Free Worlds League Military (FWLM)
The Eagle’s Talons
Currently the League is composed of approximately sixty-six regiments of "house" troops, which provide a level of strength unmatched since the Succession Wars. Credit for this growth must be awarded to Captain-General Thomas Marik, who has authorized the creation of twelve new regiments since he assumed power. Most of these new regiments belong to the Free Worlds Legionnaires, the Marik Militia and the Knights of the Inner Sphere, the latter established as the Marik's personal project. In support of this growth, military leaders plan to expand the League military by two regiments each year for the forseeable future.
Despite this impressive buildup in troop strength, the League’s development of new military technology remains somewhat lackluster. This situation seems to be the result of conscious industrial planning, however, rather than a lack of resources, facilities or expertise. In recent years, the Free Worlds League has employed the majority of its manufacturing capacityto produce ’Mechs for export to the former Federated Commonwewalth states and the Draconis Combine, whose militaries are still recovering from the massive losses suffered fighting the Clans. Though this policy has slowed the modernization of the League military’s own equipment, the income from those sales has provided funding for research and development of new military technology. Additionally, both the former Federated Commonwealth states and Draconis Combine have provided salvaged Clan OmniMechs and equipment as partial payments to the League, material that has already enabled Free Worlds scientists to make considerable progress in the development of new weapons technologies, most notably advanced laser and autocannon systems. The League also has devoted considerable effort to the study of Clan manufacturing processes, with the hope of revamping its current systems to improve the manufacture of existing equipment designs.
In addition to its troop strength and generous support of its design and manufacturing industries, the Free Worlds military posesses one other strategic asset—the Word of Blake. Because the Word of Blake controls all HPGs in the League, the organization effectively controls all interstellar communications within the Free Worlds League, as well as all communications that must pass through the League. The cordial relationship between the Word of Blake and the Captain-General has prompted the organization to aid the League military on numerous occasions by intercepting messages that originate from agents of hostile powers and delaying or "mislaying" such messages when doing so benefits the League.