Helm

Helm
← 3135
3151
Helm 3151.svg
Helm nearby systems
(Map Legend)
System Information
X:Y Coordinates-133.614 : -58.208[e]
Spectral classK4IV[1][2][3]
Recharge time195 hours[1][4][3]
Recharge station(s)None[1][3]

The Helm system was home to at least one habitable world, Helm IV, and as of June 3152 was located in the Clan Protectorate within the Free Worlds League.[5]

System Description[edit]

Helm is located near the Tania Australis and Kolobrzeg systems.

Political Affiliation[edit]

Helm IV[edit]

Helm IV
Helm Flag.png
Astrophysical
System positionFourth[1][3]
Jump Point distance4.31 days[1][3]
MoonsNone[1][3]
Geophysical
Surface gravity0.95[1][3]
Atmospheric pressureStandard (Breathable)[1][3]
Equatorial temperature30°C (Cold-Temperate)[1][3]
Surface water58%[1][3]
Highest native lifeReptile[1][3]
History and Culture
Population15,000,000 (3028),[3]
22,000,000 (3067)[1]
Government and Infrastructure
Political LeaderPlanetary Governor
CapitalHelmsdown[1]
HPG ClassB[1][3]

Planetary History[edit]

Early History[edit]

Helm was discovered and colonized during the late twenty-second century by explorers operating from New Hope and Tania Borealis.[6]

One of five worlds to be a part of the Stewart Confederation in 2271,[7] Helm was suffering alongside the other worlds following the withdrawal of Terran authority, and by 2288 the Stewart Confederation was barely able to organize itself to order basic replacement parts for factories. The rise to power of David Genovese in 2288 marked a significant improvement in productivity across the Confederation, with his five-year rule as dictator making the state work more efficiently.[37] Genovese was overthrown when forces from the Free Worlds League led by Juliano Marik invaded in 2293, following Genovese's rebuffing offers to join the League.[8] Helm and the other worlds of the Stewart Confederation were inducted into the League Parliament in 2295 when the Parliament declared the former Confederation to be a Province of the Free Worlds League.[38]

Star League[edit]

In 2532, littoral pirates infesting the Yehuda Sea shorelines around Durandel were finally routed by a blue water squadron flagged by the Acero, a Mauna Kea Command Vessel. Though successful, the pirates managed to sink the Acero in the final engagement.[39]

In 2743, the Star League Defense Force Forty-second Engineering Brigade began construction on the Nagayan Mountain Castle Brian which would become one of the largest munitions dumps ever funded by the SLDF, boasting not only conventional weapons but also one of the Star League's biggest single-site concentrations of tactical nuclear weapons. The stockpile was eventually joined by "Star League Field Library Facility, Helm, DE890-2699."[40][41]

First Succession War[edit]

At the dawn of the First Succession War, Minoru Kurita sent troops to raid Helm and commandeer the SLDF stockpile. Unable to find the matériel left behind by the SLDF, Kurita flew into a rage and ordered his forces to punish the people of Helm. Nuclear weapons rained down on the world, killing over 80% of the population and leaving huge swaths of the planet radioactive deserts. A few aerospace fighter bays located in some asteroids are the only remaining parts of the SLDF fleet base.[1][42]

Fourth Succession War[edit]

The planet was best known for being the site of the discovery of the Helm Memory Core in 3028. Helm was granted to the Gray Death Legion as their landhold. Fearing he discovered the Star League cache, Precentor Emilio Rachan of ComStar plotted to destroy the Legion's reputation and the unit.

Rogue elements from the Free Worlds League and ComStar attempted to manipulate the mercenaries into destroying the Memory Core, but were unsuccessful.[1] Copies of the Helm Memory Core were taken to many universities across the Inner Sphere, triggering the technological renaissance of the mid-thirty-first century.

Helm remains a largely agrarian world. Enough of the land has been decontaminated to grow food, and the events of 3028 returned the Yehudan Sea to its place on the surface. (The SLDF had locked the seawaters underground for some reason.)[1]

Dark Age[edit]

Helm become a key battlefield during Operation HAMMERFALL, the Clan Wolf and Lyran Commonwealth forces invading the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth. In May 3138, the Silver Hawk Irregulars after defending the world against the Wolf and Lyran forces, were finally defeated in the capital city, Helmsdown. Most of the Hawks attempt to surrender, but Wolf forces, led by Alaric Wolf slaughtered them to a man.[43]

The Lyran victory at the Battle of Helm (3138) was one of the last battles of the war. Most of the planet survived the battle undamaged, but Helmsdown did not: Wolf Clan forces bombarded and razed a portion of the capital.[44]

Military Deployment[edit]

2765[edit]

2786[edit]

3145[edit]

Geography[edit]

Helm World Map

Helm is a cold world on the outer edge of the habitable zone. More than half its surface is locked beneath glaciers kilometers deep. Vast stretches of what had once been ocean floor were dry and bare, with much of the world's water now locked in Helm's icecaps. Much of the land that remained is either mountainous or arid desert. Between the relentless, endless seas of ice to north and south, ice-capped mountains thousands of meters high girdled Helm at the equator.

The capital city of the planet is Helmsdown. Other notable locations include the ruins of the former capital city of Freeport, which was an SLDF logistical depot, and the SLDF weapons depot that it eventually became. This weapons depot was combined with a Castle Brian complex under Nagayan Mountain.[1]

Planetary Locations[edit]

Companies and Industries[edit]

Image gallery[edit]

  • Planetary map of Helm

  • Planetary flag of Helm

  • Illustration of the area around Freeport from The Price of Glory

Map Gallery[edit]

Nearby Systems[edit]

Closest 44 systems (43 within 60 light-years)
Distance in light years, closest systems first:
Tania Australis 9.6 Kolobrzeg 13.1 Merak 14.8 Stewart 15.7
Bedeque 21.2 Danais 23.0 Bainsville 26.3 Tania Borealis 27.5
Amity 27.8 Adhafera 29.2 Gallatin 31.7 Gannett 31.9
Bondurant 32.0 New Hope 32.5 Concord 32.9 Alkes 33.2
Lancaster 34.9 Grobin 36.3 Gniezno 36.7 Rasalas 39.6
Angell 43.8 Ariel 44.1 Autumn Wind 44.7 Kalidasa 44.9
Sheridan 45.3 Uhuru 46.1 Rochelle 46.8 Catroxx 48.0
Keystone 48.1 Nestor 49.1 McAffe 49.3 Washburn 50.4
Solaris 52.4 Aquileia 54.4 Szombathely 55.1 Savannah 55.2
Pardeau 55.4 Dickinson 56.1 Marik 56.6 Launam 56.8
August 58.2 Sarkel 59.2 Sterling 59.3 Oceana 62.2

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 Handbook: House Marik, pp. 68–69: "Helm"
  2. ↑ Touring the Stars: Helm, p. 4
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 Turning Points: Helm, p. 3
  4. ↑ Empire Alone, poster map
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Empire Alone, p. 78: "The Free Worlds League - June 3152 (Map)"
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Price of Glory, ch. 4
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Handbook: House Marik, p. 16
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 House Marik (The Free Worlds League), p. 11: "The Rule of 75"
  9. ↑ Handbook: House Marik, p. 24
  10. ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 158
  11. ↑ Era Report: 2750, p. 37
  12. ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 11
  13. ↑ First Succession War, pp. 24–25
  14. ↑ Handbook: House Marik, p. 34
  15. ↑ First Succession War, pp. 112–113
  16. ↑ Handbook: House Marik, p. 38
  17. ↑ Handbook: House Marik, p. 42
  18. ↑ The Ram Has Touched the Wall
  19. ↑ Handbook: House Marik, p. 51
  20. ↑ Historical: War of 3039, p. 133
  21. ↑ Era Report: 3052, p. 11
  22. ↑ Era Report: 3052, p. 25
  23. ↑ Era Report: 3062, p. 11
  24. ↑ Handbook: House Marik, p. 54
  25. ↑ Era Report: 3062, p. 29
  26. ↑ Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, p. 64
  27. ↑ Field Report: FWLM, p. 17
  28. ↑ Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 63
  29. ↑ Field Manual: 3085, p. vii: "Inner Sphere Map - [October 3085]"
  30. ↑ Era Report: 3145, p. 10
  31. ↑ The Last Charge, ch. 15
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Era Report: 3145, p. 69
  33. ↑ Era Report: 3145, p. 21: "Timeline of Events (cont.)"
  34. ↑ Era Report: 3145, p. 39
  35. ↑ Shattered Fortress, p. 103
  36. ↑ Empire Alone, pp. 40–41
  37. ↑ Handbook: House Marik, p. 10: "A Fool And His Kingdom"
  38. ↑ House Marik (The Free Worlds League), p. 59: "Parliamentary Membership"
  39. ↑ Technical Readout: 3075, p. 256: "Mauna Kea Command Vessel"
  40. ↑ Era Report: 2750, p. 58
  41. ↑ The Price of Glory, p. 233
  42. ↑ First Succession War, pp. 5–8: "Ghost Rain"
  43. ↑ The Last Charge, p. 135
  44. ↑ The Last Charge, p. 115
  45. ↑ Field Report 2765: FWLM, p. 17: "Regimental Status"
  46. ↑ First Succession War, p. 138: "First Succession War Deployment Table - FWLM"
  47. ↑ Field Manual: 3145, p. 171: "Clan Force Deployments - Wolf Empire"
  48. ↑ Field Manual: SLDF, p. 108
  49. ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 213: "Gallant Urban Assault Tank"

Bibliography[edit]

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