Mekong Dominion Leaguebook

A New Beginning

Yuri sighed deeply as she gazed across the densely packed fernwood below her. The jungle was so beautiful at this time of the cycle. It was hard to believe that soon she would be leaving it, perhaps forever.

The small agricultural commune had been her home ever since her parents had died - was it so many cycles ago? - and she would sorely miss it. It was a shelter against the jungle of human society as well as the flora and fauna. The kind peasants of the village had accepted her into their lives, raising her in their traditions, teaching her, giving her love and support as she grew up to womanhood.

But most of all, she would miss grumpy old Sang, her foster father. He had taken her in, giving her food and a room to sleep in while he slept on the floor by the cooking fire. At first she had felt guilty for taking his bed, forcing him to lay upon the cold floor. Smiling, she remembered that first night and the controlled, indignant anger in Sang's eyes as she meekly refused the offered bed. How was she, a mere child of four cycles, to know how badly she had insulted her guest by refusing? Over time, things had settled down. The commune women had taught her the customs of her new land, and gruff old Sang had taught her a profession.

Sang was a trapper, one of the brave souls who ventured into the depths of the Yung An jungles to harvest the resources they contained. She was a good student, and he was eager to pass on his knowledge and love of the forest. He showed her which vines made good rope, and which when cut provided drinkable water. He pointed out the medicinal fungus and the dangerous and poisonous plants. Together, they trapped deadly scorpion serpents to sell to traveling convoys and even stalked fearsome pack lizards, whose vicious temper flared even brighter than their rainbow scales. They traveled together often, visiting little-know places of great, almost magical, beauty. Even when his health started failing him, he insisted that they still trek together to find new wonders, his shrunken frame leaning on a gnarled walking stick. Yuri thanked his memory deeply for the joy of the hunt and for sharing the wonders of the jungle with her.

She looked back at Sang's grave, where he laid with his ancestors and the rest of the village's inhabitants. The gruesome task of gathering and preparing the bodies had taken her most of the day. She worked without conscious thoughts, oblivious to the unnatural silence of the forest.

She brushed dark mud from her hands and intoned a brief prayer to the ancestors and the spirits of the forest to protect their new charges. Thin, aromatic wood strips burned slowly above the rough stones, the smoke rising in thin wisps in the still, humid air. The smell of it clung to her dirty gloves; she brought her clasped hands to her lips, reminding her of the blacked, charred commune now hidden within the jungle's depths. A single tear traced its way through the soot encrusting her face, fatigue and grief finally making their way out from under her hardened facade.

She hefted her travel pack onto her shoulder and straightened her rifle's strap. The day was just beginning, and she had much hunting left to do: the soldats wouldn't come to her. A grim smile creased her lips.

In spite of her anger and the loss she felt, she couldn't help but look forward to the hunt.

1.1 Land of the Dragons

The Mekong Dominion is a large, economically driven league that covers a large area of the southern hemisphere. Cunningly mercantile, it has grown steadily stronger throughout its history by its trade relations with the other leagues of the Antarctic. Its corporate government has perfected the art of backroom politics, and the Mekong merchant-politicians are master at turning a profit and making others do their work for them. But while the Dominion presents a united front to the outside world, the league is constantly divided by power struggles, lobbying and corruption. It is a land of extremes, where unbelievable wealth exists side-by-side with abject poverty and misery.

The Mekong Dominion is unlike any other leagues on Terra Nova, both culturally and politically. The customs and procedures of the land will pose new challenges for all outsider, for the Dominion people are drawing upon an extensive and complex cultural background that reaches as far back as the vanished civilizations of ancient Earth. Traditions and rituals are enmeshed into everyday life, giving the people of the land a unique outlook on their existence and creating intricate social relationships. In a country where criminals are as frequently rewarded as punished, where peasants and squatters share the streets with merchant princes and spies, anything is possible.

Indeed, life in the Dominion is anything but simple. Even the lowly peasants living in the countryside near the city-states are cunning businessmen and traders. The viciousness of the creatures that populate the Mekong wilderness is matched by the ruthlessness of the Dominion's corporations. The fight for survival in the league is brutal and unending, be it in the boardroom, the street, the battlefield or the underbrush. Here, survival of the fittest is not only a fact of life - it is policy.

While the majority of the planet is bracing itself for what seems like a drawn-out conflict between the polar confederations, the Mekong Dominion is already engaging in all out warfare. Merchant princes send forth their delegations into the hearts of the Dominion's neighbors, entrenching themselves in the financial heartland of their enemies and allies alike. The Judas Syndrome is alive and well in this league where deceit and trickery are seen simply as the cost of doing business. While the rest of the planet steels for the coming battles, the Dominion is making itself wealthy.

1.1.1 Contents

The Mekong Dominion Sourcebook gives Heavy Gear Players and Gamemasters insight into the culture and makeup of the economic powerhouse of the Allied Southern Territories. This sourcebook provides enough information to fully flesh out any campaign based in this league. Gamemasters will find enough information on each of the fully detailed city-states to base an entire campaign in any one of them. They will also find enough information on the surrounding areas - both developed and wild - to provide a wealth of information for a campaign outside of an urban setting. Players will find enough cultural and political information in the sourcebook to add a new level to their roleplaying campaign.

Chapter 2 introduces the unique environment of the Mekong Dominion, expanding upon the geography, history and economics of this powerful league. Gamemasters and Players will be interested in the particulars of this chapter, which contains much potential campaign material. Chapter 3 examines the way the Dominion conducts its business within its borders. To outsiders, the Mekong appears to be united with a common goal of controlling the entire planet through sheer fiscal power. This chapter reveals the actual state of affairs within the league and exactly how precarious its unity is. The foreign policies of the Dominion are disclosed in Chapter 4. Most Terranovans only know the people of the Mekong through their aggressive external policies. All mercantile corporations are expected to follow the dictates of the Mekong Assembly; this chapter elaborates on these policies and details what sort of behavior to expect from a Dominion corporation outside of the league.

Chapter 5 elaborates upon the basic information on the city-states of the Dominion provided by the Life on Terra Nova sourcebook. An in-depth examination of the various cities of the league -including the free state of Hsi Tsang - and the political and social powers that govern them provide a wealth of information for Players and Gamemasters. Chapter 6 introduces the rich cultural heritage of the land and its people. The league can directly trace its heritage to its Earth oriental ancestors, and while it has retained much of their original culture, it has over time adapted this legacy to its people's new home.

The final two chapters provide Gamemasters with important aids to assist the running of a Mekong campaign, including new archetypes unique to this league, important NPCs and indigenous wildlife.