[Abe Sargent]

Which Ending Do You Want to See to This Dynasty?

I think there are 6 legitimate endings to this dynasty that make sense for what has happened, and take care of that Jihad thing as well. You can choose your own, in order to fit the story you like the best.

1). The planned ending. Braham Essex, in the 4th Whitting Conference of the Star League, keeps it from disbanding, and then is elected the next Star Lord of the League for 3 years, and uses that time to begin an area of peace for the Star League II. A Golden Age descends on the Inner Sphere, and war, becoming increasingly less common, begins to step aside. I have written this up, and will be writing it soon.


2). The Nightmare and the Dream. On the way to the 4th, Duke Essex is assassinated by unknown parties, and Duke Abraham, of Epsilon Indi, second in command of the CC, votes as Essex wanted, but is not enough of a personality to keep things from falling apart. As the Jihad begins, the Word of Blake begins to step into the power gap, as no one in the Coalition has the charisma to keep things together, and soon, some planets fall away – Nanking and Errai back to the FedCom, Zurich to Capella, and most to Blake’s warm, and secure and welcoming grip, in a newly formed Blake Protectorate. After two years, the Coalition is down to just four worlds – Epsilon Eridani, Indi, Capolla, and Terra Firma, and soon thereafter, will cease to exist by the end of 3070. Meanwhile, CO Matthew Humphries takes 4 regiments of the K&C mercs, including some tanks and many naval assets on a contract with the Duchy of Andurien. There’s no need to protect the CC and EE anymore, as those worlds are falling. They arrive in the disintegrating League, and become a force of peace. They are a key component in the expansion, often peacefully, of nearby worlds under the Andurien envelope, and Humphries becomes a key player in the anti-Blake movement. After two failed assassination attempts, and the loss of EE to Blake in 3070, K&C makes Andurien its new and permanent home. After a few more years of fighting against Blake in the FWL, Humphries is chosen by Devlin Stone to lead the Free Worlds campaign against the Word of Blake, and his attacks are quick and strong, taking multiple worlds from the Protectorate with his pan-Sphere coalition that includes clanners, spheres, and more. He takes more worlds more quickly than any other front, save for the Davion one. He leads the battle to and into Terra, and is one of the major generals on Terra’s liberation, and then returns to the FWL as one of the true heroes of the day, and helps the Principality of Regulus cleanse the Blake stain from existence, as they kill the Master and Precentor Apollyon on Gibson.


3). An aborted Jihad. After trying, and failing, to get the Star League to survive, the League ends at the 4th, and the Word of Blake begins its nasty Jihad across known space. Meanwhile, Duke Essex connects Admiral Randal Lewis with Precentor Martial Victor of ComStar, and convinces him to delay the Case White assault against Terra pending a lot more information and WarShips. He introduces Victor to Admiral Lewis, who is named Precentor Naval of Comstar, and plans the battle. Although the battle is delayed for months by uniting the various powers to create a naval flotilla unheard of since the Amaris days, the naval action is massively successful, and Precentor Naval Lewis wins the attack on Terra about a 11 months into the Jihad, and the Jihad ends quickly afterwards. The remaining forces in the League are easily taken care of.


4). A new invasion. After trying, and failing, to get the Star League to survive, the League ends at the 4th, and the Word of Blake begins its nasty Jihad across known space. Meanwhile the clans find out, and newly elected ilKhan Brett Andrews, of Steel Viper, officially has the Great Refusal overturned, and uses a new invasion as a way to unite the quickly splintering clans. After the nuclear bomb attack on Clan Wolf’s capital of Tamar, and destroying much of their Blood Legacy, the Invasion corridors are assigned across the Inner Sphere, with Fire Mandrill and Goliath Scorpion attacking the Confederation, Steel Viper and Star Adder the Free Worlds League, Cloud Cobra, Ice Hellion and Blood Spirit the Federated Suns, and so forth. This invasion is precipitated by Word Of Blake, and the ending of the Star League II. The Clan Invasion ends the Jihad because Word of Blake forces in the far and near periphery are annihilated, and the new Invasion specifically names Blake as the target of a Trial of Annihilation. Now seen as the liberators of the Inner sphere, relations between clan and sphere because very muddled…


5). Blood from the Stone. After trying, and failing, to get the Star League to survive, the League ends at the 4th, and the Word of Blake begins its nasty Jihad across known space. Having created and built a powerful relationship with the Celestial Coalition at their own door, the Word of Blake initiates Operation: Starfall. This planned operation immediately assassinates Chief Ingrid Foster of the Apollo Office, and Admiral Randal Lewis. The Coalition is immediately placed in a new Word of Blake Protectorate as numerous worlds and militaries are suborned. Having already sent their people to wait, Blake agents capture all of their WarShips. Word of Blake forces at the HPG stations emerge and take the worlds quickly and easily. Within 6 weeks, the Celestial Coalition has fallen. Braham Essex is arrested, and sent to Kittery, at a re-education camp. He will be at that camp for a few years, until, in early 3071, having changed his name to Devlin Stone, he leads an insurrection at Kittery, and things
progress from there…


6). Blake and Essex, friends to the end. After trying, and failing, to get the Star League to survive, the League ends at the 4th.,Refusing to give in, the Celestial Coalition and Word of Blake officially meld together to create the New Terra Hegemony. Newly crowned Director-General Essex announces, “If the Star League can’t live again, then the Hegemony at least will!” They coordinate strikes against former worlds in the Federated Suns, Lyran Alliance and Draconis Combine, and begin a lesser, tamer, Jihad, to reclaim that glory. Moving the capital to Terra, Director-General Essex and the former Word of Blake militia strike hard at local worlds to bring in planets like Hesperus II, Fomalhaut, Quentin, and more. Still allied with the CC and FWL, the Terran Hegemony continues the trend began by its forebears and by Blake – to trade advanced technology, including military, for political gain. After forming a new Hegemony and succeeding in the “Jihad”, and becoming a modern-day Cameron in the eyes of many, will a 3rd, and permanent Star League arrive?