Rim Territories

Rim Territories
State Profile
Founding Year 3087[1]
Capital world: Pain
Controlled system(s): 14
Government
Military

The Rim Territories are a Periphery pirate nation that emerged in 3087 after the chaos of the Word of Blake Jihad.

History[edit]

The origins of the Rim Territories date back to the 3040s when the former Rim Worlds Republic planets of Port Vail and Dijonne became the permanent home of the pirate group known as Morrison's Extractors. Renaming their new homeworlds The Rack and Pain, respectively, the pirates hammered out a pact with their denizens in which they would offer protection in exchange for the locals' support. Refugees fleeing the Clan Invasion added skilled workers to these worlds, while the demise of Morrison's Extractors in the 3060s did nothing to harm the fledgling government as another pirate group, the Black Harriers, simply took up the same arrangement.[2]

An upsurge in immigrants fleeing the Blakist Jihad resulted in a population boom and expansion of Pain and The Rack's infrastructure. By 3087 the two worlds along with a pair of breakaway Lyran Commonwealth planets (Engadine and Main Street) formed a new nation, the Rim Territories. Over the next half-century the Rim Territories added six more worlds settled by refugees. Living standards varied between worlds even after decades of development, with Engadine and Main Street still boasting higher living standards than the titular capital Pain, which in turn was more advanced than several other member worlds.[2] [3] [4] [5]

In December 3148 pirate bands from the Rim Territories took advantage of LCAF weakness in the region to conquer Elume, Canal, Tsarahavana and Issaba.[6] [7]

Government and Society[edit]

Officially the Rim Territories was founded as a mutual defense and trade pact. In reality it is first and foremost a collective of pirate groups who each control a world and organize it along the lines of a criminal fiefdom. Torture, the national capital on Pain, exemplifies this as it is more of a den of iniquity than a respectable seat of government. Despite the nature of its rulers, however, the Rim Territories has survived for six decades and proven to offer more stable government than the average independent Periphery world.[2] [8]

Historical Maps[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Field Manual: 3085. p.231 (p.249 pdf)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Shrapnel, Issue 10, "Planet Digest: Pain"
  3. Field Manual: 3085, p. vi, "Inner Sphere October 3085" map - only Pain, The Rack, Engadine and Main Street are shown as settled worlds at this point
  4. Era Digest: Dark Age, p. 12, "Map of the Inner Sphere 3130" - the other six member worlds are extant by now
  5. Dark Age: Touring the Stars (3130), Vol. XLVIII: Denizens of the Periphery
  6. Shattered Fortress, p. 54, "Piracy Rampant in Rim Territories"
  7. Shattered Fortress, p. 100, "Timeline of Events: 3146-3150"
  8. First Succession War, p. 101, "Rim Territories"

Bibliography[edit]