World Name: Lothario
Star Type: M3III
Position in System: 2
Time to Jump Point: 2.69 days
Recharging Station: None
Noble Ruler: Lorelei Logan, Grand Mistress of
the Lothian League
ComStar Facility Class: None
ComStar Representative: None
Population: 2,020,000
Percentage and Level of Native Life: 20%,
Mammal
Description:
The capital of the seven-member Lothian League, Lothario is
typical of the other worlds of the League. This small world has a
thin atmosphere and is perpetually covered in ice and snow, with
only marginal zones of habitation centered upon the planet's
equator. A rather beautiful world, it is known for its
spectacular aurora arising from the frequently intense solar
winds of its parent sun.
The Lothian League is a collection of seven ice-and-snow
planets located beyond the outer reaches of the Lyran
Commonwealth. The League ruler is Dame Lorelei Logan, "the
Ice Maiden" and the direct descendant of Angelina Logan
(leader of a group of patriots from the Taurian Concordat who
fled into deep space to avoid capture by the Star League).
Settled in 2691, Lothario, the capital of the Lothian League, was
discovered to be rich in metals. In the last century, these have
been used to foster expansion deeper into the Periphery to form a
confederation, with the Logan family at its head.
The only serious threat to the League's existence came in
2933, when renegade mercenaries from units shattered in the
latest round of Succession War fighting stumbled upon the League
quite by accident. For four years, both sides conducted a series
of raids and counter-raids until, at long last, the mercenaries
left to seek easier prey elsewhere. These actions cost the League
its few JumpShips and damaged what little industry on Lothario
had managed to emerge over the last three centuries. This
destruction forced the ruling Logan family to renew trade ties
with other planets of the Periphery in a desperate effort to
avoid economic ruin. In the last century, the League has become a
principal supplier of copper and iron ores to the Magistracy and
the Taurian Concordat, receiving in turn agricultural and mining
equipment to sustain its fragile existence.
Though on good terms with her Illyrian and Circinian
counterparts, the Ice Maiden wants little to do with the Houses
of the Inner Sphere. She has limited contact with the Inner
Sphere to contract with small mercenary bands to defend League
worlds against raids from the Marion Hegemony. At present, the
Lothian League has two mercenary battalions within its
territories, though the identity and quality of these units are
unknown.
The typical Lothian citizen is a rugged individualist who
wants little to do with the universe at large. As long as he and
his family can eke out a marginal living, he is content to let
the rest of the universe pound itself to dust. Literacy and
technology levels are low, but the average standard of living is
surprisingly adequate. The Lothian League remains an archetypical
example of the old adage: let sleeping dogs lie.
Lothario exports large quantities of furs, iron, and copper
ores to worlds within the Magistracy and Taurian Concordat.
Indeed, its trapping industry has created impressive revenues as
demand for the rich pelts has grown in the last century. Most of
the planet's inhabitants exist in subterranean conclaves, though
a few hardy souls continue to scrape out sustenance on the
planet's surface, fiercely defending their small agricultural
plots. The average Lotharian is highly territorial and suspicious
of any offworlder.
Throughout 3052 and 3053, Caesar Sean O'Reilly of the Marian
Hegemony staged several raids on Lothian planets, gradually
wearing down the mercenary units defending them. The attacks
increased in frequency and ferocity as the months wore on,
followed by a full-scale assault by the Marian Legions on 3054.
The Lothian League proved a tougher adversary than the Caesar
had expected, holding out for more than a year against the Marian
assault. Dame Lorelei Logan dipped deeply into the Lothian
treasury to hire additional mercenary units, and her daughter
Liesel led a small Home Guard BattleMech unit against the
invaders with astonishing success. By early 3055, however, the
Legions' superior firepower began to overwhelm the Lothian
League's defenders. Dame Logan made a desperate appeal to the
Taurian Concordat for any troops it could spare, but Protector
Thomas Calderon refused to send help, citing the need to keep his
troops on alert against the danger of an imminent Federated
Commonwealth attack.
The Caesar himself led the assault on Lordinax, the last
League planet to fall. He destroyed the Home Guard, killing
Liesel Logan. Upon his triumphal landing on Lothario, the
League's former capital world, the Caesar ordered Dame Lorelei
and her surviving family taken into custody. The Logans had
disappeared, however, and presumably remain in hiding.
The Marian Hegemony faces continued active and passive
resistance from Lothian citizens who refuse to accept the Marian
domination. The Caesar has installed two-thirds of his Second
Marian Legion across the seven League planets to deal with the
insurgents, but the Legion forces are barely holding their own
against their guerrilla opponents. Further, government officials
installed to enact the Caesar's policies must repeatedly deal
with blatant disregard for their imposed authority. ROM reports
indicate that Lothian freedom fighters are receiving covert
assistance from the Magistracy of Canopus, which hopes to keep
the Caesar and his Legions too busy for further conquests. The
resisters may also be receiving small amounts of money and
supplies from the Illyrian Palatinate, the Caesar's next likely
target.
Unit Name Experience Regiments Homeworld 242nd Hussars Regular 1 Lothario (CO: Major Pierre Laval)
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