Campaign of the Month: June 2014
Battletech (Farscape) : The New Breed
The Republic of Carbina
The ComStar Enclave
Description:
The Republic of Carbina is a ruined former province of The Federative Republic of San Marcos, also called “The Comstar Enclave”, an unrecognized state in northern San Marcos. While sovereignty is formally claimed by San Marcos, the “Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Carbina” (FLEC) declared independence on August 1st, 2983. After decades of guerrilla warfare, the government of San Marcos allows the quasi-nation to exist, and it’s protection is maintained by ComStar.
Today, the province holds a population of roughly 180,000 (based on a census held in 3015, following the national ceasefire, and return of many of its refugees. The capital city of Carbinas is also its only port city, and supports half the population (90,000). The HPG was declared operational, as of October 30th, 3025, and immediately flooded the nation with wealth.
The Carbina Coast
Geography
Carbina is a territory of 7,284 square kilometres in northern San Marcos with a population of roughly 180,000 in 3015 (estimate), divided between four municipalities; three highly agricultural, and the urbanized southern port city of Carbina City (Population : 93,000). Carbina enclave, borders the Sea of Tragnar to the east, the The Federative Republic of San Marcos to the west and south. The Bele River forms the northern border of the nascent nation, and beyond are rough and dry grasslands with very few inhabitants. Perhaps 3500 people live along the northern bank and claim affiliation with the government of Carbina.
Economy
The nation is still very much a ruined nation-state trying to rebuild itself with no noticeable exports beyond typical agricultural produce that is rarely exported, but rather goes to support the micro-industry found in the capital. The only real national resource is free manpower.
ComStar : Comstar purchased the telecommunications interests of Von Doom Industries in early-3029, and began moving its personnel and production lines to Carbina soon thereafter, rapidly building a series of manufacturing lines for its various products, modified to Comstar standards. Chief among them is the MRS-3000 Man-Pack SATCOM military sat-com, and the Hush-98 Radio Transmitter civilian com-link. Production began in late-3029, and dominates sales in each chosen market.
Votorantim Group : The Votorantim Group is one of the largest industrial conglomerates in Terramatrix, operating in various sectors such as finance, energy, cement, steel, and pulp and paper among others. It continues to operate in a low-key status, but remains an influence throughout the central nation-states, and exports a significant quantity of its resources off-world.
Though originally based from The Marcosan Mandate, Votorantim moved its headquarters into Carbina City in 3026, and has since controlled its interests from that nation-state with a fairly free hand. The company is controlled by a single family.
The company maintains a controlling interest on Algoa, providing important work in the machining, welding and manufacturing industry. Algoa Construction is also known as being very cheap, but does not have a good safety record among its workers. Algoa continues to provide much of the economic muscle of the nation-state, and as its renovation work on the Carbina-Delancourt Line begins to wind-down, a recent announcement on improving the port facilities is winding-up, promising more work for Algoa.
Carbina City
Carbina City : Holding half the national population, Carbina City has proven an important keystone to the nation’s development. It is a battered and ruined city that is often quietly controlled by gangs and a black market in imported second-hand arms and munitions. There are few local services, though electrical power and fresh water is provided from the ComStar Enclave on a regular and uninterrupted basis, but the city government does not provide many other services. ComStar also provides educational services to most of the population in simple schools, though some devout Hindu have commented on the quasi-religious “indoctrination” that is being developed among their young.
“Ram’s Mountain” Stadium
Algoa Construction has recently begun construction of a large soccer field, that will double as a concert venue and bring some national pride. It was funded largely by ComStar, though a handful of private investors (mostly local shadowy, wealthy individuals) to build a soccer team for international competitions, the Rams.
Isolated south of the city lies the ComStar Enclave, a fortified militarized compound supporting the massive bulk of the HPG itself. The facility also has a small drop-port, and houses the barracks for the national military. The facility is presently operating, providing communication with the Inner Sphere.
The Enclave provides the primary market for almost all excess agricultural produce, and accounts for much of the local economic development in supporting their efforts. Without ComStar and its HPG, the economy of the city, and the nascent nation itself, would likely dry-up and blow away. Everyone knows this.
Carbina Airport
Transport
The single large airport is actually small by national standards, with a single runway of 1500m of asphalt. Carbina Airport is serviced by various small private airplanes, and a single helicopter service. The only international flights are irregular trips funded through special flights by the major corporate passenger and cargo companies, such as Avianca.
In 3020, a proposed railway connection to the main San Marcos system materialized, and was be the first “national” project for Algoa Construction, funded by the national government itself. With the failure of both the San Marcos and Tragnar central governments, the plan was initially scrubbed, but soon revised and expanded to improve the rail connection with The Republic of Delancourt.
In early-3026, the national government announced its funding of the project, and with more corporate sponsorship from ComStar, began the project in early-3027, and was quickly completed in mid-3028. The project allowed easy export of Delancourt consumer electronics and agricultural products into markets to the south, and across the Tragnar Sea, with access to Carbina City’s small port.
The development of ComStar’s manufacturing plants in 3029-30 occupied most of its attentions during the 4th Succession War, but with the return of HPG communications to the rest of the Inner Sphere in late-3030, the local HPG began openly garrisoning a large force of infantry, tanks and BattleMechs sporting the marks of The Com Guards, and operating independent of the national militia. These forces, led by various off-world mercenary companies, began training ComStar forces in the use of their salvaged and new equipment.
Bio:
Military Forces
The military forces of the ComStar Enclave are based on three (3) battalions of motorized rifle infantry. Equipped as ComStar security troops with armored Jeeps and supported by a company of heavy combat armor, several combat VTOLs and a pair of AeroFIghters, all members of the military are locally recruited soldiers from FLEC, and foreign (off-world) mercenary forces. They have been equipped well compared to most planetary military forces, especially versus their potential enemies in San Marcos, and are incredibly well-paid and loyal to the Enclave.
Rumors over the past couple years had hinted the military also included at least a single mercenary company of BattleMechs, and this became proven, when in late-3025, the entire nation activated its military with the announcement that its HPG facility was at long-last operational. Coinciding with the rise of military raids and other activity along the borders between The Federative Republic of San Marcos and The Republic of Buntar, the local military deployed two companies of mercenary BattleMechs to the nation, half at the site of the HPG and the other in support of the border defenses.
Today, reduced to a single company, the mercenaries in the employ of Carbina are stationed at the HPG, which has proven to be a valuable resource and funds many of the educational and medical demands of the nation. In early-3031, these mercenaries began training a large contingent of privately acquired Mechs, armor and infantry in the use of their equipment, as well as combined-arms operations.
History
The “nation” of Carbina was once known as the Carbina District, settled by a growing San Marcos and founded in 2893 on the city ruins that once supported the planetary Hyper-Pulse Generator. Over the following century, the realm was settled by a culturally different population of Hindu seeking new lives from the former Hindu Collective region of the Davion Outback. Over time, they developed a distinctive religious, cultural and philosophical attitude different from the rest of the nation. By the 2960s there was a distinctive movement among the settlers to found their own nation.
In January of 2983, the region’s three national liberation movements met and formed a single united force, calling itself the “Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Carbina” (FLEC), and began political activities in bending the local government towards independence. By August of 2983, they formally signed the Alvor Agreement, establishing their independence and confirming the province as a separate entity. The province’s key political offices were occupied by forces from the hard-line FLEC military, (not formally supported by the provisional government) and began formal military maneuvers against regional militia forces.
For much of the 2980s and 2990s, this rebel movement fought a low-intensity guerrilla war, attacking the troops of San Marcos. Their tactics included attacking economic targets and kidnapping foreign employees working in the province’s resource and construction businesses. After a couple more decades of slow wearing-down of local militia forces, on July 25th, 3014, after ceasefire negotiations, António Bento Bembe – as president of the ComStar Forum for Dialogue and Peace, announced that the Carbina separatist forces were ready to declare a ceasefire. A peace treaty was signed. While some hard-liners demanded complete independence from outside forces, ComStar was chosen as the best force to maintain a peace in the province, with the promise they could work on the resident Hyper-Pulse Generator in an attempt to rebuild the device for off-world communications. San Marcos, weary of decades of low-level war within the province, saw it as a temporary winning solution.
In the years since, Comstar has supported the development of industry and defensive operations in the province, ensuring its independence from both the troubles of the 3024 Small War, and the nation’s own development and culture. With relative peace reigning in the wake of the 3026-7 civil disorders, the nation has developed itself to become a notable nation-state in the world.
With the completion of a major infrastructure project in 3028, and the nation’s industrial growth of 3029-30, the nation finally gained a position of some importance in world politics. In early-3026, along with Delancourt, the nation announced its intentions to join The Commonwealth of Nations, and was an enthusiastic supporter of the proposed world trade organization, the Terramatrix Trade Authority (TTA). While talks are on-going, the nation is expected to formally join the Commonwealth in early-3027.
