Free Rasalhague Republic

In the fictional BattleTech setting, the Free Rasalhague Republic was a nation born in the wake of the Fourth Succession War, which enjoyed less than two decades of independence before being almost totally overrun by the invasion of the Clans.

In 2330, House Kurita's expansionist Draconis Combine invaded the Principality of Rasalhague, subduing it only after more than three decades of guerrilla war. [House Kurita: 26-27] The Rasalhague District remained the most restive province of the Combine, as its original Scandinavian inhabitants resisted assimilation into the Japanese-dominated culture of their Kuritan conquerors. In 3004, a Rasalhagian bodyguard assassinated Coordinator Hohiro Kurita. [House Kurita: 86; Charrette: Prologue] During the Fourth Succession War, many Rasalhagians greeted the Lyran Commonwealth troops as liberators and helped them to capture many Rasalhague worlds before the war's end in 3030. [Update: 44; Atlas Vol. 1: 43, 60; Atlas Vol. 2: 66, 71] However, Lyran Duke Selvin Kelswa wanted to retain the conquered planets in his Tamar Pact, and his heavyhanded treatment of their people thoroughly alienated them. [Atlas Vol. 2: 20; Update: 45]

Primus Myndo Waterly of ComStar convinced Theodore Kurita of the advantages of granting Rasalhague independence. It would relieve the Combine of its most rebellious citizens, create a buffer state on the border with the Commonwealth, pressure the Lyrans to disgorge their Rasalhagian conquests to the new republic, and perhaps inspire secessionists in the Lyran Isle of Skye. She also promised him military equipment from ComStar's secret stocks in exchange. [Charrette: Chapter 38; Update: 45]

On March 13, 3034, Haakon Magnusson [Update: 85; House Kurita: 189] proclaimed the indepedence of the Free Rasalhague Republic. [Update: 45] The new FRR was quickly recognized by ComStar and the Draconis Combine. Some Kuritan troops refused to obey Theodore's orders, but he crushed them in the Ronin War. [Charrette: Chapters 51-53; Update: 35-36, 45-46] As foreseen by Waterly, Lyran ruler Katrina Steiner turned over captured Rasalhague planets to the FRR. The new state sought to appease both the Commonwealth and the Combine through scrupulous neutrality, even adopting a policy of equal trade called the Even Scale Policy. [Update: 50]

However, the gravest threat to Free Rasalhague's precarious independence would come not from its two powerful neighbors, but the unexpected Clan invasion of the Inner Sphere. Most of the FRR was overrun by Clan Wolf and Clan Ghost Bear, before the Clan advance was halted in 3052 by the intervention of the ComGuards. The rump state that survived became a virtual protectorate of ComStar. [ [http://www.classicbattletech.com/index.php?action=text&page=Free_Rasalhague_Republic FanPro] ]

Meanwhile, the Ghost Bears pursued good relations with their subjects, creating the Ghost Bear Dominion. In 3103, the holdout Free Rasalhague Republic merged with the Ghost Bears to form the Rasalhague Dominion.

External links

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References

*Robert Charrette, "Heir to the Dragon", FASA, 1989.
*Musser, Jim, et al., "20 Year Update", FASA, 1989.
*Petersen, Boy F. Jr., et al., "House Kurita: The Draconis Combine", 1987
*Petersen, Boy F. Jr. "NAIS: The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 1, August 3028 - January 3029", FASA, 1988
*Petersen, Boy F. Jr., "NAIS: The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 2, January 3029 - January 3030", FASA, 1989
* [http://www.classicbattletech.com/index.php?action=text&page=Free_Rasalhague_Republic FanPro official page] (includes FRR section of the "20 Year Update")