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August 03, 2007
Mechwarrior: Age of Destruction Factions: Whatever happened to House Marik?
House Marik is the favorite Classic Battletech faction of my third son. He really, really wants Wizkids to start making Marik mechs and vehicles. Until then, he just pretends that Republic of the Sphere mechs (a faction we all hate) are actually House Marik. He’s been curious what exactly happened to Marik, why they went belly up.
The official Wizkids back story for the fall of the Free Worlds League is posted here:
http://www.wizkidsgames.com/mechwarrior/courier/pda.asp?a=38504
As the reborn Star League was falling apart, the Free Worlds League was actually admired by the other factions of the Inner Sphere, because it seemed a beacon of stability and good government among the turmoil of constant war. Instead, the Mechwarrior and aerospace forces of House Marik had been heavily infiltrated by Word of Blake zealots. So it was that House Marik was the first to receive the hammerfall of the jihad. Many of Marik’s Mechwarrior units defected, and his government was decapitated very early on by the surprise assault of the jihadists:
“Word of Blake agents infiltrated all levels of the Free Worlds League, having been permitted to do so by a decade and a half of misplaced trust. They subverted countless League military units and WarShips, adding them to the Blakists’ impressive arsenal. Thomas Marik—or rather, the man who all believed to be Thomas Marik—was so appalled by these actions that he attempted to turn on the Blakists, only to bring the wrath of the Jihad upon his own realm. When the zealots and their allies assaulted Atreus in 3068, the attack was their most decisive yet, for it did more than wipe out the governmental heart of the League, along with its most sterling example of a noble military (in the form of the First Knights of the Inner Sphere). It also immediately shattered all faith in House Marik. . .And so fell the solidarity of House Marik and the unity it once brought to the Free Worlds League. Over the years that followed, miniature wars, against each other and their neighbors—Lyran, Capellan, Periphery, and Republic—would characterize this turbulent region of space where once a mighty economic and political power had stood.”
Posted by Discoshaman at August 3, 2007 07:50 AM