Rim Collection

(Author: BattleTech Periphery Handbook)

Origins and History

Located on the Lyran Alliances's border with the Periphery, the Rim Collection is the one of the newest Periphery states. Seven independent worlds -- Caldarium, Slewis, Waypoint, All Dawn, Otisberg, and Gillfillan's Gold -- joined to created the Rim Collection in 3048 (Hunter's Paradise would join in the 3060's). Before the collapse of the Star League, these six worlds had been part of the Rim Worlds Republic. Three centuries of unsought independence after the Star League's collapse brought them nothing but poverty; by the end of the Fourth Succession War, most people on the worlds of the Rim Collection were barely eking out a subsistence living. Bandit raids, against which none of the planets had any real defense, added to the misery. During the Fourth Succession War, when the Inner Sphere's attention was turned toward their own troubles, the bandit raids became incessant. The people of these six worlds, unable to see any way to change this dismal state of affairs, were eager for a savior. Their salvation arrived when James Moroney landed on Islington in 3041.

Professor James Moroney, a social sciences instructor at the University of Regulus in the Free Worlds League, felt no ambition to become a political leader. Several events during the 3030s, however, changed his mind. That decade was a troubled one in the Free Worlds League -- the perennially rebellious Duchy of Andurien seceded in 3030, and the assassination of Captain-General Janos Marik in 3035 was wrongly blamed on Andurien agents. As a native of Andurien, Professor Moroney came under suspicion from an increasingly paranoid and heavy-handed central government. In addition to his ancestry, the professor was known to espouse views on self-determination and political freedom in ways the Marik government found uncomfortable. Both in classes and outside of them, Professor Moroney spoke eloquently of humankind's unquenchable desire for freedom and the futility of any attempt to impose a destiny on any people who wished to choose their own way. Though he never explicitly advocated his native duchy's secession, he stated many times that no government could hope to keep control over a people who wished to be free of that administration. In 3036, Captain-General Duncan Marik ordered Moroney arrested for treason.

Because the League was by then engulfed in a war to reclaim its wayward duchy, Moroney's trial was not scheduled to take place until early 3037. In December 3036, Thomas Marik -- initially believed to be dead in the same explosion that killed his father Janos -- appeared and claimed the Captain-Generalship. With Thomas's accession, Duncan Marik's death in the field, the successful reconquest of Andurien, and increasing doubt that the Anduriens had actually been responsible for Janos Marik's death, the jury for the Moroney trial found the professor not guilty of treason and sedition. They pronounced him a free man, subject only to a heavy fine for what they termed "irresponsible public statements in a time of martial emergency."

The professor soon discovered, however, that his newly won freedom had its limits. When he attempted to return to work, the University of Regulus informed him that it had revoked his tenure. His subsequent attempt to earn money on the public lecture circuit ended with the League government banishing the professor and his family from Marik space as "political undesirables." In 3038 Professor Moroney relocated to the Federated Commonwealth world of Aberystwyth, where a local community college had offered him a part-time teaching job. While on Aberystwyth, Moroney began speaking out about his trial and expulsion, and also began writing a personal account of his experiences. His stirring speeches on the human right to self-determination garnered him considerable attention, not all of it positive. Members of the Skye separatist movement, the principal focus of opposition to the merging of the Lyran Commonwealth with the Federated Suns, obtained copies of Professor Moroney's speeches and circulated them around the Isle of Skye. Though he had not intended them to, Moroney's speeches and writings also influenced quite a few citizens of both realms who felt uneasy about the union. Eventually, the government of the Federated Commonwealth politely but firmly demanded that Moroney depart.

Lacking funds to go very far, Moroney took his family on a short jaunt to the independent world of Gillfillan's Gold. On this backwater planet, Moroney hoped to build a new and simpler life as a farmer. he seemed to have succeeded until 3043, when a local town councilman and friend of Moroney's ran across one of the professor's taped public speeches on a visit to the Commonwealth. Impressed by the speech's content and style, Councilman Roberts returned to Gillfillan's Gold determined to enlist his eloquent friend's aid in a cause dear to the councilman's heart -- the union of Gillfillan's Gold and five other nearby, independent worlds into a confederation that might give them some hope for a more prosperous future.

Initially reluctant to step back into the public arena, Professor Moroney was soon won over by the dedication of the Unionists and the crying need for some means of making life better in Gillfillan's Gold and its sister worlds. Within a year, he was traveling from world to world, speaking for the creation of a new state to be known as the Rim Collection. Between 3044 and 3046, the Unionists slowly grew stronger as more and more people threw their support behind the idea. In late 3046, however, a devastating pirate raid on Otisberg laid bare a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to the formation of the Rim Collection -- the lack of a military capable of fending off the Periphery's numerous predators. The six worlds had not been able to support a standing army since the time of the Star League, nor did they have the economic resources to pay for reputable mercenary units. With no means of seeing to their own defense, opponents of the union asked what good would increased prosperity do them? What could they possible become, except more tempting targets for bandits? Supporters argued that bettering their economies would enable the united worlds to buy mercenary troops eventually, but many people wondered if "eventually" was good enough.

In the midst of this debate, the mercenary unit Able's Aces arrived on Gillfillan's Gold. Still smarting from a bitter contract dispute with the Federated Commonwealth, unwilling to work for Houses Marik or Liao, and unable to obtain a contract from a Draconis Combine still inclined to be suspicious of mercenaries, the Aces had decided that their future lie in the Periphery. Major Jerry Able, the unit's leader, was a Periphery native, and many of the unit's members had come from worlds on the Periphery border. However, the unit had not yet chosen a specific course of action. Some members were arguing for a contract with one of the larger and richer Periphery states, such as the Magistracy of Canopus or the Taurian Concordat. Others were flirting with the idea of striking out toward the deep Periphery in search of alleged caches of lostech. Still others contemplated turning pirate and carving out their own bandit kingdom. Undecided, the Aces made planetfall on Gillfillan's Gold for a brief resupply stop. While there, Major Able attended a Unionist lecture given by Professor Moroney. The professor so impressed Able that the major brought his entire unit to hear Moroney the following night. Major Able then dropped a bombshell. He proposed that Able's Aces volunteer to serve as the first unit in the Rim Collection's army, and to train citizens of the six worlds as planetary militias.

Once the mercenaries got over the shock, many of them supported the major's idea. If their leader was willing to wait for a payroll until the new nation got on its feet, so were they -- particularly when Major Able offered to pay those who stayed with him out of his own pocket. A few members chose to leave the unit, but most of the Aces voted to stay. Major Able then laid his unorthodox proposition before them. They accepted with enthusiasm, and the professor lost no time publicizing the Aces' offer. By the end of 3047, opposition to the formation of the Rim Collection had virtually disappeared.

In early 3048, all six planets signed the Rim Collection Charter. It provided for a Council of Planets with one representative from each member world, presided over by a president. The councilmen were to be elected by the people of their respective planets; the president by the citizens of the entire Rim Collection. Each planet had sovereignty over its own affairs, except as necessary to preserve the well-being of the Collection as a whole. As part of the charter, Able's Aces agreed to train planetary militias and a Collection-wide defense force in exchange for a vote on the Council of Planets in military matters. In addition, the mercenary unit was granted extensive lands on Otisberg, Major Able's homeworld. By unanimous acclamation, Professor Moroney was elected the first president of the new nation.

3058 Update

In the first decade of its existence, conditions in the Rim Collection are slowly changing for the better. The confederated planets began trading grains and iron ore with the Federated Commonwealth in 3053, and the Lyran Alliance has announced its intention to continue trade relations. Planetary Councilman Roberts has begin trade negotiations between Gillfillan's Gold and the Free Worlds League, with the promise of extending all trading rights to the rest of the Collection if he succeeds. However, the immense degree of autonomy given to member worlds by the charter often slows the pace of government to a craw. Professor Moroney, seeing more possibilities for economic expansion with more centralized government control, is currently pushing for a temporary expansion of the president's powers. Councilman Roberts has emerged as the leading voice of the opposition; he and his supporters fear that any temporary change in the balance of power would become permanent, much to the council's disadvantage.

Militarily, Able's Aces has filled its part of the bargain admirably. Lacking the funds to buy large numbers of serviceable BattleMechs, the Rim Collection still has only two BattleMech battalions; however, the Aces have trained several militia units on each of the six worlds to serve as a first line of defense against bandit raids. A few councilmen want the Collection to hire more mercenaries, but the Aces have stonewalled these efforts as unwanted encroachment on what they consider their turf. The Rim Collection is not yet rich enough to attract the attention of large numbers of pirates, but that could easily change within another decade or so. The pirate band known as Morrison's Extractors is the most dangerous of the Rim Collection's current enemies; the Extractors have raided outlying cities on Caldarium and Slewis with devastating effect.

Hunter's Paradise

Outside of Steiner space and beyond the young realm known as the Rim Collection, lies a unique relic of a bygone era. During the height of the Star League, an exploration ship searching for likely mining sites discovered in the Periphery a beautiful planet teeming with life. The blue skies and sweet air of this new world seemed a sure sign that the planet offered ideal conditions for colonists and tourists alike. As the explorers quickly learned, the planets was home to thousands of species of unique animals, nearly all predators. Scientists still debate the whys and wherefores of such an anomalous situation, but accept that the smaller predators simply serve as prey for the larger predators. Creatures so dangerous and powerful that they might overwhelm a BattleMech occupy the top of the food chain.

Though poor in gems and metals, the planet proved to be a biological gold mine for its discoverers. The exploration team quickly hatched a plan to market the new world as a big-game hunter's dream come true. Attempts to establish a surface settlement failed completely, so investors funded the construction of an orbital space station. Dropships would bring wealthy thrill seekers to the station, where they would meet their guides with the latest in weaponry and survival gear. The richest hunters could even go to the surface piloting 'Mechs. The beasts they caught live would become the main attractions of zoos throughout they Inner Sphere, though most targets ended up stuffed and mounted in dusty trophy rooms.

The so-called Hunter's Paradise prospered for several decades. When trouble started brewing in the Periphery, however, business slacked off. And, as with so many other ventures, the collapse of the Star League spelled the doom of this high-priced resort. Eventually the space station was abandoned and forgotten.

When Collection scouts rediscovered the world and its abandoned jump station, President Moroney immediately poured what resources he could into reactivating the station and building the infrastructure to reopen the hunter's resort. Realizing his nation did not have the capability to completely reopen the world as it once was, he settled with the exportation of exotic animals to interstellar zoos, primarily those in the Lyran Alliance.

3060 Update

With the crippling of Morrison's Extractors, the Aces have managed to rid the Rim Collection of most of its problems, for now. Councilman William Roberts now leads the Collection as the new President.

Within a year of Councilman Robert's elevation to president, he put Moroney's plan to reopen Hunter's Paradise into action. Now open for more than two and a half years, the world is just beginning to attract the interstellar clientele it once did, with all trade passing straight through the Rim Collection. By all accounts, several Clansmen have even made their way covertly to the world to test their mettle against the dangerous world.

Unfortunately, with the FedCom Civil War already spiralling out of control and the rest of the Inner Sphere apparently becoming caught up in a new age of war, the future of this Rim Collection protectorate remains uncertain. For now, though, it is rapidly becoming the Collection's cash cow.