Pleiades Cluster

Revision as of 11:23, 15 May 2020 by Frabby (talk | contribs)
This article is about the star cluster. For the New Syrtis-class WarShip, see Pleiades (Vessel).
This article is undergoing revision as part of Project: Planets, a collaborative effort to improve BattleTechWiki's coverage of planets and systems. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can add your name to the list of volunteers.

This article has completed Phase 2 of the Overhaul effort.

Non-fictional (real-world) Pleiades Cluster

Note: X and Y are coordinates (light years on XY plane) relative to Terra at (0, 0)

Pleiades Cluster
Pleiades Cluster 3151.svg
Pleiades Cluster nearby systems
(Map Legend)
System Information
X:Y Coordinates216.353 : -319.595[e]

The Pleiades are a star cluster that is 389.31 light years rimward of Terra in the Federated Suns' Capellan March. It contains 100 inhabitated systems, among them Maia, Electra and Merope.[citation needed]

Political Affiliation

Planetary Info

The Pleiades (or Seven Sisters) contains over 1,000 members and are dominated by hot blue and extremely luminous B-type stars. A dust cloud in the interstellar medium that the stars are currently passing through forms a faint reflection nebulosity around the brightest stars (hence the alternate name Maia Nebula after the star Maia). The cluster core radius is about 8 light years and tidal radius is about 43 light years.

The nine brightest stars of the Pleiades are named for the Seven Sisters of Greek mythology: Sterope, Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygete, Celaeno, and Alcyone, along with their parents Atlas and Pleione.

One hundred of the Pleiades systems are inhabited.[42] But the worlds of Maia, Electra and Merope are the most important and probably have the largest population.[43]

Planetary History

Visible with the naked eye at the Terran night sky the major systems of the Pleiades were already discovered and named early during the Pre-Spaceflight Era. After its founding the colonies of the star cluster joined the Taurian Concordat but were attacked in 2580 by the SLDF during the Reunification War and subsequently annexed by the Federated Suns.

Reunification War

The Pleiades Cluster had three major habitable worlds in 2580, and each was heavily industrialized and well-populated.[44] The SLDF deployed their IV Corps supported by elements of I Corps to take these three worlds. The fighting lasted until November, 2580. The defending Taurian units were destroyed, but the attacking SLDF divisions were reduced to below forty percent of their strength.[45]

The Pleiades Campaign

(For more information see Pleiades Campaign.)

In the January of 3067 the Concordat tried to exploit the weakness of the Federated Suns in the wake of the FedCom Civil War and sent troops to reconquer systems lost 500 years ago. The Taurian force, among them the Pleiades Hussars and the Pleiades Lancers trying to recapture their ancient homeworlds, initially made remarkable progress and reached the cluster in March. Then came the Davion counter assault that caused great damage among the Taurian forces, only the troops in the cluster could stand their ground. The tide turned again with the outbreak of the Jihad when the Davion leadership was thrown into chaos due to the occupation of New Avalon. At the end of the Jihad the Pleiades were under unchallenged control of the TDF.

Military Deployment

2578

  • Eighty-second Concordat Chasseurs[46]

2579

  • Eighty-second Concordat Chasseurs[46]
  • Eighty-eighth Concordat Chasseurs[46]

2581

  • Thirtieth Division, Second Reserve Corps[47]

2765

3067

3079

- At this point in time, the Pleiades Hussars were deployed across Merope and Pleiades Cluster. The Pleiades Hussars was at 70% of full strength.

Nearby Systems

Closest 40 systems (40 within 60 light-years)
Distance in light years, closest systems first:
Electra 3.0 Maia 4.0 Merope 5.0 Ridgebrook 15.0
Sanurcha 16.8 Kautokeino 26.6 New Syrtis 27.0 Flintoft 28.3
Diefenbaker 28.4 Hè-shì 29.7 Taygeta 29.9 Brusett 30.4
Lindsay 32.0 Werfer 32.2 Carmichael 33.9 Mandaree 35.5
Hobson 35.7 Brockway 36.4 Pietermaritzburg 38.3 Firgrove 39.5
Kaitangata 42.7 Desolate Plains 42.8 Crawford 44.7 Mithron 44.7
Aucara 46.1 Wrentham 46.1 Robsart 49.9 Midale 50.4
Zalzangor 50.7 Lothair 52.9 Ashley 53.2 Atreus Prime 55.1
Cumberland 55.4 Oltepesi 56.1 Mordialloc 56.2 Shaunavon 56.2
Chouli 56.6 Okains 56.7 Jaipur 56.7 Keuterville 60.0

Notes

The flag of the Pleiades is an eagle backed by a triangular field.[51]

References

  1. Handbook: House Davion, p. 18, "Federated Suns at their Founding - [2317] Map"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Handbook: Major Periphery States, p, 121, "Taurian Concordat after Age of War [2571], Fall of the Star League [2750] and End of the 3rd Succession War [3025]"
  3. Handbook: House Davion, p. 48, "Federated Suns After Age of War - [2571] Map"
  4. Historical: Reunification War, p. 159, "Inner Sphere - [2596] Map"
  5. Era Report: 2750, p. 37, "Inner Sphere - [2750] Map"
  6. Field Manual: SLDF, "Inner Sphere - [2764] Map"
  7. Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 11, "Inner Sphere - [2765] Map"
  8. Field Report 2765: Federated Suns, p. 29, "Federated Suns Armed Forces Deployment Map - [2765]"
  9. Field Report 2765: Periphery, p. 37, "Taurian Defense Forces Deployment Map - [2765]"
  10. Handbook: House Davion, p. 54, "Federated Suns After First Succession War - [2822] Map"
  11. Handbook: House Liao, p. 31, "Capellan Confederation After First Succession War - [2822] Map"
  12. Handbook: House Davion, p. 60, "Federated Suns After Second Succession War - [2864] Map"
  13. Handbook: House Liao, p. 39, "Capellan Confederation After Second Succession War - [2864] Map"
  14. The Periphery (Sourcebook), p. 151, "Maps of the Periphery"
  15. House Davion (The Federated Suns), "Federated Suns Map - [3025]"
  16. Handbook: House Davion, p. 70, "Federated Suns After Third Succession War - [3025] Map"
  17. Handbook: House Liao, p. 40, "Capellan Confederation After Third Succession War - [3025] Map"
  18. Handbook: House Davion, p. 72, "Federated Suns After Fourth Succession War - [3030] Map"
  19. Handbook: House Liao, p. 49, "Capellan Confederation After Fourth Succession War - [3030] Map"
  20. 20.0 20.1 Handbook: Major Periphery States, p, 127, "Taurian Concordat after modern colonization drive [3040] and after FedCom Civil War [3067]"
  21. Handbook: House Davion, p. 74, "Federated Suns After War of 3039 - [3040] Map"
  22. Historical: War of 3039, p. 133, "Inner Sphere - [3040] Map"
  23. Era Report: 3052, p. 11, "Inner Sphere - [3050] Map"
  24. Era Report: 3052, p. 23, "Inner Sphere - [3052] Map"
  25. Era Report: 3062, p. 11, Inner Sphere - [3057] Map
  26. Handbook: House Davion, p. 78, "Federated Suns After Operation Guerrero - [3058] Map"
  27. Handbook: House Liao, p. 59, "Capellan Confederation After Operation Guerrero - [3058] Map"
  28. The Periphery, 2nd Edition, p. 111, "Taurian Concordat and Tortuga Dominions"
  29. Era Report: 3062, p. 29, "Inner Sphere - [3063] Map"
  30. Handbook: House Davion, p. 82, "Federated Suns After FedCom Civil War - [3067] Map"
  31. Handbook: House Liao, p. 68, "Capellan Confederation After FedCom Civil War - [3067] Map"
  32. Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, p. 65, "Inner Sphere Map - [3075] Map"
  33. Field Report: Periphery, p. 23, "Taurian Concordat Deployment Map - [August 3079]"
  34. Field Report: AFFS, p. 21, "Federated Suns Armed Forces Deployment Map - [August 3079]"
  35. Field Report: CCAF, p. 21, "Capellan Confederation Armed Forces Deployment Map - [August 3079]"
  36. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 63, "Inner Sphere - [3081] Map"
  37. Field Manual: 3085, p. Vii, "Inner Sphere - [3085] Map"
  38. Map of the Inner Sphere 3130
  39. Era Report: 3145, p. 11, "Inner Sphere - [3135] Map"
  40. Era Report: 3145, p. 39, "Inner Sphere - [3145] Map"
  41. Field Manual: 3145, p. VI, "Inner Sphere - [3145] Map"
  42. The high number of populated systems is confirmed by the writers. See [1]
  43. Most of this is "real word" information, so it need not to be correct in the BattleTech universe.
  44. Historical: Reunification War, p. 72
  45. Historical: Reunification War, p. 73
  46. 46.0 46.1 46.2 Historical: Reunification War, p. 146
  47. Historical: Reunification War, p. 144
  48. Field Report 2765: Federated Suns, p. 19, "Regimental Status"
  49. Field Manual: Updates, p. 138
  50. Field Report: Periphery, p. 12, "Taurian Concordat Regimental Status"
  51. Field Manual: Periphery, p. 62

Bibliography