Plotting Arcs

When I'm constructing stories as a GM, I try to make sure that I have at least one central arc that holds the narrative of the campaign together, as well as sub arcs linked to each individual character. In this way, each player sees the events unfolding around them as advancing the overall campaign goal, and each session one or two players get a bit more focus as they uncover more about the plotline that really interests them. In this way, players not only keep coming back for rolling dice and solving clever tactical problems, but also because each week might be the week their particular plotline will advance. Handling player absences for their own focus events is a danger, of course, but one I'll get into when it happens.

The overarching plot line for Ten Years on Terra is pretty straight-forward: the party is holding out and disrupting the Word of Blake on Terra while they wait for rescue. Given the nature of Case White, they'll be expecting the attempt to retake Terra to be sudden and without warning, so they want to make sure the Word of Blake Militia and TerraSec are focused on problems at home when the next fleet shows up in orbit. They also want to be able to help the next wave of liberators when they arrive.

Each character also has an arc that they need to learn about the elements that affect their character, and each of these arc need to be uncovered over the course of the main campaign missions, ideally capstoning in a special session specifically tailored to close out that character's subplot. I also like to try to tie them together, preferably culminating in an event that shows up in the history books. Let's review what I have to work with. The goal is to give everybody a personal reason to hate the Word of Blake by the end of this, even though a lot of the following events would be happening pre-Schism.

Alexander Black is Bert's character. He has a bit of a mystery in his background in that his parents were on the run from the Capellan Confederation, but he doesn't know why. The timeline suggests they might have been in some way involved in the St. Ives succession in 3029, but there was a great deal happening in the Capellan Confederation during that period, as they were being ripped in half by the then-huge Federated Commonwealth.

David Cho is Henry's character. David was a double agent for a while, coincidentally also Capellan. He's about the same age as Alexander, so he couldn't be involved with whatever put Bert's parents on the run, but he could've followed up. if they were actually being hounded by House Liao.

Shin Magnusson, Morgan's character, lost his parents to Smoke Jaguar on Hannover after they reacted poorly to Operation Scorpion. His character is very complicated, but really know everything that happened in his childhood. He does, however, have a Dark Secret (2), that he was personally responsible for a first at a children's hospital during one of his operations in the Chaos March in the mid-3060's. In addition, he has a Bloodmark (1), which can be whatever I choose it to be -- Shin is unaware there's a contract on his life.

All of these characters have one thing in common -- they've all spent a great deal of time in Coreward Capellan space, and the Chaos March. My instincts tell me that whatever these three have in common, it has to do with Sarna.

Sarna is a major world in the backstory of the BattleTech Universe. In 3025, it was a commonality capital of the Capellan Confederation, and an engine of industry. In early 3030, McCarron's Armored Cavalry was forced to withdraw from the world after a seven-month campaign against FedCom forces, leaving Sarna as the new capital of the Federated Commonwealth's Sarna March. In 3057, when Operation Guerrero initiated the chain of events that split the FedCom and caused traditionally Lyran units to return to their pre-4th Succession War borders, the Sarna March found itself without any single House's military protection and so became the Chaos March. During this collapse, the Capellan Confederation attempted to retake Sarna, but they were repelled by mercenaries and the Academy Cadre the planetary government was able to bring together. For two years, the Sarna Supremacy was a three-world empire, until Sun-Tzu Liao used a combination of the CCAF's new WarShip fleet and Warrior House Hiritsu to bring those worlds back into the fold before 3066.

As I write this, I realize that Henry's Character was listed as attending the Sarna Martial Academy in 3047, which would have been impossible as it was a FedCom world at that point. I'll need to revise that.

A number of other interesting things have happened on Sarna over the years. In May 3029, ComStar release video of Davion 'Mechs destroying the Sarna HPG station. This incident was the direct cause of the the Interdiction of the Federated Suns during the Fourth Succession War, and eventually the permission granted to allow ComStar to guard their own facilities, which would set the stage for Operation Scorpion, and eventually, the Schism.

Except that the Davions never attacked the Sarna HPG. In fact, it is unclear that anybody attacked the Sarna HPG. According to Comstar (FASA 1655, p. 57), there are two versions of that attack, one in the official ComStar history, on supported by the Word of Blake. In ComStar's version, ComStar 'Mechs assaulted the HPG and destroyed it while painted to look like elements of the Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers. According to the Word of Blake, the video was made out of whole cloth using a mock-up of the Sarna HPG built and filmed on Terra. Entries in other books suggest the Sarna HPG was, in fact, destroyed, lending credence to ComStar's side, but I can play with that if I need to.

Slowly, a key event in the history of the BattleTech universe is coming into focus. The characters aren't old enough to have been involved, but their parents were. The destruction of the Sarna HPG is an excellent point for a number of plots to revolve around. More on how to weave these events into my campaign in a subsequent entry!