We began on Terra, millions of years ago. Today, mankind stretches out among the stars of the Milky Way, touching thousands of worlds, as far from our home as Clan space, more than 2,000 light-years distant. Yet who are we, really? What have we become in our relentless push outward and onward? I’m Bertram Habeas, and tonight, let’s find the answers to these and many other fascinating questions together, as we tour the stars!

Volume XXII: Two Peoples, One Destiny

Asgard, Rasalhague. Like many Inner Sphere capitals, this city boasts one of its realm’s largest populations, over three million inhabitants whose roots can be traced either directly to the ancient history of the Principality of Rasalhague or to the former Star League Defense Force that fled to form the Clans. The architecture of this city is a curious blend of classical Scandinavian motifs and spartan—almost bland—Clan utilitarianism. In the marketplace, uniformed Clan merchants barter with natives dressed in more expressive fashions consistent with the latest trends, exchanging Bear-krona for luxuries that would make civilian castemen in the neighboring Clan Wolf green with envy. At night, these people may even take in the latest holodrama out of the Draconis Combine, or catch the latest arena duels from Solaris VII on locally produced ClearSite X20 Tri-Vids. The sacred hunting grounds in the northern lands are stocked with a carefully controlled population of ghost bears, transplanted from far-off Strana Mechty. Provided for hardened warriors undertaking the Ghost Bear’s Clawing rite, local custom insists that no one venture into these lands armed with any weapon more potent than a simple pistol. A small and incredibly illegal black market exists in which non-Warriors are smuggled onto those lands and attempt Clawing rites of their own—none, so far, have returned. It is a land of contrasts, where strict order and discipline clash with an expressive, freedom-loving people, and where a traveler’s unintended offense is as likely to provoke a Trial of Grievance as a simple rebuke. And yet, nothing less can be expected from the heart of the Rasalhague Dominion—the first true fusion of the Clan Way with the abundance and freedom of the Inner Sphere.

Though plans were underway to make it the new seat of government for the Free Rasalhague Republic, Asgard was a small city in July of 3050, when the blue skies over Rasalhague were darkened by the approach of Clan DropShips bent on conquering this key Inner Sphere capital. Clan Wolf, having won a fierce bidding war against the Ghost Bears for the right to claim Rasalhague, nonetheless chose this city to be its staging area during the assault. Fighting for the heart of the new Republic ranked among the fiercest of the war to date, with three full front-line Clusters of Clan troops facing close to three and a half Inner Sphere regiments plus hordes of supporting troops. The natives sold themselves dearly, fighting even in the streets of the old capital city of Reykjavik, making the Wolves pay for every meter they captured, but in the end they could not stand up to the skill and firepower of the Clan forces.

Bloody as the fighting for Rasalhague was, Clan Wolf’s rule in the aftermath was almost benign, at least until the Refusal War of 3058, when the Crusader Wolves inherited full control over the Wolf Clan Occupation Zone. Less devoted to engendering goodwill among the conquered peoples of the Inner Sphere than pressing for a renewed invasion, the Crusader Wolves turned more and more to the harsher tactics of Clan rule. The natives of the Rasalhaguian worlds they had claimed, true to their history, thus turned more and more toward armed resistance.

Yet, even as a simmering war of rebellion played itself out on the Wolf-occupied worlds of the shattered Rasalhague Republic, the worlds claimed by the Ghost Bears actually grew more peaceful. Though they, too, suffered from the sporadic fighting of rebel terrorists and resistance cells, the Bears gradually shifted from their previous Crusader stance, and turned their attention toward stabilizing their newly captured worlds.

Many historians attribute the sudden change of the Bears’ attitude from brutal oppressor—one that even needed the brief aid of the Steel Viper Clan to support its rule—to kind partner, as another example of the “all or none” philosophy. Yet, while it certainly does fit into that mode of thought, the Bears’ change of heart also stemmed from a very practical reasoning that came to light after Tukayyid. Simply put, the Bears suddenly realized they were going to be in the Inner Sphere for a very, very long time. As they came to terms with this realization, it also became clear that they would need to win over the hearts and minds of their new citizens, and doing so at gunpoint really would not be conducive to a lasting peace. With that realization came a newfound sense of compassion, an almost religious awakening, and the Bears suddenly concluded they were not among enemies but the very people the SLDF stood for. In the final analysis, they suddenly realized that they’d already come home. The more mystically minded among them even pointed to the fact that one of the Clans’ founders, Hans Jorgensson, himself boasted the same Scandinavian origins as this realm as a sign of their inevitable union. Whether or not it was preordained, however, thus was born the Great Plan, as some have called it. Easily the most ambitious undertaking ever conceived by a Clan, the Great Plan was cautious and methodical, and took years to accomplish in virtual secrecy. —Dr. Anne Oskar, The Fallen Rise: A Tale of Rasalhague, ComStar Press, 3120

Over the years that followed the Battle for Tukayyid, the Ghost Bears began—slowly at first, but then in greater numbers as time and resources became available—to move entire segments of their homeworld populations into the Inner Sphere. With the aid of volunteers from the various castes, and allied Clans such as the Snow Ravens and the Diamond Sharks (now Clan Sea Fox), DropShips, JumpShips, and even specialized ArcShips loaded with civilians and equipment moved to the Ghost Bear Occupation Zone.

At the same time, every effort was made to relax the restrictions of the native populations without compromising Ghost Bear authority. Local Rasalhagians and former citizens of the Draconis Combine gained increasing rights to self-determination, and were able to travel and communicate freely between worlds so long as they did not interfere with the Clan warriors who claimed to rule them. Though rebellion remained a problem, instances of domestic terrorism gradually declined, even as Clan civilians began to appear in droves. Factories and cities were rebuilt, enhanced, and a limited, internalized free trade spurred economic growth almost on par with the freer markets of the Successor States.

But what truly united the Rasalhagian people with the invading Clans? What turned a conquering army of invaders as reviled as those of the despotic House Kurita into the treasured allies of the fallen Free Rasalhague Republic? Ironically, the catalyst for this unlikely union was nothing short of the death of one Clan, and an ill-timed invasion by another.

3060 saw the end of one destructive Path, and the start of another, hopefully more promising, one. Before that year, we—like so many of our brothers—saw the Inner Sphere as a den of corruption, worthy of nothing less than our conquest and rule. But with the fall of the most corrupt and feral among us, our eyes were opened to the reality that perhaps we are not always right. The universe, clearly, does not work in absolutes. Then, just three short years later, we faced the dual threats of an aggressive Draconis Combine and the foolhardy Hell’s Horses. On the field of battle, we learned of the honor of the Spheroids, and the lack of it in those we once knew as “our kind.” When we returned home in victory, we thus sought the highest of honors for those once thought of as our isorla, our spoils of war. With honor in our hearts, and hope for the future, we won back Rasalhague for its people, and gave it to those who deserved that which they called home. May we work together to defend that which we can now both call home. —Khan Bjorn Jorensson, 3065, excerpted from his personal journals.

The reclamation of Rasalhague after the Combine/Ghost Bear War and the Hell’s Horses’ First Incursion initiated the final phase of a Clan–Inner Sphere fusion and saw the first Clan-held worlds to be ruled by native-born inhabitants under a Rasalhaguian standard. Though the Clan remained the sole military power, supported by its own citizens and lesser castes, the culture, economy, and even political might of the short-lived Rasalhague Republic were once more on the rise.

Join us for the third of our four-part series on the Rasalhague Dominion, when we explore the first true test of the Ghost Bear–Rasalhaguian unity, in the face of the fires of mankind’s darkest hours. I’m Bertram Habeas.