Grenze

The Grenze system centers against a relatively small and cool orange star. It was once a cornerstone of Aerospace products within the Rim Worlds Republic but has largely become forgotten throughout the Succession Wars, until its effective takeover by Clan Ashen Corsac. Its main world is Grenze II, which is characterized by its hot and humid super-continent full of mega-flora.

## Affiliation Timeline

* **2309** - Independent - First recorded habitation
* **2378** - Rim Worlds Republic - Peaceful Integration
* **2779** - Independent
* **3065** - Clan Ashen Corsac - Uprising

## Solar

The immediate orbit of Grenze's orange star is home to the Titanforge station, the last operational WarShip drydock of Vanguard Capital Yards. Flanked by the debris fields of those docks which did not survive the Succession Wars, the station is powered by a network of high-yield solar arrays in extreme proximity to the star's corona. Due to the massive EM interferences from its precarious position, the Titanforge station is effectively invisible to long-range scanners

## Grenze I

The first terrestrial planet of the Grenze system is a mining colony. With an unbreathable atmosphere and an surface temperature of 104°C, all settlements are domed or underground, and remain relatively small. Grenze I serves as a mining colony due to the primary world of the system's poor mineral resources.

## Physical Characteristics

### Atmosphere

Breathable* 23.1% Oxygen
* 1.2% Carbon Dioxide
* 9.7% Argon
* 66% Nitrogen

## Demographic Characteristics

### Development Index

A-B-C-A-B

Grenze II is slightly smaller than Terra, and significantly less massive, resulting in a relatively low density, relatively low gravity world poor in heavy elements and metals, but has good reserves of light elements like aluminum, lithium and silicon. It is theorized that most of the heavy metals went into its primary moon at the proto-planet stage. Grenze II is a fast-spinning world, where days take only 21 hours to complete, and a year 241 standard days. With its slow lunar orbit, it has a bit of an odd calendar, with 6 months, each broken down in 5 weeks of 9 days.

The atmosphere of Grenze II, while breathable, is particular. It has a relatively high level of CO2, which induces a partial greenhouse effect that help keep the planet warm and is partially responsible for its giant flora, which feeds on CO2. The levels are non-toxic, but cause mild dizziness in off-worlds who haven't adjusted to it yet. The Argon content is also quite high, resulting in a somewhat denser atmosphere than on Terra. This makes flight easier, which combines with the slightly lower gravity to make air transport cheap and efficient.

The planet features one giant pangea-like super-continent that sprawls around its equator like a green belt and is divided in four provinces for administrative reasons: Absodin, Kavar, Mekels and Tarma. This results in fairly homogeneous climate and biomes. Areas that haven't been cleared out for human habitation or farming are dominated by large and dense forests and jungles, depending on the latitude and humidity. These jungles are hostile to human life, with plentiful predators and poisonous creatures, and even Mechs struggle to traverse them. The most famous part of the biomes is the Darkwood Sierra, a fast-growing cousin of the Terran giant sequoia which can reach up to 110m tall, with trunk diameters ranging between 8 and 12 meters. These monstrous trees stand as skyscrapers and often house miniature ecosystems in and around them, making their regular harvest a topic of much local controversy.

#### Infrastructure

Grenze II is a largely urbanized planet with large, high-density cities similar to 21st century Terra's Dubai or Shanghai. They are dominated by huge skyscrapers that often display intricate or complex architecture, with large amounts of glass, twists, skyways and other unusual features that are more about style than function. The buildings and streets are almost invariably brightly lit up at night with all sorts of neon colors, with an overall look of decadence and wealth. Due to the large population of the world, over a hundred such cities are dispersed across Grenze II's four administrative regions, like oases of civilization - and perhaps depravity - among the jungles.

Though some people dare brave the wilderness via ground vehicles on dubiously maintained roads, air transport is by fair the main method of inland transport between the cities, with maritime transport also being important between coastal cities. Multiple major starports are present, with one in each regional capitals in addition to the one in Grunewald. The power grid is virtually entirely nuclear, with a mix of fusion and fission plants. The older fission plants are maintained because many fission by-products are useful for such things as atomic batteries, medical scanners and food sterilization.

#### Demographics

Though it was originally settled by German colonists during the Exodus, Grenze has drawn in migrants from just about every culture group of old Terra throughout its two long periods of peace, especially the Golden Age during the Star League era. As a result, it is a melting pot of ethnicities and cultures and most of them can be found on the planet. Rather than form their own cities, this heterogeneous mix is spread out evenly, with most cities being highly diverse.

These utopian appearances are deceiving however. Criminality and economic inequalities have often been high on Grenze II, and they wax and wane with the level of control of the corporations - namely the giant Vanguard Industries - over the planetary government. Its people have had a long tradition as freedom-loving and fervent supporters of democracy, but centuries of living under puppet democracies alternating between being controlled by the corporations or by House Amaris have left them relatively disillusioned and individualistic. For many residents of Grenze II though, the dream isn't dead, and one can still succeed if they are smart enough, but also willing to become ruthless enough.

### Planetary History

#### Early History

The Grenze system was originally colonized by German scientists who were interested in cataloguing its exotic native wildlife and studying its unusual habitats. The mission was back by large Terran pharmacological interests who hoped to discover new natural compounds that they could exploit to create novel medicine and antibiotics. This later point was of high importance due to the proliferation of antibiotics-resistant bacteria throughout the 21st and 22nd centuries. While such compounds were discovered, the logistics of bringing them all the way back from the Periphery proved not profitable enough when cheaper, nearer alternatives were discovered on other worlds, and the Terran support was terminated, leaving the people of Grenze to fend for themselves and do as they please.

Grenze II was a difficult world to settle due to its wildlife, megaflora, and lack of mineral resources. An outpost was created early on on its primary moon to extract minerals, which were far more abundant there. Between this reliance on its moon for minerals, and the difficulty of land transport, it developed a robust civilian aerospace tradition early on, which was supplemented by decentralized heavy industry and small-arms manufacture. Trade with nearby worlds of the nascent Rim Worlds Republic proved mutually beneficial and important after the withdrawal of Terran support.

#### Reunification Wars

By the time of the Reunification Wars, Grenze II - via the giant consortium Vanguard Industries - had become a large, industrialized world with a high population and booming economy. It made significant contributions to the Rim Worlds' Army via a variety of medium combat vehicles, weapon systems, small arms and conventional airlift transports. The defense industry was only part of its exports however, which included civilian cars and aircrafts, pharmaceuticals, and lumber industry products and high class wooden furniture. By the time of the Reunification Wars, however, House Amaris had grown highly unpopular on Grenze II due to Stefan Amaris' failure to defend Republican industries' exports against Hegemony tariffs, and his insistence on importing foreign expertise and designs.

As a result, it is surprising at first glance that Grenze II was not one of the first supporters of the Rim Provisional Government when the anti-Amaris rebellion broke out. The reason for that was because by that point, Vanguard Industries had a very strong hold on the local government, and while war was good for business, bringing said war on their home turf was very bad for business. Under the shadow maneuvering of Vanguard, Grenze remained precariously neutral in the ensuing civil war, which spared it from seeing any major battles. Officers of the Rim Worlds Army on Grenze received uncharacteristically generous bribes and 'advantages' to follow in that 'neutrality' and form the Vanguard Self-Defense Force, which was supplemented by local volunteers and combat vehicles. Those who refused tend to have accidents, or be replaced by a subordinate with more 'sense'.

#### Amaris Coup

In the Star League golden age, Grenze's growth continued as its industries helped rebuild other worlds within the Republic, providing large amounts of medical aid and supplies, construction materials, and combat vehicles to rebuild the decimated RWA forces. It became a prized destination for emigration marketed to people who wanted to get away from the tensions of the Inner Sphere and to get more freedom, but without having to abandon the conveniences of modern technology. In that, Grenze branded itself as a shining jewel of modern society amid the remote frontier of the periphery, boasting its extensive local democracy, its postcard-like sceneries - both its colorful downtowns and giant forests - advanced healthcare and booming economy.

Migrants often found out the hard way that the world was not as pleasant as it had sold itself as, but only too late, and it was too expensive and difficult to journey back, for what would be not much gain. Below the utopian surface, criminality and social inequalities between the rich and the workers were significant, but not as blatant was they would later become. Effectively, Grenze's politicians played a masterful game, originally painting all of their ills as being caused by the Camerons and the decadent Star League, only to make a flip when the balance of the civil war shifted and the Republic was once again invaded by the SLDF, blaming House Amaris for its incompetent management, tyrannical overlordship and careless military adventurism. In the end, there was always some other outside factor to blame; some boogeyman to use to channel the people's frustrations.

In the century leading up to the Coup, Grenze's strategic importance increased as Vanguard Industries established first its Aerospace division, then its capital yards division, constructing large orbital facilities over Grenze II's moon and near its star, respectively. It produced large numbers of Aerospace Fighters, but also civilian DropShips and even a few JumpShips of the Invader class. The only reason it was not savaged for this by the aforementioned invasion of the Republic by the SLDF is that following their usual motto of 'war is bad for business when it's in your front yard' lead Grenze's upper caste to surrender nearly unconditionally to the SLDF when it jumped in, going out of its way to provide supplies and part to the wayward fleet in an attempt to appease them and prevent massive damage and collaterals. After all, they had been betrayed by Amaris and had no reason for bad blood with the SLDF, right?

#### Succession Wars

When it became obvious to the ruling castes of Grenze in the wake of the collapse of the Republic - and the of Star League itself - that the Great House were planning to re-enact the destruction of the Coup across the entire Inner Sphere, a rare moment of genuine agreement was found as the people of Grenze and its corporations both decided they wanted to have nothing to do with it. They tried to cut contact with the Inner Sphere and take advantage of the general chaos and wave of obscurity that fell over the northern periphery to simply disappear. This was made ever more urgent when House Steiner absorbed nearly half of the former Republic's worlds and colonies.

This plan would not be successful, as the Lyrans heard rumor that Grenze's shipyards were still functional, and early on during the first Succession War, House Steiner sent a taskforce to either capture or destroy the yards, so that if they could not have them, no one else would. This would be the only truly major battle to take place in the Grenze system between its first settlement and the 31st century. When the Lyran taskforce jumped in, they ran afoul of many surprises, including fields of space mines and a squadron of escort WarShips from the scattered remnants of the Rim Worlds Navy. Though the Lyrans outnumbered the defenders significantly in WarShips, the extensive network of orbital defenses around the Capital Yards drydocks and the considerable Aerospace Fighter cover made the battle a very close one.

Though House Steiner managed to win, destroying or severely damaging all WarShips and capital-scale shipyards in the system, it was a Pyrrhic victory, and only about 25% of the taskforce was able to return home to signal mission complete. Seeing the horrific losses suffered, House Steiner decided that having another go to punish or conquer the rogue planet would be too costly and that their resources could not be so squandered when they needed them to fight their rivals among the other Houses. This was precisely what the people of Grenze had hoped for when they decided to break away with their policy of avoiding fighting in their home system at all cost.

In the following centuries, Vanguard Industries would manage to painstakingly rebuild one its least heavily damaged drydock, and to use its facilities to repair the crippled Lola-III class Destroyer which had itself barely survived the battle, which would provide an immense deterrent during the following Succession Wars as the Great House quickly destroyed one another's precious WarShips and dockyards. It would also establish itself as a bit of local hegemon, producing Aerospace fighters and combat vehicles for all independent worlds in the region, and gladly selling to pirates who would go on to raid Commonwealth worlds, as a bit of a vengeance.

Not all was good however. During this time of isolation, the corpocratic hold on the Grenze election system became less and less discrete, and their abuses of the people grew more and more blatant. Criminality, poverty and social inequalities steadily increased throughout the Succession Wars as several generation of top executives were terminally greedy and wanted to increase their profits at any cost, which in effect meant at the expense of the general population, which was pushed to the very cusp of the tolerable. A few riots and protests did happen here and there, but were generally brutally put by the VSDF and slandered as 'anti-democratic extremists'.

#### Restoration Wars

It was this long-standing internal and political instability that Clan Ashen Corsac would go on to exploit in the decade of 3060 to effectively snatch control of Grenze away from Vanguard Industries' ultra-rich 'elites' . By providing funding, assistance and protection to the emergent Absodin Workers Party, the Corsacs were able to consolidate and unite the disparate and divided segments of the population against their corporate overlords and enact Operation VELVET. In the aftermath, the Corsacs had dismantled the mountain of lies and misdirection that had allowed the corporations to effectively rule the world for hundreds of years, and with much fewer loss of life than a conquest or popular uprising would have.

Many among Grenze's population saw the Clan power grab for what it was, a far than disinterested or selfless gesture, and chafed against their new 'overlord' as much as they did the last. Unrest did not last for long however, as living conditions increased considerably under Corsac rule. The criminality which has long plagued the world took a nosedive as cartels and large organized crime families were systematically hit by special forces and Battle Armor teams with extreme prejudice. Meanwhile, price controls and economic reforms reversed the out of control inflation and resolved the food and housing crisis. Imports of technology and goods from other nearby worlds would soon bring the standards of living on Grenze back to the level of its golden age.

In the Aftermath, Grenze - and Vanguard Industries' largely intact facilities - would go on to play a major role in equipping the Ashen Corsac Touman with Aerospace Fighters for its frontline Clusters and naval assets as well as combat vehicles for its garrisons and security services. The massive population itself also provided an important manpower pool for Freeborn Warriors and Technicians. By 3070, even the Titanforge station was back in business and saw its first major projects restoring the derelict SLS Vengeance found by the Corsacs adrift in the Deep Periphery and building new Wanderer-class JumpShips.

### Strategic Assets

#### Military Deployments

2350:

* Grenze Militia

2500:

* 2nd Amaris Legionnaires

2575:

* Vanguard Self-Defense Force

2765:

* Grenze Orbital Defense Network
* 1st VSDF Aero Wing [Grenze]
* 2nd VSDF Aero Wing [Grenze]
* 3rd VSDF Aero Wing [Titanforge]
* VSDF Planetary Defense

2782:

* Grenze Orbital Defense Network
* RWN remnants naval squadron
* 1st VSDF Aero Wing [Grenze]
* 2nd VSDF Aero Wing [Grenze]
* 3rd VSDF Aero Wing [Titanforge]
* VSDF Planetary Defense

3066:

* Grenze Orbital Defense Network
* 1st Corsac Reiters
* Homefront Naval Star

#### Major Locations

* **Grunewald** - The capital of Grenze is Grunewald. The site of the original settlement by Germanic scientists and pharmacologists, it is roughly at the center of its super-continent, nominally within the Absodin provinces. Over the centuries it evolved into a sprawling metropolis, extending far up with its skyscrapers and skyways, and far down with its subway system and under-grid. In many ways, it is reminiscent of the Magistracy of Canopus but less extravagant, as 'entertainment' venues of all types have become a main part of its economy. More lately, the Corsacs have severely clamped down on illegal venues including gambling dens and human trafficking, but the city remains one of night life and petty pleasures.
* **Grenze Space Defense Center** - Also shortened as 'the SDC', Grenze's Space Defense Center is effectively the command center for Grenze's orbital and planetary defense network. It is based on the famous SDS systems used by the Star League, but does not feature the swarms of drones and DroneShips that characterized the SDS. It nonetheless controls a large number of orbital battle stations with a mix of Capital Scale and anti-ASF weapon systems as well as planetary guns, mainly Heavy Naval PPCs. The SDC also controls Grenze's network of surveillance satellites, used to spy on the surface itself. It is located on an uninhabited island chain south of the planet's super-continent.
* **The Pit** - The Pit - of which there are actually multiple - are enormous borehole some tens of kilometers deep dug into Grenze II's main moon. They were originally strip mines dug into some of the most promising deposits, and have since then served as access point for the deep mining operations on the moon.
* **The Institute** - Created in 3065 by the Corsacs on one of the relatively large islands outside of the world's main continent, the Institute is effectively a center for genetic research, It is where the eponymous Ashen Corsac was created, and where the Clans' eugenic program is overseen. It also studies the viability of large-scale gene-cleansing initiatives.

#### Major Industries

* **Vanguard Industries** - The Vanguard consortium, made up of Vanguard Motorworks, Vanguard Aerospace and Vanguard Capital Yards, is the prime defense conglomerate that has a total monopoly on all military equipment production on Grenze. It produces just about everything except BattleMechs and Battle Armor suits. It used to effectively control Grenze through controlling the elected puppets within its faux democracy until the Corsac takeover.
* **Grunewald Pharmaceuticals** - Effectively the oldest corporation on Grenze II, Grunewald Pharmaceuticals was founded by the original Terran exploration mission to explore new medicine and antibiotics. Over the century, it kept itself largely out of controversies and has steadily grown to become a major regional provider of medicine and medical supplies.

## Grenze VI

Grenze VI is the system's second and smaller gas giant. It is scarcely inhabited by a small constellation of high-orbit aerostats. These lightweight habitats gently surf the turbulent winds of the gas giant's upper atmosphere whilst passively scooping up large amounts of volatiles, notably Hydrogen and Helium to use as fusion fuel. Once per year, large tanker ships make the round to collect the aerostats' output and bring it back to Grenze II for processing into large quantities military grade fuel.