Editing Erinyes (Individual WarShip)

{{infoBoxIndividualVessel
| image      = WoBS Erinyes.jpg
| vesselname = Erinyes
| prevname   =
| type       = [[WarShip]]
| class      = [[Yardship]]/Unique dreadnought{{cn}}
| prevclass  = [[Newgrange]]
}}
Supposedly a dreadnought{{cn}} capable of destroying entire planets by means of its [[heavy mass driver]] weapon, the '''[[WoBS]] ''Erinyes''''' is thought to be a heavily modified ''[[Newgrange]]''-class Yardship. Little solid data is known about it. The available information on the vessel is considered unreliable, often obtained through inference or from undisclosed sources.

==Description==
Records recovered indicated that by [[3065]] the [[Word of Blake]] had fitted a spinal-mounted heavy mass driver in the massive pressurized bay of the ''Newgrange''-class ''Erinyes'', with the remaining space later allocated to holding large asteroids to be fitted with thrust engines. The original concept was for a deep-space mining vessel that could extract rare ores or fit asteroids with drives to send them back to a central processing location.<ref name="TRO3085S-40"/><ref name=ISP3-24>''Interstellar Expeditions: Interstellar Players 3'', pp. 24–25: "Hunting the Word - Other Blakist Bases - Mundo Nublar"</ref>

During the [[Jihad]], the Word of Blake instead weaponized the vessel, using its mass driver and drive-equipped asteroids in at least two confirmed stealth orbital bombardments. Launched several [[w:astronomical unit|astronomical units]] from the target under hard burns to reach significant fractions of light speed, these asteroids travel for a long time&mdash;days or even weeks&mdash;until they hit their target world. By this time, the ''Erinyes'' has had ample time to recharge its [[jump drive]] and leave the system before anyone is even aware that they are under attack.<ref name=TRO3085S-40>''Technical Readout: 3085 Supplemental'', p. 40</ref><ref name=ISP3-24/>

==History==
In [[3066]] the [[Star League Intelligence Command]] began receiving information about a mining ship that [[ComStar]] was tracking in the coreward [[Deep Periphery]],<ref name="J:FRp136">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 136: "Erinyes"</ref> last reported to be mining the extensive asteroid fields of the [[Wolf 82]] system "half a year" prior to a briefing in September 3067,<ref name="BMR">''Black Mist Rising'', ch. 4, pp. 10–12</ref> i.e. around March 3067. According to their data, taken from a destroyed Word of Blake file obtained in a raid, specifications for said mining ship were drawn up in [[3043]] by one "Kernoff" (thought to be [[Alexander Kernoff]]); that the later head of [[ROM]] probably had a hand in the ship's design in turn suggested it was no mere mining ship.<ref name="BMR"/> It was initially mistakenly thought to be a ''[[Faslane]]''-class Yardship by [[Caradoc Trevena]] who analyzed the data.<ref name="BMR"/> His interest was piqued further by a message [[Wolfnet]] had intercepted in early [[3066]] and passed on that read "Gabriel. Miningship. Relocate." This seemed to connect the mysterious mining ship to the Word of Blake's secret [[Ruins of Gabriel]] shipyard.<ref name="BMR"/> The [[MIIO]] informed the SLIC that they, too, were aware of the ship.<ref name="BMR"/>

In November 3067, the [[mercenary unit]] [[Langford Wraiths]] was hired by the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] for a mission against an undisclosed party (possibly [[Nueva Castile]] or the [[Hanseatic League]]) that involved the "Riesige Götter" ("giant gods"), a faction possessing a planet-destroying superweapon. The Langford Wraiths were shown video footage from a [[DropShip]] as it descended on what was said to be a colony world not far from [[Valencia]] hosting five million people, but was observed to be just a cratered wasteland unable to sustain life on the video feed. Then the DropShip itself was destroyed by something from offscreen; their [[JumpShip]] was allowed to leave with the footage after being warned off by the Riesige Götter.<ref>''A Distant Thunder'', part 2</ref> The unit fled back to the [[Inner Sphere]], arriving in [[Lyran Alliance|Lyran]] space in mid-[[3070]] with news of the vessel and about [[Mundo Nublar]], an old [[SLDF]] weapons testing world where the Word of Blake had apparently refitted the ''Erinyes'' with a mass driver and used the planet to test the weapon.<ref>''Jihad Hot Spots 3070'', p. 115 and ''Blake Ascending'', p. 275</ref><ref>''Interstellar Expeditions: Interstellar Players 3'', pp. 19, 24–25</ref>

Blamed for numerous incidents of planetary devastation during the [[Jihad]] (including [[Taurus]]<ref name=ISP3-24/>), rumors of the mystery ship persisted throughout the conflict, with intelligence advisory notes being issued as late as [[3081]],<ref name="J:FRp136"/><ref name="J:FRp137">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 137: "Erinyes"</ref> but it was only after its end and the cracking of Word of Blake databases that the existence of the ''Erinyes'' was finally confirmed.

The vessel continued to operate after the formal conclusion of the conflict, and was apparently responsible for the destruction of [[Lopez]]<ref name="TRO3085S-40"/> in [[3080]].<ref name="J:FRp22">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 22: "What Of Lopez?"</ref><ref name="J:FRp61">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 61: "The Jihad In Review"</ref> Its fate is unknown.

==Notes==
*Former [[BattleTech Line Developer]] [[Herbert A. Beas II]] (as user "HABeas2") explained the in-universe purpose of the ''Erinyes'' in a forum discussion on the official [[BattleTech forum]], though it should be noted that this information technically is not [[canon]]ical as it was never published in a BattleTech product nor produced in the part of the forum reserved for canonical rulings or clarifications.<br />According to what he wrote, [[Thomas Marik]] in his role as the Word of Blake's "Master" decided to wage a war of genocide on the Clans in their Homeworlds. The general idea was to forge an alliance of Inner Sphere powers; the Word of Blake [[Shadow Divisions]] were to be shock troops, spearheading the attack, and the ''Erinyes'' was specifically designed as a first strike weapon against the Homeworlds as part of this plan. Other weapons of mass destruction such as bioweapons tailored to render specific ecosystems uninhabitable, chemical weapons and nuclear weapons and then finally ground assaults would have followed up to ensure total annihilation of the Clans through the death of every last person. (The Master felt that since the entire Clan society is geared towards supporting the Warrior caste there are no true civilians.)<ref>Explained in some depth in [http://bg.battletech.com/forums/general-discussion/wob-jihad-the-plan/ this] thread, specifically [http://bg.battletech.com/forums/general-discussion/wob-jihad-the-plan/msg1063806/#msg1063806 here] and [http://bg.battletech.com/forums/general-discussion/wob-jihad-the-plan/msg1065808/#msg1065808 here], although not in any official capacity as a BattleTech author.</ref><br />Herbert Beas also confirmed during that discussion that the supervolcano that destroyed [[Jardine]] had been triggered by a half-megaton asteroid "dropped" on the volcano at relativistic speed by the ''Erinyes''.

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Black Mist Rising]]''
* ''[[Blake Ascending]]''
* ''[[A Distant Thunder]]''
* ''[[Interstellar Expeditions: Interstellar Players 3]]''
* ''[[Jihad: Final Reckoning]]''
* ''[[Jihad Hot Spots: 3070]]''
* ''[[Technical Readout: 3085 Supplemental]]''


[[Category: Individual WarShips]]
[[Category: Individual Yardships]]
[[Category: Individual Dreadnoughts]]
[[Category: Individual Newgrange-class WarShips]]
[[Category: Dreadnought classes]]
[[Category: Large WarShips]]