ComStars BattleTech History
The following is the actual history of ComStar and what it is about in the BattleTech universe. This has been taken from the ClassicBattleTech website.
Introduction
ComStar is dedicated to fulfilling a single, divine mission: to preserve the glorious Star League's technological legacy in order to prevent a new Dark Age. Founded in 2788 by the Blessed Jerome Blake, ComStar guards and maintains the hyperpulse generator communications network and other valuable technologies developed during humanity's golden age, knowledge that might have been lost forever were it not for the foresight of our Blessed Founder.
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 to destroy each other.
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, agreed to Blake's demands, and the blessed Order of ComStar was born.
Blake created a rigid religious hierarchy, which he headed in
the capacity of Primus, along with the First Circuit Precentors to administer
ComStar's affairs, and a secret brotherhood among ComStar's members in order
to keep the secrets of the Star League safe from outside harm. Realizing that
the Department of Communications was no longer a suitable name for the new
organization, Blake chose to adopt the name of ComStar, a blend of Communications
Enterprises Inc. and Starlight Broadcasting Ltd., which had formerly sold
their services to the Star League.
Blake's Vision
Jerome Blake's leadership of ComStar lasted 31 years. During that time he laid the groundwork that would define the philosophy, operations, and structure of ComStar for centuries to come. One of his deepest beliefs was that ComStar must retain its purity by remaining somewhat isolated from the "outside world", and he used the organization's hierarchy and technology to accomplish that goal. Any member who discussed even the most mundane technology with outsiders was severely punished and could be expelled from the organization. Blake believed that the decline of civilization was a form of punishment that humanity was suffering for its sins.
It was also obvious by this time that the scope of the destruction of the wars being fought around him would eventually destroy civilization completely unless some individual or group undertook to guard precious technological and scientific knowledge. This Jerome Blake considered to be ComStar's highest purpose: the maintenance and preservation of human knowledge at all costs. Thus, ComStar has become a haven for all manner of technicians, prospering while the rest of interstellar society is tearing itself to shreds.
Under Blake's leadership, the First Circuit, now the absolute governing body of ComStar, barred all but its own members from it meetings and established the strong, secret brotherhood among members of the Order. An internal security force known as ROM was formed in 2811 to help prevent leakage of technological information to the outside and to help thwart defection of ComStar personnel to the Successor States. ROM quickly became respected and feared throughout ComStar.
One of the longest-lasting branches of service Blake founded was the Mercenary Review Board. (available in more detail in a separate section.) Developed as a means to monitor and control mercenary contracts, the project might have seemed beyond the traditional scope of ComStar at the time, but each of the House Lords responded with enthusiasm to Blake's proposal for such a board.
Jerome Blake, meanwhile, continued to be visionary. The war raged around him and his world, a conflagration that Blake foresaw would continue for several generations and that would destroy most of the high technology perfected in the golden age of the Star League. In Blake's own words, "ComStar is the only hope of preserving the future of human beings in the Inner Sphere."
Early Primuses
After Blake's death in 2819, Conrad Toyama of Dieron succeeded Blake as Primus of ComStar. He helped to further solidify and bind the Order together as one. During this time rituals were adopted for operation of the vast HyperPulse Generators and other technological wonders, to help remind each and every Acolyte and Precentor of their sacred duty to humanity as a member of ComStar. In addition, the belief was fostered and spread outside the Order, reinforcing the fact that the sacred magic of HPG transmissions could only be wielded by ComStar adepts, and ensuring that no Successor State would attempt to take control of the Star League's technological legacy.
Primus Toyama's handpicked successor, Raymond Karpov, took over as Primus in 2837 when Toyama suffered a massive stroke. Primus Karpov continued Toyama's work to strengthen Blake's vision for ComStar. Though many of his enhancements were minor, they have endured for over centuries and have had a powerful symbolic impact. Karpov suggested, for instance, that all members of ComStar wear white robes instead of the gray jumpsuits used by techs since the Blake era. In his own words, "white represents the purity of Blake's vision and of ComStar's intent." Often, the robes are adorned with mathematical symbols taken from the holy scriptures of an ancient science journal or technical readout.
Other subtle additions included the establishment of nightly indoctrination sessions at each HPG to discuss the theology of ComStar and its role in the fate of the Inner Sphere. Raymond Karpov stepped down as Primus in 2875, due to his failing health, but remained semi-active within our blessed Order, administering the Blake Medical Center in Europe, until his death in 2880.
The Office of Primus
Including Blake and his two immediate successors, there has
been a total of 14 Primuses:
Name Previous Position Time Served
Jerome Blake Minister of Communications 2788 - 2819
Conrad Toyama Precentor Dieron 2819 - 2837
Raymond Karpov Precentor Alpha C 2837 - 2875
Andrea Marteen Precentor Arcturus 2875 - 2901
Dwight Kurstin Precentor Caph 2901 - 2902
Gregori Hartford Precentor Procyon 2902 - 2910
Kari Marie Marshall Precentor Procyon 2910 - 2930
Hollings York Precentor New Earth 2930 - 2947
Adrienne Sims Precentor Oriente 2947 - 2979
Yin Takami Precentor New Earth 2979 - 2994
Allen Rusenstein Precentor Alpha C 2994 - 3006
Julian Tiepolo Precentor Atreus 3006 - 3029
Myndo Waterly Precentor Dieron 3029 - 3052
Sharilar Mori Precentor Dieron 3052 - present
Summary
Each Primus has made his or her own contributions to the office and to the Order. The early Primuses were responsible for laying the groundwork for the heavy burden ComStar carries for the fate of humanity.
Jerome Blake single-handedly saved the Inner Sphere from complete and utter destruction after the Aramis Coup and Kerensky's Exodus, by restoring and taking command of the vast HPG network that the Star League Department of Communications had built throughout known space. His Proclamation to the House Lords of ComStar's neutrality set the stage for the Order to accomplish its sacred mission. Blake showed tremendous talent in technology, foresight, political savvy, economic planning, and leadership. In all these areas Blake achieved absolutely incredible feats during ComStar's foundation.
Primuses Toyama and Karpov continued Blake's work, drawing strength from his divine vision for the Order, to build ComStar into the sacred and benevolent institution it is today. Of significant note in later years, Primus York was responsible for the formation of our very own standing military, the ComStar Guards and Militia; and Primus Sims initiated the Explorer Corps, founded to scout out and map the worlds beyond the Periphery. The background of each of these is detailed in a its own section.
ComStar Logo
The design for the famous symbol of ComStar, a circle star with two downward-pointing beams, was commissioned by Primus Conrad Toyama in 2823. Knowing the value of a visual symbol to unify any organization, he announced a competition to choose an emblem for ComStar. More then 800 entries were submitted, and the Primus judged each one personally.
The winning entry was submitted by Adept Stanfield K'wani. In his own words, the dark outer circle represents the dark times prophesied by Jerome Blake. The original drawing showed a star within the dark circle but the Primus modified it, removing all but two star points, leaving the rest as spokes circled in black. According to Toyama the star represents the light of mankind - technology and the enlightenment of Blake's words. Once the prophesies of Blake had been fulfilled the image would reclaim its star points.
The most striking aspect of the ComStar logo are the two star points. On the original design these were as they are now, elongated and pointing downward. According to designer Adept K'wani, "the point on the right of the image represents communications and the other represents technology, the two bases of ComStar's true source of power in the Inner Sphere."
Comstar Mercenary Review Board
The Mercenary Review Board allowed ComStar agents to serve as brokers for all mercenaries and their employers in the Inner Sphere. After negotiating a contract, an employer would turn over the full amount of money (plus a 5 percent handling fee) to local ComStar authorities. ComStar, in turn, advanced as much of the payment as it saw fit to the mercenary unit for necessary purchases and operating capital. Upon successful completion of their contract, the mercenaries collected the balance (less a second 5 percent handling charge).
Arbitration of contracts by the Mercenary Review Board proved a valuable safeguard on both sides. Any unit failing to perform contracted services after taking an advance found itself unable to evade ComStar's almost universal reach. ComStar informed other potential employers of a rogue unit's actions, and had the power to threaten an Interdiction against any House employing such a unit. ComStar returned the money to the original employer when a unit skipped on a contract, and in the interim, used the money for profitable investments.
To ensure fair dealings on the part of employers as well as those they hire, Blake provided for a panel of ComStar administrators to hear claims concerning breaches of faith and to judge the veracity of complaints. Upon reaching a verdict, the panel broadcasted its findings throughout the Inner Sphere. As the reputations of mercenary units and their employers have a bearing on subsequent negotiations involving other units or Houses, violating contractual terms offered little profit to any concerned.
Through the Mercenary Review Board's variety of activities, ComStar has functioned not only as a communications service, but also as a mercenary guild, an inter-League criminal extradition service, and a banking house, all of which has added considerably through the centuries to ComStar's power and prestige.
Due to ComStar's dealing with the Clans before Tukayyid, however, most if not all of the Houses no longer trusted the Order as an impartial arbitrator of mercenary contracts. So, during the peace summit Primus Mori held on Terra in the spring of 3052, Precentor Martial Focht proposed to abandon control. The Houses agreed to have the Board re-form as a jointly administered committee made up of representatives from each government, also allowing ComStar to maintain an active seat on the board, as a legitimate employer of mercenary forces. Outreach, the home of Wolf's Dragoons, was chosen as the official seat of the new Mercenary Review and Bonding Commission. This marked the end of ComStar's centuries-old control over mercenary contracts.
ROM
ComStar knows all. - Anastasius Focht
Jerome Blake formed ROM in 2811 after Chancellor Ilsa Liao attempted
to bribe ComStar technicians to defect, and then sent a terrorist group in
an attack against the HPG station on Nanking. He proposed the immediate creation
of a covert security force to protect ComStar's precious HPG network from
both external and internal threats. According to Blake's proposal, operatives
would work as undercover agents within the ranks of ComStar's technicians,
as well as posing as citizens. This secret intelligence network would locate
threats to ComStar and eliminate them before any damage was done. ROM reported
directly to the Prime Administrator.
Command Structure
Assisting the Precentor ROM are the State Administrators, one for each of the six Successor States and the four territories currently occupied by the Clans. Each of these ten administrators oversees operations within his or her respective jurisdiction and keeps the Precentor informed of foreign agents' activities within each region. The administrators also enforce official policies to ensure the continued security of the service in each region, including the recently enacted mandate that all Word of Blake agents discovered within ROM suffer immediate execution. Many ComStar members consider this policy unnecessarily harsh, but most ROM agents believe that only such drastic measures can ensure the protection of ComStar as a whole.
Each world still containing an operational, ComStar-administered
HPG facility maintains a ROM base, normally located within the HPG facility.
Under the command of an administrator, ROM personnel assigned to these bases
protect the families from enemy agents and carry out all intelligence operations
on the planet. To support these planetary ROM operations, Precentor Parrdeau
maintains a standing core of fast-response groups who, with the aid of a fleet
of JumpShips, can respond immediately to any crisis situation.
Rank Structure
ROM ranks its members according to a system similar to that of the ComGuards, using classifications based upon the Greek alphabet to identify ROM's various divisions. Each of the branches listed below also shows its operatives' standard classification.
ROM Branches
Counterintelligence (mu/delta)
Diplomatic Operations (rho/gamma)
Covert Operations (rho/rho)
Information and Analysis (mu/mu)
Clan Liaison (rho/chi)
Special Services (delta/epsilon, delta/xi)
Security (mu/iota)
The First Circuit
In 2784, three days after Kerensky's legendary exodus, Jerome Blake had reestablished the Prime, or First Circuit of the former SLCOMNET. The planets of New Earth, Barnard, Alpha C, Bryant, Procyon, and Dieron became the new First Circuit.
By the late 2850's, ComStar's efforts to strengthen and expand the vast communications network had succeeded too well. Increased communications had dramatically slowed transmission time. To decrease the load, Primus Karpov increased the First Circuit to ten stations in 2857. The newest members were Precentors Arcturus, Oriente, Altair, and Capella.
High Command
Victor Ian Steiner-Davion
Sharilar Mori
Victoria Pardeau
First Circuit Members
Primus Sharilar Mori
Precentor New Earth
Precentor Sirius
Precentor Dieron
Precentor Bryant
Precentor Procyon
Precentor CaphM
Precentor Barnard
Precentor Alpha C
The Primus makes all decisions, which can be overridden by a majority vote of the First Circuit. The Primus can also be removed by a unanimous vote of the First Circuit. Since the Primus votes in all decisions, removal is very unlikely. Currently, Sharilar Mori serves as the Primus, with the First Circuit being composed of Precentors New Earth, Sirius, Bryant, Dieron, Procyon, Caph, Barnard, and Alpha C.
Precentor Atreus Demona Aziz is still officially a member of the First Circuit, but due to her involvement in the Toyama sect of the Word of Blake splinter group, she does not attend meetings or vote on matters.
The ComStar command hierarchy underwent great changes in the Reformation. For nearly 300 years, under the leadership of the primacy, the First Circuit held sole responsibility for administrating the ComStar communications network. The ranking Precentors of the First Circuit maintained ComStar's religious status among the citizens and turned the writings of Jerome Blake into gospel.
In the new Order, the First Circuit can no longer function simply as the cloistered leaders of a quasi-religion. The Precentors must often travel far from the marble halls of Hilton Head to serve as much-needed administrators, diplomats, and ComStar liaisons.
For centuries, misguided leaders of ComStar used the communications network and their exclusive control of the technology to manipulate events in the Inner Sphere to their own ends. A particularly costly abuse of this power occurred during the Clan war, when Capellan Chancellor Romano Liao used interstellar communications to send assassins against Justin Allard, husband of the St. Ives Compact's Duchess Candace Liao. The First Circuit knew the content of her communications but failed to prevent her instructions from being carried out. The Inner Sphere lost a valuable life through their inaction.
ComStar's new policy of openness extends to the First Circuit's administration of all communications. The Free Worlds League has unfortunately chosen not to benefit from the new democracy in ComStar, and though the First Circuit maintains the seat of Precentor Atreus, representative of the League, that Precentor has not appeared at any meetings since Primus Mori took office.
ComStar Law
When Jerome Blake reestablished the First Circuit of HPG's, he also established a corresponding First Circuit of advisors. Administratively, the First Circuit was a small group made up of the chief administrators, or Precentors, of the HPG transmitters on the former Hegemony worlds. Jerome Blake drafted a simple, two-page set of parliamentary rules and procedures for running the First Circuit meetings. His document called for a Prime Admistrator, or Primus, to act as chair and president, but gave the First Circuit the power to veto the primus' decisions by a majority vote. Blake's short memo eventually would become part of the Articles of ComStar, the basis of our blessed Order's law.
Primus Karpov formalized some of the organizational structure in the Doctrinal Edict of 2861. The process of naming a Primus was set down officially, in which the current Primus would choose his or her successor, who would then be confirmed by the First Circuit. The only formal organization recognized below the Primus was the position of Precentor of each world's HPG station. The Precentor controlled the ranks of the adepts, the working technicians. Finally at the lowest level of the hierarchy are the acolytes. Though this three-tiered structure already existed in most of the HPG stations, established during the time of Blake and Toyama, the Doctrinal Edict made it official.
Additionally, Primus Hartford passed several reforms during his tenure that permitted the First Circuit to name a successor to the Primus or to remove a Primus from power on a full vote of all Precentors. The measures also called for at least three members of the First Circuit to be informed in writing of all major ROM operations.
In 2988, Primus Takami further revised the First Circuit. Until Takami's reign, the First Circuit had always been composed of the Precentors of the first communications circuit of HPG transmitters in the Inner Sphere. Primus Takami believed that the First Circuit members had become more like politicians than technocrats, which was no longer faithful to Jerome Blake's original vision.
Primus Takami decided to name four new members to that governing body, one for each of the capital worlds of the House governments not already represented. These Advocate-Precentors were to speak for all the ComStar installations within their given realms. The added positions were Precentor Tharkad for the Lyran Commonwealth, Precentor Sian for the Capellan Confederation, Precentor Atreus for the Free Worlds League, and Precentor New Avalon for the Federated Suns. Precentor Dieron was made the advocate of the Draconis Combine.
Com Guards
You have to understand the code of duty and honor that rules those who pilot these engines of destruction. Placing such an awesome weapon in the hands of an individual implies a similar gesture of trust. - Anastasius Focht
During a meeting with the First Circuit in 2933 Primus York proposed the formation of a standing military for ComStar. This military, to be called the ComStar Guards and Militia, would be a rapid-deployment, light infantry force constantly on call for emergencies such as the abduction of prominent ComStar personnel. ComStar would have the ability to respond quickly with some degree of military force in times of need. Fifty years later, building from this foundation, the reigning Primus and First Circuit began an ambitious MechWarrior training program.
The original proposal called for the creation of eight regiments of full-time troops, but the Primus settled for five regiments as a compromise with a liberal faction of the First Circuit. The ComStar Guards and Militia would be based in the Sol system and would remain under the combined control of the Primus and the First Circuit. To fund the creation of a standing military, Primus York tapped the vast resources of ROM, arguing that ROM would have less need for the money now that ComStar would have a military force.
The core of the Guards and Militia was the former mercenary Bandersnatches. Their contract was dissolved and they accepted full-time permanent employment with ComStar. The Guards and Militia would have the best equipment possible, vintage Star League Defense Forces gear left behind after the Exodus.
Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the formation of the ComStar Guards and Militia was the revitalization of the Sandhurst Royal Military College in Berkshire, England. The site had originally served as a training school for ROM. York convinced the First Circuit to relocate the ROM training center and to approve millions of C-bills for Sandhurst's renovation. The old military academy was converted into a modern military complex, complete with BattleMech and aerospace fighter facilities and training grounds.
Primus York knew that the creation of a military force by the
neutral ComStar would stun the leaders of the Inner Sphere. In his messages
announcing the formation of the ComStar Guards and Militia, he told the leaders
that these troops were strictly for the defense of Terra and would train only
in defensive operations.
Current Organization
ComStar suffered many heavy losses in the Clan war, both to Clan weapons and in defections to the Word of Blake splinter group. In order to preserve the Com Guard structure as much as possible, the Precentor Martial kept the thirteen armies but reduced each army to four divisions, down from six prior to Tukayyid, resulting in 52 divisions, 2 of those belonging to Brion's Legion, a mercenary group working for our Holy Order.
The basic ComStar military unit is the division, roughly parallel to the Regimental Combat Team (RCT) common in the Federated Commonwealth.
