Asta

Asta
Asta 3151.svg
System Information
X:Y Coordinates4.129 : 25.543[e]
Spectral classK2VI[1]
Planet(s)7[1]

The Asta system is the location of at least one habitable world, Asta II, and as of 3151 was located in the Draconis Combine.[2]

System Description[edit]

Asta is located near the Altair and Imbros III systems[3][4] and consists of a class K2VI primary orbited by seven worlds, at least one of which is habitable.[1]

System History[edit]

The Asta system was settled during the First Exodus from Terra and remained a part of the Terran Alliance after the Demarcation Declaration was issued.[5]

Political Affiliation[edit]


Asta II[edit]

Asta II
Asta.jpg
Astrophysical
System positionSecond[1]
Jump Point distance5 days[1]
Moons2 (Arowhena, Eddelle)[1]
Geophysical
Surface gravity0.74[1]
Atmospheric pressureHigh (Breathable)[1]
Equatorial temperature32°C[1]
Surface water77%[1]
Highest native lifeBirds[1]
Landmasses2 (Balerdo, Moolai)[1]
History and Culture
Population1,619,000,000 (3130)[38][1]
Government and Infrastructure
Political LeaderPlanetary Governor
Military CommanderLegate Illyana Petchenko (3130)[1][38]
CapitalExcaliba (3077);[33]
Logan (3130)[1]

Asta II, more commonly referred to simply as Asta, is the second planet in the Asta system and is a temperate, agrarian world with two moons named Arowhena and Eddelle.[1]

Planetary History[edit]

Early History[edit]

Asta was one of the worlds that remained a part of the Terran Alliance following the Outer Reaches Rebellion and the Demarcation Declaration of 2242,[5] and became one of the worlds within the Alliance Core region of the Terran Hegemony.[10] Temperate and beautiful, Asta was a trading world for both the Draconis Combine and Free Worlds League and was famous for the crystalline rock formations found in the desert canyons dotted across the supercontinent of Balerdo.[1]

Star League Era[edit]

In January 2775, Stefan Amaris redeployed large numbers of Amaris Empire Armed Forces to a dozen worlds, including Asta. AEAF units had used weapons of mass destruction regularly against Star League Defense Force units throughout the Hegemony Campaign, predominantly to either damage the SLDF units targeted or to strike at civilian targets to prevent the SLDF from obtaining resources and supplies. In this case, Amaris' orders were different: he intended to create scorched wastelands that Commanding General Aleksandr Kerensky would have no choice but to try and clear, whilst saddling the SLDF with huge numbers of sick and starving civilians. The AEAF units deployed to Asta and the other eleven worlds due to be abandoned by Amaris launched large-scale WMD attacks with one purpose: to ravage the worlds, preventing them from sustaining either their human populations or their various industries... to create wastelands.[39]

Asta subsequently became known for the "Asta mistake." Whilst the list of worlds to abandon had been agreed as a result of strategy meetings between Amaris and his advisors in late 2774, and all twelve worlds were identified as having no strategic value or worthwhile defenses, shortly before the list was published Amaris flew into a rage at Asta being on it. Having already agreed to the list, Amaris was enraged because Asta lay within 30 light years of Terra; he personally shot the Colonel offered up as a sacrificial lamb by his advisors to take the blame for the decision, and ordered that Asta be removed from the list. Whilst the orders were changed to that effect, the routing data for the orders to be transmitted via wasn't altered, meaning that the senior officer on Asta, General Muulun, received a copy. Although his planet wasn't named, Muulun received the orders directly, and as Asta was clearly a world that fell within the criteria of lacking significance or defenses - and as disobeying the order or questioning it would have been considered treason - Muulun implemented the order. All of the AEAF facilities on Asta were destroyed, the ground was salted, and all AEAF units were withdrawn. When he heard the news, Amaris promptly recalled Muulun, and when presented by his strategists with twenty anonymous prisoners led by Muulun, all in shackles, Amaris executed Muulun, demoted General Norr - his senior strategist - added Norr's consort and youngest child to the column of prisoners and forced Muulun to execute all of them.[40]

The AEAF tactics on Asta were both brutal and brutally effective. Kerensky deployed twelve corps of SLDF personnel into Amaris Empire space, and each discovered the same horrific situations. Forced to deploy the SLDF reserve into action, by February Kerensky had almost a hundred SLDF divisions either on the twelve ravaged worlds or en route to them, trying to provide aid to the populations and to clear up what damage they could.[39] Asta fell within the operating area of Task Force Commonwealth, and the Thirteenth Army Group deployed LVI Corps to try and assist the population.[41] The devastation wreaked across Asta and the other worlds bought Amaris time; for several months Kerensky was unable to resume offensive operations because of a lack of resources, and ultimately the Commanding General had no choice but to call on the Capellan Confederation, Lyran Commonwealth and Federated Suns to provide relief where they could.[39]

Fourth Succession War[edit]

Following the successes achieved by the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces during Operation GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG, the major Lyran offensive launched in late 3028,[42] a lull settled over the front while the LCAF consolidated its gains, rested and resupplied its troops and fought with counterattacking Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery units. General Jack Sphire, Margrave of the Ryde Theater of the Commonwealth, was responsible for devising a plan to break the deadlock on offensive operations against the combine in the Ryde area of operations. Ryde's plan, dubbed Operation HOLDUR, was designed to seize further systems by deploying all available troops, up to and including planetary militia forces. HOLDUR was risky, but Sphire hoped that by launching quick and forceful attacks using the BattleMech regiments available to him, the DCMS would be left with too little time to make further counterattacks. Archon Katrina Steiner approved the plan and mobilized additional 'Mech regiments to support HOLDUR, deploying regiments that had previously been held in reserve. When assigning these additional forces, the Archon dictated that these forces had to be used at the Terran end of the Ryde area, so that they could respond to any attacks originating from the Free Worlds League. This led Sphire to adjust his plan somewhat, but on the 1st of June 3029 Operation HOLDUR began, with the better part of a hundred assorted regiments deploying from the Federation of Skye to attack eight Combine systems.[20]

The Twelfth Star Guards were tasked with capturing two planets during HOLDUR; Asta and Lambrecht. The Guards' Seventh Regiment landed on Asta and seized the planet quickly after destroying the few DCMS 'Mechs on the world, despite the threat of fortifications and minefields.[20]

War of 3039[edit]

Sometime after the War of 3039 but before 3050 Operation REVIVAL the Combine gained control of Asta. While definitive information is not known this was likely prior to September 3044 and the FedCom's Operation BALDUR that was launched in response to Combine's conquest of worlds along the Skye border.[43]

The Jihad[edit]

Prior to the Jihad, Asta was a primarily agricultural world with an economy based on exported textiles and food. Tourism was also a smaller part of the economy, with tourists and geologists arriving to examine the strange crystal rock formations in the desert canyons of the main continent, Balerdo. The Blakists attacked the world via orbital bombardment, destroying the small Draconis Combine military unit stationed there, and forcibly integrated it into the Word of Blake Protectorate[1] between the 19th and 21st of June 3068.[31] Having occupied Altair the Blakists then established several "reeducation" camps on the planet.[1]

It was from a prison camp on Asta that the noted military officer Andrew Redburn was liberated on the 18th of March 3077; Redburn had been presumed dead since the attack on Tukayyid at the beginning of the Jihad, but was rescued alive by allied coalition forces led by Clan Ghost Bear, and promptly joined the general staff of the coalition leader, Devlin Stone.[44] The forces from the Draconis Combine front of Operation SCOUR that liberated Asta were led by Tai-shu Isoroku Kurita, and began by securing what was left of the planetary capital, Excaliba, in the face of stiff resistance that finally broke with the arrival of the Second Genyosha. The main Combine force then rolled up the remaining Blakist presence on the Balerdo continent while the Ghost Bear forces cleared the Moolai continent. The Combine forces benefited from an uprising in a Blakist reeducation camp near the port city of Logan which had spread through other camps a week or so before the coalition forces arrived. The uprisings, led by Andrew Redburn, weakened and distracted the Blakist forces, something the coalition forces were able to take advantage of, shortening the campaign for Asta by at least a week if not more.[33]

During the Dark Age the Desert Ice Fields of the Balerdo Grande canyon became home to the planet's memorial to those killed on Asta during the Jihad. The damage to Excaliba inflicted during the Jihad was so severe that the city was effectively destroyed, and Logan became the new planetary capital.[1]

Military Deployment[edit]

2821[edit]

3050[edit]

3145[edit]

Geography[edit]

Asta has two major continents, a supercontinent named Balerdo located in the northwest and a smaller continent named Moolai located in the south. One of the most distinctive geological features on the planet are the Desert Ice Fields of Balerdo Grande.[1]

Planetary Locations[edit]

  • Charbyllis: largest city on Moolai and center of the planetary textile industry, located to the south and west of the agricultural plains on Moolai[1]
  • Excaliba: the planetary capital city prior to its destruction during the Jihad[1]
  • Logan: port and planetary capital city after the destruction of Excaliba; located on Logan[1]

Map Gallery[edit]

Nearby Systems[edit]

Closest 80 systems (78 within 60 light-years)
Distance in light years, closest systems first:
Imbros 10.6 Altair 12.7 Yorii 12.9 Dieron 13.4
Athenry 14.5 Dyev 15.3 Killbourn 15.5 Rocky 20.8
Pike 21.1 Styx 21.7 Rigil Kentarus 24.0 Chaville 25.2
Saffel 25.5 Sol 25.9 Fomalhaut 26.2 Lone Star 26.4
Caph 27.5 Tau Ceti 27.9 Ko 28.8 Lyons 30.2
Nirasaki 30.9 New Britain 30.9 Thorin 32.8 Atria 33.0
Muphrid 33.2 Lambrecht 33.4 Zollikofen 33.7 Sirius 34.1
Keid 35.7 Sabik 35.7 Kervil 36.3 New Stevens 36.5
Deneb Algedi 37.0 Procyon 37.7 New Home 38.4 Chara 38.4
Moore 38.5 Bryant 39.8 Northwind 41.3 Xi Ursae Majoris 41.5
Telos 42.5 Menkent 42.5 Lipton 42.5 Nusakan 42.8
Lockdale 42.8 Quentin 43.9 Zavijava 44.3 Nashira 44.3
Alkalurops 44.6 Kuzuu 45.2 Graham 45.3 Skondia 46.8
Nai-Stohl 46.9 Carver 47.2 Dromini 47.7 Epsilon Indi 48.1
Oliver 48.5 Summer 48.6 Epsilon Eridani 48.9 Haddings 49.5
Denebola 50.0 Ascella 51.7 Errai 53.2 Pollux 54.4
Kaus Media 54.7 Brownsville 55.4 Helen 55.5 Hechnar 55.7
Al Na'ir 56.3 Miyazaki 57.1 Devil's Rock 57.4 Small World 57.6
Kaus Australis 57.9 Galatea 58.5 Pokhara 58.9 Mizar 58.9
La Blon 59.4 Sheratan 59.7 Zebebelgenubi 60.5 Outreach 60.7

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 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 Dark Age: Republic Worlds (3130), p. 233: "Asta"
  2. 2.0 2.1 Shattered Fortress, p. 103: "Inner Sphere - 3151" (Map)
  3. 3.0 3.1 Era Report: 3145, p. 39: "Inner Sphere Map - [3145]"
  4. 4.0 4.1 Field Manual: 3145, p. VI: "Inner Sphere - 3145"
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Handbook: House Marik, p. 16: "Free Worlds League Founding [2271]"
  6. Handbook: House Kurita, p. 18: "Draconis Combine Founding - 2319"
  7. Handbook: House Steiner, p. 13: "Lyran Commonwealth Founding [2341]"
  8. Handbook: House Liao, p. 17: "Capellan Confederation Foundation [2366]"
  9. Handbook: House Marik, p. 24: "Free Worlds League after Age of War [2571]"
  10. 10.0 10.1 Historical: Reunification War, p. 159: "Inner Sphere - 2596"
  11. Era Report: 2750, p. 37: "Inner Sphere - 2750"
  12. Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 11: "Inner Sphere - 2765"
  13. Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 104: "Rim Worlds Republic - [2767] Map"
  14. 14.0 14.1 Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 138: "Operation LIBERATION Wave 1 [July 2772 - December 2774]"
  15. First Succession War, p. 25: "Inner Sphere - [2786] Map"
  16. Handbook: House Steiner, p. 36: "Lyran Commonwealth after First Succession War [2822] Map"
  17. First Succession War, p. 113: "Inner Sphere - [2822] Map"
  18. Handbook: House Steiner, p. 40: "Lyran Commonwealth after Second Succession War [2864] Map"
  19. Handbook: House Steiner, p. 47: "Lyran Commonwealth after Third Succession War [3025] Map"
  20. 20.0 20.1 20.2 NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 2, p. 73: "Ryde Theater"
  21. Handbook: House Steiner, p. 56: "Lyran Commonwealth after Fourth Succession War [3030] Map"
  22. Handbook: House Steiner, p. 59: "Lyran Commonwealth after War of 36039 [3040] Map"
  23. Historical: War of 3039, p. 133: "Inner Sphere - 3040"
  24. Era Report: 3052, p. 11: "Inner Sphere - 3050"
  25. Handbook: House Steiner, p. 61: "Lyran Commonwealth after Clan Invasion [3052] Map"
  26. Era Report: 3052, p. 11: "Inner Sphere - 3052"
  27. Era Report: 3062, p. 11: "Inner Sphere Map [3057]"
  28. Era Report: 3062, p. 29: "Inner Sphere Map [3063]"
  29. Handbook: House Steiner, p. 70: "Lyran Alliance after FedCom Civil War [3067] Map"
  30. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 41: "Inner Sphere Map - [October 3067]
  31. 31.0 31.1 Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 45: "The Jihad in Review"
  32. Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, p. 65: "Inner Sphere [3075]"
  33. 33.0 33.1 33.2 Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 32: "Official Update 2"
  34. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 62: "Inner Sphere Map - [March 3081]"
  35. Field Manual: 3085, p. vii: "Inner Sphere Map - [October 3085]"
  36. Era Report: 3145, p. 11: "Inner Sphere Map - [3135]"
  37. Shattered Fortress, p. 80: "The Silent Front"
  38. 38.0 38.1 Dark Age: Republic of the Sphere, p. 22: "Prefecture IX"
  39. 39.0 39.1 39.2 Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 2, p. 33: "Planets on Fire"
  40. Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 2, p. 28: "The Asta Mistake"
  41. Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 2, p. 40: "Task Force Commonwealth"
  42. NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 2, p. 60: "Draconis Front (January 3029)"
  43. Handbook: House Steiner, p. 61: "Lyran Commonwealth after Clan Invasion [3052] Map"
  44. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 57: "The Jihad in Review"
  45. First Succession War, p. 137: "First Succession War Deployment Table - DCMS"
  46. 20 Year Update, p. 40: "Draconis Combine Deployment Table"
  47. 20 Year Update, p. 71: "Com Guards Deployment Table"
  48. Field Manual: 3145, p. 145: "Republic Armed Forces - Stone's Brigade"

Bibliography[edit]