Operation HOLLYWOOD
Sarna News
Operation HOLLYWOOD was a covert operation carried out by the Lyran Commonwealth's intelligence agency Loki against Clan Occupation Zones during the thirty-second century.[1]
Begun in 3103 Operation HOLLYWOOD sought to undermine Clan control of occupied worlds not through traditional military or covert methods such as assassination or sabotage, but instead via "soft power" means involving the media. Countering anti-Inner Sphere propaganda issued by Clan authorities, Hollywood media highlighted the difference in quality of life between Clan and Inner Sphere worlds, playing up the positive aspects of the latter such a greater life expectancy, higher living standards and goods, and political freedom. A key component of Hollywood was the innocuous Media Player, Standard or MPS, a very simple hand-held device whose export to Clan-held worlds was legal and in itself posed no challenge to Clan authority. However, the MPS could be easily modified by the user to bypass Clan security or usage-logging measures, and could play any ComStar-standard media - including subversive content.[1]
Operation HOLLYWOOD achieved little or no success on worlds governed by Warden or moderate Crusader Clans, as their relatively high living standards and light-handed rule left little discontent for Loki to exploit. The authoritarian Clan Jade Falcon was a different matter. Remolded into societies more akin to those of the pre-REVIVAL Clan Homeworlds, Falcon-ruled worlds by 3100 had mostly youthful populations raised in an insulated Clan bubble that proved very vulnerable to Operation HOLLYWOOD. Knowledge of better alternatives to their harsh living conditions prompted civilian unrest and demands for improvement, while also leading Falcon civilians to quietly question Khan Malvina Hazen's Mongol Doctrine and the wisdom of her hard-core policies.[1]
Operation HOLLYWOOD, which cost less than a battalion of new BattleMechs, ultimately proved enormously beneficial to the Lyran Commonwealth after Clan Jade Falcon's warrior caste was nearly annihilated during the Battle of Terra in 3151. While it did not directly deliver many worlds back to Lyran control, it did undermine Falcon rule to the point where the Clan's control over its Occupation Zone practically collapsed, and was replaced with the Hinterlands of several smaller states and independent worlds.[1]