UMF - History
The origins and history of the United Mercantile Federation begin with commerce, following a bloody path of greed, ambition and treachery. Indeed, most of the cities of the league trace their origins to mining, farming and manufacturing companies established by the Human Concordat. When the Concordat abruptly severed links with the colonies in TN 1454, these companies and their townships were abandoned to their fate. Many were destroyed in the chaos that followed, sacked by bandits or brought low by the collapse of the planetary economy. Others fought for their freedom, forming adhoc militias to impose order within the towns and the land that surrounded them. Heavily fortified, these company enclaves became city-states, but it soon became apparent that alone, none would survive beyond the first generation. Following the sack and razing of Salisbury by bandits in TN 1525, the leaders of four other city-states banded together.
The Rise and Fall of the Lyonnesse League (TN 1528-1551)
It was Yvgeny Corman, Administrator of Lyonnesse, who brought the cities of Lyonnesse, Rapid City, Marathon, Canterbury and Baton Rouge to the peace table. Throughout the Summer and Autumn of TN 1527 the negotiations raged, balancing demands and working to settle deeply ingrained prejudices and feuds. Brandal Finch of Baton Rouge walked out of the talks on 23 Autumn 1527, but the remaining parties presented a draft to the public on 6 Spring 1528. On 2 Summer of that cycle, the document was signed and the Lyonnesse League came into existence.
The return of intercity trade provided a huge influx of capital, prompting a major improvement in the standard of living. By TN 1531 the league was thriving and Baton Rouge was faced with a choice: economic ruin or joining the alliance. Swallowing his pride, Finch chose the latter, though the terms were less favorable than those he walked away from four cycles earlier. In TN 1532 the league integrated its diverse militaries into the League Guard, and formalized relationships between banking, taxation, and other financial institutions. The league also established a comprehensive education system, providing schooling for any who desired it up until the age of twenty cycles. Graduates were guaranteed at least two cycles of vocational training with one of the large companies, and many later went on to become full time employees. The system created a well-trained workforce and low unemployment, but it ultimately doomed the Lyonnesse League.
The Apprenticeship Riots
Funding the program of apprenticeships placed a major drain on the league's finances, a situation not helped by largescale corruption and inefficiency. Nearing bankruptcy, the government both cancelled the program and raised taxes in the summer of TN 1550. Faced with this double blow, workers young and old poured onto the streets. The government overreacted, sending out the League Guard to quell the protest. When crowds in Rapid City began pelting them with stones, the troops were ordered to open fire, killing many civilians. This act of brutality shattered what remained of the central government and civil war loomed.
The region's major corporations decided enough was enough and on 17 Autumn chose to act. Using economic clout and well-trained security forces, they took control of the government and forced the disarmament of the League Guard. The corporate leaders arrested Administrator Genardy Corman, son of founder Yvgeny, and his associates before sweeping away the unwieldy bureaucracy that surrounded them. In its place they created a streamlined administration, headed by a nine-person Caucus, election to which was by a league-wide plebiscite. With the league's old name tarnished, the new corporate-dominated nation was renamed the United Mercantile Federation.
Bear Markets (TN 1551-1670)
The new government sought external challenges to distract the populace from the troubles at home. The Federation launched itself on a massive armaments program and began to eye its neighbors' territory. By the end of the cycle the troops struck, seizing the city-state of Fort Charles (later renamed Mainz) with the tacit approval of the Northern Lights Confederacy. The Western Frontier Protectorate, however, also claimed Fort Charles and its annexation merely served to sour relationships between the two leagues. The Westerners lacked the resources to retake the city, and instead spent the next twenty cycles destabilizing the UMFs eastern districts with a series of vicious border raids.
The UMFA continued to grow over the next few cycles, its troops constantly relocating within the league to keep its neighbors off balance. In TN 1566 they struck, driving eastward into the Tershaw Cooperative Alliance, a small league straddling the present-day UMF and NLC, and quickly overrunning Djakarta Point. A rich source of gold and silver, Djakarta Point was a major prize, but rather than imposing their will in the city as had been done at Fort Charles, the Federation allowed the city to retain its own cultural institutions and method of government, provided that it accepted the Federation as its overlord. Meanwhile, the matriarchal city-state of Swanscombe, also part of the TCA, was the target of aggressive diplomatic efforts. Seeing advantages in siding with a growing power, they petitioned for membership in the UMF that same cycle. Deprived of two if its principal cities, the Tershaw Cooperative Alliance collapsed. The Federation's success proved its undoing, however, driving the remaining TCA cities (and neighboring communities) into the NLC.
War to the Knife
In TN 1570 the simmering feud between the WFP and the UMF finally exploded. The Protectorate launched a massive preemptive invasion of the Federation, driving toward Mainz. With the bulk of their troops still occupied in the former TCA, the UMF was caught flat-footed and could not react to the threat. A small force succeeded in holding the Protectorate forces at bay in the Cajun Pass for three days, and when the force was about to be overrun their commander, Tony Kim, called in fire on his position. The UMFA's Strategic Rocketry Command fired four tactical missiles into the pass, saturating the area with Kesran nerve gas. There were few survivors, and with its offensive shattered, the WFP sued for peace.
Border clashes continued, but it wasn't until the 1650s that the Federation embarked upon another program of expansion. The UMFA backed the so-called Tricity fuel embargo, a successful attempt by three petroleum rich communities in the Badlands to force a price increase on the WFP, their main client. Encouraged by the poor Westerner response, the Federation continued its military build-up and in TN 1667 invaded both the WFP and NLC. The invasions targeted key sites
Horrified by their near defeat, the NLC and WFP decided to ally against the "Mercantile threat." In the summer of TN 1669, their combined armies invaded the far north of the Federation after luring the bulk of the UMFA to the area around Lyonnesse. The UMF mustered a defense and met the invaders near the city of Pioneer. The battle that followed, a nominal victory for the UMF, is best known as the first use of combat walkers, a development that would ultimately culminate in the Heavy Gear. However, the narrow margin of victory convinced The Caucus that war with their neighbors would only end in their destruction and so they focused their efforts on the Badlands. Moves to annex Red Sands proved unsuccessful, though the UMF did ensure a "special understanding" with the Badlands township, and the Federation switched the bulk of i t s activity to the Westridge area.
Economics Alliance (TN 1670-1913)
The formation of the AST in TN 1681 prompted the NLC to suggest the creation of a pan-northern alliance, but the Federation snubbed the proposal, instead concentrating on efforts to control the Westridge Trade Zone (which would give them a stranglehold on the WFP economy). The UMF was not alone in coveting the Westridge area, however. The newly formed AST, and in particular the Mekong Dominion, sought influence in the region and this led to a major armed confrontation. Known as the Merchant War, the clash between the UMF and the Southern alliance lasted from TN 1686 to 1688 before the Azov Treaty acknowledged the region's independence. This de-facto loss galled the Federation leadership, and rumors of WFP assistance to the AST forces, added salt to the wounds. Despite these rumors, the Caucus made a policy U-turn and supported the NLC's proposal for an alliance. The CNCS was founded on 8 Summer 1694.
The St. Vincent's War
The discovery of the wreck of the HCS St. Vincent in TN 1723 brought 29 cycles of peace to an end. The tense standoff at the wreck degenerated into a wide-ranging battle, horrific in its own right, but worse was to come. Damage to the hulk released a plague of global proportions, causing the deaths of five percent of Terra Nova's children. Each alliance blamed the other for the incident and global war ensued. For six cycles battles raged at both poles and in the Badlands, costing uncounted thousands of lives. Only the collapse of the global economy in TN 1729 forced a cessation of hostilities. Though never proven, there are suggestions that several major corporations, Northern and Southern, engineered the collapse to end the war and forestall any further losses.
Death and Taxes
The next century saw the Federation dealing with a mix of internal and external threats: The TN 1797 and TN 1814 Ashington uprisings (led by Byron Ash against his brother Rik) raised the prospect of war within the Federation. A massive show of force by the UMFA ultimately persuaded the usurper to stop short of secession. The UMFA also sacked Timmins in TN 1762 in an attempt to discourage the city-state's 'bootlegging' of UMF goods. When Tirnmins petitioned the CNCS in TN 1820, they refused membership in the UMF and saught Northern Guard protection, citing the devastation of TN 1762.
The most significant confrontation was the series of covert engagements between the UMF and Mekong Dominion between 1795 and 1799. Known as the Second Merchant War, the battle was fought more with stocks and shares than bullets 'and bombs, allowing both parties to circumvent the limits placed on them by their respective alliances. Corporations in both leagues lost millions and the losses were aggravated by special forces attacks on manufacturing sites and R&D establishments. The respective governments plowed vast sums into their economies in an effort to win the proxy war, but by late Autumn of TN 1798 the Dominion's advantage was becoming apparent. Federation Treasurer Constantin Bodiam ordered the UMFA into the field, and a series of Badlands clashes ensued. While the CNCS and AST were willing to sit by and watch the two capitalist leagues bleed each other dry, neither would sanction a massive armed confrontation and pressure from Valeria and Port Oasis forced a cease fire.
War of the Alliance
Goaded by the aloof attitude of the NLC and its dominance of the Northern Guard, the UMFA designated the Jaguar Gear a "Strategic Federal Resource" in TN 1905, much to the chagrin of Northco. With the Judas Syndrome in full swing, war between the alliances looked imminent, and the collapse of the CNCS was a distinct possibility. Yet before a world war could erupt, fate intervened
Earth Forces returned to Terra Nova in TN 1913 and drove into the heart of the two alliances, the Mekong Dominion and the UMF. Unable to stop the CEF hovertanks and GREL supersoldiers, the UMFA fought a desperate withdrawal, making prolifigate use of strategic weapons in a last-ditch attempt to buy the CNCS time to mobilize. The War of Alliance devastated the Federation, with battles fought throughout the league's southern reaches and both nuclear and orbital attacks against military and industrial targets. Despite the best efforts of the UMF and the Northern Guard, the city of Mainz was quickly overrun by the invaders and Ashington became the site of five major battles, bitter street-to-street fighting occurring on two occasions, though both times the CEF were eventually thrown back. By war's end on 9 Autumn TN 1917, the UMF was badly bloodied and exhausted. But it had survived.
Reconstruction
The cycles immediately following the War of Alliance saw widespread reconstruction efforts, both of the UMFs ruined industry and its shattered military. The War of Alliance had weakened the NLC's hold on the CNCS, and both the UMF and WFP flexed their political and economic muscles. While the NLC sought a return to the pre-war status quo, including hostilities with the AST and in particular the Southern Republic, the UMF sought the advantages of peaceable contact with the south. Treasurer Yves Banderas sent out feelers to the Mekong Dominion with a view to closer economic ties, hoping to establish a third, mercantile, power block. He failed to win over Speaker Miyako Sogabe b ut did make contact with her chief rival, Taipan Arron Logan. However, the direction of these talks surprised even Banderas, and at a meeting with Banderas and CNCS Grand Marshal Victoria Edden-Smythe Logan suggested that the Dominion did not want to fight a war with the North and might withdraw its support from the AST in the event of hostilities.
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