Royal New Capetown Military Academy

Royal New Capetown Military Academy
Royal New Capetown Military Academy Logo
Royal New Capetown Military Academy Logo
Academy Information
Location New Capetown
Founding Year By 2750[1]
Course Information


The Royal New Capetown Military Academy is a Lyran military school with a troubled past. Known for the racism entrenched on its home planet of New Capetown, the RNCMA's reputation was a constant thorn in the sides of Archons who attempted to reform the military academy and make it more accepting. By the middle of the thirty-first century, bigotry at the RNCMA against people of color had by and large ended, though in truth the population's hatred was simply transferred to a new target: the Clans.

The Royal New Capetown Training Battalion was created in the wake of the FedCom alliance.

History[edit]

New Capetown was originally settled by a group of Afrikaaners who clung to the prejudices which typified Apartheid-era South Africa and set up a system of government to enforce their racism. In spite of this, the world became the host to the Royal New Captain Military Academy, with its main campus outside the capital city New Johannesburg.[2] The RNCMA's location on a world which still practiced racial discrimination was a constant headache for the LCAF, which often had to expended resources transferring promising candidates to other academies even during times when the RNCMA's classrooms were empty. Worse, those who attended the academy were themselves at risk of being radicalized by the population's beliefs.[3]

During the time of the Star League, the school was the Commonwealth's newest academy,[1] a distinction it held until the Flight Academy of Thorin opened in 2832.[4] Though the school quickly began producing skilled vehicle and infantry troops, the world's reputation still tainted perception of the academy.[1]

Archon Katrina Steiner made efforts to combat this bigotry by appointing two new commanders to the RNCMA: Lieutenant-General Nils Steiner-Davis, and Lieutenant-General Cynthia Franks, descendant of the famous "Black Pearl" herself, Angela Franks. While they were able to tamp down on racial prejudices at the school, their appointment was not as well greeted by the wider population, with terrorist attacks launched against them and the school.[3] Eventually, it took a civil war in the mid-3030s (instigated by Katrina's wider reform movement) and resulting overthrow of New Capetown's government before RNCMA could become a more welcoming environment to cadets regardless of creed or color.[5][6]

While racism by and large was stamped out at the RNCMA, the more ugly truth was that the population's hatred was simply moved to a new target. Under the Federated Commonwealth this was often focused on the political divisions which would eventually led to the secession of the Lyran Alliance, until the Clan Invasion took center stage. Hatred of the Clans became so ingrained at the RNCMA that the very fact Victor Steiner-Davion was willing to allow a former Smoke Jaguar warrior in his retinue prevented many cadets from supporting him during the civil war.[6]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of Royal New Capetown Military Academy
Leutnant-General Bradicus Doering 3067[7]

Academics[edit]

The RNCMA has traditionally focused on ground-warfare training; although an aerospace program exists, it is regarded as the least prestigious, and itself focuses on training for ground support missions. MechWarriors trained at the academy are well regarded for their skills, but it is the combat engineering and artillery graduates who are sought after the most by Lyran commanders.[5]

In the years after New Capetown's civil war and anti-racism measures were put into effect, the RNCMA had the tightest cadet screening process of any Lyran academy outside the Nagelring. This was to ensure that a balance of cadets from different backgrounds would attend the school, and to ensure that those who did could handle the emotional and psychological strain of attending classes in a society which had only recently come to grips with its racialist past.[5]

The school rag of the RNCMA is gold with a tasseled fringe.[5]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Field Report 2765: LCAF, p. 5
  2. Handbook: House Steiner, p. 82
  3. 3.0 3.1 House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 125
  4. House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 123
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Field Manual: Lyran Alliance, pp. 40–41
  6. 6.0 6.1 Handbook: House Steiner, p. 110
  7. Handbook: House Steiner, p. 110

Bibliography[edit]