Beitun

The Beitun system is a remote, earth-like system orbiting a standard yellow star. It was largely forgotten during the succession wars and remained independent after the fall of the Rim Worlds Republic, until it was conquered by Clan Ashen Corsac. Its main world of Beitun III is largely agrarian.

## Affiliation Timeline

* **2298** - Independent - First recorded habitation
* **2338** - Rim Worlds Republic - Peaceful Integration
* **2779** - Independent
* **3066** - Clan Ashen Corsac - Conquest

## Physical Characteristics

### Atmosphere

Breathable* 21.20% Oxygen
* 2.02% Argon
* 74.6% Nitrogen

## Demographic Characteristics

### Planetary Characteristics

Beitun III is a large but relatively low density world with slightly higher gravity than Terra but comparable climate and stellar properties. Poor in heavy elements and minerals, with the near totality of such elements being in its Core, it is a warm and humid world with a rich soil and sprawling arable plains, forest, jungles and wetlands. It takes roughly 26 standard hours to make one rotation and 352 Terran days to complete one revolution.

The world is roughly evenly split between oceans and landmasses. Tectonic activity is low and the trade winds are modest, making quakes and storms a rare occurrence and mostly contained to the monsoon seasons. Rain however is quite frequent and can be long and intense with the exception of areas far inland and the equatorial deserts. The world's hydrography is complex, with its networks of rivers and streams being many and wide.

#### Infrastructure

Beitun is a largely rural colony with a traditional dominant architectural style. Wooden buildings are favored, though treated with modern coatings to make them much less susceptible to fire than their historical counterpart. These wooden building can be quite large and tall, especially those built using the lumber from Grenze's giant Darkwood Sierra trees. More modern building materials can be found in the capital of Lu'an Hiélu - the only truly large urban center of the planet - but even there woodworks remain important. The only exception to this rule are the equatorial deserts, where concret and metal are used.

Power generation and personal transportation have historically been heavily reliant on fossil fuels and internal combustion engines, for which natural gas and kerosene are preferred respectively. Heavy oil is used for the riverine barges and ships that prowl the planet's extensive network of rivers and streams and make up the main nerve of large-scale commercial or industrial transport, which is generally crops or textiles of various kinds. Efforts to phase out fossil fuels have began since the Corsac takeover, and vast solar arrays have been installed in the equatorial deserts to provide power grid needs. Giant, colorful fields of teas, spices or flowers can be seen from up high depending on the season, as large-scale agriculture takes up vast swathes of the world's arable plains and make up the backbone of its economy.

#### Demographics

Beitun III's dominant demographics are Chinese and Russian, though they share little to no ties with the culturally similar Capellan Confederation due to having left the core worlds prior to its institution. These two major influences largely dominate the world's architectural style and cultural tastes. The people are largely fond of conformity and a peaceful, agrarian life, which is often presented as an utopia far away from the wars and unrest of the Inner Sphere. It takes a lot for the people of Beitun III to rebel, but when they do, they do so in very covert and scheming fashion, preferring hacktivism, sabotage, or even assassination to public protests.

### Planetary History

#### Early History

Beitun III was originally settled by groups of Chinese and Russian settlers who sought to escape the oppressive Terran Alliance and who hoped to do so by traveling as far from the central stars as the supplies and fuel they could scrounge up would allow, and then some more just to be sure. They eventually settled for a faraway world that they believed could be a paradise world of warm, calm climate and plentiful land. Once they did, they were somewhat dismayed to realize the world was so poor in mineral resources, providing a considerable challenge to colonization and plans for later industrialization, but this proved to be a blessing in disguise. Once the isolation was no longer enough to keep the people safe, its lack of mineral resources or strategic assets ensured it was never a priority for imperialistic powers.

Over time however, Beitun III became a major breadbasket world that would provide food, textiles and luxury goods to nearby worlds. It became a member of the Rim Worlds Republic under Maxwell Rowe's rule, as the Republic has (some) of the mineral resources Beitun lacked, and it had considerable agricultural supplies to export. This proved to be an highly mutually beneficial relationship, as rich mining worlds tend to be dry and hot and generally unsuitable for self-sustaining food production.

#### Reunification Wars

Though the world was not very affected by the Star League's massive import tariffs which caused uproar elsewhere, the one-two blows of Gregory Amaris' Universal Act of Loyalty and Manchester Directive pushed the people of Beitun III over the edge and towards the rebellion of the Rim Provisional Government. The planet saw fighting during the subsequent SLDF operation MAILED FIST as it was of modest atrategic importance as the regional breadbasket. The conflict opposed the rebel Ninth Amaris Fusiliers and the some elements of the SLDF 4th Corp, but the Fusiliers were defeated relatively quickly. The people of Beitun III would proceed to enact subversive activity of various levels of violence against SLDF or loyalist occupation forces for several years afterwards, only fully ceasing after the full withdrawal of occupation forces.

#### Amaris Coup

In a similar fashion, Beitun III did not suffer much from the otherwise catastrophic conflict that was the Amaris Coup. After most of the Rim Worlds Military forces were transferred to the Terran Hegemony for the coup, only local militia and paramilitary security forces remained on the planet. When Aleksander Kerensky's blitzkrieg of the Republic's worlds reached Beitun, its forces could not offer much of any real resistance and the results of the previous months of campaign elsewhere in the Republic left little reason to fight. Only a small number of diehard holdouts offered resistance and were quickly swept asides by the SLDF while the rest simply surrendered.

#### Succession Wars

After the fall of the Rim Worlds Republic, Beitun III became an independent world. It was just far enough from the borders of the Lyran Commonwealth and lacking enough in strategic resources or industries that the successor state never saw any need to conquer it, especially with all of the new worlds it had to integrate and administrate. As such, throughout the devastation of the Succession Wars, the worst that the people of Beitun had worry about was the frequent depredation of pirates and raiders. This state of affairs would remain unchanged throughout the four Succession Wars and the subsequent Clan Invasion, and it suited the people of Beitun well. As long as they were able to tend their fields and relax under the trees in peace, nothing else mattered.

#### Restoration Wars

It was only in 3066, on the tail end of the FedCom civil war, that conflict would return to Beitun, which saw its own smaller version of the Invasions from 15 years prior as the 1st Corsac Reiter cluster from the newly formed Clan Ashen Corsac unexpectedly appeared over the world. Once more, its militia were quickly overrun and the planet was occupied. Scattered members of the militia attempted to enact the type of guerilla warfare and subversive activity which their world had much experience with, but this time the response was far less meek.

Insurgent hide-outs were burst into with extreme prejudice and torched, the militants either burned alive or reduced to mulch by the frightful, demonic-looking Salamander Battle Armor. When they happened in the cities and towns, these displays were extremely public, brutal and gruesome, When the insurgents hid away in the forests, they would simply go dark without any warning or indication. The population was terrified at first, but things settled down when they realized that the Corsac only made use of violence as a response to violence or otherwise treacherous subversive activity. All they had to do was continue to tend to their fields as they always had, without complaining too much about the new rules, and they would be well left alone as they wished, with increased levels of technology, infrastructure and healthcare facilities.

Past the initial fright, Beitun III would do as it always had, and became the breadbasket of the Corsacs' core worlds. Its militia was considerably strengthened, and it would occasionally see conflicts and Trials, but none especially major. It also has the distinction of being the very first world struck by Alpha Galaxy at the opening of the Restoration Wars.

### Strategic Assets

#### Military Deployments

2573:

* 9th Amaris Fusiliers

2750:

* 7th Amaris Lancers

2780

* Beitun Militia

3068

* 5th Chasseurs Garrison Cluster
* 5th Aegis Garrison Cluster

#### Major Locations

* **Lu'an Hiélu** - The capital of Beitun III has every trapping of a tourist resort, except the towering hotels and the scam markets. It is a sprawling city of old-fashioned wooden building of ancient Chinese design with their pagoda roofs and prominent rafters, mixed in Imperial Russian buildings with their colorful facades and resplendent onion-like tower domes. The city streets themselves are overlapped with canals much like those of the famous Venise of old Terra, and it is possible and even frequent to go around by vintage boats. The Lu'an Hiélu bazaar is the best place in the entire sector to find rare and high quality teas, spices and vintage apparel of genuine linen or silk, as well as local food of all kinds.
* **Beitun Grand Arena** - Constructed by the Corsacs effectively as a sort of competition to Solaris VII's own game stadium, the Beitun Grand Arena is a network of individual arenas where Warriors from all around the Inner Sphere can come to test and demonstrate their martial skills. Though many of the arenas are battlefields for Mechs, there are also arenas for Battle Armor, race circuits on air and land, and other facilities designed to test athletism and navigation skills rather than straight up combat. A maglev bullet train links the Grand Arena to Lu'an Hiélu, and scores of complementary facilities are present on site for people to gather, drink and discuss.

#### Major Industries

* **Chaolan Agroponics** - One of the very few major corporations with advanced technology on Beitun, Chaolan Agroponics is a producer of high-end foodstuff. They came to prominence as a regional provider of gourmet luxury products before branching off into Hydroponics solution for water-poor or harsh worlds then high-density foodstuff for jumpship and warship stores.