System: Kentares IV

[2796] Kentares was the site of the infamous Kentares Massacre, one of the worst atrocities of the First Succession War. Due to the debacle at New Rhodes that Coordinator Minoru and the 6th Sword of Light 'Mech regiment had to make its way to Kentares IV. The loss of supplies on New Rhodes had stalled the Kurita forces' efforts to beat down elements of the 7th Crucis Lancers on Kentares. The Combine was now in danger of losing the planet completely. Landing there in early summer 2796, Minoru Kurita's units were besieged almost immediately by the aggressive and creative tactics of the defending 7th Crucis Lancers. Using sheer weight of numbers, Minoru forced his opponents onto a single continent. By late summer, he had nearly encircled them.

Outside New Snowfield, a small town nestled in the Carmelite Mountains, the Coordinator met his fate. Unable to pass up a chance to gaze upon the incredible scenery, Minoru left his Battlemaster and went on foot to the sunny alpine meadows, accompanied only by his lance members, a few guards, and a Buddhist priest. There the Coordinator and the priest sat among the trees, talking privately. No one saw the camouflaged sharpshooter from an infantry unit attached to the 7th Crucis Lancers as he made his way down the mountain. The shot from the sniper's laser rifle caught the Coordinator in the back. In the confusion that followed, the sniper managed to slip back up the mountain apparently not realizing whom he had killed.

When Jinjiro Kurita, heard of his fathers death it was with an eerie calm he boarded a JumpShip, accompanied by a regiment of the Sword of Light. When Jinjiro Kurita arrived on Kentares, there was more bad news. A Davion force from across the front on Sonnia had rescued the remainder of the 7th Crucis Lancers. A few days later, Jinjiro gathered together all his commanding officers on Kentares and gave them one curt order. "Kill them all." When one of the officers attempted to ask Jinjiro for further explanation of the order, Jinjiro ordered that the man be shot by his Otomo. Without another word, the remaining officers left the tent to do their duty.

During the next five months, Kurita units on Kentares dispersed across the planet and began to systematically kill every citizen of the planet. The mass executions were accomplished by rounding up as many as possible in the cities, then using 'Mechs and vehicles to hunt down the rest. It was during the second month of this hellish activity that the Kuritans' military discipline began to waver. No matter how deeply indoctrinated with stoicism and obedience to the ruler, the duty of killing hundreds of people day after day was beginning to take its toll on the ordinary soldiers. Some were deliberately allowing groups of Kentares citizens to escape, and there were even reports of officers beginning to do the same. Soldiers had also begun to commit suicide because of the atrocities.

For Jinjiro, the thousands killed were no more than a number. To revive the sense of horror that his soul seemed to crave, he began to attend the executions. He even forbade the use of modern weapons at those he witnessed, preferring to see his victims beheaded by the sword. When Jinjiro had satisfied his revenge enough to leave Kentares in February 2797, he left behind a silent world plunged in grief. His men had massacred more than 90 percent of the planet's civilian population, amounting to some 52 million men, women, and children.

After the end of the First succession War, House Davion decided to repopulate the planet, largely as a gesture of defiance toward Kurita and his ancestors. With its industrial base smashed by the war, however, Kentares has never recovered its prosperity. Over the last 100 years, its population has again dwindled to just over a tenth of its pre-war total. Much of the planet is covered by ruined, rusting cities and factories, memorial to the carnage of the First Succession War.

With Kentares' bloody history, it is ironic that the illgrass plant native to the world must be fertilized with animal blood or it will die.

There are no functional factories located on this planet.