Finmark

Revision as of 15:06, 20 October 2021 by Revanche (talk | contribs) (lede, columns)
Finmark
← 3135
3151
Finmark 3151.svg
Finmark nearby systems
(Map Legend)
System Information
X:Y Coordinates-405.348 : 332.888[e]

The Finmark system was home to at least one habitable world and (as of 2750) was the provincial capital of the Finmark Province of the Rim Worlds Republic.[1][2] It was located approximately 525 light-years from Terra in the coreward/anti-spinward direction.[e]


System Description

The Finmark system was located near the Dijonne and Lushun systems.[1][2]

System History

The Finmark system was colonized at some point prior to the end of the Age of War, and served as a provincial capital within the Rim Worlds Republic.[3][4] Following the collapse of the Rim Worlds Republic during the Amaris Civil War, Finmark briefly served as the capital world of a minor Periphery nation, the Finmark Free Republic, until the Lyran Commonwealth devastated the inhabited world in the system with a sustained nuclear and orbital bombardment.[5] Finmark vanished from maps during the Second Succession War, indicating that the system had been abandoned, depopulated, or rendered too insignificant to merit being recorded on maps any longer.[6][7][8]

Political Affiliation

Planetary History

Reunification War

By the end of the Age of War, Finmark was the provincial capital of the Finmark Province of the Rim Worlds Republic.[3]

Civil war erupted in the Rim Worlds Republic in 2575, with the factions polarized around those loyal to First Consul Gregory Amaris and those loyal to the Rift Republican Army and the Rim Provisional Government.[34] Finmark was garrisoned by the Fifth Amaris Dragoons from at least 2581 onward, a regiment which had chosen to stay loyal to Amaris during the war.[35] The Star League eventually decided to intervene in the civil war in support of Gregory Amaris, and in 2579 assembled Task Force MAILED FIST to help secure Amaris' control over the Rim Worlds Republic. A multinational force headed by the Star League Defense Force, Task Force MAILED FIST was responsible for executing Operation MAILED FIST, the name given to the military intervention. the first wave of attacks focused on securing significant worlds near Apollo,[36] until a destructive raid on Alarion by the 4th Amaris Fusiliers in retaliation prompted the SLDF to alter its initial strategy for the campaign, the focus shifted to reducing Rim Worlds Army concentrations throughout the Republic and the capture of key worlds.[37]

In late 2584 the SLDF changed tactics again; a number of major RWA units had been destroyed or captured, and the focus for the campaign shifted to capturing worlds of strategic importance, but the campaign was slowed by the greatly increased resistance offered by the RWA and local civilian populations, prompted by atrocities performed by the Draconis Auxiliary Corps when they captured Nightwish in mid-2584. Archon Viola Steiner-Dinesen of Battle Group Finmark assigned VIII Corps - an SLDF Corps comprised of two divisions, the Thirty-First Armor Division and the Thirty-Second Division - to the conquest of Finmark in 2586;[38] the resulting campaign was actually something of a relief for the beleaguered SLDF, as it was one of the few stand-up fights to occur during Operation MAILED FIST, unmarked by the more extreme defensive measures many other planetary campaigns were marked by.[39]

The battle for Finmark saw one of the seven corvette-class WarShips operated by the Rim Worlds Army crippled and then boarded by SLDF troops, and was the first time the SLDF had encountered any of the small RWA WarShips in combat.[40] On the surface of Finmark the Fifth Amaris Dragoons put up a valiant and determined resistance against the far more numerous SLDF forces, selling themselves dearly before being defeated by VIII Corps.[39]

First Succession War

In 2779 Finmark established an interstellar alliance with two other systems from the former Rim Worlds Republic, founding the Finmark Free Republic. Finmark was well-placed to become the capital of a new interstellar polity; despite the damage caused by the Amaris Civil War, the Star League Defense Force invasion of the Rim Worlds Republic and the subsequent Republic-Commonwealth War, Finmark was still home to an aerospace combat academy and one of the few surviving semi-operational Republic industries. In orbit above Finmark was the Roe Weapon Systems shipyards, which were damaged but still viable.[14]

Between 2779 and 2782 Finmark created a government modeled on the early Rim Worlds system and managed to pull together a defense force comprised largely of fresh recruits and orphaned elements of the SLDF and the former Rim Worlds Army; these forces mustered a strength of almost two BattleMech regiments, a similar number of aerospace fighters, and enough armor and infantry units for each world in the Republic to have approximately two regiments of mixed armor and infantry each.[14]

Finmark's influence continued to grow, with systems as far way as Inner Surge and Port Vail receiving some form of defensive support from Finmark by the late 2780s as the government worked on rebuilding as much of the former Finmark Province as possible; the government also worked to restore the orbital shipyards above Finmark, with the shipyards nearing fully-operational status by the late 2780s. Unfortunately for the nascent interstellar state - and particularly the inhabitants of Finmark - the increasing savagery of the First Succession War combined with Finmark's growing strength attracted predatory attention from the Lyran Commonwealth.[14]

With the Lyran Commonwealth reeling from the death of Archon Jennifer Steiner, the loss of huge amounts of industrial infrastructure to destructive raids and invasions and a significant shakeup of the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces imposed by Archon Richard Steiner, Richard Steiner chose to respond to LIC reports on the remnants of the former Rim Worlds Republic by redeploying the bulk of his WarShips assigned to the Periphery, shoring up defenses on the borders with the Draconis Combine and Free Worlds League. However, in addition to the general withdrawal of Lyran WarShips from the Periphery border, Richard also directed a squadron of corvettes to strike at Finmark, deemed the sole military threat remaining among the former unclaimed Republic worlds.[41]

Whilst General Paul Steiner advocated conquering Finmark, Richard had other plans. Operation HAIFISCHFLOSSENSUPPE - "Shark Fin Soup" - was drawn up; HAIFISCHFLOSSENSUPPE called for the capture or crippling of Finmark's jump stations and the shipyards. Rather than conquer the planet, Richard had his forces equipped with strategic nuclear weapons and issued explicit instructions that any potential strategic threats to the Commonwealth were to be neutralized with extreme prejudice should the local defenders prove too challenging. Claiming more worlds in the Periphery using ground forces was neither practical or expedient, according to Richard's thinking, whilst the other Successor States posed more of a threat.[41]

Under the command of Kommodore Gustav Sharae, the Lyran task force, consisting of half a dozen Leopard CV-class DropShips, four Fury-class DropShips fully-loaded with marines and a squadron of six corvettes, conducted Operation HAIFISCHFLOSSENSUPPE. Of the six corvettes, two were Vincent-39s, the LCS Potsdam and LCS Ulm, while the remaining four were all Makos, including the LCS Hadrian and Sharae's flagship, the LCS Constantius.[5]

The task force jumped into the Finmark system at the zenith jump point via the Dijonne system in 2792, facing only light resistance at the recharge station from a single pirate-rigged Achilles-class DropShip stationed there. Sharae then delivered an ultimatum to the Finmark government, stating that the Commonwealth was going to seize the Roe Weapon Systems shipyards in the interests of "interstellar security", and that any resistance from Finmark would be met with maximum force.[5]

The Finmark government made contact with Share while the task force was burning towards the planet, stating that they wished to arrange a diplomatic agreement and desired to avoid trouble with the Lyran Commonwealth; whilst unhappy with losing their single largest source of income, the Finmark government appeared to accept that they didn't have the strength to take on the LCAF. The shipyards had only been restored to working order in 2790, and while some of those under Sharae's command were suspicious that they were being led into a trap, but the task force was confident that there would be no any active WarShips to oppose their own WarShip squadrons, particularly given the intelligence reports indicating that the SLDF had already salvaged the bulk of any useful military resources from Finmark.[5]

After two days of negotiation with the Finmark government, Sharae was confident that he had negotiated the government's surrender; Sharae dictated that the shipyards be left with all bays open to confirm that there were no hidden threats, and when the task force approached the shipyards, that appeared to be the case. Sharae ordered two Furies to approach and secure the shipyards, escorted by a pair of the Leopard CVs, the Potsdam and the Ulm. While the rest of the task force maintained overwatch, intent on spotting any sign of hostile forces emerging from either the far side of the shipyards or from behind Finmark's moon, the marines boarded the shipyard without encountering any resistance - and then a nuclear weapon concealed within the shipyards was detonated.[5]

Located in the main docking bay, the nuke was viciously effective; the shipyards were nearly torn in half, bombarding the nearby Leopard CVs and WarShips with large chunks of debris. The two docked Furies and their two Leopard CV escorts were destroyed instantly, and the damage inflicted on the Potsdam caused it to spin to port, colliding with the shipyard solar array; the Ulm was left tumbling to starboard, and none of the other task force ships could contact the Ulm.[5]

Sharae ordered an immediate withdrawal from the shipyard, whilst the surviving fighter carriers quickly disgorged their aerospace fighters. As the Ulm began maneuvering and the various ships attempted to work out what happened, the task force detected both fighters and strategic nuclear weapons being launched from Finmark, whilst communications from the Potsdam indicated that the ship was out of control and suffering damage from intense internal fires. The task force was hit with at least one if not two more nuclear weapons launched from Finmark, destroying the Potsdam and Ulm completely.[5]

Sharae had his surviving ships break orbit and recover their fighters, a maneuver that took an hour; with the recovery complete, he ordered his ships to launch a nuclear orbital bombardment of Finmark. Although pleas for mercy were received from the surface, those desperate pleas stopped ten hours into the bombardment; by the following day, so much damage had been inflicted on Finmark that the ash and smoke thrown into the atmosphere was dense enough to block visibility of the burning cities from the orbiting WarShips.[5]

With the loss of Finmark, the Finmark Free Republic collapsed over the next decade.[14]

Military Deployment

2581-2586

2586

2765

Planetary Locations

Industrial Centers

Map Gallery

Nearby Systems

Closest 20 systems (20 within 60 light-years)
Distance in light years, closest systems first:
Lushun 9.4 Dijonne 17.1 Elume 32.9 Elba 33.0
Main Street 33.1 Lywick 34.1 Viluisk 34.2 Sweet Water 37.4
Canal 37.7 Delagoa 38.0 Austerlitz 38.2 Port Vail 38.4
Swartklip 45.7 Aboukir 47.6 Oporto 51.3 Kwangjong-ni 51.9
Luanda 53.1 Torgvei 57.5 Engadine 58.4 Moriguchi 58.5

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 25, "Rim Worlds Republic At the Fall of the Star League - [2750] Map"
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Era Report: 2750, p. 36, "Inner Sphere - [2750] Map"
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 18, "Rim Worlds Republic after Age of War (2571)"
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Handbook: House Steiner, p. 25, "Lyran Commonwealth after Age of War - [2571] Map"
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 First Succession War, p. 68-69, "Shark Fin Soup"
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Handbook: House Steiner, p. 36, "Lyran Commonwealth after First Succession War - [2822] Map"
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 2, p. 122-123, "Inner Sphere - [2822] Map"
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Handbook: House Steiner, p. 40, "Lyran Commonwealth after Second Succession War - [2822] Map"
  9. ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 158, "Inner Sphere - [2596] Map"
  10. ↑ Field Manual: SLDF, p. vii, "Inner Sphere - [2764] Map"
  11. ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 10, "Inner Sphere - [2765] Map"
  12. ↑ Field Report 2765: Periphery, p. 38, "Rim Worlds Army Deployment Map - [2765]"
  13. ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 104, "Rim Worlds Republic - [2767] Map"
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 First Succession War, p. 100, "The Finmark Free Republic"
  15. ↑ First Succession War, p. 24, "Inner Sphere - 2786"
  16. ↑ Handbook: House Steiner, p. 47, "Lyran Commonwealth after Third Succession War - [3025] Map"
  17. ↑ Handbook: House Steiner, p. 56, "Lyran Commonwealth after Fourth Succession War - [3030] Map"
  18. ↑ Handbook: House Steiner, p. 59, "Lyran Commonwealth after War of 3039 - [3040] Map"
  19. ↑ Historical: War of 3039, p. 132, "Inner Sphere - [3040]"
  20. ↑ Era Report: 3052, p. 10, Inner Sphere [3050] Map
  21. ↑ Handbook: House Steiner, p. 61, "Lyran Commonwealth after Clan Invasion - [3052] Map"
  22. ↑ Era Report: 3052, p. 22, Inner Sphere [3052] Map
  23. ↑ Era Report: 3062, p. 10, Inner Sphere - [3057] Map
  24. ↑ Era Report: 3062, p. 29, "Inner Sphere - [3063] Map"
  25. ↑ Handbook: House Steiner, p. 70, "Lyran Commonwealth after FedCom Civil War - [3067] Nao"
  26. ↑ Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 42, "Inner Sphere - [3067] Map"
  27. ↑ Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, p. 64, "Inner Sphere - [3075] Map"
  28. ↑ Field Report: LAAF, p. 19, "Lyran Alliance Armed Forces Deployment Table - [August 3079]"
  29. ↑ Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 62, "Inner Sphere - [3081] Map"
  30. ↑ Field Manual: 3085, p. vii, "Inner Sphere - [3085] Map"
  31. ↑ Era Report: 3145, p. 11, "Inner Sphere - [3135] Map"
  32. ↑ Era Report: 3145, p. 39, "Inner Sphere - [3145] Map"
  33. ↑ Field Manual: 3145, p. VI, "Inner Sphere - [3145] Map"
  34. ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 130, "The Spark"
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Historical: Reunification War, p. 128, "Reunification War: Rim Worlds Republic Front Deployments (2581)"
  36. ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 132, "Case Apollo"
  37. ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 133, "Island Hopping (2582 - November 2590)"
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Historical: Reunification War, p. 152, "Rim Worlds Republic Front (Jump-off - 2587)"
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 Historical: Reunification War, p. 134-135, "Arlina to Viborg (December 2584 - September 2588)"
  40. ↑ Historical: Reunification War, p. 135, "Newtown Shoals: Sharks Among Minnows (January 2588)"
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 First Succession War, p. 67, "The Fist of Defiance: Steiner's Campaigns"
  42. ↑ Field Report 2765: Periphery, p. 18, "Imperial Divisions - Divisional Status"
  43. ↑ Field Report 2765: Periphery, p. 8, "Academies and Command Centers"

Bibliography

Retrieved from "https://www.sarna.net/wiki/index.php?title=Finmark&oldid=733217"