Tiegel

The Tiegel system is mostly known for the large Mech factories and extensive mining operations based on the volcanic world of Tiegel IV, but extending on many of the unsettled worlds as well. It was the site of many battles throughout history and is currently controlled by Clan Ashen Corsac. The system is also characterized by its large, hot white star, which push the habitable band quite far back.

### Affiliation Timeline

* **2321** - Independent - First Recorded habitation
* **2488** - Rim Worlds Republic - Peaceful Integration
* **2769** - Star League - Brief Occupation
* **2771** - Rim Worlds Republic
* **2774** - Lyran Commonwealth - Conquest
* **3050** - Clan Jade Falcon - Conquest
* **3064** - Clan Ashen Corsac - Conquest

## Physical Characteristics

### Atmosphere

Breathable, but largely contaminated* 28.95% Oxygen
* 3.92% Argon
* 67% Nitrogen

## Demographic Characteristics

### Development Index

A-A-A-A-C

Tiegel IV is a large and dense world with a high gravity and oxygen content. It is very exhausting for off-worlders to be physically active on for any extended amount of time as a result and many DropShips lack the necessary thrust to escape its gravity well, but its native settlers have long since evolved to be better adapted to this high gravity. It is also a slow world, taking 32 hours to complete a local day and 1'551 days to make one full revolution around its star. The very low axial tilt makes seasons negligible and the climate uniform.

It is largely defined by its strong volcanic activity, which can be extremely intense at times. Though the atmosphere is nominally breathable, the amount of toxic gases and ashes emitted by its volcanic mountain chains effectively make it deadly over vast swathes of land, and localized acid rains occasionally happen. To combat this, the population is largely contained to large arcologies on the surface and even underwater settlements, and large-scale air purification networks are present on the world.

Tiegel IV features three main land masses in jagged, vaguely moon crescent shapes. They are dominated by dark, gray-black basaltic formations and plateaus, between which sprawl savannahs-like biomes of purple tall grass and purple-leaved trees, with an appropriate range of animal wildlife. Its oceans are far more thick with life and giant kept forests due to the high activity of deep sea geothermal vents, and it is not uncommon for civilian submarines going from an underwater city to another to encounter cases of abyssal gigantism.

#### Infrastructure

Tiegel IV is dominated by Arcologies of greater or lesser sizes to protect people against the hostile environments, but all buildings whether big or small are heavy and sturdy as they are made to resist the intense earthquakes that regularly happen on Tiegel as well as support the grinding weight of its own structure under heightened gravity. As a result, most buildings are extremely durable. Even small buildings in the lesser farming homesteads around Vorsehung are sturdy enough to be nearly impervious to small-arms fire. Some of the largest and most durable buildings take concentrated Mech-grade or artillery firepower to breach despite not being military in nature.

Power generation is completely green and renewable as the overwhelming majority of civilian needs are met by a network of geothermal plants that harness the planet's extensive magmatic network to run high efficiency steam turbines. For more specialized, light and mobile application, nuclear reactors and atomic batteries are used. Transportation between Tiegel IV's settlements is primarily done in one of two ways. Firstly, a network of highspeed maglev trains links up all major Arcologies, with smaller lines branching to secondary and tertiary settlements and rovers being used in the outback and Savannah. There is also considerable maritime traffic on the central ocean including large surface freighters and submersibles.

#### Demographics

By far the most common demographic on Tiegel is Germanic, but smaller numbers of Chinese, French and Scandinavian populations can also be found. The average Tiegel native is considerably heavier and wider-framed than baseline due to the thicker bone structure and denser muscle mass that they have evolved to have in the centuries since its first colonization. In general, the people of Tiegel tend to be hard working but rowdy, prone to rouse to brawls. They tend to be stubborn and spiteful, but will deal with their quarrels in a straight-forward manner rather than scheme or connive.

### Planetary History

#### Early History

Tiegel IV was recorded to have been originally settled in 2321 by German and Scandinavian settlers of a Neopagan beliefs who saw it as a nexus of spiritual activity due to its resemblance to fantastical realms of old faiths and its many exotic, unusual characteristics. The fact that prospector scans revealed it to be one of the few truly resource-rich worlds of the Northern Periphery ensured that these early settlers were quickly followed by a large second wave more interested in a quite literal gold rush than by any spiritual enlightenment. As Tiegel IV grew, its religious elements became more and more diluted, but its neopagan faith never completely disappeared, remaining popular with the rebellious and dreamer types.

The world was peacefully integrated into the Rim Worlds Republic in 2488. It had remained fiercely independent in the century and a half prior, initially seeing the early Republic as a LARPing barbarian state lacking credibility. As it progressively shed off these trappings, trade steadily began to establish itself, then eventually flourish. Slowly but surely, Tiegel IV became integrated economically and politically into the Republic over the course of roughly 60 years, but it was only with the end of the Durant line that it began making serious steps to join it.

#### Reunification Wars

In the years immediately preceding the Reunification Wars, significant unrest had grown on Tiegel IV, which was effectively stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. On one hand, the Efrimal Long massacre greatly damaged the reputation of the Rift Republican Army, which would make the people of Tiegel largely hesitant to cast their lot with the Provisional Government once the rebellion started. On the other hand, Gregory Amaris' 2573 Universal Act of Loyalty greatly angered Tiegel's population and ruling caste both, resulting in the world joining Somerset and Lackhove in unilaterally rejecting the Act.

Tiegel IV was blockaded as a result, but due to its mostly self-sufficient economy and the stubborn nature of its people, the embargo was only partially effective. It considerably harmed its export economy, but no shortage of basic goods occured. With the failure of the Embargo, a large task force made up of the 2nd Amaris Fusiliers, 6th Amaris Legionnaires and 3rd Amaris Dragoons - whom had just finished pacifying Somerset - was assembled to siege Tiegel. They were opposed by the 12th Republican Guards and the 9th Amaris Legionnaires, units which had initially been formed through the manpower pool of Tiegel IV's own extensive militia at the time of integration: the Granite Demons.

Gregory Amaris both over-estimated the loyalty of these units and under-estimated their ability to resist against a numerically superior foe after a full year of interdiction if they ever defected. The lesson would be a costly one to learn, as the loyalist taskforce failed to break the 12th Guards and 9th Legionnaires defending Tiegel until the civil war began in 2575, at which point they were hastily recalled to deal with the more urgent matter of widespread defections to the Rim Provisional Army.

In the intervening years, Tiegel IV would maintain a delicate neutrality between the Loyalist and Rebel factions as it struggled to find any side it really wanted to support. Unfortunately for them, the SLDF would prove intent on occupying major worlds and subjugating all RWA formations regardless of their stated affiliation. As a major resource and industrial world within the Republic with a strong RWA garrison of dubious intentions, Tiegel was therefore quickly deemed a target.

The SLDF landed on Tiegel IV in early 2584 with a combined forced of mixed assets from the IVth Corp and the 1st Marik Auxiliary Corps. While the SLDF had generally vastly outnumbered their foes before, they found the standing garrison had been drastically reinforced with militia units built upon the old Granite Demons model and had spent the last 9 years training, preparing and fortifying to protect their 'neutral' world against an invasion by either Rebel or Loyalist troops. Worse, the harrowing gravity of Tiegel IV drastically reduced the effectiveness of off-worlder infantry forces and effectively neutered Jump Infantry regiments entirely.

What followed was a 4-years long grueling siege against a deeply entrenched enemy on an utterly hostile world that fought with a level of fanaticism reminiscent of the battles in the Taurian Concordat and which were able to covertly move troops and supplies via large transport submarines to outflank or bombard attacking forces. The destruction in late 2588 of the 12th Republican Guard's Mech Hunter armored units in the capitol city of Kern and the surrender of the 1st Granite Demons around Vorsehung a few weeks earlier officially marked the end of the conflict. A DCMS contingent was stationed to garrison the world as the SLDF units withdrew to recoup from their heavy losses, but was quickly rotated out for a Marik contingent when the SLDF found out the DCMS heavy-handed policing was threatening to make their hard-won sacrifices go to waste by inciting an irregular warfare insurrection from the tenuously pacified people.

#### Amaris Civil War

By the second half of the 28th century, Tiegel IV had become a major part of the Rim Worlds Republic's military-industrial complex, with the underwater MachtWerk factories assembling considerable numbers of Mechs, engines and electronic systems of all kinds every year and SchwarzsteinMetall's foundries stockpiling thousands of tons of armor and structural alloys. At its peak, it was garrisoned by no less than four Divisions of the Rim World Army, including an elite Imperial Division.

Over half of these forces would be sent to the Terran Hegemony in 2766 to garrison depleted SLDF bases, officially to relieve pressure on the SLDF forces currently embroiled in the Periphery Uprising. At the time, the people of Tiegel had not forgotten that the near entirety of their problems throughout the Reunification era stemmed, directly or indirectly, from Star League and House Cameron's heavy-handed policies, and attempts to appease said policies by weak-willed leaders like Gregory Amaris. As such, they were more than willing to get payback and fought with their usual ferociousness under Stefan Amaris' new Empire.

Tiegel IV itself would only become a battlefield for a relatively short time in 2768 during Aleksander Kerensky's blitzkrieg campaign. In many ways, the tactics of the Reunification Wars were repeated, and were bolstered by the presence of a Castle Brian built by the SLDF in the interim. Two major factors, however, were different this time. The first was that the SLDF, battered as it was from the Periphery Campaign, was far more masterfully lead and driven than in the previous century. The second was that the frightening speed of Kerensky's campaign left much less time for Tiegel to raise and train local militia forces from its stocks.

The battle was still a brutal one with both sides highly motivated, dedicated and well-equipped, but it lasted less than a year, with the world being forced to surrender just a few months before the capital world Appollo in 2769. Thanks to a reluctance to use weapons of mass destruction on both sides, the world was spared too extensive destruction, but it had nonetheless still suffered, and the victorious SLDF was extremely thorough in looting and scavenging every last mech, tank, and weapon systems, down to the last power packs, missiles and autocannon shells, from both Tiegel IV's own sprawling industrial complex and warehouses, but also the remaining undiscovered Castle caches, with its bunkers stripped of any remaining arms and ammunition as well.

As the SLDF moved on towards the Hegemony and left the Rim Worlds Republic behind with its leadership and military decimated to be picked off like carrion by House Steiner and bandit kingdoms, Tiegel's local government declared martial law and an emergency re-armament process. Once again however, time would not be on their time, and with Tiegel IV's relatively intact Mech factories a valuable prize, it was one of the first worlds targeted by the Lyran Commonwealth for invasion. Kerensky had not even landed on Terra yet, and the world had been occupied twice in just a scant few years, while the nation it belonged to was dismembered and the House it swore fealty to annihilated.

#### Succession Wars

After its conquest of Tiegel IV, the Lyran Commonwealth handled the world smartly. Knowing that they were dealing with a highly stubborn and often spiteful people, the Lyrans installed a Duke who more of a diplomat and mediator and who avoided heavy-handed methods. This had considerable effect in avoiding rebellious sentiments and preventing insurrections. Tiegel also presented an interesting opportunity as its long martial tradition and strong people allowed several regiments to be raised rather quickly and easily, so as to garrison the world with local troops, rather than pull Lyran units from the borders who were sorely needed elsewhere.

These new regiments were raised along the lines of the old Granite Demon formations as a way to stoke local pride and further instill loyalty towards the Commonwealth as a liberator rather than a conqueror. This notion would be challenged by the sheer barbaric nature of the coming Succession Wars. Tiegel IV's remote location on the Near Periphery was its first line of defense. Relative isolation meant that only the Draconis Combine was in any logistical position to even so much as try to attack the world. Which they did, many times. As one of the last bastions of Star League era Mech production, Tiegel IV would see no less than four serious invasion - or destruction - attempts by House Kurita throughout the Succession Wars, the 4th through 7th Battles for Tiegel.

The 8th Battle for Tiegel came in 3044 and was a freak event: A Shadow War that would last only a single day between heavily armed elite intelligence agencies covertly acting on the planet. The presence of mercenaries whom the Duke had not hired, yet whom ComStar had contracts 'proving' he did was cause for considerable confusion, and Duke Walter decided to use his connection to rapidly deploy the Muspelheim's Vigil to investigate, a LIC black ops outfit operating under the cover of mercenaries. The reason why he chose an outside element was because the Duke did not know where the mole(s) were and did not know which local units under his command could he trust at the time. Though short, the Tiegel One-Day War was brutal, seeing the deployment of mass destruction weapons and the targeting of several key government and strategic locations.

#### Early Clan Era

When the Clan Invasion was unleashed upon the Inner sphere, Tiegel IV was among the worlds targeted in the First Wave of the Jade Falcon invasion corridor in early 3050, which would result in many surprises for both sides. The Clans had been, up to this point, used to weak resistance from pirates, mercenaries and militia. Reports from the Watch that Tiegel was very heavily defended went largely ignored, and when the Falcons arrived on-world they were stunned to find it defended by no less than effectively 3 combined arms brigades made up of one Mech regiment and two each of heavy armor and mechanized infantry, as well as a task force of several squadrons of blue water large naval assets. Reinforcements needed be called. During the 9th Batle for Tiegel IV, the Granite Demon brigades would be opposed by Peregrine Galaxy's 4th Falcon Velites and 124th Striker Clusters, with considerable Aerospace reserves and Keshik oversight.

The surprises were only beginning however. For an enemy to broadcast in advance their presence and intended battlefield and allow the foe to gather up was unheard of, leading many to suspect a trap of some sort. The irony therein was lost on all. Far more disconcerting to Tiegel's defenders however were the widespread presence of Elementals, whose power armor allowed them to almost effortlessly defy the world's heavy gravity which had previously given Tiegel's infantry a major edge on its enemies. The sheer sophistication of the unknown invaders' weapon systems and electronics were also a shock, but also their training level and reflexes and their ability to circumvent and out-maneuver Tiegel's sprawling and exhaustive fortification network.

For the Falcons, the surprise came from the sheer straightforward ferocity of their foe. While still weaker than Elementals, Tiegelite infantry was stronger and tougher than any non-augmented soldiers they'd came across, and their Mechs counted many Leviathans and Fire Eels freshly restored to Star League standard thanks to the Helm Core, which proved worthy opponents even if their pilots were not as well trained. The worst of all however, was the Naval Guard. Made up of squadrons of submersible carriers and heavy cruisers, they could prowl beneath the waves to avoid satellite detecting, only surfacing to launch Aerospace Fighters and concentrated artillery bombardments. Simply put, the Naval Guard was a problem which the Falcons did not have a ready solution for. Mechs could not even approach, Aerospace WarShips would be overkill and therefore cowardly, and Fighters were neither trained nor equipped in assaulting sub-capital targets in atmosphere.

Ultimately, the Granite Demons were defeated in head on combat through a serie of short but brutal battles on the northern continent, with scores being taken as bondsmen and their machines as isorla. The Naval Guard proved considerably more challenging to hunt down and were neutralized via a mix of daring high speed Aerospace Fighter hit and runs against their weapon turrets and gun emplacement and improvised air-dropped Elemental boarding attacks. In doing so, the Falcons were able to capture most of these heavy, durable bluewater assets without sinking them, including Duke Edmund Walter who had been personally leading the naval battle from his carrier Flagship the Bahamut.

With their armed forces defeated so thoroughly in an arguably fair and square manner and their governor - as well as several senior officers - captured, the people of Tiegel IV were not most keen to try to mount any form of guerilla insurrection, initially believing the bondsmen were hostages and fearing reprisal. There was also a certain admiration for the invaders' sheer martial prowesses. The Falcons were themselves pleasantly surprised by the lack of 'dishonorable' uprisings and the general conduct and skill of Tiegel's forces in battle, which was a breath of fresh air contrasted with the constant tricks and deceptions seen elsewhere. The Discovery of the MachtWerk's sprawling Mech Plants, of course, was also a great bonus...

Tiegel IV was largely spared the savagery of the 3057 Refusal War between Clan Jade Falcon and Clan Wolf. Though it was a valuable target which the Wolves would have liked to hit to deal a blow to the greater Jade Falcon war effort, its position deep in the back of the Jade Falcon occupation zone made it difficult to assault directly. Clan Wolf would have needed to by-pass several Falcon worlds to reach it, and their forces were spread too thin between many fronts. In the lead up to the Refusal War, the MachtWerk plant was retooled and equipped for the local production of Mad Dog and Hellbringer OmniMechs for the Jade Falcom Touman.

This state of affairs would last until late 3064, with the rapid succession of the 10th and 11th battles for Tiegel. In a rather unexpected development, the overall Falcon commander, Star Colonel Adel Helmer of the 23rd Falcon Regular, was challenged by Star Colonel Hannah Faust who declared the founding of Clan Ashen Corsac and claimed doubly claimed Tiegel IV as its adoptive Homeworld and the battle its as a Trial of Position for Khanship. What followed was without any contest or question the smallest battle the world had ever seen as Faust single-handedly dueled a full star of Jade Falcon veterans in sequenced combat in the hostile smog and lava flows of the south-western continent. Astounded by not only the prowesses of the ristar and honor she'd displayed throughout the process, the Falcons reluctantly began to withdraw.

The Falcons had not even left Tiegel yet that reconquest plans were already starting to brew, but they would not come to be. Not in the immediate anyway, as a combined force of the 18th Lyran Guards RCT, the 152nd ComGuard Division and the Damer's Red Wings mercenary outfit jumped in system. In the ensuing chaos and confusion of the recent ownership change, the IS taskforce attacked both Corsacs and Falcons, who tentatively joined forces to eject them. The 11th battle for Tiegel was far bloodier than the previous two, and saw considerable damage to civilian infrastructure around Vorsehung from the 18th RCT, but it would mark the beginning of several decades of cooperation between Corsacs and Falcons. In the Aftermath, the 18th and the Red Wings were virtually annihilated, with only the ComGuard managing to leave the world with any significant forces.

### Strategic Assets

#### Military Deployments

2450:

* 1st Granite Demons
* 2nd Granite Demons
* 3rd Granite Demons

2573:

* 12th Republican Guards
* 9th Amaris Legionnaires

2750:

* Imperial Division Edward Durant
* 9th Amaris Regulars
* 14th Amaris Regulars
* 3rd Amaris Lancers

2774:

* 22nd Lyran Guards

2830:

* 22nd Lyran Guards
* 10th Granite Demons
* 11th Granite Demons
* Tiegel Naval Guard

3028:

* 10th Granite Demons
* 11th Granite Demons
* 12th Granite Demons
* Tiegel Naval Guard

3057:

* 23rd Falcon Regulars
* 124th Striker
* Tiegel Naval Guard

3064:

* 1st Corsac Praetorians
* 1st Corsac Regulars
* Tiegel Restoration Army
* Tiegel Naval Guard

#### Major Locations

* **Kern** - Kern is the capital city of Tiegel. It is a large Arcology settled on a peninsula on the southern shore of the planet's northern continent, which extends out into the Central Ocean. It stands as the beating heart of a megalopolis made up of smaller Arcologies that spans much of the peninsula, also being a key location for maritime transport between all three continents and Tiegel IV's plethora of marine cities. Kern and its adjacent urbanizations feature most of the planet's civilian heavy industry and its largest spaceport.
* **Blaunacht** - Built on an oceanic dorsal spine about 3'400 meters below the surface of Tiegel's central assault, Blaunacht is a major underwater Arcology initially constructed for deep sea research and exploration. It has over the century evolved into Tiegel's premier center of science, featuring scores of universities and labs, as well as become a major resupply port for underwater deep-sea mining ventures.
* **Vorsehung** - Located on the eastern banks of Tiegel's northern continent, Vorsehung is a large Arcology that serves as the administrative center for hundreds of smaller settlements that make up the planet's primary food supply. It is at the center of a network of small settlements on land practicing agriculture on the planet's only real fertile basin, and maritime settlements practicing various forms of aquaculture.
* **Schmiede** - Another major Arcology, this one on the northern peninsula of Tiegel IV's western continent. Schmiede is the historical center of industrial mining operations on Tiegel and is nestled at the foot of an enormous chain of mountains and volcanoes. Most of the original mines have dried up over the centuries, so the mining ventures in Schmiede are constantly expanding outwards and downwards through the mountain to find new ore nodes
* **Edelstein** - The final major Arcology on Tiegel IV is located on its Eastern continent, Like Schmiede it is a center of mining operations, but rather than industrial metals, Edelstein's focus is on precious metals, ranging from gold to various gemstones. It is a major component of Tiegel's export economy and is well known for its jewelers and mints.
* **Fort Renewal** - Originally a SLDF Castle Brian built on Tiegel's western continent during the Reunification Wars to watch over the newly subjugated Periphery, its existence was forgotten during the collapse of the Rim Worlds Republic and the subsequent Succession Wars. It would be briefly rediscovered by ComStar in 3044, prompting the events of the One Day War, then forgotten again until it was brought back to full operational status by the Corsacs two decades later. It is now the site of the Corsac-sponsored Tiegel Academy of War.
* **The Fractured Plains** - A deserted, highly hostile locations at the center of Tiegel's western continent. It is full of exposed lava rivers and especially thick with toxic smoke. The plains were the sites of important battles during the 3rd, 8th and 10th battles for Tiegel.

#### Major Industries

* **Schwarzstein Metall** - The oldest defense industry on Tiegel, Schwarzstein Metall started off as a mining and metallurgy concern and branched off into making alloys for chassis and armor, as well as weapon systems. It produced a variety of wheeled or tracked combat vehicles from the earliest Granite Demon militias until the destruction of the plants in the fighting against Aleksander Kerensky's SLDF in late 2768, Now, Schwarzstein Metall focuses on Mech chassis and cross-platform weapon systems and advanced armors such as its PanzerLicht' Ferro-Fibrous line and the new 'PanzerKristall' Reflective armor line.
* **MachtWerk** - Tiegel IV's premier strategic asset are the sprawling Mech assembly plants constructed on the coastal seabed by Tadeo Amaris. They have been producing large quantities of high quality Mechs of various weight classes in a near uninterrupted manner since the late 2600s and have been the cause of most battles over the world. MachtWerk is also a producer of XL engines and various electronics and support systems.