Scavenged Restoration 42 (Patreon)

Commissioned by RoyalTwinFangs

Scavenged Restoration

Chapter 42 (100k Special)

-VB-

An interview with Boy F. Petersen Jr., author of NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 1 and 2 among many other works. The interviewer is Nic Jansma, the founder and owner of Sarna.net. 

Nic (NJ): Thanks for agreeing to the interview, Mr. Petersen. 

Boy F. Petersen Jr. (BP): No problem. It’s nice to know that someone appreciates my work even after all these years. 

NJ: Then you are happy with the franchise? 

BP: Well, if I was honest, then I would have changed a lot of things. 

NJ: Oh? Like what?”

BP: I think we, as in the team who planned this all out at FASA, neglected the Free Worlds League and the Draconis Combine during the Fourth Succession War. But then again, the Fourth Succession War wasn’t about them, was it?

NJ: No, it was about the Capellan Confederation and the new Federated Commonwealth. 

BP: Exactly. We were so very busy trying to balance those two out. The Capellan Confederation obviously survived the succession wars up to that point, so they must have something in them. But just as important was that the Federated Suns has been eating away at the Capellan Confederation for centuries by this point, so they too must have something. 

NJ: So how did you reconcile the difference and made it into a story? 

BP: I mean, it’s kind of obvious, isn’t it? We killed off Mad Max and his mad daughter and put William, Candace, and Tormano in charge. 

NJ: I don’t remember much about Tormano’s role. 

BP: he becomes a bigger figure later, but during the Fourth (Succession War), it’s really William who’s doing the bulk of the work. And that’s what the Capellan Confederation is about. 

NJ: Is it? 

BP: The Capellan Confederation is not weak. In fact, if you know the story, then you’ll know that the Capellan Confederation held the largest chunk of the Terran Hegemony after it fell apart. And that was its undoing. 

NJ: How so?

BP: The Capellan Confederation, as its neighbors all saw them, was the greater threat. Even after the devastation of the First and Second Succession Wars, it was also the only state at that time to have bordered all other Successor States. So you have to think about their status not as them being stuck between the League and the Suns … but the result of all four rivals breaking them down.

NJ: … I haven’t thought about it that way.

BP: So we can establish that the Capellan Confederation was never weak, but it does have a critical point. The Chancellors. When there is a good chancellor, then they can bring the wrath of the Capellan Confederation’s full might. But if you have a bad chancellor…

NJ: The confederation eats shit.

BP: Exactly. And that is also why we designed William. 

NJ: But didn’t Mad Max do a good job?

BP: He did. In lore, we made him out to be a tactical and strategic genius. But we also made note of how he neglected the civilians. And he was also mad as was his younger daughter.

NJ: So you killed him off and gave the Capellans an advantage just before the Fourth Succession War started? 

BP: Yup. And you have to understand that Mad Max didn’t quite fully trust the Maskirovka. After all, he used them and others to put himself in power. Someone else can do the same. So he hamstrung them.

NJ: But William didn’t.

BP: No. William unleashed the full might of the Maskirovka and they did their job. They are better than DMI or MIIO, after all. And crueler, too. And that’s how he got wind of the potential Star League era cache. 

NJ: Helm.

BP: Helm.

NJ: A lot of fans are upset about that, actually. Wasn’t there a note during development that it was supposed to have been a mercenary company who discovered it and spread it throughout the Inner Sphere because ComStar was coming after them? 

BP: That was one of the scenarios we mocked up, yes. But we decided against it. Until later.

NJ: Yes, the Terran Bombing incident. 

BP: Yup, that. Anyway, with William in charge, the Capellans are at their full power and now they have the technological edge.

NJ: And that’s a Capellan theme, isn’t it? They always have the technological edge. 

BP: Exactly, though since this was written in the 80’s and 90’s when that made some sense with the Soviets…

NJ: But today’s Russia and China are nothing like it.

BP: No, Russia and China are nothing to the USA unlike what the Soviets were to the USA during the Cold War. They don’t pioneer anything.

NJ: Kind of hard to beat America’s military budget, though.

BP: (laughs) nothing beats that. 

NJ: But surely, there were oppositions to the Capellans being so strong?

BP: Oh, there was! You know how most of the production changed direction in the mid to late 90’s, which gave the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth a lot of good boy spotlight? That was the direction they took to try to “connect with the audience” because, you know, English, German, and French.

NJ: But during the Fourth Succession War’s writing…

BP: The Capellans were the favorites during the Fourth. 

NJ: A little too overpowered, some would say.

BP: It’s the opposite! Like I said, they started off as the strongest of the five, and held on, only losing little by little from overwhelming force being brought to bear. 

NJ: But by the Fourth Succession War, they lost a lot of that.

BP: By the Fourth, everyone lost a lot. 

NJ: Fair point. So you’re saying that the Capellan Confederation is strong, probably even stronger than the Federated Suns, but generations of ineffective or ill-matched chancellors ruined that advantage? Along with overwhelming firepower being brought against them? 

BP: Exactly. And also look at the maps. Bad borders, that. 

NJ: … You know, I get what you’re saying, but it also doesn’t feel satisfying. 

BP: You mean William being too good at his job?

NJ: Yes, that. 

BP: Well, obviously, there was a profit motive to it. If the Capellans come out the loser, then who’s going to buy Capellan minis? 

NJ: snort True.

BP: Also, more than a few people who made the decisions back then were Capellan fans. They considered the Federated Suns to be the basic bitch Western nation, you know? Making Lyrans into Space Germans when the memories of World War II was still clear in the minds of so many was almost tantalizingly risky thing. Same with Draconis Combine.

NJ: What about the League? 

BP: That’s where we threw everything else in.

-VB-

A/N: 

As you can guess, this is an interview in a universe where my story is canon! A few things of note. BF Petersen Jr is the actual author (and has many more works from back in 1980’s and early 90’s) and Nic is the actual founder of Sarna.net so give that man some props.