The Clans are an affiliation that is currently in the process of being disbanded due to there recent defeat at the hands of the 3D alliance.

The clans were a great affialtion and will be greatly missed within the game. Luckily the Bast race will be back soon with the iminant arrival of the Felini race.

The following is the last broadcast of Clan Itch (written By Henrik Asplund)

Reports are coming in from the Cluster of a major setback for Clan Itch, one of the most prominent and powerful clans. The Itch clan has lost control over the Bast capital, Antioch, and is rumoured to have been stripped of its other possessions as well including several colonies, a large portion of the CLN warfleet, and the position as Warleader of the Clans. These events are rumoured to have been engineered by a coalition of 21 minor clans seeking revenge for the brutal suppression of the rebellion at Antioch last year. An estimated 250,000 Bast lost their lives to Antiochs security forces in that event, the majority from the clans rumoured to be behind the current downfall of the Itch clan. Other sources claim that the Clan Council has placed the blame on clan Itch for the lack of success in the current war. No official statements have been made yet.

The Itch clan made their appearance more than three years ago when their first spaceship was launched, a Cheetah commanded by the infamous Malignus Itch. Although assigned to an exploration mission, the capability of the Itch clan in combat quickly became evident when the Cheetah was attacked by a DOG ship only weeks after commencing the mission. The only CLN warship within reach was a Grizzly on maintenance and with the crew on shore leave. The Itch's managed to scrape together a replacement crew under the command of Sinistrus Itch (brother of Malignus) to man the ship, which was no other than the famous Imperator. The two brothers expertly derelicted the space fighter enhanced DOG ship and were given permission by the Clan Council to sell it in an auction.

This auction proved the first real test of the diplomatic skills of this rising clan. The AFT won the bidding but were slow in collecting their prize giving the FET an opportunity to steal the ship first. Meanwhile, impressed by the displayed skill in the capture of the DOG ship and of an IND colony shortly after, the Clan Council promoted the head of clan Itch, Regon Itch, to the then vacant rank of Warlord. With threats of banning, war etc the FET grudgingly returned the DOG Frigate to the rightful owners (although when the new Master Trader heard of the price the AFT had payed for it he promptly sold it to the FET for a fraction of the price!)

Clan Itch used their newly captured colony (now CLN Sabeltand) to establish a base of operations and became occupied with building up the colony and increasing their power within the CLN. When the clan in control of Antioch was disposed, Regon Itch quickly took the opportunity and seized control on behalf of his clan. Taking control of the Bast capital firmly positioned Regon Itch and his clan as the second most powerful in the Bast, outshone only by the Keeper of Wisdom and the Furey clan.

However, the situation at Antioch was not good. For a capital newly turned class 8, production was poor and a serious famine was threatening to occur just weeks ahead. Getting the situation under control stretched clan Itch's resources to the limit but eventually they succeeded in avoiding the famine. However the introduction of a CLN class 8 ship got seriously delayed and when it finally appeared it was a design which most Bast saw as poor and unnecessary. It is suspected that Regon Itch pulled resources from the ship development and put them on designing more efficient production methods for factories. If true, this may have been an act of genius since the breakthrough in factory production came at the same time as the first of the improved Mammoths was launched.

The final destruction of the DOG was achieved by a CLN warfleet led by Imperator and Sinistrus Itch. Yet again an auction was conducted to sell off captured derelicts. The GTT and the SMS both decided that they wanted the DOG ships and their space fighter enhancers no matter what the cost. In the end, the SMS came to their senses first and dropped out leaving the GTT with two Frigates, two Battle Cruisers, and a huge debt to the CLN.

The diplomatic skills of Regon Itch have been a running joke in the peripheries since his appointment as Warlord, but the fact is that during this time he had a number of successes. He negotiated permission from the CNF to board a captured DEN ship, giving valuable information about the Noctollis system. During the "civil war" within the AFT, he convinced the AFT colony Lunar Eclipse to join the CLN. Later, he handled the negotiations leading to the SQM being incorporated as a protectorate under the CLN. Also, treasures found by Malignus Itch in his explorations of the Cluster were sold off to pay the SMS for setting up a CLN colony in Schrike.

Meanwhile, a satellite colony next to Antioch was brought up to class 6 while Antioch itself pushed for class 9 and later class 10. A huge part of the production involved the new efficient factories and finding enough metals to produce them. The reward was an increase of the production to more than triple that of Antioch at the time of the takeover by Clan Itch. But the rapid growth of Antioch caused further problems when serious environmental effects on the planet were discovered by Malignus Itch during a routine investigation. The reckless living style of the increasing population was found to be the source of the problems, but the Bast refused to change their way of living, disregarding orders from Clan superiors and killing neutral church emissaries sent to mediate. Events rapidly lead to open rebellion which was brutally crushed by colony forces lead by Regon Itch. The number of Bast that lost their lives was huge, some sources estimate them to have been as many as 250,000. This action by the Itch clan lives long in the memory of their enemies.

Clan Itch were thus heavily involved in the expansion of the CLN both inside and outside the Cluster. This left them vulnerable since resources became thinly spread and production was split between many projects. Seing the state the CLN was in, Regon Itch wisely counseled against joining the FGZ in their war with the IMP and later joining the HXM against the 3D alliance. A program was initiated to bring up the defenses of CLN colonies to acceptable standard. It had barely begun when the first rumours of a coming attack on the CLN started. The situation was made worse when several governors refused to carry out the orders, mismanaged their colonies and later disappeared. The leaders of Clan Itch departed for a month of religious contemplation at a secret monastery during which time the anticipated attack by the DEN and the DOM came.

Regon Itch returned to find that the CLN had suffered badly. His own clan had lost Blackstar, the Schrike colony, to the DOM, and several other CLN colonies had also been lost. Caught between the desire to strike back and recapture what had been lost and the need to protect the remaing CLN colonies, he supported the latter alternative in the Clan Council. The lack of resources and coordination between different clans was probably what motivated this decision. A few guerilla operations against DOM outposts were conducted by the Itch clan but the Grizzlies were called into station to protect Antioch.

The situation improved when the dormant alliance with the SQM reawakened and the SQM were incorporated into the CLN as part of the nation. This however upset the FGZ to no end since they had been close to getting the SQM to join them. Angered by what they saw as betrayal by the SQM, the FGZ decided to end their friendship with the CLN and help the DEN and DOM in the war. The target was Fortress Maximus, second largest of the CLN colonies and last stronghold of the Furey clan and former Keeper of Wisdom Kurt Furey. Co-located with Fortress Maximus were two FGZ colonies, moved there after the FGZ-IMP war. These were used as bases to bypass the space defenses of Fortress Maximus and launch a huge bombing armada to take the colony while a DEN warfleet blockaded the planet. In a desperate attempt to strike back a fleet of Cygnets equipped with Ion Cannons was launched by the clans Itch, Eonneh and Aslan. The result was disastrous, the Cygnet
fleet was annihilated by the DEN warfleet with no derelicts inflicted on the DEN ships.

Shortly after, a diplomatic breakdown with the CNF occurred when a CLN colony promised to the CNF was taken by the DEN. This caused a lot of rattling of sabres in the Darkfold and the loss of CLN ships to the CNF.

It is at this stage that the removal of the Itch clan from power occurs. What the future of the Clans will be is unknown, but we can conclude that clan Itch will not be a major part of it.

Any comments please send to:- Flagritz@hotmail.com