Victory Industries

Victory Industries, previously known as Norse BattleMech Works while in Federated Suns hands, is a Draconis Combine based BattleMech manufacturer. Located on the planet Marduk on the Davion - Kurita border, this important factory has been traded back and forth between both nations since the collapse of the Star League.

Founding
While Marduk was originally exploited for its rich agricultural resources, just prior to the creation of the original Star League a deposit of rare metals was discovered in the middle of the jungle. To take maximum advantage of this discovery, a huge complex of factories was built directly over the metals deposit. After the ore is mined, it is processed in a smelter system next to the factory, the finished product traveling less than a hundred meters before being used to manufacture Griffin chassis. Other nearby factories make almost all the electronic and mechanical components necessary to build the 'Mechs, with only the tracking systems having to be imported from offworld. This complex of factories was built with such skill that it barely damaged the surrounding jungle, greatly benefiting defensive operations, with finished 'Mechs shipped off Marduk from the spaceport built nearby.

Norse BattleMech Works won the contract for the production of a front-line 'Mech that could outmaneuver enemy 'Mechs and keep up with advancing forces for the Federated Peacekeeping Forces ahead of stiff competition from companies in the Capellan March. This may have been in part as a result of implicit support from First Prince Ellen Davion, given the overly-ambitious nature of Richard Varnay, and Norse used the Griffin and Shadow Hawk designs being fielded by the Terran Hegemony as inspiration in the development of what would become the WVR-1R Wolverine and its successors. The original Wolverine design was lightly-armed, using an experimental Autocannon/5 and a medium laser for armament, as Norse wanted to emphasize movement first and then a balanced weapon load, but they did attempt to accommodate a PPC in place of the autocannon to allow for a more heavily armed variant. Unfortunately, the first model of PPC supplied was a failure, being inaccurate, prone to overheating and a source of electromagnetic interference that prompted the FPF High Command to direct Norse to stick to the more accurate and reliable autocannon that would remain a mainstay of the design. Norse would continue to produce primitive Wolverines for more than a century, with the first "modern" design of Wolverine only appearing after Kallon Industries bought the rights to the chassis from Norse in the late Twenty-sixth century.

Succession Wars Era
As the Norse BattleMech Works was one of the few nearly self-reliant 'Mech factories in the Inner Sphere, it was one of the initial targets of the First Succession War. The Federated Suns reaped the majority of the factory's output with AFFS troops fending off numerous raids, holding the planet almost uninterrupted until the DCMS succeeded in capturing Marduk during the Fourth Succession War. The prize of Combine's operations in that war, the facility came complete with plans and details for advanced lostech redesigns, with production stepped up to help refit the depleted ranks of the DCMS and provide material for other manufacturers in that nation.

Duke James Sandoval's Draconis March forces briefly recaptured the planet during the War of 3039, stripping the Norse factory before they were ejected, taking four years for the Combine to restore the plant to production.

Clan War Era
By the Clan Invasion era the now renamed Victory Industries was somewhat overshadowed by the monolithic Luthien Armor Works, its primary claims to success being its streamlined production process and a highly refined technology staff. It was thanks to that technology staff that the company was able to solidify its position within the Combine military industrial complex when its team was among the few invited by the DCMS to reverse-engineer captured Clan OmniMechs in the early 3050s, ultimately leading to lucrative subcontracts producing LAW's Firestarter, Black Hawk-KU and Avatar OmniMechs in the early 3060s.

FedCom Civil War
Victory Industries would make Marduk a priority targeted of Duke James Sandoval unauthorized invasion of the Draconis Combine in the midst of the FedCom Civil War, Sandoval sending the green First Chisholm's Raiders to take the important BattleMech manufacturing word from the equally green Twenty-second Benjamin Regulars.

Landing on the planet on the 22nd of December 3062, the Raiders initial plan on striking the capital of New Pontiac was set aside when they realized that while the 22nd Benjamin defended the whole world, the sole defenders in proximity to the Victory Industries BattleMech plant was the company's own security forces, a combined arms regiment with a battalion of OmniMechs. While taking heavy losses, the Raiders secured tenuous control over sections of the Victory plant before the 22nd Benjamin Regulars finally learned of the attack.

With the 22nd striking out from New Pontiac, over 120 kms from Victory plant, the 1st Chisholm's CO General Neece had sent the 23rd Breed Recon Regiment to delay them. The dense Tillerbee Jungle allowed the 23rd to stage ambush after ambush, preventing the 22nd Benjamin from reaching the Victory complex before the Raiders finished securing it on December 26th. While the Raiders spent the next eight days recuperating and re-equipping from weapons and 'Mechs stockpiled at the factory, the 22nd had pushed within 20km of the Victory factories before the Davion forces moved to counterattack.

The Jihad
Manufacturing on this important industrial world was largely unaffected by the Word of Blake Jihad. With the devastation inflicted on Luthien Armor Works Victory Industries was one of the companies responsible for compensating for the loss in production thanks to the OmniMech manufacturing lines established in the 3060s.

However, after centuries of heavy industrial activity geological reports indicating massive metal ore depletion in the Tillerbee Jungle region attracted concern from the Combine central government. While geologists reported that the deposit should be sufficient to continue supporting production at the same level for several more decades, local manufacturers such as Victory were beginning to call for additional resources to support future production efforts, possibly threatening the self-sufficiency that made Marduk such an important industrial world in the first place.

Manufacturing
Victory Industries has manufacturing centers on the following planets: