Spencer

Spencer
Spencer 3151.svg
System Information
X:Y Coordinates5.522 : -489.476[e]

System Description[edit]

Spencer is a system approximately 490 light-years rimward of Terra with a mixed history of political affiliation since its founding during the Star League era.

Political Affiliation[edit]


Spencer[edit]

Spencer

Planetary History[edit]

First Succession War[edit]

Spencer held the dubious distinction of being involved in the only full-scale conflict to be fought between Periphery states during the First Succession War—or, for that matter, any of the Succession Wars. The Taurian-Canopian War—also referred to as the Herotitus Crisis or the 200-Hour War—was a brief and largely pointless campaign fought between the Magistracy of Canopus and the Taurian Concordat. The war was launched by Protector Semyon Calderon, who managed to convince the Privy Council that the acquisition of Herotitus and Detroit would expand the Concordat's resource base and help stave off an anticipated invasion by the Federated Suns.[37]

Given the distances involved, Semyon's claims bordered on the farcical, but held the promise of recapturing systems that the hated Star League had removed from the Concordat. Herotitus and Detroit were both resource-rich and self-sufficient worlds with a relatively low populations at the time, and like Spencer had been assigned a kind of protectorate status by the Star League, which was largely indifferent to the systems other than making efforts to monitor development activity that might produce additional resources. While the Star League existed, Spencer had been administered by the Concordat, but the military forces on the planet had been limited to simple paramilitary forces. With the collapse of the Star League, the Taurian Defense Force had quietly bolstered the garrison on the planet. In June 2813, Semyon launched his ill-fated offensive, and a TDF departed Concordat space, bound for Detroit and Herotitus.[37]

The attacks went very poorly: the Second Pleiades Hussars were effectively wiped out on Herotitus, while the Red Chasseurs ended up in a stalemate on Detroit.[38][39] When Magestrix Rwannah Centrella learned of the attack, she ordered retaliatory attacks to dissuade further attempts by the Taurians—with task forces dispatched to attack both Spencer and the nearby Portland system, the latter being a Taurian system on the fringes of the Concordat.[40]

Unfortunately for Kossondra's Volunteers, who were assigned to the conquest of Spencer, their invasion went poorly. Supported by a mixed regiment of armor and infantry and two aerospace fighter squadrons, the Magistracy Armed Forces contingent arrived at the zenith jump point and burned directly for the planet, swiftly identifying the city of Liberty Point as the capital via eavesdropping on local communications using satellites. Defending Spencer was Comptroller Hendras Mohandun, the commanding officer of the local militia forces, which consisted of a mixed regiment of armor and BattleMechs. Mohandun had Liberty Point evacuated, and hid the majority of his militia troops among the larger buildings; the Volunteers obligingly grounded near the city and stormed into the capital, falling directly into Mohandun's trap. After an hour of heavy combat that cost the Volunteers half their forces, militia aerospace and conventional fighters struck at the MAF DropShips, cutting off the Volunteers. With no clear escape path, the remaining MAF troops surrendered.[40]

The swift Canopian retaliation for the invasion, along with news of the disastrous battle for Herotitus, resulted in a quickly-negotiated truce and an agreement that Detroit, Herotitus and Spencer should all be reaffirmed as demilitarized system. The prisoners captured on the various worlds involved were repatriated, and Semyon was widely scorned by the media of both nations.[41]

Resettlement[edit]

Known during the Star League era for its fisheries, Spencer was resettled by the Taurian Concordat and the Magistracy of Canopus as a part of the Treaty of Taurus and was incorporated into the New Colony Region. When the New Colony Region declared itself independent in 3066 Spencer joined the newly-formed Fronc Reaches. As with the populations of the other Fronc Reaches worlds, the inhabitants of Spencer were hopeful that trade agreements with other states such as the Marian Hegemony, Outworlds Alliance and Taurian Concordat would lead to prosperity; in the case of Spencer, the major export was expected to be food from the fisheries which had been restarted by Taurian settlers. The various delicacies produced by the fisheries were already being prepared for sale as far away as Dneiper, Alphard and Taurus.[27]

The first settlement to be founded on Spencer during the recolonization of the world was DuMont, located someway south of one of the ruined cities on the planet. The first Colonial Marshal to arrive on Spencer was dropped off in DuMont on 8 July 3058, and within the first two months had been faced with a riot due to food deliveries not arriving, colonists stealing weapons, the colonists who had stolen the weapons being slaughtered in the forest by an unidentified but evidently hostile form of wildlife, and a pirate raid on the 22nd of July that saw twenty-five colonists killed and twice that many taken as slaves by the pirates while the Marshal was attempting to find the colonists who had stolen the weapons.[23]

The Dark Age[edit]

In the years immediately following the Jihad, the Magistracy and the Concordat both concentrated on stamping out pirate activity within their respective borders. This resulted in the various pirate bands looking for easier targets, and pirate raids against the worlds of the Fronc Reaches spiked, despite the efforts of the Colonial Marshals. The Marshals' policy of executing capture pirates increased the savagery of the encounters between the two, and during this period the worlds of Rockwellawan, Spencer, and Cygnus all had the misfortune of suffering pirate raids that cost the lives of thousands of civilians.[42]

Military Deployment[edit]

3085[edit]

3145[edit]

  • Third Fronc Air Wing
  • Third Fronc Armor

Geography[edit]

Apocryphal Content Starts

The information after this notice comes from apocryphal sources; the canonicity of such information is uncertain.
Please view the reference page for information regarding their canonicity.

The world was encircled by a vast shallow ocean, teeming with native and Terran aquatic life.[45]

Apocryphal Content Ends

Planetary Locations[edit]

  • Dumont: the first settlement on Spencer to be founded during the recolonization of the world in the 3050s[23]
  • Liberty Point: the planetary capital city during the First Succession War[40]

Map Gallery[edit]

Nearby Systems[edit]

Closest 20 systems (18 within 60 light-years)
Distance in light years, closest systems first:
Cygnus 16.5 Bellerophon 22.0 Chandan 22.5 Úr Cruinne 27.2
Fronc 28.7 Don't 31.8 Taygete 32.8 Contrilla 38.9
Detroit 39.4 Alloway 43.6 Addasar 44.2 Appian 44.9
Polybius 46.4 McEvans' Sacrifice 48.1 Highwater 54.8 Independence 55.4
Nuncavoy 58.3 Balawat 59.3 Sacromonte 60.3 Zhaomaon 60.7

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 92
  2. Historical: Reunification War, p. 159
  3. Era Report: 2750, p. 37
  4. Field Manual: SLDF: "Inner Sphere - [2764] Map"
  5. Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 11
  6. House Arano (The Aurigan Coalition), p. 10
  7. First Succession War, pp. 24–25
  8. Handbook: House Marik, p. 34
  9. First Succession War, pp. 112–113
  10. Second Succession War, pp. 18–19
  11. Second Succession War, pp. 78–79
  12. House Arano (The Aurigan Coalition), p. 12
  13. House Arano (The Aurigan Coalition), pp. 14–15: "The Aurigan Coalition and Its Environs"
  14. Handbook: House Marik, p. 42
  15. 15.0 15.1 Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 92
  16. Handbook: House Marik, p. 51
  17. Historical: War of 3039, p. 133
  18. Era Report: 3052, p. 11
  19. Era Report: 3052, p. 23
  20. Era Report: 3062, p. 12
  21. Handbook: House Liao, p. 60
  22. Handbook: House Marik, p. 54
  23. 23.0 23.1 23.2 The Periphery, 2nd Edition, p. 26: "One Man Against the World"
  24. The Periphery, 2nd Edition, p. 112: "Magistracy of Canopus & New Colony Region"
  25. Inner Sphere, p. 98: "Near Periphery Kingdoms Map""
  26. Era Report: 3062, p. 30
  27. 27.0 27.1 Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 100: "Irons in the Fire"
  28. Handbook: House Marik, p. 56
  29. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 43
  30. Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, p. 64
  31. Field Report: Periphery, p. 20
  32. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 62
  33. Field Manual: 3085, p. vii: "Inner Sphere - [3085] Map"
  34. Era Report: 3145, p. 11
  35. Era Report: 3145, p. 39
  36. Field Manual: 3145, p. VI: "Inner Sphere - [3145] Map"
  37. 37.0 37.1 First Succession War, pp. 101–102: "The Taurian-Canopian War (2813-2814)"
  38. First Succession War, p. 102: "Herotitus"
  39. First Succession War, p. 102: "Detroit"
  40. 40.0 40.1 40.2 First Succession War, p. 102: "Spencer"
  41. First Succession War, p. 103: "Aftermath"
  42. Operational Turning Points: Fronc Reaches, p. 8: "Periphery Pirate Plague"
  43. Field Manual: 3085, p. 152: "Deployment Table - 3085"
  44. Field Manual: 3145, p. 203: "Fronc Reaches"
  45. BattleTech (video game)

Bibliography[edit]