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August 08, 2007
Mechwarrior: Age of Destruction Factions: The Lyran Commonwealth
If Davion is Gryffindor, then House Steiner is the Ravenclaw of the Mechwarrior world; they aren’t the marquee “good guys”, but they’re on that side of things. If Davion is chicken, Steiner is pork – “the other white meat.” I guess that’s why I like them – they’re good guys, but not the same Mechwarrior faction so many others like. (Yes, I realize that Steiner and Davion aren’t so nice in the Age of Destruction, some of my Classic Battletech biases are showing here.)
Anyway, I like the Lyrans. I like the paint schemes Wizkids has put on their mechs, I like their storyline, and I like the mechs and vehicles available for their faction. The verstin-whatchamacalit King Crab is a sweet mech for urban-based Mechwarrior battles. The Steiner Raptor II has great range and speed, evade special abilities and a decent heat dial. The Steiner sylph infantry is perfect for tying up enemy units. . .
But enough about that. For those interested in the current history of House Steiner, here’s the Wizkids official entry on the Lyran Commonwealth:
http://www.wizkidsgames.com/mechwarrior/courier/pda.asp?a=38304
It makes for bleak reading. While never particularly successful militarily, the Lyrans had always been strong economically, and substituted economic leverage in place of mechwarriors. Post-jihad, Steiner has a shortage not only of mechs, but of money as well. Central authority has been greatly weakened, and the trade so vital to Lyran power has been shattered (and increasingly supplanted by Clan Sea Fox.) Here’s an excerpt from the Wizkids article:
” Without a doubt, the Jihad was the worst single event in the history of the Inner Sphere. For the Lyran Alliance, barely coming to grips with the final, terrible costs of the FedCom Civil War, its impact was doubly felt for the sheer volume of economic and industrial devastation it wrought. The loss of Tharkad, the bombing of Donegal, the bombardment of Skye—all these events sent central authority spinning wildly out of control. With the loss of the HPG network, chaos reigned across the realm and the battered remains of the Lyran armed forces, stripped of their command structure, could barely coordinate even the simplest operations in opposition to the fanatics.Interstellar trade, the backbone of Lyran economy and infrastructure, collapsed completely as fleets of JumpShips were attacked or pressed into military service. This sent whole worlds—even entire sectors—into an economic depression the likes of which had not been seen since the First Succession War or the early days of the nation’s formation. Meanwhile, the most industrial worlds of the Skye region, closest to Terra, faced the brunt of the Jihad, and—for the first time in history—Hesperus II actually fell to a foreign power. By the time interstellar communications came back on-line and the people could see what had become of their nation, the Lyran Alliance had been ravaged.”
Posted by Discoshaman at August 8, 2007 07:52 AM