Lonestar
This planet, formerly known as Thisbe is a warm, dry dust world. It should be a paradise, being the same size as old Earth, occupying the same orbital slot and obriting the exact same class of star as Sol. However, Vischin 162 is just a bit bigger, brighter and warmer than Sol, and Thisbe was not graced with as much water as Earth. Also, Thisbe was not quite as dense as Earth, lacking in many of the metals that Earth had, leading to lighter gravity and just a bit thinner atmosphere. All of this combined to make Thisbe a not quite garden world.
Despite this, there is ample evidence that the planet enjoyed a rich life period millions of years ago. That evidence is the vast reserves of oil, natural gas and coal that lie beneath the planet's surface. Today, the planet has a large band of desert which covers the equatorial, tropical and subtropical latitudes. Narrow bands of savannah only appear in the higher temperate latitudes. Mixed in with the savannahs are the planet's small. shallow seas. Above the savannahs, the terrain quickly gives way to an ice cap, at least during winter. The planet has an axial tilt of nearly twenty degrees, causing strong seasonal changes and extreme weather to be the norm. In the deserts, a continuous dust storm, many thousands of kilometers across, sweeps around the planet from west to east.
First settled in 2673, the planet Thisbe was originally intended to provide fuel and other hydrocarbons for the slowly growing Silesian Sector. Following practices typical in that time, the Star League saw to it that many drillers, miners and refinery workers found their way to Thisbe, but never did send in the farmers and other types needed to make the world a truly self sufficient colony. Education was limited to about what a high school could provide, with most of the trades on the planet being taught through apprenticeships. Those who wanted an advanced education could always attend a school in the Inner Sphere. As a result, the skill sets available on the planet were seriously unbalanced.
Thisbe enjoyed a modest prosperity, until 2766, when Amaris launched his coup and the Star League withdrew its forces, almost overnight. Left without the support of the merchant ships which had visited to trade for gas and oil, the planet quickly fell into distress. The oil workers and miners were largely required to abandon their works and try to learn how to be farmers in the unforgiving savannahs that represented the planet's only arable regions. Enough oil wells, coal mine and what metals mines existed survived to support the needs of the people, but every other effort went into farming. The slide was quick, but the settlers were finally able to arrest their fall around a late 19th century tech level.
Eventually, there was enough land which had been irrigated to allow farming of the few terrestrail crops they managed to preserve and the native flora which was safe to eat. Starvation was no longer a wide spread issue by the time deep ranging merchants from the Inner Sphere reopened trade routes to Thisbe in 2912. When they arrived they found a civilizaton that relied largely on steam power and that was largely agrarian in nature. However, the oil and gas industries still existed and began to slowly expand again.
Unfortunately, the news of this oil and gas production soon spread, bringing attention that Thisbe did not want, that of pirates. The first pirate raid arrived in 2927, foreshadowing wha was to be a pattern that persisted for nearly the next century. Relief was to come in the form of the 2nd New Texas. Winifred 'Hellrider' McCarthy, newly retuned from the Inner Sphere, accepted the orders from the newly crowned Queen Naomi to bring Thisbe into the New Texas Confederacy.
In January of 3018, Winifred arrived on Thisbe with her combined arms regiment to find a pirate band from the Oberon Confederation conducting a particularly bloodthirsty raid on Thisbe. She spent the next several weeks driving the pirates back to their landing zone, then on February 14th, which is now known as Bloody Valentines, she swept into their encampment and slaughtered them all. She captured a pair of Mule-class dropships which had been converted to tankers, and the four knackered out Leopard class dropships the pirates had been using to transport their company of battlemechs and other forces.
Following the defeat of the pirates, Winifred called for a plebescite. The people of Thisbe voted overwhelmingly to join the New Texas Confederacy and accept Winifred McCarthy as their new Duchess. Her first declaration was to rename Thisbe. Lonestar was the name she decided on, saying "No New Texan could live on a world with such a pansy ass name as Thisbe."
Today, Lonestar stands well defended, and has gained steady partners in both New Texas and Lubbock. For its part, New Texas has been spending enormouns amounts of currency to bring Lonestar up to its standard of living and tech level. This has made the people of Lonestar very loyal to their new government.
Despite this, there is ample evidence that the planet enjoyed a rich life period millions of years ago. That evidence is the vast reserves of oil, natural gas and coal that lie beneath the planet's surface. Today, the planet has a large band of desert which covers the equatorial, tropical and subtropical latitudes. Narrow bands of savannah only appear in the higher temperate latitudes. Mixed in with the savannahs are the planet's small. shallow seas. Above the savannahs, the terrain quickly gives way to an ice cap, at least during winter. The planet has an axial tilt of nearly twenty degrees, causing strong seasonal changes and extreme weather to be the norm. In the deserts, a continuous dust storm, many thousands of kilometers across, sweeps around the planet from west to east.
First settled in 2673, the planet Thisbe was originally intended to provide fuel and other hydrocarbons for the slowly growing Silesian Sector. Following practices typical in that time, the Star League saw to it that many drillers, miners and refinery workers found their way to Thisbe, but never did send in the farmers and other types needed to make the world a truly self sufficient colony. Education was limited to about what a high school could provide, with most of the trades on the planet being taught through apprenticeships. Those who wanted an advanced education could always attend a school in the Inner Sphere. As a result, the skill sets available on the planet were seriously unbalanced.
Thisbe enjoyed a modest prosperity, until 2766, when Amaris launched his coup and the Star League withdrew its forces, almost overnight. Left without the support of the merchant ships which had visited to trade for gas and oil, the planet quickly fell into distress. The oil workers and miners were largely required to abandon their works and try to learn how to be farmers in the unforgiving savannahs that represented the planet's only arable regions. Enough oil wells, coal mine and what metals mines existed survived to support the needs of the people, but every other effort went into farming. The slide was quick, but the settlers were finally able to arrest their fall around a late 19th century tech level.
Eventually, there was enough land which had been irrigated to allow farming of the few terrestrail crops they managed to preserve and the native flora which was safe to eat. Starvation was no longer a wide spread issue by the time deep ranging merchants from the Inner Sphere reopened trade routes to Thisbe in 2912. When they arrived they found a civilizaton that relied largely on steam power and that was largely agrarian in nature. However, the oil and gas industries still existed and began to slowly expand again.
Unfortunately, the news of this oil and gas production soon spread, bringing attention that Thisbe did not want, that of pirates. The first pirate raid arrived in 2927, foreshadowing wha was to be a pattern that persisted for nearly the next century. Relief was to come in the form of the 2nd New Texas. Winifred 'Hellrider' McCarthy, newly retuned from the Inner Sphere, accepted the orders from the newly crowned Queen Naomi to bring Thisbe into the New Texas Confederacy.
In January of 3018, Winifred arrived on Thisbe with her combined arms regiment to find a pirate band from the Oberon Confederation conducting a particularly bloodthirsty raid on Thisbe. She spent the next several weeks driving the pirates back to their landing zone, then on February 14th, which is now known as Bloody Valentines, she swept into their encampment and slaughtered them all. She captured a pair of Mule-class dropships which had been converted to tankers, and the four knackered out Leopard class dropships the pirates had been using to transport their company of battlemechs and other forces.
Following the defeat of the pirates, Winifred called for a plebescite. The people of Thisbe voted overwhelmingly to join the New Texas Confederacy and accept Winifred McCarthy as their new Duchess. Her first declaration was to rename Thisbe. Lonestar was the name she decided on, saying "No New Texan could live on a world with such a pansy ass name as Thisbe."
Today, Lonestar stands well defended, and has gained steady partners in both New Texas and Lubbock. For its part, New Texas has been spending enormouns amounts of currency to bring Lonestar up to its standard of living and tech level. This has made the people of Lonestar very loyal to their new government.
Type
Planet
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