(From Off the Circuit - Illegal BattleMech Duels, Free Galatea Press)
The first incarnation of Fletcher's BattleMech dueling
circuit has its origins in the collapse of the world's central government in
the early 3060s. Coinciding with the world's rise as a hiring hall for less than
reputable mercenaries amid the ongoing wars between its city stares, many of
the early duels were far from organised affairs. Rather, they often resulted
from disagreements between mercenaries, both units and at the individual level.
The combination of an abundance of military grade hardware and a lack of
central authority (the Fletcher hiring hall was largely self-regulated) often
made violence the first option for resolving such clashes.
Within a few years a somewhat organised competition had
grown up, populated mostly by mercenaries that had been drawn to the local
trade. While not officially sanctioned by any of the City States, at the same
time the competition proved profitable through betting and associated side
businesses. For the most part, the City States themselves stayed out of the
competition proper, but supplies destined for their militaries often wound up
finding their way into the hands of competitors instead.
Within the competition, the conditions were usually rather
primitive and bare bones. There were few organizations or stables, with
individual warriors largely looking out for themselves. Likewise, most of the
arenas were anything but, consisting instead of improvised venues such as
forest clearings or ruins left over from the Succession Wars. It was not
uncommon for competitors to be injured or killed in matches, with the lack of
medical support often as dangerous as weapons fire.
And yet, for all that, the interest in the competition was
considerable, enough to sustain it for several years. As the civil war on
Fletcher intensified during the late 3060s, as well as the escalation of the
fighting in the Chaos March, more warriors were drawn to the world. These in
turn fed the competition, providing both warm bodies and equipment. The riots
that effectively shut down Solaris city several times during the civil war didn’t
hurt either, with the Fletcher league providing an alternative to the unstable
competition. Tapes of fights soon were circulating within the Chaos march,
distributed by merchant ships to nearby worlds.
The end of the competition came when the Word of Blake annexed
the world and absorbed it into the Protectorate in late 3067. The Word’s
campaign targeted each City State in turn, taking them out one at a time with
overpowering force. While some of the competitors joined in the fighting, most
chose to either lay down their guns and simply fade away or ride it out and try
to pick up their game afterwards.
Neither plan worked out. After the fall of Royce, the Word shut
down the planet’s Mercenary trade, turning the hiring hall (the world’s
former HPG compound) into a detention centre for its former users. After
securing the World, the Word’s forces invested time and effort into
shutting down any remnants of the competition and detaining (or killing) the
fighters. By mid 3068, the competition was dead, although by that point with
the Jihad billowing out of control, few would have noticed.
Several sources suggest that some of the competitors may
have survived and joined anti-Word resistance movements. No indications were
found of any after the world’s liberation in late 3077, though given
that agencies were more focused on locating Word of Blake survivors and sympathizers
it is possible that they could have simply slipped through the net.
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