Tortuga Prime

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Tortuga Prime

Note: X and Y are coordinates (light years on XY plane) relative to Terra at (0, 0)

Tortuga Prime
← 3135
3151
240px
Tortuga Prime nearby systems
(Map Legend)
System Information
X:Y Coordinates664.72 : -233.49[e]
Spectral classG2IV[1][2][3][4]
Recharge time183 hours[2][3][4]
Recharge station(s)None[1][2][3][4]

The Tortuga Prime system was home to at least one habitable world, Tortuga Prime III, and as at 3145 was the capital of the Tortuga Dominions.[5][6]

System Description

The Tortuga Prime system is located near the Fletcher's Feast and New Hati systems[5][6] and consists of a class G2IV primary orbited by at least three planets.[1][2][3]

System History

The Tortuga Prime system was settled by the remains 237th Light Cavalry Regiment in the closing stages of the Reunification War.[1][7]

Tortuga Prime III

Template:InfoBoxPlanetStandard Tortuga Prime III - more commonly referred to simply as Tortuga Prime - is a small world with a pleasant climate and five moons named Barbarossa, Kidd, Lafleur, Pandora and Wendigo. For most of its history Totuga Prime has been the capital of the bandit kingdom known as the Tortuga Dominions.[1]

Planetary History

Early History

Tortuga Prime was colonized by the remains of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns 237th Light Cavalry Regiment in the closing stages of the Reunification War, the 237th a regiment that took heavy damage in a wasteful military operation against the Taurian Concordat world of Sterope, leading to the survivors deserting the Federated Suns. The survivors headed into the Periphery and discovered a small, pleasant world with abundant mineral resources and vast savannas, well outside the boundaries of the Federated Suns. The survivors colonized the world, and within the space of a generation had embraced a new identity: the Pirates of Tortuga.[1] Despite the pleasant climate, Tortuga Prime was a harsh world; the surface water found on the planet was too alkaline for human consumption, and the colonists had to rely on a huge underground reservoir for fresh water - and even that water had to be subjected to significant treatment to make it potable.[8]

The Pirates of Tortuga began conducting pirate operations against the Federated Suns shortly after, raiding half a dozen different worlds and seizing machinery, equipment and supplies at gunpoint; their looted spoils were brought back to Tortuga Prime and used to expand the foothold the original survivors of the 237th had carved out. Over the course of the next century the settlement on Tortuga Prime became increasingly self-sufficient, reaching a point where the Pirates of Tortgua could begin launching colonization efforts on other nearby worlds, and by the early years of the twenty-eighth century the Tortugans had colonized five nearby systems, using the abundant resources - particularly radioactive materials - from these other worlds to found a new polity - the Tortuga Dominions.[1] The Pirates continued to be reliant on raids against better-maintained and better-supplied worlds for their survival, as those worlds were sources of components and devices that the local - and uneducated - population couldn't keep in operation.[8]

Succession Wars

For more than two hundred years, raiders from Tortuga launched raids against both the Federated Suns and Taurian Concordat - often deeply into the territory of each nation. The Pirates of Tortuga gained a reputation for ruthlessness and utter depravity, and as the Third Succession War drew to a close the pirates became increasingly cruel and desperate as the population of the Dominion began to exhaust the most easily-accessible resources on Tortuga Prime and the other worlds. Ruled over by the self-styled Dame Paula Trevaline, an infamous and ruthless bandit queen, the population of Tortuga Prime was centered around an infamous settlement known as Raider's Roost. The largest settlement on the planet, as well as the home berth for approximately sixty thousand pirates and brigands of various kinds. The vast majority of these tens of thousands of pirates were living in poverty, as the majority of the spoils captured during raids against other worlds went to Dame Trevaline and her most loyal followers. Dame Trevaline - more correctly, Dame Murderess Extraordinaire Paula Trevaline - was a Tortugan native herself, one who had begun killing at the age of eleven before fighting her way into the position of senior mate on Tortuga City's Council of the Damned; she then killed the ruler of Tortuga Prime - Lord Kalvin Bar-Dyness in a duel in 3015 to seize control of Tortuga Prime and the rest of the Dominions.[1]

Dame Trevaline was the first ruler of Tortua Prime to be considered broadly successful; she imposed a caste system on the population, a system notable for both it's unfairness and it's harsh nature. The caste system was supported predominantly by the practise of capturing people from other nations to press into slavery.[8][2] The Federated Commonwealth ultimately moved against Trevaline, deploying Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth units against the pirates, crushing many before capturing Trevaline in 3042.[7] Deprived of Trevaline's influence whilst she was incarcerated, her followers within the Dominions fell into infighting, before fracturing into a number of disorganised and independent pirate groups.[8][2]

Clan Invasion Era

In 3054 the mercenary unit Fuchida's Fusiliers arrived on Tortuga Prime, having deserted from their contract in the face of orders to deploy to battle against the invading Clans.[9][2] The Fusiliers spent the next year putting down any pirate groups who challenged them for dominance, returning stability to Tortuga Prime. With the Dominions effectively secure under their control, the Fusiliers then directed attacks with a particular focus: industrial and infrastructure targets. The Fusiliers used what was taken to build up a minor industrial base on Tortuga Prime,[8][2] and by the mid-3060s this had increased the standard of living within the Dominions significantly. The light industry thrived, helping the various worlds of the Dominion support each other, although the Fusiliers succumbed to some indulging in some of the more vile practises associated with piracy. The Fusiliers did leave the majority of the population alone, however - with the exception of extracting their yearly levies from them.[7]

The Fusiliers efforts to build up an industrial base on Tortuga Prime had another benefit - the formation of Vengeance Incorporated, capable of producing the Brigand, the first home-grown BattleMech to be produced by a pirate band. Vengeance Incorporated was barely more than a scattered mishmash of warehouses equipped with gantries and jib cranes as well as an assortment of machine shops, but it achieved three notable things: it lifted the status of Tortuga Prime, it generated trade with various small Periphery powers - including internally within the Dominions,[8] and with the Mica Majority in particular[2] - and it attracted the attention of the Word of Blake.[8][2]

The expansion in pirate raids from the Dominions - and from Tortuga Prime - took pirates including the Fusiliers as far afield as the Outworlds Alliance, whilst also continuing to attack both the Federated Suns and the Taurian Concordat. After Paula Trevaline escaped from imprisonment on New Syrtis and joined with the pirates in the Pirate's Haven star cluster, the Fusiliers stopped raiding the Concordat, effectively ceding operations in the area to Trevaline.[7]

The Jihad

One of the activities the Word of Blake was heavily engaged in was identifying remote locations for either gathering support for their cause or establishing hidden bases, and the Tortuga Dominions represented an opportunity.[8] The Blakists constructed a class B HPG on Tortuga Prime, linking the pirate world to the Inner Sphere for the first time; this provided something resembling legitimacy for the planet, and followed up on the HPG by building a sophisticated monorail system that linked the seven major cities on the planet together, currying favor with the population.[8][2] The Blakists also moved less overtly, supplying assistance to Vengeance Incorporated that allowed for the production of more advanced items.[8]

The Blakist's efforts - and the steady improvement in Tortuga Prime's standing - could easily have been derailed when Paula Trevaline returned in force to the Dominions. Trevaline struck at the Fusiliers, destroying them, and wiping out any vocal opposition she found on Tortuga Prime or the other Dominion worlds.[8] The inherent value of the various improvements that had been made on Tortuga Prime was recognised by Trevaline, however, and she chose to leave Tortuga Prime to run itself whilst she took her pirate band, the Death's Consorts, into the Malagrotta Cooperative to subvert control of that fledgling breakaway state for herself - provided that Tortuga Prime continued to supply Trevaline with her demanded tribute.[8][2] In the absence of Traveline, the Blakists assigned Precentor William Derer to Tortuga Prime, and he became the de facto ruler of the world.[8]

For the majority of the population of Tortuga Prime, Derer's rule was a largely hands-off regime, but he did institute a number of changes, great and small. The planetary militia were reorganized, adopting the base-six configuration common to Word of Blake formations. He insisted on the militia engaging in constant live-fire exercises that swiftly removed the weak and incompetent, whilst pouring funding into the manufacturing of combat vehicles by Vengeance Incorporated, increasing the size of the militia tenfold and swiftly turning them into a well-trained military force.[8] Derer had a particular combination of an affinity for organization and a willingness to accept distasteful means if a desired end was secured. Derer knew that the best way to ingratiate the Word of Blake with the local population was to maintain their way of life, and in addition to his focus on defense, he also improved the standard of living for slaves by putting into place rulings on proper treatment and support of slaves, although his attitude towards slavery shifted over time from overlooking the use of slaves to being largely desensitized to their fate on Tortuga Prime.[10] Tortuga Prime's mining industry became a major industry due to the relatively poor availability of resources on other worlds within the Dominions, which relied on importing industrial metals from Tortuga Prime.[2]

In October 3076 pirate bands from Tortuga Prime struck against several worlds within the Filtvelt Coalition simultaneously, targeting the Coalition's tiny industrial base. The raids were a great success for the pirates, capturing supplies and humiliating the Filtvelt Citizen's Militia, but a number of pirates were captured and revealed their homeworld under interrogation. The Coalition Council responded by ordering their only professional military unit, the Thumpers, to destroy the weapons industry on Tortuga Prime; furthermore, a contingent of the FCM was sent along with the Thumpers in an attempt to redeem their poor performance in defending against the October raids.[8]

The Thumpers' attack was a disaster. The Thumpers' Commanding Officer, Major Buck Tripp, had no clear idea of the dramatically improved defending forces available to Derer on Tortuga Prime, and his planned surprise strike went wrogn almost immediately. Tripp deployed his command company into Raider's Roost, while the Filtvelt DropShips continued on to a landing zone close to the outskirts of the city to offload the rest of the Thumpers and the FCM forces. Tripp's company quickly engaged the Strychnine Slavers, only to learn that the troops attempting to disembark from the grounded DropShips were under attack from massed units of Tortugan armor. Tripp led his company through Raider's Roost to rendezvous with the DropShips despite constant ambushes, only to receive word as he reached the outskirts of Raider's Roost that the Tortugans had used chemical weapons against the FCM infantry and armor with devastating effects, leaving few survivors - even the FCM's tanks provided no protection, as the poorly maintained vehicles allowed the gas to enter, killing the vast majority of the crews. While the BattleMechs used by the Thumpers were largely protected from the gas, they were effectively cut off from retreat when the DropShip crews closed their bay doors to protect themselves from the gas.[8]

Tripp was able to battle through to his beleaguered forces and inflict enough damage to force the Tortuga militia to retreat back itno Raider's Roost; determined not to fail, Tripp used footage obtained during the initial flyover of Raider's Roost to identify likely industrial sites and led the Thumpers in an assault intended to destroy those sites, only to find his troops falling victim to the brutal efficiency of the Tortugan militia and their ambushes. A few minor industrial sites took damage, but few of Tripp's forces managed to escape, and the entire force was left no choice but to retreat to Filtvelt space, the mission a lamentable failure[8] - although forces from the Thumpers Third Company had managed to level Trevaline Palace, residence of William Derer, and Paula Trevaline before him.[11] The Thumpers had lost half their numbers during the abortive attack, and losses amongst the First Filtvelt Citizen's Militia were even higher.[12]

After the failed assault in 3076 things returned largely to the previous status quo for Tortuga Prime, even after Death's Consorts were wiped out and the Federated Suns reabsorbed the Malagrotta Cooperative.[8] Both Derer and the leader of the Tortugan Phalanx, Naxamander Anabasis, were appalled with the use of chemical weapons, leading to Anabasis leading the Phalanx on a rampage through Raider's Roost, before relocating his command to another city on Torment.[13]

Derer remained in charge until the allied coalition turned the tide against the Word of Blake; at that point, Derer elected to flee from Tortuga Prime, simply because he was a known Blakist;[8] Derer had already been under observation by Blakist overseers for some time, as a consequence of his communications in the wake of the horrors being unleashed during the Jihad revealed a contrary philosophy to that of the main Blakist tenets.[10] It was these same overseers who had supplied the Tortugan militia with the chemical weapons used so effectively against the Filtvelt forces in 3076.[13]

With no easy means of expanding their industrial base or production facilities, maintaining the current standard of industry was as much as Tortuga Prime - and Vengeance Incorporated - could manage in the aftermath of Derer's reign.[3]

Political Affiliation

Planetary Rulers

3015

  • Lord Kalvin Bar-Dyness[1]

3025

  • Dame Paula Trevaline[1]

3076

  • Precentor William Derer[2]

Military Deployment

3076

- One level IV was assigned to Raider's Roost; the second Level IV operated as individual Level IIIs, with one assigned to each of the other six major cities on Torment.[34]

Geography

Tortuga Prime has a single major continent named Torment, which stretches from pole to pole across the surface of the planet. The surface of the planet is dominated by the Cook Sea, a single large ocean that covers forty percent of the surface of Tortuga Prime; dotted around the Cook Sea are various chains and clusters of small islands.[4][2] More than a thousand small islands of varying sizes exist in total, and all of them are uninhabited because of the high alkaline content of the surface water on Tortuga Prime.[2] Running up the center of Torment is a single long mountain range named Caparazón de Tortuga,[4] and the mountains are rich in both copper and coal.[2] The northernmost region of Torment contains an area referred to as "Raider's Redoubt", whilst an area in the southwestern region of Torment is referred to as "Llanuras de la Muerte".[4]

Planetary Locations

  • Acampamos: site of interest located between Dům Hrůzy and Montagne des Damnes, and connected to both cities via a monorail system from the Jihad onwards.[4]
  • Bonheur: most northerly of seven cities on Tortuga Prime; linked to the other six cities by a monorail system from the Jihad onward.[4]
  • Camp Coprolite: a site of interest located in the northwestern regions of Torment, close to the Bauxite Creek river.[4]
  • Coopervelt: site of interest located between Dům Hrůzy and Endoline, and connected to both cities via a monorail system from the Jihad onward.[4]
  • Dům Hrůzy: one of seven cities on Tortuga Prime; located on the eastern approaches of the Caparazón de Tortuga mountain range and linked to the other six cities by a monorail system from the Jihad onward.[4]
  • Dutchmans HM-49: site of interest - possibly a mining complex - on the western aspect of Torment, close to the Cook Sea and the Traitor's Blood River.[4]
  • Endoline: most southerly of seven cities on Tortuga Prime; linked to the other six cities by a monorail system from the Jihad onwards.[4]
  • Fletcher: site of interest in northern Torment, close to the northern end of the Caparazón de Tortuga mountain range.[4]
  • Fort Cook: a site of interest located on the eastern coast of Torment, southeast of Raider's Roost and southwest of Kidd's Strike.[4]
  • Kidd's Strike: a site of interest, located due east of Raider's Roost.[4]
  • Miccosukee: one of seven cities on Tortuga Prime; located on the western approaches of the Caparazón de Tortuga mountain range linked to the other six cities by a monorail system from the Jihad onward.[4]
  • Mine JL-47: major mining site; linked to the seven cities on Torment by monorail from the Jihad onward.[4]
  • Millar's Mistake: site of interest located on an island east of Fort Cook; the only identified site of interest on any of the minor islands on Tortuga Prime.[4]
  • Mine KE-129: major mining site; linked to the seven cities on Torment by monorail from the Jihad onward.[4]
  • Montagne des Damnes: one of seven cities on Tortuga Prime; located on the eastern approaches of the Caparazón de Tortuga mountain range linked to the other six cities by a monorail system from the Jihad onward.[4]
  • Raider's Roost: the planetary capital city; linked to the other six cities by a monorail system from the Jihad onward, and site of the planetary spaceport.[4] Notable districts or regions within Raider's Roost include Mason's Borough[35] and The Warrens.[36]
  • Varshoot: one of seven cities on Tortuga Prime; located on the western approaches of the Caparazón de Tortuga mountain range linked to the other six cities by a monorail system from the Jihad onward.[4]

Industrial Centers

Notes

  • Historical Turning Points: Tortuga gives the date Fuchida's Fusiliers arrival on Tortuga Prime as 3042, contradicting both The Periphery, Second Edition and Field Manual: Periphery. As Historical Turning Points: Tortuga is the more recent publication, this would normally be taken as canon, but given that the established reason from multiple canon sources for the Fusiliers breaking contract and fleeing into the Periphery is the Clan Invasion, and the Clan Invasion didn't commence until 3050, the detail in earlier sourcebooks has been used in this article.

Nearby Systems

Systems within 60 light-years (distance in light years)
Closest systems first:
New Hati 18.7 Fletcher's Feast 34.5 New Port Royal 35.9 New Gascony 22.7
Morgan's Holdfast 55.7

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 The Periphery (sourcebook), p. 154, "Tortuga Dominions"
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers, p. 239, "Planet Profile"
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Objectives: Periphery, p. 35, "Tortuga Prime"
  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 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 4.20 4.21 4.22 Historical Turning Points: Tortuga Prime, p. 3, "Tortuga Prime"
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Era Report: 3145, p. 39, "Inner Sphere - [3145] Map"
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Field Manual: 3145, p. VI, "Inner Sphere - [3145] Map"
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Field Manual: Periphery, p. 115, "Tortuga Dominions" Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "FM:Pp115" defined multiple times with different content
  8. ↑ 8.00 8.01 8.02 8.03 8.04 8.05 8.06 8.07 8.08 8.09 8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 8.14 8.15 8.16 8.17 8.18 Historical Turning Points: Tortuga Prime, p. 4, "Tortuga Prime"
  9. ↑ The Periphery, Second Edition, p. 85
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Historical Turning Points: Tortuga Prime, p. 7, "William Derer"
  11. ↑ Historical Turning Points: Tortuga Prime, p. 21, "Desperate Disobedience"
  12. ↑ Historical Turning Points: Tortuga Prime, p. 22, "Wasting Away Again On Tortuga Prime"
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Historical Turning Points: Tortuga Prime, p. 17, "The LZ Massacre"
  14. ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 159, "Inner Sphere - [2596] Map"
  15. ↑ Era Report: 2750, p. 37, "Inner Sphere - [2750] Map"
  16. ↑ Field Manual: SLDF, "Inner Sphere - [2764] Map"
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 11, "Inner Sphere - [2765] Map"
  18. ↑ First Succession War (Source Book), pp. 24-25, "Inner Sphere - [2786] Map"
  19. ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 2, p. 122-123, "Inner Sphere - [2822] Map"
  20. ↑ First Succession War (Source Book), pp. 112-113, "Inner Sphere - [2822] Map"
  21. ↑ The Periphery (sourcebook), p. 156, "Maps of the Periphery - [3025]"
  22. ↑ Era Report: 3052, p. 11, "Inner Sphere - [3050] Map"
  23. ↑ Era Report: 3052, p. 23, "Inner Sphere - [3052] Map"
  24. ↑ Era Report: 3062, p. 11, "Inner Sphere - [3057] Map"
  25. ↑ The Periphery, 2nd Edition, p. 112, "Taurian Concordat & Tortuga Dominions"
  26. ↑ Era Report: 3062, p. 29, "Inner Sphere - [3063] Map"
  27. ↑ Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 43, "Inner Sphere - [3067] Map"
  28. ↑ Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, p. 64, "Inner Sphere - [3075] Map"
  29. ↑ Field Report: Periphery, p. 22, "Filtvelt Coalition Region Deployment Map - [August 3079]"
  30. ↑ Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 63, "Inner Sphere - [3081] Map"
  31. ↑ Field Manual: 3085, p. vii, "Inner Sphere - [3085] Map"
  32. ↑ Map of the Inner Sphere 3130
  33. ↑ Era Report: 3145, p. 11, "Inner Sphere - [3135] Map"
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 Historical Turning Points: Tortuga Prime, p. 7, "Combatants"
  35. ↑ Historical Turning Points: Tortuga Prime, p. 13, "Raiders In The Roost"
  36. ↑ Historical Turning Points: Tortuga Prime, p. 15, "Phalanx For The Memories"
  37. ↑ Objectives: Periphery, p. 35, "Vengeance Incorporated"

Bibliography

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