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

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

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Royal Federation

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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.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

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

Post by Steve »

Kingdom of Ghastillia

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

Post by Steve »

Communal League of Sudeten

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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 Max, 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.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

Post by Steve »

ComStar

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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 "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
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

Post by Steve »

Mercenaries

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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)
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

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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.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

Post by 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.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

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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.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

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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.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

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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.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

Post by 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.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

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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.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

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

Post by 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.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

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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.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

Post by 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.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

Post by 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 tookk 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 mood, 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 hostile. 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.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

Post by 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.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

Post by 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.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

Post by Steve »

Communal League of Sudeten
Karl Luvacs
Rank/Title: First Speaker of the League Communal Assembly
Born: 3074 (68 in 3142)

Karl was born on the Periphery world Erewhon to a family of settlers from Parakoila. A bright child by any standard, Karl qualified for advanced education, which he pursued rigorously. The loss of his older sister Anna, a CLAF soldier fighting in the Vanguard War, temporarily upset Karl's education. After grieving he redoubled his studies, studying and writing on political and economic theory and devoting equal time to civic engineering. He sought for and won permission to make an early entry into the Civic Corps, allowing him to complete his required two years of civic service early. Karl was rewarded for his efforts in 3092 with a coveted spot at the University of Hamarr on Sudeten.

Karl spent the next twenty years primarily in academia. He would graduate with degrees in economic theory, civic engineering, and political science, took a teaching position, and served on the Collegiate Educators' Union assembly. His first entry into politics came in 3109 with his election to Sudeten's planetary communal assembly as the CEU's representative. When the Fourth Succession War came Karl was supportive of all defensive efforts and would volunteer for the Sudeten Communal Militia, serving through the siege of Sudeten as an orderly. While in service he accepted an emergency election to the League Assembly and caucused with the Communalists. He got off to a good start with a well-received address supporting the Peace of Buckminster, setting him on the path to wider authority. He was given a seat on the Economics Committee on the strength of his academics work. He would become Vice-Chairman in 3116 after the passage of the Emergency Economic Measures Act which he defended in the Assembly and in printed articles as a temporary measure. He proved this conviction in 3121 after the Peace of Dieron by voting down a renewal of the act while it was in committee.

In the years since the Peace of Dieron Karl has drifted in and out of politics. He left the Assembly in 3124 to return to academia and raise a family with his wife, disabled war veteran Louisa Smith, then returned in 3132. He would serve two terms as Economics Committee Chair before stepping down after a negative Assembly vote and refusing to stand for re-election to the Assembly. Throughout this era his politics straddled the line of the Unionists, whom he now caucused with, and the Communalists, whom he courted for votes with frequent but not total success. Many Vanguardists grew frustrated with Karl's ability to work the two factions against them and more than a few younger Vanguardists have since been convinced he harbors "Ŝtopiloj", or "Stopper", views; that is, that Karl opposes expanding the communal revolution outside of the League.

For six years he was once more focused on his academic efforts, including authoring The Ethics of Communal Factional Politics in Esperanto, Star League English, and his family's native Parakoilan Czecho-Slovak. In 3138 he became Dean of the College of Economic Sciences at the University of Hamarr and turned down an offer to return to the Communal Assembly, signaling he was leaving politics for good.

Yet in 3140 he changed tack. To the surprise of many he stood for election to the League Assembly and campaigned extensively to fill the CEU's Assembly seat. He returned for the 3141 session and won a seat in the War Committee, but was ousted a mere six months later by Chairman Ramirez. The resignation of First Speaker Ursula Assad after the 3141 session saw Karl's name raised as a compromise candidate between the primary political faction leaders left, at which point Dubček withdrew and endorsed Karl.

Karl's term as First Speaker is still early and its success uncertain. His academic focus does not always work in League high level politics. He has qualities; an incisive mind and knowledge of both political-economic theory and practice are joined by a determined, if not especially charismatic, demeanor. His policies so far are in rough favor of the status quo; maintaining the Peace, focusing on domestic economics and the post-war boom in living standards, and restraining the aggressive impulses of the Vanguardists. The formation of the Looking Glass has undoubtedly shaken up much of Karl's plans. How far is as yet uncertain.

Jorge Ramirez
Rank/Title: Chairman of the War Committee
Born: 3070 (72 in 3142)

Jorge Ramirez was born to Sonja Ramirez, a low-level administrative worker for the People's BattleMech Cooperative of Rastaban. He spent his young life in the residential districts surrounding Rastaban's heavy military industry, playing and learning alongside other children of the workers building the CLAF's war machines. By the time he was coming of age, the Vanguard War was raging, and Jorge answered the call of service by joining the CLAF for his citizen service requirement. He passed the tests on MechWarrior training and at the age of 19 became a MechWarrior and soldato of the CLAF, assigned to the Fifth Shock Brigade. Jorge served with distinction through the Vanguard War and was elected repeatedly for higher command, reaching the rank of Bataliono-delegito in 3100 by the vote of his battalion. In 3101 Jorge was given the opportunity to end his service with the CLAF. He accepted after receiving a spot at Rastaban University to study mechanical engineering.

After graduating with a bachelor's in 3106 Jorge joined his mother as an employee at the People's BattleMech Cooperative. He participated in the refining of several designs that were stomping off the factory floor in time for the Fourth Succession War. At first Jorge remained at his new post, overseeing the acceleration of production and joining other workers in pulling extra shifts to meet the surge in demand. After Galedon's invasion of Rasalhague began, the need for MechWarriors to replace battle losses became greater and he received official notice to report for service on the front. He would rejoin his original unit for Operation RIKOTILO, once more elected to battalion command, and rising to Kolomno-delegito following the successful liberation of A Place. After further fighting on the Rasalhague front, he was selected for Command Officer School, passed in 3117, and served as Brigadisto of the Fifth Shock Brigade through the remainder of the war.

By the Peace of Dieron, Jorge was a tired soul. Not only had he lost dear comrades in the fighting, but his mother had died from stomach cancer in 3119. He remained at his post for the required five years of flag command service before leaving the CLAF once more in 3122. After two years of surviving on his veteran's pension while recovering emotionally, Jorge ran for the Communal Assembly as a people's delegate at the insistence of his old colleagues and surviving comrades. Something in the rough and tumble of Communal politics reignited the fighter within him, and he became a bruising parliamentarian, often rankling Vanguardists, Communalists, and even other Unionists alike with his acid wit and acerbic commentary. His practical experiences in war and military industry won him a seat in the War Committee, where he became an influential voting member and an ardent advocate of rearmament. This stance was popular on Rastaban and saw his repeated re-election despite efforts by political rivals to unseat him.

Through the 3130s Jorge was often selected for the War Committee Chair, but typically only served part of a session before being ousted from the chair by the Assembly for one remark or another. He became a heated political rival of Communalist leader Silvia Dubček after one furious excoriation for her opposition to the 3136 Armaments Plan, creating a rift between the War and Economic Committees that was the bane of First Speaker Assad during her remaining years in office. In 3141 Dubček struck at him indirectly by pushing Karl Luvacs' appointment to the War Committee. Luvacs' avowed opposition to rearmament caused repeated procedural pauses and freezes until Jorge was able to secure Luvacs' ouster towards the end of the session. He could not prevent Luvacs' election to First Speaker, however, and this may bode ill for Jorge's rearmament plans and considering of "renewing revolutionary agitation".

Currently Jorge is in an unprecedented (for him) third consecutive term on the War Committee. Age, war trauma, and stress are not slowing him at the least and he may serve yet longer if the Assembly lets him. Given his penchant for speaking his mind on his colleagues, that is not guaranteed. Though he is a fellow Unionist he and First Speaker Luvacs do not get along well and Jorge has made no effort to hide his preference for the replacement of Luvacs, though he refuses to submit his name for consideration as a replacement. "The War Committee is the extent of my interests," he told the Communal Worker Weekly recently. "I'll go on my pension before I take the Speaker's Chair."

Silvia Dubček
Rank/Title: Chair of the the Communal League Economic Committee; President of the Communalist Political Association
Born: 3089 (53 in 3142)

Silvia was born on the world of Parakoila to Svetlana Dubček and Maria Snyder, two economic scientists active in local Communalist political circles. She grew up in the Communalist political scene of her world, even attending the Parakoila Communal Assembly as an adolescent at her mother Maria's invitation. When she reached the age of eighteen in 3107 Silvia joined the Civic Corps. Her name was drawn in the lottery for off-world work and she was sent into the Frontier Marches. In 3109 she chose to voluntarily extend her service for another two years on the resettled world of Apollo.

This may well have saved her life, as Parakoila would be invaded by Ghastillian forces in late 3110, and in the severe fighting and insurgency that followed both of her mothers were killed. News of their deaths and the temporary loss of her homeworld profoundly affected Silvia and she was given a leave from her duties and psychological counseling. By the time she was fit for resuming her term, Parakoila had been liberated, and her superiors signed off on Silvia returning home to work with the Civic Corps in the rebuilding. Silvia signed on for the duration of the war, working in reconstruction efforts as far away as Arkab by the signing fo the Peace of Dieron.

Seeing the widespread devastation from the war and the suffering of the common folk resonated with Silvia's inherited political views and conscience. Where some other Communalists would turn to Unionism or Vanguardism out of lingering resentment for the Lyran invasion, Silvia remained loyal to her mothers' vision. Upon returning to Parakoila she attended the Žižek Communal University, and by 3126 had her degree in economic science. She pursued a master's degree while serving on the Student Union Committee, from which she ran for a seat on the Parakoila Communal Assembly in 3128. She was awarded a master's degree that same year and was appointed to the Parakoila Economics Committee. She made chairwoman in 3131 on the wave of popularity for the wide success of Parakoila's economy and the highest standard of living the world had ever recorded.

On the strength of this reputation, Silvia won election to the Communal Assembly and caucused with the Communalists. Her skill in wording economic legislation and directives and presenting proposals won her a seat on the Economics Committee and the eye of the Communalists, who turned to Silvia as the leader of the younger generation. In 3138 she was named President of the Communalist Political Association, becoming leader of the Communalists in the League Assembly. Two years later she was elevated to Chairwoman of the Economics Committee. She made a bid to become First Speaker after Ursula Assad's resignation, but opposition from Unionists and Vanguardists prompted her to withdraw after a dozen ballots. She endorsed Karl Luvacs, who would win on the twentieth ballot after gaining a Communalist/Unionist majority.

Silvia's political position has made her the most-hated League politician among the ranks of the Vanguardists, who consider her an unapologetic "Stopper". She returns the favor often, publicly chastising the Vanguardists for their "authoritarian tendencies" and "caring more for their egoes than the well-being of the workers of any world". Silivia's focus on the domestic economics of the League and raising the standard of living have made her popular among the wider masses, especially those in her age cohort, but as the post-Dieron generation starts to enter politics in the next decade it remains to be seen if her power will persist.

Lena Zuk
Rank/Title: Diviziestro, CO Communal Assault Division, CLAF
Born: 3092 (50 in 3142)

In another state, Lena Zuk would undoubtedly have had an easier life as the granddaughter of Pawel Zuk, the longest-serving War Chairman in the history of the Communal League. But such familial background can be an emotional barrier to success in the League from the backlash to the hereditary nature of the aristocracies the League is pledged to destroy. Her parents consciously limited themselves to their software designer enterprise in Hamarr through Lena's life, while Lena herself dreamed of following her grandfather into higher service.

Lena came of age as the Fourth Succession War erupted and volunteered for frontline service, serving as a combat engineer in several formations and being severely wounded during the siege of Sudeten. Her convalescence kept her out of the war's middle years, during which time she pursued a degree in engineering at the University of Hamarr and graduated with honors. Upon her return to service Lena joined the Communal Assault Division and was elected to command her company of engineers. Through the remainder of the war Lena won several battle honors before being severely wounded in the failed assault on Tengoku on Irece. She was evacuated with other wounded. Many in her company died in the last stand with the rest of the unit during its famed rearguard action in the retreat from Irece. When the Peace of Dieron came, Lena was convalescing and being treated by psychiatrists for survivor's guilt.

For much of the following decade Lena focused on personal recovery. She married Seong Yulong, a Rengo refugee from what was now the Draconis Combine, and started a family with him on Antares. She taught engineering at the People's University of Antares for three years and served in the CLAF reserves. But as the decade ended her old drive to serve as her grandfather did came back. In 3130 she returned to the Assault Division as a common soldato of high engineering rate. Her experience saw her election to her old post and then battalion and column command, but from 3136 to 3138 she lost several elections for the post of regeminto-delegito. Many factors contributed, but Lena was repeatedly told by many that they felt she was pushing too hard due to "hereditary reasons". One of her COs bluntly informed her that until she showed she wasn't just trying to follow her grandfather, Lena would rise no higher.

Lena's career would advance through an occurrence outside the League. The Dumfries Valley Quake of March 3138 devastated several major cities on the Royal Federation world of Cameron. Lena proposed that in the name of humanitarian aid the Communal Assault Division dispatch combat engineers and machines to help with recovery efforts. This was highly unpopular among certain segments of the unit and other CLAF authorities, to put it mildly, but Lena and her side won the resulting votes in the unit and she was charged to lead the column of personnel and vehicles to aid the rebuilding. Her return in 3139 saw her reputation with the unit enhanced, and while she was not elected to the regiment-command she'd long sought, she was voted to attend Command Officer School to rise into CLAF flag ranks. She returned in late 3140 as a brigadisto and was quickly elected to the XO post of the division. With the retirement of Diviziestro Hendricks in February 3142, Lena was elected to replace him and given the appropriate promotion, making her CO of the division.

Politically Lena follows her parents' and grandparents' broad Unionist sympathy. Her time on Cameron has reinforced this; she was disgusted by the elitism and classism of the Steiner-led nobility on the planet but bonded with AFRF and civic engineers that she worked alongside, and wrote sympathetic reports about the local response and the widepsread charity she saw in the rebuilding efforts. If she goes into politics Lena will likely be an advocate for the Peace of Dieron, but a qualified one, going by her public remarks.


Mattias Whitbrook
Rank/Title: Chairman of the Communal Vanguard Action Committee; Flugidisto, CO of the First Autonomous Wing, CLAF
Born: 3092 (50 in 3142)

Mattias Whitbrook was born to consumer good factory workers on New Exford. His parents Thomas and Gertrude were not politically active by any measure and for many years in his early life Mattias mirrored this attitude. But as he grew older, he started to take a sharper look at events. News reports alerted him to the injustices that other workers like his parents and their friends endured outside of the League. At the age of fourteen he joined the Youth Revolutionary League, a Vanguardist-sponsored organization of his hometown that mixed civic duty work with political education. By the time he was approaching eighteen Mattias was already determined to join one of the Vanguardist formations of the CLAF for his civic service.

The outbreak of the Fourth Succession War upended Mattias' life as it had so many others. When Ghastillia invaded the planet in June of 3110 Mattias reported for duty against his parents' wishes. He was assigned to an air recon vehicle crew attached to the Twelfth Communal Guards, inspiring Mattias to pursue flight training himself. Three weeks into the invasion, his recon craft was shot down, and he was taken captive. The planet fell two weeks later with the retreat of his unit.

As a teenager, Mattias was paroled by GAF authorities looking to avoid swelling their POW camps, but he refused to accept the conquest of his world and quickly joined YRL guerrillas to work as an insurgent. He was caught assassinating the GAF occupation commander and narrowly avoided execution when rescued by his fellow insurgents, and was one of the most wanted insurgents on the planet by the end of the occupation. After CLAF forces reclaimed the planet in 3112, Mattias was among those hailed as a hero for resisting the occupation. His parents were not so fortunate, as Gertrude Whitbrook had accepted a floor supervisory position at the factory during the occupation; she was sentenced to two years hard labor as a collaborator and the family thrown out of the collective. When Mattias publicly denounced her, his father and siblings disowned him, an act that led to their own threatened trials as collaborationists if Mattias had not asked the Communal authorities to be lenient, resulting in their parole and mandatory remediation classes.

After his recovery from the rigors of the insurgency, Mattias' comrades and Vanguardist officers encouraged him to enlist with the First Autonomous Wing, under whose tutelage he worked as a flight tech, aircraft armorer, and flight trainee until he passed flight qualification in 3116, just in time for the rebuilt unit's return to the front. Mattias distinguished himself as a "communal ace" in the fighting that followed, proving a competent and spirited wingman who always kept his unit's needs first and never sought glory by kill count. He was elected to the command post of Flugdelegito in 3118 and Eskadrodelegito a year later during the fighting at Yamarovka, where after-action reports credited Mattias with the survival of two-thirds of his squadron, the highest survival rate of all squadrons in the First Autonomous Wing during that campaign.

After the Peace of Dieron Mattias remained with his rebuilding unit, being elected to higher delegate posts by his peers until he was regimento-delegito for the aerospace fighter contingent of the Wing. He spent his spare time pursuing an autodidactic education in political and social theory, refining his Vanguardist principles to better counteract Communalist and Unionist arguments where his unit encountered them during CLAF exercises. This continued even through his time at Officer Command School in 3138, leading to his promotion to Flotadisto and becoming XO of the entire First Wing. He became a renowned debater among CLAF personnel and started winning support for the Vanguardist cause in the ranks. In 3140 Mattias' reputation was cinched by his success in convincing the entire Nineteenth Assault Brigade to enter the Vanguardist camp and elect Vanguardist officers. His unit elected him to Flugidisto, their CO spot, in response.

In light of Mattias' accomplishments, in late 3141 the Vanguard Action Committee named him their chairman. Some regard this as highly suspect given Mattias remains the CO of the First Autonomous Wing, meaning he rarely attends meetings given the costs of real-time HPG transmission. Pundits and observers (and anti-Vanguardist wits) believe Vice Chairman Richard Allen encouraged the election upon realizing his candidacy was not preferred, as he retains on-the-spot political authority while Mattias remains off Sudeten. Whatever the motivations, Mattias' election was well-received by the rank-and-file, as he is widely held as the most dynamic and assertive Vanguardist leader of the last half-century. His agitation for both rearmament and widened revolutionary agitation in the Lyran states makes him a subject of interest for ConcertWatch and any others monitoring threats to the Peace of Dieron.

(Given the timing of that mass conversion, one can't help but think Whitbrook was addressing troops fresh out of hard fighting in whatever Deep Periphery conflict the League, and their rivals in Ghastillia, seem to be waging. This undoubtedly supported whatever oratory or rhetoric he employed. — Lady Janella)
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

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ComStar
Evelyn Katanga
Rank/Title: President of ComStar
Born: 3089 (53 in 3142)

Evelyn Katanga was born on Hamilton in the Communal League of Sudeten to two comm techs, Andrej and Mariko Katanga. She was barely a year old when AFRF and GAF troops landed to capture her homeworld during a campaign of the Vanguard War. The fighting devastated several major population centers across the planet and saw the destruction of the housing block Evelyn dwelled in. Her parents, who were only lukewarm advocates of the Communal League as it was, accepted an offer of refugee status and contracted labor with ComStar and fled for Terra, where little Evelyn was raised.

By the time she was 19, Hamilton and the League were faint memories, and Evelyn was an honors student who won acceptance to the University of Kinshasa's College of Communication Science and Technology. She received a degree in electrical engineering, then a master's in HPG engineering, which saw her hired by ComStar for their Research Division. By this point the Fourth Succession War was raging across the Inner Sphere and Evelyn's skills were put to the task in Project Starbeam, a ComStar effort at developing more compact and energy-efficient HPGs, allowing for both quick repair and relocation should the war intensify. Evelyn's work led to the creation of a smaller and more robust pulse system, allowing Project Starbeam to begin production in 3119 two years ahead of schedule. She was rewarded with a promotion to a research project manager team in the Research Division. During the time period she would marry a fellow researcher, Donald Harwell, and their son Andrew was born in 3120, resulting in a six month maternity leave as the fires of the Fourth Succession War finally died down.

After the Peace of Dieron Evelyn continued work on the improvement of communication technology, pushing for greater refinement and, if possible, a pulse transmission that could go beyond the existing fifty light year limit most HPGs worked with. Her work with this effort did not yield immediate results, but her efficient use of lab resources and budgets won the attention of corporate management. In 3130, she was promoted into the upper echelons of the company, becoming the Vice President for Research and Development. In 3134 the position of Chief Operating Officer was opened and filled by Evelyn at the request of the board of directors, placing her close to the leadership of ComStar itself. Her future there was cemented by her success in negotiations with Andurien over their Project: SpeechWeb concept, a politically and economically-valuable arrangement that ensured her position in the company.

This was clinched in 3140 when Evelyn was promoted to President of ComStar, a jump over the typical mid-way post of CEO and straight to the company's highest leadership position. This makes Evelyn the first leader of ComStar to not be Terran-born, an occasion she celebrated with her family in a public ceremony at ComStar HQ on Hilton Head.

Jason Hollings
Rank/Title: President of ComStar (Retired)
Born: 3059 (83 in 3142)

Jason was born into a world on the cusp of devastation. He was born to a TUDF MechWarrior convalescing from war wounds with his father already killed in action. His mother would die during the invasion of Terra before he was a year old, leaving Jason an orphan raised by his grandparents in the small Virginian town of Anisted. He grew up in the post-war economic depression that afflicted Terra, his grandparents having little money and no survivors' benefits. Escaping the crushing poverty became a life goal, as did a conviction of the horrors of war.

Economic salvation came through charities, as Jason's education and test scores saw him awarded an Eris grant by the Higher Education Foundation. He attended Marshall University and pursued classes in administrative sciences and political science. The heavy caseload was crushing but his drive to succeed prevailed, leading to his graduation after five years of study with degrees in both fields. He was recruited into ComStar and after a further two years of training in HPG operation Jason traveled to the world of Oriente to work at ComStar's re-established HPG there. He became one of the few Eris grant recipients to get to personally thank his patron when Empress Eris Halas toured the new ComStar facilities six months after his arrival.

After ten years of service on Oriente and Fletcher, Jason rotated back to Terra to assume a position in the Customer Relations Division supporting ComStar's efforts in both diplomacy and regular service. Through the remainder of the century and into the next Hollings steadily ascended through the bureaucracy. By 3110 he was recognized as one of ComStar's leading negotiators and was named Chief Relations Officer, joining the executive board of the company just as the Fourth Succession War broke out. The conflict horrified Hollings, who did everything he could to broker peace but found every effort soundly rebuffed. His only diplomatic successes were in the arrangement of prisoner exchanges and the flow of humanitarian supplies into the war zones. In 3113 he scored a significant diplomatic triumph, convincing the Oriento-Capellan Empire to permit ComStar to administrate food and medical supplies to Andurien through their blockade of the world, which many attributed to his reputation on Oriente and the quiet approval of Eris Halas. This success led to Jason being handpicked to replace CEO Marian Forsyth in 3115 and three years later he was appointed to the position of President of ComStar.

Through the latter half of the decade Jason remained committed to finding a way to end the bloody conflict raging across the Inner Sphere. ComStar played a small role in the Peace of Buckminster and the Terran Corridor Truce, but wider permanent arrangements fell to the determination of the warring Successor States to end the Second Age of War's long-time deadlock with decisive victory. This was a difficult time for Jason, who remembered growing up in the destitution of post-war Terra and was thus keenly aware of the pain and suffering being inflicted on trillions across the Inner Sphere. He gave personal and company contributions to humanitarian charities struggling to help on the many worlds facing combat or ongoing insurgencies against occupying forces.

By late 3119 it was evident that the Successor States were on the cusp of complete exhaustion, so once more Jason pushed for peace by sending feelers and offering ComStar mediation. Recognizing that hosting talks on Terra would be unacceptable given the history of the prior century, Hollings used financial incentives and quiet diplomacy to persuade the Azami to let the city of Tahlwynn on Dieron be declared neutral so that ComStar's facilities there would serve as a meeting place.

Through 3120, the talks on Dieron progressed, with Hollings personally attending both open meetings and daily private discussions with the assembled delegations. As the year pressed on he would be host to most of the Successor Lords (or equivalents) and worked them towards a peace that was acceptable or at least tolerable. There is no telling how many private discussions Hollings had with the rulers or their senior delegates. Most observers would give at least some credit to the progress of the talks to his capabilities as a diplomat. His administration likewise made sure the Congress was kept well-supplied.

The end result was the Peace of Dieron and an end to nearly ten years of high-intensity warfare. Hollings eschewed most efforts to take credit, but many on Terra and elsewhere would shower it upon him anyway. Through 3121 Hollings name was blessed (and sometimes cursed) across the Inner Sphere as the architect of the Peace, the man who ended the Fourth Succession War before it precipitated another collapse of civilization. "You are the most beloved human being since Aleksandr Kerensky," Duchess Karla Humphries of Andurien told him during a state visit to Terra in 3126. And as Hollings' stock went up, so did ComStar's, as by his actions he had brought ComStar to a pinnacle it hadn't enjoyed since 3050 and Operation REVIVAL. With this influence over the shareholders and his board of directors, Jason insisted upon the founding of ConcertWatch as a subsidiary of ComStar, ensuring public awareness of military movements that was unprecedented. He hoped the public knowledge would prevent another incident like the failed Arcadian invasion of Sirius and Procyon in 3123 and keep the Peace of Dieron stable.

Jason benefited directly from his efforts. The Board of Directors and the Shareholders' Association showered bonuses upon him as profits soared through each fiscal year. He would end the decade as the wealthiest ComStar President since the Terran War. But in the end, it all proved too much. In 3130 Jason announced his imminent retirement. A year later, with his successor firmly in place, he put most of his remaining stocks and options into a charitable trust he named the Society for Interstellar Peace and Prosperity, gave them a hefty endowment, and provided most of his remaining wealth to the Higher Education Foundation and ConcertWatch. He returned to his grandparents' hometown of Anisted and became an honorary advisor to his successors and other public figures, only emerging from his retirement to comment upon threats to the peace or new developments in HPG technology.

Samanthan Praust
Rank/Title: Chairman of the Belter Council
Born: 3038 (103 in 3142)

Samanthan was born to Rayward and Geffra Praust on the Ceres asteroid station. His youth was like that of many Belter children, learning to live in micro-G and zero-G environments along with the grav-plate sections of his artificial home. At the age of seventeen Samanthan would be orphaned as a survivor of the Ceres Massacre in 3056, being one of the lucky tenth of the population to get to the life boats before the TUDF destroyed Ceres Station as part of the Belter Suppression. In 3058 Samanthan was arrested on Pallas Station by TUDF occupation troops as a Belter rebel and sentenced to ten years hard labor on Mars. He was serving the second year of that sentence when his work camp was liberated by Principate forces as part of Operation SERPENT.

After the Treaty of Geneva Samanthan returned to Pallas Station to continue his education. He remained a Belter independence advocate and joined the protest against the Successor State occupations in 3063, leading to another arrest by the Lexington Concord before a general amnesty. Samanthan moved to Drummer Station over Jupiter to find work as a hydrogen miner and was voted into the gas miner trade union at the age of thirty. He would join Drummer Station's Residents Council as the Miner Union delegate in 3075 and started his political career. He gained system-wide fame as a Belter delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 3082, where he loudly demanded autonomy for the Belter stations from the new parliamentary republic forming on Terra, and would remain a lifelong critic of the resulting agreement by which the Belters were organized as a semi-autonomous republic of the Terran Commonwealth.

Through the remaining decades of the century Samanthan would serve at multiple levels of government, including two distinct terms with the Terran Parliament in its Hong Kong home. The Belter Council was his preferred legislature and he would rise in estimation until becoming its leader, taking the chairmanship in the 3104 elections. He would serve the remaining decade and most of the rest, lose the 3116 elections, and then return in 3124 after a rancorous campaign. He has remained at the seat for the last eighteen years, fighting off electoral defeat in each major election and half a dozen votes of no confidence pressed by his political rivals, while pursuing ever greater Belter autonomy from Terra and the Inner Sphere as a whole.

Aside from his distrust of "grav-wellers", Samanthan is known for pressing for a greater association of space-dwelling humanity across the Inner Sphere. He has hosted delegates from space habitat governments from as far as the Magistracy, and remains adamant in a view that the space-dwellers should arrange their own political identity wherever they are and resist encroachments from governments of planet-dwelling figures. That he continues to govern at his age has many speculating about the rumored Belter longevity and what technological or biological modification supposedly enables it. Samanthan dismisses such ideas as "fantasies",, asserting his health is due to ""proper living and the pure regulated air and good living of space habitats".
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Special Era Report: 3142 - Beyond the Looking Glass (Concertverse AU Sourcebook)

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Mercenaries
Roland Carlisle
Rank/Title: Major General, CO of the Gray Death Legion
Born: 3090 (52 in 3142)

Roland was born on Lackland to Ronald Carlisle and his lover Teresa Singh. At the time of his birth the Legion was involved in the campaigning of the Third Outback War under contract to the Kilbourne Suns' Concord. Roland spent most of his youth moving with the unit, learning directly from the officers and personnel of the Legion to one day take his father's place. That day came earlier than expected in 3107 when Ronald's cockpit was struck by autocannon fire during fighting with rebel patricians on Lordinax in the Flavian Principate. Though only seventeen years old and still a rookie MechWarrior, Roland was the inheritor of the unit. He turned to his mother and the unit's brevet major general Andrew Washburn to oversee things while he studied to take his place.

But time would not wait. The Fourth Succession War broke out with the GDL under contract to the Magistracy of Canopus, and the Canopians ordered the mercenaries into the fray. Roland joined his unit as a MechWarrior of his mother's command lance for the initial drop on Villanueva. While no stranger to violence, the intensity of the battles was a hard crucible for the young man, who struggled through that first campaign and was thoroughly shell-shocked after having two 'Mechs shot out from under him. On Andurien itself he was kept in a command post situation, learning how to command the unit on a wider scale under General Washburn but also working to rebuild his mental health.

Nevertheless the war took its toll, especially in 3115 when the Legion's Second Regiment was destroyed trying to hold Baroda. Roland's mother Teresa was among the slain. The following year Washburn was killed when IOCF aerospace forces bombed the GDL's command post, an attack that Roland only narrowly missed. Deprived of his two closest advisors, Roland started taking to the field more, driven as much by rage as by duty and for a time becoming utterly ruthless in his dealing with IOCF forces, with most enemy troops dying in the battles he oversaw with few captives taken. Ultimately the APDF ordered the Legion into defensive positions out of concern for Roland's record. Following the withdrawal of IOCF forces from Andurien in 3117, the GDL was given recuperation time before taking part in the liberation of Kanata in 3118. Once that battle was done Roland officially pulled the Legion out of the war, citing his unit's widespread losses and the costly rebuilding they faced. As the Legion was still under contract until at least 3121, it remained as a garrison for Kanata until the Peace of Dieron.

Following the signing of peace, Roland - now a war-hardened veteran at thirty-one - took the unit to distant Nox for rebuilding and recuperation at the local MBCB Hiring Hall. There he started the slow process of rebuilding his family brigade and his own wounded mind and soul. A five year garrison contract with the FolksArme to guard the new border with the Combine allowed for the money needed to begin the unit reconstruction, and the new contract allowed Roland to seek psychiatric care for himself and his comrades. During this period he would marry Sichelgaita Boulandes, a Rasalhaguan woman and former FolksArme veteran he met as a mercenary recruit, and begin his own family with the birth of his daughter Teresa in 3128 and his sons Robert and Grayson in 3130.

Perhaps it was the creation of a family that made him think, or being as close as the Legion had been to Lyran territory since his father was a small child. Since the War of Donegalian Succession the Gray Death Legion had stayed far from its original home, but now Roland resolved it was time to mend fences. While initially serving contracts with both Rasalhague and the Concord through the mid-3130s, by 3134 he was in contact with the AFRF Mercenary Relations Department, and starting in 3137 the Gray Death Legion returned home, taking up garrison posts on Glengarry and Carnwath. The near century of self-imposed exile was over.

In recent years, Roland has completed the expansion of the Legion to its largest size, taking advantage of his contract with the Royal Federation to outfit a fourth BattleMech regiment and several battalions of armor and armored infantry support with Lyran Alliance-manufactured weapon systems. The Legion is now by far the strongest mercenary brigade in the business, and Roland is certain to be hearing from every mercenary hiring officer in the Inner Sphere as the Peace of Dieron continues into a third decade of increasing uncertainty.



Jean-Paul Dumas
Rank/Title: Colonel, CO Dumas' Musketeers; Baron d'Dumas
Born: 3109 (33 in 3142)

Jean-Paul Dumas is named for his line's most known member, the Count Jean-Paul who founded the Dumas' Musketeers mercenary company in 3035. He is the son of Count D'Artagnan Dumas, the original Jean-Paul's grandson, and Thera Dougal, a Canopian pleasure circus entertainer. His father departed to fight the Fourth Succession War when he was still an infant, leaving Jean-Paul to be raised primarily by his paternal grandmother Countess Amelia Dumas and the assorted nannies and governesses common to noble-born upbringings. Jean-Paul was brought up to venerate his ancestors and his lineage as one of the nobles of Terra itself, and to uphold House Dumas' code of honor.

After the Peace of Dieron Jean-Paul moved with his grandmother and her staff to the family's estates on Terra. He would meet his father face to face for the first time in 3122 when the Musketeers accepted a contract from the Kilbourne Concord to be their TOF unit for three years. Over the course of the 3120s Jean-Paul's education continued, including growing introduction to BattleMechs and his future as a MechWarrior. In 3128 he left Terra for Galatea and the MCBC Hiring Hall's Mercenary Officer College, graduating in 3131 with high marks. Jean-Paul returned to his father and became a MechWarrior and lance commander of the Musketeers, seeing combat during the unit's 3132-3135 Outworlds service with the Kilbourne Concord. His upbringing had borne fruit: Jean-Paul was a natural leader, his comrades said, and a capable MechWarrior. He was a company commander by the time of the assignment to Sabik under the Royal Federation and was named in the unit's official dispatches in the 3138 fighting with the Second Arkab Legion.

The relief of the planet Freedom saw a turning point in Jean-Paul's life. The Second Sword of Light was a fierce adversary, and though they were fighting to retreat from the now-superior force they faced, they made the Musketeers pay dearly for the fight. Jean-Paul was nearly shot out of his BattleMech, and his father's machine was crippled and wrecked in the fighting. Count D'Artagnan survived with career-ending injuries. He returned to Terra to recuperate and serve as the unit's administrator; Jean-Paul, by custom, was now CO.

In the years since Freedom the Musketeers have relocated to the planet El Dorado in the Federated Suns, under AFFS contract. Jean-Paul's youth has not diminished the faith his unit has in him, as his father's old colleagues remain at his side to command their formations and give him advice and guidance. Many in the mercenary community see Jean-Paul Dumas as one of their best up-and-coming commanders and a man likely to be a major figure on the mercenary scene through the rest of the 32nd Century.


Christopher Hoyal
Rank/Title: Brigadier-General, CO of the Gravediggers Brigade
Born: 3084 (58 in 3142)


The son of Wallace Hoyal and his wife Katherine, Christopher grew up among the Hiring Halls, field bases, and DropShips of the mercenary life. From an early age he was groomed to become a MechWarrior and the inheritor of the family business. Christopher rebelled from this expectation during his adolescence, but the maiming of his father during the brutal fighting on Dixie in 3099 produced a change in the young man. He committed to the family business, studied as a MechWarrior, and with his father's blessing attended the Karl Sleipson Mercenary Officer's Academy on Nox from 3103 to 3106, coming out an MBCB-certified mercenary officer. He returned to the Gravediggers and took a lance command with his father's command company, serving primarily alongside the Gravediggers First Regiment.

The Fourth Succession War was as brutal an experience for the Gravediggers as every other service. Fighting under contract for the Royal Federation gave Christopher a hefty taste of the grinding warfare that the Second Age of War had become. The deaths of comrades, soldiers who fought under him, and the allied AFRF officers hardened him. When the unit assumed a new contract with Rasalhague in 3116 Christopher returned to the fray as a company commander in his own right and would demonstrate talent while fighting with the Second Regiment on Sheliak.

While the unit was garrisoning liberated Alshain the following year word came that the First Regiment's raid on Luthien had become a disaster and that most of the field troops, including his father, had been unceremoniously executed by order of the Black Dragon Society garrison of Imperial City. Now CO of the brigade, reduced to barely a regiment of troops at this point, Christopher fumed and opted on revenge. He won permission to join a combined FolksArme/CLAF raid on Luthien in 3118 that broke the remaining defenders, allowing substantial damage to be inflicted and permitting Christopher to obliterate the Black Dragons he found. He left their HQ a blazing ruin, had every Black Dragon his troops found killed, and scrawled a message on the wreckage for the Galedonians and Kori Honda-Kurita (reportedly in human blood): "Payback's a bitch."

In the years since the Fourth Succession War Christopher's reputation as a competent, professional, and utterly ruthless mercenary commander makes him one of the most respected (and feared) of the community. He remains a skilled and deadly MechWarrior at his age and the Gravediggers are a choice hire, currently under Royal Federation employ in the Stewart March.

On the family front, Christopher has taken several lovers over the years but has never married, nor has any child of his been reported or recognized. When his younger sister Sarah demanded he provide the unit and company an heir, he responded by naming her and her children, though all of them are civilians and working in the unit's non-military administration. "I'm not bringing a kid into this world just to make him live this life," were his reported words, according to sources reported in the quarterly Soldier of Fortune. This would leave the Gravediggers in the hands of a non-combat leader should something ever happen to him, but to date, Christopher has shown no interest in preventing that outcome. Time will tell if this causes issues within his unit.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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