A unique and powerful political tool, as well as an economic one, The Lighthouse is an independently operated “nation-state”, that always makes an impact in every system it enters. Whenever The Lighthouse makes a jump into a system, she changes everything. Weaving back and forth along the entire Inner Sphere’s Periphery, she has proven popular, though her revolutions of the known galaxy means she’s rarely seen for years at a time. And she and her crew are okay with that.

She rarely remains in a system for more than a couple weeks, to recharge her drives and her citizens madly try to occupy their time with as much business as possible. Meetings and negotiations often occur all through the night, and the vessel’s bars are popular among the “out-worlders”.

Although believed to have been rebuilt from an abandoned NewGrange-Class YardShip, the exact origins of The Lighthouse remain murky. However it was rescued and rebuilt, it began circulating around the Inner Sphere over 22 years ago. It is believed the hulk was resurrected from the hull of the “Star of Reckoning”, believed to have been lost with all hands during the initial attempts of Kerensky to storm the Outworld’s Alliance.

Often referred to as “The City in the Stars” by those who first encounter it, the title seems appropriate. Home to its own urban community spread across four internal grav decks, roughly 5000 people call The Lighthouse home. While the rank-and-file include the usual traders and corporate executives, the bulk of the citizenry is crowded into quarters never meant for long-term habitation. Citizens of this star city try and make a living like any other citizen of any other urban sprawl.

There are also somewhere around a thousand or more temporary residents travelling and conducting business, while others are literally tourists, enjoying their stay for a few months, before returning on an available JumpShip back to their origin worlds. Others use the vessel as a means to travel from place to place, as it was originally designed. Sometimes the ship is crowded with hundreds or thousands of colonists seeking a new world to settle.

The demands for an internal economy are met like any small town would be, with banks, retail stores, restaurants, schools and churches providing services to the local citizens. A hospital and combined arena serve the needs of all the populace. Chief among its economy is the Lighthouse Exchange (LIEX), that provides a commodities exchange to visiting merchants, ensuring a free market. Competition is the rule of law in the local economy, and can attract some wild speculative efforts among visiting merchants. It also suffers from the usual urban problems of crime and smuggling, with a platoon of star marines dedicated to each grav deck to ensure compliance with local laws.

The station welcomes any and all travellers, providing shuttle services with DropShips and JumpShips near the vessel (charging 25Cs per trip), but also has converted its four docking collars into folding docking arms that allow both shuttles and DropShips to enter the vessel enmasse. Docking on any “Spire” can be vastly cheaper (250Cs per day as opposed to 3500Cs for internal docking), and it has proven quite popular.

Military Forces

In addition to the internal force of four (4) platoons of marines, the Lighthouse maintains a flight of twelve AeroFighters (mostly medium-sized vessels) and four (4) gunboats of various designs and origins. The vessel also deploys several of its original Naval PPCs, along with a large number of PPCs for point-blank defenses.