitable and left the planet. At first the natives thought they had been victorious and that the Word would protect them. Then they saw flashes of light in the sky as the Word and Regulan fleets sparred. And then the bombs began to fall, vaporizing any city or town that didn’t surrender their Word of Blake agents. By December of 3069, Hongqiao had been pacified, and anybody who heard of the tactics used there shuddered in fear. They’d not heard of anything so ruthless happening since the Second Succession War. They thought they would never hear of something like it again. They were wrong.
Moving on to Gibson in March, the Xanthos and the Delphi, along with their supporting DropShips and fighters, smashed the Word of Blake fleet in orbit and demanded the surrender of the entire planet. When it refused, they opened up with a general bombardment of the planet, autocannons, missiles, lasers, and particle cannons flash-boiled the seas as fighters shot down through the atmosphere to deposit their own agents of doom. And then the nuclear weapons began to go off, one by one, across the planet in an advancing wave of mushroom clouds that left the entire world wiped clean of human life. It was the Regulan Final Solution to the Word of Blake Problem, and they pursued it with a vengeance that terrified their neighbors. Within months, the remnants of the Principality of Gibson found themselves occupied by the Regulan units before they went on to the next stage of the war.
With the Principality of Regulus cleansed of Word of Blake forces and the Word fleet fleeing into the Marik Commonwealth, the Regulan fleet jumped to Atreus in pursuit. They destroyed the Thera-class Thessaly there and broke the back of the remaining Blakist fleet in the Free Worlds League. But the often-damaged Delphi did not survive the engagement, caught by the Aegis-class Nueva Badajoz with a full broadside that penetrated her ammunition stores and ripped her apart from the inside. The Nueva Badajoz only outlived her by a few minutes, shattered by the Delphi’s fighters and the Xanthos in retribution.
The rest of the League campaign was a simple cleanup job, one that the Regulans pursued with zeal. Fighting alongside the fleets of the Oriente, Marik, Stewart, and even the Thera-class Sardis that most certainly was not there under the orders of Tamarind, the Regulan fleet and the Hussars did well. To some it felt odd fighting with the Mariks rather than against them, but all agreed that the Blakists were the worst of their devils. Better the devil you know than the devil you didn’t after all. By 3072, the combined fleets and armies wiped the Word out and fell back to rebuild amidst the ruins of their war.
Interstellar trade was gone, the HPG was only beginning to sputter as ComStar feverishly worked to repair it, and only military units moved between the stars. Most factories were shattered and barely even thinking about repairs, but the remains of the Regulan fleet assembled over Atreus for repairs as they began to slowly build up for yet another stage of the war. ComStar told them that the Star League, what was left of it, was going to Terra, and the League wanted payback. And Regulus was looking forward to delivering it. The combined fleet, commanded by the Thera-class Sardis and Santorini, and the Xanthos, started their trip in July of 3073. They arrived at Outreach, the last friendly major port, in October where they rendezvoused with the Star League fleet, already pushed out of Terra once, and began planning the war. The Word of Blake were failing. But they were going to go down fighting, and everybody knew it.
It wasn’t until 3076 that the Star League fleet, reinforcements moving to Outreach as they came out of the factory lines, finally managed to break the back of the Word of Blake fleet. And then they moved to land on Terra and the Reagan Space Defense System opened up, burning down entire DropShips as they descended. The Xanthos and the rest of the Regulan fleet, tasked with supporting the drop on Africa, responded the way they had for the better part of a decade. They nuked the Word of Blake positions and mushroom clouds billowed over Africa to the horror of the rest of the Star League.
They protested the action of course, but after years of fighting the Word, it wasn’t much more than a formality. Every nation had seen the Word doing it to them, and even the most idealistic of them felt a small amount of vindication in seeing the Word get their own medicine. So they protested the assault, salving their conscience by saying they were against it, and then did nothing as the Regulans did it again. They protested again of course, but fewer this time. As the war continued, and the Regulans marched from Africa and up into the Europe and Asia, the Word fought back with everything they had. Nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons erupted everywhere, shattering thousands of years of civilization, but one ancient country after another fell to the Regulans and the other Star League member states. By early 3077, the entire SDS had been wiped out by orbital strikes, but the Word of Blake fought on.
And then, in a show of force that once again shocked the Star League member states and even the Word of Blake, the Xanthos flew into an orbital pattern over Hilton Head, a Word of Blake position that had held all comers. Its thrusters flaring, it rolled to the side, aimed its turrets, and wiped Hilton Head off the face of the Earth in a sustained bombardment that turned it into a crater. The Final Solution to the Word of Blake Problem. This time only Precentor Martial Victor Steiner-Davion had the heart to protest the action, but even he seemed drained by it and had little force behind it. The rest of the war was simple cleanup actions, and in 3078 Terra was declared cleansed of Word of Blake activity.
After that, the Regulan fleet and army left Terra and returned home to rebuild. And to take care of business. Moving into systems that had declared for the Word of Blake but had been unable to support the Word, the Regulan Hussars began removing any and all sympathizers in order to make the worlds loyal again. Thousands died in the purges, and thousands more as they began to claim, one at a time, systems that had shown the ultimate indignity of leaving the Principality over the centuries. With the Free Worlds League no longer having the power to stop them, Regulus simply flew in and swooped them up, shooting anyone who resisted.
They used the naval yards at Westover, MacKenzie, and Clipperton to slowly build up their fleet with new ships, and the factories of Wallis to build up the Hussars, while also buying lighter BattleMechs from other realms. Then in 3093 they hit the Regulan Free States with a simultaneous assault on all three systems. The war was over in weeks, the defenders vanquished easily, but pacification has not gone so easily. Seven years later, they are still unwilling members of the Principality of Regulus, but with the Fourth Hussars stationed on Vosloorus they seem to be quieting down.
Other systems have fallen since then, including Hindmarsh in 3095 and Fieferana in 3097. The Second Hussars are currently spread amongst the systems of that region, holding them in check though some wonder if there is another reason they are there. The Regulan factories of Wallis only build heavy BattleMechs, but on Tematagi in the Rim Commonality is a factory that produces many lighter BattleMechs. During the Jihad in fact, the Regulans held the orbitals of Tematagi and took the entire production of its factories for use against the Jihad, but they pulled their fleet home to rebuild after the Jihad ended. Some believe that the Regulans may be gearing up to jump in and take Tematagi so they will no longer have to buy BattleMechs from elsewhere. Those who suggest this note that Regulus colonized Tematagi and that Regulus has been more than willing to conquer other systems and nations that were once Regulan and who had fewer industries to boast of.
All of the other nations in the Free Worlds League view the Principality of Regulus with concern, and its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction as the 800 lb. guerrilla in the room that everybody sees and nobody wants to talk about. Since the fall of the Regulan Free States however, they have not threatened another multi-system nation so the rest of the League, at least those systems not near the Regulan border, seem willing to leave them alone. Those near, or now in the Regulan border, often send requests for aid to the Parliament, but the Parliament rarely agrees to do anything, let alone censoring or siding against a member state. It is doubtful that the League will do anything to limit Regulan aggression, unless they attempt to expand into Marik-Stewart Commonwealth space. But so far they are only expanding rimward, away from Marik. Everybody except the Rim Commonality is happy about that.
Military
The Regulan Navy is commanded by the Krishna, formerly the Xanthos, which is always escorted by the Scorpion and a number of Impavido cruisers and Eagle II and Shiva frigates. The Regulan Navy is one of the most powerful navies in the Human Sphere, and is known to still be armed with weapons of mass destruction to be used if the situation dictates it.
The Regulan Hussars have few signature BattleMechs, though Warhammers and Marauders do dominate their assault and heavy lances. Nearly half of their other BattleMechs came from Tematagi, while the others are salvaged from the Word of Blake or purchased from other realms. They have also worked very hard to maintain the lances of Trebuchets that have been made famous by the Hussars, but spare parts for those BattleMechs have become increasingly rare in recent years.
Regulan Hussars
First Hussars – The Steel Hussars – Regulus and Wallis
Second Hussars – The Green Monster – Katlehong, Hindmarsh, and Fieferana
Fourth Hussars – The Kukri – Vosloorus
Fifth Hussars – Work Hard, Play Hard – Westover, MacKenzie, and Clipperton
Factories
Clipperton – Irian Technologies – Leopard, Leopard CV, Union, and Hamilcar DropShips. Scout JumpShip and Shiva frigate.
MacKenzie – Brigadier Corporation – Buccaneer, Fury, Merlin, Monarch, Behemoth, and Parvathi DropShips. Impavido cruiser and Eagle II frigate.
Wallis – Ronin Incorporated – Warhammer and Marauder BattleMechs.
Westover – Regulan Aerotech – Stingray and Riever AeroSpace fighters.
Systems
Aitutaki – The Aitutaki Academy graduates over 700 MechWarriors, AeroSpace pilots, armor crewmembers, and infantry a year, as well as some of the best technicians in the Free Worlds League. Founded by the order of Hered Selaj in 2414, it is one of the oldest academies in existence and is the foundation of the present-day Regulan military.
Avior – The headquarters of the Regulan Hussars, 10,000 acres of land on this world were given to them by Bertram Marik in 2734 for being loyal during the civil war.
Cameron – Home of the BattleMech production plant that first served the Regulan Hussars, the plant was destroyed during the Succession Wars and has never been rebuilt.
Camlann – The revolutionary Camlann versus Free Worlds League court case guaranteed this world freedom from the Principality of Regulus, giving it representation of its own in the Parliament and freedom to do what it wanted. Up to and through the Jihad, what it wanted was to trade, and its primary export was high tech communications systems so advanced that even ComStar and the Word of Blake purchased the systems for their own use. During the Jihad, Camlann remained neutral and sold those systems to anyone who wanted them. The Word of Blake, not having the resources to take the world, placed an AeroSpace presence above the planet to stop shipments to other powers once they left Camlann ships. After the Jihad was over, Regulan troops came to reclaim their long-lost colony and its communications factories. Camlann has requested that the court case be enforced but the current Free Worlds League Parliament considers it to be an “internal matter of the Principality of Regulus” and refuses to be involved.
Diass – One of three Principality of Regulus worlds that left to form the Regulan Free States in 2681 to support Marik over Regulus, they fought Regulus for centuries until the Addendum to the Incorporation gave them the legal power to fully escape Regulan control and blockades in 3037. The Free States remained neutral during the Jihad, not having the power to do anything good or bad, but in 3093 the Principality of Regulus came for them with a three-prong attack of BattleMechs and Naval forces, conquering them in a matter of weeks. Diass was the last to fall, but only after their militia fought the Regulans to a near-standstill outside their capital. The Mongol and Kazhak languages are the primary spoken words on Diass, though all official business is performed in the official language of the Principality of Regulus.
Harmony – During the Jihad, the Word of Blake used the tensions between the Cherenkov and Rodriguez families to take this world from Regulan control. Nearly three centuries ago they had open warfare over a mineral rich region and the Rodriguez family won. The Word of Blake offered support to the Cherenkov family and helped them shatter their opponents. After the Jihad was over, Regulus found the Cherenkovs guilty of working with the Word of Blake and executed the heads of that family, putting many others in prison. Most of their lands were given to the survivors of the Rodriguez family and only a few of their oldest towns remain under the control of what remains of Cherenkov power.
Hellos Minor – Homeworld of D'mir Selaj, he hid here behind the Regulan Hussars after a bomb killed nearly the entire Marik family in 2667. With proof that he helped orchestrate the bombing, the Marik Militia came for him in 2669 and he committed suicide rather than be taken prisoner.
Hongqiao – A steamy jungle world, it sided for the Word of Blake during the Jihad and the Regulans were forced to take it the old fashioned way. After months of ineffectual warfare that failed to flush out the Word loyalists, the Regulan fleet arrived in 3069 and began systematically nuking any town that supported the Word. The scars still cover the world, but are nothing compared to what was done on nearby Gibson.
Muscida – The ancestral home of the Fourth Regulan Hussars, the Kukri, they built a training center there before the Jihad in the Pokhara Mountains. Only accessible by air, ’Mech, or on foot, the trainees at the facility held off numerous Word of Blake attacks before being rescued by the 4th in May of 3068. That facility, though not as good as the Aitutaki Academy, has firmly secured a second place ranking behind it in the Principality of Regulus
Olafsvik – Once the capital of the Regulan Free States, they fought Regulus for centuries and then remained neutral during the Jihad. In 3093 the Principality of Regulus came for them with a three-prong attack of BattleMechs and Naval forces, conquering them in a matter of weeks. Olafsvik was the second world to fall, hit by an overwhelming force that shattered its military in two weeks. Requests for aid from the Parliament have been greeted with simple statements that the League does not interfere with the internal matters of member states. Norwegian is the most widely spoken language on this world, though all official business is spoken in the official language of the Principality of Regulus.
Tiber – One of the most industrialized worlds in the Principality of Regulus, and the site of a labor riot in 3025, the Word of Blake found Tiber to be a good prospect for another riot. During the Jihad, they inflamed tensions there between corporations and the unions, forcing them into another standoff that erupted into open warfare and denied Regulus the support of this world for the duration of the Jihad in League space. After the Word was pushed out of League space, the Regulans returned to bring order to Tiber. The damage caused in the Jihad is still easy to see on this world, but most of the old industries are back online now. The Duchy of New Assam, occupying one continent on Tiber, remained neutral and peaceful throughout the Jihad, and without its help the rebuilding of the rest of Tiber would have been much harder.
Vosloorus – Another world in the Regulan Free States, this was the first to fall when the Regulans came for them in 3093. On the border of the Principality of Regulus, it is also the center of rebel furor and the Fourth Regulan Hussars have been largely placed on this world to deal with it. So far the measured responses and careful fighting have brought many locals over to their side, but the planet is still greatly divided.
Wallis – Home of Ronin Industries, the Word of Blake pushed this world into rebellion as well and appropriated many machines to fuel their war machine before being pushed off it by the Regulan Hussars in 3069. The damage the Word did to the factory on the way out left it unable to build anything until 3075.