IS Atlas / System / Detail

Description:

Originally founded as the planet Chisholm, Elgin was renamed in honor of the heroic actions of Captain Edward T. Elgin, who defended the planet against Marik attackers in 2878. Originally a commercial trading center for Terra and the various independent worlds of the Capellan Zone, Elgin was absorbed into the Tikonov Grand Union prior to the formation of the Capellan Confederation. The large islands that comprise the main landmasses of the planet Elgin support a wide variety of lifestyles, ranging from manufacturing to farming to service industries. The destruction of the Succession Wars dramatically reduced the world's manufacturing capabilities, but a substantial investment by the Capellan government for water purification facilities revitalized the agricultural sector prior to the Forth Succession War. Individual noble families control what industries remain, along with feudal landholdings, some of which date back to pre-Confederation times. Elgin is homeworld for Marion's Highlanders and McCormack's Fusiliers, two veteran units of the Northwind Highlanders.

When the Federated Commonwealth took over the administration of Elgin, it wisely chose to limit its interference in the daily lives of the noble families who owned most of the planet's wealth. The government's primary contribution to keeping the populace happy was to station only a single battalion of AFFC troops on Elgin and allowing the most prominent families to contribute their own troops to complete the regiment of the Fifth Republican for the planet's protection.

It fell to the Fifth to counter the terrorist activities led by Liao agents on Elgin, but the unit's efforts to protect the holdings of the nobles were largely unsuccessful. The family heads could find no explanation for their elite troops performing so poorly, until Baron Men Hou of the island of New Ceram captured a Liaoist rebel and learned that the AFFC commander of the Fifth was a Maskirovka spy. What had appeared to be incompetent command was, in fact, deliberate collusion by Leftenant General Abder-Rahman Barton with the Capellan government.

When Baron Hou exposed Barton as a spy to the other nobles, they immediately ordered their troops to obliterate the AFFC companies. As soon as the FedCom troops were neutralized, the companies loyal to each baron turned on the others. The brutal free-for-all that ensued on the island of Jolo ended within an hour, as all seven barons chose to withdraw and save their strength to fight another day.

Only a handful of soldiers loyal to the Federated Commonwealth remain on Elgin. They devote considerable, successful effort to misdirecting the nobles' troops so that they fight against each other. They have also surrounded the light industries on Jolo with elaborate traps and mazes to keep infiltrators away from the vast warehouses of personnel weapons stored there. They must also contend with increasingly frequent attacks by pirates bands that raid the island's many small communities for supplies. These soldiers can take comfort in the fact that the pirates have also begun targeting the holdings of the nobles on their raids.

The capital of Elgin is Sochalladan.