System: Tancredi IV

Through a fluke of bookkeeping, Tancredi IV was not colonized until the late 2570s. Decades earlier, a Terran Alliance scout ship had made a favorable report after visiting this world, but the report became lost somehow. An historian accidentally unearthed it while going through some musty data files in New Avalon one day. How it was possible that no one learned of the planet's existence until then is mystifying.

When the first colonists began to settle Jaipur, they discovered that the original Scout ship report had been far too conservative. Not only did the planet have enough pure water to support a large population, but there was plenty of arable land to support food crops. What most surprised the colonists were the riches lying beneath the soil. The discovery of huge metal deposits meant that this planet could quickly become one of the realms industrial giants. Within 20 years, Taricredi IV had become a major manufacturing force in the region and was daily attracting new companies onworid through an aggressive public relations campaign. Despite being the site of a major battle during the Civil Wars of the Federated Suns, Tancredi IV did not cease its economic expansion.

The Succession Wars stopped all that. When the Star League collapsed, the industrial might of Tancredi was among the first targets of the war, even though the distance to the planet made it difficult for the DCMS forces to make the voyage. Most of Tancredi's industries became casualties of the First War. The military commanders of the Second and Third Wars have avoided damaging the remaining factories, but that has meant using farm and ranchlands for their battles.

Early in the Third Succession War, the Draconis Combine seized Tancredi. For ten years, the world was under the wing of the Dragon, which caused more suffering to the population then to their industries. When the Kuritans began to export most of Tancredi's food crops to feed its own military, it created several major famines. After Davion forces liberated Tancredi in 3023, Hanse Davion approved a massive reconstruction effort to bring the planet back to its former industrial capacity. Because the war has done so much damage to the world's agricultural areas, Tancredi is still in danger of famine.

The capital of Tancredi IV is Dolsonville.

The Precision Weaponry plant on Tancredi IV is a perfect example of the lengths to which the Successor States will go to protect their diminishing industries. The factories here have been heavily damaged three times; first by the Draconis Combine during the First Succession War, then by Periphery pirates while the Federated Suns were occupied by the War of 3039, and finally by Fuchida's Fusiliers, when that unit broke its contract rather than face the Clans. The forth time around, the Tancredi engineers hit upon a clever plan. Instead of rebuilding the factories, they hollowed out underground complexes and relocated the facilities. Then they rebuilt the original buildings as empty shells. Now the workers enter the plant through the empty "factory" above ground, where the 'Mechs stand guard over an elaborate decoy.