Introduced in 2602, the CHP-1N Champion was a fast and maneuverable heavy BattleMech with a flexible array of weapons. Weighing in at sixty tons and with a top running speed of 86.4 kph, the Champion was built as a heavy reconnaissance and strike BattleMech. For that role, it proved impressive and actually became one of the most common Star League BattleMechs. Ironically, it never should have been built.
         Bergan Industries' original plans called for a revoluntionary recon unit capable of navigating through or over any terrain for use against the Periphery realms. It was to be a new kind of BattleMech that the rebellious regions would have no counter to. One thing they called for was unmatched jump capability, but the special engine, wings, and jet combination proved too difficult to master in a timely fashion. After years and a large fortune spent in research and development, Bergan gave up and produced the "mere" CHP-1N model. To their surprise it sold well, and they began putting the profits back into the R&D for the "real" Champion.
         It would be another ten years before they mastered the unique combination of systems that would allow the Champion to fly, and ten more before the transformation process that made it capable of AeroSpace travel could be completed. Bergan showed the design to the Terran Hegemony ten years before Allied AeroSpace finished their Phoenix Hawk LAM, and the Champion never looked back.
         The Champion LAM became the most common LAM in service to the Terran Hegemony, and by extension the Star League Royal units. The fall of the Star League dealt the large LAM a death blow though. Many left with the Clans, where the expense of keeping them in operation doomed them in the resource-poor Clan Homeworlds. The few that found their way into the Successor States died when the technology that kept their delicate systems online disappeared. The only operational Champion LAMs to see action in the 31st century survived in ComStar service. Most of them slept in depots, though the Explorer Corps made use of their unique capabilities as well.
         The Jihad destroyed almost every surviving Champion LAM, and it became common to see Blakist and ComStar pilots dueling to the death in the skies over their embattled brethren. After that titanic war ended, ComStar found its Guard a shadow of its former self. They had to rebuild, and they did so with the best technology they had available to them. They provided Krupp Armament Works with the plans and technology to build a new Champion LAM, and in 3080 it entered full scale production.

         The Champion LAM's primary weapon is its speed and ability to maneuver in any environment from space to land. Its weapons include one Imperator Code Red LB 10-X autocannon, twin Holly short-range missile launchers, a pair of Blakenburg extended-range medium lasers, and a third small laser from the same company. Two tuns of ammunition for the main cannon allows the pilot to choose between armor penetrating salvos or shotgun blasts, each of which can be deadly to a range of targets. The lasers give it the ability to strafe enemy targets as well. A Blake's Vision improved C3 system allows a full level II to share targeting data, making them a deadly threat to any enemy, while over ten tons of Krupp Draco-200 ferro-fibrous armor makes it very hard to bring down.

         The Champion LAM is used only by ComStar and they do not share the design with anybody else. The Com Guard uses them primarily for reconnaissance and quick strike missions, rarely sending them into heated combat. The Explorer Corps makes a practice of keeping a level II of Champion LAMs on each Magellan JumpShip, using them to protect the ship as well as the expedition shuttle on its trips to explore new worlds. The Shining Blade also make heavy use of the design, protecting the White Mantle recharge stations from any raider stupid enough to give ComStar a try.