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Handbook House Marik

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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FAMILIES 5INTRODUCTION 9HISTORY 11

TotheStars 11First Blood 13Out of the Frying Pan… 14

TheAgeofWar 18A Reluctant Hero 18

ParadigmShift 19CreatingtheStarLeague 22TheStarLeagueEra 22

Backlash 22The Scourge of Death 26Descent 27Endgame 30

FirstSuccessionWar 30SecondSuccessionWar 35ThirdSuccessionWar 40

Accession 44Anton’s Revolt 45

FourthSuccessionWarandBloodyAndurien 46TheComingoftheClansandtheEagle’sRise 50

TOUROFTHEREALM 57HowtoReadThisAtlas 57MarikCommonwealth 59

Atreus 59Marik 60New Olympia 60Augustine 61Keystone 61

PrincipalityofRegulus 62Regulus 62Aitutaki 63Tiber 63

DuchyofOriente 64Oriente 64Les Halles 65Fletcher 65

DuchyofAndurien 66Andurien 66Sadurni 67Lopez 67

MinorProvincesandIndependentWorlds 68Stewart 68Helm 68Alula Australis 69Irian 70Tamarind 70New Delos 71Sirius 71Shiloh 72Kalidasa 72Zion 73Gibson 73Campoleone 74Claybrooke 74

Cerillos 75Dieudonne 75Vanra 76Zosma 76Ohrensen 77Camlann 77

FREEWORLDSGOVERNMENT 78TheCaptain-General 78Parliament 78

Parties and Voting Blocs 83The League Council 84Lords of the Realm 84

FederalGovernmentMinistries 84Ministry of Communications 85Ministry of Defense 85Ministry of Foreign Affairs 85Ministry of Energy 85Ministry of Human Services 86Ministry of Intelligence 86Ministry of Justice 86Ministry of Taxation 86Ministry of Trade 87

LeagueGeneralAccountingOffice(LGAO) 87LocalGovernment 87

Civilian Dictatorship 88Military Dictatorship 88Oligarchy 88Feudal Autocracy 88Representative Commonality 88Participatory Democracy 88

LeagueNobility 89Major Houses 90House Marik 90

Captain-General Thomas Marik 90Isis Marik 90Alys Rousset-Marik 91Colonel Corinne Marik 91Therese Marik-Brett 91

House Halas 92House Stewart 92House Cameron-Jones 92House Humphreys 92Minor Houses 92

House Orloff 92House Smith 92House Bey 92House Stimson 92

SAFE 94Training 94Command 94Operational Branches 95

Analysis Branch 95Covert Operations 95Counter-intelligence 95

FREEWORLDSLEAGUEMILITARY 96StructureoftheFWLM 96

Chain of Command 96The Captain-General 98League Central Coordination and Command 98Military District Commands 99

MajorTrainingCenters 101Aitukati Academy 101Allison MechWarrior Institute 101Athene Combat School 101Atreus Officer Training College 102Legionary Training Academy 102Lloyd Marik-Stanley Aerospace School 102Orloff Military Academy 102Princefield Military Acedmy 103

UnitTypes 103Federal Troops 103Provincial Forces 103Mercenary Troops 104

Uniforms 104Insignia 104Dress Uniform 104Field Uniforms 104Ranks 105

Captain-General 105Marshal 105General 105Colonel 105Lieutenant Colonel 105Force Commander 105Captain 106Lieutenant 106(Ensign) 106Sergeant Major 106Master Sergeant 106Staff Sergeant 106Sergeant 106Corporal 106Private, 1st Class 106Private 106Recruit 106

Medals and Honors 106Crest of the Eagle 106Silver Cross 106Distinguished Service Awards 107Raiding Ribbons 107Conquest Ribbons 107Defensive Operations Ribbons 107Star League Service Pin 107Life Service Medal 107Oriente Legion of Merit 107Order of the Sabre 107Regulan Ankh 107Allison’s Chain 107Halls of Heroes 107

SOCIETYANDCULTURE 108PeoplesandCultures 108

Languages 108

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Social Groups 108CrimeandJustice 110

Courts 110Police and Security Forces 111

Education 112Free Worlds Technical Institute 112Loeches Trade School 112Maarakiva University 112Loyalty Theatrical Academy 113Kira Place 113Saint Catherine’s University Hospital 113Hero Training Institutes 113Our Lady Maria Auxiliadora Preparatory School 113

Religion 114Christianity 114Judaism 115Islam 115Hinduism 115Buddhism 115Other Faiths 115

FestivalsandTraditions 116MediaandtheArts 117

Arts 117Media 117Other Recreational Activities 118

ClothingandStyle 118ScienceandTechnology 119SocialandPoliticalMovements 120

BlakeWatch 120Fifth of November Compact 120Campaign for Regional Autonomy (CamRA) 121Trade Unions 121Society of Kerensky Ascendant 121

ECONOMY 123NationalEconomy 123

What’s In Your Wallet: Cash and Credit in the FWL 124Free Worlds Central Bank 124League Exchange Markets 125Foreign Trade 126

MilitaryEngineering 127Austen-Armstrong Industries 127Brigadier Corporation 127Brooks, Inc 127

Corean Enterprises – Macadams – Suharno 128Diverse Optics Inc. 128Earthwerks-FWL, Inc. 128Exeter Organization 129Free Worlds Defense Industries 129Fusion-Flametech Weapon Corporation 130Garret Satcomm 130Gilmour Miltech 130Grumman Amalgamated 130Guttierez Aerospace 131Imperator Automatic Weaponry Corporation 131Irian Technologies 131Kali-yama Weapons Industries 132Kallon Industries 133Kerr-McGuinness 133Kong Interstellar Corporation 133Magna Metals Inc 133Nimakachi Fusion Products 134Oriente Weaponworks Corporation 134Quickscell, Inc. 134Starcorp (FWL) Industries 135

NavalEngineering 135Deller, Bingham & Fouts 135Illium Naval Engineering 135Imstar Aerospace 136Selasys Incorporated 136Technicron Engineering 136

CivilEngineeringandAgriculture 137Agrifarm Products 137Curtiss Hydroponics 137DuraPaq Solutions 138

Services 138The Caritas Agency 138The Carreño Life Sciences 138Faith Publishing Alliance 139Free Flight, LTD 139Highpoint Traders 139Irian Media Interstellar 139Kensai Holographiks 140Laurent Infomedia 140Mediquick Services 140Scarborough Licensing PLC 141Synergy-Innovation Concepts 141

HOUSEMARIK:RULESANNEX 142ClassicBattleTechRPGRules 142Sub-Regions 142Traits 142

Investments 144Magnetic Personality 144

Skills 144Sleight of Hand 144Performance 144

AdditionalLifePaths 145Events 145Stage 4: Career Bureaucrat 145Agitator 146Tour of Duty: Test Pilot 146

Creatures 148Lesser Branth 148Hodson Flyer 148Tarise 149Tellman Bats 149Mordred Lizard 150Chalice Hunter 150Calloway Wildebeest 151

PersonalEquipment 151Anti-Aircraft (AA) Weapons 151

Vehicles 152Poseidon Mobile Engineering Platform 152Hector Road Train 153Ibex RV 154

CostofLivingintheFreeWorldsLeague 155RoleplayingintheFreeWorldsLeague 158

Advanced Experience Bonuses 158Nationalities 158FWL Adventure Hooks 159

ClassicBattleTechRules 164New Environments 164New Unit Types 165

Anti-air Infantry 165Argo 166

INDEX 167RECORDSHEETS 172

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CrEdiTS

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WritingChris Hartford

Original House Marik SourcebookAdventure Architects (Walter H. Hunt and Richard K. Meyer)C. R. Green

Product DevelopmentHerbert A. Beas IIRandall N. Bills

Product EditingDiane Piron-Gelman

BattleTech Line DeveloperRandall N. Bills

Production StaffArt Direction

Randall N. BillsCover Art

Franz VohwinkelCover & Header Design

Jim NelsonLayout

David M. Stansel-GarnerIllustrations

Attila Adorjany Robert C. AtkinsonDoug ChaffeeEarl GeierChris LewisGerhard MozsiKlaus ScherwinskiMatt Yo

Color SectionFranz Vohwinkel Klaus Scherwinski

MapsØystein Tvedten

Handbook Series Fact-CheckersPaul Bowman, Rich Cencarik, Loren Coleman, Ken’ Horner, Peter La Casse, Mike Miller,

David McCulloch, Jeffrey “Highlander” Morgan, “Medron Pryde”, Rick Raisley, Ben “Ghost Bear” Rome, Christopher Searls, Paul Sjardijn, Peter Smith, Christoffer “Bones” Trossen, Øystein Tvedten, Chris “Chinless” Wheeler, Andreas Zuber

AcknowledgementsAfter twenty years of sourcebooks and novels, a sourcebook of this

scope simply draws on the work of too many people for them to be named individually. Instead, a heartfelt thanks is extended to those who contributed in one way or another over the years (you know who you are) to the body of work that is Classic BattleTech.

To Andreas “Gab” Gabriel for work on the creature illustrations.

A Round of ThanksThanks to Randall and Herb for tolerating my extreme tardiness and giving

excellent advice at all stages of the project. Many of the sneaky things in here I

stole from one of them. I hope the book is worthy successor to Herb’s excellent Handbook: House Steiner. Thanks to Øystein Tvedten for maps and border suggestions; the fact-checking ensemble (named above) who kept me honest and offered many fine suggestions—any mistakes herein are my own; my fellow Handbook writers: Herb, Randall, Loren, Christoffer, Diane; the artists—in particular Franz, Klaus and Doug, whose work I saw at various stages of development—who make things come alive; and of course the players, whose love and concern for the game is a constant source of inspiration.

Special ThanksTo the “powers that be” for allowing me another BattleTech book (two

more and I hit the fabled fiftieth!) and for keeping me involved in the wonderfully complex existence that is BattleTech.

PlaytestersJoel Agee, Raymond Arrastia, Daniel Ball, Ron “Steel Hawke” Barter,

George “Skyhigh” Blouin, Rick Casarez, Brent Dill, Benjamin “Hawk” Disher, Tim DuPertuis, John “Quentil” Dzieniszewski, David Fanjoy, Jeff Fletcher, Bruce Ford, John Gordon, Aaron “Bear” Gregory, Anthony “Shadhawk” Hardenburgh, John “Worktroll” Haward, Ross “Koga” Hines, Rodney Klatt, Michael “Konan” Koning, Edward “TenakaFurey” Lafferty, Edward Lott, Keith

“Vang” Oberschulte, Darrel “FlailingDeath” Myers, Lou “Nukeloader” Myers, Andrew Norris, Nathaniel Olsen, Aaron Pollyea, Simon “Big Ken” Pratt, Rick

“Rick Steele” Remer, Jason “Psychopompous” Richter, Chris “Chunga” Smith, Joel “Septicemia” Steverson, Michael “GuruMike” Stouffer, Rob Strathmann, Geoff “97jedi” Swift, Roland “Ruger” Thigpen, Todd Thrash, Christine Tucker, Jason “Panzerfaust 150” Weiser, Aaron A. Williams, Patrick “Roosterboy” Wynne, Mark “Speck” Yingling (and of course, the fact-checkers and freelancers I mentioned above, who have always been there to help trash a rule or two for good measure…)

©2005 WizKids, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Classic BattleTech Handbook: House Marik, Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, ’Mech, BattleMech, Classic BattleTech RPG, AeroTech 2, and WK Games are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of WizKids, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the Copyright Owner, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published. Printed in the USA.

Published by FanPro LLC 1608 N. Milwaukee • Suite 1005 • Chicago, IL 60647

Find us online:Precentor_martial@classicbattletech.com

(e-mail address for any Classic BattleTech questions)http://www.classicbattletech.com

(official Classic BattleTech web pages)http://www.fanprogames.com

(FanPro web pages)http://www.mwdarkage.com

(official MechWarrior: Dark Age web pages)http://www.wizkidsgames.com

(WizKids web pages)http://www.studio2publishing.com

(online ordering)

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FAmiLiES

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A gentle gust of wind blew the Duchess of Augustine’s auburn hair across her face as she leaned forward to retrieve her sun-glasses. She tucked the errant strand behind her ear as she

settled the dark lenses on her nose. Her eyes shielded from the late-summer sun, Alys Rousset-Marik took a sip from her iced beverage and regarded the gathering before her in this garden that held so many memories.

Here, she and her siblings had played with reckless abandon, climbing trees and swimming in the large pond. Over there was the long lawn where she’d learned weapons from her mother, first the bow that remained in favor as a courtly pastime, later the pistols and rifles that were tools of both leisure and business. In her mind’s eye, she could see Ana laughing as the arrow went wide and almost skew-ered the dog, or Janos tearing into the house to fetch their mother when Alys fell out of the tree and broke her arm.

All these were ghosts now, dead on Coventry or in its bloody af-termath, casualties of a family at war with itself. Ironically, this time it was not her own family—the Marik’s bloody history was well-known across the Inner Sphere, with “Marik” synonymous with civil war—though the Coventry campaign and Thomas’ de-facto abandonment of his sister, Alys’ mother, had set in motion events that might follow the same path. Hence today’s gathering. Ostensibly, it was a birth-day party for young Calvin, who sometimes called Alys “Mum” and thankfully didn’t remember his mother’s bloody demise at the hands of the LAAF. He wasn’t an orphan, but with Serge off fighting his own private war with the Elsies—a campaign Alys funded, an open secret at court—the six-year old might as well be. “Auntie Alys” was the clos-est thing to a mother he had ever known, and the duchess did not want the boy to go through what she had experienced five years ago in the bloody betrayals of the FedCom Civil War.

At 26 years old, Alys had already experienced more than most people do in a lifetime.

“Careful Calvin, don’t push.” The boy halted his rough-and-tumble with his cousin Trent, Jerome Stewart’s boy, who was a year or so older but lacked Calvin’s exuberance. For a moment, the bundle of energy subsided into respectful acquiescence, but after a few seconds the admonition was forgotten and the two boys resumed their mad dash around the grounds, watched closely by dark-clad security men.

Little Giselle, Corrine’s daughter—between the boys in age—stood calmly watching the proceedings, her rag doll clutched to her chest. After one particularly jarring crash between the two dashing boys, she hid the doll’s face. “Tante Alys, my Anson will never be silly like that,” she said solemnly. Alys smiled at the dark-haired girl. Was I ever that serious?

“It’s okay, poppet,” Corrine said from the lounger adjacent to Alys, embracing her daughter. “I’m sure your dolly will be just fine.” Though Corrine was almost fifteen years older than Alys, the two cousins looked remarkably similar and could have passed for siblings.

“Why don’t you go and play with the boys for a bit, hmm?” The little girl gently placed the doll in a spare seat. Reticence

abandoned and skirts flying, she dashed off to join her playmates.“You know, Corr, this is only the second time I recall seeing you in

civvies. I was Giselle’s age the last time, I think.”“Dad said I was married to the military for so long, and poor

Dominic has to share his wife with a regiment.” Corrine forced a grin, though her eyes reflected her internal concern. She commanded the

‘Mechs of the Second Free Worlds Legionnaires and was bound for high rank, assuming politics didn’t snag her. “But at least we serve to-gether, unlike you and what’s-his-name in the Atreans. How are you two getting on, by the way?” She grinned.

“Christian, and none of your business, at least while the children are around.” Alys grinned back. “And great-grandpa.” She gestured over to where the 122-year-old Androcles Stewart, a product of League medical science, sat dozing in the shade of a tree, his youngest great-great-granddaughter, five-year-old Carmen, asleep in his lap.

A liveried servant refilled Alys’ glass and then faded back into the scenery, a skill the young duchess often wished she possessed. She found the constant attention afforded to the ruling family oppres-sive, but without the security detachments and selected staff, daily life could quickly become hazardous, as several Mariks had found to their brief and fatal surprise over the centuries. Alys’ mother had tried to live outside those strictures, first with Lagendorf’s Lancers and later as head of her own unit, but even there she couldn’t fully escape family politics: Uncle Thomas’ decision not to stage a rescue mission in the FedCom Civil War and Uncle Jeremy’s contravention of Thomas’ orders to do just that. Fracture lines, as her little tête-à-tête with Thomas im-mediately after the rescue had demonstrated. Relations with Thomas Marik had been frosty ever since, while her relationship with Therese Marik and her husband Jeremy had warmed considerably.

A smartly dressed woman strode across the patio, her formal suit more in line with the security detail than the chic casualness of the gathered Mariks. “Colonel Brett-Marik will be here in about two min-utes, duchess.”

“Thank you, Jasmine. Are my uncle and aunt with him?”“They are not on the schedule, ma’am. Security advises that young

Anthony is, however. ““Well, the boy can take charge of the younglings. He’s off to

Princefield in a few years, I believe; he can consider this a test of his leadership abilities.” Jasmine smiled and Corrine laughed, looking at the chaos her daughter was causing with the two boys.

“You have a vicious streak, did you know?” Corrine said. I’m sure some of the family already knew, Alys thought.The crackle of a radio and a subtle shift in position by the security

guards announced the arrival of the next guests at the soirée. Tall and lanky like his father but with his mother’s classical looks and raven hair, Photon Brett-Marik was every inch the martial Marik. His arm was draped around a youth of surprisingly similar appearance. Giselle immediately left her “immature” playmates and dashed over to the newcomers. “Tony, Tony, come and play.” For all his size and age advantage, the boy knew when discretion was the better part of valor and allowed himself to be dragged off.

“My, she’s precocious. Then again, maybe it’s genetic. One hears stories. How old were you when you decided you were going to mar-ry Dominic?” Alys asked innocently.

Corrine’s response was to throw a lemon slice at her cousin.“A philosophical difference?” Photon asked as he settled into a

free chair.“You could say that. You’re early.”“We came on ahead. Mum and dad are stuck in the city for a while,

some function of the big man. Anthony liked the motorcade lights and sirens, though. They’re not often an option back home.” Home was Khe Shang province on Tamarind.

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