New Texas
The planet of New Texas is a decidedly cool planet, orbiting a dim orange star.The planet, which is little more than 2/3 the size of Earth still has .97 of Earth's gravity. This is due to rich deposits of metals found on the world, particulary gold, iriduim, iron, chromium, copper, germanium, molybdenum, platinum, rhenium, silver, tin & zinc. Many of theses are deeply buried, but sufficient, rich, surface and near-surface deposits exist on New Texas. New Texas is not rich in fossil fuels, however, barely producing enough to supply its own needs.
The planet is dominated by its ice caps at the poles, with forty percent of the planet covered by ice. The middle lattitudes are vast expanses of tundra dotted by large lakes or inland seas. Open water on New Texas accounts for only 31% of the surface of the planet, though the vast majority of this water is fresh water. Only the equatorial inland seas are salt water, though it is highly saline, similar to the Dead Sea or the Great Salt Lake on Earth. The equatorial region is a belt of taiga, and while still cold, is much more habitable than the tundra of the middle lattitudes.
The planet was first discovered by Star League exploration ships in 2605, during the outward expansion following the Reunification wars. The captain of the exploration ship, a native of old Earth's Texas, named the planet. New Texas quickly became home to a small outpost of the Star Leauge Navy (SLN). As settlers began to arrive, seeking to make a living off supporting the SLN, it soon became clear that New Texas was rich in natural resources. Mining companies moved in and ranchers followed, seeking to make money off feeding the miners.
In 2670, the SLN upgraded the outpost from a fueling and supply depot into a full service navy base, as manufacturing became more available on New Texas once the local ore processing facilities came fully online. The Star League Defense Force (SLDF) assigned 2nd company, 3rd battalion of the 44th Martian light calvary regiment to defend the base. The small colony continued to grow, however, most immigrants were farmers and ranchers. The domestic Caribou was introduced to this world at some point during this period, replacing highland cattle as the primary herd animal. At the same time, many species of Terran animals that had become extinc and been rescued through genetic engineering were also introduced. These included most of the Late Pleistocene megafauna originally from North America. It included several species of ground sloths, short-faced bears, several species of tapirs, peccaries, the American lion, giant tortoises, Miracinonyx, the saber-toothed cat Smilodon and the scimitar-toothed cat Homotherium, dire wolves, saiga antelope, camelids such as two species of llamas and Camelops, at least two species of bison, the stag-moose, the shrub-ox and Harlan's muskox, 14 species of pronghorn, horses, mammoths and mastodons, the beautiful armadillo and the giant armadillo-like Glyptotherium, and giant beavers, as well as birds like giant condors and teratorns. Species introduced from Europe's past included: the straight-tusked elephant , the cave bear, interglacial rhinoceros, the Eurasian hippopotamus, woolly rhinoceros, Megaloceros, cave lions, and the European cave leopard. All of these were brought to the planet by a Star League program seeking to seed suitable worlds with lifeforms that had passed into history. This program came out of Oxford university and was the brainchild of a scientist named Jond Hammond.
As for industry, mining continued and in 2680 NorthGrum decided to place a factory for its popular Tarawa-Class dropship on New Texas. In 2682 Baldwin Armor Works followed suit, building a small factory to manufacture its M2604 Sherman-7 light tank, intending to capitalize on the SLDF's need for light vehicles throuout the Periphery.
By 2766, New Texas had a population of just over 8 million people, and was quickly becoming a hub of commerce in the expanding Silesian Sector of the Periphery. Howeverm that year marked the high point for the sector. Word soon arrived that Stefan Amaris had assasinated the Camerons. General Kerensky called on all SLN and SLDF forces to join him for a push on Terra to oust the Usurper. The warships, jumpships and dropships which tied together the worlds of the sector soon disappeared, along with the military forces which kept the peace. Most of the worlds in the Silesian Sector were not as fortunate as New Texas, and they lost most of their technology when the dropships stopped coming. The entire Silesian Sector quickly fell apart, with only a few small tramp freighters making infrequent calls at the worlds of the sector.
New Texas remained fairly prosperous, blessed with ample water, good supplies of food, a robust mining industry and a fairly diversified manufacturing complex, the planet was able to stabilize around a late 21st century tech level, however, the planet lacked institutions of higher learning, having relied on sending its youth to the Inner Sphere for advanced education. Additionally, the planet fractured politically once the Port Admiral left as the military bureaucracy had actually managed the ruling of the planet. With a power vacuum, various factions tried to seize power, leading to the rise of several independent nations. War over the succession of planetary rule soon followed. The first major casualties of this war were the NothGrum shipyard and the Baldwin Armor Works factories in Port Galveston.
The interneccine warfare continued, though no one of the nations could gain superiority as infantry, calvary and home designed artillery were the primary military assets available to their armies. Due to the scarce availability of fuel, and the need to conserve it for transportation uses, armored vehicles never did make a comeback on New Texas, not at least until 2942. In 2935, Earl Hurst, the Mayor of the Independent City of Port Galveston, discovered a data core in the ruins of the SLN base which sat on the peninsula just south of his city. It detailed the specifications of both the Sherman-7 light tank and the Tarawa-Class dropship. Records searches soon turned up the locations of both the shipyard and the factory. Both were ruined, but enough equipment remained that the production lines could be put back into operation after sufficient reverse engineering was carried out at the nascent Port Galveston College.
As the one neutral site where the nations could export their goods to the infrequent merchant ships, Port Galveston was able to quietly siphon off the metals, fuel stocks and other supplies it needed to rebuild the Baldwin Armor Works factory. It took seven years, but Earl Hurst was able to rebuild the factory and quietly build up a regiment of the Sherman-7 tanks. With these, he was able to launch a blitzkrieg assault on the two nations surrounding his free city. The power and mobility of his armored forces allowed him to quickly bring these nations to heel. Over the next decade and a half, Hurst was able to bring the entirety of New Texas under his control, ending over two centuries of warfare. At the end of the war, he called a contitutional convention, and a constitutional monarchy was formed, similar to the British model of old Earth. The Hursts were installed as the ruling family, and the other powerful leaders of the planet became the Nobility.
King Earl Hurst only survived the founding of his dynasty by five years. In 2972, he was killed by battlemech equipped pirates raiding from what would become the Oberon Confederation. His daughter Amelie ascended the throne, and quickly began a program to discover what was occuring in the nearby systems. It quickly became apparent that the area arround them was plagued by pirates and a largely lawless state obtained in New Texas' part of the Galaxy. Backed by her parliment, she quickly authorized an expansion of the armored forces and began rebuilding the shipyard to produce Tarawa-Class dropships. However, as the pirate raids continued, it became obvious that New Texas had fallen well behind the Inner Sphere in terms of technology. Amelie's rule lasted nearly 30 years, but in 2990, she too was killed by pirates, who had raided for water and stocks of refined metals.
Her son, Virgil ascended the throne, determined to end the pirate scourge forever. Declaring war against the pirates infesting the local area of the Galaxy. Recognizing that his outdated Sherman-7 tanks and the less capable version of the Tarawa-Class dropships could not face the better equipped pirates, he quickly came up with a plan, and by 3004, he was ready to implement it.
That year he dispatched his youngest son, Clayton, to Galatea, equipped with the second Tarawa-Class dropship and a company of Sherman-7 tanks. His mission was to gain the forces needed to make New Texas invulnerable to pirate attack. Through luck, and an unexpected talent for strategy and tactics, Prince Clayton succeded in his mission, completing it in just 8 years, In 3013, he returned with a full regiment of light battlemechs, a full regiment of Inner Sphere armored vehicles, a wing of atmospheric aerospace fighters, a regiment of mechanized infantry, a battallion of artillery and the jumpships and dropships needed to transport them. He also managed to bring home the design specifications for the AC/5 and the Scorpion light tank.
Since 3004, three more expeditions have been mounted. In 3017, having been in the Inner Sphere for 12 years, the 2nd New Texas returned, but it was a bittersweet homecoming as King Virgil had died just 6 days short of their appearance at the jump point, leaving his heir, Queen Naomi to rule in his place. Queen Naomi, knowing that New Texas would need further resources, made a fateful decision on the day that the 2nd New Texas landed. She offered the commander of that unit a place as a Duke of New Texas if he would take their unit and conquer the neighboring world of Thisbe. Winifred 'Hellrider' McCarthy accepted her orders, and within months the planet Thisbe became the Duchy of Lonestar.
When the 3rd new Texas returned in 3021, after an absence of 15 years, the planet Althea followed suit, becoming the Duchy of Lubbock.
Now, it is 3025, and the 4th New Texas, having been gone for 17 years and considered overdue, Queen Naomi has managed to convince her Parliment to send another expedition into the Inner Sphere, both in hopes of increasing their forces and discovering the fate of the 4th. With the ongoing improvements to both Lonestar and Lubbock, Parliment is not willing to fund the expedition as lavishly at the past 4 missions. However, having promised to place her own child, Amelia, in command, Queen Naomi has decide to assign some of the Leopard Class dropships captured at Lonestar to the 5th New Texas. One has been modified to carry vehicles. This ship can now carry 10 tanks up to 50 tons in size each, one heavy recovery vehicle and one aerospace Fighter. This ship has been designated a Leopard LST. Another has been modified, removing the fighter bays, replacing them with the ability to carry 4 light vehicles and one heavy recovery vehicle. This ship has been designated a Leopard LST/M. These 2 ships give the 5th New Texas the ability to field 1 aerospace fighter, 4 mechs, 14 light tanks and 2 heavy recovery vehicles. Additionally, she has chartered a single Danais-class dropship for a period of five years to be a cargo hauler for the 5th Texas. Amelia Hurst has managed to provide an ancient Fortress-class dropship for the 5th through her own adventures. In order to fill out the ranks of the expedition she is digging even further into her own fortune. In order to fill out the ranks, she has promised both lands and titles on whatever world they conquer upon their return, and a Scorpion or Fire Beetle tank with 3 retired Sherman-7 tanks to fill out their lance, to whosoever will accompany the expedition.
The planet is dominated by its ice caps at the poles, with forty percent of the planet covered by ice. The middle lattitudes are vast expanses of tundra dotted by large lakes or inland seas. Open water on New Texas accounts for only 31% of the surface of the planet, though the vast majority of this water is fresh water. Only the equatorial inland seas are salt water, though it is highly saline, similar to the Dead Sea or the Great Salt Lake on Earth. The equatorial region is a belt of taiga, and while still cold, is much more habitable than the tundra of the middle lattitudes.
The planet was first discovered by Star League exploration ships in 2605, during the outward expansion following the Reunification wars. The captain of the exploration ship, a native of old Earth's Texas, named the planet. New Texas quickly became home to a small outpost of the Star Leauge Navy (SLN). As settlers began to arrive, seeking to make a living off supporting the SLN, it soon became clear that New Texas was rich in natural resources. Mining companies moved in and ranchers followed, seeking to make money off feeding the miners.
In 2670, the SLN upgraded the outpost from a fueling and supply depot into a full service navy base, as manufacturing became more available on New Texas once the local ore processing facilities came fully online. The Star League Defense Force (SLDF) assigned 2nd company, 3rd battalion of the 44th Martian light calvary regiment to defend the base. The small colony continued to grow, however, most immigrants were farmers and ranchers. The domestic Caribou was introduced to this world at some point during this period, replacing highland cattle as the primary herd animal. At the same time, many species of Terran animals that had become extinc and been rescued through genetic engineering were also introduced. These included most of the Late Pleistocene megafauna originally from North America. It included several species of ground sloths, short-faced bears, several species of tapirs, peccaries, the American lion, giant tortoises, Miracinonyx, the saber-toothed cat Smilodon and the scimitar-toothed cat Homotherium, dire wolves, saiga antelope, camelids such as two species of llamas and Camelops, at least two species of bison, the stag-moose, the shrub-ox and Harlan's muskox, 14 species of pronghorn, horses, mammoths and mastodons, the beautiful armadillo and the giant armadillo-like Glyptotherium, and giant beavers, as well as birds like giant condors and teratorns. Species introduced from Europe's past included: the straight-tusked elephant , the cave bear, interglacial rhinoceros, the Eurasian hippopotamus, woolly rhinoceros, Megaloceros, cave lions, and the European cave leopard. All of these were brought to the planet by a Star League program seeking to seed suitable worlds with lifeforms that had passed into history. This program came out of Oxford university and was the brainchild of a scientist named Jond Hammond.
As for industry, mining continued and in 2680 NorthGrum decided to place a factory for its popular Tarawa-Class dropship on New Texas. In 2682 Baldwin Armor Works followed suit, building a small factory to manufacture its M2604 Sherman-7 light tank, intending to capitalize on the SLDF's need for light vehicles throuout the Periphery.
By 2766, New Texas had a population of just over 8 million people, and was quickly becoming a hub of commerce in the expanding Silesian Sector of the Periphery. Howeverm that year marked the high point for the sector. Word soon arrived that Stefan Amaris had assasinated the Camerons. General Kerensky called on all SLN and SLDF forces to join him for a push on Terra to oust the Usurper. The warships, jumpships and dropships which tied together the worlds of the sector soon disappeared, along with the military forces which kept the peace. Most of the worlds in the Silesian Sector were not as fortunate as New Texas, and they lost most of their technology when the dropships stopped coming. The entire Silesian Sector quickly fell apart, with only a few small tramp freighters making infrequent calls at the worlds of the sector.
New Texas remained fairly prosperous, blessed with ample water, good supplies of food, a robust mining industry and a fairly diversified manufacturing complex, the planet was able to stabilize around a late 21st century tech level, however, the planet lacked institutions of higher learning, having relied on sending its youth to the Inner Sphere for advanced education. Additionally, the planet fractured politically once the Port Admiral left as the military bureaucracy had actually managed the ruling of the planet. With a power vacuum, various factions tried to seize power, leading to the rise of several independent nations. War over the succession of planetary rule soon followed. The first major casualties of this war were the NothGrum shipyard and the Baldwin Armor Works factories in Port Galveston.
The interneccine warfare continued, though no one of the nations could gain superiority as infantry, calvary and home designed artillery were the primary military assets available to their armies. Due to the scarce availability of fuel, and the need to conserve it for transportation uses, armored vehicles never did make a comeback on New Texas, not at least until 2942. In 2935, Earl Hurst, the Mayor of the Independent City of Port Galveston, discovered a data core in the ruins of the SLN base which sat on the peninsula just south of his city. It detailed the specifications of both the Sherman-7 light tank and the Tarawa-Class dropship. Records searches soon turned up the locations of both the shipyard and the factory. Both were ruined, but enough equipment remained that the production lines could be put back into operation after sufficient reverse engineering was carried out at the nascent Port Galveston College.
As the one neutral site where the nations could export their goods to the infrequent merchant ships, Port Galveston was able to quietly siphon off the metals, fuel stocks and other supplies it needed to rebuild the Baldwin Armor Works factory. It took seven years, but Earl Hurst was able to rebuild the factory and quietly build up a regiment of the Sherman-7 tanks. With these, he was able to launch a blitzkrieg assault on the two nations surrounding his free city. The power and mobility of his armored forces allowed him to quickly bring these nations to heel. Over the next decade and a half, Hurst was able to bring the entirety of New Texas under his control, ending over two centuries of warfare. At the end of the war, he called a contitutional convention, and a constitutional monarchy was formed, similar to the British model of old Earth. The Hursts were installed as the ruling family, and the other powerful leaders of the planet became the Nobility.
King Earl Hurst only survived the founding of his dynasty by five years. In 2972, he was killed by battlemech equipped pirates raiding from what would become the Oberon Confederation. His daughter Amelie ascended the throne, and quickly began a program to discover what was occuring in the nearby systems. It quickly became apparent that the area arround them was plagued by pirates and a largely lawless state obtained in New Texas' part of the Galaxy. Backed by her parliment, she quickly authorized an expansion of the armored forces and began rebuilding the shipyard to produce Tarawa-Class dropships. However, as the pirate raids continued, it became obvious that New Texas had fallen well behind the Inner Sphere in terms of technology. Amelie's rule lasted nearly 30 years, but in 2990, she too was killed by pirates, who had raided for water and stocks of refined metals.
Her son, Virgil ascended the throne, determined to end the pirate scourge forever. Declaring war against the pirates infesting the local area of the Galaxy. Recognizing that his outdated Sherman-7 tanks and the less capable version of the Tarawa-Class dropships could not face the better equipped pirates, he quickly came up with a plan, and by 3004, he was ready to implement it.
That year he dispatched his youngest son, Clayton, to Galatea, equipped with the second Tarawa-Class dropship and a company of Sherman-7 tanks. His mission was to gain the forces needed to make New Texas invulnerable to pirate attack. Through luck, and an unexpected talent for strategy and tactics, Prince Clayton succeded in his mission, completing it in just 8 years, In 3013, he returned with a full regiment of light battlemechs, a full regiment of Inner Sphere armored vehicles, a wing of atmospheric aerospace fighters, a regiment of mechanized infantry, a battallion of artillery and the jumpships and dropships needed to transport them. He also managed to bring home the design specifications for the AC/5 and the Scorpion light tank.
Since 3004, three more expeditions have been mounted. In 3017, having been in the Inner Sphere for 12 years, the 2nd New Texas returned, but it was a bittersweet homecoming as King Virgil had died just 6 days short of their appearance at the jump point, leaving his heir, Queen Naomi to rule in his place. Queen Naomi, knowing that New Texas would need further resources, made a fateful decision on the day that the 2nd New Texas landed. She offered the commander of that unit a place as a Duke of New Texas if he would take their unit and conquer the neighboring world of Thisbe. Winifred 'Hellrider' McCarthy accepted her orders, and within months the planet Thisbe became the Duchy of Lonestar.
When the 3rd new Texas returned in 3021, after an absence of 15 years, the planet Althea followed suit, becoming the Duchy of Lubbock.
Now, it is 3025, and the 4th New Texas, having been gone for 17 years and considered overdue, Queen Naomi has managed to convince her Parliment to send another expedition into the Inner Sphere, both in hopes of increasing their forces and discovering the fate of the 4th. With the ongoing improvements to both Lonestar and Lubbock, Parliment is not willing to fund the expedition as lavishly at the past 4 missions. However, having promised to place her own child, Amelia, in command, Queen Naomi has decide to assign some of the Leopard Class dropships captured at Lonestar to the 5th New Texas. One has been modified to carry vehicles. This ship can now carry 10 tanks up to 50 tons in size each, one heavy recovery vehicle and one aerospace Fighter. This ship has been designated a Leopard LST. Another has been modified, removing the fighter bays, replacing them with the ability to carry 4 light vehicles and one heavy recovery vehicle. This ship has been designated a Leopard LST/M. These 2 ships give the 5th New Texas the ability to field 1 aerospace fighter, 4 mechs, 14 light tanks and 2 heavy recovery vehicles. Additionally, she has chartered a single Danais-class dropship for a period of five years to be a cargo hauler for the 5th Texas. Amelia Hurst has managed to provide an ancient Fortress-class dropship for the 5th through her own adventures. In order to fill out the ranks of the expedition she is digging even further into her own fortune. In order to fill out the ranks, she has promised both lands and titles on whatever world they conquer upon their return, and a Scorpion or Fire Beetle tank with 3 retired Sherman-7 tanks to fill out their lance, to whosoever will accompany the expedition.
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