Sacellum Briefing 2: Warfighting Culture

Welcome to your second briefing Commander. Today we'll be covering the somewhat unusual war culture the Sacellum developed. As of now, they fight much like any Inner Sphere or Periphery power does, but there are some unique differences you need to be aware of in their deployment size and view of combat. In our first briefing, it was mentioned that the Sanctuary Worlds were on the verge of destruction but found a way back from the brink due to a combination of diplomacy and social engineering. Today, we'll cover that situation.

After being settled in 2573 (a year and a half after their journey out of the Inner Sphere), the corporate colonists found the Sanctuary Worlds and established three governments, the Mallard Republic, the Jacobson Haven, and the Dane Sacellum. These three governments were essentially autocracies run by each named family from each of the three companies. Houses Mallard, Jacobson, and Dane were initially unified in their desire to create settlements but very quickly fell to arguments and then to conflict. Each government had taken a different system in the Sanctuary Worlds but they also each maintained stellar travel capabilities and quickly began to raid one another for supplies and advancements. We're not clear who started the first war, but it started quickly. In 2578, the three houses fell into open war with mechs and tanks, both of which they'd brought with them from the Inner Sphere (in case they had to take a world from someone else). We do know what the outcome of the first war was though.

House Jacobson made the fatal mistake of deploying a home-grown nuclear device against the Mallard Republic. It did not destroy a major settlement, it was apparently a very small device, but it caused enough outrage that Mallard and Dane joined forces against Jacobson and forced a surrender. At peace talks, the houses quickly agreed on a few things. First, nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare was outlawed, on penalty of death to any party breaking the agreement. Given that whoever broke it would be facing both other houses alone, it was believed this would hold them in check. Second, the houses took the historic step of agreeing that conventional warfare as humanity had known it would not stand here. There would remain conflicts, but they were to be handled in a small-scale way. Going forward, each government would establish a corp of trained duelists. These duelists would fight as large-scale proxies in small-scale battles to decide the outcome of disputes. Each side was limited to 3 duelists per world settled and only 5 could engage in any given battle. This reduced conflicts in the Sanctuary Worlds to 5v5 small duels, which records indicate that the powers held to ever since.

This is not the only major advancement made in warfighting by the Sanctuary Worlders however. The larger change came in the 2700s when House Mallard revolutionized warfare with the creation of a semi-autonomous drone that was capable of either fighting independently or being "driven" by trained operators. They quickly won a number of duels with their new drone combatants since the agreements governing warfare did not prohibit the use of drones. However, after daring raids by both other houses, this drone technology spread and by the end of the 2700s, all combat in the Sanctuary Worlds was being done with these semi-autonomous drones. Even to the modern day the Sacellum fights mainly with drones. 

In the 2850s, House Mallard suffered a great tragedy. An unknown plague was discovered on one of their newly settled Shield Worlds (to be covered later) and spread to their capital world quickly. With a sizable percentage of their population suffering and dying, House Mallard's power was crippled in the Sanctuary Worlds. House Dane, seeing an opportunity, stepped in with a solution: they would help cure this plague if Mallard would agree to submit to Dane leadership going forward. Seeing no option other than slow death to plague, House Mallard agreed and the Mallard Repblic was dissolved and incorporated into the Dane Sacellum. Several years of duels later, the Jacobson Haven also surrendered to House Dane, uniting all the population of the Sanctuary Worlds under one flag. House Dane did not grow complacent though, knowing that there would be future conflicts to prepare for. 

As described, in 3062 the Sacellum returned to the Inner Sphere as a unified culture and army. Having realized the Inner Sphere would not play by their internal duelist rules, they engaged the Taurian Concordat using extensive drone forces though duels remain common among the Sacellum forces. The details of these drones and their capabilities as well as other Sacellum technologies will be detailed in later briefings.