Oberon Confederation

The Oberon Confederation was a Periphery state located on the coreward rim of the Lyran Commonwealth, between the Greater Valkyrate and the Elysian Fields. Besides the fairly well industrialized capital world of Oberon VI, which even held a class B ComStar station with a functional Hyperpulse Generator, the Oberon Confederation included the worlds of Blackstone, Crellacor, Drask's Den, Ferris, Gustrell, Paulus Prime, Placida, Sigurd and The Rock, plus a varying collection of others most of the time.

Originally an outright Bandit Kingdom, it had risen to become grudgingly respected as a minor periphery power around the year 3025. By this time Hendrik Grimm III, whose family had been ruling Oberon VI since around the year 2850, was leading a loose coalition of 12 other (former) bandit kingdoms. Possessing several water-rich planets, the Oberon Confederation was not actually dependant on raiding its neighbours and Hendrik III chose to hire out his troops to the highest bidder instead. This gave the Oberon Confederation a veil of legitimacy, although it would seem that behind the scenes the piracy continued unabated.

The Oberon Confederation was not a very stable state. It frequently gained and lost worlds through conquests or shifting alliances. However, many of these were insignificant periphery worlds with only a few thousand inhabitants and little if any industry; their value was negligible compared to Oberon VI and the aforementioned core of the confederation, and gaining or losing them had little consequence.

The infamous pirate king Redjack Ryan is a renegade from the Oberon Confederation. He made his first apperance in the Inner Sphere commmanding one of Hendrik III's mercenary units. In 3017, while hired out to occupy the Free Worlds League world of Fianna, he and his men wrought utter destruction on the world including, among other atrocities, the destruction of a fusion power plant which contaminated the world's atmosphere. Before either Hendrik III or House Marik could assemble a force to deal with him, he fled and established himself as bandit chieftain on the world of Butte Hold, adjacent to the Oberon Confederation. In the wake of Ryan's expulsion, his lover Maria Morgraine, a lieutenant in Hendrik III's forces, also broke away from the Oberon Confederation with 5 ice planets and founded yet another ministate, Morgraine's Valkyrate. They would later merge with Butte Hold to form the Greater Valkyrate, a periphery power powerful enough to curb the Oberon Confederation.

Mercenary forces from the Oberon Confederation, including Sigurd native Lori Kalmar, were involved in the intrigue that led to the destruction of the mercenary unit Carlyle's Commandos on Trellwan in 3024; this event in turn sparked the creation of the famous Gray Death Legion.

In 3049, Phelan Kell was captured by Clan Wolf forces while leading Kell Hound troops during a punitive raid against pirates on the Oberon Confederation world of The Rock. The Kell Hounds aborted their mission and fled from the unknown enemy, providing their employers with first-hand information about the invaders where previously only sketchy rumours had been known (and dismissed as periphery gossip).

All contact with the Oberon Confederation was subsequently lost when it was overrun by the invading Clan forces with blinding speed, probably having been the very first target attacked by the Clans. A small group of mercenaries and Oberon bandits managed to escape from Clan captivity during the first wave of attack in the Leopard-class dropship "FireStalion" [sic] and flee to the Free Rasalhague Republic, where the unlucky bandit crew was summarily executed for piracy.

Given the Clan attitude towards pirates, it seems likely that they did not occupy the Oberon Confederation but conquered it, ending its existence as a political (or mercenary, or pirate) entity for good. Its actual fate and that of Hendrik Grimm III is unknown, however. As of 3054, a ComStar report lists a unit called the "Oberon Guards (Disarmed by Clans)" as an independent regular unit based on Oberon VI, with "Reliable" loyalty and under the command of one General Johann Grimm. Although the unit can be assumed to be only a planetary militia to garrison/occupy the planet for the Clans, the report features the insignia of the Oberon Confederation (a lizard's eye).

See also

• Bandit Kingdom#Oberon Confederation
• Bandit Kingdom#Pirates of Butte Hold
• Bandit Kingdom#Morgraine's Valkyrate