The Burrocks

Clan Burrock originally faced annihilation in the Clan Homeworlds for their association with the Dark Caste. The Wolverines regarded this as a potential ally in their future fight against the Clans and the Inner Sphere. Building a network using the Burrock’s Dark Caste and their own forces, the Wolverines evacuated a large portion of the Burrock to a trio of worlds which had been made habitable with terraforming: Prosperity, Justice and Temperance.

Adopting a similar nomenclature to their savior, Clan Burrock eschewed the “Clan” portion of their name and began a societal transformation starting in 3061. While the caste system remained in place, a new caste, the Captain Caste, was added above the others. Captains would be leaders of raiding parties, piracy groups and have control over their own military organizations, supplanting the former Galaxy system. The Burrocks appreciated the vatgrown population to serve as hands for their military and ships.

History of the Burrocks

Integrating in the Union

Clan Burrock’s population had a bit of a hard time integrating with the other 2 Union members at first, trying to find a footing between their traditional Clan upbringing and the freedom that was now given to them. Criminal actions against the Wolverines or the Republic-In-Exile were strongly discouraged, making many dark caste warriors quite frustrated at first. It was the first Emperor of the Black Sea, former Khan Jefferson Moreau, which managed to alleviate these concerns by organizing steady raids and strikes against targets throughout the anti-spinward periphery using the super-jumpdrives.

For the Union, these new state-sponsored pirates gave them opportunity to test new equipment and train warriors in exchange programs. The Burrocks, on their side, saw this as a new form of expression of the caste system. They started supplementing their ship crew and especially their planetary holdings with massive amounts of vatgrowns.

Growth of the Captainships

Star Colonels were now generally called “Captains” amongst the Burrocks and given control of one or more JumpShip. Each Captain was semi-independent, having only to report to a Warlord, which then reported to the Emperor of the Black Sea. Wealth from raids were “taxed” by the higher authority to fund more expansion of the fleets, rebuilding the touman or purchasing other equipment and manpower from the Wolverines and Republic. This newfound independence amongst the warrior caste was reflected as well for many of the lower caste, with the merchants becoming the second most important caste with how they were critical for trading.

Fights between Captainships became more and more common but followed strict rules of zelbrigen as to limit losses. Captains were encouraged to settle things via duels rather than full fledged combat, which still fit the fighting style of the Clans just fine. Once the Burrocks hit “soft targets” however, all bets were off, as long as they could get away with as much loot as possible.

Establishing the Two Ports

As other Clans were integrating in the Union, along with other powers, the Burrocks kept expanding their power base. Two worlds were terraformed by the Burrocks, which they named Port Royal and Port au Prince, which were meant to serve a staging area for raids within Clan space and Inner Sphere space. By 3116, the two Ports had become travel destination for the wealthier members of the Union, enjoying the lawlessness they had compared to the stricter control of the Wolverines and the Union. Multiple recharge stations were built around the suns of these two worlds to let ships quickly get ready for strikes or movement. These worlds and their suns would become key locations from which the Union would plan their strikes in the anti-spinward regions of known space.

Getting ready for war

The Burrocks were quite content with their criminal enterprises, and it shook them when they heard the Union was getting ready for actual strikes against the Inner Sphere. Emperor Zora Tani was not ready to pledge much of the Burrocks forces until Clan Ice Hellion declared they would destroy the Escorpion Imperio. This region of space had been a massive source of wealth for the Burrocks, and they did not want another party taking it over from them, so the Warlords joined together in a bid to lead the strike. In the end, Foxtrot Whitfield asked that both the Hellion and Burrock work together in taking over as much territory as possible from the Goliath Scorpions.

Burrock’s Culture

While there is an underlying Clan caste system within the Burrocks, there was a major shift towards a very “pirate-inspired” organization. Captains are all officially independent from each other, with Warlords having only a small amount of power over them. These captains having a more nomadic lifestyle, the value of Aerospace Fighter pilots are increased, and the Burrocks were some of the first to introduce new LAM designs. Many MechWarriors began training to be able to pilots ASF as well as ‘Mechs, just in case.

The differences between “trueborn” and “freeborn” have pretty much been eliminated in the Burrocks. Many upper-class warriors are happy to have “bloodborn” children that can inherit their portion of loot if they are to die, rather than having nameless Trueborn kids. The concept of bloonames has not been eliminated, but any “bloodborn” child immediately is given their father’s bloodname if he has any. Lower caste members are not allowed to have family names, outside specific exceptions in the Merchant caste.

Burrock merchants are allowed to have “Tradenames” once they reach high enough rating in their respective Captainships, with most of them taking last names from ancient pirates of Terra. The “Teach” tradename is now exclusive to the merchants serving the Emperor of the Sea, as his “Kidd” for the merchants aboard the Thriller Barque.

Burrock’s Military

The current Emperor of the Black Sea, Zora Tani, was given command of the Tremor, a modified Cameron-class battlecruiser. The 2 Potemkin-class ships, the Big Mom and Thriller Barque, serve as lootships, carrying the spoils of raids as a centralized hubs, and are not meant to see combat. Warlord Corine Hutchison purchased an Essex Block III from Clan Steel Viper in 3141, which is named the Alabasta. Not to be outdone, Warlord Zwegis Nga used most of his plunder from the usurper Rim Territories to purchase a ship himself, which he called East Blue. The other warlords are currently using modified Star Lords as command ships.

Production of new BattleMechs and Aerospace Fighters took center stage, but with the nomadic lifestyle of the Captains, omni-capable equipment is preferred. Factories on Prosperity, Justice and Temperance concentrate mainly on these, with the Burrocks importing standard ‘mechs from other Union members. A large number of “ancient” omnimechs are being built as those are the ones the Burrocks have plans for, starting with the Coyotl, Omni-Corvis, Woodsman and Kingfisher.

Current National Data

Burrock’s Demographics
Affiliation: Exiled Clan
Population (Clan Space): 2.6 billion (3153) (counting vatgrown)
Population growth rate: 8.2 percent
Self-Sufficiency Index: 83 percent and dropping (food shortages)

Leaders:
Emperor:  Zora Tani
Paymaster:  Rover Holliday

Military:
Walords: 6
Captains: 31
WarShips: 5 (Flagship Tremor (Cameron Block II), 2 Potemkin, 2 Essex Block III)

Controlled worlds:

Main worlds: Prosperity, Justice, Temperance

Logistics ports: Port Royal, Port Au Prince

Currency: Doublon