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In what may be the start of a new passion, I follow last week’s Vandor Gazetteer with yet another in a back-to-back astographic information bonanza. The muddy battlescape of Mimban is our topic for today. I’ll provide all the usual info to serve as background for adventures featuring mudtroopers, Mimban stormtroopers, and the Mimbanese Liberation Army. Put on your rubber boots, slap on an environmental filtering mask, and ready yourself to get muddy.
MIMBAN
Astronavigation Data: Mimban System, Circarpous Sector, Expansion Region
Orbital Metrics: 334 days per year / 21 hours per day
Population: 7,928,000 (Mimbanese 88%, others 12%)
Languages: Mimbanese, Basic
Terrain: mud fields, swamps, rain forests
Major Cities: Threllai
Areas of Interest: Camp Forward, Nanth Flatlands
Major Exports: hyperbaride, assorted minerals
Major Imports: industrial equipment, foodstuffs
Trade Routes: Nanth’ri Route
Special Conditions: fetid atmospheric conditions, environmental filtering masks recommended for offworlders
Background: Remote, yet rich in mineral wealth, Mimban has grown in prominence over recent decades as offworlders and indigenous species battle over resource extraction. Ignored by Old Republic colonists due to the planet’s heavy storms and noxious marshlands, these battles were originally constrained to small bands of Mimbanese resisting incursions by private mining corporations. It was not until the rise of the Separatists that Mimban would be plunged into the protracted battle that continues to this day.
The Separatist Droid Army, hungry for minerals to feed its war factories, seized Mimban in the early days of the Clone War. Mimban’s natural deposits of hyperbaride, a rare super-heavy material used in turbolaser construction, were particularly valued by Separatists desperate to secure resource supply lines. To resist this occupation, the Grand Army of the Republic dispatched the 224th Clone Infantry Division, with attached Republic Commandos, to train and support the indigenous Mimbanese Liberation Army (MLA). This protracted conflict continued until the deactivation of the Droid Army, with the MLA having acquired considerable skill in guerrilla warfare.
Although the end of the Clone War led to a period of peace on Mimban, the Emperor’s demands for ever more starships and weapons brought a tragic reversal. Once liberators, now occupiers, the 224th was re-designated as an Imperial Armored Division and assigned the task to pacify Mimban. Imperial miners descended onto the world, escalating the strip-mining far beyond the rate at which the private sector, or even the Separatists, had achieved. The MLA resisted, utilizing the very tactics their former clone comrades had taught them. The Mimbanese insurgency continues to resist after years of fighting, even as the 224th has long since replaced its clone troopers with naturally born human conscripts.
The heart of this ongoing conflict remains the same as in previous decades and for previous offworlders. The Empire demands Mimban’s mineral wealth at any cost to the planet’s people and ecology; the Mimbanese fight to protect their homeland. Hyperbaride deposits alone account for Imperial interests, with economic analysts noting an radically increased demand for high-energy materials in recent years. Deposits of more common metals such as the durasteel precursor, zersium, only provides increased incentive for Imperial subjugation. Rumors have begun to emerge, however, that even more exotic resources have attracted the Emperor’s attention. Tales of robed dignitaries, high-security mining installations, and mysterious crystals are exchanged among the enlisted mudtrooper ranks. Some say the term “thaissen” relates to these crystals, with others alleging they are somehow related to hunting down the last of the Jedi terrorists.
WORLD AT WAR
After decades of struggle, Mimban remains a world at war. Powerful storms greatly limit the utility of Imperial air support, with airspeeders and starfighters alike put at grave danger by atmospheric instabilities. The presence of heavy mists over the battlefield make the possibility of friendly fire a real risk for Imperial ground forces. Thus, the Empire relies almost entirely on infantry backed by limited armored and indirect fire support. Trenches, infantry patrols, mortars, and artillery are the norm on Mimban. It is a brutal, muddy, and bloody fight to which no Imperial soldier wishes to be assigned.
The Mimbanese Liberation Army, despite years of fighting, remains resolved to push the Empire off their world. Booby traps, snipers, and ambushes allow this poorly equipped infantry force to hold their own. By using hit-and-fade tactics, the Mimbanese inflict casualties against the Empire far out of proportion from what their own combat strength should allow. This is especially true when fighting mudtroopers, the low morale Imperial army infantry which forms the bulk of the 224th. Most distressing for the Mimbanese is the recent deployment of Imperial stormtroopers to the campaign. Highly trained, iron willed, and completely ruthless, it is the stormtrooper corps which has begun to turn the tide against the resistance.
Christopher Hunt
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