Gibson Freedom League
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Gibson Freedom League | |
|---|---|
| Organization Profile | |
| Type | Rebel Movement |
| Founded | 3053[1] |
| Parent Organization | Independent |
| Headquarters | Gibson |
The Gibson Freedom League (GFL, also called "Goffels" locally) was a resistance movement formed "years ago" (as of 3055) by the population of Gibson to overthrow the hated and incompetent local ruler, Principal Hsiang, after their pleas to Countess Dystar of Gibson and even Captain-General Thomas Marik fell on deaf ears. Because she was profiting from the situation much like her predecessors had before her, Countess Dystar actively hid the civil unrest from the Captain-General to maintain the status quo, and had no intention of removing Hsiang.[2]
The flames of rebellion were only fanned in 3053 when Captain-General Thomas Marik, oblivious to the true situation, allowed tens of thousands of Word of Blake personnel being resettled onto Gibson. He apparently (falsely) assumed that the world, which had a liberal stance on religion, would welcome them. However, the Word of Blake arrogantly assumed they could rule over the planet, quickly moving to ursurp power from the inept Principal Hsiang and establishing a rapport with Countess Dystar. The situation quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.[2]
In this war, the GFL reached out to the Principality of Regulus for support; Gibson had broken away from Regulus 150 years prior over issues of taxation and religion. Regulus indeed provided support by detaching BattleMechs whose MechWarriors were officially on leave and working on Gibson as "mercenaries", and secretly gave the GFL Davey Crockett tactical nuclear weapons.[2]
All of this came to a head in 3055 when Captain-General Thomas Marik sent Paul Masters, a trusted friend serving with the Knights of the Inner Sphere, to Gibson to evaluate the situation after Word of Blake Precentor William Blane had alerted him to the ongoing uprising there. Masters initially fought against the GFL together with the Word of Blake and their mercenaries but quickly came to oppose their methods and had to flee. He was then captured by a Regulan lance and handed over to the GFL but managed to escape. A farmer who took him in opened his eyes to the genesis of the conflict, that there had been unrest on Gibson even before the Word of Blake had arrived and how Countess Dystar had kept the Captain-General in the dark about it. Masters used the information to instigate a three-sided conflict between Countess Dystar, Principal Hsiang and the Word of Blake forces who were now under the leadership of Trent Arian (after the moderate William Blane had been arrested). Thomas Marik, upon learning that his trusted operative had vanished after a fight with his own Word of Blake unit, interrupted the conflict by arriving at the head of the Knights of the Inner Sphere, stripped Dystar of her lands and title and reprimands Principal Hsiang (who is not under his jurisdiction). In response, the Regulan forces on-planet pledged their support to Dystar and Hsiang if they would return Gibson to the Principality of Regulus, which in turn shocked GFL leader Deraa and prompted him to pledge the GFL to the cause of Thomas Marik, but Marik refuses as he sees them as insurgents. In the showdown battle on 3 March 3055 between Marik's Knights of the Inner Sphere, the Regulans, Word of Blake and the GFL, the GFL brings the Davey Crockett tactical nuclear weapons and despite being a priority target, manages to launch two of them which decimate the Regulan forces. They want to retreat into the city of Portent, but the Word of Blake forces refuse to turn the city into a battlefield and surrender to the Captain-General instead, who proceeds to make Paul Masters Count of Gibson and allows the Word of Blake to stay on Gibson (but not rule it).[2]
The GFL was scattered and their leadership in Word of Blake custody afterwards.[1]
Gibson was annexed to the Word of Blake Protectorate in December 3067 and officially ceded to the Word of Blake on 9 August 3071, becoming their de-facto capital world for a time. A short-lived New GFL (NGFL) sprang up in response but when they tried to sabotage Gibson Federated BattleMechs and assassinate Vapula, they ran afoul of Manei Domini and were "torn apart". Subsequent cleanup operations by the 52nd Shadow Division under Apollyon purged all traces of the NGFL and left Gibson firmly under the control of the Word of Blake.[3]
As the Jihad unfolded, Gibson was a key Word of Blake position and Regulan forces repeatedly attacked the world, eventually conducting strategic orbital bombardment to every city and military outpost with conventional and nuclear weapons which rendered the world uninhabitable. By 3081, Gibson was officially listed as a "dead or dying" world.
References[edit]
Bibliography[edit]
- Ideal War (novel)
- Total Chaos