Castle Brian

First constructed by the Terran Hegemony in 2391, each Castle Brian was a massive defensive fortress. They were built on numerous worlds during the Hegemony and Star League eras.

Overview

Since the first Castle was built on Telos IV the SLDF put huge effort behind the build up. Constructed as a thorn in the side of any invader these huge complexes was camouflaged. The landscape of entire regions was shifted to integrate the large underground complexes. The engineer corps were the masters of their kinds.

Description

Each Castle Brian had a minimum of 20 heavily armed turrets carrying an assortment of direct fire and missile weaponry, 50 smaller turrets and 100 smaller antipersonnel bunkers. These were usually the only visible structures of the fortress, which was usually built deep inside a mountain and safe from all but the heaviest nuclear or orbital bombardment. An average of ten levels allowed enough space to store two brigades, which could quickly emerge from any of five secret exits. The majority of the Castles Brian were built on the border worlds of the Hegemony, with many worlds having multiple facilities. While often mistakenly believed to have been built to prevent invasion or takeover of a planet, the static fortresses were not meant to protect anything other then themselves and the forces contained within. With the limited resources of Terran Hegemony, compared to the nations of the Great Houses, and the later Star League's sheer size preventing blanket defense coverage of most worlds, a Castle Brian was intended to be a hindrance against a blitzkrieg invasion, storing enough weapons, food and men to allow any defenders to hold out and harass the invaders hopefully until reinforcements could arrive.

The correct plural form is Castles Brian; the name stems from the first name of Brian Cameron.

Castles Brian on Terra

The following Castles Brian were on Terra at the start of Operation Odysseus.

The Devils Tower Castle Brian on Terra

North America

Hilton Head, South Carolina

Gunnison, Colorado

Tacoma, Washington

Port Altred, Quebec

South America

Manaus, Brazil (Amazonia Administrative District)

Curitiba, Brazil (Parana Administrative District)

Tinogasta, Argentina

Europe

Sandhurst, British Isles

Bochum, Germany

Sverdlovsk, Russia

Africa

Cairo, Egypt

Magadi, Kenya

Thabana, Lesotho, Azania

Asia

T'ienchen, China (Heibei Administrative District)

Takayama, Japan

Ipoh, Malaysia

Katmandu, Nepal

Columbo, Sri Lanka

Australasia

Glen Valley, Australia

White Cliffs, New Zealand

Kinds of Castles

The SLDF divided the defense structure in several classes as described below.

• Castles

  The earliest form of a fortified bases. The fortress was often build in mountain regions because they could easily defended and allowed the garrison to set ambushes.

• Castles Brian

  As strong-points of the chain of fortresses around the Hegemony, these large bases could hold up to 6 regiments. Every hostile neighbor would think twice before they invade a Hegemony world.

• Outpost Castles

  After the Reunification War the SLDF built many bases on hostile worlds. These bases were built around the concept of a normal Castle Brian but on a smaller scale.

• Port Castles

  This kind of base was a heavily fortified space port. Their only purpose was to allow friendly troops a save heaven in hostile environment. Only a few were build, because they were vulnerable to air strikes and invasion by air.

• Mini Castles

  As as a smaller variant these structures held fewer troops, often 3 battalions or below, and was designed to defend less important but still significant places

Parts of a Castle Brian

Reinforced Weapons Bunker (RWB)

These bunkers were constructed to hold key points like bridges against larger invasion formations at battalion level and above. The turrets in the front were supported by conventional artillery assets at the rear of the structure. Often this emplacement was so well built and heavily reinforced that only a space naval scale weapon could break the armor. Some variants replaced an artillery turret with naval lasers for capital-scale anti-orbital defense,

Reinforced Weapons Bunker (RWB)
Hex 1 10 Officers Quarters 30 Crew Quarters Field Kitchens 3 ER PPC-T 3 LB 10-X AC (300) 3 LRM 15+(720) 1 AC/20(100) 3 SRM 6+(450) 1 TAG 4 MG (600) 4 MPL 1 Flamer 4 AMS (120) 3 LB 2-X AC (675) 3 LRM 15+(120)
Hex 2 10 Officers Quarters 30 Crew Quarters Field Kitchens 3 ER PPC-T 3 LB 10-X AC (300) 3 LRM 15+(720) 1 AC/20(100) 3 SRM 6+(450) 1 TAG 4 MG (600) 4 MPL 1 Flamer 4 AMS (120) 3 LB 2-X AC (675) 3 LRM 15+(120)		Hex 4 10 Officers Quarters 60 Crew Quarters 2 Infantry Compartments 2 M.A.S.H/10 Operating Theatres Field Bases Communication Equipment 3 Long Toms - T(300) 3 Thumpers - T(300) 3 Arrow IV - T(90) 3 LRM 15+ (480) 2 ERLL 4 MPL 3 SRM 6+(450) 4 HMG (600) 1 Flamer 4 AMS (120)
Hex 3 40 Crew Quarters 1 10-ton capacity Level 2 Industrial Elevators
Hex 5 5 Officers Quarters 40 Crew Quarters Field Kitchens 3 ER PPC-T 3 LB 10-X AC (300) 3 LRM 15+(720) 1 AC/20(100) 3 SRM 6+(450) 1 TAG 4 MG (600) 4 MPL 1 Flamer 4 AMS (120) 3 LB 2-X AC (675) 3 LRM 15+(120)		Hex 7 1 60 ton capacity Industrial Elevator 2 Cruise Missile/120 (60) 2 ERLL 4 MPL 3 SRM 6+(450) 4 HMG (600) 1 Flamer 4 AMS (120)
Hex 6 10 Officers Quarters 60 Crew Quarters Communication Equipment 2 Infantry Compartments 2 M.A.S.H/10 Operating Theatres Field Bases 1 10-ton capacity Level 2 Industrial Elevators
Hex 8 10 Officers Quarters 30 Crew Quarters Field Kitchens 3 ER PPC-T 3 LB 10-X AC (300) 3 LRM 15+(720) 1 AC/20(100) 3 SRM 6+(450) 1 TAG 4 MG (600) 4 MPL 1 Flamer 4 AMS (120) 3 LB 2-X AC (675) 3 LRM 15+(120)		Hex 10 10 Officers Quarters 30 Crew Quarters Hex 10 Field Kitchens 3 Long Toms - T(300) 3 Thumpers - T(300) 3 Arrow IV - T(90) 3 LRM 15+ (480) 2 ERLL 4 MPL 3 SRM 6+(450) 4 HMG (600) 1 Flamer 4 AMS (120)
Hex 9 40 Crew Quarters 3 ER PPC-T 3 LB 10-X AC (300) 3 LRM 15+(720) 1 AC/20(100) 3 SRM 6+(450) 1 TAG 4 MG (600) 4 MPL 1 Flamer 4 AMS (120) 3 LB 2-X AC (675) 3 LRM 15+(120)

Anti-Aerospace Bunker

Below is the shematic of a common Anti-Aerospace Bunker of a Castle Brian complex

Anti-Aerospace Bunker
Hexes 1, 2, 3 (each) 4 Large Pulse Lasers 6 LB 10/X Autocannons (1000) 3 LRM 20+ Artemis (360) 2 Thumpers (600) 6 SRM 6+ Artemis (900) 1 TAG 6 Machine Guns (1200) 6 Medium Pulse Lasers 3 Flamers 6 Anti-Missile Systems (720) 15 officers' quarters and 40 crew quarters 1 paramedic equipment

Fortified Brian Wall

Hex 1: 4 Machine Guns, 4 Anti-Missile Systems,

Hex 2: 4 Machine Guns, 4 Anti-Missile Systems, 1 ten-ton-capacity industrial elevator (level 1)

Hex 3: 4 Machine Guns, 4 Anti-Missile Systems, 10 officers' quarters, 25 crew quarters (all double occupancy), 3 tons communications equipment, 1 Field Kitchen, 1 Guardian ECM Suite

Hex 4: 4 Machine Guns, 4 Anti-Missile Systems,

Hex 5: 4 Machine Guns, 4 Anti-Missile Systems,

Brian Caches

The term Brian Cache, describing a Clan equipment store (typically one established during the demobilization process Kerensky created upon arriving in the Pentagon Worlds), is derived from the Castle Brian fortresses.

Bibliography

• Jihad Hot Spots: Terra
• The Star League
• The Fall of Terra (scenariobook)