Войны разорения - релиз состоялся. Обсуждаем)

[Siberian-troll]

"Филд репортов больше не будет", заявил Херб.
А Роум здесь добавил, что ФР Кланы специально задержан, чтобы не противоречил ВоР.
В общем, после Генкона займутся, наверное.

В принципе, можно спросить у него в блоге. Там как раз сезон вопросов без ответа идет.

[Siberian-troll]

Undiscovered Country

Before a much-needed 10 day vacation around Memorial Day, chapters 3-8 were delivered to the factcheckers and playtesters. When I returned, I folded in the comments and fixes I did receive, most of which were positive encouragement and some detailed snags that needed addressed. The first weekend of June I spent slamming down Chapter 9, an in-book “addendum” to the fictional report that covered from the end of the Wars in 3076 through the time stamp of the intro: August 3087.

I’d already pulled a 72-hour writing marathon before my vacation, which saw nearly 42,000 words written. That first weekend back was a shorter 48 hour blitz, seeing corrections and another 18,000 words put down. I still wasn’t done, however, and our to-layout window was now blown by nearly a week. Fortunately, two other projects were taking their toll on layout, so I had some unwitting breathing room.

But I still had the short fiction, the personalities section, and the campaign section to complete.


Partial Art for Intro to Chapter 4

With all of my record sheets now gone to rot – a victim more of the insane number of priorities occupying our poor overworked layout team than anything – there came a brutal question I had to answer: What, if any, material do I fill that entire signature with? (A signature, by the way, is printer-speak; it’s normal for books to be broken into 16 page ‘signatures’ for a print run. That’s why most of our books are in multiples of 16 pages when going to print.)

Up to this point, I’d toyed with doing a Chaos-style campaign for the sourcebook but had back-burnered it for a few reasons. One, it’d be great fodder for a PDF supplemental (and that product’s central marketing force). Two, it would be insanely complicated to create a meshed series of tracks through the convoluted storylines I’d woven into the book so far. Three, such a campaign would require a complete set of Random Access Tables (RATs), of which I didn’t have the time nor inclination to develop.

Now, however, opportunity presented itself in the form of a hastily scribbled note in one of my notebooks, back nearly a year prior. The note was more from a conversation I’d had with Herb regarding ‘formalizing’ a track creation rule set for Interstellar Operations, something I’d been against (and still am for reasons best not discussed here). A set-run campaign for WOR would need to be generic enough to allow all Clan factions and units to play, something that’s rather difficult when one Clan’s enemy would be another player’s faction of choice. And in WOR, alliances were switching off and on pretty quickly.

So I stopped and thought this through a bit. What if instead…we gave the players and/or gamemasters the ability to craft their own tracks – and by extension, a campaign – for as long as they wanted to play it?

It was an intriguing thought and I ran with it.

First, we’d need to allow for a ‘base cost’; this would be accomplished through the use of a Clan planet. Each planet (not system – planet) would have a set cost associated with it; subsequent sequential battles on that planet would have reduced cost, since the player unit isn’t being transported anywhere. This would also allow us to “correct” the rather fanciful data in the system table at the end of Warriors of Kerensky; I had it on good authority (cough*cray*cough) that said data was pretty inconsistent with ‘real’ astronomy. (It’s an easy fix to accommodate, actually. Since Phelan was the in-universe author of that report, he was simply wrong our out to misdirect the reader.)

A set objective that fit Clan warfare would be ‘free’ to the player, and to round out the basic framework, no special objectives and only three special rules would be added/required. Anything added to the track would increase or decrease the track’s base cost, making the campaign truly flexible from track to track, and very customizable.

I then established a set list of Objectives that could be tacked on for greater rewards; the caveat was that the player (or gamemaster) would need to select up to two during the creation of the track, establishing only those as important to that particular track. Same with Options, though these could add or subtract from the track cost. And Special Rules also had a place; aside from the automatic three that were required, additional ones to give flavor to factions, opponents, battlefields, and so on were included.



Of course, examples of creating various types of tracks were given. Because I’m sure that what I just wrote above is confusing enough; imagine it spelled out in BattleTech rules-ease. Examples for rules are always a good thing.

After two complete days of dedication to this section, now dubbed Chapter 11 – Campaign, an additional 12,000 words filled in the gap left by the record sheet loss. A flexible track creation system was in place – tailored specifically for the Wars of Reaving and not for general era usage, mind – and with it, the vehicle for faction-specific campaigns for players to enjoy.

As a bonus, the record sheet “problem” now practically required us to have a supplemental product. With it came additional campaign ideas, such as additional objectives, special rules, and a complete RAT for all of the factions in the book. I also had other plans for the supplemental, of which I’ll discuss later.

The campaign section popped out over the course of one day; the remains of the weekend found me finishing half of the personalities section. With layout now freeing up, I quickly shoveled most of the book over to our overworked editor, Jason Schmetzer, who now had five days to edit three-quarters of the book. All that remained from me was the last of the personalities and the short story. (I’d saved the hardest for last, as short fiction is one of my admitted weaknesses. Because I tend to write stories better under pressure – a fact I discovered in college when my best work came tumbling onto the word processor three hours before class – I’d saved this one to the end.)

But all our windows were missed at this point, save one: we had a firm to-the-printer-or-else date at the beginning of July (barely two weeks away) in order to make it for our fall street date. With over 180,000 words in need of an editing pass and a completely new layout look to design, it was highly doubtful we could make it. The book would be done at some point, but the cost to Catalyst would increase continually for every day it was late. And my biggest project with them was looking to possibly be my last. The original to-print date of the 2011 holidays was pretty solid at this point.

So, you ask – what’s the final outline look like now? Here’s a breakdown of the major sections:

How to Use This Book (p4)
Way of the Warrior (p6-11)
Trials of Position (p12-30)
Trials of Possession (p31-62)
Reaving (p63-90)
Chalcas (p91-115)
Trials of Annihilation (p116-140)
Surkairede (p141-151)
Founder’s Future (p152-196)
Rules Annex (p197-228)
Wars of Reaving Campaign (p229-250)
Glossary (p251-255)
End (p256)

That’s right – 256 pages. Only a few pages shorter than the older CBT:RPG Companion. Outside of the rulebooks, it’s the second-largest BattleTech sourcebook to be printed, and Catalyst’s biggest to-date.

(To be continued; yep, still more to come. This project was a monster endeavor, if you can’t tell by now.)

[Родривар Тихера]

That’s right – 256 pages

Как я понял, это все - окончательный вариант для печати?

[Юджин]

Несмотря на неприятную картинку для клановцев в виде расстреляного даггерстара Кланов содержание книжки оптимистично. Последние главы называются "суркайрид" и "будущее Основателя". С учетом всего ранее написаного можно сделать вывод что Путь Кланов в Домашних Мирах выжил и видимо продолжает быть доминирующей силой. Даже если там и были какие-то революции и восстания Кланы должны были победить. Как ни крути а сила у воинской касты. А б-г помогает тем, у кого большие батальоны.

[Маленький Скорпион]

Даже если там и были какие-то революции и восстания Кланы должны были победить. Как ни крути а сила у воинской касты

*лениво набрасывает*
Каста воинов научилась чинить свои мехи и водить дропшипы без касты техников, решать вопросы снабжения без касты торговцев, размножаться без касты учёных и готовить нямку насущную без трудовой касты?

[Diamond]

So I stopped and thought this through a bit. What if instead…we gave the players and/or gamemasters the ability to craft their own tracks – and by extension, a campaign – for as long as they wanted to play it?

Сначала они перестали делать сценарпаки, потому что те плохо продавались.
Потом они стали делать кампании в свободном формате, глючные и требующие дополнительного времени на подготовку, но всё равно содержащие некоторые базовые вехи.
Теперь они решили не делать даже базовых засечек.

16 страниц порожняка, спасибо.

[Siberian-troll]

Wars of Reaving: FAQ
Who would win in a fight: 1960′s era William Shatner or Jason Schmetzer?
Technically not a WOR question, but it’s too awesome to not answer. Schmetzer, hands down. His verbal tirade would cause the Shat’s ears to bleed, distracting him as Schmetzer laid down the smack. See, Schmetzer fights dirty…

Are any new Clans created?
Maybe. It’s certainly within a Khan’s power to do so; the question is, are any of them savvy enough to do it?

Whenever the Record Sheets for the book are(if) released will it just have RS for the new units in the book or will it have new variants for already existing units?
The plan, at the moment, is to have the record sheets for all of the units in the book. That’s four ProtoMechs and three OmniMechs; the Omnis will have their Prime and Alpha configs (as mentioned in the book) as well as up to four additional variants. I’m not sure if we have additional variants for the Protos.

What are the names of the new OmniMechs?
That’d spoil the surprise!

And probably asking for too much: which Clans designed said OmniMechs?
That answer would also tip a surprise, so as much as I want to say, I cannot.

Any chance of a WoR supplemental?
A very good chance, actually. Probably releasing 4-6 weeks after the book.

Does the Word of Blake have a hand in anything that goes on in the Cluster/Pentagon?
That’s actually a tricky question to answer without divulging a main plot point. I can say this: The Word of Blake is mentioned a few times in the book.

Are the Genecaste real?
Possibly. Their reality may or may not be as described in Interstellar Players.

Will the logo found in Blood Avatar be revealed to be true, or is it a red herring?
It’s a conspiracy theory espoused by a backwater community coroner who’s never left the planet, never involved herself in interstellar events, and yet apparently knows more about the Clans than the top leaders in the Inner Sphere. So…take that as you will.

How did Khan Amanda Carrol get to be such a cutie?
Because that’s how the artist created her?

Any in jokes for us to find?
Not really, no. There’s one oblique Babylon 5 reference, a snap at the BT cartoon, and a touch on the BOI series. Otherwise, no.

Did the One Star Faith or the Believers of the Saints Cameron participate in the Diet of Babylon? Did either make inroads into the Homeworlds?
Yes, though I don’t mention them by name. And I think you can answer the second part of that question at the end of the book. (If you can’t figure it out by then, ask me.)

Do we find out what happens to Adder Upsilon on their expedition to the IS?
OH YES.

Are the Tanites as scary awesome as we over speculate?
Probably not.

Do the Blood Spirit civilians become a ravenous zombie horde?
No, though the civilians are indirectly responsible for what happens to that Clan.

What became of the Mckenna’s Pride and General Kerensky’s tomb?
They’re both still around in 3085.

After the Wars of Reaving will a culture develop among the surviving Clans of isolation from the inner sphere and IS-based Clans or will a new Crusader culture develop?
The old “Warden” and “Crusader” philosophies are no more in the Homeworlds at the end of all this; there’s more of a reverse-philosophy that comes to the forefront. The Inner Sphere Clans still hold those ideals, but suffice to say how they interpret them will continue to change and evolve.



Can you give an idea of the repercussions of WoR on the universe between Jihad and Dark Age eras?
The Wars effectively severe all connections between the Spheroid Clans and the Homeworlds. As a result, the Homeworld Clans are mostly forgotten by the time of the Dark Age.

The incidents cause the Inner Sphere Clans to compile a comprehensive briefing of the whole sordid ordeal, which is then codified into a book that is intended to be passed on to future Clan leaders. The WOR sourcebook is that resource.

In your opinion, what’s the most exciting thing about WoR (that you can talk about right now) and why?
Partially because this is uncharted territory in the story; it’s been a decade since fans have not truly known what lies ahead in the plot. That excites me not just as the author, but as a fan. It’s also great to finally “connect the dots” with a lot of the various hanging plot points and hints we’ve had out there over the last several years, and laying out general groundwork for the future of the Inner Sphere Clans.

Given the writing of the story has there been a great picture (as final results of the WoR) you had to follow or were you free to do/create anything you wanted?
I was 99% able to do whatever I wanted in the Homeworlds, as long as I stuck with the “5 Clans destroyed” statement in Rending of Falcons. With the IS Clans there was more constraint, as we have plotted direction for them through the Dark Age era. Filling in the gaps as to how these Clans move in that direction was up to me, however.

Given the (probably) true ToC you posted which chapter is your favorite/you are especially proud about?
Chapter 9, Founder’s Future. That was a very fun section to write. And Chapter 11, the WOR Campaign; I really think people are going to love this twist on the Chaos Campaign ruleset.

Within the context of the book, what is the incident you wrote that spells out “S**T JUST GOT REAL” to the Clans as a whole?
The events of December 4-6, 3071.

Does this book detail the decision for Clan Diamond Shark to revert to using the Sea Fox as their totem?
No. The Sharks revert to Sea Fox in 3100, beyond the dateline of this book.

What was the single most difficult section/chapter to write for you? Why?
The biographies in Chapter 9 were the most difficult. It’s hard to make Clan warriors seem like individuals instead of common genetic stereotypes.

Do the Snow Ravens get to kick Steel Vipers for their attack on Lum?
No. Actually, the true destruction of Lum comes from two other Clans. And the Ravens do get a small measure of revenge on one of the perpetrators.

Do the Snow Ravens get to kick the Draconis Combine for their destruction of the White Cloud?
Well yeah; I thought that was clear early on in the Jihad: Hot Spots books with the rampage that lead to Galedon…

Will the rumor “new” WarShip mentioned in the early Jihad Hot Spots books that allegedly belonged to the Steel Vipers be highlighted?
Considering it’s the lynchpin of the Viper’s overall strategy, I’d say yes.

How *many* Clans are destroyed?
Enough of them.

Do the Homeworld Clans become more radical and withdrawn from any other human contact, a la Blood Spirits, or do the wars result in a less fanatical mindset due to the amount of destruction? This obviously has implications with regards to, among other things, Trueborn versus freeborn philosophies (some Homeworld Clans not admitting any freebirth warriors into their toumans versus the practice of most of the Invasion era Clans allowing freebirth participation and even rank within their toumans).
Well, as I said earlier, the Wars do force a re-evaluation of various philosophies. The Homeworld Clans now see things very differently, and the Spheroid Clans are forging their own path with the old philosophies.

To put it another way, do the wars result in an intensifying of Clan culture, or a move away from perspectives and habits that may have led up to the wars?
That’s best left for reader interpretation after reading the book as a whole.

Is this a Victor Hugo-style sweeping historical novel disguised as a sourcebook?
Probably.

With a book of this scope, covering over a dozen factions, where many unintended continuity errors are always a danger, how do you as the author organize your materials to avoid this? You mentioned working off Oystein’s stuff, but did you build your own additional system, or try to work from the master notes he had?
Well, first off, Oystein’s notes mainly dealt with Clan units that were still around in the 3090′s and beyond; he compiled a comprehensive list of Galaxies, Clusters, and WarShips that were still viable in the 3130′s. This was so I didn’t inadvertently kill something off. I still managed to boggle a couple of things, but we worked those issues out.

I did have my own system, though I had to cobble it together after I’d started. Using a printout of the FM:U rosters, I did my own pencil-and-eraser approach in damaging and destroying units as needed. I also used a master WarShip list to keep track of losses. I’m rather happy to say that there are few, if any, continuity errors in the book with regards to units, people, and other hard facts. Much of that comes from the dedicated help of two factcheckers who love the Clans.

Now we have the WOR coming out, what happens to the Clans afterwards?
See, answering that would be telling. There are plans for them in the BattleTech future, especially the Spheroid ones.

Will we see new some tech manuals from the rebuild or source books?
No, this is it for the Homeworlds for a while. There is nothing on the production schedule for at least the next 4-5 years and by Herb and my decree, the Homeworlds and Deep Periphery are “untouchable” by our writers after the in-game year of 3085.

If the WOR was the Clan “jihad,” a lot would have been destroyed. So new OmniMechs, DropShips, JumpShips and WarShip construction could happen. Think of all them new books a new golden age of building. What do you think?
First, I dislike the idea this is the Clan “jihad.” Let’s separate the two storylines and not call it that.

Second, there’s no other books planned and considering how this whole thing goes down, the Clans won’t be in much position to make new toys, much less recoup the ones already in existence they lose in the Wars.

According to the novels and “clickytech” MechWarrior: Dark Age products there are several new mini-factions that appear to have origins on the Clans. Do any of these mini-factions originate from the Clans involved in the WoR or their origins are exclusively from the IS clans? Is there any reference in the WoR book for any of these new/renamed mini-factions?
First, remember that MW:DA occurs in 3134 and beyond. The time covered by this book is 3067-3087.

Second, all of the mini-factions in the MW:DA era have origins in the various Inner Sphere Clans.

Third, no, there is no reference for these small factions (that end up disappearing by the end of the MWDA novel line) in the WOR book.

If Wars of Reaving was a buddy movie, who would be the lead actors?
Vin Diesel and John Malkovitch



Will there be any information about what happened to the Eridani Light Horse unit absorbed by the Goliath Scorpions?
Oooooooooh yes. And it’s their fault the Scorpions get their karmic comeuppance.

How much freedom were you given to determine the endpoint of WoR – was end result already dictated and you got to choose how to get there or was the end result something you chose, a bit of both, or the end result decided in consultation with Randall and Herb (and Herb’s cats)?
The only dictated endpoint was how many Clans were to be destroyed, to line up with Vic Milan’s statement in Rending of Falcons. How things ended up I was given complete control over. Herb and Randall did read over the first draft and had no changes, so it’s all on me.

Do any refugees from the home Clans come to the Inner Sphere and settle with either the Nova Cats or Wolf-in-Exile?
Nope. None.

What was the single “coolest” (in your opinion) idea that had to be cut, for whatever reason?
Two WarShip equipment ideas I had I ended up dropping early on because they were too close to our standard “never-ever use” aesthetics for the universe. And it was a good call; in retrospect, they would’ve seriously overbalanced things.

I do mildly regret not cramming in the invasion of the Hanseatic League, but that idea came pretty late to the table and exceeded the time frame of the book. Maybe one day it’ll happen, but maybe not. It’s an extension of a plot string that I’d like to develop, possibly in a PDF-format, but that story idea may never pan out in that direction, either. It’s a placeholder, nothing more.

Do you literally piss excellence? And does being a Penguins fan help keep you grounded as a human being? Honestly, I only wonder how many fan/joyboys do you think are going to internally combust because of your book? No, “hopefully none” is not an acceptable answer.
Being a nearly lifelong Penguins fan is its own train ride, so yeah, I’d say that grounds me. As far as internal combustion…Well, what I want is for fans to walk away from this book pleased from a good story, even if their faction gets whacked. Then I know I’ll have made an impact.

Will we get a full rundown/list of the clan TOE’s post WoR? For some reason I am not feeling very confident my CHH Zeta Galaxy is going to make it. Please prove me wrong!
Not a full “every single ‘Mech and warrior name” TO&E, no. This isn’t like the Wolf and Falcon “phone books.” But the surviving Homeworld Clans do get a partial-style TO&E similar to that in FM:U, though without locations. I nixed doing that for the Spheroid Clans, as that’ll be covered in a separate print product on the schedule and I didn’t want to add to the continuity barrel. Besides, I make a very good in-universe justification for it.

As far as Zeta goes…well…I can prove you wrong but I’m sure you may not like how wrong you’re feeling.

Are ProtoMechs widely deployed in the Clan Homeworlds? Outside of the Blood Spirits?
Widely deployed? No. Deployed? Yes. And it also depends on where in this 20 year span you’re talking…

What goes into deciding which Clans survive and which ones don’t? Did those lists change many times?
Initially, I came up with three lists, based on various directions I could go as I vaguely saw my plots working out. Aside from one firm decision from the outset (due to one of the plotlines we’d nailed down), that list changed a lot. As I wrote (and rewrote and rewrote and rewrote), the list fluctuated as to who survived and who died. Even up to the end, I wavered on at least two factions. Finally I flipped one to survive (but in a very different way) and killed the other. Despite some last-minute haranguing by Paul on one decision, I stayed firm as I was tired of reworking everything. What was done…was done.

If the book is perfect bound, why do you have to fill signatures of 16 pages?
Because that’s just how we do it.

Do we finally find who out Coyote Delta Galaxy’s Commander really is?
Maaaaaybe.

What kinds of movies and music did you use as background noise to write to (like Blaine Pardoe’s mentioned he does)? (This was an emailed question.)
During the writing frenzy of April-May-June, I re-watched (on the side) the entire Babylon 5 series and seasons 1-4 of Burn Notice. At various times, I also had on Kelley’s Heroes, Midway, Tora Tora Tora, The Great Escape, and the Halo Anime movies. Music-wise, I tended to have on a random mix of several movie soundtracks in my collection, which is too numerous to mention all the titles.

So that does it for the FAQ. If you have more questions, simply add them in comments and I’ll try to answer them.

The Road to Reaving blog series continues tomorrow with a look at layout and the wrapping up of writing, all within the crushing deadline of less than two weeks…

[KolbunD]

Does the Word of Blake have a hand in anything that goes on in the Cluster/Pentagon?
That’s actually a tricky question to answer without divulging a main plot point. I can say this: The Word of Blake is mentioned a few times in the book.

ну конечно, куда без них ...

If Wars of Reaving was a buddy movie, who would be the lead actors?
Vin Diesel and John Malkovitch

ага, а роль Линкольна Озиса я бы доверил Майклу Дункану

[Siberian-troll]

Меня больше впечатлило намечающееся вторжение домашних кланов в Ганзу.

[FES]

Will the logo found in Blood Avatar be revealed to be true, or is it a red herring?
It’s a conspiracy theory espoused by a backwater community coroner who’s never left the planet, never involved herself in interstellar events, and yet apparently knows more about the Clans than the top leaders in the Inner Sphere. So…take that as you will.

я не читал блуд аватара. О чем идёт речь?

[Siberian-troll]

Will the logo found in Blood Avatar be revealed to be true, or is it a red herring?
It’s a conspiracy theory espoused by a backwater community coroner who’s never left the planet, never involved herself in interstellar events, and yet apparently knows more about the Clans than the top leaders in the Inner Sphere. So…take that as you will.

я не читал блуд аватара. О чем идёт речь?

На странице 306, ближе к концу, герои изучают медальон трупа, на котором эмблема в виде меча (ассоциирующегося у ГГ с Миром Блейка), наложенного на кровавую каплю или диск. Фамилия трупа Кодза. Порывшись в базах данных ГГ находит три эмблемы с каплей, считавшейся ранее сердцем - находят эмблему "старого изоляционисткого клана, умершего годы и годы назад", переворачивают буквы фамилии и получают Задок - одну из неэксклюзивных родовых фамилий клана БладСпиритов. Как Ром и говорил - все это было высосано из пальца, но Визкидс страстно хотелось вставить это в роман.

[Пауль]

Чел смотрит те же фильмы, что и я. У его неплохой вкус.

[Маленький Скорпион]

ну конечно, куда без них ...

Было бы странно не упомянуть "a few times in the book" одну из основных сюжетообразующих фракций периода, и было бы странно для "Слова Блейка" не обзавестись хоть какой агентурой в Кланспейсе -- а для клановских "бэзпэк" эту агентуру старательно выявлять и разоблачать. Даже там, где её нет

Меня больше впечатлило намечающееся вторжение домашних кланов в Ганзу

Дык выбор-то невелик: Ганза да Новая Кастилия, больше ничего, заслуживающего вторжения, в окрестностях Кланспейса не наблюдается. Ганзейцы вроде как побогаче, значит, они и первые на очереди.

[KolbunD]

Дык выбор-то невелик: Ганза да Новая Кастилия, больше ничего, заслуживающего вторжения, в окрестностях Кланспейса не наблюдается. Ганзейцы вроде как побогаче, значит, они и первые на очереди.

может хоть первую адекватную каноническую карту Ганзы увидим

[Родривар Тихера]

Will there be any information about what happened to the Eridani Light Horse unit absorbed by the Goliath Scorpions?
Oooooooooh yes. And it’s their fault the Scorpions get their karmic comeuppance.

Вот оно как, однако! Бедняг-Скорпионов выпилили за попытку усилить свой тумен сфероидами. Даа, жаль и тех и других, не получилось с конвергенцией

Are the Genecaste real?
Possibly. Their reality may or may not be as described in Interstellar Players

Мда, судя по ответу этих выкинут таки с корабля истории - а мы тут конспирологические теории разводили

Are the Tanites as scary awesome as we over speculate?
Probably not.

И про этих тоже конспироложили, а оно тоже вон как обернулось: "слухи сильно преувеличены"

Do we find out what happens to Adder Upsilon on their expedition to the IS?
OH YES

А вот это интересно - ждем грязных подробностей.

Меня больше впечатлило намечающееся вторжение домашних кланов в Ганзу.

Увы , как я понял, к Бену Рому эта идея пришла уже слишком поздно, чтоб вставить ее в уже фактически полностью расписанную книгу - а жаль! Так что остается нам только набраться терпения: снос Ганзы это круто! - будем ждать, запасшись энд .

Было бы странно не упомянуть "a few times in the book" одну из основных сюжетообразующих фракций периода, и было бы странно для "Слова Блейка" не обзавестись хоть какой агентурой в Кланспейсе -- а для клановских "бэзпэк" эту агентуру старательно выявлять и разоблачать. Даже там, где её нет

ИМХО, ключевые слова - последние. Но ведь так удобно вешать на своих противников "жжжжуткие" политические ярлыки, чтоб потом их свободно выпиливать - особенно блэки будут подходить, если Дарк Касту неосторожно (вместе с Генокастой) выпилят через чур быстро - а " процесс разорения" все еще будет идти полным ходом

Дык выбор-то невелик: Ганза да Новая Кастилия, больше ничего, заслуживающего вторжения, в окрестностях Кланспейса не наблюдается. Ганзейцы вроде как побогаче, значит, они и первые на очереди.

Собственно, тут даже и выбора то особенного нет - ну кто позариться на нищую и разоренную войной Новую Кастилию? А Ганза вполне достойная цель для любого сохранившего силы из уцелевших кланов, а может даже и коалиции - все таки несколько десятков освоенных миров, для понесших колоссальные потери в общеклановой разборке уцелевших, это слишком лакомый ресурсный кусок.

может хоть первую адекватную каноническую карту Ганзы увидим

Сам давно жду, как говориться - мечтать не вредно. Но все это вряд ли будет раньше, чем появится эта самая гипотетическая книга Бена Рома про вторжение в Ганзу.
П.С. Хотя, чем черт не шутит - может какая то часть "наработок" Бена всплывет по обещанному "джихадскому" Периферийскому сурсу. Т.к. теоретически блэки "отметились" и в Ганзе с Новой Кастилией!

[Юджин]

Родривар Тихера

С чего это Скорпионов "выпилили"? Читать можно как "пострадали или наказаны". CGS твердый орешек в оборонительной войне и батальон-другой абтах "световых коней" не такой уж и повод для вырезания. Скорпионы благородный Клан и зеллбринген чтит не как некоторые, не буду клешней указывать.

[Diamond]

Давайте лучше тотализатор устроим, кто те 5 Кланов, кого выпилили.

Мой прогноз:
Хеллионы, Скорпионы, Мандриллы, Кобры, Духи.

[Fenris]

хеллионы, духи, кобры, гадюки, койоты

[Den [WM]]

может хоть первую адекватную каноническую карту Ганзы увидим

Радуйся! в FReport Periphery есть карта Ганзы и Кастильи

[Юджин]

Мой прогноз *на спойлерах и слухах*: Стальные Гадюки, Ледовые Хеллионы, Облачные Кобры, Духи Крови и Звездные Ужи.