Babylon

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Babylon[edit]

Note: X and Y are coordinates (light years on XY plane) relative to Terra at (0, 0)

Babylon
System Information
X:Y Coordinates -123.508 : 1600.89[e]
Spectral class G7V "Tigris"[1][2]
Recharge time 188 hours[1][2]
Planets 6[1][2]

The Babylon system is the location of a habitable world, Babylon II, and as at 3085 was located in the Deep Periphery region known as the Clan Homeworlds.

System Description[edit]

The Babylon system is located near the Arcadia and Dagda systems. In relation to the capital of the Clan Homeworlds, Strana Mechty, Babylon is located at the coordinates -158:-182.[3] The Babylon system consists of a G7V class primary star named Tigris, orbited by six worlds[1] The Babylon system is rich with resources; in addition to the substantial resources available on the sixth planet in the system, the Babylon system has a number of exploitable asteroids including an asteroid field named the Boone-Shadow field through which the second planet in the system periodically orbits.[4]

System History[edit]

The Babylon system is one of five systems known as the Pentagon Worlds and was the second system to be settled by the Star League-in-Exile.[4] The Star League-in-Exile established a naval cache for decommissioned WarShips in the Babylon system; this cache became the largest single cache of WarShips anywhere in the Pentagon Worlds.[5]

Political Affiliation[edit]


Babylon II[edit]

Babylon
World map of Babylon
World map of Babylon
Geophysical
System position 2nd[1][2]
Jump point
distance
6.57 days[1][2]
Moons 1 (Ur)[1][2]
Surface gravity 1.5[1][2]
Atmospheric pressure Standard (Breathable)[1][2]
Equatorial temperature 35°C (Temperate)[1][2]
Surface water 40%[1][2]
Highest native life Reptiles[1]
Infrastructure
Population 1,100,000 (2800)[1]
380,000 (2821)[1]
51,000,000 (3062)[8]

Babylon II - more commonly known simply as Babylon - is a habitable but dry and windy world which, in common with many other Clan worlds, has been held by - and contested by - several Clans at the same time for the majority of its history as a settled world. Babylon has a single moon named Ur.[1][2]

Planetary History[edit]

Early History[edit]

Babylon is a dry world and was initially unpopular with League settlers when they first established their colony in 2786.[9] Early settlers ended up being struck down by what was called the "Babylon Plague", which consisted of pathogens and germs in the atmosphere. Scientists on Babylon’s lone moon worked for months to come up with a vaccine for the plague, but thousands would perish before it was administered to the colonists.[10] When colonists moved to more of the arid lands, they discovered the arachnid Goliath Scorpion. The Goliath Scorpions had attacked many of the colonists with their deadly poisons when their nests were disturbed.[11]

Operation KLONDIKE[edit]

Recon and Initial Invasion of Babylon System[edit]

After years of exile and reformation, Khan Nicholas Kerensky assigned Clan Sea Fox, Clan Ice Hellion, Clan Coyote, and Clan Cloud Cobra to the task of liberating Babylon during Operation KLONDIKE in 2821.[12] When Nicholas Kerensky led his Clans to recapture the Pentagon Worlds they found numerous factions on Babylon, all still grimly determined to fight. The largest factions were spread across four continents: Calandra was dominated by the Mountain People, whilst Corsen was home to the City of Gralen and the Oppenreich. Solath was home to Camlaan and the Eastern Solath Rebel Groups while Valance was home to the Sumral Carta.

Several months before ground invasion of Babylon, the invading Clans dispatched a recon mission (Operation SABER SUN) to the Babylon system. The Clans needed to secure Babylon’s large cache of decommissioned Star League naval vessels in the system. They found that the people collectively known as the spacefarers were inhabiting both of the system’s jump points and operating a mining colony on the resource world of Babylon VI, also known as Sinclair. The Clans were able to slip advance parties into the system and board some of the decommissioned naval assets without being detected. From this vantage point, they were free to observe the spacefarers’ activities. This gave the invasion force information they needed to swiftly secure Babylon’s valuable space assets and take the spacefarers by surprise.

Led by Clan Cloud Cobra SaKhan Rafe Kardaan, a multi-Clan Naval Task force secured the system for the Clans in 2821. Their initial jump in-system caught the spacefarers by surprise and captured their jump point enclaves with only a few JumpShips able to make good their escape.

The Cloud Cobra WarShip the Inquisitor, commanded by Star Captain Brucalter Sheridan, would be sent with a task force of JumpShips and DropShips to seize the mining world of Sinclair. Using their K-F Batteries on arrival, the Inquisitor’s task force conducted a second hyperspace jump to the planet’s pirate point soon after their arrival in-system. After arriving above Sinclair, the WarShip fired some warning shots at the planet to try and sway spacefarers on the surface to surrender. However, the warning shots from its naval grade weaponry struck too close to the mining colony, which triggered the collapse of its main underground facilities. This error by the WarShip’s gunners sent the survivors into a rage, launching their surviving DropShips into battle with the Clans. In a frenzied battle, the Inquisitor fought off the DropShip swarm until one vessel’s remains crashed into the ship, forcing evacuation of its crew.

The main Clan Naval Task Force went on to secure Babylon’s Naval Caches and hunted down the spacefarers. SaKhan Kardaan left technicians and security forces behind to tend to captured spacefarers and the cache while he and his warriors moved on to Babylon itself.[13]

Ground Invasion of Babylon[edit]


31st Century[edit]

By the 31st Century, Babylon had become a major industrial world for the Clans. Clan Diamond Shark would come to dominate its economy from their massive industrial enclave in the city of Port Talbot. The cities of Hope and New Drineshane became the world's chief agricultural centers. The Sharks’ orbiting DropShip factories would be among the few in 3062 which were not under the control of Snow Raven Clan. The Ice Hellions’ cities of Marron and Yoma would be home of the number of Aerospace Fighter production sites.[14]

Babylon Diets[edit]

The leadership of Clan Cloud Cobra presented the first Babylon Diet on Babylon in September 3062. The first Diet was a month-long conference that brought together thousands of religious delegates from across Clan space and the Inner Sphere. The ecKhans announced that the Babylon Diet was intended to the first in a series of Diets, and that the Diets were intended to be a series of meetings in which they could share their views and the teachings of the Way with the rest of humanity, in the hopes of building a "spiritual bridge" between the Clans and the people of the Inner Sphere.[15]

The Diet was far from popular with everyone in the Kerensky Cluster. Elements of the warrior caste saw the Diets as yet another means of bringing "dirty Spheroids" into Clan space, and a number declared that the Diets went against everything the Clans stood for. While the Diets were supported by Clan Cloud Cobra, Clan Blood Spirit, Clan Ice Hellion, Clan Hell's Horses and Clan Snow Ravens, Clan Coyote were vocal in their opposition and were supported in turn by Clan Diamond Shark, Clan Ghost Bear, Clan Goliath Scorpion and Clan Star Adder. The remaining Clans were also generally in opposition to the Diets but preferred to see how the conflict between the supporters and opponents of the Diets would resolve before committing themselves.[15]

The issue of the Diets quickly became deadlocked, but Loremaster Clarissa Jericho of Clan Coyote was unwilling to allow the issue to fade away and assembled a force drawn from various allied Clans; she then led the multi-Clan force to Babylon and launched a brutal assault against the Cloud Cobras, intent on destroying the Honorarium of the Josian Cloister and those gathered to attend the Diet. Jericho underestimated that strength of the defenders on Babylon, who held back twice their number of attacking forces while the Cloud Cobra Khan Din Steiner assembled the rest of the Cloud Cobra garrison and then used his forces to blunt the assault.[15]

With the successful Cobra defense of the gathered delegates none came to harm, and Khan Steiner brought a motion of censure against the Coyotes via the Grand Council for their actions. The motion was subject to the usual Council politicking, with the other Clans who had supported the Diet arguing that they supported the Cloud Cobra ability to hold such a gathering, rather than supporting the gatherings themselves, but the various Khans were in general agreement that the Coyote attack on the Diet couldn't be condoned, in part because of the fact that the attack had been conducted without the usual Trialing protocols. The Coyotes responded to these allegations by claiming that the delegates were barbarians from the Inner Sphere and therefore unworthy of taking part in zellbrigen, a claim recognised by a number of the clans as being nebulous at best. The Clans who had initially supported the idea of the Diets voted in favor of the censure, but the censure itself was little more than a verbal slap that cost the Coyotes some political points and a few political allies.[15]

The first Babylon Diet achieved relatively little, despite claims by various ecKhans that they were successful in spreading the truth of the Way. The Diet was largely notable for the efforts made by Inner Sphere nations to place intelligence operatives within the various Clan lower castes; religious leaders in the Inner Sphere generally failed to use any of the newfound religious knowledge gathered via the Diet, and no movement of understanding arose. The Diets continued, with diminished attendance; by the 3067 Diet, only a score of representatives from the Inner Sphere traveled to Babylon to attend, a sixtieth of the number who had attended the 3061 Diet.[15]

Wars of Reaving[edit]

In 3070 Clan Snow Raven was under heavy pressure from Clan Cloud Cobra, Clan Star Adder and Clan Steel Viper, with the Snow Ravens being subject to ferocious and destructive Trials at the hands of the three allied Clans. The Snow Ravens were in desperate need of something to distract their antagonists, and that distraction came in the form of intelligence reports that the Diamond Sharks were trading on an equal basis with the Federated Suns with a view to exchanging Clan technology for trade and mineral rights. The Snow Ravens called a virtual Grand Council to present the information, which was supported by intelligence from Clan Jade Falcon and which focused the ire of the three allied Clans on the Diamond Sharks.[16]

The Cobras, Adders and Vipers responded by launching a wave of Trials against the Diamond Sharks. Careful not to interfere with each other's offensives, the three Clans operated in relative isolation; the Steel Vipers deployed their Gamma Galaxy against a number of Diamond Shark enclaves on Babylon, part of a wave of attacks against Diamond Shark holdings on Babylon, Paxon and Strato Domingo intended to both bleed the Diamond Shark combat forces and seize new territory. The Steel Vipers were initially successful, but the Diamond Sharks were stronger than the Jade Falcon and Snow Raven forces in the Homeworlds that the Vipers had been fighting prior to their attacks on the Diamond Sharks; the Sharks quickly struck back, hard. On Babylon, three Diamond Shark Clusters defeated Gamma Galaxy completely, in part through a combination of refusing to grant safcon, making every landing an assault that cost the Vipers numerous DropShips, bleeding the aggressors of transport assets. The Diamond Sharks also used questionable tactics on the ground, with a number of Diamond Shark warriors deliberately using physical attacks against their opponents, acting with dubious honor in the cause of inflicting as much damage as possible. Gamma's losses on Babylon were so heavy that Galaxy Commander James Andrews committed permanent surkairede after his forces retreated to New Kent.[16]

Clan Coyote Capture of Babylon[edit]

In early 3072, Clan Coyote executed a planetary assault on the enclaves of Clan Ice Hellion, Cloud Cobra, and the Diamond Sharks. Using a mixed force of Battle Armor, ProtoMechs and some new OmniMechs they rolled over many of the Clans’ forces, seizing the planet after 24 hours. The battle left most of the opposing Clans’ warriors dead, while lower caste warriors were allow to depart if they so chose.[17] The capture of Babylon was the most violent of the attacks launched by Clan Coyote simultaneously across several worlds. The battles were fought by the Coyotes' Epsilon and Gamma Galaxies. The two Stars of warriors defending the Ice Hellion enclave was swarmed, with all of the Ice Hellion warriors being killed despite requesting hegira; the Cobra forces were also quickly overwhelmed. The Diamond Shark's elite Deathstrike Galaxy mounted the strongest defense against the Coyote forces, having been stationed on Babylon to undergo a range of refits and upgrades; Deathstrike Galaxy finally withdrew after taking heavy losses, with the Thirty-ninth Strike Cluster being completely wiped out.[18]

The assault on Babylon was the first major campaign by the organization known as the Society, and enabled them to seize enough equipment from the Brian Caches on Babylon to completely equip their own forces and to allow them to bargain with the Bandit Caste using the surplus equipment.[19] The small number of civilian caste personnel allowed to leave Babylon were discovered much later to have all either been Trueborns or high-mixed genetic stock and to have been deliberately infected with some form of genetic virus by the Society as an act of biological warfare. Merchant vessels in the Babylon system managed to escape with some footage from the battles - including the death of Star Colonel Josiah Hawker - but communications from Babylon subsequently stopped as the Society extended a communications blackout across the various worlds they had captured.[18]

Babylon had already become a Society stronghold in secret prior to the Coyote assault; like the worlds of Circe, Dagda and Huntress, the Society had numerous enclaves based around research and production sites on Babylon that the Clans had either forgotten or had assumed had been closed down when the original research programs were directed by the warrior caste to be closed down. Many of these enclaves were in wilderness regions, whilst others had been constructed within the supposedly-sealed Brian Caches dotted around the planet.[18]

As communications across the Clan Homeworlds collapsed in 3072 a number of Clans found themselves in a state of steadily increasing difficulty, particularly as the different Clans began actively preying on each other to obtain the resources they needed for survival. In late 3072 Clan Ice Hellion had been forced to withdraw to Hector, in part because of the dispatch of so much of their touman on the abortive invasion of the Clan Jade Falcon Occupation Zone in the Inner Sphere, and the Hellions were desperately trying to eke out their resources through a mixture of strict rationing and prioritization along with whatever negotiations their merchant caste could manage. Word began to spread of collusion between the Ice Hellions and the Dark Caste, tainting negotiations and causing them to fail; a merchant convoy from the Ice Hellions arrived in the Babylon system late in the year, only to be destroyed by a Clan Coyote WarShip already present in the system.[20]

In 3075 the destruction of much of the Society and the resulting Cleansing of Clan Coyote left the Coyotes vulnerable to the other Clans, particularly because of the extent of the holdings the Coyotes had seized during the early years of the Wars of Reaving. The principal Coyote homeworld, Tamaron, was considered irrevocably tainted because of the battles there and the lingering Society presence, and the remainder of Clan Coyote chose to relocate their seat of power from Tamaron to Babylon as a part of drawing down their holdings to those systems and worlds considered to be key strategic or resource assets.[21]

Society cells continued to cause a problem within the Homeworlds, with secret enclaves being uncovered and destroyed in 3077 on Babylon, Barcella and Ironhold. Although the Coyote forces were zealous in their destruction of the Society enclave, they held back from destroying the nearby OmniMech plant - the only such plant on the planet - and later constructed an enclave nearby, placed deliberately in sight of the ruins of the Society facility as a reminder of the consequences of internal dissent.[22]

Unbeknown to the other Clans in the Homeworlds, the Diamond Sharks returned to the Babylon system in 3075, after the Clan had been believed to have been evicted from the various Clan worlds. The Diamond Sharks infiltrated a small Watch-led group transported on two JumpShips into the outskirts of the Babylon system, at the location of a small naval cache. The only cache the Diamond Sharks had in the system, the naval cache consisted of two mothballed WarShips and a handful of older JumpShips; the Diamond Sharks hoped to return these vessels to active service, and then to infiltrate agents into the Homeworld Clans. Only one of the two WarShips proved salvageable within the resources available, but the Diamond Sharks successfully reactivated the Essex-class destroyer SLS Marseilles. A number of lower castemen and solahma volunteered to infiltrate the enclaves on Babylon while the Marseilles and the bulk of the party returned to the Inner Sphere. The Marseilles successfully completed the journey and a number of the infiltrators were able to feed information back to the Diamond Sharks; the last report from any member of this infiltration group was transmitted in early 3086.[23]

Political Affiliation[edit]

3062[edit]

  • Clan Cloud Cobra[14]
  • Clan Coyote[14]
  • Clan Diamond Shark[14]
  • Clan Ice Hellion[14]

3067[edit]

  • Clan Cloud Cobra (26%)[24]
  • Clan Coyote (27%)[24]
  • Clan Diamond Shark (24%)[24]
  • Clan Ice Hellion (23%)[24]

3072[edit]

  • Clan Coyote (100%)[7]

3075[edit]

  • Clan Coyote (100%)[25]

3085[edit]

  • Clan Coyote (100%)[26]

Military Deployment[edit]

3059[edit]

3061[edit]

Geography[edit]

Babylon has five continents named Abyssinia, Callandra, Corsen, Solath and Valence and was named for the capital of Hammurabi an Akkadian city-state. One notable feature of Babylon is the large mountain chain known as the Snaefell Mountains, whose shielding effect allowed the formation of an area suitable for human habitation and protected from the dry and windy climate that predominates on the world.[4]

Planetary Locations[edit]

  • Camlaan: city.
  • Graten: city.
  • Hope: city.
  • Logan: city.
  • Luyden: city.
  • Marron: city.
  • New Drineshane: city.
  • Ponomia: city.
  • Port Talbot: city
  • Sumta: city.
  • Versailles: city.
  • Yoma: city.

Industrial Centers[edit]

Local Fauna[edit]

Babylon VI[edit]

Babylon VI
Geophysical
System position 6th[13]
Moons 7[13]
Infrastructure

Babylon VI, also known as Sinclair to inhabitants of the Clan Homeworlds, is a world rich in ice and mineral resources, and is orbited by seven moons.[13]

Nearby Systems[edit]

Systems within 60 light-years (distance in light years)
Closest systems first:
Dagda 9.2 Arcadia 11.1 Circe 14 Eden 16.3
Fasa 32.5

References[edit]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 135, "Babylon Profile"
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 The Wars of Reaving, p. 232, "Babylon"
  3. The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky, p. 112, Clan-Space Worlds Table
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 62, 135 - Babylon background and description.
  5. Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 42, "Naval Cache objective of inbound Clans, noted for being the largest established by the SLDF".
  6. The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky, p. 103 Babylon - Info on Babylon as of 3062.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Technical Readout: 3075, p. 138, "Pariah" - 'Mech article notes that Clan Coyote seizes complete control of Babylon.
  8. The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky, p. 102, "Clan Space"
  9. Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 18 - Hidden Hope - Date and year Exodus Fleet arrived at Babylon established.
  10. The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky, p. 103 - Planetary plague cured by SLDF scientists on Babylon’s moon.
  11. Historical: Operation Klondike, p. 135, "Babylon" - Planet profile includes early colonization efforts.
  12. Historical: Operation Klondike pp. 62-63 - units assigned to captured Babylon.
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Historical: Operation Klondike, pp. 42-44 - The Recon Mission into Babylon and Clan’s initial jump in to capture Babylon’s space population.
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky, p. 103 - Samplings of Babylon's history as of 3062.
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 Wars of Reaving, p. 24-25, "Coyote Diet"
  16. 16.0 16.1 Wars of Reaving, p. 51, "The Raven Absorption"
  17. Technical Readout: 3075, p. 138 "Pariah" - 'Mech profile include Babylon assault leaving planet in Clan Coyote's control.
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 Wars of Reaving, p. 93
  19. Wars of Reaving, p. 92, "Equipping the Invisible"
  20. Wars of Reaving, p. 111, "The Hellion Fades"
  21. Wars of Reaving, p. 148, "Feeding Frenzy"
  22. Wars of Reaving, p. 164, "Clan Coyote"
  23. Wars of Reaving, p. 172, "Clan Diamond Shark"
  24. 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 Wars of Reaving, p. 228, "Political balance Table, 3067"
  25. Wars of Reaving, p. 248, "Political balance Table, 3075"
  26. Wars of Reaving, p. 249, "Political Balance Table, 3085"
  27. Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 152, "Crusader Clans Deployment Table"
  28. Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 153, "Crusader Clans Deployment Table"
  29. 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 29.5 29.6 29.7 Field Manual: Warden Clans, p. 161, "Warden Clans Deployment Table"
  30. 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 30.4 Field Manual: Warden Clans, p. 162, "Warden Clans Deployment Table"
  31. Field Manual: Warden Clans, p. 163, "Warden Clans Deployment Table"

Bibliography[edit]
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