Difference between revisions of "ComStar (sourcebook)"

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{{InfoBoxBook
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{{InfoBoxProduct
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|image=ComStar (sourcebook).jpg
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| image               = ComStar (sourcebook).jpg
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|name=ComStar
+
| name               = ComStar
−
|publisher=[[FASA]]
+
| type                = Sourcebook
−
|year=1992
+
| author              = [[Blaine Pardoe]]
−
|production code=1655
+
| development        = [[Mike Nystul]],<br />[[Donna Ippolito]] (Senior Editor),<br />[[Sharon Turner Mulvihill]] (Assistant Editor),<br />[[Diane Piron]] (Editorial Assistant)
−
|ISBN=1-55560-103-0
+
| primarywriting      =  
−
|MSRP=15.00
+
| pages              = 112
−
|type=Sourcebook
+
| cover              = [[Tony Szczudlo]] (Cover art)<br />[[Dana Knutson]] (Back cover art)
−
|battletech year=3055
+
| interiorart        = [[Jeff Laubenstein]],<br />[[Scott Rosema]],<br />[[Nick Smith]],<br />[[Takehiko Itoh]],<br />[[Take Kasakura]]
−
|pov=[[ComStar]] Archive [[Adept]] [[Nonda Toolippi]], ''et al''
+
| illustrations       = [[Allen Nunis]],<br />[[Mike Jackson]],<br />[[Earl Geier]],<br />Dana Knutson<br />[[Rick Harris]]
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|primary writing=[[Blaine Pardoe]]
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| publisher          = [[FASA]]
−
|product development=[[Dana Knutson]]
+
| productioncode      = 1655
−
|illustrations=
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| year                = 1992
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*[[Earl Geier]]
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| ISBN10              = 1555601030
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*[[Rick Harris]]
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| ISBN13              = 978-1555601034
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*[[Takehiko Itoh]]
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| MSRP                = $15.00
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*[[Mike Jackson]]
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| content            =
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*[[Take Kasakura]]
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| era                = [[BattleTech eras|Succession Wars era]];<br />[[Clan Invasion era]]
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*[[Dana Knutson]]
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| agency              = [[ComStar]] (with [[Word of Blake]] annotations)
−
*[[Jeff Laubenstein]]
+
| universedate        = 26 May [[3055]]
−
*[[Allen Nunis]]
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| timeline            =
−
*[[Scott Rosema]]
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| series              =
−
|pages=112
+
| precededby          =
 +
| followedby          =  
 
}}
 
}}
  
 
==Description==
 
==Description==
−
This sourcebook provides the history of [[ComStar]] through [[3055]], some of the technologies it preserved (and how) and the reason for the schism that led to the creation of the [[Word of Blake]].
+
Purporting to be an internal [[ComStar]] document with [[Word of Blake]] comments later inserted in the text, this sourcebook provides the history of [[ComStar]] through [[3055]], some of the technologies it preserved (and how) and the reason for the schism that led to the creation of the [[Word of Blake]].
 +
 
 +
The military information from this book was updated in ''[[Field Manual: ComStar]]''.
 +
 
 +
==From the back cover==
 +
{{quote|''As the [[Star League]] was dying on the eve of the [[Succession Wars (History)|Succession Wars]], the [[Great Houses|House Lords]] agreed on one final action. At the suggestion of General [[Aleksandr Kerensky|Kerensky]] they appointed [[Jerome Blake]] as Minister of Communications and charged him with repairing the damaged [[Hyperpulse Generator|HPG network]]. This would prove a momentous decision.''
 +
 
 +
''Within a few short years after [[Operation Exodus|Kerensky's Exodus]], Blake and his followers had seized control of [[Terra]] and declared themselves neutral in the coming conflicts. The newly named [[ComStar]] evolved into a quasi-religious organization, with Blake as its divine founder, that positioned itself as the keeper of technology and the preserver of humanity's future.''
 +
 
 +
''For nearly 300 years, ComStar watched as the Succession Wars ripped apart the [[Inner Sphere]] and technology was lost, waiting for the day when they would step in to save humanity from a new dark age. But the 31st century changed all of that.''
 +
 
 +
''This sourcebook presents the history and inner workings of ComStar, including the devastating schism that struck the sect in the days following their victory over the [[Clans]] at [[Battle of Tukayyid (3052)|Tukayyid]].''}}
  
 
==Contents==
 
==Contents==
−
*Introduction
+
<div class="desktop-3-col">
−
*History
+
*The ComStar Order
−
**The Rise of Blake
+
** Introduction
−
**Birth of ComStar
+
 
−
**The Foundation Years
+
* History of ComStar
−
**A New Order
+
** The Rise of [[Jerome Blake|Blake]]
−
**The ComStar War
+
***Linking the Stars
−
**The Consolidation Years
+
***The [[Amaris Coup]]
−
**War Renewed
+
***Long Road to Terra
−
**Civil War
+
*** [[Operation LIBERATION|Liberation of Terra]]
−
**Age of Enlightenment
+
*** [[Hilton Head|Hilton Head Complex]]
−
**Calm Before the Storm
+
*** Collapse of the Star League
−
**The Tiepolo Years
+
*** Reconstruction
−
**The Waterly Era
+
** Birth of ComStar
−
*New Orders
+
*** Operation Exodus
−
**New ComStar
+
*** The First Circuit
−
***Organization
+
*** [[Operation Silver Shield]]
−
***Com Guards Deployment
+
** The Foundation Years
−
***Personalities
+
*** Prosperity and Principles
−
****[[Sharilar Mori]]
+
*** Expansion Years
−
****[[Anastasius Focht]]
+
*** [[Mercenary Review Board]]
−
****[[Victoria Parrdeau]]
+
*** Public Image
−
**Word of Blake
+
*** Creation of [[ROM]]
−
***Organization
+
** A New Order
−
***Personalities
+
*** Death of Blake
−
****[[William Blane]]
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*** A Brotherhood Divided
−
****[[Trent Arian]]
+
*** [[The Purification]]
−
****[[Demona Aziz]]
+
*** [[Word of Blake (book)|The Word of Blake]]
−
****[[Alexander Kernoff]]
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** The [[ComStar War]]
−
*New BattleMechs
+
*** Puppet of the Primus
−
**[[Nexus]]
+
*** Dance of Death
−
**[[Raijin]]
+
*** Dark Hours, Dark Deeds
−
**[[Grand Crusader]]
+
*** Marik Gives In
−
*Game Supplement
+
** The Consolidation Years
−
**ComStar Archetypes
+
*** [[Raymond Karpov|Karpov]] Ascendant
 +
*** ComStar Strikes
 +
*** The [[Veddar Affair]]
 +
** War Renewed
 +
*** Slow Change
 +
** [[ComStar Civil War|Civil War]]
 +
*** [[Dwight Kurstin|Kurstin the Mad]]
 +
** Age of Enlightenment
 +
** Calm Before the Storm
 +
*** [[Andrea Marteen|The Explorer Primus]]
 +
*** The [[Tripitz Affair]]
 +
*** The [[Jolly Roger Affair]]
 +
*** [[Wolf's Dragoons|The Mysterious Dragoons]]
 +
** The [[Julian Tiepolo|Tiepolo]] Years
 +
*** Old Business
 +
**** House of Cards
 +
**** [[New Avalon Institute of Science]]
 +
*** Circles Within Circles
 +
*** [[Fourth Succession War]]
 +
** The [[Myndo Waterly|Waterly]] Era
 +
*** Covert Operations
 +
**** [[Operation Rosebud|Rosebud]]
 +
**** [[Operation Flush|Flush]]
 +
*** Spread of the [[Com Guards]]
 +
*** [[War of 3039]]
 +
**** Aftermath
 +
*** [[Clan Invasion|The Clan War]]
 +
**** [[Year of Peace]]
 +
**** Conflict Renewed
 +
**** Counterattack
 +
**** Battle of Tukayyid
 +
**** [[Operation Scorpion]]
 +
 
 +
* New Orders
 +
** New ComStar
 +
*** Reformation
 +
*** United We Stand
 +
*** Organization
 +
**** Rank Structure
 +
**** The First Circuit
 +
**** Reformation-Era ROM
 +
**** Com Guards in the Reformation
 +
*** Com Guards—Deployment As of [[3055]]
 +
*** The Sol System
 +
*** Relations with the Inner Sphere
 +
*** ComStar Personalities
 +
**** Primus [[Sharilar Mori]]
 +
**** Precentor Martial [[Anastasius Focht]]
 +
**** Precentor ROM [[Victoria Parrdeau]]
 +
** Word of Blake
 +
*** The Renegades
 +
*** The Marik Alliance
 +
*** Monkey Warfare
 +
*** Organization
 +
*** Current Doctrine
 +
*** Politics
 +
*** Word Of Blake Personalities <!-- case sic -->
 +
**** Precentor [[William Blane|Blane of Gibson]]
 +
**** Precentor Martial [[Trent Arian]]
 +
**** Precentor [[Demona Aziz]]
 +
**** Precentor ROM [[Alexander Kernoff]]
 +
 
 +
* New BattleMechs
 +
** ComStar ''[[Nexus (Star Python)|Nexus]]''
 +
** ComStar ''[[Raijin (Fujin)|Raijin]]''
 +
** Word of Blake ''[[Grand Crusader]]''
  
 +
* Game Supplement
 +
** Comstar Archetypes <!-- case sic -->
 +
</div>
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
−
*The authors of the ComStar report are [[Adept]]s [[Nonda Toolippi]], [[Norash Murrilvellthiun]] and [[Adien M'Ripon]].
+
* The level of in-universe "accuracy" of ''ComStar'' varies as the book features frequent interjections from the Word of Blake supposedly to correct the "heretics' lies." For example, page 4's last paragraph has an italicized callout presented in a different voice, stating ComStar no longer represents Jerome Blake's vision, and that this version of the report will have corrections similarly interjected by the Word of Blake. The report's authors, [[Adept]]s [[Nonda Toolippi]], [[Norash Murrilvellthiun]], and [[Adien M'Ripon]], on the same page, warn readers to report any such tampering by the Word. Later real-world sources and timelines (both in- and out-of-character) confirm that ComStar's version of events, while likely omitting details, is closer to what actually happened than the Blakist version, but some events play out as the Word of Blake, not as secular ComStar, indicate:
 +
** The opening fiction of the ''[[Second Succession War]]'', ''[[Intentions]]'', reveals that Toyama's deathbed meeting with Blake and the reception from him of "the Word" actually occurs as the Blakists indicate, not as the secular ComStar states. Towards the end of "Intentions", Toyama even comments on the rise of myths and rumors around Blake's death and his ascension that line-up match up with the secular ComStar background, indicating that secular ComStar either intentionally used these rumors to demonize Toyama or that they perhaps did not know the real truth of the meeting.
 +
** Repeated Blakist interjections are made downplaying Toyama's actions and playing up Jeannette Marik's role in the manipulations that led to the ComStar War, that Charles sent her to steal ComStar intelligence and that mind control drugs weren't used. The ''Second Succession War'' and the ''[[Intelligence Operations Handbook]]'' relate the ComStar version, including the use of mind-control drug [[dilcostat]], as accurate.
 +
** One of the Blakist commentators interjects in the [["Black December" Incident]] that the evidence of Marteen and ROM's involvement in the bombing as false, where ''[[Intelligence Operations Handbook]]''<ref name=IOH>''Intelligence Operations Handbook'', pp. 104-105: "Witch Hunts"</ref> and ''[[Jihad Hot Spots: Terra]]''<ref name=JHST>''Jihad Hot Spots: Terra'', pp. 154–155: "Terra under ComStar"</ref> back up the secular version.
 +
** The Word of Blake interjections refute that the ComStar Civil War even occurred, insisting that it was peaceful transfer of power, where the ''Intelligence Operations Handbook'' relates violent event occurred after all.<ref name=IOH/>
 +
* The named authors of the ComStar report are [[Adept]]s [[Nonda Toolippi]], [[Norash Murrilvellthiun]] and [[Adien M'Ripon]], anagrams for [[Donna Ippolito]], [[Sharon Turner-Mulvihill]], and [[Diane Piron]].
 +
* [[Wolf's Dragoons]] had obtained this in-universe document, prior to the alterations made by Word of Blake, on 5 June 3055 a mere ten days after its publication.<ref>''Intelligence Operations Handbook'', p. 85: "Field Agent Report CS 34562A"</ref>
  
 +
==References==
 +
<references/>
 +
  
−
[[Category:Books]]
+
[[Category:Sourcebooks]]

Latest revision as of 20:54, 10 January 2024

ComStar (sourcebook).jpg
ComStar
Product information
Type Sourcebook
Author Blaine Pardoe
Development Mike Nystul,
Donna Ippolito (Senior Editor),
Sharon Turner Mulvihill (Assistant Editor),
Diane Piron (Editorial Assistant)
Pages 112
Cover Artwork Tony Szczudlo (Cover art)
Dana Knutson (Back cover art)
Interior Artwork Jeff Laubenstein,
Scott Rosema,
Nick Smith,
Takehiko Itoh,
Take Kasakura
Illustrations Allen Nunis,
Mike Jackson,
Earl Geier,
Dana Knutson
Rick Harris
Publication information
Publisher FASA
Product code 1655
First published 1992
ISBN-10 1555601030
ISBN-13 978-1555601034
MSRP $15.00
Content
Era Succession Wars era;
Clan Invasion era
Agency ComStar (with Word of Blake annotations)
Universe Date 26 May 3055

Description[edit]

Purporting to be an internal ComStar document with Word of Blake comments later inserted in the text, this sourcebook provides the history of ComStar through 3055, some of the technologies it preserved (and how) and the reason for the schism that led to the creation of the Word of Blake.

The military information from this book was updated in Field Manual: ComStar.

From the back cover[edit]

“ As the Star League was dying on the eve of the Succession Wars, the House Lords agreed on one final action. At the suggestion of General Kerensky they appointed Jerome Blake as Minister of Communications and charged him with repairing the damaged HPG network. This would prove a momentous decision.

Within a few short years after Kerensky's Exodus, Blake and his followers had seized control of Terra and declared themselves neutral in the coming conflicts. The newly named ComStar evolved into a quasi-religious organization, with Blake as its divine founder, that positioned itself as the keeper of technology and the preserver of humanity's future.

For nearly 300 years, ComStar watched as the Succession Wars ripped apart the Inner Sphere and technology was lost, waiting for the day when they would step in to save humanity from a new dark age. But the 31st century changed all of that.

This sourcebook presents the history and inner workings of ComStar, including the devastating schism that struck the sect in the days following their victory over the Clans at Tukayyid.

”

Contents[edit]

  • The ComStar Order
    • Introduction
  • New Orders
    • New ComStar
      • Reformation
      • United We Stand
      • Organization
        • Rank Structure
        • The First Circuit
        • Reformation-Era ROM
        • Com Guards in the Reformation
      • Com Guards—Deployment As of 3055
      • The Sol System
      • Relations with the Inner Sphere
      • ComStar Personalities
    • Word of Blake
  • Game Supplement
    • Comstar Archetypes

Notes[edit]

  • The level of in-universe "accuracy" of ComStar varies as the book features frequent interjections from the Word of Blake supposedly to correct the "heretics' lies." For example, page 4's last paragraph has an italicized callout presented in a different voice, stating ComStar no longer represents Jerome Blake's vision, and that this version of the report will have corrections similarly interjected by the Word of Blake. The report's authors, Adepts Nonda Toolippi, Norash Murrilvellthiun, and Adien M'Ripon, on the same page, warn readers to report any such tampering by the Word. Later real-world sources and timelines (both in- and out-of-character) confirm that ComStar's version of events, while likely omitting details, is closer to what actually happened than the Blakist version, but some events play out as the Word of Blake, not as secular ComStar, indicate:
    • The opening fiction of the Second Succession War, Intentions, reveals that Toyama's deathbed meeting with Blake and the reception from him of "the Word" actually occurs as the Blakists indicate, not as the secular ComStar states. Towards the end of "Intentions", Toyama even comments on the rise of myths and rumors around Blake's death and his ascension that line-up match up with the secular ComStar background, indicating that secular ComStar either intentionally used these rumors to demonize Toyama or that they perhaps did not know the real truth of the meeting.
    • Repeated Blakist interjections are made downplaying Toyama's actions and playing up Jeannette Marik's role in the manipulations that led to the ComStar War, that Charles sent her to steal ComStar intelligence and that mind control drugs weren't used. The Second Succession War and the Intelligence Operations Handbook relate the ComStar version, including the use of mind-control drug dilcostat, as accurate.
    • One of the Blakist commentators interjects in the "Black December" Incident that the evidence of Marteen and ROM's involvement in the bombing as false, where Intelligence Operations Handbook[1] and Jihad Hot Spots: Terra[2] back up the secular version.
    • The Word of Blake interjections refute that the ComStar Civil War even occurred, insisting that it was peaceful transfer of power, where the Intelligence Operations Handbook relates violent event occurred after all.[1]
  • The named authors of the ComStar report are Adepts Nonda Toolippi, Norash Murrilvellthiun and Adien M'Ripon, anagrams for Donna Ippolito, Sharon Turner-Mulvihill, and Diane Piron.
  • Wolf's Dragoons had obtained this in-universe document, prior to the alterations made by Word of Blake, on 5 June 3055 a mere ten days after its publication.[3]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Intelligence Operations Handbook, pp. 104-105: "Witch Hunts"
  2. ↑ Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, pp. 154–155: "Terra under ComStar"
  3. ↑ Intelligence Operations Handbook, p. 85: "Field Agent Report CS 34562A"

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