Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (BattleTech Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

[Steve]

@Slacker contributed parts of the unit write-ups, and @Captain Orsai is still assisting with some of the in-character remarks and tweaks to the text to fit the Republic's POV better.

 

[Steve]

Oriento-Capellan Empire

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Ruling House: House Halas-Liao
Capitals: Sian and Oriente (traditional investiture on Harsefeld)
Ruler: Emperor Robert Halas-Liao
Worlds: 277
BattleMech Regiments: 230
Warships: 138


Of all the states to exist in the Glass, the Oriento-Capellan Empire stands out as one of the most unbelievable. Oriente has traditionally been one of the most anti-Capellan of the Free Worlds League states in our history. I would as soon accept the idea of a Confederated Suns and House Liao-Davion as I have imagined House Halas-Liao being in any way stable. Yet, even with the similarities in our histories up to the Succession Wars, the other side's Oriente remains joined at the hip with the reborn Capellan State, and while not a smooth union, it has survived war, invasion, and dissension for the past century.

The key to the Empire's survival, its very existence, is arguably found in the third family name that is rightfully born by the ruler, if largely unused. House Allison, the original rulers of Oriente, survived on the captured world Harsefeld and in seeking to rule conquered Capellan worlds ultimately chose to assimilate into the Capellan nation. They waged war after war to get to their current position, and to secure it, forged a marriage alliance with their successors on Oriente, House Halas. These changed circumstances do much to explain this unlikely pairing. The rebirth of House Liao by two of her former foes has done much to shape the current Empire, for better and for worse.

The Empire is a dual state, not dissimilar to the Austrian-Hungarian state of Terra's Industrial Revolution era in that the two halves are governed by separate laws but have a common government for defense, foreign exchange, and diplomacy. The Grand Duchy of Oriente is governed by a confederal system, with planets maintaining a degree of local autonomy and self-rule much like they enjoyed in the Free Worlds League, with regional economic interests and trade regulated at the province level. The now-larger section, the Imperial Capellan State, operates under a reformed version of the Capellan ideology we are more familiar with. Before the formation of the Empire, King Alexander Allison of Harsefeld and his half-brother and co-ruler — the future Emperor Jonah Allison-Liao — decided to govern their reclaimed Capellan worlds by the old system, with modifications to undermine rebellions from those worlds that had ended the caste system. The servitor caste was done away with. Those without citizenship are now considered casteless, an unenviable position compared to the others but lacking the status of state property that so many find detestable in the Capellan system on our side. Citizenship in the Imperial Capellan State is more easily attained as well and on many worlds the casteless are a minority, not the plurality or outright majority their servitor counterparts often are in the Capellan Confederation. To ease awkwardness between the two halves, a citizen of the Grand Duchy dwelling in the Imperial State is given an honorary rank of associated citizen; they do not enjoy the full range of citizenship benefits, but they are not considered casteless. They must go through a naturalization process if they decide to emigrate permanently.

As one can imagine, these two systems do not dwell in perfect harmony. Among the people of the Grand Duchy any hint of encroachment by the Capellan State is vigorously, even violently resisted. Maskirovka has little sway in the Duchy for enforcing any sort of loyalty to the Empire, their role is strictly counter-intelligence against enemy action in association with the IOCF's Military Intelligence Command. Instead national loyalty is encouraged by internal propaganda and popular broadcasts, lionizing House Halas and especially the Knightly Orders of Oriente. Founded during the later Renaissance period to live up to ideals of chivalric behavior and honor so as to limit the Succession Wars' devastation, the Knightly Orders are widely respected among the Duchy's population for their courage, tenacity, and skill. They have often fought in the most desperate and most savage battles to preserve the Grand Duchy from her external foes and, while tied to IOCF command structure, maintain an independence that makes them the core of the Grand Duchy's personal troops. Legally they are under Emperor Robert's command, in his capacity as Grand Duke of Oriente, but unofficially many still hew to the desires and orders of their old liege lady, the one hundred and twenty-eight year old Dowager Empress Eris Halas, who despite her abdication in 3103 still wields significant soft power across Oriente and the Empire as a whole.

This has not gone unnoticed on Sian and among the sheng and directorship of the Imperial Capellan State. Many among the Empire's leadership are said to be jealous and fearful of the Dowager's lingering grasp, especially as she has opposed the Liaoist Restorationist movement and its goals of reclaiming the Confederation's old borders, preferring instead to focus on her own bitter foes, House Proctor of Arcadia, and her ambitions to seize the rest of the former Marik Commonwealth from them. For the Capellans this is an unwanted distraction and part of a larger problem with what many quietly feel is an unequal partnership. A common joke among Capellans is that they labor "for the greater good of the Capellan State… oh, yes, and for those lazy Orienters too". The Grand Duchy is seen as not pulling its own weight, with its spoiled citizenry lazy and aloof of the needs of the Empire while Capellans labor vigorously and honestly for the greater good of all.

It is important to note that the lack of a servitor caste, and the (relatively) easier life of the casteless, does not diminish the strength of the Capellan State over their lives. A Capellan citizen earns their place, joins a caste as best fits their talents, and is reminded at all times of their duties to the Greater Good of Humanity as laid out in the Korvin Doctrine and of the need to obey their superiors as the Sarna Mandate decrees. Any worlds captured and folded into the Imperial State are subject to a Maskirovka-observed process to incorporate their populations into the caste system. This process proved particularly dangerous during both the integration of captured Terran worlds in the 3060s and the worlds seized from the Federated Suns in 3118 and 3119. While some of the more ardent Liaoists wished to further impress the Capellan system on these worlds, the Emperors have been more lenient, to the point that the Sirian Commonality is observed to have almost no casteless and an abnormally smooth process for caste assignments, and the Victoria Commonality (based on Bellatrix, though the name makes very clear the aspirations of the Empire in that direction) has run along similar lines. This has born fruit in that both are integrating very smoothly compared to the retaken worlds attached to the Sarna Commonality, where local directorship and sheng have proven more stringent in allowing citizenship. Make no mistake, though, that the Capellan State is not as domineering as the Confederation is. The Maskirovka has full authority to investigate and detain and the Emperor wields power close to that of the Chancellors of the Confederation. Loyalty to the State is enforced on the populations of every world.

If one wonders how these two systems can survive under the same government, one answer is found in the Imperial Oriento-Capellan Forces. The IOCF are the largest and most prominent institution of the Empire in the everyday life of citizens of the Grand Duchy and the Imperial State. They recruit from both halves and while local units do exist, by practice Ducal soldiers are assigned to Capellan units and vice versa, and a number of corps and brigades such as the Harsefeld Lancers and the Allison Heavy Guards intentionally maintain as much equality as possible when it comes to staffing from both halves of the Empire. While it is not immune to the occasional demonstration of bias by either side against the other, the officer corps and NCOs work to clamp down on this so that the units of the IOCF, wherever their origin, can function together on the battlefield. Overall the IOCF's culture is one of teamwork and a feeling of Imperial citizenship, whether a soldier is from the Oriente Fusiliers or the Sian Dragoons. "Two Nations, One Cause" is their most common slogan, and they do generally try to live up to it even if, on occasion, the nationalist sides do make themselves known. The most obvious example of this was the Liaoist strike against the Federated Suns in 3118, betraying an ally they despised to reclaim worlds they believed rightfully Capellan.

The IOCF's prominence comes in part from size. The Empire boasts one of the larger remaining navies from the Fourth Succession War and over two hundred regiments of BattleMechs. It is one of the more heavily garrisoned Successor States, and for good reason. While for much of the 31st Century it was an active member in the St. Ives Compact, the Liaoist betrayal of the Federated Suns ended that forever. Now the Empire remains isolated and surrounded by active and potential enemies, with only the Azami having any real warmth for their state. Their ancient foes in House Davion and the Dowager's hated enemies in House Proctor include factions openly eager for the suspension of the Peace of Dieron to strike at the lonely Empire, and the legions of the Flavian Principate burn with fury to avenge their humiliation at Kearny in 3118. To protect against this multitude of threats, the Empire has been transformed into a garrison state in many respects.

In light of their strategic isolation Emperor Robert is reputed to have opened talks with Yorinaga Kurita for closer ties to the Draconis Combine, the other pariah of the Inner Sphere, while simultaneously seeking an understanding with the Kilbourne Concord, a dicey prospect at best. He has also, since his rise to the throne, agreed to an increase of peacetime naval spending not seen in a century, with a crash naval construction program rivaling the Empire's efforts during the Fourth Succession War. Over the next several years the Empire is building enough ships that it will be able to challenge the Federated Suns directly, wielding a fleet that could overpower the Royal Federation and the Flavian Principate combined. This bold move, proclaimed as necessary to secure the Empire from attack, is the proximate cause of the growing naval arms race that threatens the Peace of Dieron. A bitter irony indeed given Robert's father caused the Fourth Succession War for similar motivations. (And as a failed attempt to placate the rabid Capellan nationalists, the ones who later caused this very isolation through their attack on their own ally. Whatever the reality, Capellans love to dig knives into the backs of their neighbors. — Paladin Max Ergen)

For those accusing Emperor Robert of plotting aggression, it is worth noting that after High King Nathaniel rose to the Liberator's Throne on Arcadia, he openly welcomed Nathaniel's peace overtures and has agreed to mutual force drawdowns across the Arcadian-Imperial border. This may simply be a maneuver to placate one foe so he can improve his position against the Principate and Federated Suns, of course, but it may also indicate a genuine desire to avoid a repeat of his father's actions and to preserve the Peace of Dieron. Of greater relevance to us, while little is said from news sources of the Imperial reaction to the Glass (An ominous silence if you ask me! — Paladin-Exemplar David MacKinnon), Emperor Robert's official response to Nathaniel's coronation address was "The Empire applauds the High King for his commitment to fighting such debased savagery, we wish him good fortune in battle against these Clans", and further IOCF announcements of drawdowns on the Arcadian border systems. Again, it is impossible to tell the motivation here. The Emperor may be genuinely sympathetic to Nathaniel's crusade to stop the aggressive Clans, or he may be cynically promoting Nathaniel's war efforts in order to weaken the Arcadians' position against the Empire in the short term. Ultimately, the only person who knows for sure is Emperor Robert Halas-Liao himself.



Death Commandos

The refounding of the Death Commandos came with the return of former Capellan leading families to the Harsefeld state in 3035, eager to join in rebuilding the Capellan nation as they believed it should be. They have been the bodyguard regiment of the Emperor since 3040, participating in the Terran War from the siege of Oriente to the conquest of Terra and on through the remaining Second Age of War.

Wherever an enemy of House Liao goes, the Death Commandos are ready to slay them if given the order. During the fighting in the 3060s they came within moments of killing Archduke Joshua Marik in the Imperial invasion of Atreus and briefly conquered and held Atreus City itself before relieved. They head-hunted and killed Aaron Winston, the Commanding General of the KSDF, on Robinson even while the planet fell in 3073, and added Defiance President Jacqueline Brewer and Legate Siobhan O'Reilly-Proctor to their kill list during a Lyran-Principate defense of New Earth in 3082. During the Fourth Succession War they would claim half of the Regency Council of the Peoples' State of Andurien before being brought to ground and nearly destroyed by the elite mercenary force of Arano's Marauders. As always they were rebuilt, though their bodyguard duties to the Emperor demanded no more use as a killing force for the remainder of the war.

As always, they are a combined arms regiment of BattleMechs and battle armor infantry with some vehicular and aerospace support. Their training is legendary and their loyalty to the Capellan cause without equal. Bodyguard units for state leaders across the Inner Sphere train exhaustively simply to have a hope of stopping the Commandos should they ever come for their charges. They remain on Sian at this time, protecting Emperor Robert, and no one knows when or if he will send them forth to strike at an enemy.


The Order of the Red Sword

One of the Knightly Orders of Oriente, the Order of the Red Sword can trace their history back to Rico Halas' initial formation of the Knightly Orders. A half dozen Dispossessed families of nobility provided some of the initial recruits for the Red Sword and the Grandmaster has often come from these families, especially the Hawkwoods of Fletcher. They are steadfastly loyal to the Grand Duchy, more so than to the Empire, it has long been said and suspected. Their battle histories are a long and bloody road of the greatest victories and most bitter defeats in service to House Halas.

Yet the Red Sword, like their peers, regret their greatest disappointment keenly. Throughout the decades the Order has always come close, sometimes extremely close, to seizing the former League capital of Atreus from their liege lady's hated enemies of House Proctor. In 3041-42, 3065, 3097-98, 3113-15, and 3118-19, the Red Swords fought valiantly to capture House Marik's glittering prize and finally punish the Arcadian rulers for the perceived vile insult they had offered to Eris Halas in 3037. In 3119 they came extremely close to this victory, with most of the world having fallen and Atreus City itself on the verge of defeat. Yet for all the sacrifices the victory was again denied by enemy reinforcements and the Orders were forced to pick up their wounded and dying to live on for greater service.

The Peace of Dieron has left the Red Sword to fulfill the other obligations of their service while rebuilding from the terrible losses endured on Atreus. The Orders have since started to face other foes as well, with their growing rivalry with the Capellan Warrior Houses and the manner in which Capellan units fight that does not fit the honor code of the Knightly Orders. The Red Swords have become leaders in trying to keep these relations smooth, including sending their former Grand Master, Ser Jonathan Hawkwood, to represent the Orders and Dowager Empress Eris at the Celestial Court on Sian. While he will serve his liege lady as well as he can, his known desire to try for Atreus again and avenge the century-old insult against Eris may or may not make him foes among the Liaoists of the Celestial Court.


Warrior House Aquila

The Warrior Houses were refounded by Harsefeld during the early Second Age of War, combining some of the traditional Capellan units with new Warrior Houses, mostly formed from foreign troops who pledged permanent loyalty to House Allison-Liao. One of the newest such Houses, House Aquila are renegades and refugees from the Principate, the survivors of Imperator Scipio's most devoted and ardent followers. After the other legates murdered Scipio on Tamarind and the First Proctor Guards drove his legion from Loric, Legate Horatius Humphreys of IV Legio decided not to return to Alphard with his peers. Having lost his brother to an Arcadian head-hunter team during the battle for Arcadia and believing (accurately) that the Dominate would be pulled down by Flavius O'Reilly, Humphreys made contact with Maskirovka and asked for asylum in the Empire in exchange for service. Gathering other broken cohorts and maniples fleeing the vengeful Arcadian advance to Tamarind and Bolan, Humphreys brought them with him to New Olympia where they became the founders of Warrior House Aquila.

While many of the Warrior Houses have fought in the Grand Duchy before, Aquila has become the only one permanently assigned to Oriente's half of the Empire, and through the Fourth Succession War they served as defense for New Olympia as well as providing troops to invade the hated Arcadians. They fought a number of battles with the First Proctor Guards and would participate in the 3113-15 invasion of Atreus and the 3118 attack on Bainsville. Though neither of those worlds fell and Humphreys himself would die battling the 5th Royal BattleMech Regiment in the 3118 campaign, House Aquila acquitted itself well and won numerous engagements through ferocity and discipline.

The Peace of Dieron has seen Aquila's assignment to New Olympia remain constant. By special Imperial charter they are permitted to raise families and have dependents, and their settlement of Nova Islington on New Olympia has become a land holding for the entire unit. A trickle of patrician dissenters has bolstered the House's depleted ranks since the war, though they remain at eighty percent strength compared to their preferred size. There are rumors that House Master John Finney may accept offers from non-descendants of Alphardians to join the House so long as they adopt the neo-Roman customs that still guide the unit, if the Emperor approves of the change to their charter.


First Sian Dragoons

The First Sian Dragoons are a legacy unit from the times of House Allison's Harsefeld, despite their name. The first Capellan nationalist unit recruited for the armies of Harsefeld, the First Dragoons were one of the trouble-shooter units of the realm, fighting in invasions from the First Andurien War on through the Terran War.

The First Sian Dragoons were one of the first units to hit dirt on Andurien at the start of what became the Fourth Succession War. For seven long years they fought bitterly to reclaim the planet for the Capellan State, being replenished in the field from the battered remnants of their fellow Sian Dragoon formations and other broken units. They alone remained on the front of the entire invasion, not being rotated on and off world as other units were whenever the naval standoff over Andurien allowed. They captured the planetary capital of Jojoken in 3112, overcoming the First Defenders of Andurien, lost it to a counterattack four months later, reclaimed it in 3113, and lost it once more in 3114. In 3115 they held half of Baroda before the Canopian Highlanders and the Arano Royal Guards pushed them out. On every front on the planet the battalions and companies of the First fought, and it was bitter indeed when Emperor Gregory abandoned the invasion in 3117. This bitterness goes far to explain the unit's willing mutiny in 3118 when they joined Strategos Lu Sen's plot to seize the traditional Capellan worlds held by the Federated Suns. On Grand Base they destroyed the battered Eighth Crucis Lancers RCT, forcing the entire unit's surrender before they could even flee off-world, but were nearly destroyed themselves trying to capture Menke from the Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers RCT when the First Taurian Volunteers arrived to reinforce the broken Davion formation. When the Peace of Dieron came, the First was nearly a spent force rebuilding back on Grand Base.

Since the war, the First continues to enjoy pride of place with the IOCF, though there are many indications that Maskirovka are paying far closer attention to its command staff since their mutinous invasion of what had, at the time, been an ally. The unit has notably been moved well out of the new Victoria Commonality, and even saw combat as part of the defense of Procyon against the Arcadians' Operation MORNING STAR in 3123. Today they are assigned to Sian itself and are part of the defense units assigned around the Imperial City. They have been granted a further honor, as upon her graduation from the Sian University's Hen gao Xiao-Iu courses, Princess-Imperial Xiaoli Halas-Liao was assigned to the First Dragoons as a MechWarrior. Being the chosen unit for the future Celestial Wisdom has brought yet more Mask scrutiny upon the First Sian Dragoons, but also signals that Emperor Robert has forgiven the unit for its mutiny, and its pride of place in the IOCF will only increase.

 

[Steve]

People's State of Andurien​

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Ruling House: Humphreys
Capital: Andurien
Ruler: Duchess Karla Humphreys
Worlds: 76
BattleMech Regiments: 34
Warships: 40

The People's State of Andurien is an example of how the different histories influenced peoples in the Inner Sphere down different paths. While it was torn from the Capellan Confederation in the First Succession War just as ours was, the following Collapse period left the state alone to develop free of both Capellan and Leaguer sentiments. The surprising result was an avowed socialist constitutional monarchy under House Humphreys that, unique among Successor States, forswore the use of military violence to capture worlds for itself. Any new world added to the People's State would come voluntarily by diplomatic initiative and invitation, or not at all.

Yet Andurien prevailed long after other such passive states, or even aggressive ones, were destroyed or otherwise absorbed by their neighbors. It has retained independence against the repeated invasions of other powers through both passive and active diplomatic efforts, turning their small state into a natural buffer state among the powers surrounding them. The Andurien People's Defense Forces, APDF, maintain a capable force for defensive fighting and safeguarding the People's State's Frontier Region from piracy. Andurien supplements its own small but capable military industries with imports from neighbors, primarily the Federated Suns and the Royal Federation, and provides various materials and unique goods for export. Enterprises are collective by mandate of the law, which has led to some emigration to other neighboring states from those wishing for greater individual control over their ideas. It has also seen immigration from others seeking sanctuary from the disfavor of their worlds' rulers. Casteless and dissident Capellans, disaffected Rim Commonality denizens, and others go through the naturalization process every year to become part of the People's State.

Pacifist as it is, Andurien is not a fully stable place, and there are many forceful arguments and debates on its future. The culture encourages political involvement from all walks of society, with public participation in elections and even plebiscites on a multitude of issues. Andurien, in collaboration with ComStar, has pushed HPG networking towards greater efficiency and lower costs to improve communication flow between worlds. Initially inaugurated in 3138, Project: SpeechWeb holds the goal of allowing regular real-time chat messaging between all worlds of the People's State by 3150, with plentiful investment from a number of government and communal enterprises in support of the mission. This readiness to discuss and debate maintains a constant ferment of clashing ideas and dissent. Indeed, the annexation of Kearny, Antipolo, and a handful of other worlds captured in 3119 remains a volatile topic in everything from school debates to online messaging communities to the People's Assembly, with some arguing it as appropriate compensation, a regrettable necessity for security, or an unconscionable violation of the People's State's governing principles.

That they took such a measure as to annex worlds that did not willingly agree to join is an understandable measure given what they suffered. The People's State of Andurien was nearly consumed during the Fourth Succession War. Only a handful of systems never saw violence by invasion or raid. From 3110 to 3117 Andurien itself was a battleground, the APDF and their Canopian allies fighting a long and terrible struggle to repel the Empire's invasion. The entire capital world was engulfed in the carnage and not a single city or settlement escaped the violence, while its economy collapsed under the intermittent Imperial blockade or raging naval battles. Many other worlds were invaded and even occupied for varying amounts of time. It is a mark of the resiliency of Andurien's people and their unshakeable faith in their government, run in the name of a child ruler through much of the war, that they did not crack under the bloodshed and economic collapse the conflict wrought upon them. The Peace of Dieron was only the start for Andurien, which suffered for fifteen years of economic depression and sovereign bankruptcy. Prosperity has only recently returned and the State remains fiscally shaky, such that the APDF is dependent upon mercenary commands to ensure the defense of their worlds, having become in recent years the most extensive employer of mercenaries in proportion to their size and an attractive employer for struggling commands looking for quiet garrison life and a chance to replenish their ranks. The APDF has no shortage of volunteers, though, as their people never wish to suffer such invasion again. The scars of that horrible decade of invasions remain visible, physically and emotionally, to the extent that commentators have referred to the Andurien generation that came of age at the start of the century as "Andurien's Lost Generation". Given all they suffered, that they still debate the worlds taken as compensation is inspiring, perhaps even intimidating.

While the wounds of the Fourth Succession War have healed and scarred over time, time alone will tell how greatly Andurien was changed, socially and politically, from the impact of the conflict. Though she was just a child when the IOCF descended upon her world, Duchess Karla Humphreys has lived up to the title "The People's Duchess" bestowed upon her at her majority. Her popularity is great enough that it has invited seething commentary from their fellow socialists in Sudeten, and there are concerns that a cult of personality has been built around her. Duchess Karla herself has been circumspect in her public interactions, primarily leaving governance to her Council of Ministers and the Board of Trade Workers while focusing on supporting public works with the family's strained wealth and making public appearances with her family. Even if a cult of personality were to fully form, it is uncertain if she would embrace it or shun it. Some commentators speculate that the harsh violence she saw during the war, including the deaths of over half of the adult figures in her life, have left her as traumatized as her people.

Given their distance and attitude, there is no sign that the Glass has garnered much attention among the people of Andurien, though their scientific community is reportedly abuzz with curiosity of both the phenomena and our side's HPG Blackout. Aid packages to Lyran worlds struck by the fighting are reportedly being discussed and processed by various worlds and communal groups, though nothing significant has yet to come through the Glass. For the moment, Andurien seems content to focus on its own affairs.


Second Defenders of Andurien

The Defenders of Andurien take pride in their command's legacy of fighting at all costs to protect the Andurien people. The Second Defenders have one of the more colorful backgrounds, having absorbed Mosiro guerrillas after that planet's loss in the First Andurien War of 3032. The guerrilla force, though a minority, influenced the rest of the brigade until the entire unit was known as the Ghosts of Mosiro. Their prominence was solidified by the choice to make them Andurien's contribution to the ground elements of Operation: SERPENT in 3060, where they suffered significant casualties in subduing elements of the Thirty-Ninth Royal BattleMech Division in the Amazonas district of South America.

When Andurien's fifty years of peace was shattered by the Oriento-Capellan Empire's invasion, the Second Defenders were the garrison assigned to Kanata. Facing all six of the Oriente Fusiliers brigades, the 2nd refused an offer of surrender and began a fight to the death to hold the world. They were extracted by the arrival of a Rim Commonality naval task force that drove the Empire's fleet away long enough for the Second to heed retreat orders, as they were desperately needed elsewhere. From 3111 to 3113 they were part of the defense of Villaneuva from OCE invasion troops. In 3114-17 they were part of the desperate defense of Andurien. Despite being at only forty percent strength after the Andurien campaign they joined the Canopian Chasseurs e Chauvel and the Gray Death Legion in retaking Kanata in 3118 and, in a fitting climax to their part in the war, joined the capture of Mosiro in 3119.

With seventy percent personnel losses and only twenty-five percent material strength left, the Second met the Peace of Dieron with pride and relief that the long nightmare was over, their duty done. They have since been assigned to garrison Mosiro and slowly rebuild to regular strength over the following twenty years of economic destitution and hardship. Recently they had an opportunity to display their capabilities when an apparent pirate band struck at Mosiro. The attackers seemed more interested in hitting government buildings, the homes of government leaders, and local media than regular pillaging, especially concentrating on targets associated with supporting Free Capella dissidents, but the Second quickly put an end to this by driving them off-world, catching the pirates by clear surprise with their capable tactics and fighting prowess. After the invasion the State Security Service investigated captured machines and remains and found some hints of connections to Warrior House Fujita,, which has strenuously denied involvement in the attack and insisted it was a false flag operation. So far the Andurien government has not pressed Emperor Robert any further on the subject.


Chamberlain's Fusiliers

The Fusiliers were formed in 3039 by Lady Janice Chamberlain, an exiled noblewoman of Kearny. Using every scrap of her family's fortune she could lay hands on, the unit was just large enough to win the attention of the desperate Hyades Rim Republic, who hired Chamberlain's Fusiliers on in an attempt to stop their conquest by the Brethren of the Stars and the Federated Suns. The choice proved a disaster as the Republic, true to their prior form, threw the Fusiliers and other mercenary commands into a counterattack at MacLeod's Land and promptly abandoned the mercenaries when Brethren forces arrived in great force. The Brethren was merciless and Lady Janice herself was nearly killed leading her mercenaries in a fighting retreat. Saving her command came down to accepting a Brethren offer of conditional surrender that compelled the Fusiliers to hand over half of their remaining equipment but would let them keep their DropShips and depart the system.

This would have spelled the end of the unit if not for its next misfortune, as the Fusiliers were given a generous loan by the TUDF's Mercenary Relations Department in exchange for contracting with the TUDF. Faced with the dissolution of her unit and being left penniless, Lady Janice accepted grudgingly, and soon found her Fusiliers and dozens of other mercenary forces effectively dragooned into the TUDF's "Auxiliary Divisions". When Operation: REVIVAL launched the Fusiliers were assigned to support the second wave of the Galedon invasion force. For four months they fought in that bloody siege until they were useless in combat. The TUDF's local commanders decided to ship them back to Union territory for refurbishment, but they were instead relayed to be a garrison force in Andurien. Here the unit's fortune changed, as Lady Janice decided she'd had enough of the Terrans' abuse of her forces. When Andurien ordered the Terrans expelled in 3054, Lady Janice openly supported the People's State and offered her unit's services to assist in their expulsion. In thanks, Duke Charles approved citizenship for Lady Janice and her Fusiliers, and they became a standing force of the APDF, ultimately serving with distinction in protecting Andurien itself from the Empire during the long invasion of 3110-3117.

Since the Peace of Dieron the Fusiliers, or at least the Chamberlains, have come home. Lady Janice passed on before the war started, but her granddaughter Joanna won permission for her unit to be assigned to her family's homeworld. Made a Lady of Andurien for her battlefield courage in preserving the People's State, Joanna has at last regained the family home as personal property and serves as the Brigadier of the Fusiliers. She was offered a chance to run for the Kearny Governing Committee but turned it down; like many of her fellow exiles living in Andurien, Joanna has embraced the Andurien way of life and eschews wielding any political power, even elective, in favor of serving the people of Kearny as their defenders.


Third People's Defense Brigade

The Third was formed as one of the first People's Defense Brigades in 3039 during Duchess Elise's reformation of the old AAF to the APDF. The Third, like its sibling formations, is made of three combined arms regiments that includes a 'Mech battalion per regiment. It effectively forms a 'Mech regiment in this fashion but in tactical operation the formations are strictly combined arms. The Third was drawn from volunteers of Villaneuva and are assigned to the defense of that world and its valuable naval industries.

They rallied the moment the invasion warning went out, and were in their trenches when the Imperial forces jumped into Villaneuva. By all projections the Third should have been shattered by the invading forces, led as they were by the crack First Dynasty Guards, but they proved tenacious even as battalion after battalion was smashed by orbital drop operations and punishing air strikes. By April 3110 their defeat seemed assured even with their hard fighting, but at that moment they turned the tables when the survivors of the Third Brigade's Second Regiment threw themselves into a surprise spoiling offensive. They were annihilated, but not before killing the command staff of the invading troops, delaying the Imperial clearing operation long enough for rescue to arrive in the form of the Gray Death Legion. With the help of Roland Carlyle's elite mercenaries the Third held the critical facilities until the Empire was forced to withdraw in 3111. For the next four years the Third rebuilt on their homeworld, repulsing occasional raids from the Harsefeld Lancers and Capellan Imperial Cavalry, until desperation forced the APDF to send them to Andurien when the planet was on the cusp of falling in 3115. After losing a quarter of their number to the Imperial blockade, the Third proved vital to the defense of Jojoken while other counter-attacks freed Baroda and a number of critical cities and facilities. When the Empire finally retreated in 3117, the Third were among those who could celebrate the victory, even if they'd lost two thirds of their comrades to wounds and death. They returned to Villaneuva as heroes of the People's State.

The time after the Peace of Dieron has been a struggle. The Third Brigade has spent most of its time slowly reactivating destroyed formations as trickles of machines and manpower arrived through the 20s and 30s. For the most part their service has been civil, with Third Brigade 'Mechs and troopers helping with the Pineda River Valley Flood of 3125 and rescue and restoration efforts when a 8.8-scale earthquake devastated the city of Roanapur. In recent years the efforts of General Jacob Chamberlain to bring the APDF back to a minimal readiness level have seen the Third's war-game exercises pick up, with the unit getting special support by sparring with and learning from the mercenary Victors of the Ludus Magnus as the battle-hardened veterans recover from the fighting on Morthac in 3141.


Lancaster's Filibusters

The Filibusters, like a number of mercenary bands formed in the Second Age of War, started as the exiles of a fallen Successor State. When the Lancaster Authority was conquered in 3032 by its neighbors, a force of its surviving aerospace arm was trapped in Solar Union territory. The Union leadership gave them the choice of being taken prisoner and handed over to the conquerors of their homeland or organizing as a mercenary force and accepting work with the Union. They accepted and became a prized mid-tier mercenary force known for professionalism and a deep, bitter grudge against Galedon and the Lexington Concord. They ultimately left the region, particularly after their first employers allied with their oppressors, accepting work with a number of other Successor States, all the while investing in growing their forces from their starting roots as an aerospace force with raiders in 'Mechs to a full-sized aerospace group and optimized 'Mech assault force. Where possible they recruit from the former worlds of House Lancaster, despite legal interference from Concord authorities that sometimes exceeds the Concord's own laws.

The Filibusters fought under contract with the Federated Suns during the Terran War and the Concord-Compact War, where they relished the opportunity to avenge their homeland's fall. During the Third Outback War they specifically turned down a renewal contract with the Rasalhaguans for the chance to return to House Silver-Davion and fight their old enemies once more, though they suffered extensively during the recapture of Broken Wheel in 3094 and were forced to rebuild under a garrison contract in Aurigan territory. When the Fourth Succession War came they were contracted to Defiance-Hesperus Consolidant and would participate in the short-lived victories of the Sirian Commonality campaign before the IOCF counterattacks resulted in significant losses. They joined the defense of Stewart in 3113 and participated in the breaking of both blockades of Atreus in 3115 and 3119.

At the war's end they were reduced to a company of 'Mechs and a wing and a half of exhausted aerospace pilots in a fleet of banged up DropShips, having lost their JumpShip contingent to the IOCF's navy at Atreus. When their contract with House Proctor ended in 3122, they worked briefly with Ghastillia against pirates in the Rim Frontier before accepting a contract to support defense of Andurien's own Frontier Region. For fourteen years the Filibusters have maintained this contract, agreeing to renewals as they slowly rebuilt their forces, and are much respected in the APDF for their anti-piracy effectiveness. Now up to their preferred strength of three aerospace wings backed by a combined arms regiment of 'Mechs and armored jump infantry, the Filibusters have virtually ended piracy in the Andurien Frontier systems. With their contract due to expire or renew in 3143, there is uncertainty on whether the APDF will succeed in securing a renewal or, even better, finally convince the unit to settle down and accept Andurien citizenship. For the time being, pirates give a wide berth to the frontier for fear of running into the golden-winged fighters of the Filibusters.

 

[Steve]

Magistracy of Canopus


​

Ruling House: Centrella-Arano
Capital: Canopus
Ruler: Magestrix Kamea Centrella-Arano
Worlds: 131
BattleMech Regiments: 76
WarShips: 26


The Magistracy of Canopus has endured much in its history, on both sides of the Glass. As with our own, the Cisglass Canopians suffered the economic collapse of the end of the Star League, worsened with the following dissolution of the Free Worlds League. The resulting chaos saw the state forced to retrench, withdrawing its battered forces and power from the furthest frontier worlds to protect the core, only to reclaim their former frontiers in the Second Age of War. Yet this was not done easily, and for a time, the gamble at Andurien seemed destined to cause the destruction of the Magistracy and the toppling of House Centrella, with Magestrix Kyalla killed in battle and Canopus itself subjected to its first military occupation since the Star League fell. Surviving this changed the Magistracy in a number of ways that are still rippling to our modern day.

Canopus itself is the world where almost anything is allowed and the pleasures of life are celebrated with virtually no inhibition. From this world the pleasure circuses make their rounds, inside and outside the Magistracy, spreading the message of their libertine way of life to those from more restrictive cultures and societies. The healers of Canopus likewise have their reputations for excellence that has few, if any, equal even in the central Inner Sphere. The only significant change for the Canopians as a people was from the height of the Terran War when Magestrix Emma, citing the loyalty of the common folk against the blandishments of Terran propaganda, formally signed the legislation eliminating the last vestiges of indentured servitude in 3053. The Canopian people would be truly, completely free, and no fiscal debt could ever restrict that again. Emma and her successors have also worked to eliminate the remaining misandrism of Canopian culture with increasing success, though holdouts remain on a number of worlds.

Politically the Canopus on the other side has a system much like our Canopus, save that the Crimson Council was expanded by Nicoletta to take on the duties equivalent to the old Taurian Privy Council, making them a Council of Ministers as well as the overseers of Canopian nobility and the rules governing them. Their new institutional purpose has greatly superceded their old in the last few decades, especially when the strains of the Fourth Succession War demanded streamlining the advice governing the actions of the Magistracy.

Like all realms on the Periphery, Canopus has a frontier society of some renown. Emma and her successors - Nicoletta, Keona, and now Kamea - have invested significantly in restoring habitation to systems lost when the Star League fell. The decades of investment and effort, supported by hiring the finest geo-engineers from Tikonov, the Federated Suns, and elsewhere, have seen this effort blossom to fruition with the last worlds to be re-colonized considered properly resettled as of 3132. Magistrix Kamea has more recently approved the settlement of completely untouched systems between the Magistracy proper and the Aurigan Reach, although it will likely be another one or two decades before these potential colonies are established. The Special Colony Regions meanwhile operate under special legal regimes with very little in the way of customs or trade duties, encouraging commerce and settlement for those willing to face the uncertainties of the frontier. The SCRs have even been granted their own defense forces, the Colonial Marshals, who operate as part anti-pirate military garrison, part law enforcement, with individual marshals often maintaining law and order from their BattleMechs among the bustling frontier towns of the distant systems.

The MAF maintains a respectable force of seventy BattleMech regiments. Their remaining strength is found in the mercenary commands hired to help the Colonial Marshals deal with pirate incursions, while the bulk of the MAF remains on and around Canopus to deal with any conflict breaking out in the region. The naval force has a small WarShip fleet of twenty-six vessels, backed by a proportionally larger force of Picket WarShips and Fleet Carriers for border defense and supporting MAF's ground troops on campaign. A quarter of the MAF's 'Mech and naval strength is drawn from the Aurigan Reach, with their regiments and ships providing defense for Coromodir and other systems. This is as much a deterrent to the Empire as it is to the Federated Suns. Diplomatically, relations with House Silver-Davion have improved over the past half century, starting with the marriage of Vincent Davion to Nicoletta Calderon, Magestrix Nicoletta's namesake niece, in 3094. The Fourth Succession War ended this progress for a time, with a Federated Suns offensive into the Reach that was forced back, but the Suns' needs for manpower on their long front with Galedon and the Concord brought an unofficial ceasefire that the Magistracy was just as desperate for. Since the war the Suns have become a friendly state to Canopus. Likewise Andurien, once a foe, has had its friendship guaranteed by the mutual sacrifices to stop the Oriento-Capellans.

Relations with the Empire remain frosty, given Canopus' role in thwarting their conquest of Andurien and older disputes stretching back to the asylum Kyalla granted to the survivors of the anti-Liaoist Capellan Hegemony in 3036. Canopus remains a key center of support for the Free Capella movement as the homeland for the descendants of the defeated Hegemony. It is rumored that the MIM and Maskirovka continue to wage a clandestine shadow war over the latter's efforts to destabilize and undermine the movement and their support in Canopian society.

The diplomatic arrangements with House O'Reilly remain the oldest, yet also the most uncertain. Kyalla's early agreements with Sean O'Reilly undoubtedly ensured the near-disaster of the Second Andurien War, and even though the Principate would fight for their partners and help bring Emma back to Canopus, Emma would never again let her state's foreign policy be determined by alliances alone. For much of the Later Second Age of War she and her daughter maintained their ties but never devoted everything the MAF had to the interests of the Principate. Everything from their choosing of Flavius over Scipio to their post-Dieron partnership agreements has been directed by the principle that nothing will be pursued that does not benefit the Magistracy's interests, and that the survival of their state will not be jeopardized. Indeed, as of late this relationship has grown strained with the tragic death by illness of Flavius and the rise of Julia O'Reilly as Imperatrix; Julia is seen as too ambitious by many advisors in the Crimson Council, and too closely linked to the annexation of the Rim Commonality in 3126. An annexation, it is noted, made possible by the assassination of First Minister Semiha Cifti, both of which the Crimson Council and the Ebon Magistrate are said to harbor very strong views over.

Despite such reservations the Magistracy maintains ties with her neighboring Periphery power, and it was due to such ties that their flagship, the Emma Centrella, and the Canopian Highlanders brigade were dispatched to the far end of the Inner Sphere in early 3142. Together with a force from the Principate, they were due to conduct war games with the Lyran states at the Lyran system of Timkovichi, and so were a mere jump away when Training Force SIEGFRIED misjumped into our Timkovichi and forged the Looking Glass. The Canopians' naval forces burned immediately for the jump point to join the investigation. They jumped just before the Arcadians returned through the Glass, allowing their engineers to help examine and repair the jump engines of the Arcadian 1st Battle Fleet, giving them key data on the creation of the phenomena. With the war games canceled the Canopian expedition started jumping back towards home, where the Magistracy approved a humanitarian aid package that has only recently been dispatched. Other than this, no other response has been given, which is no surprise given the distance. From the point of view of the Arcadians and our own, the MAF's value is greater in keeping the Oriento-Capellan Empire honest, not trying to maintain a five hundred light year supply line through the Glass.


Canopian Lifeguards

The Canopian Lifeguards were formed from survivors of the Canopian First and Second Royal Guards and other formations devastated by the Second Andurien War. Tasked with the protection of the Magestrix or whatever military missions she deems of high importance to the Canopian state, they are often posted to Canopus unless desperately needed at the front, though a detachment is always kept to guard the Magestrix's person. The stellar performance of their oversized battle armor battalions, primarily male due to the institutional biases of the MAF during the 3020s and 3030s, did much to contribute to the erosion of misandrism in the MAF through the Second Age of War. Rigorously trained and often with the best gear the MAF can hope to procure, the Lifeguards are an elite fighting force not to be taken lightly, as their enemies have long learned the hard way throughout the Second Age of War.

The Fourth Succession War saw the Lifeguards at their peak, fighting to hold Andurien under the command of the heiress Keona Centrella-Arano. Repeated battles ground the unit down, but with their future Magestrix in her 'Mech and at their side, the Lifeguards rebounded from every setback and frequently made the Empire pay in blood for every centimeter of Andurien soil. They liberated Jojoken twice in the company of the First Defenders of Andurien, shattered the Second Allison Heavy Guards in the Bhutal Heights, and broke the 3115 offensive of the Warrior Houses before they could outflank the defenses of Jojoken. Combat losses forced them to withdraw from Andurien after that desperate battle, returning to Canopus with their wounded and bleeding commander in tow. Before they could return to the front Magestrix Nicoletta's death forced Keona to assume the throne. She chose to keep the Lifeguards out of the fighting unless forced to join as a strategic reserve. That moment came in 3119 when they joined a joint APDF/MAF/mercenary force in capturing Kearny from the Empire, the most important offensive victory on that front and a contributing factor to the mutual exhaustion that enabled the success of peace at the Congress of Dieron a year later.

Since the Peace of Dieron the Lifeguards have rebuilt to their full strength. They remain posted on Canopus to fulfill their primary mission, the defense of the Magestrix, who has not seen fit to deploy them since the Peace. As with her mother, command of the Lifeguards fell to Kamea Centrella-Arano, until Keona's death in 3139 led to Kamea's ascension to the Crimson and Cormorant Thrones. The Lifeguards were called upon to fulfill the somber duty of attending their commander's funeral ceremony and impressed many with their bearing and skill in the affair. Now under the command of Auli'i Centrella-Arano, the younger sister of the Magestrix, the Lifeguards remain at their stations for the day when they might be needed in battle once more.


Fourth Canopian Grenadiers

The Fourth Grenadiers are hailed as "The Magestrix's Own", a title they proved in a proud if painful fashion in 3036 when they died alongside Magestrix Kyalla in resisting the Harsefeld invasion of Canopus. A few survivors took to the brush and maintained an insurgency for nearly a year before the arrival of Kyalla's daughter Emma and a task force of Canopian and Principate troops arrived to reclaim the planet. With the war ended before either side could finish the other off, the Fourth were reformed around these hardened survivors, and would serve proudly as heavy forces throughout the remaining Second Age of War.

In the Fourth Succession War they were among the first regiments to hit the ground in the Relief of Andurien, though they lost a third of their number on the way through the Imperial blockade ships. They would fight on that world for three years until their losses and the need to reform the MAF's formations saw their withdrawal with the rest of their assigned MAF Army formation. Returned to service in 3117, they saw to the Third Battle of Lopez and would support the capture of Shiro from Oriento-Capellan forces late the following year. The final battles were ferocious and the unit was back to forty-percent strength when the Peace of Dieron ended the war.

As part of the Fourth Army Group formation of the MAF, the Fourth Grenadiers are responsible for the defense of the border area meeting the Principate and Andurien, meaning they would be the first to the line should the Empire ever attempt to reclaim Kearny. Moving worlds every three to four years, they train with the rest of their comrades to maintain cohesion in the event the Peace of Dieron fails.


Canopian Highlanders

The Canopian Highlanders are the trouble-shooter regiment of the MAF, without permanent assignment to local army commands so that they can move to whichever area needs a force of shock troop 'Mechs and armored infantry or raid freely as the strategic circumstances demand. The unit is organized for flexibility and to meet multiple tactical needs simultaneously with whatever forces they have available, with command officers chosen to best employ this approach. They have gained a reputation for taking in officers considered trouble-makers in more orthodox regiments, making the Highlanders unpredictable and, for a number of outside officers, harder to work with. Under Magestrix Emma's reorganization of the 3040s the Highlanders became the model for the Canopian Raider Regiments, which emulate the Highlanders' tactics albeit with a greater focus on speed and striking capability over the shock elements.

The Fourth Succession War saw the Highlanders rushed to Andurien with a scratch naval force that sacrificed itself to insert the regiment onto the embattled capital without losses. That began the first of three two year tours on Andurien for the Highlanders, each campaign seeing a mix of success and defeats against the IOCF troops trying to secure Andurien for the Imperial Capellan State. Their final tour saw their greatest triumph in liberating the city of Baroda alongside the Arano Royal Guards, driving the First Sian Dragoons from the second city of Andurien with significant losses to both. When the Empire withdrew from Andurien in 3117, the Highlanders were down to barely two-fifths of their regulation strength, and the hardened veterans were exhausted. They would sit out most of the following campaigns before commencing one final strike in 3119, landing on Casleraigne to secure the planet for Andurien as part of the final offensives of the war.

With the Fourth Succession War over, the Highlanders returned to their typical duties of moving about the Magistracy, dealing with local troubles or helping to repulse rampaging pirates trying to exploit the broken forces of the former combatants. In 3130 they were assigned to the Aurigan Reach and stopped cold an effort by the Fourth Capellan Chargers to seize the new colony on Midthun, one of the few times the Empire's forces were the instigators of a threat to the Peace of Dieron. When Magestrix Kamea agreed to a series of wargames with her Principate allies to be held with the Lyran Alliance, she picked the Highlanders to be the land force contingent, sending them to far off Timkovichi for the SIEGFRIED war games. Reportedly the unit was very disappointed when they were given the orders to return instead of getting to join the Arcadians in "smashing those bird people flat". They are now en route to Saonara to take up new duty stations in the region.


Arano Royal Guard

The bodyguard unit of House Arano has undergone many changes from its humble roots. At one point reduced to a mere company of MechWarriors fighting alongside the Canopians during the Terran War, the Arano Royal Guard today is a brigade-sized force and the elite unit of the Aurigan Reach's contribution to the Magistracy. Typically assigned to Coromodir they are forward deployed where necessary, much like their Canopian counterparts.

The Fourth Succession War would see the unit initially held down protecting the Reach from the nearby might of the Federated Suns, particularly in the first months of the war. They led the repulse of the Third Taurian Volunteers RCT from Mechdur in August 3110 and counter-raided to Larsha, where they provided surplus armaments to local Taurian nationalist insurgents. In 3111 the Fifth Federated Suns Grenadiers RCT met the Royal Guard in a spirited battle on Guldra that saw the Guard triumphant but badly battered. After two more years of rebuilding and protecting the Reach, an unofficial truce agreement between the Federated Suns and the Magistracy saw the Royal Guard freed to face its greatest test. They were dispatched with a relief force to the embattled world of Andurien, where they lost a tenth of their number just burning in-system against ferocious Imperial naval and aerospace interdiction. Once planetside they became part of the ongoing campaign to expel the Empire from the planet. In 3115 they joined the Canopian Highlanders in expelling the First Sian Dragoons from Baroda. The following year they were successful in holding Callan from the Third Dynasty Guards in the Empire's last gasp effort to break the resistance around Jojoken. When the IOCF finally abandoned the invasion in 3117, the Royal Guard were down to half their manpower in active personnel and forty percent of their material strength. They were rebuilt to two-thirds strength before being employed to seize Repulse from the Empire, utterly destroying the surviving units of the Third Knights of Liao in a two week campaign where the Liaoists asked no quarter and gave less.

With the Peace of Dieron signed the Arano Royal Guard returned home. These past two decades they have rebuilt to full strength and have regained as much of their wartime edge as the peace allows. The old days of skirmishing with AFFS forces are over, and the IOCF has with few exceptions remained quiet as well. After the attack on Midthun Regent Mateo Arano, in defiance of his instructions from Canopus, dispatched the Royal Guard to Renown with a strong naval and aerospace force and utterly destroyed the Fourth Chargers in their base, a retaliation for the attack. On the Regent's orders the Guard forcibly freed the prisoners of all the planet's state-run prisons and Maskirovka holding facilities. Many of the political dissidents chose to return with the Royal Guard to Coromodir while those that didn't started an insurgency against the Oriento-Capellans that still lingers to this day. Regent Arano was harshly rebuked and had his command authority suspended in favor of a general dispatched from Canopus, but the Aurigan Council in turn backed Mateo and ultimately prevailed in compelling the Crimson Council into backing off on the matter. Since that time no further IOCF forces have struck at Aurigan worlds and the Royal Guard have remained in their bases on Coromodir, training for whenever the Reach and the Magistracy may next need them.

 

[Steve]

Flavian Principate


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Ruling House: O'Reilly
Capital: Alphard
Ruler: Imperatrix Julia O'Reilly
Worlds: 240
BattleMech Regiments: 160
WarShips: 98

The Marian Hegemony's reputation has always been a sinister one for those of us in the Republic; a brutal, aggressive empire on the Periphery, openly practicing slavery and raiding their neighbors for forced labor. Yet they have never achieved the heights of the other side's Marians, the most successful Periphery-based Successor State either Inner Sphere has ever known. They were the great terror of the early Second Age of War, an army of brutal and efficient legions advancing from the dark to enslave worlds for the glory of their reborn Roman society. The propaganda of many Successor States made slavering monsters out of them as worlds like Cavanaugh, Timbiqui, Bolan, Tamarind, and Buena fell to their armies, and the Terrans would single them out for the most voracious propaganda in their attempts to split the Successor States during the Terran War. Yet with their expansion came much-needed social and economic reform, including the repudiation of the very slavery that drove their need for expansion in the first place.

The Principate is a semi-republican imperial monarchy, as the Senate has a number of powers that in conjunction with the ministers and judiciary can restrain the ruler, who holds the titles of Imperator and Princeps, representing military and civilian authority. While Imperator has long been the title of the ruler of House O'Reilly, Princeps came into use under Corvus O'Reilly when he reformed the Hegemony into the Principate, with the Imperator title going to whichever of his chosen heirs or trusted advisors needed to wield powers over the military. In more recent years, this practice has ended, with Flavius and his daughter Julia holding both titles and Julia publicly favoring the Imperatrix title over Princeps, a commentary on her harsher world view over that of her father.

The Patrician class remains as a nobility that has seen much retraction of its power this past century, typically escalating every time they attempted to roll the process back and restore their powers and their right to hold slaves. Failed coups in 3040 and 3069 led to nothing but executed patrician leaders and their most successful moment, the rise of Scipio O'Reilly's Dominate in 3095, was lost to Scipio's ambition to conquer the Royal Federation and his failure on Arcadia. The restoration of the Principate in 3100 broke the class's remaining brakes on political reform and they are today a much-weakened noble caste, reliant upon manipulating the factions of the Senate to achieve any goals. Yet the surviving patricians remain wealthy and influential in business and industry and their views must still be weighed at the Imperial Court.

Socially the legacy of the past continues to drive the dynamics of Alphard's "new Rome". For those from Alphard and the core of the old original Marian state, the years of rapid expansion and conquest are still called the Anni Gloriae. The various legions proudly bear the battle honors and standards they won on their advance into the Inner Sphere and the warriors of that era are considered the great heroes of the modern state. While contradictory reports are not outright repressed, it is not welcome to speak of the "other side" of those conquests among the conquerors. The accounts of suffering from both war and the families destroyed by the seizure of captives for the slave trade are dismissed as overwrought if not dangerous to the "dignity of the State", an attitude that is found even among those who claim descent from the victims given how well they have assimilated. Pride in the Principate's victories and great empire is widespread and entrenched and nothing will be allowed to sully it, not even the truth. This pride was best demonstrated when the centennial of the conquest of Bolan saw a spike in anti-Arcadian sentiment from the memory of Die Rettungsaktion, with Arcadian MechWarrior gladiators booed in the colosseums and widespread memorials to the fallen gladiators of the Gladiator Auxilia. During the commemoration a series of Senate speeches repeated old claims of House Umayr's responsibility for their own conquest as part of new thundering denunciations of the Bolanese and their "plots against our Principate", joined two years later by similar remarks about House Shah of Tamarind. The KING of Pilpala, the local dynastic ruler in charge of captured Bolanese worlds and an advocate of resuming conquest, was quick to support this action, and the speeches coincided with suspected raids against the Royal Federation by Principate forces that were disavowed but quietly celebrated by many on Alphard. Given the Imperial Court's continued focus on the Capellan threat, the populace's willingness to support attacks on a natural ally against the Empire is an ongoing frustration.

Criticisms of the Years of Glory are rather more accepted in other parts of the Principate but to varying degrees of annoyance for bringing up such a divisive issue when it is a history many wish to put behind them. With a hundred years now separating most of these worlds from their pre-Principate past the sting has been lost and generations that have only known O'Reilly rule have led to a degree of assimilation, with many worlds' cities now boasting public forums for local debate, Latin a common language for instruction alongside Star League English, and recruitment to the legions touted as a way to advance for all citizens regardless of background. The respecting of local customs by officialdom from Alphard has greatly benefited this process, allowing for a joint identity between one's locality and the Principate as a whole to form for many. Only along the borders to older loyalties still hold sway, particularly around Tamarind, Bolan, and along the Ghastillian border in the Rim Worlds, and in the former Bolanese worlds, the KING of Pilpala has often overstepped his legal bounds to punish and abuse dissidents against Principate control, causing more headaches for the Imperial Court.

Yet the greatest exception to this assimilation are the worlds of the newest province of the Principate. The Rim Province, as it is called, is made up of the worlds of the Rim Commonality at the time of its merger into the Principate in 3126. The plebiscite approving the merger won narrowly and dissent against the loss of their independence remains steady. Some among Alphard grumble at the "Commonals' ingratitude" given the horrible shape of their economy at the time of merger which cost many trillions of denarii and has held back the Principate's recovery from the Fourth Succession War. In recent years incidents with the legions assigned to Tematagi and other worlds in the area have escalated and sparked alarms of an insurgency led by the most prominent opponent of the merger, Halime Cifti, who has since emigrated to the People's State of Andurien and used that nation's open debate laws to maintain harsh invective aimed at the Principate for the annexation. Publically many have accused Cifti of becoming an Maskirovoka agent, including the Imperatrix Julia who has made clear Halime Cifti's arrest for sedition would be carried out immediately upon her return to any world held by the Principate, even if it would undoubtedly inflame the situation.

To enforce her will anywhere in the Principate, Julia has the same tool all Imperators have enjoyed: the Legions. Trained in strict, sometimes brutal discipline, the Principate Legions have rebuilt their formations from their desperate situation after the defeat at Kearny and the loss of many formations during the Empire's offensive to Tematagi. They employ a unique organizational structure for combined arms warfare, with each legion built around two or three regiments worth of BattleMechs as the core of individual cohorts. The scope of warfare in the Cisglass means each legion is most often assigned to a planet together, though on some fronts they are assigned by cohort depending upon the importance of the worlds and the threat on those fronts. Supporting the frontline legions are the Feoderati, the Auxilia, and the Limitanei. The former are typically units of great renown from conquered worlds who, despite being conquered, impressed the legions that faced them, but they also consist of local province-based formations or the personal forces of local subordinate rulers like the Prince of Regulus, the KING of Pilpala, or the Director of the Niops Associated Province. Most of the surviving RCAF units were folded into the Foederati upon the merger due to their regional character, though individual officers of great talent were inducted into the legions where possible (that is, where they did not resign rather than accept the reassignment). The Auxilia are of comparable quality but tend to be legionary formations raised as support forces for the BattleMech legions or by specific groups, the most famous of these being the Gladiator Auxilia, With some exceptions like the Gladiators, the Auxilia favor vehicle and infantry units over BattleMechs with usually just a battalion worth of 'Mechs per cohort. The final force, the Limitanei, are formed from local militia volunteers as garrison troops, organized primarily as planetary cohorts built around battalions of older BattleMechs. While these forces, especially Limitanei, do not serve under legionary discipline, they are respected regardless and have been employed offensively since the campaigns of the Anni Gloriae.

As with all the Cisglass Successor States, the Principate enjoys a powerful navy, indeed it is one of the strongest with nearly a hundred WarShips in service backed by a powerful support fleet of DropShips. While initially not a naval power when they began their expansion the needs of the fighting with Oriente's mighty navy compelled Imperator Corvus to serious investment into the naval strength of the Principate, and his successors followed suit. Losses in the Fourth Succession War have yet to be fully replaced due to the economic issues in the former Rim Commonality, but in light of the recent Oriento-Capellan naval buildup the Senate has approved more denarii for naval construction, and efforts are underway to finish restoring the shipyard facilities of Tematagi and Karachi for expanding the Principate's Navy.

The same naval buildup led to the Principate's agreement to participate in the planned Lyran Alliance war games on Timkovichi in 3142. A mixed detachment of WarShips led by the Corvus O'Reilly and III Legio were dispatched on the long journey, putting them in place when the Glass was formed one system over. The engineers of the naval element were invited to assist in the checks to ensure the Arcadian 1st Battle Fleet and the Ghastillian Woden Battle Group were fit for further jumps, giving them a chance to learn more of the phenomena and how it afflicts JumpShips and WarShips. This information has already been relayed to Alphard for study and the SIEGFRIED contingent are returning to Principate space. By all accounts Imperatrix Julia has no interest in joining the effort against the Clans, though publicly has voiced support for Arcadian intervention. Some speculation from Alphard watchers believe this is a mere diplomatic gesture and the Imperatrix is not happy with Nathaniel for the distraction from the threat of the Empire. It is clear nothing is to be expected from the Principate when it comes to supporting Nathaniel's intervention. They have other matters they wish to focus on.


IX Legio

The ninth of House O'Reilly's legions has a unique history to go with its extensive battle honors. They were exiled along with their commander, Lucius O'Reilly, in the early 31st Century and would become the famous mercenary band Boyz Movers, a highly prized and sought group. After coming to power Corvus revoked Lucius' exile and formally restored the unit to the rolls. A few of its remaining members formed the core of a new IX Legio that, starting with the relief of McAffe in 3042, would go on to become one of the top legions of the PAF.

Along with VI Legio, IX Legio remained loyal to the Principate when Scipio took over, joining Flavius O'Reilly in Canopian exile and repulsing Scipio's loyalists in their invasions of the Magistracy. They were particularly thorough in clearing Alphard of the patricians' forces in 3100 to the extent Flavius had to order them to stand down. In the Fourth Succession War they captured Aitutaki and participated in the Fifth Battle of Nullarbor in 3114, losing their entire III Cohors to the Oriente Fusiliers and Free Worlds Guards but prevailing with their comrades in driving the IOCF from the system. In 3116 they participated in the greatest victory of the war, the conquest of Regulus, capturing the Palace of Mirrors in Regulus City and forcing the surrender of the Third Regulan Hussars of the IOCF. Given their losses through the conflict they were left on Regulus as the core of the defense forces, sparing them from the disaster at Kearny. Through 3118 and 3119 they dug in and repulsed repeated attacks by the IOCF's Regulan Hussars and the First Allison Heavy Guard, maintaining the Principate/Rim Commonality grip on the planet and ensuring that at the Peace of Dieron it was kept as the trophy of the Principate.

Despite their losses IX Legio was the most intact frontline legion at war's end. This made them perfect for the role of troubleshooter and IX Legio was given priority for transport assets to allow them to deploy wherever necessary to meet trouble, whether it was to stare down the KING at his palace on Binyang or to reinforce systems near Tamarind against rumored insurgencies backed by House Shah. Among the ranks of IX Legio today are some of the most promising junior officers from the Collegium Bellorum Imperial, the most prominent of them being Cohors I's newest commanding officer, Legate Mark O'Reilly, the great-grandson of Lucius O'Reilly and one of the Principate's preeminent MechWarriors and field commanders. Should the Peace of Dieron fail, it is expected Legate O'Reilly and IX Legio will be prominent in whatever new glories are claimed by the Legions.


Gladiator Auxilia (Gladiators Legion)

The Gladiator Auxilia were formed in 3032 from a surplus of old worn-down 'Mechs that came into the possession of the MHAF. The unit's core came when Richard Cox of the infamous Solaris Roadshow gifted the contracts of his active MechWarriors to the Imperator Sean who elevated the most promising to suitable ranks, made Cox their (honorary) Prefect, and employed them for the conquest of Bolan. They did better than expected and pleased their skeptical MHAF comrades during the first phase of the campaign, but nearly met their end when they were confronted by the elite Arcadian Rangers at the start of Die Rettungsaktion in 3034. They fought back tenaciously before being swept aside As a matter of pride, the furious Imperator ordered their reconstitution with the best gear the Hegemony could afford, and they would be returned to the rolls as a frontline-quality formation.

By the Fourth Succession War the Gladiators were legends to the people of the Principate and had become something akin to the French Foreign Legion of ancient Terra, with Solaris and other centers of gladiatorial combat often seeing recruiters for the Gladiators' Legion gaining their pick of desperate and determined fighters from every Successor State with the promise of Principate citizenship upon a five year term of service in the Legion. They played roles in the Fifth and Sixth Battles of Nullarbor and the capture of Camlann and were part of the second wave that hit Regulus in 3116. Their relative lack of losses in the Regulus victory proved their undoing as they were selected for the first wave of Principate and Rim Commonality forces that hit Kearny in early 3118. This spared them the ambush in space but left them to fight a long, bitter, and ultimately unsuccessful campaign that saw the surrender or death of over nine-tenths of the legion after several weeks of brutal conflict. A small band of MechWarriors and infantry fighters organized by Centurion Lupe Zari fled into the bush and maintained a small-scale guerrilla resistance. Despite dwindling supplies and constant losses Zari's troops continued to fight, salvaging whatever they could when necessary and waging hit-and-run strikes on the IOCF units hunting them. Their war ended when their positions were relieved by the Fifth Andurien Rangers when Canopian-Andurien forces took Kearny. Imperator Flavius ordered them returned to Alphard as heroes and declared games to be held in their honor, at which he decorated Centurion Zari and the survivors with the Order of Corvus for their actions.

In the years following the Peace of Dieron the Gladiator Legion has rebuilt. The legend continues to attract numerous recruits who are looking for adventure, resulting in many being turned away from lack of billets or failure to prove gladiatorial background. The people of Alphard and other Principate worlds continue to glorify the unit as a symbol of the martial greatness of their civilization and ensure its continued support by less-admiring superiors in the PAF, who are compelled by the Senate and popular demand to ensure the Gladiators are outfitted with gear befitting the Principate Legions and not Foederati. In recent years the Gladiators have been employed on security duties in the Tematagia Province and are currently posted on Camlann, a move that has certainly drawn the eye of the Maskirovka.


Pilpala Foederati Legio (The KING of Pilpala's Legion)

Among the stories of the early Second Age of War, this unit's foundation is one of the stranger. The ruler of Pilpala in the 3030s was a vainglorious but effective maniac who affected a persona based off a 20th Century Terran musician and referred to himself as "the KING of Pilpala". He attempted to carve his own small statelet out of the People's State of Andurien in the First Andurien War. When that war ended with an intact Andurien state, the KING was forced to back down, choosing to flee to the Marian Hegemony with his troops and everything he could loot from his conquests. After fighting for the Hegemony in the conquest of the Bolan Principality he was granted holdings from the fallen nation as a vassal ruler of the Marian Imperator. From there the KING would grow his forces to their legionary status of today and remain one of the more controversial and colorful figures of the Second Age of War.

Though welcomed by Imperator Sean, the KING would prove a nuisance to Corvus and his Principate, often rallying other regional leaders against the reforms Corvus sought. In his final years the KING enthusiastically embraced Scipio's Dominate and dispatched his legion to aid the conquest of the Royal Federation, participating in the captures of Bolan and Kitzingen. Tasked with conquering Senftenberg and the 'Mech factories of that world, his forces and supporting Auxilia were in a hard fight with the Fourth Dar-es-Salaam Cavalry and the mercenaries of the Gravediggers in 3099. While the planet was nearly taken Scipio's defeat at Arcadia forced the Principate to pull back, beginning a retreat that saw all of the Pilpala Legion's victories undone and cost him the planet Ellijay, one of his original holdings. The KING passed his lands and title on to a son in 3101 who would be a costly thorn in the side of both Imperator Flavius and the Royal Federation, being a primary instigator in the Hidden Front fighting of the Fourth Succession War and deploying his Foederati against Arcadian forces repeatedly. This included three battles for Ellijay, a defense of Binyang, and raids as far as Zvolen before the 3116 Truce of Tamarind was signed and imposed on the KING by Flavius' local commanders. As part of this effort the Pilpala Legion was redirected to the Imperial front where it would fight to hold Norfolk from the Empire in a successful twenty month defensive campaign. They returned with plentiful Imperial salvage to rebuild their severe losses from.

During these quiet decades the KING has kept his legion fighting strong, often lending his cohors formations to the Circinian Foederati to fight pirates. There are rumors he has done far more, as during the 3133-3137 time period a series of raids struck worlds across the Royal Federation's Principality of Bolan. Though they were fought off they succeeded at times in capturing new equipment and materials from Federation factories, also occasionally head-hunting and killing senior Principality officials. The attacks ceased after the Bolan Heavy Guards caught and smashed a raiding force on Finsterwalde, destroying the better half of a battalion-sized formation. Though they had no markings it was reported they fought in Principate-style as a coherent century and ConcertWatch records showed losses recorded for the Pilpala Legion's II Cohors of similar scope, though they were stated to have been destroyed protecting Althastan from a major pirate attack in late 3136. It is no surprise that Flavius, in one of his final acts before his death from illness in 3137, dispatched II Legio to Binyang to "observe" the border. It remains in the region today and the raids have ceased since its arrival. The Pilpala Legion is now concentrated on Binyang as well and the two formations are rumored to have deteriorating relations over these past few years. Time will tell if an incident occurs or if the KING finally manages the influence on Alphard to force Imperatrix Julia to recall II Legio from his lands.


I Rim Foederati Legio (First Rim Commonality Cuirassiers)

The Rim Commonality Cuirassiers were the main frontline force of their armies and the 1st Cuirassiers the elite spear of that force. Before and during the Second Age of War the First Cuirassiers participated in some of the Commonality's greatest victories and even in defeat made their enemies, typically the IOCF, bleed.

In the Fourth Succession War they were often at the front and, in raw numbers, were completely rebuilt twice over. They fought multiple battles for Camlann, Nullarbor, and Ngake, endured losses in the failed offensive toward Shenwan in 3113, and participated in the triumph on Regulus in 3116. When the Kearny disaster occurred they were dug-in on Camlann, but forced to retreat as the IOCF crashed over the border in great numbers. Called back to defend Tematagi, they struggled for months to hold what they could of the capital but ultimately, with over sixty percent losses, retreated to protect First Minister Semiha Cifti on her own withdrawal to Karachi to keep the government of the Commonality functioning. Rebuilt from what scraps could be gathered of the Second, Fourth, Seventh, and Ninth Cuirassiers and the Eleventh Commonality Uhlans, the First Cuirassiers were at full strength for the last gasp effort to reclaim the capital in 3119. Nearly a fifth of the brigade were destroyed piercing the Imperial blockade squadrons. Once planet-side the First and their comrades quickly struck the IOCF forces and eliminated the remnants of the Eighth Capellan Chargers in the field. This early victory prompted the IOCF to withdraw for strategic considerations, allowing the First Cuirassiers the repayment of their shame for directly contributing to their world's liberation and likely allowed for the concessions offered by the Empire at Dieron.

The First Cuirassiers endured the following years of economic depravity as best they could, but it was not easy. Cuts in soldier pay were mandated by the government's bankruptcy. The collapse of the Commonality lira destroyed the value of their remaining pay. Yet they soldiered on until after the assassination of First Minister Cifti and the historic plebiscite to join the Flavian Principate. The First, as with most of the RCAF, voted in the majority against the union, but despite the protests of Halime Cifti and her refusers the First accepted the results. They were folded into the the legions as the I Rim Foederati Legion, absorbing more of their fellow units to fit the multiple-regiment organization of the PAF. As a burden this was accepted, but trouble came in 3132 when the PAF ordered transfers of several top-performing MechWarriors into the rebuilt XI Legio. Only one quarter of the two companies of Commonality MechWarriors accepted the transfers outright; the remainder submitted requests to remain with their unit. The PAF personnel department on Alphard refused and mandated the transfers. All eighteen MechWarriors instead tendered their resignations. An infuriated military bureaucracy stripped them of their pensions as punishment and sparked a fresh wave of resignations and growing public protest inside the former Commonality. Imperator Flavius intervened and ordered the pensions be honored, which halted the crisis and smoothed the issue. I Rim Legio has been transferred to Regulus as of 3141, seen by some as punishment for the unit by pulling them out of the old Commonality, though also explained by the withdrawal of VI Legio from the border as a gesture of reassurance to the Oriento-Capellan Empire. If anything, while the Cuirassiers' loyalty to Alphard can be considered shaky, they will still stand to protect their worlds from the common foe.

 

[Vlad vonCarstein]

The ruler of Pilpala in the 3030s was a vainglorious but effective maniac who affected a persona based off a 20th Century Terran musician and referred to himself as "the KING of Pilpala".

Click to shrink...

...I've been wondering what this guy's deal was in Crusade and it turns out he's the one ruler in the Inner Sphere LARPing something even more egregious than ancient Rome. I'm enjoying these reports.

 

[Steve]

Royal Federation

​

Ruling House: Proctor-Steiner
Capital: Arcadia
Ruler: High King Nathaniel Proctor-Steiner
Worlds: 300
BattleMech Regiments: 173
WarShips: 110


The Royal Federation of Arcadia and Donegal, sometimes called "the Arcadian Federation", is currently the most prominent of the Cisglass Successor States to become involved in our Inner Sphere. Given its control of much of the heart of the old Lyran Commonwealth, the massive factory complexes of Hesperus, the Isle of Skye and New Earth, and some of the most developed regions of the former Free Worlds League, it is not surprising that economically the Federation is one of the leading Successor States. However, it is not any Lyran or Leaguer enjoyment of trade and commerce that drives their interventionist impulse. That comes from the same influence that allows Houses Marik and Steiner to co-exist in the same political framework.

As its name implies, the Federation is not a unitary social body. Much like other large Successor States it has a number of regional and planetary cultural influences, and these are balanced politically by representation in the Parliament on Arcadia. For those familiar with our Inner Sphere, the idea of one insignificant border world being a major capital over that of Tharkad or Atreus may seem to solely come from its rough mid-point position between the two, or some other form of compromise. But the Arcadia of the Cisglass was a world very much transformed by its experiences in the Collapse. The defeat of the powerful warlords controlling the planet and the rise of House Proctor led to an economic and political renaissance that set Arcadia on the path to becoming the capital of a new Successor State; the Arcadian Free March, which through diplomacy, conquest, dynastic merger, and internal reform became the Royal Federation of today. While Donegal, Hesperus, Skye, and Atreus have all contributed their own influence to the Federation's character, the Arcadians and their culture provide the binding that fuses these disparate pieces together. It is no mere blend of bordering cultures either but a unique construct born from the ideals of Sara Proctor and the Liberation Army she led. The Arcadians' society is driven by concepts of human dignity and the role of what they often call Providence: a divine influence (the character of which varies by one's own religious faith) that has shaped them and their expectations towards themselves and others. They fervently believe in natural rights for all Mankind and that the Crown and other government is tasked with defending and upholding those rights, but not in granting them, as it is through the divine alone that rights are bestowed. It is a principle they have fought for in the past, often cited in their opposition to the reborn Capellan State and the Draconis Combine.

That is not to say the Royal Federation are simply zealous crusaders or moralizing aggressors. They have been both, but they have also shown a capacity for shrewd statecraft and pragmatism in their interactions with the other Successor States. Nor are they a unified bloc of purpose, not with the disparate interests and needs of all their constituent pieces. The Parliament has seen its own share of heated debates on many key issues and one of the greatest challenges that House Proctor(-Steiner) faces is balancing the component regions of the Federation and their disparate interests. Parliament and the Crown, which expresses the authority of the executive through the Privy Council and the Ministries that make up His or Her Majesty's Government, often squabble over matters even as the Crown mediates the disputes between the regional and policy-driven parties elected to Parliament. Unlike the old Free Worlds League institution it shares a name with or the Commonwealth's Estates General, the Federation Parliament is a bicameral body with an Assembly of delegations by world apportioned by population and a Senate that gives each world two votes. The resulting legislature is rather large, with six hundred Senators and over thirteen hundred Assemblypersons, who often vote in company with others of their region or policy bloc.

Militarily the Armed Forces of the Royal Federation are closer to what we would expect from a Lyran or Davion military, based upon combined arms formations of Divisions or slightly smaller Regimental Combat Teams. Their most particular characteristic is their use of square divisions instead of the standard triangular formations born from SLDF practice. Every regiment of armor, infantry, or BattleMechs has four, not three, component battalions. An Arcadian BattleMech regiment has an official field strength of over one hundred and seventy BattleMechs, providing their regiments a good deal of extra combat power at the cost of increasing regimental command structures by a third the size of other formations. An additional quirk is the widespread embrace of OmniPod technology such that Arcadian formations are those of the Cisglass that most resemble a Clan frontline touman, including use of a variety of OmniFighters and OmniVehicles. This comes at a cost of expanding their logistical train and required technical support personnel, but given the variety of foes the AFRF has faced on the battlefield through the Second Age of War, it is understandable this doctrine became so dominant.

The recent decades have been particularly fraught with political difficulty as most of the legislators have feuded openly with the Crown over the expansive rearmament proposals of the AFRF. Operation MORNING STAR and the debacle at Sirius and Procyon created a wedge between the military and Crown, who plotted that invasion, and Parliament, who opposed it when it came and have since been tight-fisted with arms expansions. Because of this the Royal Federation has never undone its post-Dieron retraction, merely filling out its surviving units, with only one new RCT added to their ranks since Dieron. The naval rebuilding program has likewise been parsimonious, repairing existing hulls and filling out the authorized squadrons but with no significant new construction. With the exception of the Defense Bloc, many members of Parliament deeply distrust the AFRF Command Staff and argue expanding the military would lead to more adventurism against the Concert of the Sphere. A slight reversal of this policy came in the 3140 elections where the Defense Bloc overpassed the pro-Dieron Concert Bloc in seats, so now neither side holds a plurality in either of Parliament's chambers and the balance is decided by the Labour and Corporate Blocs. A new expanded naval program was pressed through Parliament in the following session and efforts began to expand the ground forces as well. Yet even there the regional interests restrain the Defense Bloc as many of their new seats come from Arcturus, Alexandria, and Porrima Marches. Those voters are more worried about the violent actions of the Draconis Combine, not the threat of the Oriento-Capellans. Efforts in Parliament to press the AFRF Command Staff's anti-Capellan positions have thus faltered.

Besides the difficulties between the AFRF and Parliament the Federation has suffered from a lack of strong direction in leadership. High Queen Jacqueline's hatred of the Peace was unmistakable and her bitterness towards the failures in 3123 and the political situation threw the entire Crown Government apparatus into a deep malaise. She withheld any activism or direction, only following through on the required ceremonial duties of her position and leaving whomever she had as Lord of the Privy Council to set agendas. Her energies were diverted towards seeing to her orphaned grandson Nathaniel's upbringing and pushing herself in 'Mech simulators and with disarmed 'Mech battles. In the resulting drift the regional interests have pulled the weakened administration in various directions. The Lyrantreu, a political movement devoted to transforming the Federation into a restored Lyran Commonwealth (and to the promotion of House Steiner alone as the ruling house), have become a visible political and institutional force, particularly in sections of the AFRF, with attendant institutional pushback against any blatant "Lyran nationalist" displays that have caused public scandals and, from the non-Lyran-identifying worlds, constant outrage. Skye and Tamarind separatism have likewise cropped up, citing the perceived failure of the government on Arcadia to see to their defense. In the Principality of Atreus, the Fortress Party took third place in the Principality's legislative elections of 3140 and advocate a curtailing of domestic liberties and a strong military expansion to counter the threat of Maskirovka subversion and Imperial invasion. At all points, Jacqueline rebuffed requests for her to more directly involve herself and continued to focus on her 'Mech duels and related entertainment. This led to her premature death in May 3142 in an accident that saw her cockpit crushed.

With Jacqueline gone, her twenty-six year old grandson Nathaniel ascended to the throne, and with it the Royal Federation's political system shook once more. Nathaniel appointed his grand-uncle Prince Peter to lead the Privy Council and immediately pressed his own agenda of reinforcing, not challenging, the Concert of the Sphere. Over vigorous protest from members of his Command Staff Nathaniel negotiated directly with Emperor Robert Halas-Liao for mutual drawdowns of their border troops. He has turned down desired appointments to key military positions and promoted his own picks, typically officers accepting of the Peace of Dieron. In his addresses to Parliament he stated his opposition to significant rearmament, citing the growing naval arms race as "a threat not just to our peace and tranquility, nor just to our unprecedented prosperity, but to all of Humanity". Nathaniel openly backs the expansion of the Rural Medical Service and the formation of the proposed Federal Health Service and the Higher Education Initiative, all opposed by the Defense Bloc as distractions from rearmament. While there is nothing unique or new about this activity, as prior monarchs publicly voiced support for civic legislation or social improvement movements, the Royal Federation's political system is undergoing the equivalent of shock therapy as two decades of neglect from the Crown left many institutionally unprepared for Nathaniel's activity. The Federation's economic strength is providing the necessary weight to keep the state's balance, at least, otherwise the situation would likely be socially volatile as well as unsettling.

It was in this environment that the Timkovichi Event brought its own shockwave. The possibility of any Clan coming through the Glass is a strategic complication the Royal Federation, at this time, can ill-afford. Nathaniel was quick to assert that something needed to be done about the Clan threat and approved his troops' raids on Great X and Morges and reinforcements to guard Timkovichi. He was publicly supportive of Lady Trillian Steiner-Davion's mission to Arcadia. Unsurprisingly he has met stern, almost extreme resistance from various quarters, especially among those favoring harsher stances against the Empire or the Combine, with their publications excoriating him for "fighting the wrong enemy". Even his allies in the Concert bloc have been critical for his shift into supporting armaments expansion. His strongest support has ironically come from two normally-opposed blocs, the Corporate and Labor Blocs, out of economic and ideological concerns. In many ways he was fortunate the Falcons attacked Timkovichi again. The Clans' aggressiveness could no longer be ignored by the rest of the government. Between that strike and the footage from Morges Nathaniel finally won the votes to secure his alliance with the Lyrans. In the coming months, Federation forces will be the most numerous of those powers intervening through the Glass. All that remains to be seen is if they will beat the Wolves to Tharkad and, either way, if they can finally stop the Clan advance into the Commonwealth or turn it back.

(I have another concern. Nathaniel is leading his army. If he falls like Thaddeus Marik, what will that mean for the Royal Federation's intervention? We need more intelligence on the figures in the line of succession to judge. — Lady Janella)

(What I want to know is why the AFRF's naval contingent at Timkovichi was so anemic. The Lyrans had an accurate count of the Falcon WarShip fleet and we know they shared their intelligence. The Federation's Command Staff had to know that a cruiser wouldn't be enough. Was it some sort of trap by Nathaniel, to goad the Falcons into trying something so he could use it politically? Or was it his own subordinates undermining him by withholding necessary forces? If the high officers on Arcadia are sabotaging him it might turn his expedition into a disaster. — Paladin Heather GioAvanti)



Proctor Heavy Guards

The Proctor Heavy Guards were formed as part of the establishment of the Household Guards Corps in 3041. The Proctor Heavy Guards would by far become the most successful of the new formations, an elite heavy force that continues to field only the finest pilots, infantry soldiers, and tank crews with the best 'Mechs and fighting machines the Royal Federation's industries can provide. High King Ethan Proctor-Steiner, his younger sibling Nathaniel, and a number of other members of House Proctor have served with the unit over the decades, tying the Heavy Guards extensively to the ruling family. It remains the most sought-after posting in the entire AFRF.

As one might expect they had an extensive list of campaigns during the Fourth Succession War. High King Ethan led them in his invasion of the Grand Duchy of Oriente after the Empire attacked Andurien. After early victories they were met by the entire complement of Oriente's Knightly Orders on Nova Roma in 3111, suffering a reversal due to the enemy concentration. Ethan's wounding in battle would prove mortal and the Heavy Guards were forced into a retreat that caused them extensive losses. They would be rebuilt to participate in the defense of Campbelton, the liberation of Tongatapu, and the 3115 relief of Atreus. In 3116 they joined an attempt to take New Olympia that ended in a staged withdrawal from the arrival of heavy Imperial reinforcements diverted from Regulus. With losses mounting across the AFRF they were rotated to Arcadia for a time to prepare for a final strategic push and were dropped on Sirius in 3119, where they prevailed at the cost of a third of their manpower and two-fifths their machines. The entire unit was shaken as among the slain was the Prince of Atreus, James Proctor-Steiner. After the Peace of Dieron they withdrew as their final victory was undone by the diplomacy at Dieron.

The loss of the Royal Heir and having their victory snatched away made the Heavy Guards all the more willing to fight hard when MORNING STAR was launched in 3123. The IOCF being ready for the attack did not stop the Guards from inflicting severe losses on the Second Sirian Lancers in their efforts to capture Gyn City. The order to withdraw caused several resignations across the Division's command staff in protest. The unit's shaken morale took years to rebuild from and they have not seen combat since. Now under the veteran command of Major General Dame Katherine Tremaine the Heavy Guards have by all accounts recovered from their disappointments of the recent past.. A long tour in the Atreus Theater was due to end with rotation to Arcadia for capital defense duty, but the Glass changed those plans. High King Nathaniel has mobilized his father's old unit to join him on the expedition to the Lyran Commonwealth and they will soon be seeing action against the Wolf Clan's victorious warriors, a battle many of their number are said to be eager for.


Eighth Strikers

The Striker Corps grew out of March-Prince William Proctor's need to counter House Rayhan's capable raiding units during the Arcadian-Rayhannid War of the 2990s. Initially a collection of raiding 'Mech battalions with VTOL support, the most famous of these skilled formations was the 8th Striker Battalion, the legendary Sunhawks. Reactivated as a full regiment in 3035 due to the pressing needs of the Free March, the Eighth lived up to their reputation. From the morale-raising cavalry raid on Coventry in the War of Donegalian Succession to the raid on New Earth in 3055 that damaged multiple Terran war plants, the Eighth Strikers could be counted upon to hurt the enemies of the Federation at any point.

They were active on both fronts of the Fourth Succession War, with repeated raids on Imperial targets in the early years, including a descent on Regulus in 3113, then their transfer to the Rasalhaguan front later that year that saw their successful support of the defense of Buckminster, their raids on Benjamin, Cadiz, and Mersa Matruh in 3116, and their role in thwarting the Galedonian buildup on Tukayyid in 3117. Despite their combat losses they were shifted to the Imperial front once more and joined the reclaiming of Irian in 3118, successfully hitting several command posts of the Second Irian Hussars and the Fifth Sirian Lancers that enabled the success of the invasion. By the end of the war the Sunhawks were exhausted but intact, having maintained one of the most active battle histories of all AFRF units in the entire war.

They have also been the most active combat unit in the AFRF since the Peace of Dieron, participating in Operation MORNING STAR in '23 and Operation SOVEREIGN SON in '34. The latter saw the Sunhawks at their best, bedeviling the Fifth Sword of Light and other DCMS units during the entire campaign on Vega. Since those operations the Eighth has primarily remained in the Donegal and Arcadia Theaters as a strategic reserve, rotating between worlds and conducting war game training with other line units. They were the natural choice for the SIEGFRIED war games and were the first Arcadian unit on the scene when the Timkovichi Event happened. Their victory over Malvina Hazen and her Golden Ordun, and the holovids of the event spreading across the Inner Sphere, has made the Sunhawks the most prominent face of the AFRF in our Inner Sphere. They remain on our side of the Glass and will undoubtedly play some role in the Arcadian intervention campaign, though we cannot be sure what role it will be at this time.


Fourth Skye Rangers

The Skye Rangers have a long and storied history on both sides of the Glass. Forced to leave by a failed revolt against the Teutonism of the Federal Skye Republic, Defiance CEO Greydon Brewer convinced them to return to Lyran territory and serve the Consolidant, which they did on the condition that House Brewer commit to a liberation of Skye from the Teutonists. The fulfillment of this promise in the First Skye War won the Rangers' loyalty permanently. While they were effectively destroyed three times during the earlier part of the Second Age of War, the Fourth was repeatedly re-activated to maintain loyalty on Skye. The bonds of loyalty were strengthened by the assignment of two generations of heiresses for Defiance-Hesperus, with Mathilda Brewer-Steiner and her daughter Jacqueline Proctor-Steiner serving in the Fourth through their military careers.

The Fourth Succession War saw the Fourth Rangers winning early victories, capturing Marfik and Cebelrai before being committed to the invasion of Azami-held Vega. The arrival of Galedonian forces and their direct assault on the Hesperan and Arcadian forces saw the Fourth nearly destroyed yet again and their commander, Princess Jacqueline, permanently crippled and sent home to take her father's vacant throne. As High Queen, Jacqueline insisted upon their reconstitution, and they would be brought back into service for the fighting on the Galedon and Azami fronts, playing a key role in the taking of Kessel and extracting the Seventeenth Skye Rangers from utter destruction on Dromini. In 3119 they landed on Procyon and succeeded in their objectives, just to be required to hand the world back over in the Peace of Dieron. It was a sour ending to a difficult war.

It is no surprise the Fourth Rangers happily participated in a return to Procyon in 3123, and were even more upset by their forced withdrawal, with wide scale resignations in their command staff over the decision. Being High Queen Jacqueline's former unit, and enjoying the AFRF Procurement Department's largesse at her command, ensured they have not seen the same resurgence in Skye nationalism that other Ranger units have. Their ongoing trouble with Azami raiders had an unexpected repercussion in 3141 when the Fourth Rangers were one of the units sent to Northwind for joint exercises with the Compact militaries in the WALLACE war game series. While planners attempted to keep the formations part, a mistake in scheduling saw the Second Azami Confederation Cavalry and Fourth Rangers crossing one another's paths during trips to the field. This should not have been a problem since all the 'Mechs were loaded with dummy ammunition rounds and depowered energy weapons, but the two formations quickly came to blows regardless in what was described as "a scrum" by observing Davion troops. Nearly three hundred BattleMechs began a vicious melee brawl that resulted in several severe injuries and millions of C-bills worth of damages to both sides until the Davion Heavy Guards and their own commanders broke the two sides up. The units were confined to barracks and kept out of future exercises for the duration of the war games. The AFRF made a serious effort to punish the Fourth Ranger over the affair but were undermined by High Queen Jacqueline's initial response quickly becoming known across the service: "Did we win?" The Fourth are currently posted to guard CBM-Lockheed's Glengarry factories from any further Azami raids or Combine attack. Their loyalty appears to remain steady in comparison to the other Ranger units' dislike of Nathaniel and his "distance" from the people of Skye.


First Atrean Dragoons

Destroyed by the fall of the Atrean Kingdom in the 30th Century, the Atrean Dragoons were brought back to service by the Marik Commonwealth as a personal unit of the Duke-General. The unit was one of many utterly destroyed when the Commonwealth collapsed in the Second Skye War. In 3040 they were reconstituted by the AFRF and would soon win distinction fighting to hold Atreus from the near-overwhelming invasion of the Oriento-Capellans in 3041. They quickly became the standard-bearing formation of House Marik and the Principality of Atreus and often get the best recruits and machines to come from the academies and factories of the Principality.

The unit's Fourth Succession War history is, like many, one of conquest, retreat, and defense. The spearhead of the Royal Federation's "Right Hook" into Oriente in 3110, they helped secure Aitutaki and Harmony early in the war, but after new year they were stopped in a bitter fight on Tiber against the Fusiliers of Oriente and the Knights of the Red Sword. The Imperial counterattack reclaimed those lost worlds and starting in 3113 the First Atrean Dragoons were compelled to fight hard to hold their homeworld against a determined Imperial invasion of twenty months' duration. Battered by this experience they were kept in reserve for rebuilding. The AFRF's final effort against the Empire started in 3117 and the First Atrean Dragoons were tasked for the third wave, but the great Imperial victory at Kearny and following invasion of the Rim Commonality and Principality of Atreus saw the First instead fighting to hold Atreus City itself from the combined might of Oriente's Knightly Orders. The months of desperate struggle saw the unit on the verge of utter defeat when relief forces finally pushed through the Imperial blockade and compelled the withdrawal of the enemy. When 3119 ended barely a quarter of the First Atrean Dragoons remained intact, with many of their best and brightest among the slain.

Rebuilding from the Fourth Succession War was a matter of pride for House Marik. Archduke Kenneth applied every lever of power he had on Arcadia to secure the financial and industrial resources to restore the Atrean Dragoons, with the First receiving reinforcement first. Today they are an elite force who are dedicated to protecting Atreus and its Principality. Their loyalty to the Federation as a whole can be more measured although, unlike Skye and Tamarind, Marik Commonwealth or Atrean separatism has not become a major issue. It is more the point that the First will fight best if they are fighting for their homeworld and House Marik. High King Nathaniel's final statements before departing for the Glass made clear his own confidence that they will safeguard the Atrean people from any Imperial attack, a measure calculated to reassure the First and their comrades of Nathaniel's understanding of their position and support for their efforts.

 

[Steve]

So realized I forgot something I should bring up in terms of the Arcadians' military doctrines (namely their use of square regiments and heavy OmniPod employment), I spliced a new paragraph into the Royal Federation writeup. Ooops.

 

[Steve]

Kingdom of Ghastillia



​

Ruling House: None
Capital: Inarcs
Ruler: Königin Gerda Bradford (of Coventry)
Worlds: 243
BattleMech Regiments: 110
WarShips: 78



Despite its unfamiliar name the Kingdom of Ghastillia is a recognizable consequence of the Collapse, from a historic and sociological perspective. Part Rim Worlder, part Lyran refugee, the Königreich Ghastern is a blend of cultures molded by being on the fringes of the Inner Sphere during its darkest time. The most prosperous worlds came together as a necessity with an ever-increasing amount of pirate activity in the region to balance out each other's weakness. Initially the House of Evrjois held the sole claim to the throne. This nearly led to the collapse of the fledgling nation which turned to an elected model as a means to ensuring political stability among the noble houses, with the capital shifted to the valuable industrial world of Inarcs as part of this reform. They are for all intents and purposes a Periphery power and retain a certain ruthless streak of pragmatism from that.

The Kingdom's system is fairly confederal on most matters, especially local ones. Each world is considered its own component politically, with the ruler of that world represented directly on Inarcs' Parlament der Planeten by a chosen delegate (though sometimes an elected one, if the local world's government is democratic in nature). The only divisions in the Kingdom are the GAF's system of Military Districts and Local Defense Commands or LDCs. Though civil law is often world by world, the central state maintains strict authority on all matters of security or "vital economic matters" as well as a modest baseline of laws to adhere to. The major corporate bodies like Blackstone on Inarcs have been effectively turned into state ventures with private investments treated akin to state bonds. The legislature on Inarcs primarily exists as a council to advise the König or Königin and to elect a new ruler whenever the prior ruler dies or retires. The election is not a democratic one by any means, as only planetary rulers are considered and whoever wields the greatest influence in Parliament becomes the new ruler. The ruler's power can be restrained by legislative majorities on many issues but has the power to direct the military and foreign policy as they please. All rulers so far have been nobility if not noble-born, given the opportunity for elevation to the nobility extended to those who serve in the Ghastillian military or civic services. As with most Successor States on either side of the Glass, most commoners will never be elevated nor have much opportunity to be.

Maintaining the safety and security of the populace is the highest duty of the monarch. As commander of the armed forces and director of foreign policy the Königin is responsible for war and peace and the ultimate arbiter of all military affairs. Alliances are made or ended on their authority. Ministries overseen by the Königin administer the realm and ensure that the planets of the Kingdom provide their yearly tax dues, allowing the ruler to focus on the most important issues. In recent years that has been the restoration of Ghastillian arms to their full might as it was in 3110 and completing the remaining phases of the Rim Resettlement Initiative. The restoration of habitation to all former systems of the Rim Worlds within reach has greatly expanded the size of the Kingdom at the cost of significant economic investment that restrained any idea of swiftly rearming following Dieron. Yet this use of the peace dividend is due to have profound economic effects as more and more migration, including from other states, fills the restored worlds and expands the manpower and tax base of the Kingdom. The GAF has begun expanding, re-activating units left off the rolls since the losses of the Fourth Succession War, and their Navy is beginning heavy ship construction after years of focusing on the corvettes, destroyers, and DropShips needed to fight pirates in the Rim Resettlement Zones. After years of staying with more standard Inner Sphere practice, many of the Ghastillian Grenadier Regiments are returning to their old organization of a hexagonal formation, with six Battle Groups focused around a battalion of BattleMechs in each regiment. This makes them as heavier in 'Mechs than any other formation short of a Principate Legion but with an approach to combined arms closer to that of the RAF's formations.

The frontier itself has become virtually its own society. A melange of peoples from across the Inner Sphere have turned worlds like Farcry into melting pots. The frontier colonists are assertive, loud, and willing to make demands of Inarcs and back them up with action. Ghastillian troops have occasionally been forced to compel colonial authorities into obeying the Kingdom's instructions. Piracy remains a recurring issue given how wide open these systems are and probable bases on systems not yet surveyed and resettled. Recent escalations in piracy have compelled the assignment of growing numbers of GAF regiments and naval assets. The proximity to forces in the Principate's Circinius and Pilpala Provinces and the Communal League's border systems have caused no end of incidents and arguments over pursuit of piracy, including mutual accusations of attacks disguised as pirate strikes. On one front it is often in conjunction with activity by Rim World Irredentists on both sides of the border, on the other, Communal League Vanguardists launching "liberation" raids or "retaliation attacks" with attendant reprisals. Hasty negotiations by Arcadia and Rasalhague backed by Concert pressure have relaxed the issues on the League border, somewhat, but Ghastillia's troops in the region are on alert for further problems.

Ghastillia's ability to focus its forces on its far borders and the frontier is greatly aided by its long-standing alliance with the Royal Federation. For a century, since Ghastillia's intervention into the War of Donegalian Succession, Inarcs and Arcadia have maintained the Lyran Alliance despite the occasional disagreement. That their long frontier with one another can be left thinly garrisoned allows both states to focus their troops on more dangerous sectors. Military hardware and technology are widely shared; Ghastillia's Improved Heavy Gauss Rifle is found in Arcadian armories just as Federation Variable Focus ER PPCs are found in Ghastillian units, and a number of 'Mech and vehicle designs are likewise shared. Economically, the Royal Federation has been the greatest foreign investor in Ghastillian colonial efforts with many companies and interests involved in the expansion of the Rim Resettlement worlds.

Yet there are cracks in their alliance. Ghastillian expansionists bitterly resent the Arcadians pressing the Peace of Buckminster upon them in 3113 instead of winning them a better border with the League. Economic competition sometimes brings trouble to the diplomatic situation. The Kingdom is also vigilant for any further rise in influence by the Lyrantreu faction in Arcadia. Said movement is seen as a threat to the Kingdom's future given their avowed desire to restore the old Lyran Commonwealth and, given the number of ex-New Commonwealth worlds under the Kingdom, they already have a native spring of potential support for any Lyran restoration. Continued Arcadian animosity with the Azami and Oriento-Capellans are resented and not of concern to the Kingdom, which would rather see its ally ready to fight COMINTERSTEL or the Principate. That the alliance continues shows how minor these points are, or more precisely, how minor they appear to be against the century of economic and military cooperation. With the Lyran Alliance states' economies so tightly inter-linked, an end to their alliance would be a disaster for both.

It is undoubtedly for this reason that Königin Bradford agreed to host the SIEGFRIED war games on her territory at Atocongo and Timkovichi. The Timkovichi Event has had its own disruptive effect upon the Ghastillians. While the Arcadians have been the most assertive in intervention, the Clan threat against Atocongo has seen Ghastillian support for at least some intervention grow steadily despite Königin Bradford's noted lack of enthusiasm. Ghastillian troops participated in the crushing of the Hell's Horses Beta Galaxy outside Greyholm and the tactical observations are being circulated among those Ghastillian forces slated to join the intervention through the Glass. It is yet uncertain if they will be fighting the Falcons, the Wolves, or the Horses, though it is Huyten's estimate the Horses will be their focus. If anything, it will keep them separate from the Communal League and reduce the risk of blue-on-blue fire incidents.





4th Ghastillian Grenadiers

The Grenadiers are the shock troops of the GAF and the Fourth have long stood out as among the best of them. During the Second Age of War the 4th were pivotal in many engagements and led the charge in expanding the Kingdom's territory and securing its frontier with the volatile Communal League. They would be effectively destroyed in the opening battles of the Terran War, defending Blackstone Industries' main 'Mech plant on Inarcs to the very last, and were reconstituted swiftly to prosecute the war with the Terrans, culminating in isolating and compelling the surrender of the Terran Union's Eleventh Royal BattleMech Division while operating in the Indus River Valley. They would be the Ghastillian unit to advance the furthest from their borders in the Concord-Compact War, assisting in the recapture of Chesterton from Concord troops but at significant cost that caused political ramifications back on Inarcs.

Called to the front in the Fourth Succession War and the Lyran Alliance's GAUNTLET invasion of the Communal League, the Grenadiers were triumphant on Kikuyu and Alyina before joining the invasion of Antares. They would be called upon to hold the line against the First Communal Guards and Fourth Autonomous Shock Brigade when those elite formations nearly broke into the retreating GAF's LZs. They held the line and ensured the escape of their comrades, but most of the unit was either destroyed in orbit or forced to capitulate. Rebuilt partially the Fourth would see action across the Rasalhague front after the Peace of Buckminster, ultimately meeting the Peace of Dieron as at fifty-percent material and manpower strength.

The need to deal with the domestic upheaval from the war and the costs of the renewed colonization program delayed the Fourth's restoration into the 3130s. This did allow for the unit to be the first to be returned to the traditional flexible GAF unitt style compared to the hodgepodge war losses left them in after the Peace of Dieron. An engagement on Kikuyu in 3140 against suspected members of the Second Autonomous Brigade of the CLAF resulted in the repulsion of the raid and a demonstration the Fourth was back in form. This undoubtedly led to the unit's inclusion in the SIEGFRIED war games that resulted in their participation in the Timkovichi Event. The Fourth's assault companies conducted a textbook assault landing right on the Hell's Horses Beta Galaxy, smashing up the Six Hundred and Sixty-Sixth Mechanized Assault Cluster in a sharp firefight. They have been posted to Atocongo since the Event but are undoubtedly on the short list of units the GAF will send to fight the Clans now that they have formally allied with the Lyran Commonwealth.


First Winter Lancers

As the name suggests the First Winter Lancers were founded on the planet of Winter. Initially as a means of scrapping together whatever was available to defend the planet from pirate attacks, the Lancers became the standard for Ghastillia's mobile light forces. They specialize in raiding and counter raiding strikes with the First being the premier example in the entire Ghastillian Armed forces. There is little in the way of official information on the First Lancers' known decorations given the nature of some of their operations, presumably because it would undermine the Ghastillian government's diplomatic efforts or internal issues. The First started to truly gain their fame during the Terran Crusade after rebuilding from initial losses and beginning repeated long raiding campaigns against enemy targets deep into Terran-held territory.

In the Fourth Succession War the First Lancers became a prominent GAF force from the start of GAUNTLET, winning a key victory on Babaeski and maintaining deep raids that tied down multiple CLAF Communal Militias and other forces to prevent their reinforcing the front. After Buckminster they were unleashed on Galedon, launching deep raids through occupied territory to cut up Galedonian garrison forces and seize supplies, most of which they distributed to active Rasalhaguan partisans. In 3114 the First was part of WINTER DRAKE and landed with their erstwhile CLAF enemies to clear the Galedonians from Rasalhague itself. They joined the Arcadian Eighth Strikers for a deep raid on Pesht in 3116 and would provide strategic support for the Tenth Strikers' descent on Tok Do by raiding Mersa Matruh and Benjamin. These engagements gradually took their toll and by the Peace of Dieron the First were at forty-five percent strength despite absorbing the shattered pieces of the Eighth, Tenth, and Eleventh Winter Lancers.

Since the Peace of Dieron the Winter Lancers have again become a ghost. Their postings are seldomly publicly noted, though never outright hidden, allowing for the unit to disappear for months, even years, with less fuss than if their postings were made public. While ConcertWatch has proven adept at discovering the unit's position anyway, the time frame of 3137 to 3140 remains an enigma, and upon their noted return to Winter itself for a "garrison cycle" ConcertWatch noted the unit had several changes in command that included new officers and the official records noting a number of former personnel having been listed as KIA during the missing time period. The most obvious answer is the First were up to their old tricks of launching deniable strikes. The only question, and one likely to never be known, is just where they fought and what causes they died for.

(Materials discovered by Huyten strongly imply the First Lancers were involved in some sort of campaign in the Deep Periphery, most likely in what we call the Hanseatic League. But we have no way of knowing just who they were fighting, and why. — Lady Janella)


Second Ghastillian Regulars

The Ghastillian Regulars can be considered the building blocks around which other units get added depending on the mission requirements, switching from offensive to defensive assignment as needed. While not the most well known unit of the GAF the Second Regulars have a storied history across the Second Age of War, waging successful defensive battles from the First Skye War straight through to the Vanguard War. They are often seen as the epitome of the Regulars brigades of the GAF in their solid battle history holding the line against COMINTERSTEL, Terrans, and Concord forces throughout the Second Age.

During the Fourth Succession War the Second Regulars were flank guards for the main offensive, striking along the Peripheryward flank of the thrust at Antares and spared involvement in the disaster there. The Second would be the anchor on which the GAF held firm on Kikuyu in 3112. With their losses easily replaced the Second were one of the earliest units sent to the counterattack against Galedon following the Peace of Buckminster., supporting the relief of New Oslo, a victorious campaign marred by several incidents of friendly fire with the CLAF's Fourth Autonomous Brigade. These incidents would be a hard lesson learned and result in the future division of GAF and CLAF units in other supporting operations through the rest of the war. Late in the war the liberation of Schuyler saw the Second Regulars suffer their highest losses of the war in plunging through the lines of the Ninth Izanagi Warriors and the Twelfth Hartshill Regulars to relieve an ISF prison camp upon reports of the impending slaughter of the captives. Though several hundred Rasalhaguan civilians lost their lives in the executions, the Second's charge liberated the camp before the thousands of hostages and captives could be killed. The Second managed to hold the camp from counterattacks until the Fourth Snow Dragons and the Tungsten Division arrived to support them. Their losses left them at forty percent strength in material and at nearly half their manpower, resulting in their withdrawal from the front and a hero's welcome on Inarcs.

Since the Peace of Dieron the Second Regulars have been deployed to Melissia as a mobile counterforce in case of Communal incursions. They were the first Regulars formation restored to their official paper strength after the war and often circulate personnel in and out of other Regular brigades due to their pivotal position. The unit has seen little action these past twenty years, but there has been combat. In 3136 they they deployed a Battle Group to the Snowden system to fight pirates. Most notable was the 3138 raid on Melissia by the Fifth Autonomous Brigade. The latter battle caused significant material losses among one of the battle groups that got exposed while repulsing the Communalist forces, but the Communal raid was compelled to retreat before reaching their target. The Second was thanked by the Duke by having Blackstone assume the costs of their replacements and provide two companies of top-quality BattleMechs and OmniMechs for their line formations. The GAF shows no indication of changing their assignment soon, even with the formation of the Glass.




Twenty-Fifth Ghastillian Heavy Defense Brigade "Mangeurs de Feu"

The GAF's heavy defense brigade formations were formed in response to increasing raids by the Communal League in the early Second Age of War. The Twenty-Fifth has become the most respected of these formations for their history of defiant stands against even the greatest odds. The GAF's noted disapproval of official unit nicknames has been waived given their war record, particularly their famous defense of Timehri's military industries in 3050 when Terran forces employed tactical-scale nuclear weapons on the Twenty-Fifth and only managed to bend their defensive lines. Since that engagement the Twenty-Fifth has been known to all as the Mangeurs de Feu: "The Fire Eaters."

Their Fourth Succession War record reflects similar tenacity. The Twenty-Fifth was deployed to Kooken's Pleasure Pit as a defensive force after it fell to GAF units in GAUNTLET. After the setback at Antares the planet was hit by a counter-invasion of the Thirtieth and Forty-Ninth Communal Workers' Brigades, the Ninth Communal Guards, and the Eleventh Shock Brigade. The Twenty-Fifth managed to escape after repeated bloody stands against the odds, though between battlefield losses and interceptions in space they lost over half their number, including all of their wing of aerospace fighters and supporting DropShip gunships. They were posted to Timehri for rebuilding before being rotated to shore up GAF defenses along the Principate border, where they repeatedly engaged mercenaries and auxilia as part of the Hidden Front conflict. They would be returned to the front in time to join the Fifth Battle of Buckminster and hold off the last-ditch Galedonian invasion of that world in 3119, ending the war as damaged as they'd been after Kooken's Pleasure Pit.

Following the Peace of Dieron the Twenty-Fifth was rebuilt to full strength and was returned to defensive service on Timehri. While they have not seen action since Buckminster their commanding officers frequently train the unit to maintain them at a higher fighting standard than other Defense Brigades, such that ConcertWatch rates them as the only Heavy Defense Brigade at Veteran quality. Once the Glass was formed and the nature of the Clan threat made known the Twenty-Fifth was deployed to Atocongo to support the Fourth Grenadiers' defense of that world. The Arcadians proposed that the Twenty-Fifth be deployed to Transglass Timkovichi alongside the Second Royal Cuirassiers, but this was refused by direct order of Königin Bradford. Many feel this reflects her true disapproval of intervention even with the current alliance being signed, though it may simply be concern for her worlds being struck through the Glass. Undoubtedly had the Twenty-Fifth been deployed on Timkovichi the second engagement with the Falcons might have gone very differently. (Brigadier Huyten's report makes clear that had they participated, Chistu would have had a far more difficult time trying to conquer the planet. Though that might have been to everyone's detriment if it led to the Mongols seizing command and committing the Falcons' WarShips. — Lady Janella)

 

[Steve]

Communal League of Sudeten


​

Ruling House: None
Capital: Sudeten
Ruler: First Speaker Karl Luvacs
Worlds: 116
BattleMech Regiments: 86 (estimated)
WarShips: 73

(Much like the Combine and Concord the official ConcertWatch count is considered conservative, though for wildly different reasons. The truth is the Communal League military is a strange creature by the standards of regular House militaries or even Clan toumans. One result of their unconventional structure is that BattleMechs are widely dispersed to their equivalent of local planetary militia, the kind that our analysts and those of ConcertWatch never count since they rarely have BattleMechs in strategically-significant numbers. Yet with the League, Arcadian and Ghastillian military intelligence estimate that ConcertWatch's official figure may be as low as half the actual count of BattleMech regiments available for service given how dispersed the machines are among the Communal Militia forces. — Lady Janella)

(Would be like fighting a Caledonian porcupine, I imagine, if you're fighting significant 'Mech forces on every single planet. — Paladin-Examplar David MacKinnon)


The Cisglass Inner Sphere has a number of states that would be outliers by our standard. But for scale of sheer difference from the norm, only the Clans can match the Communal League for variation from the norm. They began as a local revolt on Sudeten against a tyrannical noble oligarchy on Antares and became the bogeyman and nightmare for every major corporate CEO and noble family in the Inner Sphere. That they have survived so long despite this reflects the sheer passion their system of governance has inspired in many of the peoples in the League, though their alliance with Rasalhague has certainly helped.

While both Inner Spheres have known "socialist" agitation for over a millennium, and a number of worlds in multiple Houses maintain local economies that broadly conform to the theories of Marx, Bukanin, and other anti-capitalist economists across the centuries, the League is an entire interstellar state built upon the more libertarian wing of anti-capitalist economics. The League itself claims ideological descent from the Catalonian wing of the 20th Century Spanish revolutionaries, incorporating the three-pointed red star of the Spanish Popular Front in their national insignia along with the green star flag of their chosen national language, the constructed language Esperanto. Much like Andurien their society is in a state of constant churn, with direct democracy, no nobility, and a distrust for any government concept that doesn't involve democratically-elected officials and officers. Each planet of the League enjoys tremendous local autonomy with collective assemblies governing each world. Regional Councils elected by the planetary populations likewise oversee local interstellar governance, primarily in matters of interplanetary trade and commerce, and the League Communal Assembly in Hamarr on Sudeten serves as a central authority to guide the League as a whole, electing from their number the First Speaker and the Chairpersons of the League's Commissions of Governance, including the powerful War and Economic Commissions that overseen the CLAF on one hand and cooperate with the powerful labor groups and trade unions on the other. They are often influential in their own right, the most prominent example being War Chairman Pawel Zuk, who remains the longest-serving War Chairman due to his service from 3051 until his (some say forced) retirement in 3075. Yet such longevity is by far the exception to the rule; few hold a Commission Chair for longer than a year due to the tug-of-war that is Communal politics. It is not unknown for politicians to retire from public service after a few short years of significant office-holding.

While this is similar to Andurien, what is not is their outlook. The League's central premise is that the rest of the Inner Sphere, with little exception, toils under hideously oppressive socio-economic systems rooted in the inequities of monarchism and capitalism. They consider expansion to be a revolutionary duty to not only strengthen the League by gaining new pools of manpower and resources but to free the peoples of captured worlds from the grip of their oppressors. Andurien and Rasalhague are outliers in the respect they are shown (and among the most extreme even that is not universal) and other states considered inherently illegitimate for their institutions. Only "revolutionary prudence" restrains the League in this respect and sees them exchange ambassadors with other non-socialist states. It is nevertheless their sworn intent to see all traces of aristocracy and capitalism wiped from the Inner Sphere, a cause that their population seems to wholly embrace and which has won them many converts from every corner of the Inner Sphere.

The question of how vigorously to press revolution into the rest of the Inner Sphere has long been a cleavage point in League internal politics, and while not the only matter of note, is one of the most acute. The Vanguards are the most aggressive of the factions, arguing that the League should always be fomenting revolution on its borders and wrenching populations away from their neighbors in lieu of the day of a final grand assault to smash capitalism and feudalism. The Unionists tend to be less aggressive though still supporting pressing ahead where "local conditions" allow, with a greater focus on internal development and preventing the rise of "socialist authoritarianism" that they see the Vanguardists as prone to. The third major political force, the Communalists, are determined to avoid centralization of political power in favor of the continued authority of local communes and councils and the Communal Militias. They are not so much against expansion as they are fearful of the government power effective expansion may entail.

The defense and expansion of the League's revolution is the task of the Communal League Armed Forces. As a military service they are as revolutionary as their society, with only senior field and flag officers having official military officer commissions and academy education and the smaller field units under the command of NCOs. The Communal League Army and Navies are as one would expect, with an emphasis on aggressive firepower-based warfare, logistical support, and the commanders on the scene having great leeway to follow their initiative even if it contradicts those in higher authority. They are joined by the Militia as its own branch, responsible for protecting worlds and varying from the sort of green planetary militia our analysts would barely recognize exists to semi-professionally-drilled divisions of BattleMechs, armor, and power-armored infantry that are closer to the Triarii than the old Standing Guard of the Republic. They are likewise the strongest concentration of Communalist political power in the CLAF. The League Corps of Engineers, the Unconventional Operations Group, and the Carabineers all operate to perform other tasks involving the League's mission, including roles in inducting newly-acquired worlds and securing (and enforcing) the loyalty of their new citizens. Separate but linked to these forces are the Autonomous Brigades, who effectively operate on their own and cooperate with the Army and UOG as befits their own elected commanders and command councils' plans and interests. They are not simply an elite force, the League's equivalent to Stone's Brigade, but a self-governing force. Most, but not all, of these units are the flag-bearers of the Vanguardist cause and usually cooperate with the UOG on promoting revolution outside the league.

In terms of wider society only broad strokes are feasible within the scope of this report. Local planets enjoy wide latitude for most measures of self-rule, including local cultures and ways of life being protected and defended under League communalist principle. Esperanto is the language of interplanetary and interstellar government but League law requires local language be respected when officialdom print new laws, regulations, or acts. Star League English remains a popular trading tongue along the borders of the League and retains some traction in the interior. State-supported public education reinforces language education and ensures the League remains one of the most polyglottic societies in the Cisglass.

The obvious exception to the laws and rules allowing wide latitude in local rule is that all local governments are required to adhere to revolutionary principles and do not act to undermine the League as a whole. As one might imagine this can be a tricky distinction and there is often fierce debate about where a local community's obligations to the collective whole begins and their autonomy ends. The Communalist faction are the champions of the local governments while the Vanguardists the most ready to declare "parochialism" a threat to the League's revolutionary mission. The Unionists likewise strain against the Communalists even if they too act to restrain Vanguardist excess and aggression. This has arguably kept the League from following the path of many revolutionary ideological governments in placing steel boots to the necks of their own populaces, but it makes for ferocious and unstable political infighting.

Much like our Republic, League citizenship, or at least voting citizenship, requires service — either in the CLAF or civil or public service groups like the Communal Civic Corps and Kuracistoj sen limoj (Doctors without borders) — that can vary from a standard five year term to ten years for those who seek and complete MechWarrior training in the CLAF. Immigrants to the League are particularly valued for CLAF duty, especially with the UOG, as they make useful analysts on their worlds and states of birth and can form cadres of ready-made Communal-style local government and militia in the event their worlds are targeted. Beyond such military service, regular citizens work their jobs, vote for the policies of their specific farm or mine or factory or shop, vote for their political representatives, and enjoy holidays and entertainment, most of them communal. Public theaters, musical performances, and sporting events are preferred over private at-home tri-vee and HV broadcast, though the latter are not banned. The ideology of the League is the extolling of individuals working willingly as part of the greater whole while gaining their fair share of the products of their labor. Syndicalist and anarchist theory predominate over more rigid, command economy ideologies, ensuring choice if causing occasional collisions of interest or problems with those looking to capitalize on the system. That is not to say there is not push back for those who argue for greater individual gain or anything that might be seen as "counter-revolutionary" thought or action, and too much of the latter will see the Carabineers or other forces coming into play if the individual is seen as actively disturbing the League's peace or militantly supporting "counter-revolution". But the League does not have match the stereotype of other "socialistic" states like the perception of the Capellans, with the Communalists and most Unionists breaking down every attempt at forming anything approaching a powerful interior secret police force. Social shunning and being overlooked for any positions of responsibility are the usual methods of dealing with those who dissent from the communalist model their locality employs, with encouraged emigration to other communities, or even outside of the League entirely, the usual remedy if reconciliation proves impossible. There is a steady trickle of such "anti-communalists" emigrating to Ghastillia, Rasalhague, and the Royal Federation along with returning migrants disillusioned for one reason or another.

Those who instead seek to violently resist the communalist way will find the Carabineers and Communal Militias more than ready to enforce the law with armed might. Tolerance for dissent in the League is one thing, but trying to undo their revolution is cause for immediate and judicious violence, as a number of insurgents have learned over the last twelve decades.

It should be no surprise that the proximity of the League to the Timkovichi Event swiftly won their attention. At first they were highly suspicious, having protested the SIEGFRIED war games happening so close. The withdrawal of the Arcadians' First Battle Fleet and increasing communication through the Glass soon shifted this attitude, and with the release of news from Morges and elsewhere, the entire League is up in arms over the wanton brutality of the Jade Falcons. The League is not bound by the Falcon-Arcadian truce and several brigades are now en route to the Glass with their alliance with the Lyrans already signed and ratified by the Assembly. Given their track record, it is unlikely many Falcon warriors in Mongol black will be taken prisoner, and with Rasalhague's expedition the future of the Jade Falcon Clan is in serious doubt. But while the League has committed itself to no territorial gains in the Clan OZs, it is unlikely they will assist a capitalist monarchy like the Commonwealth's without serious concessions in one manner or another. The Lyrans may find the price they pay for COMINTERSTEL's support to be quite steep in the end.

(The Lyrans are really desperate to accept help from people like this. Especially in their weakened state. What odds are there the League won't simply look to convert the population in the JFOZ to their system, whatever the Lyran Commonwealth wants? — Paladin Heather GioAvanti)




Second Autonomous Brigade

By some respects the best of the Autonomous Brigades, the Second has a long and distinguished combat history dating back to the early Second Age of War. It is also known for being primarily a Unionist formation instead of Vanguardist in its sympathies. Through the history of the League the Second has often been the Autonomous unit most likely to accept direction from the First Speaker and War Commission. They were instrumental in thwarting the Terrans' efforts to destroy the 'Mech factory complexes on Rastaban in 3051, preserving League military industry that proved vital after the widespread destruction on Sudeten in the initial Terran strike.

During the Fourth Succession War they held the inner flank against the AFRF's strike towards Sudeten in the GAUNTLET offensive, preventing Kandersteg's fall and, on their own initiative, reclaiming Hamilton in a surprise strike that nearly destroyed the Fifth Donegal Cavalry. In 3112 they participated in the RIKOTILO counter-offensive and landed on Graceland and then Grunwald to reclaim them for the League. They captured Surcin before the Peace of Buckminster ended the COMINTERSTEL-Lyran Alliance fighting, returning the planet (despite some protests from the rank and file) before heading off to join the FolksArme in fighting Galedon's invasion. Through the rest of the war the Second was repeatedly instrumental in liberating worlds from Gunzberg to Arkab. They ended the war at thirty-five percent material strength following a failed effort to liberate Minakuchi in the final months of the war.

The allure of the Autonomous Brigades for committed revolutionaries ensured a quick recovery post-war. They have become somewhat controversial to the Vanguardists, who have accused the Second Brigade of undermining "special operations" that the other Autonomous units were slated to commence, in line with the Unionists' current support for the Peace of Dieron. Some time ago they traveled up to Far Reach in the Chainelaine Cluster, a curious posting for such an outfit. Reported losses indicate the Second's recent engagements have been against far stronger adversaries than regular pirates, adding credence to claims that the Ghastillians and League are waging a war in the Deep Periphery. Neither the unit nor the War Committee on Sudeten have been forthcoming in public sources and the intelligence sources we received have shed little light on the truth.

(This report does seem to contradict the article Huyten provided which claimed the Second as an aggressive unit more in keeping with Vanguardist sentiment. It is important to recognize that the Unionists are not immune to desire to destroy those they consider oppressors. Furthermore, and I say this as someone who spent hours reading the raw materials while imbibing copious amounts of coffee, I am not at all surprised that a Ghastillian journalist would confuse them for Vanguardists. League factional politics are a complicated web of theories and practices, and the factions are not significantly different from one another outside of those few points where they do differ. — Lady Janella)


First Autonomous Wing

Starting as a collection of Vanguardist-aligned pilots seeking to operate separately of direct navy or army control, the First Autonomous Wing are more appropriately considered a large aerospace group or brigade formation. They operate their own DropShip carriers and JumpShips and travel the League's spacelanes honing their skills and those of other CLAF aerospace units in constant drills. Like many Autonomous units they are noted revolutionaries with an almost religious devotion to the League, a devotion that saw the unit's most famous act on February 7th 3051 when they jumped into Sudeten's pirate point to confront the Terran blockade of the League capital. The pilots loaded up their fighters with heavy anti-ship munitions, including atomic weapons, and conducted a direct strike on the Terrans that broke the blockade decisively at the cost of eighty percent personnel and eighty-five percent material losses, including all of their JumpShips and all but one carrier. The survivors provided a core for the Wing's resurrection and they would deploy in Operation: SERPENT as part of the war fleet that finished off the Terran Navy.

The First Autonomous Wing joined the First Autonomous Brigade in invading Odessa in 3081 to support a pro-League government facing a political dispute and occupying Arcadian troops, turning the affair into a planetary civil war and starting the Vanguard War. For two years they were the focal point of the COMINTERSTEL blockade preventing Royal Federation reinforcements to their planetside troops and would fight vigorously, if unsuccessfully, to prevent the breaking of that blockade in the Royal Federation's 3083 counterattack. Twelve years later the Wing was instrumental in the ejection of the Royal Federation's troops from Lyndon, their final action of that conflict. They would prove of equal importance in the Fourth Succession War, spearheading the CLAF's great victory at Antares and tying down significant Arcadian naval resources in the months leading up to RIKOTILO in 3112. Despite not recovering from previous losses the pilots of the First threw themselves into the gauntlet of the Galedonian blockade of Rasalhague to blast a hole for the CLAF/GAF relief forces that broke the ongoing siege of Asgard City, suffering such significant losses the unit would not be ready for offensive action again for years. In 3116 they voted to return to the front and aided the liberation of several Rasalhaguan worlds before sacrificing most of their number to extricate the FolksArme-AFRF forces from Galedon's counter-attack at Yamarovka. By the end of 3119 the Wing was down to a third of its regular strength and had lost one of its carrier ships to enemy fire.

In the years since the Peace of Dieron the First Autonomous Wing has rebuilt to its regular strength. Its makeup continues to be that of the most devoted, fanatical revolutionaries of the CLAF. Their devotion to revolution burns unabated and they have made multiple incursions into both Lyran states' systems, typically escorting arms to communalist guerrillas on worlds from Kelenfold to Mogyorod. During July 3133 to August 3134 ConcertWatch was unable to track the formation, but due to reports that slipped out of the Combine rated a high probability they were involved in a series of deep strikes to arm rebellions on Gravenhage, Bjarred, and Sawyer. They disappeared from view once more in 3139 and only resurfaced in mid-3141. ConcertWatch has yet to determine where they might have been. For the moment the unit remains on Newton Square. Reportedly a vote on whether to join the conflict with the Jade Falcons was narrowly defeated but a second consideration may yet see them decide to deploy through the Glass.

(Their most recent disappearance was almost certainly participation in whatever Deep Periphery conflict the League and Ghastillians are waging. — Lady Janella)


Communal Assault Division

The Communal Assault Brigade is a specialist unit meant to provide the CLAF with siege-breaking assault-grade firepower. Combining assault-weight BattleMechs and tanks with assault and heavy battle armor infantry, copious artillery, and highly-trained jump infantry, the Assault Brigade has been overstrength as a brigade for much of its existence. From smashing the Oberon Confederation's fortified defenders on Gotterdammerung to the capture of the Terran Union's Fort Pinochet in the Chilean Andes in August 3060, they have repeatedly proven their ability to smash even the thickest enemy fortifications. The specialized needs of siegebreaking, including engineering work and artillery direction, makes the Communal Assault Brigade a rare force in that they employ junior officers instead of higher ranks of NCO. To serve in Communal Assault Brigade's officer ranks, personnel are required to have finished combat engineering courses at one of the League's handful of officer academies or to have similar education from the FolksArme or other Successor State militaries.

The Assault Brigade was busy through both the Vanguard War and the Fourth Succession War. They aided in the capture of Surcin in 3089 and the reclaiming of Cumbres in 3092, recaptured Kikuyu from the Ghastillians during the RUGA STORMO campaign of 3104, and smashed an entire Grenadier brigade of the GAF on Antares. In 3112 they provided pivotal to the defense of Sudeten by reclaiming Fort Bukanin from the AFRF's Fourth Royal Guards, causing the flank of the Arcadian attack on Hamarr to crumble and pressing them back from the League's capital city. Landing on Rasalhague in 3114 the Brigade recaptured Fort Sleipson from the Ryuu-no-tekken-hachi, opening a land route to besieged Asgard City. They would be called in to aid the liberation of numerous Rasalhaguan systems during the remainder of the Fourth Succession War before the thrust at Irece in 3119, where the Brigade suffered extensive losses against the Ryuu-no-tekken-ichi and the Sixth Sword of Light during a failed bid to claim the Galedonian fortifications on the great mountain Tengoku. The arrival of Galedonian naval reinforcements compelled the abandonment of the Irece operation. In a display of their unwavering devotion, the Brigade volunteered to be the rearguard for the evacuation, repulsing multiple strikes by Galedonian troops until their allies were clear while suffering significant losses to airstrikes and Galedonian artillery. Only half of the unit's survivors made it to their DropShips and escaped to orbit, with several ships being shot down by Galedonian aerospace wings. For their bravery the survivors were decorated by Rasalhague and the lost personnel were granted the Valkyrie's Mark by the People's Assembly on Rasalhague.

After the Peace of Dieron the Communal Assault Brigade was stationed on Antares for rebuilding, a slow process due to the specialization of the formation that only finished in 3128. The Brigade has had a peaceful time since the end of the Fourth Succession War. While the unit itself is stationed and headquartered on Antares, individual companies and battalions have deployed across the worlds of COMINTERSTEL to support civil works projects and rebuilding from the war. A contingent of engineers and company of support vehicles even traveled to the Royal Federation to help rebuild the cities of the Dumfries Valley on Cameron after the catastrophic earthquake of March 31st, 3138, having won support from the brigade command and the Antarean assembly for the humanitarian gesture. The unit is currently said to be in the midst of mobilization for service through the Glass, though the CLAF has not formally announced what forces it intends to deploy to drive back the Jade Falcons.


Seventh Jaeger Brigade

The Seventh Jaeger is considered a standout among this corps of fast raiding formations not so much for their skill but for their noted ferocity. By proportion the Jaegers have the most OmniMechs of any formations of the CLAF due to the myriad needs of their primary tactical purpose, raiding and headhunting. While most Jaeger formations rely heavily, if not entirely, on energy weapons, the Seventh is known for occasionally bringing cannon and heavy SRM batteries into their fights, using limited ammunition to inflict swift heavy blows before following up with energy armament, a technique they used effectively on the Pampas of Argentina while scything through the Terrans' 432nd BattleMech Brigade as part of Operation: SERPENT.

In the Vanguard War the Seventh was deployed in the most ambitious League operation, the 3087 Operation REGICIDE strike at Donegal itself to kill High King Ethan Proctor-Steiner. Working alongside several Autonomous formations and the Third and Fifth Shock Brigades, the Seventh and their comrades in the Fourth landed near Marsdenville to disrupt local communications and make an early bid to kill the King. This proved fruitless as Ethan had already deployed with his main units, but the Seventh was able to temporarily seize part of Marsdenville and leveled part of the Donegal Stock Exchange and Lockheed-CBM's headquarters before withdrawing to the main fight around Fort Marsden. After successful strikes on two regimental HQs of the AFRF forces the the two Jaegers nearly broke into Fort Marsden before running afoul of the Tharkad Rangers and First Royal Cuirassiers. With the Fourth coming under an encirclement, the Seventh drove home a direct strike on the Tharkad Rangers and forced them to fall back, opening a hole for the Fourth to retreat back to friendly lines. Despite losses the two units would make a number of repeated efforts to pierce the lines to kill High King Ethan, but AFRF reserves were too numerous to penetrate deep enough into the lines. The CLAF force ultimately withdrew without their sought-after political stroke, but satisfied in having broken up Ethan's impending offensive against the League.

Through the Fourth Succession War the Seventh drove home its customary deep strikes on every foe CLAF faced, culminating with the campaign on Idlewind in 3119. When the war ended they were recalled to Sudeten for rebuilding. The allure of the unit ensures a steady stream of recruits eager to "ride with the Seventh" and they remain a favored posting among the Jaegers. Their reputation explains their deployment to Bountiful Harvest in 3142 when the CLAF was informed of the SIEGFRIED war games, putting them in place to rapidly react to an incursion. By all evidence they remain prepared for deployment, likely as a measure against a Jade Falcon strike through the Glass. This would make them the Jaeger unit most likely to be attached to whichever CLAF force transits the Glass to bring the war to the Falcons, though their participation remains unconfirmed.

 

[Steve]

ComStar



​

Ruling House: None
Capital: Terra
Ruler: President Evelyn Katanga
Worlds: 1


For three and a half centuries ComStar was the last vestige of the Star League to affect the everyday lives of either Inner Sphere. Yet the similarities end there as the ComStar of the Cisglass Inner Sphere was, at the end of the day, a Terran company with mandatory ties to the Terran Union's government. That they survived the Terran War was by the choice of the victors, not their own doing. An administrative authority was needed for Terra that would not require a larger occupation for the war-damaged Successor States and ComStar was the only organization left standing that could fit the role. With their HPG network seized and a sullen population facing military occupation and an uncertain future, Jerome Blake's successors had a task no less daunting than he had faced, and their future was very much in doubt.

The turnaround of the last eighty years was wrought by patience and careful economic dealing, and today ComStar again enjoys a degree of soft power influence in the Inner Sphere. The ability to provide research and diplomatic support services have made the organization allies and supporters in the various Successor States. While not initially successful, ComStar's arbitration efforts gradually built up enough trust that they became an acceptable diplomatic broker on matters such as POW exchanges and commercial arbitrations. Their role in hosting the Congress of Dieron became a crowning achievement that reflected their newfound prestige and opened the way for ComStar to regain support among the peoples of the Inner Sphere. Their technological developments, including the construction of more power-efficient and lighter HPGs, gave them an opening in many states to regain a share in interstellar communications. In nearly half of the Successor States ComStar-run HPGs are providing services at competitive, if not superior, rates, though they remain subject to state controls and regulations to prevent them from weaponizing their share of the market as was done before the Terran War.

Not that all is forgiven. A number of Successor States still refuse to permit ComStar any significant role in their HPG networks, most prominently the Draconis Combine and Kilbourne Concord. Even in states where they are welcome there are those who continue to mistrust the corporation, seeing any gain it makes as a sign of corporate or government corruption. Ninety years on the memories of the Terran War die hard, and the concept ComStar may one day respark Terran nationalism is a fear held across the Inner Sphere and Periphery. The corporation promotes widely outside of the Terran population for this reason, but with one quarter of their personnel and over forty percent of their upper management still Terran-born, the association continues to stick.

ComStar's role on Terra has also undergone reformation and complicated changes since the Geneva Treaty. Bitter Terrans, especially surviving TUDF personnel, saw Gabriel Deakins as a traitor and ComStar as collaborators in the despoilment of Terra, and early on ComStar was as despised among the people of the Terran system as they were in the rest of the Inner Sphere. With thousands of survivors put out of work as entire factory complexes were stripped down and taken away as reparations, economic loss added to their fury, and the 3062 Boston-Washington Riots and the resulting occupation force intervention betrayed their lack of power to protect the Terran populace from Successor State occupiers. It took decades of rebuilding for these perceptions to shift and ComStar's role as trustee over Terra to be accepted. The establishment of a formal parliamentary republic for the system's governance went far in easing ComStar's job, as it handed most civil and criminal law matters over to the new state. They retained power solely in the field of upholding the Geneva Treaty terms. This has left them a target for furious Terran nationalists, but the majority of citizens now see ComStar as a symbol of pride, the last institution to bear lineage from the great Star League of the past, and their representatives to the Inner Sphere as a whole.

Of course, soft power has limits. The Geneva Treaty strictly forbids ComStar from raising troops, even from hiring mercenaries. Defense of ComStar property is solely at the discretion of Successor State troops. Even corporate security is limited in the self-defense arms and measures they can employ and in several states ComStar is required to accept local contractors. ComStar's once vast fleet of DropShips and JumpShips is long gone. ComStar personnel have but a few DropShuttles they can deploy from JumpShip to JumpShip on voyages across the Inner Sphere, assuming they don't take regular passenger service. Terra remains a disarmed state save for the regiments of troops the Successor States maintain in-system, numbering thirteen brigades or regiment-sized detachments that include over six regiments worth of BattleMechs. Without any remaining armament factories the Terrans are reliant upon imports for even police-scale armaments and most jurisdictions rely on old pre-Terran War weaponry, some stretching back to the First Age of War. A fresh effort was made to relax this situation with a 3138 request by the Terran Parliament to relax the ban on armaments to allow weapons "suitable for planetary police forces", but the request was denied by a veto from the Kilbourne Concord. For the time being, Terra's main defense from attack is that no one Successor State will ever be permitted by the others to lay claim to the world.

In recent years ComStar has turned what soft power it does enjoy to the maintenance of the Peace of Dieron. A subdivision of the ComStar Corporation, ConcertWatch, has taken the lead on this effort. Founded in 3128, ConcertWatch publishes weekly lists of the known troop dispositions and strengths of every Successor State as a means to keep the public aware of new military moves. Andurien is one of a handful of states that have openly supported this operation, but many others are opposed. This has made working for ConcertWatch in any capacity dangerous in a number of Successor States. One prominent example came in 3130 when Coordinator Kori Kurita had a dozen ComStar officials arrested as spies for their affiliation with the organization. Eleven were turned to Terra unharmed but the twelfth, Administrative Officer Paul Eidings, was executed for his role as a direct publisher in ConcertWatch. The Kilbourne Concord has arrested and sometimes expelled ConcertWatch personnel for reporting positionings they deemed "injurious to state security". In 3133 they tried a ConcertWatch analyst, Gerard Lu, who was a citizen of the Concord from Macomb. Deemed a traitor and operative for a foreign power, Lu was convicted of espionage against the Concord and incarcerated for twenty years. Appeals for his release are ongoing but have so far been rejected. These individuals, and others who have been imprisoned, harassed, or killed, have become martyrs for peace among other states in the Inner Sphere. Supporters of the Peace have embraced ConcertWatch's role in protecting that peace. For those more concerned with the defense of their states or even the end of a Peace they loathe, ConcertWatch are distrusted and seen as a threat to state security.

In 3140 ComStar made a milestone decision with the elevation of Chief Operating Officer Evelyn Katanga to the position of Corporate President. While she was not CEO, Katanga's contribution to ComStar's improving position was noted by the whole Board of Directors and the Stockholder's Association. She is the first non-CEO to win the appointment in thirty years. But the true milestone is that she is the first non-Terran born President ComStar has had, born to war refugees from the Communal League. While this has been lauded by some publications as a sign of ComStar becoming a truly interstellar body, many critics and wits note that Katanga was still a very small child when she arrived on Terra and is, despite her birth, a woman of Terran upbringing. So far she has done little truly revolutionary as head of the company, maintaining the policies of her predecessors while promoting new research on hyperspace and the HPG technology as a means to improve "the human condition".

Since the creation of the Glass ComStar has been quietly supportive of the Royal Federation's efforts, though not at the cost of their own neutrality. Lady Trillian Steiner-Davion was able to secure a generous loan from ComStar to purchase much-needed war material for the beleaguered Lyran Commonwealth. Given their limitations there is little more they can feasibly do to support the cause. Scientists and researchers have been dispatched to Atocongo and Timkovichi to observe the Looking Glass and learn more about how the phenomenon was formed.

(Maybe if we're lucky they'll crack what's behind the Blackout too, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Even with the information we pulled from Buhl's "Blessed Order" — what we could salvage after that spiteful jackass's viral failsafes were finished — I'm afraid SUNLIGHT just isn't getting anywhere, Jonah. Every avenue we explore just raises more questions as to how the hell the Blackout works. Tucker Harwell's been helping mine and Dr. Song's teams as much as he can, but with the damage Buhl's thugs did to Harwell's mind … If there's anything in Stone's private files that might help, we need it, now. — Paladin Kaffyd op Owens)

(Exarch, we should consider making contact and seeing if they've got anyone like Harwell that we can put into a room with him to figure things out. Given they didn't experience the technological loss our Inner Sphere did, and everything we've got on their knowledge of the physics behind HPG technology, it might be the best chance for a solution sooner rather than later. — Paladin-Exemplar David MacKinnon)


Sidebar 9: The Terran Oversight Force


Since 3061 the Successor States have maintained an occupation force on Terra. By the terms of the Treaty of Geneva no one signatory was to commit less than a combined arms regiment to include at least forty BattleMechs, and no more than a brigade with a maximum strength of two hundred BattleMechs. These units are spread across the system as the Terran Oversight Force. The TOF is overseen by a Command Council modeled on the Robinson Accord Command Council system, with each occupation force's senior officer a member and the Council Chair rotating every year. The TOF has been maintained to varying extents over the decades, reaching its nadir during the most brutal fighting of the Fourth Succession War when broken and exhausted units were rotated in save for the Galedonian and Concord contributions, which were seen to by a succession of mercenary formations hired for the purpose. The use of mercenaries was previously seen as unacceptable but was not explicitly forbidden, and it remains so. The Combine continues to hire mercenaries for the duty but the Concord has resumed regular assignment of their House units to the job.

Here are the listed contributions to the Terran Oversight Force.
(* marks a unit that has not deployed in full force or does not include a full BattleMech regiment)

Terran Oversight Force
CO: Colonel Hermione Brock, Brock's Bulldogs (3142-43 Term)

Free Communal Republic of Rasalhague
Sixty-Fourth Landgruppe*

Azami Confederation
Seventh Confederation Cavalry Brigade Combat Command Tah*

Draconis Combine
Brock's Bulldogs*

Grand Union of Tikonov
Third Chesterton Regulars

Kilbourne Suns' Concord
Fourth Concord Dragoons*

Federated Suns
First Axton Rangers

Oriento-Capellan Empire
Third Sirian Lancers*

Peoples' State of Andurien
Ninth Andurien Rangers*

Magistracy of Canopus
Second Chasseurs e Cheval*

Flavian Principate
II Rim Foederati Legio, III Cohors*

Royal Federation
Second Donegal Guards*

Kingdom of Ghastillia
Seventh Ghastillian Regulars*

Communal League of Sudeten
Tenth Autonomous Brigade

 

[Steve]

Mercenaries

​

The mercenary trade is one of the oldest professions in our collective human history, so it is no surprise they continue to ply their trade in the Cisglass. Much like our own Inner Sphere, the Cisglass saw mercenaries rise in prominence through the Succession Wars and the Collapse. The latter event would see them gain a checkered, mixed reputation, however, as in many cases merc units became virtually indistinguishable from pirates in the chaos of the late 29th and early 30th Century Inner Sphere. It was not until the Terran-supported Mercenary Review Board came into being that this distinction started to reform, as legitimate mercenary formations had to retain standards of behavior to maintain their MRB ratings.

As with many things associated with Terra the MRB was done away with, as their growing abuse of mercenaries' trust and forced dragooning of multiple commands into the TUDF for REVIVAL destroyed the trust they'd long built up. Their replacement was the Mercenary Bonding and Contracting Board, sponsored by General Penelope Reynolds and the host of ex-SLDF-aligned mercenary forces that were associated with the Lexington Concord. Since its founding in 3040 the MBCB has become a cellular structure built around regional hiring halls on various worlds across the Inner Sphere. The central board does not have a primary location but rotates clockwise around the Inner Sphere every three years among the A-tier Hiring Halls; Galatea, Nox, Lexington, St. Ives, Canopus, and Coventry. These Halls are the largest complexes with representatives from the mercenary relation departments of Successor States on hand, ready to negotiate lucrative multi-year contracts with the hired representatives of all the major mercenary organizations. The A-tier Halls are likewise host to educational facilities for mercenaries, training and recruitment centers, and connections to the Inner Sphere's arms industries for contracting leases or purchases of new equipment. Communities of dependents for large merc formations often fill entire neighborhoods around the Halls, and whatever may happen in the field elsewhere with the units themselves, their dependents provide mutual protection and support to one another more often than not (and outside of outlier cases).

The B-tier Hiring Halls tend to be located on Successor State capitals and major regional centers, complementing the A-tier halls with similar facilities and often the point where the majority of regimental and brigade-sized formations will negotiate contracts with states and major industrial or commercial enterprises for their services. They tend towards a greater emphasis on training and recruitment than the A-tier halls and also see plenty of dependent housing about.

The C-tier Halls are the most plentiful, with over one hundred across the Inner Sphere, typically handling the business of smaller mercenary formations contracting with local lords, governments, or organizations. Many a small mercenary outfit gets its start at a C-tier hall, hiring local talent and finding short-term and sometimes risky contracts to get their start. Their arms markets are shady affairs run by local sellers who provide gear that can be a mix from pricey new weaponry of Royal manufacture to ramshackle machines barely held together by rigged plate and wiring. Fewer facilities exist for supporting training or dependents. Recruiting often occurs at street level, in the bars or pubs or other seedy establishments that cater to mercenaries.

So-called "D-tier" halls exist, but are not officially recognized or supported by the MBCB, and they are often mixed in with black markets, pirates, and "unlicensed contracts" that only the desperate or the criminal are willing to turn to. They primarily exist in the Near Periphery and, unsurprisingly, are co-located with a number of confirmed or suspected pirate holdings.

Major merc commands only interact with the C-tier (and if desperate enough, even "D-tier") Halls when they are looking for quick replacements of battlefield losses. On a number of occasions they will actually contract with smaller local units as loss-replacement troops. Unwary merc bands may find themselves being recruited into oblivion or used as cannon fodder by a larger formation, but it can also lead to a "farm team" scenario where smaller merc commands form lasting associations with the large ones, who cycle fresh talent through the smaller units for seasoning and pay in both currency and new gear.

Until recently, mercenaries in our Inner Sphere primarily traded in the C-bill. In the Cisglass, the Terran War put an end to the C-bill's primacy for sixty years. The late 30th Century was a particularly chaotic time for mercenary units as without a stable central currency with a value they could count on Sphere-wide, a merc band could find their contract's value decline due to domestic financial policy, an unexpected economic slump, or simple exchange rate issues. Merc bands of wide scope typically negotiated for the strongest currency within a region or insisted on greater salvage rights or the provision of supplies and gear that could offset their costs. The Hesperan dollar gained a particular value for mercenaries because Defiance fixed a specific value to the dollar by weight of their military hardware, making the Consolidant's official union with the Royal Federation in 3116 particularly painful as the dollar ceased circulating and had to be exchanged for Federation pounds. The MBCB briefly flirted with an "M-bill" in the 3080s backed by the Board and the good faith of the best merc bands, but the concept swiftly collapsed. After the turn of the century, ComStar's expanding HPG network allowed the C-bill to return as a prominent and accepted currency of exchange, though it still has not regained the primacy it once enjoyed. It is rather closer in use to that the Fox-bill has currently attained in our Inner Sphere. (I can imagine that Khan Hawker is positively salivating at the prospect of his Clan's currency gaining traction on the other side of the Glass. - Lady Janella)

Questions of pay aside, mercenary life is no easier in the Cisglass than it is in our Inner Sphere. While there are no Clans to ban them or treat them as dishonorable sellswords to be disposed of, the acceptance of mercenaries and their treatment varies by state and individual world. They are spat on or saluted depending on such moods and the history of specific worlds. Their money is often freely taken, sometimes excessively so. Mercenaries have few opportunities to set down roots as the next contract can see them sent clear across the Inner Sphere. Nor is it a very safe life. Most are fated to die in combat, by insurgent or guerrilla action, or any number of mishaps common to the life. But the legends of figures like Karl "One-Eye" Sleipson continue to draw ex-military and civilian hopeful alike into the mercenary lifestyle.

As a whole, the perceptions vary. Mercenaries are either barely better than pirates, hired thugs for oppressive rulers and companies, soldiers of fortune prone to wanton destruction and lacking in battlefield ethics, or professionals paid to do a dirty job. These perceptions are just as varied as the truth that each merc unit can fit into any of these categories, sometimes more than one. It is a lifestyle apart from any Successor State military force, and often just as bloody.

Yet mercenaries defy easy classification. They can be many different things, depending on a host of factors. New formations are often little more than collections of former soldiers working together for a payday, with rank structures borrowed from whatever manual the founder wishes to draw from. Older units have long established their own cultures, uniforms, unique rank systems, and traditions. New or old, mercenary units form their own combat styles and develop unique tactics for operations in the field. They are small companies of infantry and 'Mechs who raid for hire, or vast brigades equal to the finest units in the Successor States' armies. Some are semi-House units with special customs, arrangements, or connections to specific Successor States, others are complete free agents. They may continue to bear grudges based on past defeats and incidents or they might see it all as "just business".

They are heroes, villains, rogues, enforcers, cutthroats, and knights-errant. There is only one thing you can, in the end, count on when dealing with a mercenary: if you can pay them, they will fight for you.



Dumas' Musketeers

It was early in the Second Age of War that Terran nobleman Count Jean-Paul Dumas, witnessing the growing bloodshed outside the Union's borders, decided to make his own statement on the new status quo. Using his family's vast wealth and contacts with the MRB, Dumas recruited a host of mercenary and ex-TUDF personnel to form a new mercenary company that would not only increase his family's prosperity but, in his words, "remind the Successor States that even in the flames of war, the virtues of Humanity will endure". Citing his family's believed descent from 19th Century author Alexandre Dumas, the Count Dumas named his mercenaries "Dumas' Musketeers" in honor of the chivalric and heroic duelists of the older Dumas' works. Officially joining the MRB ranks in 3036, the Musketeers were hired by the Solar Union, just to evoke their contract clause for "Good Morals Violations" and terminate the contract over the Union's violation of a peace treaty with the Outworlds.

The Musketeers would fight through the Second Andurien War and the Compact-Hyadian War before the MRB recalled them for "consultations" in 3046. Back on Terra Count Dumas was explicitly ordered by Director-General Kerensky herself to sign an exclusive contract seconding his troops to the TUDF. Dumas responded by fleeing the Union for sanctuary in Tikonov, where he was assassinated by Terran agents. The Musketeers, to a man, vowed to avenge their founder's murder and refused the MRB's recall, signing on instead with the new MBCB. When Operation REVIVAL came in 3050 they were in the employ of the Kilbourne Commonwealth and would fought tenaciously to protect Farnsworth from the initial Terran raids. Throughout the Terran War they fought under Kilbourne contract, and though denied a role in SERPENT due to their losses on Northwind, the Musketeers would return to Terra in 3061 to bury the remains of Count Jean-Paul.

The outbreak of the Fourth Succession War found the Musketeers between employers and enjoying their pay amid the pleasures of Canopus. When word came of the Empire's ultimatum to Andurien, Count D'Artagnan Dumas immediately offered the Musketeers' swords to Andurien, who with the aid of Canopus hired the Musketeers for the duration of the war. From Leyda to Andurien to Mosiro III the Musketeers fought the Imperial invaders of Andurien, suffering losses along the way until the Inner Sphere settled into the Peace of Dieron. Since the Concert they have moved between employers every few years, only seeing action in their 3136-3139 service with the Royal Federation. In 3138 they fought the Second Arkab Legion's raid on Sabik and, the following year, joined the relief forces sent to save the world of Freedom from the Second Sword of Light's rampage. Following the end of the contract in 3140, the Musketeers were immediately hired by the Federated Suns to provide a veteran presence in the Crucis March, where they currently defend the world of El Dorado.


Gray Death Legion

A familiar name for many of this, this Gray Death Legion was likewise a creation of the Carlyles, though with different circumstances in the late Renaissance era. Hired by the Defiance-Hesperus Consolidant for the First Skye War, Grayson Carlyle and his legion fought a number of notable battles that included an infamous descent upon Donegal. Towards the war's end they would assist Arthur Luvon and Katrina Steiner in leaving Donegal and forming a new state, the New Commonwealth, on Coventry, with the Gray Death Legion as the core of the new NCAF. This period of House unit living lasted for a decade before it all ended with the War of Donegalian Succession. Carlyle's Legions would fight ferociously on Donegal, Tetersen, Porrima, and Coventry itself, where Carlyle was wounded by the Arcadians' Eighth Strikers. When Archon Katrina and her family were killed by Rim Republican Army insurgents in 3042 and the New Commonwealth collapsed, Carlyle chose to return to the mercenary life and led the Gray Death Legion away from Lyran space.

During the Terran War the Legion were under contract with the Lexington Concord. They would defend Macomb from Terran raiders and join the reinforcements sent to relieve Lexington itself, then be among the troops that lifted the Terran siege of Robinson. In the Concord-Compact War they were vital to the campaign for New Ivaarsen and would be second wave forces in the conquest of Robinson itself. Through the rest of the century they were often under Concord contract, until Grayson's heir and son Ronald decided the Legion needed to move on or risk being absorbed into the KSDF. He took a contract with the Federated Suns in 3098 and then the Flavian Principate in 3104, spending four years putting down patrician revolts and suppressing legionary rebels. The Legion, seeking a quiet contract after Ronald was killed fighting patrician rebels on Kogl, took a five year contract with Canopus in 3109 to give time for Ronald's son Roland to gain valuable experience in managing the family unit. Instead the Fourth Succession War would be the unit's greatest test, starting with the relief of Villaneuva in 3110, insertion onto Andurien in 3112 and the fight for that world through 3117, and their taking of Kanata a year later. Each each regiment down to half strength or worse, the Legion was quite ready to see peace when the Congress of Dieron finished its work.

In the years since the war Roland has rebuilt the family unit to its greatest height. Perhaps most importantly, he has ended the long feud with the Steiners and Proctors left by the War of Donegalian Succession, embodied by his accepting a five year contract with the Armed Forces of the Royal Federation from 3137 to 3142. The Legion spent the time period stationed to Glengarry and Carnwath in the Skye Theater, taking advantage of their contracted access to Defiance Industries to finish rebuilding the unit from their losses in the war and to expand to a fourth 'Mech regiment. Now one of the largest mercenary brigades in the business, Roland turned down the AFRF's renewal offer and is said to be considering contracts elsewhere. There are rumors that Carlyle has, in fact, been contracted to the Lyran Commonwealth and will be coming through the Glass, though Lady Trillian's loans and grants could not come close to funding the costs of such an outfit. At least, not without help.


The Gravediggers

Veteran mercenary commander Colonel Christopher Hoyal founded the Gravediggers in 3034 after recuperating from traumatic injuries he received in the First Skye War. Using the generous cash grants awarded by House Brewer to its victorious forces he financed a full strength brigade and recruited with a promise to provision any five year veteran of the Gravediggers with solid identification in a new identity, a way for anyone willing to serve through the Second Age of War to reinvent themselves. Taking his first contract with the Arcadian Free March to fight in the Second Skye War, the Gravediggers would become a tough and respected unit across the Inner Sphere. No job was too dangerous or too quiet, and as the name implied, Hoyal fully expected his mercenaries to be burying their dead wherever they went.

He would be among those buried when the unit was nearly broken on Albalii by the Terran Union. Unable to even negotiate a proper surrender and withdrawal due to the TUDF's declaration of all MBCB-aligned units as "unlawful", the Gravediggers fought with the shattered survivors of their Azami employers until a Galedonian-Concord raiding force broke the Terran fleet presence enough for them to escape in 3052. As their contract with the Azami was up the Gravediggers, now under Christopher's son Adam, retreated to a hiring hall to rebuild. Ultimately they would end the Terran War in Federated Suns employ, having played a role in the liberation of Tikonov.

In the decades after the Terran War the Gravediggers remained in demand, as did their pledge to provide fresh ID for their recruits. Their missions were often deadly, like a strike on Stewart in 3080 under Oriento-Capellan employ that claimed Adam's life and sixty-percent of the brigade while inflicting significant damage on the Corean Enterprises factories, or Adams' son Wallace losing his left arm and half the unit in the successful defense of Dixie in 3098-99 against the Scipian Dominate. Wallace's son Christopher inherited what was left of the brigade in 3117 after the First Regiment was compelled to surrender in a heavy raid on Luthien and every survivor, including Wallace, was executed by the Order of the Black Dragon. The much-reduced Gravediggers, still under Rasalhaguan contract, joined the Fourth Drakøns and the Third Autonomous Brigade of the CLAF in a revenge assignment that struck once more at the Black Pearl. Christopher personally led the battle from his Atlas III and fired the shots that leveled the Black Dragons' headquarters, where his infantry rounded up and executed every surviving OBD member. Reportedly he left a message for Kori Honda-Kurita and her fanatical followers written in blood, reading "Payback's a bitch". Now at a large brigade centered on two 'Mech regiments, the Gravediggers have recently left Concord employ and the hot war in the Outworlds for a three year defense contract with the Royal Federation and posting in the Stewart March along the Federation-Imperial border. Some observers have noted the contract allows for the AFRF to convert their mission to offensive operations, but there is no sign they are considered for duty through the Glass.


Black Pants Legion

Known for fairly plain and regular uniforms, uniform use of black trousers, and speaking in a Periphery drawl, the Legion has moved about the Inner Sphere for the past ninety years, working five year contracts with one employer or another, then going quiet for a time before returning to a Hiring Hall to accept a contract with a new employer. For a very long period of time their leader has been a grizzled one-eyed veteran known and identified only as "Professor Tex" or "the Professor", the pilot of a standard AWS-8Q Awesome by all accounts still taking down newer BattleMechs challenging him on the battlefield. Their contract terms always stipulate significant salvage rights from the battlefield, and they are one of the few merc bands to own their own JumpShip fleet which, during garrison work, they often make use to take on local transport work to supplement their contract income.

The Black Pants Legion first appeared during the height of the Terran War, a unit with a battalion of Royal-grade BattleMechs and two more regiments worth of Collapse-era machines in Collapse-era technology. While most of their machines would have difficulty on the battlefields with the Terran Union, the Magistracy of Canopus tendered a bid as the need for fresh units and more metal outweighed any concern of their suitability for the fight. Their combat record has shown the wisdom of that choice, with more victories than defeats and a solid set of tactics taking advantage of what heavy firepower they do have. The liberation of Kyrkbacken and New Aragon in the Terran War under Canopian colors were their first major actions. In the Concord-Compact War they were under AFFS contract and would participate in the failed defense and reclaiming of Point Barrow. Under Rasalhaguan contract they fought in the final years of the Vanguard War on the Ghastillian front, including a fight where they stalemated the Kell Hounds on Timkovichi before being ordered off-world. They would start the Fourth Succession War under Principate employ, fighting in the Fifth Battle of Nullarbor before withdrawing from service in 3114. In 3117 they resurfaced and accepted a contract with Andurien, ending the war supporting the reclamation of Mosiro from Imperial control. When the bankrupt state had to practice early termination following the signing of the Peace of Dieron, the Legion disappeared once more, resuming the cycle. As of 3140 they have a contract with the Grand Union of Tikonov and are posted on Nanking, where they have had success in rooting out a Liaoist insurgency movement alongside the Fourth Woodstock Regulars.

To this date the Black Pants Legion has worked for virtually every Successor State, with the noted exception of the Oriento-Capellan Empire. This is not for lack of trying as the Empire has repeatedly offered lucrative contract terms only to be bluntly rebuffed. The unit itself has changed slightly over the years, though not as much as would be expected given the quantity of hardware they have claimed with salvage rights. Typically their re-appearance at the Hiring Halls sees the unit once more with a battalion of Royal-quality machines and the other five a collection of carefully refurbished but definitely not pristine Succession War-era weapons. What is also notable is that their Royal-quality machines are usually older designs with upgrades, in the style used by the TUDF in the 30th and 31st Centuries, with newer production never returning with them between their trips to the Hiring Halls. The MBCB has not pressed them on this but reportedly an effort was made by the Kilbourne Concord to find out more, with rumors abounding that the Concord tracked their JumpShips into the Deep Periphery past the Free Traders' Union before losing contact. Only one clue has ever surfaced about any sort of home base for the Legion, found by the Kell Hounds after overrunning a Legion fire base on Timkovichi: a tattered flag bearing a seal for the "Free State of Van Zandt". The provenance of this is disputed given there is no world of that name to be found in records. Many conspiracy theorists latch onto the flag for some of the more outlandish theories regarding these mercenaries, by far the most popular being that they are scouts for a Deep Periphery state plotting an invasion of the Inner Sphere. (That sounds awfully familiar, doesn't it? — Lady Janella)

 

[Steve]

Major Personas​

There are a number of prominent figures among the many Successor States on the other side of the Glass. I met a couple during my time on Timkovichi and learned of the rest through casual conversations with AFRF personnel or whatever newsvids they relayed through the Glass. I tried to be as thorough as I could but mercs usually don't ask incisive questions about other realms. At least, the ones they're not contracting with or about to fight.

Free Communal Republic of Rasalhague​

Haakon Magnusson
Rank/Title: Gothi of the Communal Republic
Born: 3092 (50 in 3142)

Born to Sigurd Magnusson, youngest son of Gothi Ragnar Magnusson, Haakon was named for his great-grandfather and lived in the shadow of Ragnar his whole life. Besides ol' One-Eye Sleipson himself, Ragnar is the most remembered and most beloved Gothi in the nation's history, and Haakon took that to heart as he enlisted in the FolksArme as soon as they would take the teenage man. A natural talent in a 'Mech cockpit, he was given an emergency commission when the Galedonians launched Operation REBIRTH. Meritorious conduct during the retreat to Rasalhague brought him into the Einherjar, and he would first become known to the populace for bravery under fire during the siege of Asgard City, winning comparisons to his grandfather's conduct during the Terran attempt to conquer Rasalhague.

Ending the war a Major in the Second Einherjar Regiment, Haakon was one of the heroes of the war. He was invited to run for the Assembly but declined, insisting his place was with his unit and that "the battlefield of politics does not interest me". This did not stop him from making several statements in public on the need to re-arm and prepare for a war to liberate the lost worlds. He was transferred back to the First Einherjar by Gothi Lundsen in 3132 after a promotion to Brigadgeneral. Despite greater scrutiny by FolksArme authorities Haakon would make several more comments over the intervening year encouraging ever greater rearmament efforts, though never venturing so far as to endorse one political candidate or another. When Gothi Lundsen decided to retire in 3135, Haakon filed to become a candidate for Gothi despite his relatively young age and rank. The rearmament parties quickly supported his candidacy, as did many of his old comrades. This widespread FolksArme support made Haakon an early favorite and ensured he scored high in the preferential voting for the position, winning over his opposition by the strength of war veteran and serving personnel votes.

Gothi Haakon has spent his time in office promoting the expansion of the FolksArme and preparation for any future conflict with the Combine. His requests for funding have put him in repeated clashes with blocs in the Assembly; for all of his comments about "the coming day" of retaking what was lost, the Revanchists believe he is insufficiently zealous while the peace advocates worry he will start a war that would devastate the Republic. Despite some expressed fears Haakon, while a blunt speaker, has not directly challenged the Assembly or performed any act that might be construed as seeking to gain greater power. He is, by all indications, a fervent believer in the Communal Republic's system and remains within his defined constitutional role. This has eased, though not softened, his prickly relationship with Lawspeaker Maxwell, who has criticized his public speaking at times and has thwarted his more expansive rearmament plans. They have found accord on the matter of the Glass, however, and by reports the Gothi may personally lead the FolksArme's expedition through the Glass despite the Lawspeaker's protests.



Margrethe Maxwell
Rank/Title: Lawspeaker of the Assembly
Born: 3084 (58 in 3142)


A citizen of New Bergen, Margrethe followed her parents into the FolksArme's Aerospace forces. She proved a skilled survivor as a pilot and served through the Fourth Succession War with a number of squadrons as losses mounted. She would reach official ace status in 3119 with her fifth official solo kill while flying with the Sixth Drakøns. Following the war Margrethe retired from the FolksArme. After four years of service as a civilian DropShuttle pilot she began her political career as a representative of New Bergen's division of the Rasalhague Aerospace Crew Association, elected to the organization's Central Council in 3125. In 3128 she stood for election for the union's seat in the Communal Republic Assembly. Once in the Assembly she served a two year term, then after two years out of office she was elected by her homeworld to be their new representative as an advocate of the Fair Republic Party.

In 3134 then-Representative Maxwell was chosen as a compromise candidate for a seat on the Republic's Committee of Ways and Means. This provided her start into the upper echelons of the government as she used the Committee's prestige to network with senior officials in her own party and a number of others. Margrethe proved a vital vote in getting the 3137 Colonial Redevelopment Act passed that increased support for colonial settlements in the Periphery, and would support and promote several central government efforts on restoring lost industry that the Galedonians had looted during the war. The tide of popularity and connections ensured her elevation to Lawspeaker after the 3140 elections.

As Lawspeaker Maxwell's policies have been the maintenance of COMINTERSTEL, expanding Rasalhague's resettlement initiatives for all the populations that fled the lost worlds after Dieron, and maintaining the detente with the Royal Federation as a means to focus Rasalhague's military resources upon the Combine threat. The Revanchists have made two attempts to unseat her but both have failed, as their political pull remains too weak and Gothi Magnusson, despite pleas from that quarter, refuses to employ his popularity against the Lawspeaker as a matter of constitutional propriety. Yet the relationship between the Gothi and Lawspeaker, while a proper one, is still a strictly professional one and there are known differences between the two. Margrethe has been critical of his tendency to speak without consulting her or the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Gothi has criticized (in mild language by his standards) the defeat of the expanded armaments programs his supporters have proposed. As things stand, Margrethe remains more committed to the Peace of Dieron, and more to the point, has made it repeatedly clear she will not tolerate even a hint of the Gothi stepping outside his bounds, undoubtedly why she has reportedly insisted he not join High King Nathaniel beyond the Glass for the war with the Clans.


Lars Skafte
Rank/Title: General, Military Advisor to the Gothi
Born: 3080 (62 in 3142)

A native son of the world of Rasalhague, Lars Skafte is from a military family and the grandson of one of the Einherjar slain on Nox fighting for Gothi One-Eye. He attended the Sleipson Military Officers' Academy on Nox and graduated in 3102 a solid tenth in his class. After a series of assignments to the Landsgruppe and the Metal Divisions he would be placed in the Fifth Berserkergang in time for the outbreak of the Fourth Succession War. He won his first battle honors in the Rasalhaguan capture of Lucianca in November 3111 and served on the Lyran front up through the RIKOTILO offensive that broke the Arcadian invasion of Sudeten. It was on Rasalhague that Lars made his fame, as his assault company was one of the first to break through the Galedonian siege lines around Asgard City and link up with the city's defenders. His combat ability impressed Gothi Magnusson, who ordered Lars assigned to the First Einherjar, where he would serve out the rest of the war. Among his battle honors he also became known as one of the FolksArme officers best able to liaise with their former foes in the AFRF, and he would indeed lead his fast assault battalion into battle alongside the AFRF's famed Eighth Strikers in the defense of Buckminster and recapture of Tukayyid.

An Överstelöjtnant at war's end, Lars convalesced from his severe wounds inflicted at Yamarovka by taking an assignment to Rasalhague's embassy on Arcadia. What was meant to be a one-time two year tour as a military liaison officer became a long-term assignment as he spent much of the time between 3121 and 3134 in Rasalhague's military mission to the Royal Federation at the request of Gothi Minamoto and her successor, Gothi Lundsen. This made him something of a suspect figure among the more radical elements of the FolksArme and the Communal Republic due to his obvious pro-Arcadian positions but ensured continued support from the government for his work to maintain the post-Peace of Buckminster unofficial alliance with the Arcadians.

In 3134, a promotion to Generallöjtnant saw his return to Rasalhague to assume command of the entire Einherjar Corps, at the personal request of Gothi Lundsen. When Lundsen announced his retirement the following year, Lars made himself a candidate alongside his subordinate Haakon Magnusson. The endorsement of surviving prior Gothis was insufficient to overcome Haakon's popularity or the dislike of the more-devoted communalists and he would finish second-to-last in the voting tally. The new Gothi had fought at his side, though, and Haakon quickly made clear his appreciation for Lars' viewpoints and leadership by elevating Lars to full General and naming him Military Advisor in 3138. This has cemented both Haakon's popularity in the FolksArme and the support of the senior commanders who had looked askance at the election results. Lars has become Haakon's trusted right hand and undoubtedly enjoys influence, particularly as Haakon's support for the Arcadian detente has markedly increased since the appointment. If Haakon relents to the Lawspeaker's demands to remain in Rasalhague, there is little doubt it will be General Skafte who leads the FolksArme into battle with the Jade Falcon Clan.



Anastasia Takeda-Suvorova
Rank/Title: Generalmajor, Takeda Cavalry
Born: 3083 (59 in 3142)


Anastasia was born to King Nikolai Takeda-Suvorov in his final years, a product of his second and controversial marriage to holovid starlet Anna Beauchamp. Her older half-brother Mikhail would allow for her education in the royal family and ensured she was raised to consider it a duty to serve the Federal Alliance and House Takeda-Suvorov by joining the AFHFA. She would blame the Black Dragons, and Kori Honda, for his tragic death by accident in 3102, and redoubled her martial studies for the inevitable war of national defense that she and her teachers believed inevitable. Said war did not come, however, as her niece Katarina, born the same year she was, chose to submit in 3106 rather than see Hartshill violently subjugated. Furious, Anastasia revolted openly and joined Colonel Karamanov's rebellion. When it became clear that the rebellion lacked the popular or institutional support to succeed, Karamanov ordered Anastasia to join the fleeing rebels as a surviving member of her House. Anastasia obeyed, reluctantly, and would be among the Hartshill troops and refugees seeking refuge among their old enemies in Rasalhague. She was among those who were provided refuge on Rasalhague itself in what was clearly a bid to keep an eye on those most likely to lash out at Galedon. Anastasia would make repeated public appeals to be wary of Kori Honda's Kuritan ambitions, but they were dismissed and criticized. She was ordered to cease or to lose her FolksArme commission. By some indications she was urging her fellows to leave the Republic and find more friendly exile among the Compact states, but her superiors among the exiles overrode her.

Kori Honda's REBIRTH proved Anastasia right to the Rasalhaguans. When the Swords of Light jumped in-system to conquer Rasalhague she led the exile forces into the campaign. It was a formative experience and Anastasia was nearly killed several times, having two BattleMechs shot out from under her. She was convalescing from severe injuries when the Fifth Sword of Light's Second Battalion sacked Aleksandrograd and killed nearly half of the exile civilian population. As soon as she could climb into her cockpit Anastasia gathered her troops and stormed the Second Battalion's field base; despite losing a third of her MechWarriors, she succeeded in killing the responsible MechWarriors to the last man.

After the Galedonians were driven off Rasalhague Anastasia found herself a thirty-two year old överste commanding the entire Takeda Cavalry 'Mech regiment. With the support of Gothi Minamoto she led a repeated raiding campaign into Galedonian territory, descending upon Hartshillian worlds to open the ISF re-education and detainment centers and extract vengeance upon the Galedonians and whatever collaborators they had among her people. Her campaign culminated in 3119 with a descent upon her former homeworld. The reports are sparse on her activities during the fighting, but there are indications she might have personally met with her niece, undoubtedly to urge her to rebel against Kori Honda. If so she was to be disappointed, as the First Hartshill Regulars aided the Hartshill Otomo in repulsing the Takeda Cavalry, including slaughtering an entire convoy of freed prisoners from the ISF detainment center outside Nova Petersburg. The need to evade Galedonian naval patrols ensured Anastasia did not return to Rasalhaguan territory until after the Congress of Dieron was already in session. The war was over.

Since the war's end Anastasia has remained with the Cavalry, rising to her current rank of Generalmajor in 3127. For fifteen years she has remained at that rank, turning down promotion offers from the FolksArme until, by her words, "such a time that the Takeda Cavalry have enough material and personnel to be expanded". She married after the war, to fellow veteran and exiled noble Dmitri Oyakawa, and has provided three children — Nikolai, Aleksandra, and Valentin — to continue the "free Hartshill" line. In the mid-3130s she and her unit were missing from public records though, as noted elsewhere, it is strongly suggested they masqueraded as a mercenary unit called "Stasia's Cavaliers" to fight for the Kilbourne Concord. Anastasia is a proponent of improving Rasalhaguan relations with the Concord wherever possible and, it should be no surprise, openly advocates for a fresh attempt to break the reborn Combine and restore her nation's independence. This has made her a popular figure among Revanchists and, arguably, does much to explain why Gothi Magnusson has been lukewarm towards supporting the expansion of the Takeda Cavalry. His recent decision to commit them, and Princess Anastasia, to the campaign against the Jade Falcons has reportedly infuriated Anastasia, but by all indications she is dutifully obeying.



Tristan Denaro
Rank/Title: Knight-Master of the Order of the Knights of St. John; Generalmajor, Knights First Division
Born: 3088 (54 in 3142)

The scion of a line of Knights stretching back to the Order's withdrawal from Terra to Rasalhague, Tristan Denaro was raised in the Order, steeped in its faith, its mission, its purpose. At a young age he showed some proficiency in BattleMechs but truly excelled as armored infantry, resulting in his joining the Order's battle armor forces upon reaching his age of majority.

Tristan fought with distinction through the Fourth Succession War, losing an arm in the defense of Nox and half his leg in the liberation of Mannedorf, and rising through the ranks with each successful infantry assault or defensive stand. He showed a quickness of thought that saw him elevated to the Knighthood in 3116 after commanding a combined arms force in the relief of Utrecht, leading form a field base while in full armor and joining a pivotal assault against the Tenth Galedon Regulars that broke their lines. By war's end he was the hero of the Order's retreat from Teniente, the Överste of the Second Regiment, and a Knight-Commander of the order.

In the years since his star has risen further from his part in the rebuilding of the Order's ranks following their terrible losses on Irece and Teniente. He married fellow Knight-Commander Frederik Lansing in 3122 after the two adopted three war orphans to continue their family names in the Order. Family life and peace have proven a greater challenge for the veteran though, with a very public spat at an Order ceremony resulting in a trial separation for two years that ended with formal reconciliation in 3131. The Order, as always, remains quiet about such internal matters, and has dismissed (though not denied) speculation that Tristan had to seek psychological counseling for both parenting issues and post-traumatic stress disorder. It is clear that whatever mental or emotional scars remained on Sir Tristan, he was still a capable leader in the Order's eyes, winning a final promotion to Knight-Master in 3138 and command of the Knights' First Division. Grand Master Montelbano is reported to be favoring Tristan as her successor and thus forgave his unauthorized deployment of his 'Mech regiment to Shionoha when learning of an imminent DCMS attack upon the Federation world. Sir Tristan, in keeping with his personality, remains quiet about the possibility. What he has not remained quiet about is the matter of the Glass, as he was the first major figure in the FolksArme to promote intervention even before High King Nathaniel's passionate Coronation Address. Tristan has echoed the Arcadian monarch's call to arms as a "holy crusade" and, unsurprisingly, has been named to provisional command of the Order's contribution to the FolksArme's expedition.

 

[Steve]

Azami Confederation​

Khalid al-Abbas
Rank/Title: Prime Minister; Amir of Algedi
Born: 3063 (79 in 3142)


Khalid al-Abbas is one of the older leaders of the Successor States. As with all Azami nobility he served a term in the AFAC as an armored infantry officer in the Confederation Cavalry, including combat duty in the fighting around Vega with the Lyran states in the 3080s and 3090s. He mustered out in 3099 to serve as his ailing father's delegate to the Chamber of Notables. By the time of his elevation as Amir of Algedi he enjoyed growing political influence and has often chose to serve in the Chamber of Notables himself rather than appoint a relative as a delegate.

This preserved his life when the Galedonians invaded and captured Algedi. Fleeing with the rest of the Confederation legislature to Dieron, al-Abbas joined a number of other exiled nobles and leaders in throwing all of their remaining available wealth into supporting the remaining Azami defenses. In 3115 al-Abbas even provoked ire among the Compact states by promoting a separate peace with the Royal Federation so that AFAC's surviving troops could focus on the greater foe. When IOCF forces launched XIN SHENG in 3118 al-Abbas immediately threw his support behind the Federated Suns' demand for the Empire's expulsion from the Compact, using his influence to secure the vote despite furious efforts by Amir Hekmatyar of Sabik to support ongoing Imperial connections. This won him his first appointment to the Council of Ministers, ultimately seeing his appointment to Foreign Minister in 3119 in time for ComStar to make the proposal for what became the Congress of Dieron. Placed in charge of those negotiations, al-Abbas argued strongly for the retention of Sabik but was ultimately swayed by First Prince Grace Silver-Davion into accepting its loss in exchange for the return of Kessel.

This cost al-Abbas significantly and Amir Hekmatyar soon employed the fury from the cession of his homeworld to effect, having al-Abbas cast from the Council of Ministers in March 3121 as a condition for his votes. Beset by infuriated Azami nationalists for his "disgraceful" surrender of Sabik and the Minakuchi Prefecture, al-Abbas spent ten years focusing on Algedi's rebuilding. His remaining political connections, including the friendship of House Davion, provided economic opportunity that helped Algedi rebuild faster than many other worlds. With the political situation in the Confederation still uncertain, in 3134 he returned to the Chamber of Notables to assume his seat and parlayed his economic success and political affiliations into a return to the Council of Ministers. Ultimately in 3138 he made himself a compromise candidate for the Prime Minister's seat, securing a majority of Council votes and defeating a determined nationalist effort to stop him. Under his government the political direction of the Confederation has remained the same as always. Al-Abbas has reinforced the Compact, resisted all calls to promote a separate, anti-Arcadian alliance with the Empire, and continued the recovery from the war. But his past has left him with an uncertain relationship with the AFAC and its leadership, and so far he has been unable to rein them in. His authority is likewise challenged by the new Lord-Speaker of the Chamber of Notables, Sheik Hekmatyar, the son of his old foe and a formidable noble politician, forcing al-Abbas to rely upon his pull in the Chamber of Deputies to maintain his grip on the government.



Yasmin Rashid
Rank/Title: Mushir, Chairwoman of the Command Staff; Amira of Alya
Born: 3077 (65 in 3142)


The matron and latest leader of House Rashid, Amira Yasmin has followed her family's tradition of military service to the letter. After attending the Azami Academy of Martial Sciences on Albalii she joined the prestigious First Arkab Legion as a MechWarrior. When the Fourth Succession War broke out she was already a battalion commander and survived the terrible defeats and desperate campaigns that marked the AFAC's experiences in the war. After surviving a savage three-way engagement with the Seventh Skye Rangers and the Fifth Izanagi Warriors on Marfik in 3111, she made Aqid.

After several engagements at the head of her often-reduced unit, including raids to oppose the brutal Galedonian occupation of Alya, Fariq Rashid would see to her homeworld's liberation at the head of the First Arkab Legion and the Fifth Federated Suns Grenadiers. She was badly wounded in this final battle by a Galedonian air strike on her command post and forced to accept a non-combat posting following her recovery. By then the Congress of Dieron was in session and she would end the war at the rank of Fariq within AFAC's military administration.

While furious at the loss of combat command status and mourning the deaths of her daughter Fatima and son Abdullah, Yasmin settled down to the twin duties of maintaining the AFAC and supporting the rebuilding of her homeworld. The death of her father Ahmed in 3125 saw her elevated officially to Amira. She turned down a retirement, however, appointing her husband Tariq and surviving daughter Samira to see to Alya's restoration and represent her in the Chamber of Notables while continuing her military career.

That the AFAC has maintained some discipline these past ten years is undoubtedly due in part to Yasmin Rashid's efforts. With every step up the rank ladder she took, she restored greater and greater discipline to the AFAC's bureaucracy and field commands. Economies were found to spare every dinar for the delayed re-establishment program. Her efforts did not go unnoticed and fueled her rise through the ranks. The cost of those efforts was Rashid's grudging acceptance of the raiding issue. While supporting, and eventually ordering, the court-martialing of officers who launched attacks without authorization, she has rarely allowed actual prosecutions. This infuriates a number of her peers but has arguably kept the AFAC's mutinous attitude in check, especially when you account that those she selects for prosecution are convicted of the offense nine times out of ten. A rumor has spread that in response to protests from a Federated Suns attache over the raids on the Royal Federation, she replied, "When you ride a tiger, the important thing is to not fall off", fitting speculation that the limited prosecutions are being used to ensure the raiding does not exceed specific levels and that Amira Rashid is trying to slowly regain control over her angry soldiers.



Nasruddin Hekmatyar
Rank/Title: Lord-Speaker of the Chamber of Notables; Sheik
Born: 3089 (53 in 3142)

The younger son of Abdulhamid Hekmatyar, Amir of Sabik, Nasruddin was raised as the scion of one of the Confederation's wealthiest noble families. Sabik's industries, long cultivated despite its status as a border system with the Defiance-Hesperus Consolidant, ensured House Hekmatyar a hefty income beyond their ever-expanding economic interests. Gaining a reputation as something of a dandy in his early teen years, Nasruddin was shipped off to the Dieron War Institute at age 17 to fulfill the Azami nobility's habitual duty of military service. He had a mixed educational career, nearly getting kicked out on demerits but showing great potential as a MechWarrior.

He was graduated early upon the outbreak of what would become the Fourth Succession War. His demerits disqualified him from a line regiment regardless of his family's status and resulted in assignment to the Second Dieron Regulars. The Regulars would quickly be sent into the fighting, joining an Azami invasion of New Earth in July 3110 that gave Nasruddin his first taste of war, and very nearly his last. In an engagement outside Boone Nasruddin's company was caught in a flanking attack by the Fifth Wraiths. He would be badly injured and barely eject before his 'Mech's destruction. Returned to Dieron for recuperation, he was initially slated to return to service with his unit when his brother's death against Galedon prompted his father to personally demand his assignment to the Sabik Sentinels, a House Hekmatyar-governed unit under AFAC command. Nasruddin would spend much of the war as one of his father's bodyguards. This kept him out of the worst fighting, though it did not spare him the rest of the war as he would see combat again during the fall of Sabik in 3116 and when the Sentinels were employed in the liberation of Albalii in 3119. Nasruddin would be mustered out after the Sentinels were stood down following the Peace of Dieron; the loss of his family's demesne to the Royal Federation ensured the unit could not be maintained.

Like his father, Nasruddin delved into politics. With House Hekmatyar given a compensatory holding on the resettled world of Lone Star they retained a right to sit in the Chamber of Notables. In 3128 Nasruddin succeeded to the House's seat and continued his father's political ambitions, all centered around one unwavering goal: the recovery, by war or diplomacy, of Sabik. Yet where Abdulhamid often bullishly charged forward and considered it a point of honor to never yield on the matter, Nasruddin has shown a surprising - some would say worrying - propensity for dissimulation on the matter. He shocked many by voting for a trade treaty with the Lyran states in 3129 and would later confirm appointments to the Council of Ministers with only cursory checks on their support for reclaiming his homeworld. This has left the most committed revanchists uncertain of his loyalties but made him many friends and political allies, whom he cultivates extensively through hosting parties and other gatherings at the Hekmatyar estate outside New Kokand on Albalii. A number of deadlocks in the legislature broke after such engagements. In 3136 he would be forced to return to Lone Star for sixteen months, replaced as his House's delegate by a cousin who lacked his style and caused headaches with less-politic maneuvering and votes for revanchist causes, but upon Abdulhamid's death in 3138 Nasruddin quickly returned to the capital to hold the family seat for himself. Re-establishing his political ties quickly, he would win a vote in 3140 to become the new Lord-Speaker of the Chamber of Notables. He has become the effective head of the Opposition to Prime Minister al-Abbas and has undone a numberr of al-Abbas' political triumphs in recent years, though unseating his father's old enemy has not yet become possible. Many note that his attitudes on Sabik seem to be hardening, though he maintains his flexibility of old. He remains of great interest to both MIIO and SIS due to his position on Sabik and rumored contacts with the Oriento-Capellan Empire.


Oleg Petrovsky
Rank/Title: Fariq, al-Nair Prefecture
Born: 3090 (52 in 3142)

Oleg Petrovsky hails from Lapida, the son of a local mine administrator and a geo-engineer from Tikonov who works to restoring Lapida's poisoned atmosphere from the era of Combine rule. The influence of the elder Stepan Petrovsky bent Oleg towards a hostile view towards warfare as a scourge that repeatedly brought Mankind to the brink of civilizational collapse. Originally intending to attend the prestigious Dobrinov College of Planetary Engineering on Tikonov, his father's alma mater, Oleg was still pursuing undergraduate education on Lapida when Galedon's invasion of the Confederation began and the government decreed conscription on every world. Due to his education Oleg was assigned as an assistant engineering officer to a combat engineering squad and badly wounded in the failed defense of Aiga-i-le-Tai. He was evacuated from the planet along with other wounded, leaving behind his parents and everything he knew.

Whatever he might have been planning for his life, the Fourth Succession War set Oleg on the path of being a soldier. He remained in the combat engineers and found an assignment to the First Spahi's Armored Infantry Regiment. Over the next decade Oleg rose through the ranks while the First Spahi, like many of the surviving Azami units, conducted repeated raids and counter-attacks into their occupied worlds. The sight of Galedonian abuses turned the formerly pacific engineering student into a warrior further and further from his father's vision of what he should become. This turn was made permanent when Lapida was eventually liberated in the final year of the war and the Petrovskys were nowhere to be found, having disappeared in ISF custody two years before. The Peace of Dieron brought no peace to Oleg Petrovsky who felt only rage at the Galedonians, now the reborn Combine, for what they'd done.

The AFAC was not an easy place to be in the 3120s. Pay or supply could be irregular as the Confederation struggled out of sovereign bankruptcy and the need to repay war loans took precedence over rebuilding. Yet Oleg persevered among the Spahi, bringing him to the attention of succeeding ranks of higher officers until he became CO of the Sixth Spahi Brigade in 3131. Amid Petrovsky honed their skills to execute the daring raid on Proserpina in 3133 that kicked off the Azami Confederation's raiding campaigns of the remaining decade. Petrovsky was nearly court-martialed before popular support amongst the rank and file, and the populace, swayed his commanders. He was rewarded with a promotion to Liwa and vice commander of the Spahi brigades, a position from which he pushed further raiding, principally against the Draconis Combine. In 3138 he would be promoted again to Fariq and placed in charge of al-Na'ir Prefecture, a fairly desired post given the system's importance in manufacturing, but bringing him away from the frontlines. Oleg has accepted his administrative post with discontent, but he performs his duty regardless. Like many, he believes the Peace of Dieron will not last forever, and he will be ready to assume a higher command in any renewed war with the people who ravaged his world and took his family from him.


Maryam Nyobe
Rank/Title: Amid, al-Murabutin Brigade
Born: 3096 (46 in 3142)


Maryam Nyobe hails from the Azami enclaves established on Dyev. Her father Nasser was a religious scholar aligned with the Azami survivalists and she was raised to consider the maintenance of their people and faith as a moral calling second only to worship. When the Fourth Succession War broke out young Maryam volunteered for the Dyev militia but was turned away on account of age. Joining the planet's Youth Scouts was her chosen alternative, especially as they were employed frequently in supporting military efforts by organizing supplies or running donation drives for the war effort. With the Confederation's survival in question in 3114, Maryam volunteered for service on her eighteenth birthday and was initially rejected until her father, far from disapproving as the recruitment officer expected, joined her at the station and berated the entire office staff for denying Maryam and others the chance to serve their faith and nation in its time of need.

Maryam was shipped off to an AFAC processing center and training, which would see her placed into the Confederation's MechWarrior Training Battalion system in 3115. She would graduate with high marks as a prospective MechWarrior after a grueling eighteen month course and be assigned to the Fourth Confederation Lancers. For the final years of the war she fought bravely and with noted skill, making the rank of Naqib before the end of the war.

The tattered state of the AFAC and a lack of commands affected Maryam's prospects like any other officer, but she retained a steady ascension through the ranks. In 3132 she became Muqaddam in the storied al-Murabutin Brigade, making Amid by 3138. Like her unit, her public profile vanished for a time, and she was only seen and noted again when her brigade arrived at Albalii to become part of the capital's garrison in 3141. Though there is no official confirmation, it is commonly held that Amid Nyobe led her unit into a sanctioned period of mercenary work, most likely fighting for the Kilbourne Concord in the ongoing Outworlds conflict between their forces and the Draconis Combine. Her return has led to much speculation on her future as one of the more dynamic and devoted commanders in the AFAC.

 

[Steve]

Draconis Combine​

Yorinaga Kurita
Rank/Title: Coordinator of the Draconis Combine
Born: 3097 (45 in 3142)

The son of Director Kori Honda and Hidetada Kurita when he was born the heir of Galedon in 3097, Yorinaga's entire life was molded by his mother to prepare him to be the Coordinator of the restored Draconis Combine. His upbringing was seen to by members of the Black Dragon Society to instill in the young child the destiny, and burden, that awaited the living incarnation of the Dragon. As he grew he was tutored to be a warrior and ruler in the Kuritan mold. His adolescence and youth were spent watching his mother make war on all of her neighbors, indeed on virtually the entire Inner Sphere.

The war lasted through the decade. Upon his graduation from the restored Sun Zhang Military Academy, Yorinaga was assigned to the Seventh Sword of Light, an elite unit that was tasked with holding the conquered world of Dante in the Outworlds. In 3119 a force from the Concord arrived to reclaim the world. The outnumbered Seventh held ferociously and Yorinaga participated in the harsh fighting. He proved a capable warrior and officer but was severely wounded by armored infantry troops swarming his Kanabo. The head injury cost him an eye and left him seriously injured, enough that his superiors had him shipped back to Galedon to recover. He would not return to the field before the ceasefire was announced at Dieron, allowing him to join his mother and father for the trip to Luthien and the proclamation of the rebirth of the Draconis Combine.

In the years since the war Yorinaga continued to train as both a warrior and a future ruler, often journeying to the other military districts to appraise local conditions and promote loyalty to the reborn state. State broadcasts were understandably positive about the speeches and actions he took in his mother's name. Foreign pundits believe he may have ensured the fall from grace of Gunpo Rhee, Warlord of Tok Do, in 3130, and some sources that fled Hartshill District in the early 3130s implied his presence was used to compel greater obedience from Warlord Takeda-Suvorova. This left him well-placed to assume the Coordinatorship after his parents' death in 3135. Those foreign dignitaries who do meet with him and speak publicly about it remark that he is a very different figure from his aggressive, domineering mother, projecting stern control and typically speaking calmly but firmly. His re-opening of diplomatic relations with other states and restraint towards most of his neighbors is contrasted by the escalation of hostilities with the Concord over the disputed Outworlds and the savage sacking of Freedom in the Royal Federation, leaving many to wonder just what the new Dragon has in store for the Concert of the Sphere.


Ichiro Tetsuhara
Rank/Title: Grand Master of the Order of the Black Dragon
Born: 3078 (64 in 3142)

Born to lower nobility on New Samarkand, Tetsuhara's parents were secret members of the Black Dragon Society who survived Masako Honda's many purges of the Kokuryu-kai. By the time he came of age he was indoctrinated in the Society's message and able to publicly identify himself as one thanks to Kori Honda's support. As a loyal samurai seeking to restore House Kurita he dutifully entered the Galedonian military, winning assignment to the Fourth Izanagi Warriors and later the Second Sword of Light.

During the Fourth Succession War Tetsuhara rose the ranks of the Galedonian military, a resolute if stiff commander on the field who showed no mercy to enemies or allies. Upon achieving a battalion command after seeing to the capture of Sakhara in 3115 from the Federated Suns, he was likewise formally inducted into the Black Dragon Society and set on the path to rising in its ranks. The war ended on a sour note for Tetsuhara, however, as his victories over House Davion were undone by the KSDF's Operation DYNAMO counter-offensive. Even worse, his parents were among the slain when the Black Dragon Society's new Luthien headquarters were sacked by Rasalhaguan forces and mercenaries. Tetsuhara was chosen among a number of officers to replenish the leadership ranks.

Following the Peace of Dieron and the declaration of the Combine's rebirth, Tetsuhara focused on establishing the Order of the Black Dragon in its new role within the Combine. While details on the situation are sketchy, he is reputed to have played an instrumental role in a 3124-25 purge of the ISF's Galedon offices. For much of the latter decade he was in charge of all OBD efforts on Galedon proper, a time when many Galedonian officials were committing seppuku or dying in accidents or "misadvanture". He likewise assisted in removing Warlord Rhee of Tok Do before moving into the Order's upper echelon. In 3140 he was, at Coordinator Yorinaga's insistence, made the Grand Master of the Black Dragons, and has since served as one of Yorinaga's closest advisors. Many intelligence services in the Inner Sphere would pay handsomely to know more about Tetsuhara's plans for the Order and his advice to the Coordinator, but as of yet there is precious little data oon the matter.


John Ballymont
Rank/Title: Tai-sho, Vega Prefecture
Born: 3087 (55 in 3142)


Of all the senior commanders in the current DCMS, John Ballymont of Chatham has become one of the most noted in recent years for his fanatical loyalty and the brutality with which he governs the restive worlds of the Vega Prefecture. The son of a shopkeeper's family, John was a rare prodigee who earned a spot to the Galedon Military Academy due to testing during his time as a planetary force conscript. He graduated as a MechWarrior and field officer a year before the outbreak of the Fourth Succession War.

Assigned to the First Sword of Light, Ballymont would fight on the Rasalhague and Azami fronts for most of the war. Battlefield success as a commander brought honors and promotion, though his noted intolerance for anything but the most rigid devotion to the war and duty caused him some pointed rejoinders by commanding officers. A reassignment to the Fifth Sword of Light in 3114 put him on Arkab in time to participate in the infamous Awjilah Massacre, where he commanded a company of 'Mechs to open fire on crowds resisting the ordered mass arrest of the local religious council. This would only be the first time that Ballymont would show a penchant for enforcing his rulers' will with an iron fist, and by the end of the war, he was known as one of the officers the ISF could turn to if it needed a military response to domestic resistance.

A brigade commander in the Tok Do Regulars at the end of the war, Ballymont publicly hailed the reformation of the Draconis Combine and showed energy in adapting to the restoration of Japanese feudal aesthetics. He spent spare time learning kendo and other Japanese martial arts and studying samurai culture. His wife and children were likewise enjoined to do the same, in line with Kori Kurita's wishes. These acts of devotion won Ballymont promotions into the upper field ranks that escalated with the purging of remnant Honda sympathizers, culminating with his appointment to the rank of Tai-sho in 3131 and taking command of the Vega Prefecture.

He nearly lost all of this with Musashi Honda's rebellion and the Arcadian invasion that allowed Honda's successful escape. In view of his failure he asked Coordinator Kori for permission to commit seppuku and was denied; by all reports, that he was not arrested and dishonored like the Fifth Sword of Light's officer corps is down to how well he suppressed the wider rebelliousness Honda provoked in the Prefecture (some have added the vid-recorded mass executions of captive Arcadian troops contributed as well). While it may have saved his rank for the moment, Ballymont's behavior on Vega and nearby worlds led to furious Arcadian public opinion naming the Tai-sho "Butcher Ballymont", a reputation that only grew in monstrous proportions after the Second Sword of Light's sack of Freedom in 3139 and his suppression campaigns on Vega. Ballymont publicly approves of this nickname and his reputation among "the enemies of the Dragon" and has only intensified the orders for brutality against anti-Kuritan dissent. In 3141 he declared "those who oppose the Dragon are a cancer to be cut out, and it is a poor surgeon whose scalpel does not take everything touched by the disease". If Arcadian SIS is accurate, only restraints from Tok Do and Luthien have kept Ballymont from ordering more sacks like Freedom to hunt down Honda and his rebels. Instead his forces remain fully engaged crushing dissenters on New Wessex and Cebelrai, and Ballymont shows no signs of letting up on his crusade to "cut out the cancer".


Katarina Takeda-Suvorova
Rank/Title: Warlord of the Hartshill Military District
Born: 3083 (59 in 3142)


Katarina was born to be a ruler in her own right as the daughter of Crown Prince Mikhail Takeda-Suvorov, who became King of the Hartshill Federal Alliance when she was still very young. Has the heiress to her father Katarina was raised in the Hartshill royal court and imbibed the lessons of harsh practicality that dictated her isolated nation. Her father's death in 3102 put her on the throne before her nineteenth birthday in the middle of a growing existential crisis. After decades of having their independence honored scrupulously by House Honda, the Galedonians were now pressing the Federal Alliance for "greater unity". This came to a head in 3106 when Katarina was presented with a blunt ultimatum by Director Kori Honda: Hartshill's independence was no longer acceptable, and she would either govern as Kori's vassal or have her nation subjugated. With Rasalhague unfriendly and distracted, Katarina chose voluntary subjugation, and negotiated the terms to ensure House Takeda-Suvorov would remain hereditary rulers of the Hartshill worlds.

As history showed, by her actions Katarina ensured Galedon's aggressions that expanded the Fourth Succession War. Her armies and warships buttressed Kori's forces and allowed her to enjoy success on all fronts of the war, a war Katarina could do nothing but observe from afar as her people fought to conquer all in the name of Kori's Kuritan ambitions. Towards the end of that conflict Katarina, by some reports, had some chance to rebel, when her aunt Anastasia arrived with the Takeda Cavalry, the dissident troops fighting under Rasalhaguan colors. While there is no firmm confirmation, some sources hint the two had a final meeting during the fighting where Anastasia pleaded for Katarina to raise the banner of the Federal Alliance once more. If so, Katarina stuck with her path. The Cavalry were driven off Hartshill. When the Peace of Dieron came and the Combine was declared restored, Katarina was officially recognized as Warlord of the new Hartshill Military District.

There is very little news out of Hartshill these days. The Combine-Rasalhague border is effectively a cordon, with very little traffic through the area due to the severance of economic ties during the war, and the Periphery is empty beyond Hartshill's immediate borders. Katarina's public appearances are all clearly staged; she has eschewed the old Russo-Japanese fashions of her family for the strictly Japanese fashions demanded of a Kuritan warlord, and her speeches conform to obvious state scripting. Some commentators remark she seems more like a hostage than a high-ranking Tai-shu of the Draconis Combine. Some of the intelligence the Royal Federation and Ghastillians have passed on hint to a deeper, more complex interaction between the Kuritas and the Takeda-Suvorovs, however. Katarina retains powers no other warlord enjoys, all by the treaty in which she submitted to Kori Honda, and has stymied some initiatives and directives from the ISF and OBD. Diplomatic observers who have arrived since Yorinaga took the Chrysanthemum Throne note that tension is evident whenever the two are in proximity. Katarina, it seems, may be playing a deeper game than her angry aunt Anastasia gives credit for, pushing her power and daring Yorinaga to provoke her worlds into rebellion. There is no doubt this is a very dangerous game, but given her situation, it is one Warlord Katarina has to play if she is to be more than a puppet vassal to House Kurita.


Musashi Honda
Rank/Title: Chu-sa, Third Legion of Vega (Former); Heir of the Galedon Directorate
Born: 3094 (48 in 3142)


The circumstances of Musashi Honda's birth are about all that can be easily confirmed of his early life. His mother, Yumiko Honda, was the Director of the Galedon Mutual Co-Prosperity Sphere, only recently elevated from the death of her father Hoff. His father is presumed to be Alphonse Richaud, Yumiko's husband. His birth was announced with great fanfare in late 3094 as a guarantee of Masako Honda's continued bloodline. The following year Musashi disappeared from the awareness of the Inner Sphere before he reached his first birthday after the Dragon Coup of the Sixth of July. By the time that day ended on Galedon, his parents and many of their closest attendants and political advisors were dead at the hands of the Black Dragons' nekokami. Musashi's aunt, Kori, seized the Directorate. Musashi was presumed dead as well.

The threads of his history resume in the personnel record of Private-Recruit Musashi Toyotomi. The son of free tenant farmers on House Honda's estates on New Samarkand, Musashi enlisted in the GCSAF in 3115 for militia duty. With the Fourth Succession War raging he was tested for and proved capable of MechWarrior piloting and was assigned to a crash training course with the "Dragon's Scales" program. Following his graduation in early 3117, Musashi was assigned to the Twenty-Fifth Galedon Regulars and served on the Azami front. He showed promise for his rank and was granted a battlefield commission while fighting an Azami raid on Cylene in 3118, taking part in the fighting retreat from that world when the Compact forces liberated it the following year. He was decorated for heroism and the battlefield commission finalized into a regular one following the Peace of Dieron.

Given his middling posting and commoner background, his record was not so stellar as to win Musashi a posting to a major unit. He was kept with the Galedon Regulars for several years until an appointment to one of the new Legions of Vega in 3132. This may have provoked the rebellion he would launch two years later. While the Arcadians have not provided data on his motives, and they may not even know them, ithe re-assignment may have forced Musashi's hand from a larger planned rebellion among the Galedon Regulars. Whether some force in the Combine government pushed the transfer out of suspicion or he had simply experienced poor luck, it's fairly clear the Legions of Vega were not his planned tool, and the uprising most likely in response to increasing danger of detection under the loyal Tai-sho Ballymont. Whatever the reason, in 3134 Musashi seized a broadcast station with his most loyal forces, connected to the HPGs, and revealed his parentage while calling for the restoration of the Co-Prosperity Sphere and an end to "dishonorable Kuritan treachery that my great-grandmother and her line are shamed by". Most of the Third Legion of Vega and many of the other Legions, as well as local militia and other forces in neighboring systems, rallied to his support and kept Tai-sho Ballymont's forces off-balance for weeks. During the fighting on Vega itself Musashi proved a more capable commander and MechWarrior than had appeared in his record, repeatedly launching hit-and-run operations and surprise attacks on the Fifth Sword of Light and other formations that kept his forces operational and field-ready. Nevertheless a wider rebellion failed to materialize and his fate would have been sealed if not for the Arcadians' Operation SOVEREIGN SON, which allowed Musashi and his mutineers to escape to the Royal Federation rather than be hunted down and destroyed by Ballymont's forces.

Since the Rebellion, Musashi has remained mobile within Federation territory. His forces launched several raids on the Vega Prefecture up through 3138 but have gone silent since. The Arcadians remain tight-lipped on whether they forced this upon him due to the Combine retaliation attack on Freedom in 3139 or if other factors have come into play. Wherever he is, Musashi remains a significant internal threat to Yorinaga Kurita's rule of Galedon and the heart of the old realm of House Honda.

 

[Steve]

Tikonov Grand Union​

Martina Timoshenko
Rank/Title: Prime Minister of the Grand Union
Born: 3077 (65 in 3142)

Martina Timoshenko was born on Demeter to a family of Terran refugees who took up living on the planet following the Terran War. She went into academia during her college years and spent her first quarter century of adulthood in political science teaching and research, culminating in producing a definitive account of Terran-Tikonovite relations from the Collapse era to the Terrans' fall from power. Published in 3113, "A History of the Relations of Independent Tikonov and the Terran Union" won accolades from many in the political science and historical community for her exhaustive work with primary sources.

A planned follow-up study of the Terran War-era was shelved due to timing. Martina found the Fourth Succession War to be a cataclysmic, almost apocalyptic event, and it inspired her towards political participation. She became a moderate member of the Peace Restoration movement and ran for office in 3114. She would lose her first election, but in 3116 won a by-election. She sided with the Just Peace portion of the Peace Restorationists' factional split in 3118, supporting Prime Minister Oberth's push for the restoration of Compact worlds as a condition for peace. She only narrowly missed a chance to join the Grand Union's delegation to Dieron at the start of 3120. Since the resulting peace treaty had little to be controversial among the Union, her vote for it was part of a landslide majority.

In the years since the war Martina's career started sluggish. She lost a re-election bid in 3124 but delayed a return to academia to accept a position in the personal staff of Prime Minister Albert Roche. Roche's endorsement brought her back into the Union Assembly in 3128 and saw her first appointment to a government post as a vice-minister under the Foreign Ministry. She helped shepherd through the Assembly new trade treaties with the Lyran states and the Principate and even secured most favored trading status with the Kilbourne Suns' Concord in 3131. That success brought her to the Foreign Minister's chair the following year, along with her widest re-election margin yet. The retirement of Prime Minister Rogachev in 3135 opened the way for Martina's elevation to the leadership of the Union, where she continues to pursue a Union-wide popular policy of regulated trade, technological investment, and diplomatic engagement to prevent any full break in the Peace of Dieron.


Alvin Rozhenko
Rank/Title: Commanding General, TUAF
Born: 3068 (74 in 3142)


Alvin Rozhenko hails from Woodstock, the son of a TUAF military family who resettled there when his grandmother and father were assigned as part of the new garrison forces. He grew up in the culturally bruising post-war era where remnant Terran sentiments still conflicted with their new political alignment, including social conflicts with children who saw him and his family as "invaders". It left him with a resentment of "Terran nationalism" and a drive to leave Woodstock for Tikonov as soon as he was of age. His parents initially hoped he would get a civilian education to join the Grand Union's burgeoning research-industrial complex, but Alvin sought a military life due to influence from his Tikonovite relatives and a desire to become a MechWarrior.

After two decades of meritorious service during the Later Second Age of War, he was a Colonel and commanding the regiment of BattleMechs in the Third Tikonov Lancers when the Fourth Succession War started. The war led Alvin through a series of campaigns and battles, each more harrowing than the last as the years passed and Tikonov's armies were ground down in the fighting with the Lyrans, Galedon, and Concord. His rise through the ranks continued until the end of the war, when as a major general he commanded the Third Woodstock Regulars. In the final months the third suffered heavy casualties during an invasion of Woodstock by the Fourth Young Liao Guards. Rozhenko's leadership saw the unit through that struggle and preserved his homeworld for the Grand Union, but it levied an emotional cost and a growing bitter grudge against the Liaoists. He received a further blow when his son Sergei succumbed to mortal wounds suffered in the liberation of Ashio.

Following the war Alvin chose to accept reserve status and spent time in counseling to come to grips with the carnage he'd survived and the losses he and his family endured. The counseling proved a mixed success but enabled his return to service in 3125 at his former rank. Alvin has spent the post-Dieron period as an advocate for the "limited rearmament" concept; while he does not embrace full-scale rearmament and a return to pre-3110 force levels, he believes the post-war TUAF remains too small to face the myriad threats on its borders, especially in light of the "nightmare scenario" of a two-front war with the Concord and the Empire. While this has led to repeated arguments with the Union's civilian leadership, it has not prevented General Rozhenko's climb to the highest rank in 3139. As Commanding General of the TUAF his calls for limited rearmament have made him a political foe of Prime Minister Timoshenko. Despite this opposition the two enjoy a cordial, if cool, professional relationship, bolstered by Alvin's own spin on her peace politics and the prospect of a permanent alliance of some form with the Lyran states that would reduce his fears of facing a two front conflict. Under the law Alvin has two more years left until a mandatory stepping down and retirement from the Commanding General post and, by all indications, he intends to keep to his work through that period. His post-service career is still a subject of much debate and consideration by political watchers on Tikonov. He would not be the first former Commanding General to enter politics, but he has disavowed all interest in further office for the time being.


Tanya Campbell
Rank/Title: Colonel, CO Marion's Highlanders BattleMech Regiment; Countess of Northwind
Born: 3104 (38 in 3142)


The younger daughter of Count Malcolm Campbell of Northwind, Tanya was raised to be a MechWarrior and commander first and foremost. Command of the Northwind Highlanders would be her ultimate destiny, in conjunction with her older brother David's inheritance of the family titles and lands and what small political power they retained under the Grand Union's laws. It was not an easy life but was the cost of position and heritage for the young woman, who struggled early on due to her bookish and shy demeanor. By the time she was in adolescence, a gulf was clearly forming between the now-rebellious young woman, who despite talent clearly despised her appointed role and sought more intellectual pursuits for her life, and the father and older brother whose expectations she was letting down.

The Fourth Succession War made it all the worse. Regiment after regiment of the Highlanders went off to the battlefields and came home in ruins. Malcolm and then David went off to war with their warriors, their messages home reproachful as they received continuing reports of Tanya's defiance. When Malcolm was killed by Galedonian forces on Raman in 3117 and David left a brain-damaged cripple from injuries in the fighting on Cartago, one might have expected Tanya to seize the chance to secure her own future and take her own path as Countess-to-be.

She embraced her family's desired path instead, or at least, ceased resisting it. As the future Countess of Northwind it was her responsibility to serve and to lead and, whatever her prior disputes over her desired life, Tanya accepted this. The war would end before she reached age to fully serve but upon her seventeenth birthday she dutifully signed on to become an officer of the Highlanders. A three year martial education at the Campbell College of Military Science revealed her as a fusion of the path she'd sought and that her father and brother demanded, her intellect turned to a strong grasp of not only battlefield tactics and strategy but the logistics vital to maintaining forces in the field. She served with the Kearny Highlanders and MacLeod's Regiment as a junior officer before taking a company command in Marion's Highlanders in 3134. A year later David passed on from a hemorrhagic stroke brought on by his wartime injury and Tanya became the Countess of Northwind. She appointed a regent and remained with her regiment, citing her duties to the Highlanders for not taking on wider political power. She currently serves as a full bird Colonel and regimental commander of the Marion Highlanders' 'Mech regiment.


Mikhail Kamenov
Rank/Title: Science and Technology Minister of the Grand Union
Born: 3088 (54 in 3142)

The son of a pediatrician and a pharmaceutical researcher, Mikhail is a native-born TIkonovite whose family can trace its roots back to the original colonists and through generations of Capellan intelligentsia and sheng caste status. He was raised to take pride in the Kamenov family's long history even if they were, by law, only regular citizens. From the start he was raised to join his parents, uncles, and aunts in the ranks of the Grand Union's research-industrialist unions and technocracy.

The Fourth Succession War nearly derailed his plans. As world after world fell to or was threatened by the Concord and Galedon through 3113, Kamenov was issued a draft notice. At first he won deferment on the grounds of being in doctorate studies, but the fall of Towne in April 3113 led to the War Emergency Decree and the suspension of such deferments. Mikhail was ordered to report for service with the TAUF and, due to his education, was assigned to serve as quality control officer inspecting medical equipment procured for the military. This included trips to other worlds in the Grand Union, Federated Suns, and the Oriento-Capellan Empire for production site inspections. He was on Capella when, in 3118, Operation XIN SHENG commenced. Upon the Empire's expulsion from the Compact he, other officers in his entourage, and other nationals of the Compact states were interned by Maskirovka order until their exchange, in 3119, with Imperial officials and citizens held in internment in the Federated Suns. The fighting was over by the time Mikhail returned to Tikonov just after New Year's, 3120. Following the Peace of Dieron he was released from TUAF service with an appropriate pension and bonus for his time.

Seven years of compelled military service and his internment produced changes in outlook. Mikhail returned to university to finish his doctorate, but upon the acceptance of his doctoral thesis in 3124 he went to work in politics and government, seeking and winning a position in the Science and Technology Ministry after openly joining the Human Advancement Party. A pacifist technocrat by his own profession, Mikhail worked within the bureaucracy and outside of it to direct resources from military research to civilian. He served as project manager in the 3128-3132 Biological Restoration Initiative that developed several new cutting edge methods of cleansing polluted biospheres of bioweaponry or excess chemical and radiological contamination. His role in similar initiatives won him greater influence and a spot to run for a Tikonovite seat in the Union Assembly in 3134. With his party in the governing coalition, he was selected to be a Vice-Minister for Science and Technology. Coalition shuffles saw his party out of the ruling coalition in 3138-3140, but election results in 3140 ensured that in 3141, the party was able to win his appointment to being Minister for Science and Technology, a position from which Mikhail continues to promote the advancement of "peaceful" scientific endeavor over "military". His views are highly welcome in Prime Minister Timoshenko's government. Other parties are not so admiring, with his background and reputed statements of "Capellan sympathy" leading many anti-Liaoists (and, some whisper, Federated Suns MIIO) to believe he may be a Capellan agent of influence, though conspiracy mongers' assertion he was made into Maskirovka agent during his internment is often and easily dismissed by most parrties.


Joseph Dresari
Rank/Title: General, CO Kentares Guards, TUAF (ret.): Duke of Kentares
Born: 3070 (72 in 3142)

House Dresari has governed Kentares in one form or another since the Star League. The Grand Union's rule over the world saw the Dresaris stripped of most of their authority, but as with other remnant nobility regardless of origin, they are permitted and even encouraged to pursue careers in the TUAF. Joseph, the son of Duchess Joanna Dresari, was born expecting to fulfill just such a role, and enrolled in the Grand Union University's Suvorov College of Military Science at the age of seventeen. Upon graduation in 3091 Dresari was briefly assigned to the First Kentares Guards before taking a chance to performed advanced tactical studies at Albion on New Avalon as part of a cross-Compact program. Following his second graduation from Albion in 3095 and gaining the rank of Captain he rejoined the First Kentares Guards for their assignment to the Outback and the defense of Broken Wheel. Upon rotation home Joseph married and fathered a new generation, Ian and Joanna, to continue the family. In 3109 he made Colonel and held a regimental command in the First Kentares.

The Fourth Succession War was as hard for the Dresaris as many other major families that had their worlds invaded. From 3111 to 3114 Kentares was a war zone with strong Concord and Galedonian invasion forces very nearly destroying Joseph's unit and their sister regiments. Joanna would be severely wounded in the retreat from Carinda City and Joseph himself nearly killed when his command post was bombed. Though the war ground on for six years after Compact forces landed with enough power to sweep both foes from the planet, Joseph remained on his homeworld for the remainder, recuperating from his injuries and managing TUAF logistics efforts. He would be promoted to Lieutenant General the month before the Peace of Dieron was signed.

For the first decade after the war Joseph focused on his military efforts, ultimately gaining a promotion to full general and becoming CO of the entire Kentares Guards Command. In 3132 he retired from service to, in his words, "focus on my family and my world". Joseph has not limited himself to mere civil duties and family life, however, but remains a political force on Kentares and Tikonov itself. He is a proponent of stronger ties with the Concord, if the Concord will accept such, and the continuation of the alliance with House Davion. Most controversially, in 3140 he signed the Compact Federation Petition, a document generated by a number of planetary and regional governors across the Compact states that calls for the alliance to become a formal political union, much as the Kilbourne Suns' Concord formed. Prime Minister Timoshenko rebuked Dresari publicly for his act and the Assembly formally voted, by a 3-to-1 majority, to reject the Petition, though they failed a censure vote against Duke Joseph by a margin of 3 to 2 and resoundingly rejected without consideration a motion to compel his abdication. For more nationalist-minded Tikonovites - and especially for Capellan sympathizers - the proposal "betrays the Duke's Restorationist sympathies", as Minister Kamenov thundered when calling for Joseph's censure. Duke Joseph has refused all demands to retract his signature, insisting he signed as a private person, not as a political figure, and that the affair has been "exaggerated by Capellan agents". The controversy has regrettably marred his reputation among the people of the Grand Union, if not those of his world's prefecture.

 

[Steve]

Kilbourne Suns' Concord​

Milos Kavanaugh
Rank/Title: Chancellor of the Concord
Born: 3091 (51 in 3142)

Milos was born to a family of middle-class professionals on Bryceland. Most of his young life was spent preparing to enter a suitable college to follow that path in life. Yet by his teen years the prospect of a life of white collar office work as an architect or engineer no longer appealed. Milos took to piloting as a skill and not just a step towards aerospace engineering and design work. When the Concord enacted widespread conscription following Galedon's betrayal in 3113, Milos was picked up and trained to pilot VTOL craft for the KSDF.

Where others in his position might have faltered, especially during the horror of the Fourth Succession War, Milos excelled. By 3115 he'd been posted as a volunteer to the Lexington Combat Group's Tenth Light Guards' air assault contingent, flying attack VTOLs into severe fighting along the Federated Suns front. In the process of having four craft shot out from under him over the next two years, Milos rose in rank to XO of the Tenth Light Guards' aerial battalion, winning numerous decorations in the process. In 3118, he was critically wounded in a fifth crash from enemy fire and pulled from combat duty due to the extent of his injuries. The surgeries and rehabilitation that resulted kept him out of the remainder of the war.

The Peace of Dieron brought an end to his military career. Milos accepted the medical discharge and briefly returned to civilian piloting before a comrade suggested he run for Bryceland's planetary legislature. Milos' initial election in 3122 was followed by a proposal to run for the Concord House of Representatives on Kilbourne in 3124. He ran against an incumbent who was, in mid-campaign, brought down by corruption charges, giving Milos an unexpected victory. This proved a surprising boon in his early career, as many political analysts - and politicians - did not expect much from a neophyte. Milos proved more capable than expected and used his committee assignments and floor time to gain a reputation as a capable speaker and quick thinker. This was bolstered by his popularity among the war veteran demographic, a demographic he courted by promoting their interests over many others. After spending much of the 3130s as a rising star in the political world, Milos prevailed in the 3140 elections for the Chancellorship, aided greatly by the increase in Kuritan aggression and Milos' support for increased arms expenditure to fight it. As Chancellor Milos has embarked on continued rearmament towards the Concord's formidable 3110 forces while showing some willingness to crack open the doors on his state's continued isolation, expanding diplomatic missions to COMINTERSTEL, the Lyran states, and the Oriento-Capellan Empire. Yet he is committed to the Concord's position when it comes to their neighbors. Milos remains opposed to any reconciliation towards the Federated Suns that doesn't involve the restoration of Filtvelt and Malagrotta and likewise shows little interest in any lessening of hostilities with the Combine.



Joan Arseid
Rank/Title: Chancellor of the Concord (former); President of Arseid MechWorks
Born: 3062 (80 in 3142)

Joan Arseid was the last of the main Arseid line to be born while they ruled as Dukes of Kilbourne. Her grandfather Harris would relinquish the family's hereditary rule over their homeworld when the Commonwealth merged with its neighbors into the Kilbourne Suns' Concord, yet she was still raised in a traditional Arseid manner in terms of politics, duty, and military service. In 3080 Joan entered the Kilbourne Military Academy and graduated four years later as a MechWarrior and Lieutenant in the KSDF. She gave a quarter century service to the military, seeing action in the Third Outback War with the Second Concord Dragoons and First Concord Guards in the process with several decorations to her credit. In 3109 she resigned to battle with colon cancer, an ailment that left her stricken and unable to return to service when the Fourth Succession War broke out.

The War cost Joan, and House Arseid, greatly. Her sons Harris and Donald were both killed as a result of Galedon's betrayal in 3113, two of an entire generation of the family that were heavily reaved by the fighting. Since her condition forbade military service she focused on the political and economic spheres, serving time as Chief Operating Officer of Arseid MechWorks before winning a Senate seat in 3114. Her military background gave weight to her many criticisms of the Concord's strategy in the war, enough that Chancellor Felsner brought her into the Government as Defense Secretary to join in overseeing the conflict. She was primarily responsible for the appointment of Jonisar Yalos II to the post of Commanding General of the KSDF and supported his risky Operation DYNAMO counter-offensive to the utmost, eventually green-lighting it upon her ascension to the Chancellor's seat in 3118. That offensive was an astounding success for the Concord, leading to the recovery of all but a handful of worlds lost to the Federated Suns and Galedon Co-Prosperity Sphere through the war, but ultimately a dangerous victory as it left the KSDF hopelessly overextended. The gamble paid off as no enemy offensives came and the Peace of Dieron secured the Concord's recovery.

Through much of the post-war period Joan has remained a force in the politics of the Concord. Her Chancellorship lasted over a decade, during which the Concord rebuilt its forces and consolidated its isolated position. The highlight of Joan's diplomatic overtures came with a treaty of military assistance with Rasalhague in 3128 and a summit with First Prince Grace a year later, though the latter failed to do more than normalize economic relations given the great gulf between Concord and FedSun diplomatic positions. In 3131 Joan resigned due to another battle with cancer. Shortly thereafter a surgical complication left her near death and it would take heroic efforts by the Concord's finest doctors to preserve her life. By 3136 she was recovered enough to assume leadership of Arseid MechWorks; as President of her House's 'Mech-production company, Joan has continued influence in the KSDF and government, making her a wild card factor in politics. She has, in recent years, voiced her consideration for a "detente" with the Federated Suns, in sharp contrast to Chancellor Kavanaugh's avowed support for the liberation of Filtvelt and Malagrotta from "Davion domination". There is some friction between the two as a result, off-set by her full-throated encouragement of the Concord's ongoing conflict with the Draconis Combine.


Lawrence Avellar
Rank/Title: Senator from Alpheratz, Concord Congress; Colonel, KSDF (Res.)
Born: 3088 (54 in 3142)

In the centuries since House Avellar lost its grip on power, the family has nevertheless remained a potent political force on Alpheratz, and maintained some degree of wealth and influence even after the conquest of the Outworlds Republic by the Lexington Concord and Solar Union. As with his forebearers, Lawrence was born into the family under the expectations that he would serve in the KSDF, the one route for old noble families to avoid losing their final vestiges of political power. He attended the Alpheratz Flight Academy from 3107 to 3111 and joined the KSDF as an aerospace fighter pilot.

As with many of the Cisglass Inner Sphere's current leadership cadre, he made his name Concord-wide during the Fourth Succession War, flying for the Alpheratz Guards Aerospace Group. His unit was fighting on Point Barrow against the Federated Suns when Galedon's treachery saw his own homeworld fall to a blitz assault in 3113. After retreating from Point Barrow the following year the Alpheratz Guards were kept on defensive duty along the Federated Suns front, an act that caused increasing frustration that approached fury amongst its ranks, particularly as scant word from home confirmed the brutality with which the Galedonian occupation troops were behaving on their homeworld. In 3117 Lawrence was among the officers of the brigade who signed a petition demanding the Concord act to liberate their homeworld; by the following year, KSDF Internal Security had him flagged as the ringleader of a potential mutiny. Joan Arseid's rise to the Chancellorship cut short a plan to break the unit up and saw its employment in the Outworlds section of the 3119 DYNAMO offensive. The Guards landed to liberate their homeworld; Lawrence flew through the first three weeks of the fight until he was shot down on a bombing run and taken prisoner by Galedonian forces. After brutal interrogation and the lack of treatment for his crash injuries, Lawrence was rescued by Alpheratzian insurgents and smuggled to friendly lines. He spent the rest of the war recuperating.

Following the conflict Lawrence was honorably discharged with an increase in rank due to his wartime service. Unsurprisingly he immediately went into politics, running for planetary government before making a Senate bit in 3130. As a scion of House Avellar he already had a strong place in local politics, but his war record and anti-Combine rhetoric clinched a strong victory at the polls. Lawrence's time on Kilbourne saw little controversy until 3135 when he shocked many by refusing a procedural vote on funding for a Filtvelt exiles' group. "The Federated Suns are our natural ally against the Dragon's inhumanity" was the soundbyte that set off the trial of his career, costing him most of his war veteran advocacy endorsements and furious denunciation across the political spectrum of the Concord. Lawrence went from a war hero to a Davion apologist in the eyes of many, with some angrier voices calling for investigation into his having become an MIIO plant. His re-election appeared deeply uncertain.

Yet he was re-elected, thanks to his own hated foes. The invasion of Alpheratz by House Kurita in January 3136 shocked many for the sheer scope of it. The Concord scrambled to break the blockade of the world and provide further reinforcements, mercenary and KSDF, while Lawrence seized the political opportunity presented. Denied permission to return until the Combine withdrew, Lawrence invested everything into pressing the Concord government for more troops, more action, more everything. He publicly agitated for and secured the hiring of the Kell Hounds and a number of "foreign" mercenary troops that would help turn the tide, ordered Avellar estates handed over to the planetary government to provide shelters and support for the defense, and made a barnstorm tour of multiple systems to promote resistance and the need to fight the Combine harder. By the time the Combine invasion ended that November, nobody on battered Alpheratz could doubt Lawrence Avellar's dedication to saving them from Kuritan conquest, and he crushed the opposition candidates set against him despite their own vigorous campaign against his "Davion apologism". Returned to the Senate, Lawrence has rebuilt some ties with his old allies, but many remain wary of him for continuing to support a pro-Davion alignment. The charge that he is a Davion agent of influence persists in many Concord worlds' media circles and he was notably snubbed by Chancellor Kavanaugh during several sessions they mutually attended. Some note his current 3142 election campaign has seemingly orientated him towards Outworlds sectionalism, and he faces a strong challenge against the Social Democratic Party's chosen candidate, Yvette Simmons. It is doubtful the Combine will aid him with another invasion, but it remains to be seen if the people of Alpheratz are as disturbed by his willingness to work with the Davions as peoples in the other states of the Concord are.


Harris Tostig
Rank/Title: Commanding General of the KSDF
Born: 3079 (63 in 3142)

Harris comes from a family long associated with the Lexington Combat Group. Most of his family have served as generals in the LCG, his father Wilson included. He grew up on KSDF bases with other dependent children of the LCG regiments. While some children in this situation, including his own younger siblings, eventually rebel for at least a time, Harris made the KSDF his life. He attended military preparatory school throughout his adolescence and teenage years and won admission to the Penelope Reynolds Military Academy at Fort Ballycastle in 3096, a year earlier than most. He proved a capable student and graduated eighth in the Class of 3100, "the class the stars fell on" from the number of successful officers to come from its ranks.

By the time of the Fourth Succession War, Major Tostig was the new XO of a battalion in the LCG' 187th Assault Regiment. He was awarded the Silver Star for his role in the combat drop on Markesan that shattered the Fifteenth Avalon Hussars and secured the planet for the Concord. He won further accolades, and a promotion to battalion XO, in the fighting on Strawn on Argyle, where he suffered his first significant wounding of the war and was evacuated. After several months in recuperation he was assigned to an open battalion command billet with the Fourth Concord Dragoons, where he would serve with the Concord's Seventh Army Command during the long fighting of the Outer Crucis front. He returned to the 187th as its CO in 3115 in time to command the unit in its defense of Lexington from a succession of Galedonian and FedSun invasions through 3117. His role in command staff-level decisions prompted recognition from General Jonasar Yalos II, who made Tostig his aide-de-camp and kept him on after his elevation to Commanding General in 3118. Tostig was part of the final stage planning for Operation DYNAMO and rejoined his unit for the drop on Robinson in 3119, where the LCG virtually annihilated the AFFS defending units and reclaimed House Sandoval's throneworld for the Concord. The Peace of Dieron saw Tostig overseeing the defensive planning for the counterattacks the KSDF anticipated.

After the years of fighting, the end of the war was welcomed by many of the KSDF's officers. Tostig was not one of them. He mourned his lost comrades, but he held bitter thoughts about the Peace and what the Concord had been forced to give up despite DYNAMO. More to the point, he recognized the Concord's strategic position was irrevocably transformed by Kori Honda — now Kori Kurita — and her megalomaniacal treachery. There was no safety in the peace and he immediately agitated for the KSDF's restoration to pre-war strength in several articles to media sources. Ultimately this put him at odds with both Commanding General Yalos and Chancellor Arseid who promoted a slower rearmament for restoring the economic health of the Concord. In 3123 Yalos personally ordered Tostig to cease his media activities. Harris reportedly offered his resignation and was rebuked by his old superior; in the end, he was placed on reserve by mutual agreement, a time in which he became Commandant of the Fort Ballycastle Military Preparatory Academy and finally married to continue the Tostig family. In 3136, in response to the Combine invasion of Alpheratz, Tostig was reactivated and made XO of the entire LCG. He oversaw the relief of Alpheratz and the following campaigns in the Outworlds with much acclaim from the press and other officialdom. This made him the obvious candidate for Chancellor Kavanaugh when Commanding General Malik retired in 3140. He is the fourth Tostig to hold the rank and the third to hold it since Penny Reynolds' long tenure, and given his record, the Concord is in capable hands.


Shlomo Rubenstein
Rank/Title: General, KSDF, CO Lexington Combat Group
Born: 3085 (57 in 3142)

Shlomo Rubenstein hails from the New Orthodox Jewish community of Cohenburg on Lexington. The son of a rabbinical scholar and a pediatric psychiatrist, he grew up in an intellectual household. A period of uncertainty about the direction of his life turned him towards the KSDF in his late teens. He signed up for a term in 3103, much to the consternation of his parents, looking to complete his education on KSDF money.

He was in chaplain training when the Fourth Succession War broke out. For the first few years his service remained in the support field, but Galedon's betrayal of the Concord and the desperate retreat from the Robinson State region changed his life. Due to the dire need for combat officers, Shlomo was reassigned to the infantry and posted to the Second Lexington Minutemen brigade. Despite his personal reservations — his record states he was cited for disrespect to a superior officer over an argument about his combat assignment — Captain Rubenstein proved to have a knack for armored infantry tactics during the siege of Lexington. Fighting for his homeworld, and seeing his hometown of Cohenburg nearly destroyed by fighting, changed Shlomo's perception of his role and his future course. He devoted himself to the military arts, turning his natural intuitive skill into formalized understanding, and won commendations and accolades for his performance as an armored infantry officer through the rest of the war, culminating with the Concord Star of Valor for defeating Galedonian 'Mech forces on New Aberdeen in 3119. By the Peace of Dieron, he was a colonel and commander of the Second Lexington Armored Infantry Regiment.

Once peace was won, he was offered a return to chaplain services, but Shlomo refused. Whatever his prior life's path, he felt his role in life was to be a protector of his people, and all those peoples within the Concord, in the uniform of a KSDF officer. While remaining faithfully observant of New Orthodox practices, including growing out his beard to military regulated length and dutifully marrying in 3122, Rubenstein has devoted much of his energy to the rebuilding of the KSDF's spent strength and reinforcing their hold on the worlds nearly lost in the war. Much to his consternation he was assigned as Commander of Military Defenses on Robinson in 3132, a posting he felt was more due to his religion and a mistaken understanding of Jewish identity by some authorities in the KSDF and Concord government. He nevertheless succeeded in establishing easier relations with the Robinson population, primarily by encouraging a relaxing of the military governance that Robinson's persistent support for House Sandoval had engendered among the KSDF and Concord authorities. His own success ensured his removal from the post after just two years of a four year assignment, as a number of authorities were frustrated by his "toleration" of "Davion Restorationism" among the Robinson populace, a charge that Rubenstein took personally given his public stance against the Federated Suns (rivaled only by his open hatred of the Draconis Combine). After a period of time on Kilbourne as a command staff officer, Shlomo was a dark horse candidate for one of the most prestigious posts in the KSDF, CO of the Lexington Combat Group. When the leading candidate, LCG XO Lt. General Joanna Hawkins, was killed by Combine forces in the Outworlds fighting, and the other — LCG Operations Commander Major General Norton Gephardt — was implicated in a procurement scandal, Rubenstein proved the most viable for the posting despite his lack of service with the LCG. He was elevated in 3140 and has spent the prior two years smoothing out ruffled feathers among his new subordinates and winning the respect and acceptance of the LCG's rank and file. KSDF estimates as to their improving morale indicate he has proven successful in that regard, or that at the very least the LCG is "tolerating" the "outsider" they've been saddled with until his inevitable promotion and elevation out of the post.

 

[Steve]

Free Traders' Union​

Duane Sandusky
Rank/Title: President of the Union
Born: 3085 (57 in 3142)

Duane Sandusky comes from a middle tier trading family on Wynn's Roost. While not one of the wealthier oligarchical groups, the Sandusky holdings are enough to make them a political force of some weight whenever they operate in the margins of the power coalitions within the Union Congress. Duane's father Eugene was one such figure, considered a "gray eminence" of the administrations of the 3090s and early 3100s. He saw to it his son was raised to understand the delicate economic and political situation of the Union and ensured his education at the highest centers of learning, at least those outside of the Terran enclave.

During the Fourth Succession War Sandusky made a name for himself by opening accounts in the Concord for purchasing war bonds and shares in the Concord's defense industries. For a time this seemed a disastrous use of the family money as the Concord's situation through much of the war seemed dire. A number of investors pulled out and nearly bankrupted Duane's brokerage. Yet he proved triumphant at the end of the war as the Concord's recovery, and the Peace of Dieron's confirmation of their near-restoration to their original borders, rapidly expanded the value of the bonds and shares and provided a hefty profit.

Through the 3120s the resulting interest and dividends financed Duane's burgeoning political career. While a man of Wynn's Roost, he gained significant support in the outer worlds through both loans to local magnates and business operations and personal visits to dispense aid and largesse following local disasters or pirate attacks. After years of raising his profile among the Union Congress and as the Union's Minister of the Interior, he made his bid for government in the 3140 elections. A strong campaign by Renard Schmidt, the former Vice President, left the issue in doubt until the returns from the outer worlds came, but his popularity there and his votes in the inner worlds placed Duane in the Presidency. With his retired father's continued support and careful balancing of various competing interests in the Union, Sandusky is openly planning his re-election bid and has proposed further investment in the outer worlds to expand the Union's meager economic base. This will certainly cement his popularity in those worlds, but his political rivals can be counted on to use this against him in politics on Wynn's Roost itself.

Fidel Raoul Castro
Rank/Title: Commander of Castro's Cowboys Brigade
Born: 3098 (44 in 3142)

Eldest surviving son of Lord Juan Pedro, Fidel Raoul was born on a JumpShip in the middle of Lyran space. The first twelve years of his life were spent on a variety of worlds in the Inner Sphere, including stops at Coventry, Galatea, and Lexington and their MBCB Hiring Halls. This would have a later impact on Fidel given his father's decision in 3110 to flee the expanding Fourth Succession War, turning down lucrative contract offers from half of the belligerents in favor of a settlement offer from the Union and a permanent demesne on Renorsal. For Fidel, this meant going from living among the luxuries and higher standards of the Inner Sphere to the rough frontier of the Union.

By the time he came of age Fidel's contempt for Renorsal was clear. His father tired of his complaints and questioning by sending him to Wynn's Roost to attend the McEvedy Technical College, the Terran expatriate-run engineering school and the highest institution of learning in the Union. Fidel excelled more at socializing with the other children of elites and pursuing dalliances with local men and women his age, including fathering a reputed three children (court records are sealed). He graduated with a degree in mechanical sciences and, after repeated pleadings, finally returned home a year later after his father threatened to cut off his accounts.

Fidel's time on Renorsal in his 20s is not widely known, unsurprising given the remoteness of the Castro ranches and estates. In 3133 an announcement came that he had been made commander of the family mercenary brigade. It was another two years before he returned to Wynn's Roost on a temporary basis for contract negotiations with the Union government. In 3138 he returned again and has not left since. While his father remains the official holder of the family ranches and estates, as well as keeping political authority on Renorsal, Fidel has seemingly won independence for himself. He ostensibly looks out for the Castro family interests but many point out he seems more interested in living the high life in Turnerville and promoting himself for political office. Rumors abound that he intends to run for the Union Presidency in 3144 and is courting a number of interests to that effect, including the Terran enclave and the inner worlds dissatisfied with Sandusky's policies. In the meantime Fidel continues to live off his family largesse and win the attention of the scandalvids within the Union due to his free-living ways.


Gerard Fetladral
Rank/Title: Mayor of McEvedy City
Born: 3090 (52 in 3142)


Gerard Fetladral's exact birth is unknown. A foundling at McEvedy City Orphanage, he was adopted as a baby by Constance Fetladral, a ranking member of the Terran expatriates who had just lost her only child to a pirate raid on Salvende. Gerard's early life was one of comfort and stern responsibility, a given considering the Fetladral family's long history. When he came of age he immediately enlisted in the Union military, serving as a MechWarrior in the First Brigade very briefly before being transferred to the 3311th Armored Cavalry.

Given the size of the Union the unit is a small world and promotion is delayed. Gerard was in his late thirties when he was made the major and executive officer of the 3311th's Heavy Battalion, a prestigious post making him second in command of the unit's 'Mechs and heaviest vehicles. Shortly thereafter he rose to command of the battalion and, by 3131, the entire regiment, an unusually rapid rise brought on by the resignations of his superiors and no other candidates being considered. For the rest of the decade he served as CO of the 3311th, pitting the 3311th into repeated fights with mercenary and pirate raiders looking to loot the city's high technology and showing a ruthless streak in destroying any such foes, especially the pirates, often refusing surrenders. "Attacking the people of McEvedy City is a death sentence" he declared on one vidnews broadcast. "And the 3311th are the executioners."

Upon Mayor Winston's retirement in 3140, Gerard chose to run for the office. With his adopted mother rallying support among the Terran upper crust and his popularity among the populace for his victories, Gerard's victory was obvious to observers even before the polls opened. Only one opposition candidate rose to face him, Jason Metaxis, who ran a campaign spent mostly attacking Gerard as "non-Terran" over his unknown parentage. After Metaxas' crushing defeat he made complaints in both municipal and Union judiciaries charging Gerard with voter fraud and "intimidation tactics". While the Union courts are still considering the charges, observers in Turnerville believe them unlikely to be substantiated for lack of evidence, even if they have proven politically useful for President Sandusky given his administration's policies. Gerard has found his own ally in the Union government circles in Commander Castro, who has hosted Gerard and other senior Terran dignitaries numerous times in his Turnerville mansion and publicly mocked Metaxas on his judicial efforts to overturn the mayoral election.

Metaxis' charges have led to a bizarre addition, from the Kilbourne Concord-based "Anti-Terran Vigilance Group". While they show little love for a Terran-supremacist like Metaxas, the ATVG's extranet pages include articles debating the significance of a pin visible on Mayor Fetladral's suit lapel in all his public appearances, even found on his uniform during his command of the 3311th. The pin depicts the number "331" over an outline of the Terran-based geographical region of Minnesota; the famed logo of the long-destroyed Periphery-wandering mercenary band that called itself "the 331st". As this logo is also present in what little footage exists of the 3311th's 'Mechs, most commentators dismiss it as Fetladral displaying pride in his former command, but some of the ATVG's more extreme members believe it a sign of membership in a secretive organization based around the supposedly-dead mercenaries. "He may even be born from the 331st," one article alleges. "He's adopted, after all. Nobody knows who his real parents are, or if he even has real parents. He might be a tube baby of some kind!" It remains to be seen if any of these views will percolate into Union politics, or if even Metaxis might find them too bizarre to employ.

 

[Steve]

Federated Suns​

Grace Silver-Davion
Rank/Title: First Prince of the Federated Suns
Born: 3062 (80 in 3142)


Grace Maria Silver-Davion was born not just to rule but to unify. As the oldest child of Princess Victoria Davion, heir to the Davion throne, and Admiral "Roaring" John Silver, Grand Admiral of the Brethren, she was the heir to two realms and by her first breath initiated their planned unification. Being the granddaughter of Ian Davion the Restorer and "Long" Tom Silver placed great expectations upon her. Grace's formative years were spent in the initial burst of cautious optimism for lasting peace in the post-Terran War Inner Sphere, that gave way to the conflict that eventually formed a crucial role in her young life. The Concord-Compact War saw Grace lose her beloved grandfather Ian and very nearly her home on New Avalon to the Concord's invasion. Though the war ended in a stalemate and New Avalon was preserved from conquest, Grace's sense of security was blasted apart. She enthusiastically signed up for the AFFS when her time came and, to the surprise of several, embraced Roaring John's field by attending the Armstrong Aerospace Academy on Galax as a naval cadet.

During an assignment as a naval Leftenant to the <Slacker insert WarShip here> Grace saw her first combat during the Third Outback War, an indecisive action in Lackland system. During the course of the conflict she received a number of commendations for her handling of crew operations in both engineering and operational departments. While being the Princess-Imperial was certainly going to boost her career either way, there is little doubt her rise through the ranks during the conflict was primarily by merit (if offset by her later maternal leaves bearing the next generation of Silver-Davions). This culminated with her 3098 promotion to captaincy of the FSS Temeraire, one of the Federated Suns' capital-weight flagship WarShips. In her role as Temeraire's captain she joined her mother in the expedition to Arcadia and the Federated Suns' intervention into the Dominate War, where FSS Temeraire would lead the decisive action against Scipio O'Reilly's naval squadrons at the Battle of Duncan Station. After two full tours as Temeraire's CO, Grace stepped down from field service after her father was diagnosed with Type II brain cancer. From 3105 to 3107 she served as the Minister of Ways and Means as a means to prepare Grace for her birthright, and in August 3107 Victoria abdicated and Grace became First Prince of the Federated Suns.

Three years later, disaster struck with the commence of war over Andurien. The Federated Suns was obligated by treaty to support their Compact allies against the Lyran states and the Flavian-led Spinward Pact. Publically Grace was a loyal ally, immediately ordering troops into commencing offensive operations into the Aurigan Reach and to the support of Azami defenses against the Lyrans, but by many reports she privately fumed at Emperor Gregory for lighting the fire with his invasion of Andurien. Her worries proved justified in October of 3110 when the Kilbourne Concord and the Galedon Co-Prosperity Sphere launched a massive invasion of the Federated Suns, the Tikonov Grand Union, and the Azami Confederation. Grace was faced with the repeat of her childhood nightmares and scrambled the AFFS to meet the onslaught. Years of careful application of military power preserved the Suns' position and, after Kori Honda's betrayal of the Concord, the Federated Suns was able to go on the offensive, reclaiming lost worlds and pushing into the former Canaan Accord to begin a brutal six year long war with the Galedonian forces in the heart of the old Draconis March. The casualties endured in this long conflict meant Grace was left with little to do but curse when the final year saw disaster on two fronts; the Concord's last ditch DYNAMO offensive that cost her control of her husband's long-lost worlds and nearly saw the fall of Filtvelt, joined by the betrayal by the Oriento-Capellan Empire, where Emperor Gregory embraced the Liaoist renegades who invaded and seized many worlds from the St. Ives March.

Grace accepted her losses in the Peace of Dieron as a necessary evil. Her time since has been spent working to patch up the wounds that the Suns suffered in the long conflict. With the help of her surviving mother and other advisors like her husband, Prince Erik, Grace was able to stabilize the shaky state of the Davion treasury. Diplomatically she tacked onto a new course, pursuing a careful truce with the prickly Concord while looking to expand ties with other anti-Liao states, especially the Royal Federation and the Magistracy of Canopus. On the military side, Grace has pursued a reorganization of the AFFS to focus their strengths and support the wider Concord as best as her resources allow. She is one of the rulers who has not overtly challenged the Peace of Dieron, but there is no doubt she intends to be ready should it ever falter.


Erik Sandoval
Rank/Title: Prince's Champion (former); Privy Council Member; Duke of Robinson and Arch-Duke of the Draconis March (exiled)
Born: 3062 (80 in 3142)


Born the heir to the Canaan Accord, Erik was still a child when his future family was decided for him by his father Aaron with a betrothal to marry Princess Grace Silver-Davion, bringing about the reunification of the Canaan Accord to the Federated Suns. Erik spent his childhood preparing for this future and the need to protect his homeworlds, but it was for nothing. His nuptials played the pivotal role in sparking the Concord-Compact War. Erik was not yet twelve years old when he saw his father die at the hands of the Lexington Combat Group's forces and was himself whisked away to live on in exile in the Federated Suns, his beloved homeworld Robinson and the entire Accord the conquests of the Concord and their Galedonian allies. Masako Honda's non-Kuritan assertions aside, Erik would be one of many such exiles to harbor a deep, bitter grudge over the "Drac conquest", with the Concord being seen as nothing more than "Drac agents" due to their close alliance to Galedon.

The loss of his nation did not see the betrothal called off, however, and any remnant concern was lost when it was clear Erik and Grace would make for a working political power couple given their interpersonal dynamics and chemistry. While Grace pursued a naval career Erik entered the AFFS as a MechWarrior, and after a short early career with the Fifth Avalon Hussars he would join the First Robinson Avengers and remain with them for the rest of his military service. During the Third Outback War he won several commendations during raids into the old Accord, where the Avengers and other formations often armed local resistance movements and freed imprisoned Sandovalists from Concord jails. Erik pushed with his mother-in-law to approve a full-scale invasion to reclaim the Accord, but she refused on the grounds of risking escalation and a lack of troops due to the ongoing Compact warfare with the Spinward states. This eventually strained relations between Erik and First Prince Victoria.

The Fourth Succession War nearly killed Erik several times but brought him his dream. In 3115 AFFS troops liberated Robinson from a brief, but brutal, Galedonian occupation. Erik was crowned Lord Protector of the Canaan Accord the following year and signed the official restoration of the Accord to the Federated Suns as the Draconis March. This made it all the more bitter three years later when the Concord's Operation DYNAMO washed over the exhausted, undermanned AFFS forces trying to hold the region while their comrades raced to confront Capellan aggression. Robinson again fell and Erik had to be begged by his son Tristan to join the retreat. The Peace of Dieron would confirm the loss of Robinson to the triumphant Concord. Disgusted and disappointed by the Suns' strategic defeat in the war, Erik resigned his AFFS commission, though he remained Prince's Champion until 3134 at his wife's pleading. Many who see him socially are surprised at how jovial and kind he seems, but a number of reports in various sources hint that beneath that calm surface lies a festering bitterness and utter hatred for the Concord and Draconis Combine.


Arthur Silver-Davion
Rank/Title: Major General, AFFS (Res.); Minister of Ways and Means; Prince Imperial
Born: 3093 (49 in 3142)


Arthur holds the unique distinction of being the first heir to the Davion throne to be born in space. His mother Princess Grace was on her way home for maternity leave when early complications prompted a forced delivery aboard the military transport Paul Cunningham. Arthur's survival was uncertain for several days as the ship reduced thrust to sub-1 gee to ease the newborn's medical complications. While some were worried this early delivery might in some way have impacted the heir's health, his childhood quickly proved otherwise as Arthur proved an energetic child. He would pick his father's military path over his mother's and attended NAMA. Upon graduating as a MechWarrior Arthur was assigned briefly to the First FedSuns Grenadiers before war losses saw his reassignment to the Sharpe Rifles, a unit he would remain linked to for the rest of his military career.

This placed Arthur among his father's troops when the AFFS landed to claim Robinson in 3115, a campaign where Arthur would be slightly wounded and show repeated acts of courage under fire. Following the Galedonian retreat Arthur was formally recognized as the next Lord-Protector of the Accord (though not the next Duke of Robinson, a title due to go to his younger brother Tristan) before joining further operations with the Sharpe Rifles. He made Captain after the New Ivarsaan campaign in 3117, suffering severe wounding and nearly losing a leg and an eye when his cockpit was nearly destroyed by enemy fire. In 3119 he took emergency command of his battalion following battlefield losses against the Second Young Liao Guards on Harloc during the Oriento-Capellans' XIN SHENG offensive, playing a pivotal role in ensuring the success of Harloc's defense despite significant casualties. By the signing of the Peace of Dieron, though he was not yet thirty, Prince Arthur was a hardened veteran of dozens of ferocious engagements.

With Robinson lost in the Concord's 3119 DYNAMO offensive Arthur's birthright was stripped from the Federated Suns' control, more importantly, it rendered many of the sacrifices made during the course of the war moot given the worlds liberated had been lost. Like his father, Arthur has been left intensely bitter by this outcome, though much of his anger seems directed at the betrayal by the Empire which he blames for the AFFS lacking the means to repulse the Concord invasion of 3119. When he married in 3121, he chose Lady Ursula Buyanska, then the heiress to the ducal throne of Harloc, whom he had fought beside during the latter years of the war and who is staunchly (some would say viciously) anti-Capellan. Their first son and the next heir after Arthur, Prince Michael, was born in Avalon City in July 3122, and they have dutifully provided two more children since, Princess Jessica and Prince Zane. For several years Arthur continued AFFS service and reached general rank, ultimately making Major General in 3134 and serving two years as CO of the Sharpe Rifles. At his mother's request he stood down from active service in 3136 to become the Minister of Ways and Means in the Federation's government, allowing First Prince Grace to see to his preparation to assume the throne upon her death or abdication in the near-likely future. How Arthur will govern is considered something of a question mark to many, with some rumors among Avalon City watchers holding that he is even more bullish towarrds the Empire than his mother and will likely orientate the AFFS to consider the Empire their primary foe.


Victor Silver-Davion
Rank/Title: Prince's Champion, Colonel, CO First Davion Guards BattleMech Regiment, AFFS
Born: 3098 (44 in 3142)


Victor Thomas Silver-Davion was born to Prince Jonathan Silver-Davion, the younger brother of First Prince Grace. While he was considered to be fairly average as a student and athlete when young, by the time he reached adolescence Victor's skills became more evident. Given the vicious fighting of the Fourth Succession War he was admitted to Albion early, in 3114, and would graduate in 3117 near the top of his class and widely considered the best MechWarrior of that class. He joined his father's unit, the First Davion Guards, and departed for the front.

The fighting on Sakhara V through 3117 and 3118 was a trial by fire in which Victor's skill became evident; despite his age he was made a temporary lance commander before combat losses forced the evacuation of Sakhara. He remained with the unit for its trip to Filtvelt for reconstitution and to buttress the defenses of the Periphery March, placing Victor square in the center of some of the fiercest fighting in the final year of the war when the Kilbourne Concord's Filtvelt Dragoons and the Blue Star Irregulars landed to seize the planet in the Concord's secondary SWORDBREAKER offensive. Victor would see repeated combat actions through the remainder of the war. In November 3119, after the First Davion Guards' successful defense of Olafberg despite crippling losses, Victor was breveted to Captain to assume command of his shattered company.

Following the Peace of Dieron Victor has remained active in the AFFS, securing permanent promotion to Captain in 3122 and gaining a promotion to Major in 3124. After the unit's two year tour as part of the Terran Oversight Force in 3126-3128 Victor was promoted to Lt. Colonel and command of the First Battalion, First Davion Guards 'Mech Regiment. In 3132, when it was clear there was no billets available, he took assignment to the AFFS Reserves and married his long-time comrade and lover Major Leslie Tran, taking the time to be with her after complications in her GRS operation prompted a prolonged hospitalization. Victor spent his spare time tutoring Prince Michael, his cousin and Arthur's heir, in martial studies in 'Mech piloting. This changed in 3134 and Erik Sandoval's full retirement. First Prince Grace, after consideration, asked Victor to take the position of Prince's Champion. Victor accepted the post and an attendant promotion to Colonel. As part of his duties the First Davion Guards are permanently assigned to him, to travel with Victor wherever Grace might bid him to go to be her voice and eyes in local issues. After eight years it is clear Victor is serving well in the role; he is also now widely held as the best MechWarrior House Davion has produced since Ian the Restorer. Politically he remains distant, insisting he is a soldier following orders, but it is remarked he has proven quite capable of defusing local political issues in Grace's favor. He is a lukewarm supporter of the Peace of Dieron and has made several public assurances the Federated Suns is out to adhere to the treaty.


Bao Chen Luo
Rank/Title: First Minister of the Federated Suns
Born: 3079 (63 in 3142)


Bao Chen Luo was born to a storekeeper and librarian in the village of San Wai on St. Ives. A child prodigy, his family moved to Tian-tan when he was ten due to a grant from the Federation government for education. Chen attended the University of St. Ives and completed dual degrees in business management and administrative sciences. In keeping with the ideals and culture of St. Ives' population, Chen joined the civil service for the planetary government and served in the Bureau of Industry. By the time he was thirty Chen was serving with the Bureau's Armaments Office and would gain the prestigious position of Interagency Liaison with the Federated Suns' Ministry of Industry and Development. This resulted in extensive contact with the major armaments manufacturers with plants on his homeworld as well as bringing Chen into the social circles of the Federation bureaucracy.

Through the Fourth Succession War Chen remained with the civil service, receiving the commission of Major in the AFFS in 3112 after completing an officer commissioning course and continuing to work in managing St. Ives' major military industries for the war effort. For most of the war he served quietly and capably but with little public fanfare. The Liaoist invasion of St. Ives March provided the means for Chen to gain greater influence. He oversaw emergency mobilization procedures to prepare for any attacks by IOCF forces and became the face of pro-Davion-Silver sentiment on St. Ives news, often providing public announcements on planetary defense and denouncing the Imperial betrayal of the alliance.

Following the Peace of Dieron Chen was released from AFFS service. He temporarily took up a local position with the Ministry of Industry and Development, but in 3124 he resigned to run for the Assembly of Worlds with the All-Federation Party. His victory was part of a general sweep of the AFP across the St. Ives March as a result of post-XIN SHENG domestic political shakeup. Chen spent his first two terms promoting the post-war rebuilding plans of his party and forging the All-Federation Party's alliance with the Social Democratic Party. His knowledge of the Federated Suns' civil service protocols and machine led to key committee assignments. Following his 3132 re-election he was invited into the government of First Minister Allen Forsyth as Minister of Industry and Development. Given his St. Ives and Capellan heritage, Chen's role in the government gained greater public attention than might have otherwise been the case.

In 3136 he faced his first major political challenge with the St. Ives Mercantile Party's rise in local politics. They ran a campaign casting Chen as a "New Avalonized" man no longer interested in the needs of his homeworld and early polls indicated weakness. Chen returned home and ran a vigorous counter-campaign on his policies' benefits to St. Ives. While some commentators thought his charges that the Mercantile Party were "Liaoists in wool covering" was unfair, it stung hard given the Mercantile Party's uncertain stances on the Empire and likely contributed to Chen's seven point electoral victory. He returned to New Avalon strengthened, and when Forsyth chose to retire due to illness in 3138, Chen was handed the reins of government.

Electoral victory in 3140 confirmed Chen's political program and strengthened him in reigning in some of the more aggressive desires of the Privy Council. Chen remains the strongest supporter of the Peace of Dieron in the Federated Suns' leadership. But he is not a dove; Chen openly supports the vigorous naval programs First Prince Grace insisted upon once Emperor Robert's enlarged naval plans were made public, and has shown great political acumen in keeping the Social Democrats in the government coalition despite their anti-military buildup stances.

 

[Steve]

Oriento-Capellan Empire​

Robert Halas-Liao
Rank/Title: Emperor of the Oriento-Capellan Empire
Born: 3099 (43 in 3142)


Robert was the first child of Prince-Imperial Gregory Halas-Liao, ensuring he would inherit the Imperial-Grand Ducal title in due time. HIs birth was a great relief to Gregory and his family as at the time Gregory had tried and failed for ten years to have a legitimate heir. Robert spent his earliest years on Oriente but would be the first Halas-Liao heir to be raised on Sian, moving to the planet in 3103 with his parents. This made him the first future ruler who would grow up among the Capellan people and not the Orientan. This improved his popularity among Capellan worlds but at the cost of distrust or uncertainty from sections of Orientan society.

While still just a child when the Fourth Succession War broke out, Robert played a role from the beginning. When in public he was often wearing a special IOCF uniform and met with returning war veterans and bereaved civilians. In 3115 he started martial studies at the Allison Royal Academy on Harsefeld and was elevated to field service in 3117 under war emergency protocols. Emperor Gregory ensured his assignment to the Dynasty Guards; Robert took part in the smashing victory over the Principate and Rim Commonality at Kearny and the capture of Tematagi before returning home to Sian in early 3119 to be wed to Dana Rivoli, heiress to Ceres; his eldest child, Xiaoli, was born near the end of the year. Robert was confirmed as a lance commander during the period the Congress of Dieron met.

Robert remained in active IOCF service for the requisite six years before going into the reserves and focusing on domestic matters at his father's behest. He worked in the Imperial Restoration Bureau, overseeing the "reintegration" of the Capellan worlds of the Victoria Commonality. At his father's behest Robet spent four years, 3128 to 3132, touring the Empire with visits to major provincial and commonality capitals, including six months on Oriente, as a means to tighten the bonds of the two-sided state. This placed him, for the first time in his life, into extended contact with his great-grandmother, the Dowager Empress Eris, with the two reputed to have some difficulties in their relationship by non-state sources. His marriage, while arranged, is considered a stable one, and after Xiaoli's birth Robert has had two more children by Lady Rivoli. His eldest remains his heir despite a somewhat tempestuous relationship given her known willfulness and a rebellious streak concerning the expectations placed upon her.

With his father's death in 3137 Robert ascended the throne. Once in power he was quick to deal with the Empire's precarious strategic isolation through expanding contacts with the Draconis Combine and ordering a massive expansion of the IOCF's WarShip fleet to be a defensive force against the Empire's many bordering enemies. While initially kept as a state secret, ConcertWatch revealed the extent in a special report in early 3140, a jolt that sparked similar naval armament programs from the Empire's neighbors and has done more damage yo the Peace of Dieron than anything since the Arcadians attacked Sirius and Procyon in 3123. Robert continues to insist his intentions are defensive and that the Empire will only build enough to forestall attacks. He has backed this somewhat with mutual drawdowns with the Arcadians following High King Nathaniel's succession to the throne, earning the ire of the Dowager on Oriente. These gestures aside, Emperor Robert nevertheless remains committed to his naval expansion as vital to Imperial security.



Eris Halas
Rank/Title: Dowager Empress of the Oriento-Capellan Empire
Born: 3013 (129 in 3142)

Eris Halas is living history by any measure of the term. Born to Persephone Halas as the niece of Grand Duke Rico Halas in 3013, she was named the childless ruler's heir and raised by Rico until his death. At that point she rose to the throne at the cusp of the Second Age of War as a sixteen year old prodigy who quickly put Oriente on a path of rebuilding its power. She started an initiative to rebuild the Free Worlds League as a diplomatic organization and aligned with her neighbors in House Allison's Harsefeld. An assassination attempt in 3032 nearly killed her and left her comatose for three years. Upon awakening with the aid of extensive restorative surgery and therapy, Eris quickly reconsolidated power. Recognizing her nation's strategic situation, she pursued the marriage with Jonah Allison-Liao that unified Harsefeld and Oriente. She would co-rule this empire for well over half a century, surviving the Terran invasion of 3050-51 and living through the Terran War and the conflicts of the later Second Age of War. Finally, after the turn of the century, she and Emperor Jonah abdicated in favor of their grandson Gregory, and while Jonah passed away within the decade she has lived on with the aid of the very cusp of medical technology.

Given her long life and rule, it is no surprise that Eris still wields enormous influence in the Empire, particularly in the Grand Duchy of Oriente where she is seen as the power behind the throne of the Duchy's institutions given Gregory and Robert have ruled exclusively from Sian. To the people of Oriente she is a living institution, a champion of science and the arts that turned their world into one of the great centers of learning and advancement in the Inner Sphere. She followed in her uncle's footsteps of promoting measures to protect civilization despite the warring of the Inner Sphere, forming and supporting Knightly Orders that insist on the highest standards of conduct on and off the battlefield. In 3060 Eris led the opposition to Masako Honda and Penelope Reynolds' desire to forcibly de-industrialize Terra completely and donated significant wealth and personal property to assisting war refugees; to this day numerous charities continue to operate on the generous endowments granted to them by Eris from House Halas' deep treasury. By all accounts, she will be remembered as a great humanitarian figure… at least, if not for her other known quantity.

In 3037, Eris was among the attendees at the reformation of the Arcadian Free March into the Royal Federation and Sara-Marie Proctor's re-coronation as High Queen. She saw this, and Sara-Marie's previous attendance of her wedding to Prince Jonah, as a sign of peace between the realms. Yet even as she was whisked home on a command circuit, her former hosts' armies were also burning towards their JumpShips; within the month Arcadian troops, and the other Lyran states, were invading both Oriente and Harsefeld as their intervention into the Second Andurien War. This action was, to Eris, an unconscionable betrayal of her offered hand of peace, and in the years since she has harbored a notorious grudge against House Proctor. She promoted the invasion of the Royal Federation during the War of Donegalian Succession and began a lifelong campaign to forcibly conquer and integrate into the Duchy all of the former worlds of the Marik Commonwealth, which she had split with the Arcadians in the Second Skye War. Sara-Marie's abdication in 3044 and death in 3055, as well as the drastic needs of the Terran War, saw this grudge buried for a time, but when the fighting over Sirius and Procyon in the 3060s saw the Arcadian invasion of New Olympia and the combat deaths of her son Prince Alexander and her closest advisor (and reputed lover) Ser Arthur Klaes, the grudge renewed itself and has not abated since. Eris has become one of the staunchest foes of House Proctor and disapproves of Emperor Robert's policy of peace with High King Nathaniel. Conversely, she has made herself despised among the Arcadian-loyal portion of House Marik for the repeated invasions of Atreus and their other worlds.

Whether she is a noble humanitarian or a hateful warmonger, one thing is certain of Eris Halas; she will leave a mixed legacy for historians to debate about when she finally draws her last breath.


(Nothing gets an Arcadian officer more furious than bringing up "the Dowager". Especially if they're from the Principality of Atreus. I heard officers I'd taken for the soft type openly declaring toasts "to the bloody Dowager's bloody death, long is it overdue"! Apparently there's even some dark humor about her long life being sustained by the deaths of the Proctor family. "For every Proctor who dies, the evil old woman gets another five years." — Brigadier Huyten)



Xiaoli Halas-Liao
Rank/Title: Lieutenant, First Sian Dragoons, Princess-Imperial of the Oriento-Capellan Empire
Born: 3119 (23 in 3142)

Xiaoli Eris Halas-Liao was born prematurely in early December 3119, just as the Fourth Succession War's final shots were being fired, as a precaution due to her mother contracting a brain fever that might have damaged the unborn heiress in the womb. Early in life she was closely monitored for any signs of abnormalities in mental or physical development, but by 3134 it was evident Princess Xiaoli was as healthy as would be expected. Indeed, she was proving a bright (if willful) child and her education bore fruit quickly, particularly during the two years of her adolescence spent on Oriente where her great-great-grandmother, Dowager Empress Eris Halas, took personal interest in her education.

Xiaoli's first year at the University of Sian saw her elevation to Princess-Imperial by her father Robert's ascension to the Celestial Throne. At first this seemed to evince little change in matters, but as time passed reports grew of Xiaoli becoming rebellious and acting out against the expectations of her station. Her grades suffered, she was defiant of the military discipline in the Hen gao Xiao-Iu classes, and she spent most of her time enjoying nightlife and partying atmospheres among other young sheng and director caste students. A scathing Maskirovka report of her conduct, including taking multiple lovers, leaked to the press in Oriente and resulted in the forced expulsion of a Grand Duchy news journalist from the Capellan half of the Empire.

Finally the Emperor stepped in. It's unknown what measures he took to secure his daughter's obedience, but her grades recovered sufficiently for graduation. Under his command she committed to finishing her Xiao-lu course and was inducted into the IOCF as an officer, a MechWarrior assigned to the First Sian Dragoons. By reports she has occasionally been spotted among the clubs and nightlife centers of Imperial City, but her behavior is more befitting a young military officer and not her student days. The Maskirovka and state media refuse to corroborate any of the rumors of more extreme behavior. But there is no mistaking the quiet frustration in her eyes during public appearances with Emperor Robert. It is entirely possible the Emperor's heiress will yet cause him significant headache, or heartache, in the near future.



Daniel Hawkwood
Rank/Title: Knight-Commander of the Knights of the Red Sword
Born: 3094 (48 in 3142)

Ser Daniel was born on Fletcher to House Hawkwood, the second of three sons of Ser Jonathan Hawkwood and Ser Ursula Assad of the Knights of the Red Sword. With his parents off in service young Daniel was raised by family retainers and older cousins. Early in life he learned the costs of his family's duty when his mother was slain in the Red Swords' failed bid to capture Atreus. As with his brothers and older sister, Daniel spent his adolescence in military education, devoted to joining the Order along with his father. He attended the Rico Halas Memorial Academy on Oriente from 3106 to 3110, then spent two years as a Squire-at-Arms in the Red Swords before reaching his majority and swearing his oath of fealty. He was named a Man-at-Arms of the Red Swords in 3113 and sent into combat as a MechWarrior.

The Fourth Succession War was no less a trial for Ser Daniel and his family than it was for any others. His father was badly wounded on Atreus in 3114. His older sister, Ser Livia, was left in a near-vegetative state by head wounds in the fighting on Nullarbor two years later. By the time the Red Swords and their fellow Orders made their second attempt at Atreus in the war, Ser Daniel had been knighted and commanded a company of his fellow Red Swords in the fierce fighting for House Marik's throneworld. This campaign cost him an arm and his younger brother, Roderick, who was slain in fighting with the First Atrean Dragoons while trying to capture Atreus City itself. Triumph came very close and the Atrean defenses had nearly crumbled when the AFRF broke the orbiting blockade and landed relief troops. The wounded Ser Daniel joined the retreat with a bitter heart.

After the Peace of Dieron Ser Daniel turned his attentions towards rebuilding the Order. He briefly hoped for a command to seize Atreus during the Arcadian invasion of Sirius and Procyon in 3123, but the end of fighting precluded any such attack. In 3125 he married Ser Jacinda Gallagher, an aerospace fighter pilot of the Red Swords, and would have his eldest son, Roderick, two years later. He climbed through the ranks towards the end of the decade as the Red Swords began expanding back to their proper size, becoming a Knight-Captain in 3128 and ascending to Knight-Colonel in 3134. He was becoming known across the Empire as a fierce advocate of punishing the Arcadians for their aggressions; he was also critical of the Liaoists and their "foolish treachery", holding them responsible for the failure to capture Atreus due to the Capellans' devotion to the XIN SHENG attack.

In 3139, Ser Daniel was nominated by the Order Council to be named Knight-Commander; the following year Emperor Robert, as Grand Duke of Oriente, approved the promotion, though only after insistent lobbying by Ser Daniel's father within the Celestial Court. Appearances aside, this was not so much from nepotism as it was that the post was vacant and needed filling. Robert neglected to do so until reassured that Ser Daniel would not "provoke" the Arcadians without Imperial authorization. Rumors abound that at least one member of his entourage may be an agent of the Mask, though this is judged unlikely by most veteran observers of the Empire. It is known, however, that wherever the Red Swords go, the Fifth Allison Guards tend to follow; it is clear Emperor Robert is not about to let Ser Daniel remain unobserved.



Salma Chen
Rank/Title: Mandrissa, Head of the Maskirovka
Born: 3092 (50 in 3142)

Salma Chen was born into the sheng caste of nobility as a member of a family of significant prestige and history. The Chens of Bandora are a family of long-standing devotion to the Capellan State and ideology, even while living in exile on Harsefeld during their world's rule by the hated democratic regime of the Capellan Hegemony, and were restored by the victory of House Allison over the Hegemony in 3035-56. Salma was raised to govern and serve the Capellan State and promote her family's position within it. She attended the Allison Imperial Officer Academy on Harsefeld starting in 3108 and graduated four years later, during the height of the Fourth Succession War.

After brief war service with Imperial troops garrisoning Irian Salma was transferred to special operations training to become part of the military intelligence service of the Empire. In 3116 she won the Cluster of Conspicuous Heroism and Grand Cordon of Merit for ensuring the destruction of intelligence files on Regulus before that planet's fall to enemy forces. Two years later she commanded the battle armored infantry team that captured the Royal Federation's SIS branch headquarters on Atreus' moon of Wendigo during the 3118-3119 invasion of that system, then successfully held it from counterattacks until ordered to withdraw following the breaking of the Imperial blockade of Atreus. At the end of the war, Emperor Gregory personally awarded her the Imperial Order of Halas-Liao, First Class, for wartime service, and she would be assigned to his staff at Dieron as an intelligence analyst during the Congress of Dieron.

The 3122 death of her older brother Alexei from complications of his war wounds changed Salma's career. No longer was she just a member of the sheng; she was now heiress to the Chens. She resigned her IOCF commission and returned to Bandora to be trained by the Chen diem in running her family's holdings and estates. In 3124 she married Samanthan Armstead, a younger son of the Duke of Bandora, and bore her first child nearly a year later. At her father Norman's death in 3129, Salma was elevated to the sheng peerage as Mandrissa.

In 3133 Mandrissa Salma claimed an opening to re-enter her preferred field when Emperor Gregory invited her to join the directorship of the Maskirovka. Salma jumped at this chance and moved to Sian, where she became a force in the House of Scions and a prominent member of the Imperial Reformers and their Capellan restorationist supporters. Yet she has refused to commit fully to their political cause, arguing the Empire's current situation does not allow for an aggressive campaign to reclaim the Confederation's unrestored territories. This relatively moderate position won her the support of Emperor Robert upon his ascension; in 3140 Robert appointed Salma as head of the Maskirovka, making her one of the leaders of the Celestial Court and one of the most powerful figures in the Empire. She promotes the continued reforms of the Empire, including greater centralization of intelligence and military authority, and the maintenance of the Peace of Dieron, but has managed to avoid making enemies with the Orientian side of the Court and Empire despite her Liaoist views. Observers cannot help but notice that following her elevation the scope and frequency of Rim Commonality separatism has grown, and there are indications from the Federated Suns of improved organization among Taurian nationalists as well as the Capellan groups there. Altogether Salma is proving an effective — and dangerous — leader for the Imperial Maskirovka.

 

[Steve]

People's State of Andurien​

Karla Humphries
Rank/Title: Duchess of Andurien
Born: 3102 (40 in 3142)

Karla Humphries was born to Andrew Humphries and his wife Drusilla Adamcyzk as the future Duchess. That future came far faster than many expected when her parents were killed in a DropShuttle crash in 3106. At the age of four Karla inherited the leadership of the People's State. The Regency Council, led by Chairman Gan Ninghua of the Board of Trade Workers, easily fended off a brief push by the most radical political movements to dissolve the Ducal institution and settled into governing in her name while Karla was educated.

She was only seven years old when the February Ultimatum of 3110 was transmitted by Emperor Gregory. It demanded the effective dissolution of the People's State into the Oriento-Capellan Empire and arranged for her eventual marriage to his son and heir Robert Halas-Liao, the Prince-Imperial, to solidify Andurien's "return to her proper place in the Capellan State". The rejection of this demand, after a pledge of support from the Magistracy of Canopus and the Flavian Principate, precipitated the Oriento-Capellan invasion that would shape Karla's life and herald the Fourth Succession War. For the next seven years Karla would spend her remaining childhood and adolescence effectively on the run as Imperial forces, led by the feared Death Commandos, sought to capture her and systematically slaughtered her Regency Council. Attempts to slip her offworld in 3112 and 3114 failed due to Imperial intelligence capabilities. That she came out of the invasion of her homeworld without once being captured was due to the tremendous courage of her people, with communes and towns across Andurien hosting and sheltering their fugitive Duchess while the APDF and their Canopian allies fought to hold the world. A number of communes would become battle zones or destroyed in reprisal for keeping her from the Empire. This prolonged experience only ended in 3117 as battlefield defeat and the strain on Imperial resources finally compelled the Empire to withdraw from Andurien. Karla was left as a fifteen year old girl who had lost over half the adult authority figures in her life and seen her people bleed and die to protect her.

After these years of horror Karla finished her education while her people finished the war in triumph, even reclaiming a number of worlds lost to the Empire's constituent states in the 3030s. As the Congress of Dieron codified the peace to end the fighting Karla began courses in the partly-rebuilt halls of the People's University of Andurien. She graduated in 3125 with a master's degree in political science and a bachelor's in economics and formally assumed her full powers. The following year she married John Pickering-Wu, a prominent member of the Free Capella movement whom she'd met as a fellow student. Children — Andrew, Ninghua, and Alicia — would follow in 3128, 3130, and 3135.

While she has now directly ruled for nearly twenty years, Duchess Karla has rarely been more than a rubber stamp for the Board of Trade Workers and the Council of Ministers. Most of her efforts, public and private, are in the field of public works and promoting charity drives and rebuilding from the war. House Humphries' coffers are reputed to be nearly empty (relatively speaking) from all of Karla's efforts. The net result has been a solidification of the institution she represents through the Andurien population's near-universal love for her (one of the few things the population agrees upon so widely, it can be noted). Yet for all this wide popularity, it is widely hinted — if not acknowledged — that the emotional costs of the war never went away for Karla, and that to this day she suffers night terrors and other traumas indicative of PTSD, a condition that many in what is widely called "Andurien's Lost Generation" know all too well.



Jacob Chamberlain
Rank/Title: Defender-General of the People of Andurien
Born: 3073 (69 in 3142)

Jacob Chamberlain of House Chamberlain was born the younger son of Andrew Chamberlain, heir to Janice and the family. Like his older sister Joanna Jacob was raised on Andurien and saw the people of that world as his own, just as those on Orientan-controlled Kearny were. He joined the APDF at age 17, studied at the Andurien Defense Force Officer College, and joined the Fusiliers as a MechWarrior in 3094. He proved a capable commander during campaigns against pirates in the Frontier Region and made Lt. Colonel in 3109, becoming XO of the Second 'Mech Battalion of Chamberlain's Fusiliers. By this point he had married a fellow Fusilier, Henrietta Tombay, and had two children, Janice and Desmond.

The Fourth Succession War was a brutal time for Jacob and his unit. The seven year struggle to hold Andurien from Imperial invasion destroyed the Fusiliers twice over, with survivors from shattered APDF units reinforcing the units. Jacob would be severely wounded in fighting near Baroda in 3113. A year later, Henrietta was killed in one of the many struggles for Jojoken, and barely a day after Desmond would be lost to an Imperial artillery shell that struck the civilian bunker he was sheltering in. The loss nearly broke Jacob, but the situation did not allow for him to grieve. Not until 3117 and the Imperial withdrawal did his bereavement finally overwhelm him. In July of that year the APDF relieved Jacob of command and listed him as a psychiatric casualty. He was sent to counseling along with his surviving daughter.

In most cases such spells the end of a military career. In 3119, however, the need for troops in the final push and Jacob's partial recovery saw him re-instated, and he joined his older sister in the Fusiliers' triumphant return to House Chamberlain's ancestral homeworld. The coming of the Peace of Dieron and the relinquishing of Kearny to the People's State saw a new purpose arise for Jacob, who stood as his sister's loyal second-in-command as the Fusiliers worked towards the integration of their homeworld into Andurien's state. He remarried in 3124 to a fellow veteran, Tamara Gupta, and left the Fusiliers to take administrative commands within the APDF. A pair of children, Vishay and Javier, would be born by the end of the decade, while his eldest joined the Fusiliers as a MechWarrior in the family tradition.

When not seeing to this family Jacob worked towards the re-establishment of the APDF to pre-war levels. He promoted the new Brigade Combat Teams that were to provide the APDF rapid reaction forces to incursions and proved a force in the debates in Jojoken over funding for the APDF. This long service was rewarded with repeated promotions culminating in his recent 3141 appointment to the post of Defender-General, the highest military command post in the People's State, cementing the career of a man who was once rated a high suicide risk for his suffering. Jacob is held by a number of commentators as a living symbol of the resiliency of the Andurien people and the costs of war they were forced to bear. He has insisted in repeated interviews he does not wish to be held as a hero. "I was one of the lucky ones", he said in a recent address. "I got to come home in the end. So many of our loved ones did not."



Rama Choudhuri
Rank/Title: People's Minister of Communications, Council of Ministers; PhD in Sociology and Psychology
Born: 3079 (63 in 3142)

Rama Choudhuri of Kanata was born to Divija Singh and Phanesh Choudhuri, serving administrative officials of the Kanata Mutual Trade Association. Rama was identified early for intelligence but struggled in his education. As he was quickly bored with the schoolwork he absorbed so quickly, Rama expended his energies in pursuing friendships with fellow students, a practice that did not always work given his reputation as the "smart one". The struggle to communicate his desires with some of his peers would prove the foundation for a lifelong devotion (some would say obsession) with communications. Rama went on to higher education in his teenage years, spending four years at preparatory academies before attending the Kanata People's University of the Sciences in 3097. He achieved a Master's Degree in Sociology in 3103 through a thesis on the importance of more sophisticated networking and mass communication in encouraging "social cohesion and healthy human interaction". which he expanded upon in his doctoral thesis three years later at the People's University of Andurien. Upon the award of his initial PhD, in Sociology, Doctor Choudhuri pursued postdoctoral studies at Ambedkar University on Terra.

He was still in the process of developing a postdoctoral study on mass communications when the Fourth Succession War broke out and cut him off from returning home. Doctor Choudhuri made himself publicly known among the Terrans when Imperial representatives circulated a missive calling upon Andurien citizens on Terra to accept the Empire and urge their government to surrender. Choudhuri wrote a response directed at both his Terran neighbors and his fellow Andurien citizens denouncing the Empire's aggression and refuting the Capellan claim to their loyalty. While no public response was given later admissions revealed the Empire placed him upon an arrest list and held the response against his parents, who were confined during the nine year occupation of Kanata for "anti-Imperial activities". A sister, Kamala, was killed as an insurgent in 3115. Some Imperial expatriates on Terra, particularly Capellan ones, made public attacks on Doctor Choudhuri, including two assaults in 3112 and 3114. Yet this case, more than any, prompted local opposition and hostility towards the Empire, enough that Imperial expatriates complained to ComStar about "abuses" by the population in Delhi.

During the conflict, Doctor Choudhuri continued his studies, attending the Subhash-Adhikari University of Technology from 3111 to 3116 that saw him achieve a Master's in Interstellar Communication. When the war ended he was finishing his second doctoral thesis, this time in psychology, on the psychological impact of communication technology. A month before the Peace of Dieron was signed, Ambedkar University accepted the thesis and he was named a PhD in Psychology. Multiple institutions on Terra offered him chairs and professorships. Instead, Doctor Choudhuri bid Terra farewell and returned to Kanata.

Rama returned to a world still wounded by the war and the long occupation by Imperial troops, embraced his parents, mourned his sister, and set about on his new mission; accomplishing the democratic dream of the People's State by facilitating democratic debate and conversation across the entire nation in real time. For the next decade his efforts were primarily waged as a researcher while Andurien rebuilt from the war and the economic ruin it brought, but in 3130 a paper on the prospect of his "SpeechWeb" concept saw Doctor Choudhuri invited to Jojoken to brief the Council of Ministers. Andurien's economy was still recovering and the treasury was painfully low on funds for such speculative projects, but the idea of real-time interstellar communication for every citizen was broadly popular for how closely it fit the Andurien ideal. Doctor Choudhuri was invited to run for the People's Assembly and won a seat from a constituency on Kanata. In 3136 a formal Assembly vote and the assent of Duchess Karla elevated Doctor Choudhuri to Minister of Communications. In 3138, after exhaustive negotiations with ComStar and the Board of Trade Workers, a formal agreement was signed to bring the SpeechWeb into being, a momentous undertaking that has brought the name of Dr. Rama Choudhuri to the attention of the whole Inner Sphere.

His project is not universally popular, primarily due to cost, and the 3140 votes for the Council posts saw him win a narrow victory over his opponents; many charge him with a monomania on the subject that is bankrupting the People's State. But the doctor remains unswayed. "The SpeechWeb will bring the peoples of the Inner Sphere together like never before," he proclaimed to the Assembly. "We may be the start of it, but the day will come when a worker of Sudeten might call a citizen of Taurus as he would call his next door neighbor. When that day comes, peace shall gain a new tool in its eternal struggle with war, and we will all be better off."



Halime Cifti
Rank/Title: Lady of House Cifti-in-Exile, First Minister of the Rim Commonality-in-Exile
Born: 3088 (54 in 3142)

A daughter of Tematagi's own House Cifti, Halime was born to the effective ruling family of the Commonality during its twenty year interregnum under First Minister Rodrigo Alba. She grew up in an increasingly-militarized Commonality which had an influence in defiance of the typical Cifti reserve towards the military. Despite her mother's reservations Halime attended several military prep schools before attending the Commonality Military Officer Academy in 3107.

Halime graduated in the first years of the Fourth Succession War. She became a MechWarrior and officer of the Third Commonality Hussars and fought in numerous engagements and raids across the front. In 3116 she took over her company while fighting on Regulus, leading them to a series of tactical victories against the Imperial forces and assisting in the claiming of the planet. During the final phase of fighting Halime would suffer major wounds after ejecting from her 'Mech. She nearly died on the operating table and was ruled medically unfit for frontline service. After fighting in the evacuation from Tematagi, Halime won a temporary return to frontline duty and led a battalion of the First Commonality Cuirassiers in the liberation of Tematagi in the final months of 3119.

The Rim Commonality's sorry state after the Peace of Dieron saw the Commonality army cut down to size to save the state from bankruptcy. Her lingering war wounds and her mother's pleading to take up political work saw Halime relinquish her commission. She ran for office in 3122 for a constituency on Tematagi and, to the surprise of many, lost a narrow election to an opponent from one of the social radical parties. Undaunted and defiant, Halime ran for a second time in the 3123 emergency election and won. Her mother saw to Halime's assignment as a parliamentary secretary to the Defense Minister, a first step on Halime's intended path to the First Ministership.

It was not to be. In 3126, the assassination of Halime's mother plunged the Commonality into an economic and political tailspin as public confidence in the state dropped. Halime tried to assume control of her family's traditional bloc, but she was seen as too young and politically inexperienced (not helped by her military brusqueness). Some reports indicate she flirted with calling up the military itself to impose martial law and an emergency government; what is known is that when the proposal to be absorbed into the Principate came, Halime's reaction was palpably violent. She gained prominence as the most bitter and vitriolic critic of the proposal and voted against it at every turn, but to no avail. The Treaty of Karachi was signed and the resulting vote provided a bare majority despite Halime's best arguments (and, some suspect, a failure to secure the military overthrow of the government). Regardless of her stance, Principate officials welcomed her to the rank of the patrician class and Imperator Flavius formally asked her to join his cabinet as a member of the Senate.

Halime chose resistance instead. She and the most devoted opponents of absorption fled into exile in the People's State of Andurien. On Kanata a "rump parliament" of Commonality die-hards held a vote and declared Halime the First Minister of the Commonality Government-in-Exile, and she has spent the years since using House Cifti's remaining resources and donations from supporters to promote civil and legal resistance to the Principate annexation. She is often on Andurien, Mosiro, or Kanata, promoting her cause to the people of Andurien and propagandizing every case of accused Principate abuses in the Commonality. She has yet to be received by Duchess Karla, however, nor to win recognition for her government from any governmental body above sympathetic communes among the People's State.

Imperator Flavius seemed intent on diplomacy, but since his death the Principate government has become increasingly hostile. Most of House Cifti's assets on Tematagi have been frozen or placed under trusteeship to prevent Halime from using them and an active warrant for her arrest on sedition charges was announced in 3139. The Principate and the old anti-Cifti bloc have levied the counter-charge that Halime is a Capellan agent looking to sell her people to the Empire, a charge Halime fiercely denies but which grows in strength as she continues to rely on donations over the exiles' dwindling resources. Halime's continued presence in Andurien has likewise strained relations between the People's State and the Principate as the Council of Ministers refuses to intervene against her on legal grounds. Time will tell whether or not the war of words between Halime Cifti and the Principate will force Andurien to act.

 

[Steve]

Magistracy of Canopus​

Kamea Centrella-Arano
Rank/Title: Magestrix of the Magistracy of Canopus
Born: 3091 (51 in 3142)

Kamea was named for her great-grandmother, High Lady Kamea Arano, by her mother Keona. Young Kamea spent her young life moving back and forth from Canopus to Coromodir to understand both nations she was heir to. She opted to attend the Arano Royal Military Academy outside Cordia City for her first three terms before transferring to the Emma Centrella College of Martial Science on Canopus for her final year. This transfer came as the Fourth Succession War broke out and Canopian troops, including her mother Keona, rushed to the defense of Andurien.

At Magestrix Nicoletta's insistence Kamea was assigned to the Royal Lifeguards' Magestrix Guard battalion the moment she graduated. For the first furious years of the war young Kamea was kept a bystander, serving as her grandmother's bodyguard while her mother fought in the siege of Andurien. All efforts by the young woman to win assignment to the front failed against Nicoletta's insistence that she remain behind as a guarantee against her mother's death. This ended when Nicoletta herself passed away in 3116. Keona allowed Kamea and her sister Auli'i to transfer to the Second Grenadiers and Kamea would first face battle during the fighting on the Andurien world of Lopez, showing a talent for leadership if not any specific brilliance as a tactician. In 3119, at her mother's insistence, Kamea transferred to the Royal Lifeguards and participated in the final victory of the war on Kearny, wrenching away that old conquest of Oriente. Before Imperial forces could launch any counter-offensives, the Congress of Dieron brought an end to the war.

Following the war Kamea remained with the rebuilding Royal Lifeguards. She climbed her way through the ranks while fulfilling her familial duty through a marriage to a comrade, Alistair Wainwright, who had served in her lance during the Kearny campaign. Her first child, a son named Carter, was born in 3126, followed by twin daughters Alexandra and Amber in 3130. In 3136 she became commanding officer of the Royal Lifeguards and remained so until Magestrix Keona's death in 3139. Kamea relinquished her command to her younger sister Auli'i and returned to Canopus for her coronation, followed by the coronation on Coromodir in 3140.

Kamea's reign has been focused on maintaining Canopus' position in the Near Periphery and the expansion of settlements in the Colony Regions. New settlement plans on worlds never before officially colonized are still being planned and terraforming efforts put into place. Diplomatically Kamea maintains a treaty of protection with the People's State of Andurien and close relations with the Federated Suns and the Royal Federation; less so the Flavian Principate, as the Magistracy has long been critical of their absorption of the Rim Commonality in 3126. Closer to home Kamea's energies have been taken up preparing her people for a world-changing occasion, as Carter will be the first ruling Magistrate of the Magistracy in the history of the state. The end to the all-female Centrella line is being hailed as the final culmination of a near-century of social reforms for Canopus, but there remains lingering conservative hostility in some of the other older noble families to this break from tradition.


Alistair Wainwright
Rank/Title: Lt. General, MAF Liaison to the Crimson Council; Royal Consort-Magistrate
Born: 3092 (50 in 3142)

Alistair Wainwright of House Wainwright comes from the Saonara nobility. Two ancestors had once governed as Autarchs of the Saonara Dominion and a number of his relatives remain on MIC watchlists for Saonaran nationalism. His own immediate family tend towards ambivalence towards the Magistracy and this was an attitude he carried with him into the rebuilt halls of the Saonara College for Martial Excellence.

He graduated with high honors in 3114 and was posted with the First Saonara Cavaliers. For the following three years Alistair fought on Wisconsin and Skoverec against Imperial invasions and raiders, gaining a battlefield promotion and several honors. He was reassigned to the Second Canopian Grenadiers in 3117 and joined that unit for the fighting on Lopez, where he proved himself again under fire. Among the officers he fought beside was the heiress herself, Kamea Centrella-Arano, serving in the same company. She chose him to serve as her lance commander when she made company command with the Royal Lifeguards and the two fought through the hardest fighting on Kearny in 3119.

After the war Alistair considered moving to a higher command with his original unit, but a personal plea from Kamea changed his mind. A bond formed on the battlefield grew into a personal attachment that, after a few years of courtship and delicate political maneuvering by Magistrix Keona, saw Alistair married to the heiress. This caused a stir on his homeworld, with some seeing it as a benefit to Saonara's people while Saonaran nationalists denounced Alistair for literally sleeping with the enemy. Alistair persisted with the match and launched a thundering denunciation of his distant cousins and other nationalists in interviews. "The Dominion is a century dead. We are a world of the Magistracy now, and the Saonaran people are kin to the Canopian. Our future is better for it."

Alistair's controversial nature expanded to Canopian society following the birth of Carter, a son. By old tradition Carter should have been named Wainwright and excluded from the Canopian succession, but Alistair and Kamea announced his name to the public as Carter Centrella-Arano. More to the point, Kamea made it clear she considered Carter her heir, which would make him the first male heir in the family history. While a great majority thought nothing wrong with this, as it kept with reforms dated from Emma's time, hardline conservatives on Canopus and the other older worlds of the Magistracy raged in response and vowed to disavow Carter's inheritance. An appeal was raised to the Crimson Council to formally remove Carter from succession, but it failed by a wide margin.

Upon her elevation, Magestrix Kamea named Alistair to be the MAF liaison to the Crimson Council, granting him a promotion in the process and keeping him part of her decision-making circle. He has become the most hated man among Canopian social conservatives as a consequence of his public views and behavior while enjoying a fair degree of popular support for his war record, his devotion to his wife as ruler, and his avowed hostility to Saonaran separatism.


Auli'i Centrella-Arano
Rank/Title: Brigadier General, CO Royal Lifeguards; Countess of the Magistracy
Born: 3094 (48 in 3142)

The second daughter of Keona and the first sister to the current Magistrix, Auli'i spent her childhood shuttling back and forth across the Magistracy. Early on she took more to Canopian culture than Aurigan, moreso than her older sister and younger siblings. Yet she was also the constant companion to Kamea even as a child, all the way until Kamea went off to her military studies. She dutifully followed, getting in a full year early, and became her sister's understudy until Kamea was sent off to join the Royal Lifeguards.

The Fourth Succession War was in its fifth year when Auli'i graduated into the officer corps. She was dispatched to the Second Grenadiers a full year before her sister would join that unit. As a result she was already a combat veteran when Kamea arrived at the front. By all accounts Kamea adjusted to her younger sister being the one to show her the ropes of combat duty though some believe a rift started to form as a result of this change to their relationship. Nevertheless as the older officer and the heiress it was Kamea who received promotions first, gaining a company command in the Royal Lifeguards. She brought Auli'i with her but made Alistair Wainwright, her future husband, her immediate lance commander. Auli'i was given a lance command of her own but seems to have not taken Alistair's usurpation of her place at her sister's side very well. During the fighting on Kearny she pushed her lance into enemy fire during the fighting outside of Alcubierre in order to save her sister from a flanking force, a maneuver that cost her an eye and two of her pilots. She was decorated for the action over the protests of the battalion CO who considered it reckless and contrary to Auli'i's standing orders.

By the time Auli'i recovered from her wounds the fighting was over. The Peace of Dieron brought an end to the Fourth Succession War. She remained at her post, serving as her sister's loyal subordinate while maintaining a frosty, if socially reasonable, relationship with her future brother-in-law. Kamea's marriage further decreased Auli'i's part in her life though, by all indications, Kamea did not push her sister away. Responding to Magestrix Keona's concerns and perhaps seeking companionship of her own, Auli'i married Yolanda Saumarez, younger daughter of the Duchess of Megarez, in 3129. The two would have a child, Keona, in 3131, but Auli'i refused to leave the MAF and settle on Megarez. This introduced a strain to the relationship and by 3138 the marriage ended in a divorce.

After Magestrix Keona's death in 3139, Kamea assumed the Crimson and Cormorant Thrones and placed the Royal Lifeguards in Auli'i's care. This gesture of good faith reflects the continued bond between the two sisters, but new forces are in motion that may threaten it. Auli'i was reportedly opposed to Kamea's Magistracy-shaking decision to confirm her son Carter as heir and, whether or not she did oppose it, the rumor was enough that many Canopian conservative nobless are now indicating their support for removing Kamea and making Auli'i Magestrix. In February 3142 one such conservative news outlet finally proposed the question to Lady Auli'i, whose response was to become visibly furious and declare she would never disinherit her nephew and nieces before storming out of the interview and ordering the news service barred from ever interacting with her again. Her visible loyalty aside, the interview has not diminished her appeal as an alternative candidate in some minds, and it remains to be seen if this may come between the sisters.


Pauline Oliver
Rank/Title: Colonel, XO Canopian Highlanders Brigade
Born: 3099 (43 in 3142)

Pauline Oliver lived the life of one of the middle class commoners of Canopus while growing up. Her parents worked as administrators at a Canopian record label, Sybaritic Tones Ltd., and her maternal grandmother Phryne had been a backup singer and guitarist for "Panty Stripper and the Acetones", a popular "pleasure metal" rock band of the mid-30th Century. Growing up among the civilian music industry provoked an evident contrast in Pauline, who adamantly denied interest in music from a young age and remained defiant in that to adulthood. At the age of seventeen she responded to her mother's ultimatum on attending university by leaving home and enlisting in the MAF at the height of the Fourth Succession War.

While initially working in the technical services, Pauline would gain combat experience in fighting on Hudeiba in 3118 when her assigned supply base came under attack by the Sixth Capellan Chargers. Donning a suit of Otrera battle armor, Pauline fought off a squad of jump armor troopers, saving hundreds of tons of supplies and several dozen MAF support personnel at the cost of significant wounds including a shot to the head that came within millimeters of being fatal. After several months of recovery Pauline was assigned to the Canopian Highlanders' Heavy Rifle Regiment and would land on Casleraigne to claim that world for Andurien before the war's end.

Following the Peace of Dieron Pauline committed to the MAF. Two of her superior officers sponsored her for attending the Emma Centrella College of Martial Sciences, and she graduated in 3124 with top honors as an armored infantry officer. She returned to the Highlanders as a lieutenant of infantry and began her rise through the ranks. She left the unit briefly in 3136 to attend courses for combined arms command, resulting in her ultimate elevation to her current rank of Colonel and being the XO of the Highlanders brigade. She is considered the top candidate to be made CO and elevated to the flag officer ranks, which would make Pauline the first armored infantry officer to command the Canopian Highlanders. According to recent reports she regretted the recall order after the formation of the Glass, as she wished to pit her troops, especially her armored infantry, against the genetically-engineered Clan warriors the Arcadians faced on Timkovichi.

Pauline has recently been a figure of some note in the music world she has long turned away from as the inheritor of her grandmother's ownership shares in the Acetones. When Sybaritic Tones sought to reform the band based around Cybil Vargas, a descendant of another band member who was a headline singer in her own right, they were forced to secure Pauline's support, which she refused to give until she received a buyout from the record label worth over ten times the original offer. Most of the proceeds were promptly donated to the Magistracy War Veterans' Fund.



Mateo Arano
Rank/Title: Regent of the Aurigan Reach, Count of the Magistracy, Marquis of Panzyr
Born: 3081 (61 in 3142)

Mateo Arano was born the son of Tamati Arano, the youngest of High Lady Kamea Arano's children, and Jeannette Decimis, the last surviving member of the ruling house of Panzyr after the Terran invasion of 3050-51. Set to inherit his mother's homeworld, Mateo was given some responsibility in the raising of his younger cousin Kamea Centrella-Arano whenever the future Magestrix was in residence on Coromodir. He attended the Arano Royal Military Academy and served in his family's unit, the Second Decimis Fusiliers, as a MechWarrior and officer. He would be married in 3107 to Georgina Parata, younger daughter to the Tu'l of Tyrlon, and have his first son George by the time the Fourth Succession War called him to battle.

The Second Fusiliers would be involved in several of the engagements of the early war against the Federated Suns, fighting on Fjaldr, Panzyr, and Mechdur and participating in the counter-offensive that briefly held Larsha through 3111. It was in the retreat from that world that Mateo was badly wounded and nearly captured by the Second Victoria Rangers, resulting in his return to recuperate on Tyrlon. He received a battalion command in the First Aurigan Guards upon recovery and commanded them through the final defense of Guldra before the end of AFFS attacks into the Aurigan Reach. An unofficial truce soon settled over the Reach, at least with the Federated Suns, but the majority of Aurigan regiments were not moved to the Andurien front as insurance against the Suns returning to the offensive. Mateo sat out most of the rest of the war before the First Aurigan Guards found themselves fighting alongside the Federated Suns on Larsha against the Capellans following the XIN SHENG offensive.

After the Peace of Dieron Mateo remained in service as a military officer, returning to the Second Decimis Fusiliers and serving as their CO from 3127 to 3129. At the end of that year, the death of his father Tamati led to a vacancy in the office of Regent of the Aurigan Reach. Magestrix Keona asked Mateo to take up the post and rule from Coromodir in her name. After deliberation Mateo accepted and gave up his command to assume the new political role.

Within the year controversy erupted with the Capellan invasions of several Reach colonies. Mateo oversaw the counter-attack and called for a reprisal strike, but when no permission was given from Canopus, he chose to act on his own and dispatched the Arano Royal Guards to Repulse to crush the troops that had struck against the Reach. His forces not only utterly destroyed the Fourth Capellan Chargers as a combat command, they effectively tore the system from the Empire. By Mateo's explicit order the Royal Guards set about releasing local anti-Liaoist political leaders from Maskirovka custody and providing them battlefield salvage and supplies from the Reach to launch an insurgency that still burns a decade later. For this his angry cousin, fearing Mateo's action would be construed as a breach of the Peace of Dieron, stripped him of military command authority over MAF forces in the Reach. The Aurigan Council voted in his support, however, and Magestrix Keona backed down. Yet this precipitated a gulf between Mateo and his cousins on Canopus that persists, with some net commentators speculating Mateo may have fallen under separatist sway since the Midthun attack. A speech he gave at the 80th anniversary celebration for the victory on Terra added fuel to this fire by extolling the continued identity of the Aurigan people as "a nation of our own, attached by sentiment and honor to the Canopian people, but unique and independent". Magestrix Kamea let these words, was quick to remind interviewers that "the Aurigan people are as much a part of the Magistracy as the Canopian or the Saonaran". To this date, Mateo has yet to agree or disagree publicly with this remark.

 

[Steve]

Flavian Principate​

Julia O'Reilly
Rank/Title: Imperatrix and Princeps of the Flavian Principate
Born: 3097 (45 in 3142)

The current ruler of the Marian state has the distinction of being the first ruler of House O'Reilly since Johann Sebastian himself to not be born on the capital world itself. Julia was born to Flavius O'Reilly and his wife Georgina Sato during Flavius' time in exile on Canopus, during the height of Scipio's aggressive Dominate. She would be four years old before she stepped foot on the O'Reilly throneworld following her father's triumphant return from exile and overthrow of the Dominate. In the following years she was raised during the period of reforms and resulting unrest that came from the collapse of the Dominate and the diplomatic isolation of the Marian state from Scipio's betrayal of the long entente with the Lyran states, something that was clearly influential on her development and thinking once an adult.

Given her age she was still a student for most of the Fourth Succession War. In 3114, at the age of seventeen, Flavius gave her permission to enroll as a plebe in the Collegio Bellorum Imperial. As her skills in a 'Mech were below the standards expected for an heir and her short stature defied the harsh expectations the legions had for infantry, Julia studied armored vehicle warfare and would graduate into the legions as a Legionnaire of armor. The unit she was slated to join, IV Legio, was one of those lost on Kearny, so she was diverted to II Legio and saw action in the successful defense of Gibson in 3118-3119. Julia's battlefield record was respectable if lacking in the flash that would have benefited her publically. Of greater importance was that she proved a capable intelligence officer when assigned to assist II Legio's intelligence staff. It was in this capacity that Flavius called her to join him at Dieron on his staff.

Following the Peace of Dieron Julia transferred officially to the Ordo Vigilus as a military liaison. Her record shows nothing of great import though rumors abound that she became tied to the intelligence agency's clandestine operations branch. This has added an air of uncertainty about Julia with her peers, particularly given the suspicions of various Principate covert actions in the tumultuous time after the Peace of Dieron (especially the assassination of First Minister Semiha Cifti in the Rim Commonality). In 3129 she married Sanjit Vulcan-Maximus, the Duke of New Venice and Algenib and a long time friend, and brought heirs into the world with Victoria O'Reilly in 3131 and Lucius O'Reilly in 3136. In 3132 she retired from the PAF at the rank of Principes and was named Consul by her father so Julia could get experience before her eventual rise to his throne. This came earlier than expected with Flavius' death in 3137, with Julia quickly and effortlessly slipping into the position.

It has become quite clear Julia does not share her father's views. Flavius had been only perfunctory in his support for centennial remembrances of the Anni Gloriae and gave greater focus to the Jubilee Centennial Games than anything else: Julia would declare games to coincide with all of the remaining milestones of Principate expansion as well as a major series of celebrations to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Terra. She ceased attempts at mollifying Halime Cifti's Rim Commonality-in-Exile, ordering the seizure or freezing of House Cifti's property and wealth for sedition against the State as well as the arrest of the entire Commonality-in-Exile's government should they ever step foot on the Principate's worlds. She has made it abundantly clear that disputing the annexation is a swift route to dismissal from government service for any citizen while increasing military spending and the posting of the Legions in the former Commonality under the justification of the Empire's naval buildup.

Julia has, however, continued her father's policy of rapprochement with House Proctor, maintaining troops on that excitable border to control her local auxiliaries. She may not share her father's kinder view of affairs, but so far Imperatrix Julia seems more interested in sustaining the new status quo than any embrace of new expansion and challenge to the Peace of Dieron.


Sanjit Vulcan-Maximus
Rank/Title: Consort of the Imperatrix, Duke of New Venice and Algenib
Born: 3096 (46 in 3142)

Sanjit was the youngest child of Duchess Siobhan Vulcan, the adopted daughter and heiress to the celebrated abolitionist and industrialist Gurdeep Vulcan, and Duke Metellus Maximus, the Duke and last Warlord of Algenib. When he was only six months old, his parents and elder siblings were killed in an explosion at Vulcan Forgeworks on New Venice in what is still widely held to have been an assassination by Scipio O'Reilly's supporters. Sanjit was adopted into the household of former Consul Livia O'Reilly and her husband Mark Proctor, the official Matriarch and Patriarch of House O'Reilly, who raised Sanjit while under house arrest by Scipio's supporters. When his adopted parents died after the Flavian Restoration Sanjit was raised in the Imperial household. He studied earnestly at the Collegio Industria Corvi Imperial in engineering and physical sciences before performing war service as a legionnaire of battle armor infantry in I Legio, being wounded on Nullarbor in 3114 and again on Isabela in 3118.

After the war he was mustered out as a centurion and resumed his studies, ultimately graduating in 3123. A year later Sanjit took over Vulcan Forgeworks officially and assumed primary responsibility for the Algenib Restoration Corporation in 3125. As he faced serious pressure to marry and pass on his positions to a new generation, Sanjit turned to Flavius for advice and ultimately accepted a marriage with the Imperial heiress Julia in 3129. The pair has worked out as a married couple, with Sanjit named Minister of Industry in 3137 after his wife's succession to the throne, and he is often in conference with her alongside the Chief Minister, more so than any other member of the Ministerium. He remains in that post and abides at the capital save for the three months a year he must attend the Tribal Council of Algenib, where despite the astonishing progress of the last seventy years the old nomadic clans maintain elements of their old post-collapse society that make many in the Principate continue to see them as "barbarians".

He also makes occasional multi-week trips to New Venice to see to Vulcan Forgeworks' efforts at maintaining the Principate's industries and arming the PAF should the Peace of Dieron ever fail. A number of observers see him as something of a softening influence on Julia, especially given public statements of his hope for a reconciliation with Halime Cifti "in the event Lady Halime gives up her unrealistic vision of an independent Rim Commonality".


Marcus Anthony Zielinski
Rank/Title: Chief Minister of the Principate
Born: 3082 (60 in 3142)

Marcus Anthony Zielinski was born to Sertorius Zielinski, a scion of the prestigious Zielinski family of patricians based on Pompey. The Zielinskis, more than many, chafed under the Principate's curtailing of their political power and legal privilege and members of the family had been involved in the failed coup plots of 3040 and 3069, and while they lost wealth and lands on both cases they retained enough through legal maneuvers to maintain their status and notorious lifestyles. Marcus may have become as debauched as most of his relatives if not for Sertorius's stern discipline and determination to prevent his son from going the same dissolute path of the other family members, undoubtedly spurred by Sertorius' own mother Hanna and her hedonistic lifestyle before her execution for the 3069 coup. At age 8 Marcus was enrolled into the first of a number of military preparatory schools that served to introduce patrician children to the stern discipline of the legions. When he was 13 Marcus was pulled from the school suddenly by arrangement of his father, now the commander of VI Legio, to join his family in exile on Canopus as defenders of Flavius O'Reilly. By the time of Flavius' triumphant return to Alphard five years later, Marcus was an enlistee in VI Legio and a proven, if raw, MechWarrior.

By the outbreak of the Fourth Succession War Marcus was already a Centurion, commanding a maniple in VI Legio. He served through some of the war's fiercest battles and became a popular 'Mech ace among the legions and the people. After suffering severe wounds on Regulus in 3116 Marcus was recalled to Alphard to become an instructor at the Collegio Bellorum Imperial, but the need for pilots saw him command III Legio's II Cohors into the reclamation of Tematagi in 3119 at the end of fighting.

Following the Peace of Dieron Marcus returned to Alphard to teach at the Collegio Bellorum for another four years, becoming a skilled instructor and educator of the next generation of legionnaire MechWarriors, including the O'Reilly family's rising star Mark O'Reilly. In 3125 he retired from service and ran for the Principate Senate, winning easily on his name and his wartime fame. He was hardly popular among fellow patricians, however, as Marcus continued his father's politics of loyalty to the Principate, the restrictions upon the patricians' economic and political power, and suppport for House O'Reilly. Despite several efforts by Pompey's other leading families to remove him by election or other means, including a serious attempt at trying him for corruption in 3131, Marcus prevailed and even climbed into the Ministerium with the blessing of Princeps Flavius. He was quick to become a leading supporter for Julia's policies when she succeeded and was rewarded by her appointment to become Chief Minister of the Principate, a post he holds to this day despite growing patrician disenchantment with his policies. The core of his support has increasingly shifted towards the PAF itself, but there lies some danger should the policies he uphold ever contradict the desires of the legionnaires, who are seen as becoming restive under the forced quiet of the Peace of Dieron.


Mark O'Reilly
Rank/Title: Legate, CO IX Legio I Cohors, PAF; Count of Pulchra Pax on Timbiqui
Born: 3103 (39 in 3142)

Mark O'Reilly was born to Vibius O'Reilly, a younger grandson of the famous Lucius O'Reilly, the redeemed exile of the 31st Century who became a respected patrician of Timbiqui. Despite his father's lower station in the family Mark would end up inheriting one of the lands bequeathed to his great-grandfather due to the killings or battle deaths of most of his cousins and older uncles and aunts in Scipio's revolution and war with Arcadia. As a gesture to family unity and to the former ally Scipio had betrayed Vibius named his son for Mark Proctor, the Arcadian prince and Patriarch of House O'Reilly at the time.

During the Fourth Succession War Mark remained in the family lands on Timbiqui, studying with relatives and trusted retainers to become a MechWarrior like his predecessors before him. In 3118 he departed home for Alphard where, two years later, he was officially enrolled into the Collegio Bellorum Imperial. Becoming one of many pilots tutored by Marcus Anthony Zielinski, Mark was noted as a prodigy even by his family's standards, serving as Centurion-in-Training of his maniple of the Collegio's Training Cohors and graduating at the top of his class in 3123. A year later he married a fellow student of the Collegio, Zari Flores, a MechWarrior who joined him in service to his great-grandfather's famed troops in IX Legio. Their children - Vibius, Lucia, and Flavius - would be born in 3126, 3130, and 3138, providing the Lucii branch of House O'Reilly with future heirs.

The Peace of Dieron has not permitted many chances for Mark to match his ancestors' exploits on the battlefield. In 3127 an assignment in the Circinius Province saw a series of fights with marauding pirates along the old Rim World Periphery. In 3131 Mark took the lead in winning several "war games" with the Pilpala Auxilia, including besting (many would say humiliating) the KING of Pilpala in a 'Mech duel during one combat. In 3134 Mark would earn glowing reports, and a battle honor, for leading a mixed force of 'Mech, armor, and infantry maniples in victoriously defending the Skodaworks factory on Ibarra from a raiding force of McClintock's Fusiliers mercenary brigade. By this point his legend was firmly established to the soldiers of the Legions, and many expected much of his career prospects.

In 3139 Imperatrix Julia held a celebratory triumph for the unit in the capital, commemorating both the centennial anniversary of IX Legio's restoration and the fortieth anniversary of their victory over Scipio's XIV Legio on Thraxas. Mark became a celebrity across the Principate for his forces' presentation during the triumph. The following year he was promoted to Legate and made CO of the legion's I Cohors. Apart from the triumph acting as part of the celebration of the Anni Gloriae centennial, Mark gave a number of interviews that have made clear, above all, that his troops remain firm in their support for the Imperatrix and that he is dismissive of any thought of discontent against her rule. While his private life remains private, there is little doubt by court observers on Alphard that Mark intends to focus his efforts on his military career and seeing to the family estates on Timbiqui. This is the greatest boon to Imperatrix Julia and does much to explain her repeated generosity to her distant cousin: given the murmurs of increasing legionary discontent, ensuring the most popular O'Reilly in active service is seen as loyal to her may go far to forestalling further trouble and preventing a repeat of the past.


Enver Cifti-Jimenez
Rank/Title: Praetor, CO Tematagia Province Command, PAF; Count of Sevilla
Born: 3090 (52 in 3142)

Born during the Alba Government, Enver comes from a cadet branch of House Cifti that married into House Jiminez of Tematagi's rich Sevilla district. He came of age during a time when Rodrigo Alba's militarism was causing dissension within Tematagian society and undermining soome of the bonds of the Commonality. His parents, Osman Cifti-Jiminez and Justinia Ybarra, were among those who agreed with Alba that the militarization of the Commonality would be necessary to protect their state's independence against both the Empire and the Principate, especially in light of Scipio O'Reilly's brief tenure and the realization that a militant expansionist stream remained active in Alphardian society. Enver was raised to be a warrior for his nation, ultimately attending the Commonality Military Officer Academy as a prospective aerospace pilot.

The outbreak of the Fourth Succession War and the need for pilots after the Commonality Navy's defeat at Regulus in tthe opening months prompted Enver's early graduation and assignment to a squadron attached to the First Rim Commonality Curaissiers. Flying a Blackwolf OmniFighter, Enver performed several successful combat operations and rose in rank and importance. In 3113 he scored the RCAF's first confirmed exoatmospheric kill on an Imperial Huscarl, a heavier fighter that had often proven superior to his own. In 3114 he would be forced to eject from a crippled craft and nearly died of oxygen loss due to delayed S&R operations. The RCAF rotated him into training command after his recovery. The 3118 disaster at Kearny saw his forced return to combat command and Enver commanded a wing protecting his cousin Semiha during the First Minister's compelled evacuation from Tematagi. Enver returned to his old unit for the liberation of his homeworld and was shot down during atmospheric combat operations, having scored another two confirmed kills before this final grounding.

With the Peace of Dieron Enver was one of many officers placed on half-pay reserve as the Commonality struggled to deal with the economic ravaging the Empire's invasion wrought during the war. While a number lamented that the war had come at all and was just a tragedy of the Successor States' powermongering, he was one of several who fostered a deep, bitter hatred of the Oriento-Capellan Empire, and publicly he made clear his belief that they were a perpetual threat to peace and to the people of the Commonality. As the Commonality's teetered on political collapse, Enver was a noted advocate for "emergency government" and converted that to full-throated support of the Treaty of Karachi, setting him at odds with many relatives. It did not go unnoted on Alphard, however, and upon the official absorption of the Commonality into the Principate, Enver was promoted to a full Prefect and became the first commander of his old unit under their new designation, I Rim Foederati Legio.

Following the unification Enver remained supportive of patience towards the adjustments for becoming part of the Principate. This was challenged in 3132 when the PAF tried to reassign a number of the best MechWarriors of the I Rim to the primary legions. Most refused and resigned when the PAF wouldn't cancel the order, leading to an infuriated bureaucracy to strip them of their pensions. The legion was rocked by the resulting wave of resignations, which provided a propaganda bonanza for Halime Cifti's "Commonality-in-Exile". Enver finally prevailed on Imperator Flavius to intervene, staunching the flow of resignations through the restoration of the original group's pensions, and the cancellation of future transfers.

Early expectations that this incident might cause a gulf between Enver and his superiors on Alphard were quickly dashed. Flavius gave Enver a promotion to General and placed him in charge of all the Rim Foederati legions; it was a politically astute move, as Enver proved able to restore confidence in the PAF and Alphard among his suspicious soldiers and prevent further damage. Flavius' death brought a brief change as Enver was called to Alphard to serve on the Administratum Bellorum Imperial. While initially this seemed an effort by Imperatrix Julia to gauge his loyalty, it worked out as a means to prepare Enver for her new posting: Praetor over Tematagia Province, effectively making Enver the military commander of all PAF legions and auxilia formations in the old Rim Commonality. He returned to Tematagi in 3140 and resumed his work in smoothing over the transition, though this time with deeper bite as he is becoming more and more publicly hostile towards his cousin Halime in her Andurien exile. Recently he went so far as to outright tell a local news interviewer that he considers Halime and her "exiles" to be Capellan puppets, and repeated yet again that he saw the Principate as the future of their people. "The Commonality was not strong enough. The Principate is," he brusquely declared.

Several months ago the long-time bachelor finally married. His chosen wife, Drusilla Lemuri, is an Alphardian woman half his age that he met while serving on Alphard. The marriage has led to much talk on Tematagi and can be seen as yet another sign that Enver sees Alphard and the Principate as the old Commonality's future.

 

[Steve]

Royal Federation​

Brigadier Huyten's write-up for figures in the Federation seemed sufficient for the purposes of this report, even if he likely didn't intend for them to be read by the Exarch and the Council of Paladins. Maybe some day he'll forgive me for this. — Lady Janella


Nathaniel Proctor-Steiner
Rank/Title: High King of the Royal Federation
Born: 3116 (26 in 3142)

Young rulers scare the hell out of people. They don't have the seasoning that you get when someone's past thirty. They sometimes have fancy ideas that have been tried and failed before but never, of course, by them. They don't always grasp the finer elements of diplomacy or politics. They wield too much of their power like a hammer.

But sometimes, you need a guy with a hammer and a big heart, and that's how Nathaniel Proctor-Steiner seems to be shaping up. The only son of Prince James Proctor, once the Prince of Atreus and heir to High Queen Jacqueline, Nathaniel was born in 3116. He was just three years old when his father died in combat. His mother, Princess Sita Umayr of Bolan, took a hand in his raising, as did Jacqueline and his grand-uncle Prince Peter. He took courses at both the Royal University of Roslyn and the Ayrshire Military Sciences Academy, though he had to commit to the latter to meet his service obligations, and graduated in 3138 with high academic marks but still middle of his class. He took an assignment with his maternal relatives' signature unit, the Bolan Heavy Guards, and rose to the rank of First Lieutenant before Jacqueline's death. He inherited just a few months before the Timkovichi Event and started restoring some direction to the Royal Federation, even if people don't always like it. Might not be a good thing always, but right now it sounds like his people need it, especially with the Falcons pissed as hell about Malvina.

Granted, I'm biased. The Republic's had to make tough choices but we've always been a nation of ideals. High King Nathaniel's an idealist to the core. He'd make a great ally.

Best of all, given the news I see from Arcadia, he's not a stupid idealist. He's learned in science, he studies politics and law, he meets with academics. He's not just blundering around with his authority but working with the existing political system for the outcome he wants. And that's a good thing because he's asking a lot. He's out to keep the Peace of Dieron when it seems like half his military leaders want to tear it down. Now with the Glass open he's taken the position that the best way to protect the people in the Donegal side of his Federation is to come through and kick the Clans' backsides up and down the whole of the Lyran Commonwealth. And he knows his people enough that he's tapped into their own ideals, their belief of how the universe works, to rally them to that fight. Just watch his coronation speech. He worked the crowd into an honest-to-God crusade against the Clans. Now he's on his way to fight the Wolves at Tharkad.

I know it's above my paygrade, but I'm going say it. I suggest seeing if we can get Paladin-Exemplar McKinnon, or maybe Paladin Sinclair, to link up with him and make formal contact. Like I said, he'd make a great ally, and while I didn't meet him, I don't see him as someone who'll turn us away. Our ideals are too compatible. I just hope he doesn't end up like Ian Davion — our Ian Davion I should specify — and buys the farm before he can meet his potential.


Peter Proctor-Steiner
Rank/Title: Colonel, CO Proctor Heavy Guards BattleMech Regiment, AFRF (Ret.); Lord of the Privy Council of the Royal Federation; Prince of the Federation
Born: 3085 (57 in 3142)

Being the baby of the Royal Family can be liberating, I guess. Prince Peter Proctor-Brewer-Steiner was the fifth and last child High King Ethan Proctor-Steiner and President Mathilde Brewer-Steiner had. He was still in his teens when his older siblings all started having kids, pushing him further and further down the line of succession. Going by what all the biographies and articles say, this was fine by him. He was a natural as a MechWarrior and only interested in serving his realm in the cockpit of a BattleMech. He graduated Ayrshire Military Sciences Academy in 3105, took extra command courses at the Nagelring, and joined the Arcadian Guards for the Fourth Succession War. After they got dinged hard on Rasalas he was transferred to his late father's unit, the Proctor Heavy Guards, and spent the rest of his career there. By the end of the war he was a grizzled veteran with combat experience rivaling men twice his age.

It's probably why his big sister High Queen Jacqueline ensured her son and heir James was assigned to Peter's company, and charged Peter to keep him safe. Mothers will be mothers, but asking that of a company commander fighting desperate campaigns is too damned much if you ask me. Suffice to say it didn't end well. Capellan forces killed James in an ambush on Sirius. Peter was there and couldn't save him. I can't even imagine what it did to the poor man.

Peter stuck through the Peace, but he got caught in the backwash of the fiasco of Operation MORNING STAR in 3123. He joined most of the Proctor Heavy Guards command staff in resigning in protest to the Federation buckling under the Concert's pressure to withdraw. Instead of joining his husband on Cameron in cushy retirement, Prince Peter went home to Roslyn where he, by all accounts, made it his personal mission to care for James' son Prince Nathaniel. I'd say he must have done pretty well, all things considered. Nathaniel certainly thought so; when he ascended the throne, he asked his grand-uncle to become the head of the Privy Council. I don't envy a man who isn't into politics taking a position like that, but Prince Peter accepted and he's sticking with it. Though there are some worrying rumors in the press about his husband's health. Hopefully it's not much because this guy must be under a lot of pressure already.


Arnold Proctor-Steiner
Rank/Title: Field Marshal, AFRF Planning Department; Count of Stronburg on Tharkad
Born: 3073 (69 in 3142)

The son of Prince William Proctor-Steiner, Lord Arnold has a reputation for being the embodiment of the best — or the worst by some people — of Lyran generalship. He grew up on Tharkad and was raised in what I gather was a traditional Lyran style, with distant parents that he worshiped from afar. Prince William was an AFRF officer until the end and Arnold certainly picked up that attitude. Given a martial education and acing his studies, he went to the Nagelring at just fifteen and with bullheaded tenacity pressed through an accelerated course load that saw him graduate a year early. He was only in the seventieth percentile, but he was quite happy when instead of assignment to the Royal Guards or Proctor Household Guards he gained a billet in the Second Donegal Guards RCT, the unit his father, mother, and grandmothers served in.

Assigned to a flanking company with a Fusilier OmniMech, Arnold quickly proved himself under fire. He won the Donegal Hammer for his conduct in the 3095 withdrawal from the planet Lyndon, and four years later bravery in the campaign against Scipio's legions on Arcadia won him the Military Cross of Valor. During that conflict he came into repeated personal contact with his uncle, High King Ethan Proctor-Steiner, whom he quickly grew to admire and respect. Ethan returned at least some of the affection and promoted his nephew's career carefully. In 3110, just as the Fourth Succession War broke out, Arnold made battalion CO in the Fourteenth Donegal Guards. After ten years of warfare and close battles, Arnold was a Major General and CO of the RCT itself.

He was not one of the officers who resigned after MORNING STAR failed, though by reports he'd pushed the Fourteenth very hard on Procyon. Given his later reputation I can't imagine he was happy with the withdrawal order, but he obeyed and he remained in service. He would climb further, becoming commander of the entire Donegal Guards Corps in 3125. In 3130 he started a two year tour as Vice-Commandant of the Nagelring, then four years as the CO of Donegal Theater. In 3137 he joined the Planning Staff, initially as Senior Planner for the Donegal Theater, but quickly rising to the Departmental Chief of Staff and then, in 3139, making Field Marshal and taking the department for himself.

As of now he has held that post for three years during which he has wielded considerable influence in the promotions and assignments of officers. Some of the staff officers for the Second Royal Cuirassiers and Eighth Strikers would get plenty tight-lipped about him, but Timbiqui Dark and some clever talking gave me enough to know he's not universally respected. Arnold plays at being the "obey the chain of command" dutiful soldier but deep down he's a truly devoted Lyrantreu and, some would whisper, is actively working to break the Peace of Dieron as soon as it can be done safely. The public records on Arcadian troops deployments and recent promotions make it clear he's been promoting people based on their support for his efforts, often with High Queen Jacqueline's permission. But now Nathaniel's in charge and doing things his own way, including appointments. I can't imagine these two are getting along at all.


DeMarcus Bridger
Rank/Title: Lieutenant General, OpForce Siegfried; Knight of the Federation
Born: 3081 (61 in 3142)

Lieutenant General Sir DeMarcus Bridger is the genuine article, if you ask me. A native of the Borealis continent of Gienah — we call it Carrobesto — Bridger is the eldest of three brothers to join the AFRF before the Fourth Succession War, attending the Ayrshire Military Sciences Academy on Arcadia to get his commission. By all accounts he's a distinguished MechWarrior who served in the Gienah Heavy Fusiliers RCT throughout the war and beyond it. He rose to command of his unit in 3132.

He led the RCT as the heavy backup for the units hitting Vega in 3134 and gave a solid thumping to the Fifth Sword of Light and the other Dracs for two months. The strike force accomplished their mission and made it off-world, but not without losses. The Tai-sho in command of Vega Prefecture was John Ballymont, and "Butcher Ballymont" didn't take defeat well. He made what was an obvious bogus offer to the outbound Arcadians to return captives his forces had taken in exchange for the rebel leader they'd extracted. When they didn't turn around, Ballymont started transmitting live vids of him and his staff beheading their POWs one by one. Since then Bridger resents himself for not getting his people out. I know what it's like, and I can't imagine having to deal with having it rubbed in like that.

It didn't affect his career any. It's telling that he was tapped to command the war games that the Arcadians and their allies were heading towards when their mass jump broke a hole through reality and created the Looking Glass. He didn't even hesitate to drop his entire force on Malvina Hazen and her Golden Ordun. That saved a lot of lives. Right now he's still in overall command of the Arcadian forces on our side of the Glass. Rumor is he's being promoted soon. I figure he's more than earned it.


Katherine Tremaine
Rank/Title: Major General, CO Proctor Heavy Guards Combat Division; Knight of the Federation
Born: 3088 (54 in 3142)

I didn't have the pleasure of meeting her, but I picked up quite a few stories along with the public information and news reports. Near as I can tell, Major General Tremaine's got a reputation among the AFRF, especially the Eighth Strikers. She was born in the Minnesota district or state, not sure what it's called, on Concord. On a dare she and a friend signed up for admission to an AFRF officer school based there, the Patton School of Mechanized Warfare. She was just getting out when the Fourth Succession War started up.

By the records her graduation score was near top of the class so she got assigned to the Proctor Household Guards. For the first couple years of the war she fought with the Proctor Light Horse and First Proctor Guards, but it was with the Eighth Strikers her career achieved some real take off. Tremaine was one of the Eighth's best MechWarriors when piloting their totem 'Mech, a Sunhawk OmniMech, and racked up confirmed kills and battle honors in a number of engagements up to the Peace of Dieron, including a knighthood. After the war she rotated in and out of field service, climbing in rank until she became the Eighth's XO. This gave her an important role during the SOVEREIGN SON operation on Vega in 3134. When the Arcadians were finished making fools of the Dracs the AFRF offered her a spot on the Proctor Heavy Guards. She took it and rose to command the top unit in the whole Arcadian military.

She might be one of the Heavy Guards now, but the Sunhawks of the Eighth talk like she's still one of them in spirit. Apparently when she's not handling the paperwork or leading her troops in training from the cockpit of her Sunhawk, she runs a roller derby league among the Heavy Guards. I don't even know what the hell that sport is but it sounds like hell on wheels. I'm betting she's going to make a lot of the Wolves very unhappy when the Arcadians get to the front in force.

 

[Steve]

Kingdom of Ghastillia

Gerda Bradford

Rank/Title: Konigin of Ghastillia, Duchess of Coventry
Born: 3098 (44 in 3142)

Gerda Bradford was born to Lord Daniel Bradford and Luisa Hoffmann. The daughter of the Duke of Coventry's youngest son, she spent most of her early years on Inarcs while her father served as Coventry's appointed representative to the Parliament of Planets. Her future was drastically changed following the 3107 bombing and attack on the Bradford Estate by political terrorists backed by the Communal League. The blast and subsequent sweep of the estate killed most of House Bradford's number, including all of her father's elder siblings and parents. In one swoop, Daniel was the new Duke of Coventry and Gerda his heiress.

The murder of so many of her relatives was one of the catalysts that contributed to the Fourth Succession War. Due to her age Gerda spent most of the war off the frontlines, continuing her education. Her tutors found her capacity for military action lacking, but as is common across the Inner Sphere, nobility requires such service anyway, and Gerda attended the Ghastillian Officer Academy through the later years of the war. Given Ghastillia's particular strategic position she was not sent for emergency frontline service, instead being seconded to the military bureaucracy to serve as a yeowoman to the GAF Command Staff's bureaucracy. This was a fortuitous match as Gerda would show tremendous capability in operating within an administration. While little more than an intern despite her social rank, in practical terms she became more of a quiet emissary for senior officers to exchange informal messages with members of Parliament and other civil service officialdom.

When the Peace of Dieron came Gerda remained in her post until she'd served the required term of service. She returned to Coventry with a husband, Lord Jeong Suwen of Kwangnong-ji, and went to work for the planetary government under her father. The skills she learned on Inarcs went to good use and were further refined in operating within Coventry's civil service. After giving birth to two sons and a daughter - Daniel, Jason, and Xiangwu - Gerda successfully convinced her father and his court to send her back to Inarcs as Coventry's representative to Parliament. She returned to the capital in 3130 and worked as a political wild card, not completely aligning with any one political faction. Once more she played the quiet messenger, working behind the scenes to pass proposals and suggestions between senior partisan figures and government officials, all while expanding her own political influence.

By 3135 Gerda was a crucial figure among the politics of Inarcs. This nearly came crashing down with the death of her father in a hunting accident, forcing her to leave mid-session to assume legal control of Coventry. But when Konig Tadeusz Jankowski revealed he was intending to retire in 3136, opportunity beckoned. Gerda had many favorable connections in Parliament and publicly announced her candidacy, which would make her the youngest monarch of Ghastillia in nearly a century at the age of thirty-eight. She used her connections (and insider knowledge) to press several major political leaders into considering her their first or at least second candidate all while publicly appealing to the Peace and Colonial factions. When the voting started in May 3136, the major candidates failed one by one to get the necessary majority votes, and her supporters quickly moved to get her voted upon as a compromise candidate, succeeding in a three vote majority in the end.

In the six years since Gerda has become Konigin, she's embarked on a policy mostly in line with her avowed policies. She has maintained the Lyran Alliance while repeatedly and firmly turning down pleas from Arcadia to heighten rearmament past its current level, a level that has already angered the most committed Peace faction members as a betrayal of her election promises. Yet most of her attention remains focused on the domestic front, pressing economic support for industries and the maintenance of the resettlement efforts. It is thus understandable she is not so eager as Nathaniel to act on the other side of the Glass, but the threat has led her to the alliance with the Lyran Commonwealth and the dispatch of a GAF expeditionary force that wiill be in combat against the Clans some time in the coming year.

Sean Callahan

Rank/Title: President of the Parliament; Duke of Mahone
Born: 3062 (80 in 3142)

Sean Callahan was born the youngest child of Francis Callahan, Duke of Mahone and Konig of Ghastillia. By the time of his birth Sean's father had already cemented his place in Ghastillian history for his leadership through the Terran War, leaving a long shadow that has shaped Sean's life. As the youngest he was not in line to inherit and so chose the traditional nobleman's career of military service, serving in the armored infantry of the Mahone Guards Rifles Division after graduating from the Coventry Military Academy in 3083. He would serve with some distinction in the Vanguard War, being wounded three times and being honored with the Infantryman's Valor Badge for successfully downing a League assault 'Mech with his squad during the fighting for Greyholm on Timkovichi. After the conflict died down he did a cross-service tour with the AFRF and served a two year teaching tour at the Royal Infantry Officer College on McAffe. In 3106, Sean went into the reserves and accepted his brother Patrick's assignment to the Parliament of Planets on Inarcs. He was married to Julia von Istenberg a year later and produced a new generation of Callahans.

Given his time with the AFRF and fighting alongside them in the Vanguard War, Sean was chosen by the Parliament to lead their mission to High King Ethan in March of 3110 to demand the Arcadians' support for a final conflict to break the League in exchange for Ghastillia's declaration of war on the Oriento-Capellan Empire. Ethan agreed to preserve the Lyran Alliance and agreed to Operation GAUNTLET, the invasion of the League. The military disaster this caused to the GAF at Antares would see blowback on Sean, who became pilloried in the Ghastillian and Arcadian press for pushing the war, but Sean remained bullish up until he was summoned to meet Ethan's successor, High Queen Jacqueline, in 3113. This time it was Sean who was met with a demarche; Jacqueline had a signed peace treaty with COMINTERSTEL in one hand and the projections on the Galedonians' campaigns on the other, and with it the implicit threat that she would sign the peace with or without them. Sean accepted the Peace of Buckminster with ill grace, signing only at the demand of the government of Inarcs, and returned to the Parliament to offer his resignation. For the remainder of the war he remained on Mahone working in the GAF as a logistics officer.

The Peace of Dieron brought an end to the bloody struggle, and House Callahan was left marked by it. Both of Duke Patrick's heirs were dead, killed at Antares and Richmond. The family title was set to be passed on to Sean's niece Francine Callahan-Fisher and her family, but Francine's implication in the Ruthland Industries Scandal in 3122 led to the Mahone Assembly voting to refuse her inheritance. Sean found himself the preferred heir and his brother acquiesced, though not happily. Sean was soon sent back to Inarcs to serve in Parliament, where he found new prominence by joining the Peace faction. In 3123 he insisted on condemning the Arcadian invasions of Procyon and Sirius and refusing support for a renewal of war, placing Ghastillia against her ally and on the side of the wider Inner Sphere through a (bare) majority vote of the Parliament. By the end of the decade he was recognized as a major leader of the Parliament. By his own campaigning Sean was an early favorite for replacing Jankowski as Konig, though Bradford won in the end by thwarting his early election and draining away his votes through subsequent balloting. The younger woman's victory has made clear Sean will likely never assume his father's high post and there is an unspoken tension between the two for her spoiling his efforts.

In 3138 Sean won election to the post of President, making him the second-most-powerful figure in Ghastillian politics. As President, Sean's policies have been to focus on economic development and focus of the GAF's rebuilding strength on COMINTERSTEL. He has never apologized for undermining the Arcadians in 3123, nor has he forgiven their compulsion at the Peace of Buckminster, but he's stopped short of more extremist demands to tear up the Lyran Alliance. An attempt to oust him after his brother's death in 3141 failed as he swiftly set up his son Francis to rule in his name on Mahone and kept his position, something many feel is irregular. More recently, Sean spoke favorably of Arcadia's new ruler, welcoming "the fresh perspective of youth upon the Arcadian throne" in Nathaniel Proctor-Steiner's succession. Whether he will keep such a positive view with the coming conflict with the Clans is not yet clear.

Roger Cook

Rank/Title: Field Marshal, Chief of Staff of the GAF; Margrave von Queensland
Born: 3070 (72 in 3142)

Roger was born to House Cook, the hereditary rulers of the continent of Queensland on Australia. The third of five children, he was tapped for a military career early on. He would attend the Coventry Military Academy in 3088, complete the four year course, and was accepted to a command course at Sanglamore as part of the Lyran Alliance Officer Education Program. His experience at Sanglamore would shape much of Roger's military career as he, more than most of his peers, came to appreciate the military situation for his state's allies, punctuated when he joined a detachment of the Seventh Skye Rangers in fighting off the Azami al-Murabatin in a raid on Defiance's Skye factories in 3093. Observing the Azami in action prompted interest in light unit tactics that resulted in his decision to see assignment to the prestigious Winter Lancers, which he achieved in 3097 after a period of service with the Australian Rangers. He married in 3096 to the Baroness of Townsville for the purpose of continuing House Cook's primary line, producing three heirs before the marriage was ended by an amicable divorce in 3109.

By the time of the Fourth Succession War, Cook was a leutnant oberst of the Ninth Winter Lancers. He was nearly killed in the debacle at Antares and kept as a prisoner of war for two years, a time period when the contempt and petty abuses of his captors towards a noble-born POW cemented a life-long animosity towards the League. Upon being freed on the signing of the Peace of Buckminster he was rehabilitated into active service and assigned to the Third Winter Lancers along the Skye front. Cook was awarded the Honor of Skye by the Royal Federation for his role in fighting off a raid on Glengarry by the Second Amphigean Light Group and would end the war as CO of the Third Lancers with numerous decorations for his wartime achievements.

After the Peace of Dieron Cook remained in the GAF. He gained a reputation for dismissing greater ties with the Arcadians, whom he feels gave up too much at Buckminster, and for continued hostility towards the League. He would be cited as responsible for the 3129 Chaineline Isles campaign, when unidentified forces inflicted severe damage upon local CLAF bases and forces, though the GAF denied responsibility and Cook refused comment. In 3130 he was given a promotion to lieutenant general and assigned to command the All Dawn Military District, placing him far away from the League's border. His performance in this posting saw his eventual promotion into the GAF high command. At the death of his father in 3138 Cook was offered a chance to resign and see to his civic duties, but Cook instead delegated his younger sister to govern in his name and remained in service. In 3140, Konigin Bradford named him Chief of Staff of the GAF, making Cook the leader of the military service. This act, above all others, has alienated Bradford from the peace faction that promoted her election in 3136, leading many to wonder if she has cynically betrayed them or if other matters motivated her to choose Cook.

(I'm sure Field Marshal Cook's not been a fan of the current alliance, but what news sources I've found say he's toeing the party line. For now, anyway. Honestly I can't help but think his elevation has to do with the possible Deep Periphery conflict the Ghasties and Leaguers may be waging against one another or with someone else. - Brigadier Huyten)

Joachim von Istenberg

Rank/Title: Major General, CO Fourth Ghastillian Grenadiers, GAF
Born: 3088 (54 in 3142)

Joachim was born to the von Istenbergs of Inarcs, a family of Freiherr landowners of the lower nobility of the planet. House von Istenberg is firmly a military family and Joachim was raised to be a soldier. The upbringing was bruising for the sensitive young child. At the age of fourteen Joachim finally snapped and fled his home. When he was dragged back after nearly dying of exposure, he tried to commit suicide and was only barely resuscitated. The chastened family finally turned to professional help and heeded the advice to relax the strict regimen.

These incidents were barely known by the time Joachim came of age to begin officer's education. He delayed for a year before grudgingly agreeing to heed the family's tradition and make the attempt. As a result he was still in his third year at the Ghastillian Officer's Academy when the Fourth Succession War broke out. He would be sent to the front following his 3011 graduation, joining the Second Coventry Rifles as a MechWarrior. As part of the failed offensive of 3112, Joachim proved himself in the battlefield on Morges, evading capture during the overrunning of his battalion's field base and bringing reinforcements in to counterattack and liberate his commanders captured by Communal troops. To the surprise of family who'd expected much less of him, Joachim proved equal to the family legend and reinvented himself as a capable, professional military officer forged by the fires of war and repeatedly winning commendations and promotions on the battlefield. He ended the war as the newly-placed commander of the Second Battle Group of the Second Rifles, overseeing a regiment's worth of combined arms troops.

After the Peace of Dieron, Joachim remained in the GAF. At family insistence he dutifully married and had children, but his focus was on his military service and his wife, Lady Jocasta Yuen of Loxley, would legally separate from him in 3132 on the charge of effective abandonment. Joachim was a brigadier general by then; by the end of the decade he'd made the rank of major general and was commander of his old unit. In 3141 he was tasked to command the Fourth Ghastillian Grenadiers, a choice posting that he accepted. The likelihood of another promotion in his future is high and Joachim seems content to keep his career going.

Regina Mackey

Rank/Title: Member of Parliament for All Dawn
Born: 3097 (45 in 3142)

Regina Mackey was born in 3097 on the former Rim Republic capital of All Dawn, the first and only child of Doctor Luisa Falk and Janet Fischer, the former a political science professor at Drummond University and the latter a career civil servant of the planetary government. Regina was raised among the professional middle class of her world and within her mothers' social circle of moderate Rim political activists and agitators. This innately political world led to her choice of profession, with political science and civil engineering courses at Drummond followed by joining her mother Janet in All Dawn's government bureaucracy.

This career choice did not work out as well for Regina, as she would not curtail her political activism to the extent desired by her superiors. After the third refusal of a promotion in 3128 Regina resigned to go into active political work, accepting a post as a professional office manager for the All Dawn Democratic Party. She initially seemed more interested in organizational work than holding political office. In 3132 she changed track, agreeing to run for the planetary legislature, and won in a tight race. Once in the planetary government Regina's skills in organization, knowledge of procedure and debate, and drive to push her views saw a rise in recognition. This culminated in 3135 when she delivered a keynote address for her party's candidate for the planetary presidential position, promoting both party policies to the electorate and a "scathing indictment of oppositionists supporting noble politics", as one pundit put it. Not only did her candidate win, and the effort to revoke the long-standing laws forbiddiing noble titles fail, but Regina became a household name across the former Rim Republic as her speech was carried from system to system. In 3138 she journeyed for the first time to another star system, visiting Wiltshire and supporting (successfully) the public plebiscite there to dissolve all remaining noble privileges under planetary law.

These activites led to Regina's rise on the level of interstellar politics. The Rim Republican Party proposed her for the 3140 elections to the Parliament of Planets and she agreed to run. Her election victory was marred by scandals, as she was accused of using her civil service contacts to promote her candidacy while her opponents employed monetary donations from off-world nobility looking to thwart a "commoner republican candidate". She was delayed in journeying to Inarcs to assume her post until her election victory was certified in early 3141. The courts forced her opponents to pay for the expenses of her expedited journey to Inarcs.

Regina has proven no less controversial on the capital world. As a Rim Republican Party candidate she votes on the party line and has added her voice, and her skills, to her faction's political machine. She's become the hated foe of most nobles in the Parliament and has twice come to the threshold of a censure vote for her "unbecoming conduct in debate", mostly consisting of mocking the parliamentary capabilities of her noble-born colleagues. Regina has also earned the ire of the diplomatic corps, especially the Flavian Principate's representatives, after she pushed a motion to recognize as a humanitarian NGO the Rim Peoples' Advocacy Association, which Imperatrix Julia declared a seditious organization for its demands on plebiscites for Rim worlds to declare independence from the Principate. Konigin Bradford threatened to have her arrested as a seditious conspirator against state security and was soundly rebuked by President Callahan, who likewise spends much energy trying to contain "that Rim Worlder firecracker".

At the opening of the 3142 session of Parliament Regina presented a petition from "the people of All Dawn and the Rim Worlds" for greater regional autonomy and an end to laws permitting intrusive GAF authority during civil emergencies, which she followed by reciting a long list of recent arrests of nobility on Inarcs for everything from road rage to a margrave's son's arrest for aggravated battery and domestic abuse. She was called to order by Callahan who filed an official complaint with the All Dawn government requesting Regina's recall on grounds of parliamentary misbehavior, citing that despite his calls to order "nevertheless, she persisted". This wording came back to haunt him as it has become a boast by Regina and her supporters on her conduct, with the planetary government rejecting the recall by legislative vote.

For the time being, Regina Mackey's career as a political agitator and thorn in the side of the Ghastillian nobility continues unabated, and in addition to her wide popularity among the Rim Worlds, she is gaining notoriety (and a popular following) in the COMINTERSTEL states and the Royal Federation.