Long Road

This article is about the economic initiative. For the DropShip, see Long Road (Individual Titan-class DropShip).


Long Road was an ambitious program of economic recovery in the Outworlds Alliance launched by President Mitchell Avellar in 3056.[1]

Overview[edit]

The formation of the Word of Blake in the aftermath of Clan Invasion and the Truce of Tukayyid in 3052 had ripple effects throughout the Inner Sphere and beyond. In addition to losing a third of their personnel to this offshoot, ComStar was forced to make deep budget cuts in nearly all their branches in order to rebuild the Com Guards shattered by the war. The Explorer Corps closed their bases on Raldamax, Dneiper, and Coraines, causing shock to those planetary economies as the Explorer Corps' leases came with generous educational and technological benefits. After a couple years of continued struggling, an exhausted Neil Avellar stepped down and handed the reins over to his son Mitchell in early 3056 and departed the Outworlds.[1]

Mitchell Avellar's Long Road economic initiative was centered on arms manufacturing and building on existing ties with the Federated Commonwealth and Draconis Combine. Various companies took advantage of the Outworlders' educated workforce and lower wages compared to the Inner Sphere, and the industry enjoyed a significant boost. Technology and funding flowed into the nation, for which Avellar channeled a portion of the increased trade revenues to strengthen the Alliance Military Corps, expanding recruitment and purchasing equipment. Alliance planets became richer but also had better means to defend themselves against more eager pirates.[1]

Greater economic and military cooperation with the Taurian Concordat also elevated the Outworlds on the Periphery's political stage, creating challenges for nations such as the Capellan Confederation which found itself threatened the more the Commonwealth and Concordat benefited. The improved status and wealth of the Outworlds combined with their deeper business ties to other nations enabled Avellar to also pursue Clan technology, especially by growing the nation's intelligence agency and their adept abilities at industrial spying. All said, the Outworlds military improved quickly, and by 3060 the Outworlds Alliance economy had more or less recovered—certainly not a powerhouse, but no longer the suffering realm it had often been.[1]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Handbook: Major Periphery States, pp. 60–61: "Outworlds Alliance—The ComStar Schism"

Bibliography[edit]