Vinton

Vinton
Vinton 3151.svg
System Information
X:Y Coordinates7.675 : 1912.177[e]
Spectral classG8VI[1]
Recharge time188 hours[1]
Planet(s)7[1]

The Vinton system is the location of a habitable world, Vinton III, and as of 3085 was located in the Deep Periphery region known as the Kerensky Cluster[2] of the Clan Homeworlds.

System Description[edit]

Vinton is located near the Barcella and Strato Domingo systems. In relation to the capital of the Clan Homeworlds, Strana Mechty, Arcadia is located at the coordinates -34:134.[3] The Vinton system consists of a G8VI primary star orbited by seven worlds.[1] The Vinton system was also home to a naval cache housing three WarShips belonging to Clan Diamond Shark.[4]

System History[edit]

The Vinton system was colonized before 2821. In 3011 a comet passed close enough to the Diamond Shark naval cache in the system to damage two of the WarShips in the cache significantly enough to prevent them being restored to active service from mothballs. The only WarShip to survive the passing of the comet was a Samarkand-class carrier that the Diamond Sharks restored to active service during the Wars of Reaving as the CDS Deal Breaker.[4][5]

Political Affiliation[edit]

  • 3048 - Clan Diamond Shark / Clan Smoke Jaguar[6]
  • 3052 - Clan Diamond Shark - 50%, Clan Smoke Jaguar - 50%[7]
  • 3060 - Clan Diamond Shark / Clan Smoke Jaguar (until the Great Refusal)[8]
  • 3067 - Clan Diamond Shark (100%)[9]
  • 3075 - No record[10]
  • 3085 - No record[11]

Vinton III[edit]

Vinton III
Astrophysical
System positionThird[1]
Jump Point distance6.19 days[1]
Moons3[1]
Geophysical
Surface gravity1.1[1]
Atmospheric pressureStandard (Breathable)[1]
Equatorial temperature30°C[1]
Surface water60%[1]
LandmassesAt least 1 (Askalon)[12]

Vinton III, more commonly known simply as Vinton, is the third planet in the Vinton system.[1] Vinton is one of only two planets among the Clan Homeworlds that is completely self-sufficient.[13]

Planetary History[edit]

In mid-3048, Vinton was invaded by Clan Diamond Shark as a punitive measure against Clan Smoke Jaguar. Then ilKhan Leo Showers had become incensed by the profits being made by a Diamond Shark merchant caste trading fleet in the Clan Occupation Zones within the Inner Sphere, trading with garrison forces from the various Clans - including Showers' own Clan Smoke Jaguar - and with being politically humiliated by saKhan Barbara Sennet. Showers responded by ordering one of the Smoke Jaguar Provisional Garrison Clusters in the Homeworlds to launch a Trial of Possession for Delios, a Diamond Shark holding. This Trial was easily defeated by the Diamond Shark defending forces - Alpha Galaxy - who went on to attack Vinton, a Smoke Jaguar world, capturing and holding a number of key industrial sites and disrupting Smoke Jaguar efforts to supply their forces in the Inner Sphere until Alpha Galaxy was eventually forced offworld.[6]

Vinton was jointly owned by Clan Diamond Shark and Clan Smoke Jaguar until the Inner Sphere's Trial of Refusal on Strana Mechty, and the destruction of Clan Smoke Jaguar. The planet had always been a source of friction between the two Clans and in early 3060 the Sharks were preparing for a Trial of Possession. The attack on Huntress proved the perfect opportunity for the Sharks who took control of the world exclusively within two weeks of the Great Refusal.[14]

In 3063 Vinton was the subject of a Dark Caste attack that may have been the first sighting of the noted Bandit leader known as The Jaguar; the Bandit strike was particularly bold, killing more than a Binary of Diamond Shark warriors and seizing two recently acquired and pristine Warhawk OmniMechs the Diamond Sharks had recently acquired from Clan Wolf as well as tons of supplies and parts. The Bandits chose to leave a single warrior alive after the attack to bring the news to the rest of Clan space of the threat ready to prey on the fringes of Clan society; all of the other downed warriors were dragged from their cockpits and executed by the raiders.[15]

As of 3066, Vinton was assessed by Inner Sphere observers as being the only world in the Clan Homeworlds other than York to be completely self-sustainable.[16]

Wars of Reaving[edit]

In 3071, Vinton was raided by a substantial Bandit Caste force led by the former Clan Burrock warrior Commodus Van Houten. Having escaped from imprisonment aboard the former Star League Defense Force Texas-class battleship Prinz Eugen in 3056 - the Prinz Eugen being a floating prison ship in the Strana Mechty system at the time - Commodus Van Houten built a band of like-minded pirates and outcasts and raided numerous Clan worlds over the following two decades; Vinton was one of four worlds to be struck by Van Houten in 3071 following the eruption of mass chaos in the Clan Homeworlds.[17]

In January 3072, Vinton was struck again by Bandit Caste raiders; this time, it was one of many worlds to be attacked as a part of the mass Society uprising against the Clan warrior caste, and as with the attacks on the worlds of Arcadia, Grant's Station, Hoard, New Kent and Tokasha, the Bandit Caste raid succeeded in destroying key substations on the planet, depriving part of the system of communications and sowing short-term chaos within the region.[18] Making matters worse, Vinton then suffered an HPG failure along with the worlds of Brim, Dagda, Roche and Strato Domingo, severing Vinton from the communications grid.[19]

By 3072, Clan Diamond Shark had been evacuating its holdings in the Clan Homeworlds as a result of the Trials of Reaving ordered by ilKhan Brett Andrews; one of the last convoys of Diamond Shark ships to leave Vinton consisted of between sixty and seventy-one JumpShips plus their assorted DropShips and escorted by the Carrack-class transport CDS Star Swimmer and the Volga-class transport CDS Bold Venture. The convoy from Vinton had made it as far as the Salonika outpost in the Deep Periphery when the refugees found themselves under attack from Clan Burrock forces, initially consisting of a small squadron of JumpShips led by the Riga-class frigate CBS Hetherington and then, two weeks later, a second flotilla led by the Hetherington, the Kimagure-class pursuit cruiser CBS Admiral Russell Nga and the Mako-class corvette CBS Stone Crab. By the end of the battle both Diamond Shark WarShips had been destroyed and all bar thirteen of the JumpShips were captured and moved to the Tanis system as isorla.[20]

In January 3073, forces from Clan Coyote allied with the Society launched an invasion of the system. The system defenses consisted of an SDS network and the Samarkand-class CDS Deal Breaker. The Coyote forces were escorted by at least four WarShips, the Cameron-class battlecruiser CCS Blood of the Coyote, the Lola III-class destroyers CCS Courage and CCS Honor of Ages, the Essex-class destroyer CCS Windrunner and the York-class destroyer CCS Broken Sea. The Deal Breaker gutted the Honor of Ages and the Diamond Shark SDS managed to disable or destroy the Broken Sea and the Courage, but the Deal Breaker couldn't stand up to the Blood of the Coyote and was destroyed, while a network virus transmitted to Vinton disabled the SDS network.[4]

Vinton was the last Diamond Shark stronghold in the Homeworlds; the last elements of the Diamond Shark touman to be found in the Homeworlds were at Vinton and nominally consisted of the Eleventh Strike Cluster. However, prior to the departure of the last convoy from Vinton, the Diamond Shark Loremaster, Semi Kalasa, authorized the buildup and equipping of additional defending forces on Vinton by allowing those trueborns who had tested out of the warrior caste the opportunity to retest, and opened the last two warehouse complexes belonging to the merchant caste on the planet to equip those who passed. To retest successfully, an applicant had to defeat a member of the Eleventh in a wrestling match; given the substantial trueborn population on Vinton - which had a population of some seven million people of various castes - more than ten Clusters of new forces had been mustered, more than the merchant caste stocks on the planet could equip. The merchant caste responded to the need to equip the newly formed Vinton Defense Clusters by increasing the production of Grendel, Mad Cat II and Piranha BattleMechs from the factories on Vinton, and overall command of the defending forces fell to Galaxy Commander Trevor Rodriguez.[4]

The Clan Coyote forces were commanded by saKhan Raven Clearwater and consisted of the Coyote Delta. Epsilon and Rho Galaxies, accompanied by upwards of three Clusters of Society military forces. The initial Clan Coyote landings secured beachheads on Aquatine Island and near an empty former Star League Defense Force cache designated SLB-28. Galaxy Commander Rodriguez responded immediately by dispatching the First and Fourth Vinton Defense Clusters from their base on Ophilia Island to attack the beachhead at Aquatine Island, which was located close to Ophilia Island. The First and Fourth VDCs made the journey between the two islands underwater and engaged the Coyote forces, taking them by surprise and allowing the Attack Squadron from the Fifteenth Strike Cluster to strafe the Coyote DropShips.[4]

In response to the attack on Aquatine Island, the Coyotes subjected Ophilia Island to orbital bombardment from the Blood of the Coyote, destroying the island and slaughtering the five hundred thousand civilians living on the island. The First and Fourth VDCs were taken completely by surprise by the Coyote's actions and the lack of warning, and lost all unit cohesion; the various warriors of the First and Fourth VDCs were swept up in a vengeful battlefield lust and continued to press the Coyote forces, launching fearless attacks that saw both VDCs destroyed piecemeal, selling themselves dearly in the process. Among the losses taken by the Coyotes at the hands of the outraged Diamond Shark defenders was the Ninety-fifth Strike Cluster, which was destroyed.[4]

While the battles raged on Aquatine Island, the Coyote forces at SLB-28 entrenched themselves firmly, spreading their forces out while saKhan Clearwater and the task force command staff landed. The Coyotes were able to expand quickly, capturing the refineries nearby and then Venice, a larger Diamond Shark settlement. Under Clearwater's command the Coyotes pressed on for the next week, capturing and securing almost three-quarters of the Askalon continent along with the Mad Cat II factory located at Pearl City despite several attacks by various VDCs.[4]

In the face of continuing Coyote expansion and ineffectual VDC attacks, Rodriguez launched a desperate gambit; personally leading a Trinary of forces through a network of large lava caves that allowed them to move through the heart of the Mako Mountain range, Rodriguez managed to infiltrate his forces through the tunnels and close to SLB-28, where they lay in wait until the 31st of January. On the morning of the 31st a Diamond Shark offensive was launched at Pearl City that saw four VDC BattleMech Clusters and an infantry Cluster dropped from fast-moving DropShips into Pearl City itself. The Diamond Shark forces quickly savaged the Fifty-eighth Battle Cluster and destroyed a major tank farm, prompting the Coyotes to dispatch the bulk of Epsilon Galaxy to Pearl City.[4]

As Epsilon moved to engage the Diamond Shark forces at Pearl City, Rodriguez's Trinary blew through the back wall of SLB-28 and launched a devastating surprise attack on the Coyote forces inside the former cache, destroying most of the command and control assets within the Coyote headquarters; all of the Trinary fell in battle, but not before inflicting heavy damage on the headquarters and devastating the Forty-ninth Battle Cluster.[4]

While the battles raged within SLB-28 and Pearl City a Diamond Shark force consisting of fourteen DropShips -including two Inner Sphere pattern Excalibur-class DropShips - and a number of small craft launched themselves from the Diamond Shark polar base and launched a stunning assault on the Blood of the Coyote in orbit. The surprise attack inflicted heavy damage on the Cameron-class battlecruiser; while most of the Diamond Shark strike force was destroyed by the Blood of the Coyote or the Windrunner, which intervened to rescue the larger Coyote WarShip, the Blood of the Coyote was forced to withdraw from Vinton.[4]

The success of these three strikes boosted the morale of the defending Diamond Shark forces and encouraged them to make further attacks; throughout February 3073 the Diamond Sharks pushed back against the Coyotes, but couldn't win the battle of attrition. The Coyote campaign pressed forward, and by mid-March all of the major cities on Vinton were under Coyote control; the last Diamond Shark bastion was a deep-water dome located beneath the Razor Sea named Verne, where the surviving elements of the Second Vinton Defense Cluster and a Trinary of Undine-equipped Elementals held out.[4]

The Coyotes chose to ignore Verne, and instead proceeded to strip Vinton of resources. Clearwater left Vinton at the end of March, accompanied by the Blood of the Coyote and Epsilon and Rho Galaxies, while resources and materials were being systematically being stripped off the planet. Delta Galaxy remained in place on Vinton until July, overseeing both the removal of resources and the testing of the civilian population; those civilians considered useful were deported offworld, those who resisted were killed, and those deemed worthless were left behind. Delta Galaxy lifted off from Vinton in July, after which the Windrunner bombarded a number of cities across the planet from orbit, initiating mass fires that swiftly spread across the dry surface of the planet, leaving Vinton burning in her wake.[4]

The next visitors to Vinton were from Clan Blood Spirit. The Blood Spirits had made a number of gains in 3073 from other Clans suffering badly from the chaos in the Homeworlds, securing holdings on Albion and Niles as well as gaining new military forces from the surviving elements of Clan Hell's Horses and Clan Fire Mandrill forces on Niles in the process, which were incorporated into the Blood Spirit Zeta Galaxy after the Blood Spirits successfully defeated various Coyote Clusters. Khan Troy Boques dispatched Zeta to Vinton, to see if the Coyote invasion had left anything valuable or useful in the system; when Zeta arrived in October, the Blood Spirits discovered that Vinton had largely been abandoned, but managed to make contact with Verne. The defending forces at Verne - a single Nova of troops - were still alive, and the Blood Spirits quickly provided assistance and emergency aid to the survivors, while becoming aware of the mass devastation inflicted on the other Diamond Shark holdings. The Blood Spirits then transported the surviving civilian and VDC warriors to Albion, including a Diamond Shark Merchant Factor named Lorenzo.[21]

Over the course of the following months the Diamond Shark survivors from Vinton were transported to the Colleen system, where the VDC warriors were demobilized and reintegrated into the civilian castes, before being transported on to Albion. Through successful Trialing Lorenzo ultimately obtained control of a Scout-class JumpShip, the CBS Troy, along with a single Condor-class DropShip, and led the Diamond Shark survivors on an extended adventure through the Deep Periphery and on to the Chainelane Isles.[22]

Ignoring the devastation inflicted on the Diamond Sharks on Vinton - and their subsequent abandonment by the other Clans - the other Clans voted in support of a proposal by ilKhan Andrews in February 3075 to declare Clan Diamond Shark, Clan Ghost Bear, Clan Jade Falcon and Clan Snow Raven to be Abjured Clans for their failure to assist in the defeat of the Society.[23]

The Dark Caste subsequently established a holding on Vinton, which was discovered by the Clan Star Adder Watch in 3078. Star Colonel Tamur Gena led an overeager assault on the site and destroyed it without capturing a single bandit alive, leaving the Star Adders with little information from the remains of the camp other than that some of the Dark Caste equipment was of Smoke Jaguar origin. Loremaster Fletcher Daniels and Merchant Factor Ulysses created a special Watch group tasked with following up this information, which subsequently led to the Star Adders chasing down a notable Dark Caste presence on Huntress.[24]

Military Deployment[edit]

3061[edit]

None[25][26]

3067[edit]

None[27]

Geography[edit]

Vinton is covered by large oceans and dry continents. The surface would be devastated by large wild fires set by Clan Coyote after selecting one a fraction of the lower castes for repatriation.[12]

Planetary Locations[edit]

  • Aquatine Island[12]
  • Askalon (continent)[12]
  • Mako Mountain Range: a long, ancient mountain range pock-marked with lava caves, found on Askalon[12]
  • Ophilia Island[12]
  • Razor Sea: a large ocean[12]
  • Verne: a large underwater dome in the Razor Sea[12]
  • SLB-28: a large Brian Cache in the vicinity of the Mako Mountain Range and Pearl City[12]
  • Pearl City: a large urban center near SLB-28 and the Mako Mountain Range[12]
  • Venice: a large city near SLB-28[12]

Industrial Centers[edit]

  • Unnamed manufacturing complexes capable of producing Mad Cat Mk II (somewhere on Askalon Continent) and Piranha BattleMechs, and Grendel OmniMechs. Additionally, Vinton has an unnamed battle armor manufacturing facility.[28]

Map Gallery[edit]

Nearby Systems[edit]

Closest 20 systems (4 within 60 light-years)
Distance in light years, closest systems first:
Strato Domingo 31.7 Barcella 35.1 Hoard 45.4 Tamaron 56.0
Londerholm 63.6 Roche 73.5 Hellgate 76.2 Kirin 81.1
Paxon 85.0 Tiber 89.2 Priori 104.3 Grant's Station 107.0
Delios 110.0 Glory 119.4 Tathis 127.0 Marshall 130.9
York 131.2 Albion 133.2 Gatekeeper 136.2 Zara 142.3

References[edit]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 The Wars of Reaving, p. 237: "Vinton Planetary Data"
  2. Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 133: Map
  3. The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky, p. 112: Clan-Space Worlds Table
  4. 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 The Wars of Reaving, p. 130: "Vengeance on Vinton"
  5. Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 133: "Pentagon and Kerensky Cluster (2821)"
  6. 6.0 6.1 Invading Clans, pp. 138–139: "Second Wave: Profit and Peril"
  7. Clan Homeworlds 3052 Poster (Kickstarter)
  8. The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky, p. 77
  9. 'The Wars of Reaving, p. 228: "Political Balance Table, 3067"
  10. The Wars of Reaving, p. 248: "Political Balance Table, 3075"
  11. The Wars of Reaving, p. 249: "Political Balance Table, 3085"
  12. 12.00 12.01 12.02 12.03 12.04 12.05 12.06 12.07 12.08 12.09 12.10 The Wars of Reaving, pp. 130–131
  13. The Wars of Reaving, p. 26: "Life on the Knife Edge"
  14. The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky, p. 77
  15. The Wars of Reaving, p. 192: "'The Jaguar' (Russou Howell)"
  16. The Wars of Reaving, p. 26: "Life on the Knife Edge"
  17. The Wars of Reaving, p. 61: "Bandit Caste: Commodus Van Houten"
  18. The Wars of Reaving, p. 94: "Death Rides Forth"
  19. The Wars of Reaving, p. 95: "Sandbagging the Breach"
  20. The Wars of Reaving, p. 102: "Bearding the Shark"
  21. The Wars of Reaving, pp. 133–134: "Rise of the Blood Spirit"
  22. The Wars of Reaving, p. 134: "Lorenzo's Run"
  23. The Wars of Reaving, p. 146: "Reconvening the Council"
  24. The Wars of Reaving, p. 166: "Clan Star Adder"
  25. Field Manual: Crusader Clans, pp. 148-158
  26. Field Manual: Warden Clans, pp. 161-166
  27. Field Manual: Updates, pp. 70-80
  28. The Wars of Reaving, p. 130

Bibliography[edit]