- Rasalhague Dominion
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The Rasalhague Dominion is a fictional state within the BattleTech universe, largely consisting of former worlds of the Principality of Rasalhague, Free Rasalhague Republic conquered by Clan Ghost Bear.
Contents
Brief Overview
The Rasalhague Dominion is the first true integration of a Clan and Inner Sphere faction; the Dominion is Scandinavian in flavor with a strong Japanese overlay, with major overtones in the clannish ways of Clan Ghost Bear.
History
The Dominion largely occupies an area of space formerly known as the Principality of Rasalhague, whose original colonists consisted mostly of people from the Scandinavian region of Earth. The Principality though strong through much willpower fell before the might of the expansionistic Draconis Combine, eventually turning into one of the Combine's Military Districts. As decades passed the people brought much strife to the Draconis Combine and to the leaders of the Rasalhague Military District. With assitance from agents from the Lryan Commenwealth and citizens that remebered their heritage fought angainst their combine overseers. Soon nogiations between the Lyran Commonweath and the Draconis Combine bear fruit in the creation of the Free Rasalhague Republic.
Following the release of the Republic as a district of the Combine, the Republic fought hard to establish itself as nation and they were actually succeeding, that is until the start of the Clan invasion.
When the Invasion came, the Republic found itself directly in the path of the Invasion. With nearly all of their planets falling under Clan Wolf or Ghost Bear control, the Republic only survived the onsluaght through sheer luck, thanks to Comstar's proxy battle (which Comstar won, buying everyone a 15 year truce) for Terra (the objective of the Clan Invasion) on the planet of Tukayyid.
During the Truce, Clan Ghost Bear moved almost all of their Clan population to their Occupation Zone, which mostly consisted of Republic worlds, and declared the formation of Ghost Bear Dominion as soon as the last alloted transport ship arrived at its destination.
As the years passed, Clan Ghost Bear slowly began to seduce the population of the Free Rasalhague Republic into believing that the best course for freedom and protection lay in joining them. Many native Rasalhagians wholly supported the union of what remained of the Free Rasalhague Republic with the Ghost Bear Dominion, an event which eventually led to the formation of the Rasalhague Dominion as we know it today.
The Dominion
Founded as the Ghost Bear Dominion originally in 3060 later changed to the Rasalhague Dominion with the official union with its "equal but separate" symbiotic/protectorate state, the Free Rasalhague Republic, in the year 3103 The national symbol is a white roaring bear head, set against a dark blue triangle. The government is a Republic, with Clan warrior-caste styling, under the Dominion Council
It is located between the Wolf and Hell's Horses Clan Occupation Zones and the Draconis Combine and comprises 71 inhabited systems and an estimated 280 billion population. The executive capital, home of the Elected Prince, is located at Asgard on the planet of Rasalhague, while the parliamentary capital, home of the Dominion Council, as well as the capital of the Dominion's Clan population, is located in the city of Silverdale on the planet Alshain.
Culture
The official languages in the Rasalhague Dominion is English and Swedish, with Swedenese, Japanese and German influences. The different influential religions are Lutheran Christian, Shinto, Atheism, and Neo-Norse.
Economy
The Dominion currently uses the Bear-krona as its unit of currency (1 Bear-krona is 2.83 C-bills). Ironically, the Ghost Bears have become a victim of their own success. Having fully brought their entire clan from the Kerensky Cluster and succeeding in integrating their people into the Inner Sphere, the Ghost Bears have become a key economic power within the Inner Sphere.
Unfortunately, this "success" is seen as a failure by the more "traditional" elements within the clans who feel that the Ghost Bears have lost their way...they have not succeeded in retaking Terra, they have not re-established the Star League so they have "failed" in that regard. The Ghost Bears have reached a cross-roads in regards towards their destiny. The Traditionalists want to go back to what they see as the vision set down by Nicholas Kerensky, and yet an equal number of Ghost Bears believe they have achieved Kerensky's dream of returning to the Inner Sphere and do not want to destroy what they have built by returning to "the old ways".
Dominion Council
The Dominion Council is the governing body of the Rasalhague Dominion. By law it is equally divided into three distinct peer groups, each making up exactly 1/3rds of the Dominion Council:
- "Trueborn" members of the Ghost Bear Warrior Caste.
- Exclusively made up of warriors that were a product of Clan Ghost Bear's breeding program.
- Trueborns from other Clans' breeding programs could also conceivably become part of this group if they are adopted into the Ghost Bear Warrior Caste.
- "Freeborn" members of the Ghost Bear Warrior Caste.
- Mostly made up of native Rasalhagians adopted into the Ghost Bear Warrior Caste, but can also be made up of ethnic Ghost Bears that were not begotten of the Clan breeding program that defines someone as being "trueborn".
- Freeborn warriors can sometimes be incorporated into the breeding program if the warrior was truly exceptional enough, meaning that any future descendants of the warrior may be classified as "trueborn" if they came out of the breeding program. Regardless of their ancestry, anyone who comes out of the Ghost Bear breeding program would still be classified as a "Trueborn Warrior of Clan Ghost Bear", even if they were descended from an ethnic Rasalhagian Freeborn who somehow made it into the Ghost Bear breeding program.
- "Civilian" members that are by definition not of the Warrior Caste.
- Made up by someone of either ethnic Ghost Bear (freeborn or trueborn, possibly a retired warrior but most likely a respected scientist or merchant from the Ghost Bears' Scientist or Merchant Castes) or of native Rasalhagian descent (most likely leaders of industry, labor unions, businesses, academia and local government).
References
External links
Categories:- BattleTech nations
- "Trueborn" members of the Ghost Bear Warrior Caste.
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