History of ComStar
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- This article details the history of ComStar. For more information, see ComStar.
Star League Era[edit]
Among the most important technological advances of the Star League era was the hyperpulse generator, a variant of the technology of the Kearny-Fuchida Drive that allowed interstellar communications and made possible the smooth rule and operation of massive Star League and Inner Sphere. With the prime circuit of the Star League Communications Network (SLCOMNET) located on the worlds of the Terran Hegemony, the HPG network suffered crippling damage during the Amaris Civil War. While the House Lords could agree on little after the conclusion of Amaris-Kerensky War, all knew that it was vital the HPG network be restored, with Nicoletta Calderon nominating Jerome Blake for the position of Minister of Communications of the Star League on October 10, 2780. As the highest-ranking member of the SLCOMNET hierarchy who was not captured or killed during the Amaris coup, Blake’s heroic efforts to maintain communications during the crisis earned him a reputation for integrity.[1][2]
Founding[edit]
Blake recognized two great responsibilities in the wake of the collapse of the Star League: preserving as much of the currently available technological knowledge as possible, and preventing the Successor States from seizing the interstellar communications network and misusing it for their own destructive purposes. To this end he set about transforming the Department of Communications into a neutral transnational corporation dedicated to the operation and preservation of the HPG network, renaming it ComStar.[3]
In 2788, Blake took control of Terra and declared it a neutral world. He offered secure interstellar communication to all Successor States that would pledge to respect the neutrality of the hyperpulse generator stations and personnel. The Inner Sphere leaders recognized that open communications were crucial to their survival and agreed to Blake's demands marking the beginning of the order of ComStar. Blake created the First Circuit to administer ComStar's affairs and fostered a "secret brotherhood" mentality among ComStar's members in order to keep the secrets of the Star League safe.
Blake would take this need for secrecy further in the last days of his life, when he met with his best friend and right-hand man, Conrad Toyama, on his deathbed. Blake charged Toyama with transforming ComStar from an organization into a religion, saying that humanity had to "burn itself out" and that only a religion would be capable of surviving what was to come.[4]
After Blake's death in 2819, Conrad Toyama of Dieron took control of ComStar. As Blake instructed, he replaced its corporate structure with a rigid, religious hierarchy, and shrouded its activities in mystic rituals. Toyama declared himself Primus, the highest authority in ComStar, bequeathing that august title and its responsibilities to every leader of ComStar who followed him.
The doctrine of religious mystery served Blake's original intent by fostering the belief that the sacred magic of HPG transmissions could only be wielded by ComStar adepts, ensuring that no Successor State would attempt to take control of the Star League's technological legacy. One faction of ComStar gradually moved towards interventionism, however, convinced that its mission lay in conquering humanity rather than waiting for it to burn out on its own. This faction reached the zenith of their power under Primus Myndo Waterly, who nearly succeeded in handing the Inner Sphere to the Clans. Only Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht's intervention prevented Myndo Waterly from propagating the collapse of the Inner Sphere. Focht ended Waterly's misguided rule by forcing her retirement from the primacy. Waterly's successor, Sharilar Mori, had launched a much-needed reform of the Order of ComStar. Under the leadership of Primus Mori and the Precentor Martial, ComStar took an active role in protecting the Inner Sphere against the Clans, rather than actively hindering its residents as they had done for centuries.
While the members of ComStar continue the original mission given to them by Jerome Blake, the splinter group known as the "Word of Blake," under the leadership of the so-called "Primus-in-Exile," Thomas Marik, continue the religion interpretation of the teachings of Jerome Blake. They saw their beliefs as a justification for a jihad against the houses of the Inner Sphere, with the intent of conquering Terra. Since their separation from the main body, they remained an enemy of ComStar until their defeat and reabsorption in 3081.
Clan Invasion[edit]
When the Clan Invasion occurred in 3049-3051, one of the leaders of ComStar, Anastasius Focht, proposed a deal to the ilKhan of the opposing Clan forces, Ulric Kerensky, in which the invading Clans would fight the forces of ComStar on the remote Rasalhagian planet of Tukayyid. To fight the Clans, Focht revealed the existence of the Com Guards, the elite, near mythical military branch of ComStar that had been hidden since the fall of the Star League.
The Com Guard forces clashed with the invading Clans on Tukayyid, and used their tactics and knowledge of clan weaknesses to attain an almost absolute victory against all but one of the opposing clans. Humiliated, ilKhan Kerensky was forced to accept a 15-year truce with the Inner Sphere.
Following the revealing of the Com Guards, ComStar became an even more predominant force in the Inner Sphere. The Com Guards were deployed all across the Inner Sphere to act as guards of HPGs on war-torn planets, and also were called on to act as Second Star League peacekeepers following the Whitting Conference of 3058. In this guise, Com Guard forces went with Prince Victor Ian Steiner-Davion to the Clan homeworld of Strana Mechty, where they participated in the Great Refusal, during which they were defeated by Clan Jade Falcon.
Word of Blake[edit]
Following the Battle of Tukayyid, Focht returned to Terra to confront radical Primus Myndo Waterly, who had hoped a Clan takeover of the Inner Sphere would lead to control by ComStar. Focht killed Waterly and tried but failed to cover it up. However, Precentor Demona Aziz of Atreus knew the truth and left Terra with a group of followers. With the permission of Thomas Marik, the new Word of Blake would occupy land on the world of Gibson.
ComStar would be dealt a major blow when the Word of Blake captured Terra in Operation Odysseus. Anastasius Focht chose not to recapture the planet, believing that the Clans were a greater threat. Soon all of ComStar would be moved to Tukayyid. ComStar attempted an invasion of the newly-formed Word of Blake Protectorate in 3068, but failed. After the bloody Word of Blake Jihad, Devlin Stone would successfully recapture Terra and form the Republic of the Sphere. ComStar has yet to regain control of Terra.