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Made in us
Krazed Killa Kan






State of Jefferson

Hello fellow ailing mech warriors.

I am looking for any fiction pertaining to the "Taurian Concordat"

Here's why:

This was my first introduction to wargaming back in the early 1990s (late 1980s?). Although Catalyst describes the game as "board game" instead of a TTWG, it acted as a gateway drug leading to "Adeptus Mechanicus", "Space Marine", "Blood Bowl" and later in life as an adult (when I had a job) 40k.

Now, I just bought the Total War OOP FanPro book and found the above "Taurian Concordat." It is in a location where my buddy and I back in high school created a "House of Orion" that was a splinter group of Karenski's followers. This was BEFORE the "Clan Invasion" fluff or the unification of Steiner and Davion. We crafted a small house invading Davion space. The reason I ask, is that on the page where I found the "Taurian Concordat" shows its location right where our planets were. Our fluff was that it was Deisitic theology (which is what it was listed as in the illustration) and ruled by two Counsels (us two). Oddly, the name "Taurian" echoes my friend's last name Tauer (dakka handle NightHowler if you want to contact him). Its ruler listed on that illustration is "Protector Grover Shraplen". My name is Grover Sh****n. OK so I texted my buddy the illustration. I have been thinking about how weird it was that this happened. What a weird coincidence, right? Scouring my memory banks, I remember writing our fluff, long hand, on a wide ruled loose leaf paper. I can see it in my mind's eye. "Why would we do that," I thought? I vaguely remembered MAYBE sending it to FASA. I thought maybe that was the case. Anyway, this morning, unprompted by me, my friend texted "Did we write FASA a letter in high school or something?"

So our minds are addled by age and ethanol by now... Back in the FASA days, it had a magazine... "Mechwarrior" or some such. Did they ever have a write in contest or anything for plot advancement?

Does anyone know of any fiction (anywhere... rule books... technical readouts... novels... etc)?

Thanks,
DrG


OOPS
Google is my friend.... Found this:

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Taurian_Concordat
[Thumb - 20170516_214602.jpg]

This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2017/05/17 16:37:12


 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut






Los Angeles

Battletechnology was the fan-made, semi-official magazine for Battletech in the 80's and 90's.

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/BattleTechnology

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BattleTechnology

And just for fun:
http://www.somethingawful.com/dungeons-and-dragons/battletech-mechwarrior-magazine/1/


I don't recall any contests for furthering the plot, but you guys were playing a few years before my time. If memory serves, the Taurans are mentioned in the old House books which were produced from1986-1988, so the faction is pretty well established.
   
Made in us
Krazed Killa Kan






State of Jefferson

Thanks Dark Traveler. Looked briefly on Sarna. It seems that the first Ed Sourcebook "The Periphery." may be the first publication that mentions them and that was in 1988. My buddy said we were playing before then.
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut






Los Angeles

Interesting! The plot thickens.

I'll try and locate my House Davion book tonight and see if they are mentioned in there. Being on Davion's border I could have sworn that kingdom was discussed at least briefly, but its been a few years since I last read that book and my memory may be off.

Although, looking on Sarna, House Davion and The Periphery both came out in '88, so that might not mean much.

The 1986 Mechwarrior RPG book might have mention of the Periphery states, I wonder if anything is in there?

Also, the 1987 Succession Wars boxed game doesn't appear to show the Periphery states at all, so maybe you guys did come up with Taurans!




   
Made in us
Krazed Killa Kan






State of Jefferson

I didnt have that boxed set. The cover is familiar though. And we didnt "invent" the Taurians, but it would be cool if FASA got a fan letter from pimpley faced basement dwellers (us) and used our names at least. Thatd be great!

PS I dont even think there was anything but mention of "the bandit kingdoms" and that there were frontier planets beyond the control of thr great houses.
   
Made in gb
Highlord with a Blackstone Fortress






Adrift within the vortex of my imagination.

Taurians have been part of the lore since almost the beginning, they are one of the major periphery states, in fact they are considered the most powerful for most of the timeline, and certainly the one that most resembles and Inner Sphere great house.

Thr Succession Wars boardgame is highly abstract and omits much, even at the macro scale. The periphery powers are included though, after a fashion. The game includes three periphery state territories, the Outworlds Alliance, The Bandit Kingdoms and Circinus. Each of these three factions was grreartly overplayed, with three mech army counters of good strength. As it so happens they should have fare less. Of the three listed the Outworlds Alliance is a major periphery state, with a sizable military and teir own specific flavour based around a superior aerospace corps. Of the three factions listed the best deserve a seat at the table, and are yet the third most powerful periphery power. Circinus are just thinly disguised pirates, and the Vandit Kingdoms are undisguised pirates, very weak very disparate and only still existing because they are too much bother to conquer, as opposed to too difficult.
The boardgame misses out the two primary periphery powers, the Taurians and the Magistry of Canopus for reasons of game symmetry and balance.

For the record Succession Wars is a badly designed game, but with enough core integrity that many people have made their own rules patches to improve. Its a neat throwback to the 3025 era and its fluff that is a nostalgia blast to dig up, but has no real value beyond that.

n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.

It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut






Los Angeles

 Orlanth wrote:
For the record Succession Wars ... Its a neat throwback to the 3025 era and its fluff that is a nostalgia blast to dig up, but has no real value beyond that.


It has an extremely high value to collectors, especially with the map intact. As for its value as a game, I can't speak to that since I've never played with my copy. I just look at the map every few years. Abstracted or not, it is a neat piece of gaming art


So, doktor_g, I went through the 1st edition Mechwarrior book from 1986 and the Taurians were in there. Here is a photo of their entry on page 137:



 doktor_g wrote:
it would be cool if FASA got a fan letter from pimpley faced basement dwellers (us) and used our names at least. Thatd be great!


It is entirely possible. The FASA crew were known to do all sorts of fun things in regards to naming planets, characters, units, etc.
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




Chicagoland

Old battle droids! FASA stole freely. I doubt they took your info and ran with it but I wouldn't be supprised either. Love the game/ universe/ books. Game of Thrones in space before it was cool. Man wouldn't it be great if it HBO started a Battle Tech show.
   
Made in us
Walking Dead Wraithlord






Would watch the heck out of that.
   
 
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