TEXT: A FACTION SOURCEBOOOK
  TM
  TM
  Jason Schmetzer
  
  ISBN-13: xxx 
  $24.99
  WEBSITE: CATALYSTGAMELABS.COM
  ©2011 The Topps Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Handbook: House Liao, Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, A Time of War: The BattleTech RPG, 
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  STAR LEAGUE ERA 
  SUCCESSION WARS ERA
  CLAN INVASION ERA
  JIHAD ERA
  JIHAD ERA
  DARK AGE
  CIVIL WAR ERA
  DARK AGE
  www.catalystgamelabs.com
  Assailed for centuries by enemies on every side, House Liao’s Capellan 
  Confederation faced its own oblivion time and again. Now, nearly 
  forty years since the realm teetered on the very brink of collapse, the 
  Confederation has returned, reclaiming the pride and unity lost when 
  the armies of Steiner and Davion rolled across their worlds to shatter 
  them. Led by the crafty and charismatic Sun-Tzu Liao, and embracing 
  the spirit of Xin Sheng—rebirth—House Liao once again has become 
  a political and military power to be reckoned with, defying those who 
  would see them fail, and deadly to all who oppose them.
  Handbook: House Liao compiles the history, politics, and cultures of 
  the Inner Sphere’s smallest—and perhaps least understood—Great 
  House. This sourcebook also includes game rules for use with Total 
  Warfare, Tactical Operations and A Time of War: The BattleTech RPG, 
  including new support vehicles, equipment, creatures, and more!
  Handbook: House Liao™ continues the faction-based Handbook series 
  that updates the political, economic, and historical details of the major 
  realms in the BattleTech universe. 
  long live the
  confederation!
  FOR USE WITH
  TM
  t h e  b a t t l e t e c h  r p g
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  handbook:
  house liao
  
  TABLE OF CONTENTS
  2
  AID AND COMFORT 
  5
  INTRODUCTION 
  9
  HISTORY OF THE NATION 
  10
  strength in belief 
  11
  Elias Liao 
  11
  Cynthiana 
  12
  confederation  
  genesis 
  12
  Founding Members 
  12
  Forged In Flames  
  14
  The Ares Conventions 
  18
  capellan Maturity 
  20
  Ursula Liao 
  20
  Normann Aris and the Korvins 
  21
  The Sundermann Liaos 
  21
  Warex and The End 
  22
  Stefan Amaris 
  23
  dawn of the  
  succession wars 
  26
  Slipping the Leash (Davion and Terra) 
  26
  New Delos 
  26
  The Devlin Solution 
  27
  Sandol Quinn 
  28
  Ilsa the Peacemaker 
  28
  Debacle at Chesterton 
  28
  The Red Heart Guard 
  29
  Davion Pushes, Marik Pulls 
  29
  Dainmar Liao 
  32
  Kamachi Imarra and the Warrior Houses 
  32
  third succession war 
  32
  Elastic Defense 
  33
  Melancholy Merlin 
  33
  The Great Lee Turkey Shoot 
  34
  Tormax Liao 
  34
  Diablo Takes Charge 
  35
  Maximilian Triumphant 
  35
  Maximilian Duplicitious 
  36
  Anton and the Wolf 
  36
  McCarron’s War 
  36
  Michael Hasek-Davion 
  37
  fourth succession war 
  41
  Justin Allard 
  42
  Operation Rat 
  42
  The Death of Michael Hasek-Davion 
  43
  Intruder’s Communion 
  44
  Kathil and Sian 
  44
  St. Ives Compact 
  45
  Apart, but Still Akin 
  46
  Romano Ascendant 
  46
  Andurien and Canopus 
  47
  Tempered Resolve 
  48
  the return of KerensKy 
  50
  Outreach 
  50
  Justin Allard Redux 
  50
  Justin’s Revenge 
  51
  Dynastic Heir 
  52
  ascendance  
  54
  Making the Most of Time 
  54
  Closer Ties with Marik 
  55
  Zhanzheng de Guang 
  56
  Operation Guerrero 
  57
  Periphery Interests 
  58
  Star League Reborn 
  59
  Xin sheng! 
  61
  First Lord of the Cart 
  61
  New Birth 
  61
  Shell Games 
  63
  St. Ives Gambit 
  64
  Standing Firm 
  65
  Reintegration and Trinity 
  65
  TOURINg THE REALM 
  69
  how to read this atlas 
  70
  Universal Socio-Industrial Level Reference Table 
  70
  the capella coMMonality 
  71
  the liao coMMonality 
  74
  the sian coMMonality 
  77
  the st. ives coMMonality 
  81
  the victoria coMMonality 
  85
  gOvERNMENT 
  10
  the chancellor 
  90
  the prefectorate 
  91
  Chancellors of the Capellan Confederation 
  91
  the house of scions 
  93
  the Ministerial 
  93
  Ministry of Resources 
  93
  Ministry of Information Standards 
  93
  Ministry of Trade and Exchange 
  94
  Ministry of Development 
  94
  Ministry of Social Education 
  94
  Ministry of the Military 
  94
  Ministry of Allied Relations 
  94
  
  TABLE OF CONTENTS
  3
  capellan nobility 
  94
  House Liao 
  95
  Other Nobles in Government 
  96
  sub-national governMents 
  97
  Commonalities 
  97
  Duchies 
  97
  Warrens 
  98
  Demesnes 
  98
  the MasKirovKa 
  98
  Training 
  98
  Command 
  98
  Divisions 
  98
  MILITARY 
  100
  structure of the ccaf 
  101
  ccaf high coMMand 
  101
  Regional Commands 
  102
  Talon Zahn 
  103
  Major Training Centers 
  105
  Unit Types 
  107
  Uniforms and Insignia 
  107
  Xin Sheng and Historical Ranks 
  108
  Ranks and Insignia 
  109
  Medals and Honors 
  111
  SOCIETY 
  113
  Capellan Citizenship 
  114
  The Capellan Caste System 
  115
  Education 
  116
  Media and the Arts 
  118
  Arts and Literature 
  119
  Science and Technology 
  119
  Annual Art Shows 
  120
  Religion and Philosophy 
  121
  Politics and Movements 
  123
  Crime and PunishmenT 
  125
  ECONOMY 
  127
  National Economy 
  128
  Major Industries 
  129
  Military-Industrial Complex 
  132
  RULES 
  138
  A Time of War: The BattleTech RPG Rules 
  139
  creatures 
  139
  Bithinian Dirt Grinder 
  139
  Drozan Whitefish 
  139
  Geifer Pachy 
  140
  Grand Base Great Crocodile 
  140
  Kaifeng Tree Sloth 
  141
  Liao Buffalo 
  141
  Repulse Lynx 
  142
  Sarmaxan Squirrel 
  142
  Turin Beefbull 
  143
  Warbird 
  144
  personal equipMent 
  144
  Asuncion Escape Suit 
  144
  Apple-Churchill Personal Surveillance Kit 
  145
  Apple-Churchill Personal Mine Detector 
  145
  Ceres Arms Slasher Combat Knife 
  146
  Ceres Arms Stalker Sniper Rifle 
  146
  Ceres Arms Striker Carbine 
  146
  support vehicles 
  147
  Ceres-85 Delivery Vehicle 
  147
  Capellan Confederation Equipment Table 
  147
  CBT Infantry Platoon Construction Data 
  147
  Apple-Churchill Surveillance VTOL 
  148
  cost of living in the
  capellan confederation 
  149
  Typical Salary and Price Guide Table  
  150
  The Black Market 
  153
  roleplaying in the
  capellan confederation 
  153
  Confederation Values: We’re All in This Together 
  153
  Black Market 
  Base Cost Table 
  153
  Exchange Rate Table 
  153
  Regional Views 
  154
  Crossing Borders 
  155
  Capellan Confederation Border Crossing
       Roll Results Table  
  157
  Capellan Confederation Reaction Table 
  158
  Capellan Confederation Adventure Hooks 
  158
  Capellan Mine-laying Infantry Range Modifiers 
  160
  battletech rules 
  160
  New Unit Types 
  160
  Minelayer Infantry 
  160
  C-904 Katya  
  Ground Assault Craft 
  161
  Mówáng-class Courier 
  162
  Crucible Station 
  163
  Andryusha-class Bombardment Frigate 
  164
  Hong Lung Interdiction Station 
  165
  INDEx 
  166
  RECORD SHEETS 
  168
  
  CREDITS
  4
  IN SERvICE TO THE CHANCELLOR…
  Writing
   Jason Schmetzer
   
   
  Additional Writing
     Herbert A. Beas II
  Original House Liao Sourcebook
   
  First Edition
    Rick David Stuart
  Product Development
   Herbert A. Beas II
   Randall N. Bills
  Product Editing
   Diane Piron-Gelman
  BattleTech Line Developer
   Herbert A. Beas II
  Assistant Line Developer
   Ben H. Rome
  Production Staff
   
  Art Direction
    Brent Evans
   
  Cover Art
    Klaus Scherwinski
   
  Cover Design
    Matt Heerdt
   
  BattleTech Logo Design
    Shane Hartley, Steve Walker, Matt 
  Heerdt
   
  Evolved Faction Logos
    Jason Vargas
   
  Layout
    Matt Heerdt
   
  Illustrations
    Jason Banditt Adams
    Justin Adams
    Stu Barnes
    Doug Chaffee
    Pat David
    Nate Furman
    Tariq Hassan
    Alex Iglesias
    Jason Juta
    David Kegg
    Chris Lewis
    Aaron Miller
    Mark Molnar
    Matt Plog
    Ryan Portillo
    John A. Schmidt
    Anthony Scroggins
    Chad Sergesketter
    Alex Tooth
    Hugh Vogt
    Christopher Wilhelm
   
  Maps
    Øystein Tvedten
   
  Record Sheets
    Ray Arrastia
  Special Thanks
  Jason would like to thank anyone who’s 
  ever played the Liao faction—underdogs 
  all, until these last few bits.
  Herb Beas would also like to thank: 
  The Capellan fans, who never give up 
  when the going gets tough.
  Fact-Checkers
  Ray Arrastia, Joel Bancroft-Connors, Roland 
  Boshnack, Rich Cencarik, William Gauthier, 
  Chris Marti, Mike Miller, Aaron Pollyea, 
  Craig Reed, Ben Rome, Andreas Rudolf, 
  Adam Sherwood, Paul Sjardijn, Chris 
  Wheeler, Pat Wynne, Mark Yingling
  Playtesters
  Joel 
  Bancroft-Connors, 
  Rich 
  Cencarik, 
  Joshua Franklin, Johannes Heidler, Chris 
  Smith, Chris “Chinless” Wheeler, Patrick 
  “Roosterboy” Wynne.
  ©2011 The Topps Company, Inc. All 
  Rights Reserved. Handbook: House 
  Liao, Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, 
  ’Mech, BattleMech and MechWarrior are 
  registered trademarks and/or trademarks 
  of The Topps Company, Inc., in the United 
  States and/or other countries. No part of 
  this work may be reproduced, stored in 
  a retrieval system, or transmitted in any 
  form or by any means, without the prior 
  permission in writing of the Copyright 
  Owner, nor be otherwise circulated in 
  any form other than that in which it is 
  published.
   
  Published by Catalyst Game Labs,
  an imprint of InMediaRes Productions, LLC
  PMB 202 • 303 91st Ave NE • E502
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  Find us online:
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   (online ordering)
  
  AID AND COMFORT
  5
  Nuwa BadlaNds
  HuNaN
  liao CommoNality, CapellaN CoNfederatioN
  12 april 3067
  S
  ao-wei Tzu-Chien Hao watched Hunan’s sun rise over the 
  distant lip of the Bloodrime Mountains from the cockpit of 
  his Vindicator. He paused in his shaving, turned the pocket-
  size electric razor off and set it on his lap. The sunrise was beautiful, 
  red and gold and blue all at once, and it bathed the Badlands in 
  blood-red light that shifted toward yellow the farther the light 
  reached, as if the sun was melting bloody snow from the land. He 
  chuckled. Bloodrime indeed. He resumed shaving.
  The razor’s quiet buzz overshadowed the sounds of his ’Mech 
  at rest—weapons off, reactor on standby, with a trickle of power 
  to keep the circuits warm and the cockpit heater running. His sen-
  sors were reading in passive mode, drinking in whatever data their 
  collectors might receive and pinging his heads-up display with 
  anything the simpleton computer thought he might be interested 
  in. A new caret appeared on the HUD, near the Vindicator’s foot. 
  Yes, child, Hao thought. I know Si-ben-bing Howard is awake.
  The infantryman waved haphazardly at the ’Mech’s cockpit. 
  The NCO wiped the stubble on his chin and grinned up at Hao, 
  then turned around and began rousting his platoon. One of the 
  APCs’ big diesels turned over, belching black smoke into the chilly 
  morning air. The whole camp began to move as the sun climbed 
  higher over the mountains.
  Hao put his razor away and wiped his shorn chin with a towel. 
  No new messages were waiting in his queue. Sanchez was quiet 
  during the night, then. Hao’s jaw clenched. His mind filled the si-
  lence with the sizzle-pop of human-fed fires in Chandler. Sanchez’s 
  men had come through, burned out the farming hamlet for being 
  Capellan sympathizers.
  They were citizens, Hao told himself. Capellans, yes. But citi-
  zens, not sympathizers. Hunan was again a Capellan world—it 
  wasn’t sympathy to accept that. It was reality. Sanchez and his 
  band—so-called “resistance fighters,” a hundred or so men with 
  rifles and a few vehicles—were insane, trying to turn the people of 
  Hunan against the Chancellor’s rule. The Confederation had liber-
  ated Hunan.
  It was time Sanchez learned that. Hao keyed his comm. “Any 
  word from the scouts?”
  Beneath him, Si-ben-bing Howard—sergeant in the old ranks—
  held a hand to his helmet, listening. He looked up at the Vindicator’s 
  cockpit and shook his head. “Morning, sir. Nothing. Tracks into the 
  Badlands, still.”
  “Then we pursue,” Hao said. “One hour for breakfast, and we 
  break camp.”
  “We’ll be moving in forty, sir,” Howard said. 
  Hao clicked the comm off. The Home Guard NCO would have 
  his troops loaded in thirty minutes or less, unless Hao missed his 
  guess. He’d been impressed with the man. Howard, along with his 
  platoon of riflemen and two old Condor hovertanks, had been as-
  signed to Sao-wei Hao and ordered to deal with Sanchez and his 
  men. They’d been on the trail for two weeks, through Hunan’s out-
  back and now into the Badlands—craggy bluffs, arroyos and deep, 
  narrow canyons.
  Ambush ground, if Sanchez had anything heavy enough to 
  threaten the infantry’s armored personnel carriers, much less 
  Hao’s forty-five ton Vindicator. A BattleMech should be enough 
  to cow Sanchez’s men into surrender—so thought the Diem, any-
  way—and they’d be able to have nice, public trials.
  By Hao’s clock it was twenty-nine minutes when the lead APC 
  rumbled into motion, followed by one of the Condors. Hao fell into 
  the center of the formation, sensors active.
  sts
  “He knows you’re coming after him,” the farmer said.
  Hao and Howard were standing along a fence row in waist-high 
  neowheat. The farmer, clad in hardy denim, was pointing to the 
  east, deeper in the Badlands. “Came through here about midnight, 
  he did. Told me he was running from the Home Guard—said there 
  was a ’Mech after him.” The farmer peered up at the quiescent 
  Vindicator. “Guess he was right.”
  “How many men with him?” Hao asked.
  “I saw a dozen or so,” the farmer said. He frowned. “Buncha 
  trucks, though. Big, eight-wheel jobs. Full beds, too.”
  “Cargo beds?”
  The farmer nodded. “Couldn’t see what they were full with, 
  though.”
  “You gave him food?” Hao asked.
  “Sure, some bread, a bit of ration cans we had in the basement.”
  Hao met the farmer’s gaze. “You have aided a criminal.”
  “I gave food to a man with a gun, sir.” There was no fear in the 
  farmer’s voice, and he held Hao’s stare with no hesitation.
  Howard cleared his throat. “He left right off, then?”
  The farmer nodded. Hao considered asking another question, 
  then thought better of it and turned away. Howard made their 
  goodbyes and followed him to where he waited at the foot of the 
  Vindicator. Two other men waited as well, the vehicle commanders 
  of the Condors.
  “He was here,” Hao said once Howard was with them. “Last 
  night.”
  “Not far, then,” the Home Guard armor sergeant said. He looked 
  toward the Bloodrimes.
  “I want you two to move ahead. Reinforce the scouts, recon in 
  force. If you encounter Sanchez’s band, attack to disable and hold 
  them in place until we can move up.” He gestured to himself and 
  Howard. “I’ll stay with the APCs and provide escort for the infan-
  try.” The two Condor commanders nodded and moved toward 
  their tanks. Hao looked at Howard. Do I…
  “You think I was wrong to accuse the farmer,” Hao said.
  Howard glanced at the retreating tankers and then askance at 
  Hao. Hao nodded. “I would’ve done the same in his place,” Howard 
  said. “Man comes into my home, man with guns, men. I give him 
  what he wants and get rid of him.”
  Hao nodded. “Then you do nothing but aid him.”
  
  AID AND COMFORT
  6
  
  AID AND COMFORT
  7
  “Maybe so—but I preserve my family.”
  “Yes—by passing the responsibility for dealing with him on 
  to the next family. The next man, the next man’s daughters.” 
  Hao leaned in close, almost whispering. “Every man cares for his 
  family, Si-ben-bing. Even Sanchez, I suppose. But we are all fam-
  ily—all Capellans, all citizens. Monsters must be stopped—and 
  if not in your home, then the next one. Or the next one. Because 
  they’re always stopped in the last one.” Hao frowned. “Even if 
  they kill every living thing in the previous ones. Like Sanchez did 
  in Chandler.”
  sts
  It was near evening when Hao saw lightning flash off the under-
  sides of the heavy clouds that had rolled across the Bloodrimes all 
  afternoon. He urged the Vindicator forward at its fastest pace and 
  signaled the APCs to keep up. More light flashed off the clouds, 
  fast quick-snaps of yellow and red. Cannon fire, reflected from the 
  ground. The Condors had found Sanchez.
  “Sao-wei!” came the call on the radio—one of the RTOs in the 
  Condors. “We have them. Two kilometers forward, in a canyon. We 
  left a beacon at the head—come quickly. They’ve got heavy ma-
  chine guns and LAWs.”
  Hao signaled his receipt and urged the Vindicator forward. The 
  APCs belched smoke again, treads tearing at the blue-black soil as 
  they flung their cargoes of soldiers forward, toward the sound of 
  guns. The beacon guided them to the entrance to the canyon—it 
  was right near the foot of the Bloodrimes, sinking into the depths 
  like a fissure. Hao ordered the infantry to dismount and follow. He 
  stepped past them, weapons ready.
  The canyon wound around and down. In moments the crests 
  above him hard risen to a hundred meters over his cockpit, but 
  after a last switchback they opened into a long, somewhat wide 
  canyon—perhaps six hundred meters long and a hundred across. 
  To an infantryman, enormous.
  The walls seemed to press in on Hao, in his Vindicator.
  One of the Condors was on fire, half-flipped on its side, its tur-
  ret askew. Several of the crew had survived the wreck and were 
  crouched behind it, firing deeper into the canyon with their side-
  arms. One crewman had an assault rifle—tracers from it sank into 
  the darkness.
  “Report,” Hao shouted. His sensors were absorbing informa-
  tion, but the canyon walls reflected a lot. Ghosts filled his HUD as 
  his processors sorted them out. A stream of heavy-caliber bullets 
  banged across his ’Mech’s chest, scratching the armor.
  “Sao-wei—thank God you’re here!” The other Condor burst 
  from cover behind an outcropping, racing back toward him. The 
  turret was spun about, shooting back over the tank’s rear. Fire 
  belched from the barrel as the autocannnon threw fire. “There’s no 
  roo—” The crewman’s voice cut off with a grunt.
  A half-dozen light anti-armor rockets burst against the Condor’s 
  rear skirts—shoulder-fired infantry rockets—but their warheads 
  were enough to penetrate the Condor’s light armor. Air spilled out 
  of the plenum chamber, dragging sparks across the rocky ground 
  as the Condor dogged to the left. Its turret tried to track back, but 
  the crooked elevation threw its aim off. Shells burst against the 
  canyon walls, a dozen meters from the floor.
  “There’s no room to maneuver,” the Condor commander 
  ground out, hacking. “Rockets are killing us, but if we dismount, 
  their machine guns will get us.”
  “Where are they?”
  “Back in the back—good positions, all the heavy weapons in 
  defilade. We put a lot of rounds back there—don’t know if we hit 
  anything.” The man’s voice was thick, the way a MechWarrior’s 
  sounded when he’d been in the cockpit for too long without water. 
  Hao knew that feeling, like there was sand in your throat and gums 
  and no amount of hocking would get it out. “We can’t see ‘em.”
  “Let me,” Hao said. He shoved the Vindicator forward, right arm 
  raised. The big Ceres particle projection cannon that replaced the 
  Vindicator’s fist gathered itself and belched a gout of ions into the 
  back of the canyon. Blue-white light flashed, and just like lightning 
  beneath dark clouds, briefly illuminated the positions back. The 
  Condor crewman had been right. Hao saw several positions, heavy 
  weapon barrels pointing forward. Men scurried like ghosts, back-
  lit for an instant, but that instant was enough. Hao kept his ’Mech 
  moving forward.
  LAWs streaked out, a dozen or so. Several struck the Vindicator’s 
  legs, pitting the armor there, but failed to penetrate. Hao compen-
  sated for the slight tremors, watching his PPC recharge indicator 
  with one eye. He squeezed the trigger as the indicator flickered 
  green, unleashing the hellish battery again. Blue-white flashed. 
  Men moved. Hao marked their positions in his memory. Machine 
  guns blazed at him, slamming slug after slug impotently against 
  his armor. Hao chuckled—the techs would complain about the 
  patching, so many small wounds.
  But that comes later…
  “Surrender,” he boomed from the Vindicator’s external speakers.
  More rockets. He stepped the Vindicator to the side and touched 
  a different trigger. Five long-range missiles streaked from the 
  Vindicator’s chest-mounted launchers. They spiraled in, orange-
  white drive motors glaring in the evening twilight. Explosions 
  backlit Sanchez’s forces, igniting several small fires. Hao grinned. 
  Those fires were enough.
  “Where do you want us, Sao-wei?” Si-ben-bing Howard asked. 
  Hao looked into his HUD, saw the icons for the infantry platoon 
  gathering behind him at the mouth of the last switchback. 
  “Stay there,” Hao said. “Watch for stragglers when they surren-
  der. I don’t want any of them escaping.”
  “And if they don’t surrender?”
  “They will.”
  Hao strode forward, guided by the fires from his missile attack, 
  and began to hit the weapon emplacements with his PPC. Each 
  flicker of blue-white lightning destroyed a long-barreled machine 
  gun or the spinning clusters of a mini-gun. Men flew through the 
  air, flash-cooked by the PPC’s hellish temperatures. A white flag ap-
  peared finally, with a flashlight shining on it so the Home Guard 
  would see it. Hao held his fire, ordered his men to do the same. 
  His cockpit radio crackled—a broadcast on the common channel.
  
  AID AND COMFORT
  8
  “We’ll be leaving now,” a man’s gravelly voice said. Sanchez. 
  Hao’d heard it on the holovids.
  “Surrender,” Hao replied. “You cannot escape.”
  “Neither can you,” Sanchez said. “Look up.”
  Above Hao’s head, to the left, an explosion burst out of the 
  canyon wall a dozen or so meters from the lip. Dirt and rock fell, a 
  massive slide, filling a full twenty meters of space out from the wall 
  almost forty meters deep. The explosion had been flat-white and 
  sharp—high explosive.
  “We’ve mined the whole rim. You let us go or we’ll all die here, 
  Capellan. There’s a trail out the back—we’ll leave the vehicles, 
  that’ll look good on HV for you. But we’re walking out of here. Or 
  else I’ll bury your shiny ’Mech and your tanks and that passel of 
  soldiers you’ve got lingering in the rear.”
  “That’s suicide.”
  “You’re not killing me today, Capellan,” Sanchez said. “And if 
  you are, I’m not going alone.”
  Hao swept his sensors across the rim. Now that Sanchez had 
  armed them, the Vindicator’s sensors picked out the tiny EM sourc-
  es from scores of bombs. He wasn’t bluffing. The one he’d lit off 
  must’ve been a planned demonstration. The rest were too close 
  together—igniting one would set them all off. He looked back at 
  the cluster of infantry—they were helping the crews from the 
  downed Condors, who’d started moving that way as soon as 
  the shooting stopped. Hao switched channels on his comm 
  panel.
  “Howard. Run, right now. Make for the APCs.”
  “Sir—”
  “That’s an order, Si-ben-bing. RUN.”
  He was too far away for even the 
  Vindicator’s microphones to hear 
  the order, but the infantry disap-
  peared back around the curve of the 
  switchback. Hao eyed the charges. They 
  might make it. He turned his comm back to Sanchez.
  “—going to be, Capellan?”
  “One last chance to surrender before I kill you,” Hao said.
  “You heard my terms.”
  “So be it.” Hao closed his eyes for a moment, thinking back 
  on the conversation with Howard at the farm. I could let them 
  go. I’d probably even get a commendation for saving the ’Mech. He 
  opened his eyes. But that would mean putting Sanchez in some-
  one else’s home. That would endanger the citizens of Hunan—and 
  by extension the Confederation. Sanchez was my problem.
  The PPC flashed to life, collapsing the tunnel wall behind 
  Sanchez’s position. No escape. He twisted the Vindicator, extend-
  ing its arm even as he turned the ’Mech’s head as far as it would go 
  in the other direction. The recharge indicator flickered green, even 
  as a handful of LAWs flashed past his cockpit.
  “Stop!” Sanchez screamed.
  The PPC flashed again, this time striking the canyon wall. The 
  hard rock absorbed the energy and shattered beneath the ca-
  ress of accelerated ions—instants before the explosives erupted, 
  flashing around the canyon’s rightward rim. The medium pulse 
  laser on the Vindicator’s head spat light at the left wall, triggering 
  the charges there. Smoke obscured the cockpit, drowning out his 
  sensors. A scream filled half the comm before it disappeared be-
  neath squelching static. The Vindicator rocked, shuddered. Hao 
  wondered—maybe I’ll—
  A thousand tons of rock crushed the forty-five ton BattleMech 
  to the ground and beneath it, interring it with the men it had come 
  to stop.
  
  INTRODUCTION
  9
  T
  he history of the Capellan Confederation is the history of sacrifice. It is the history of millions of like-
  minded individuals assembling together for the common good, forsaking personal gain for the 
  benefit of their children and their children’s children. The labor of billions: of soldiers and doctors 
  and technicians and craftsmen, spent across centuries to build the solid foundation of the oldest 
  Inner Sphere polity. That is the dream of every Capellan citizen, the dream that many together can accom-
  plish more than one alone.
  No dream, of course, survives contact with reality unscathed, and the dream of the Capellan Confederation 
  is no different. For every visionary Chancellor like Sun-Tzu Liao, we have suffered the predations of Kalvin 
  the Mad or the self-indulgent schemes of Maximilian Liao. Capellans are proud of their heritage, proud to be 
  citizens of a nation strong enough to accept its own past misdeeds. Indeed, in his missive to begin compil-
  ing this text, the Chancellor himself wrote, “…and be certain that the information presented is objective and 
  as true as possible—polishing the rough edges from history does little for its students. If we have not always 
  shone in the best light, then we must admit when that light was darkened. The truth is the most powerful 
  tool we have to shape the future. Be honest in your studies, rigorous in your conclusions.” In assembling this 
  history of the Capellan Confederation, we have attempted to find the truth in every situation, whether or 
  not it shows the Confederation or the House of Liao in a favorable light.
  Most every Successor State in the Inner Sphere (and not a few Periphery realms) has branded the 
  Confederation a totalitarian regime under the iron fist of the Liao family, or a corrupt socialist state held 
  under the heel of vicious, greedy nobles. While it is true that the Confederation operates under a socialist 
  political structure, it would be incorrect to label us a police state, or to say that the Liao family rules abso-
  lutely. The citizens of the Confederation have a say in the way their state is run, both in their support of 
  the Chancellor and in their choices for the various other arms of the Capellan government. The rule of law 
  operates in the Confederation, just as it does in the other Successor States—and if the Capellan citizen is 
  perhaps more likely to allow his government the benefit of the doubt, this is to the Confederation’s credit 
  as an entity that inspires loyalty.
  With this project, we have attempted to show the truth of Capellan life: an honest accounting of our 
  realm’s history, as well as realistic reports on the functions of our various Ministries of government. We have 
  provided an overview of our heroic Capellan Armed Forces, as well as primers on citizenship and the rights 
  of our citizens. Per the Chancellor’s instructions, we have endeavored to be as objective as we can. Not all of 
  our history is clothed in the successes we might have wished for, but we have taken great pains to remove 
  the cloak of deception wherever possible.
  The best-known document of this sort to precede ours was the study of House Liao published by ComStar 
  in the mid-3020s. As most historians will acknowledge, that book was little more than propaganda perpetu-
  ated against the Confederation by a ritualistic order devoted to furthering its own aims at the expense of 
  the peoples of the Inner Sphere. Full of contradictions and inaccuracies, it did far more harm than good to 
  serious scholars of the Capellan state, and we have made every effort to see its errors corrected here.
  We are doubly indebted to the Chancellor and his government for allowing us to forward this project 
  on to the Star League offices involved in educating the various Member States about each other. As citizens 
  loyal to the man chosen as the very first First Lord of the new Star League, we are honored to provide this 
  treatise on the realm of the Celestial Wisdom, Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao.
  Most humbly and responsibly,
  Doctor Oliver Carakov, University of Sian Press, 3067
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  10
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  11
  “In the strength of the state lies the safety of the peo-
  ple; from one to the other, and neither alone. This is what 
  makes Capellans strong. This is what gives us strength, 
  and balance where others have none. Yin and yang—
  man and nation.” 
  —Franco Liao, 2367
  I
  n July 2367, Franco Liao drafted the Statement of Pan-
  Capellan Unification, the document that more or less 
  created the Capellan Confederation out of the smaller 
  states that filled the Capellan Zone. In practice, those states had 
  been cooperating well enough to be a de facto realm, but it was 
  Franco Liao’s drive and charisma that brought the Confederation 
  as we know it into being, and his iron will and discipline that 
  kept it alive through its turbulent early years. To understand the 
  Capellan experience, it is necessary to understand the formation 
  of the Liao family—no other single family has held such sway 
  over the course of the Confederation.
  STRENgTH IN BELIEF
  “I learned in Hong Kong the danger of being a small state 
  in the sea of larger nations. If we are to survive, we must 
  move away from our regional differences. In space we can 
  be free. Among the stars, we’ll find room enough for all of 
  us, and in that space we’ll find safety.”
  —Elias Liao, 2188
  The history of Elias Jung Liao presented in the ComStar Liao 
  document is that of a chimera: at first a conservative politician of a 
  tiny state, then the vicious and bloodthirsty leader of a resistance 
  movement, and then again the resourceful and intelligent colony 
  head. We cannot say with any certainty which of those versions of 
  the man are true—or, indeed, if all of them are—but we can make 
  certain assumptions. A man who enters politics and gains a repu-
  tation as a conservative might later in life become a radical zealot. 
  What is uncommonly rare, however, is for that zealot to suffer the 
  trauma of having his family killed and then run away to a new 
  world and become a man of peace and prosperity. After centuries 
  of ComStar’s “stewardship,” Terran records are suspect, so we will 
  focus on the history of Elias Liao that we can document: the history 
  of the founder of Cynthiana.
  ELIAS LIAO
  Born in 2141 in the Hong Kong Free State on Terra, Elias Jung 
  Liao was the son of an English politician and a Nepalese univer-
  sity professor’s daughter. He grew up in the Free State and entered 
  that tiny state’s politics, rising to the position of Third President 
  before the Free State was overrun by Republican China. Most his-
  tories agree that he fled to Nepal and his wife’s family, but after 
  that the accounts are muddled. Most Capellan histories claim he 
  spent the years before he left Terra in 2188 in quiet contemplation 
  and simple work, earning his Nepalese family significant profits 
  and perfecting his economic theories. Terran histories provided by 
  ComStar archivists paint a different picture, that of a power-mad 
  terrorist responsible for hundreds of deaths.
  According to ComStar histories, a simple politician with practi-
  cally no means to do so exploded out of the Himalayas, decapitated 
  twenty-six separate countries and murdered hundreds of govern-
  ment functionaries in his quest to return Terra to a more simple, 
  anarchic form of society. This reign of terror ended in 2188 after 
  Elias and his organization allegedly bombed a Beijing suburb with 
  “fusion weapons” that destroyed a mere few blocks. Fusion weap-
  ons. A poor man in the Himalayas.
  Whatever the cause, all histories agree that in 2188 Elias’ fam-
  ily was attacked in their Himalayan village (how ComStar can call 
  prefab cold-weather housing a “fortress” has long been a topic 
  of debate among Capellan scholars) and his wife and two young 
  daughters were killed. Elias, his eldest son Victor and Victor’s 
  brother, David Paul Liao, escaped the attack and fled Terra aboard 
  a colony vessel.
  Landing on the world he named Cynthiana in 2189, Elias Liao 
  took charge of the small group of settlers who’d come with him 
  (many of them having abandoned the colony vessel’s original world 
  in favor of following Elias) and spent the next thirteen Terran years 
  laying the foundation of an economic powerhouse. Recognizing 
  that the planet was too rugged for industry, given the limited 
  colony population, he instead focused on agriculture, importing 
  livestock and flora and developing Cynthiana as a food world. This 
  choice earned the planet respect and currency, as nearby worlds 
  came to depend on it for food stocks less expensive than Terran 
  food shipments.
  The founding of Cynthiana and the almost-uniform admira-
  tion accorded Elias Jung Liao in the planet’s earliest histories are 
  some of the most telling evidence against the ComStar theory of 
  his earlier life. No matter what his charisma, the Terra of the late 
  22nd century was not a world where people would embrace a for-
  mer pathological murderer as leader in an unknown environment. 
  A man responsible for the murders attached to Elias Liao’s name 
  would have been killed out of hand—perhaps not by tribunal or 
  other authority, but surely by a single aggrieved vigilante.
  Had Elias been the rabid terrorist he has been portrayed as, he 
  never would have fled Terra. The death of half his family would 
  have set him on a path of vengeance comparable to Jinjiro Kurita’s 
  slaughter of Kentares. A man who had never flinched at killing 
  heads of state, members of Parliament and bureaucrats by the 
  score would have spent his last breath slaughtering the inhabit-
  ants of the world who had taken so much from him.
  Instead, Elias Jung Liao took what family he had left beyond 
  Terra’s reach.
  Every source available agrees that Elias Liao died of natural 
  causes in 2202 at the age of sixty-one, a victim of the harsh years of 
  opening a new world and the hardships of living hand-to-mouth 
  in the Himalayas for so long. Cynthiana was officially renamed Liao 
  shortly after his death, by referendum of its citizenry—and despite 
  opposition from Elias’ sons, Victor and David Paul. They bowed to 
  the wishes of the planet’s population, recognizing that the will of 
  the people outweighed their personal desires, and Liao became 
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  12
  the birth world for the dynasty that would protect and expand the 
  burgeoning Confederation for centuries to come.
  CYNTHIANA
  Cynthiana, named for Elias Liao’s murdered wife, was a pasto-
  ral planet with grasslands that covered most of its continents. Its 
  lack of significant terrain features made its climate very pleasant—
  without mountains to thrust the warmer air high into the cooler 
  atmosphere, powerful storms rarely developed—and ideal for ag-
  riculture. Of course, the early settlers often found the lack of varied 
  terrain stressful in itself. “We’re never leaving Kansas again,” was 
  a common joke among early prospectors, as they surveyed the 
  planet and found only grassland after grassland.
  Elias Liao took advantage of the planet’s prairies. After discov-
  ering that local biology could accommodate several off-planet 
  species, he began aggressively importing plants and animals. 
  His prizes were several breeding sets of Eridani stallions, which 
  he turned into sought-after sport lines with a few years of selec-
  tive breeding and careful management. The colonists also quickly 
  learned to domesticate the massive herds of Liao buffalo that 
  ranged across the savannahs, finding them a ready source of na-
  tive digestible food. Losses to the deadly Liao cougar were heavy, 
  though a massive hunting program eradicated that species from 
  the world within a century.
   
  CONFEDERATION  
  gENESIS
  “In few other areas of space could you find such a dispa-
  rate group of rabid independents who share so many views 
  on so many issues. We were like family already, in the Capellan 
  Zone. Certainly we fought like brother and sisters.” 
  —Franco Liao, 2370
  The birth of the Capellan Confederation was the final growth 
  spurt after more than a hundred years of small-scale warfare 
  and the rise and fall of small, multi-world associations and gov-
  ernments all battling each other for supremacy. Not until House 
  Davion invaded Capella did the realm come together, created from 
  an emergency union of several of the most powerful Capellan 
  Zone states.
  FOUNDINg MEMBERS
  Aside from Liao and the republic it would found, a number of 
  other realms had risen to power in nearby space by the time events 
  came to a head in 2367.
  Liao and Capella
  Since its founding in 2189, Liao (formerly Cynthiana) had quietly 
  built itself into an economic powerhouse. A succession of Liao-
  2086: 
  Terran Alliance forms from the Western 
  Alliance.
  2176: 
  Sarna Supremacy forms on Sarna.
  2189: 
  Elias Liao founds Liao Republic on Cynthiana 
  (later known as Liao), after fleeing political 
  persecution on Terra.
  2194: 
  Jurdan Aris founds Capellan Republic on 
  Capella, for many of the same reasons Elias 
  Liao fled Terra.
  2193: 
  Chesterton 
  Trade 
  League 
  forms 
  on 
  Chesterton.
  2202: 
  Elias Liao dies. His son, Victor Liao, becomes 
  next President of the Liao Republic.
  2218: 
  Library of the Capellan Republic opens on 
  Geifer.
  2220-25:  Jurdan Aris negotiates formation of Capellan 
  Co-Prosperity Sphere, a mutual-defense or-
  ganization to protect Capella.
  2225: 
  Sarna Supremacy Premier Emmanuel 
  Denevieve orders attack on Capellan Co-
  Prosperity Sphere, which fails thanks to the 
  rapid response to an attack on Capella.
  2243: 
  Tikonov Grand Union forms on Tikonov.
  2245: 
  St. Ives Mercantile Association forms on St. 
  Ives.
  2250: 
  Sian Supremacy forms on Sian.
  2270: 
  Capellan Hegemony forms from the Capellan 
  Republic. More expansionist than the previ-
  ous regime, the ruling Aris family has great 
  territorial ambitions.
   
  Capellan Renaissance begins, a period of 
  unprecedented growth and learning in the 
  Hegemony (and to a lesser extent in the sur-
  rounding states of the Capellan Zone). This 
  will last until the emergence of the Terran 
  Hegemony, which will spell the end of colo-
  nial dominance in technology and learning. 
  Sarna Supremacy begins 12-year boycott of 
  Capellan Hegemony.
  2271: 
  Capellan Ballet Interstellar forms.
  2272: 
  Capellan Hegemony annexes Ingersoll 
  Concordium, the first in a small series of ex-
  pansions that will provoke conflicts with the 
  Sarna Supremacy and even the nascent Free 
  Worlds League. The worlds of the Concordium 
  are absorbed with little conflict.
  2273: 
  Flush from their victory at Ingersoll, Capellan 
  Hegemony attacks St. Ives Mercantile 
  Association. St. Ives resists, losing several 
  worlds but retaining their autonomy.
  2278: 
  Marlette Association founded on the edge 
  of Davion space. This new state will immedi-
  ately and repeatedly clash with the Tikonov 
  worlds.
  2288: 
  Capellan-Sian forces lift siege of Highspire, 
  cooperating in a way that provokes the Sarna 
  Supremacy.
  2304: 
  Palos and Wei secede from Sarna 
  Supremacy; support for their succession by 
  Paula Aris and the Capellan Hegemony is 
  the flashpoint for war.
  2305-09: Capellan Hegemony-Sarna Supremacy War
   
  (2308) Liao merchant marine defeats Free 
  Worlds League fleet, annexes Arboris 
   
  (2309) Free Worlds League blockades Liao
  2302-06: Marlette Association occupies Mirach, Mira, 
  Mersartim and Almach, and clashes with 
  Tikonov Grand Union. The Tikonovs mount 
  a successful counterattack, but trouble at 
  home will soon have disastrous effects.
  2308: 
  General Diana Chinn attacks into Marlette 
  Association space and wins several early, 
  TIMELINE: CApELLAN ZONE
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  13
  family planetary executives (beginning with Elias’ son Victor, and 
  then his granddaughter Irenna) slowly built Liao’s population and 
  its industrial and agricultural bases, until trade rights with neigh-
  boring worlds brought in sufficient income to begin building a 
  small merchant marine. Liao stayed mostly out of grand interstel-
  lar politics until the Capellan-Supremacy war, when they sided 
  with Arboris secessionists and fought off a Capella-sponsored 
  Marik invasion fleet. Liao’s successes against the Marik fleet led to 
  Arboris becoming a Liao protectorate, followed by several more 
  worlds until in 2315 Emile Liao declared the formation of the Duchy 
  of Liao with himself as duke. The duchy quickly became a trading 
  power, as Emile amassed a massive merchant marine fleet before 
  his death in 2356.
  The Capellan Hegemony grew out of the Capellan Republic, a 
  small realm founded on Capella that had made its name (and gar-
  nered its power) by becoming one of the largest repositories of 
  knowledge outside of Terra. Ruled by the Aris family, and backed 
  by the Capellan Agropolis (Senate), the Hegemony was aggressive-
  ly imperialistic, which eventually brought them into contact with 
  neighboring realms such as the Sarna Supremacy, with whom they 
  went to war in 2303. It was the Capella-Supremacy war that brought 
  the planet Liao into interstellar politics, and morphed the Capellan 
  Hegemony into the more populist Capellan Commonality. The 
  Commonality was an attempt to create a democratic government 
  that could speak for all the small realms of the Capellan Zone, a 
  government open to any citizen of its signatory realms. Like most 
  high-minded experiments, the Commonality struggled for a num-
  ber of years, until events with House Davion brought the need for 
  a more centralized government to the fore.
  Tikonov Grand Union
  Tikonov was settled in 2177 by expatriates from Central and 
  Eastern Asia. Because of its prime location along popular coloni-
  zation routes, Tikonov quickly became the centerpiece of a loose 
  federation of worlds soon to become the Tikonov Union, ruled by 
  the Council of Four (the Tetrarchy). In the 2220s, the Union involved 
  itself militarily with a number of border disputes and expanded to-
  ward Davion space. During the latter part of the century, the Union 
  grew peaceably, but in the early 24th century it moved against the 
  Marlette Association in what quickly became known as Diana’s 
  quick victories. Morale in her forces rides 
  high until they get bogged down in one 
  last assault.
  2309: 
  Diana Chinn dies, leaving Tetrarch Anton 
  Carinus of Tikonov without an heir.
  2310: 
  Capellan Commonality forms as an accord at 
  the end of the Hegemony-Supremacy war. 
  The Commonality is a loose federation of all 
  the states in the Capellan Zone, with its gov-
  ernment open to anyone, not just Capellan 
  citizens. Though the Commonality has little 
  real power, it becomes the proto-state of the 
  Capellan Confederation.
   
  Tetrarch Anton Carinus of Tikonov dies; the 
  Tetrarchy ends as the final three Tetrarchs 
  establish a bureaucratic system to preserve 
  their power and autonomy. This flawed gov-
  ernment quickly drives the Grand Union into 
  near-bankruptcy. 
  2315: 
  Emile Liao forms Duchy of Liao.
  2320: 
  Terran Hegemony attacks Capella.
  2344-45: Federated Suns captures Mira, Mesartim 
  and Almach from the Tikonov Grand Union. 
  Almach Accords signed.
  2351-52: Supremacy-Tikonov War erupts between 
  the Tikonov Grand Union and the Sarna 
  Supremacy.
  2356-57: Commonality elections collapse; Julian Dux 
  is named interim Prime Minister, but the au-
  thority of the Commonality is waning. Voter 
  confidence is beginning to erode.
  2357: 
  Federated Suns occupies Bell and Chesterton 
  in the face of ineffective and disorganized 
  counterattacks.
  2358: 
  Prime Minister Dux resigns amidst pro-
  tests of the loss of Chesterton and other 
  worlds. Seluk Tucas elected Prime Minister 
  of Capellan Commonality, gaining the high-
  est level of authority and support in the 
  Commonality’s history. He takes a hard line 
  with House Davion.
  2363: 
  Tikonov renounces Acala and Almach Accords 
  and attacks Lee.
  2364: 
  The Davion response to the resumption of 
  hostilities reaches as far as Tikonov before 
  it is halted, and Reynard Davion promises 
  more attacks in order to end “the Capellan 
  problem.”
  2365: 
  As dissatisfaction grows Prime Minister 
  Tucas allows new elections but is assas-
  sinated the night before the elections take 
  place. Warren Aris, last scion of Capella’s 
  ruling family, throws the Commonality into 
  a morass of failed elections and corruption 
  charges as he attempts to win the Prime 
  Minister’s office. Voter turnout is the lowest 
  in Commonality history.
  2367: 
  (July) As a Davion “peacekeeping” force 
  moves toward Capella, Capellan delegates 
  convene on St. Andre to elect a new Prime 
  Minister.
   
  (July) Duke Franco Liao calls for abolition of 
  the Commonality and, after a dramatic vote, 
  forms the Capellan Confederation.
   
  (august) Davion forces occupy Capella 
  Prime on Capella. Confederation naval assets 
  destroy Capella Prime and the occupying 
  Davion troops, along with thousands of 
  Capellan civilians. The Confederation capital 
  shifts to Sian, and Franco Liao moves to build 
  his Confederation.
  TIMELINE: CApELLAN ZONE
  Jurdan Aris
  Like Elias Liao, Jurdan Aris fled Terra to escape persecution for his political 
  beliefs. Arriving on Capella in 2193, he founded the Capellan Holdfast, which 
  quickly became the Capellan Republic. Educated in the classics, he became 
  enamored of the republican ideals of Plato. He spent much of his middle years 
  (and his father’s fortune, which he inherited) attempting to improve the Terran 
  Alliance government. The Capellan Republic he founded built itself on informa-
  tion and the arts. It was his son, Nicopolo, who embraced politics and violence, 
  and set the stage for decades of warfare and strife.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  14
  War. The death of General Diana Chinn and the end of operations 
  against the Marlette Association marked the beginning of the end 
  of the “good days” of the Tikonov Union.
  General Chinn had been chosen as co-ruler by one of the 
  Tetrarchs, Anton Carinus, who was nearing retirement and had no 
  blood heir. Her death in 2309, followed shortly by Carinus’ death 
  in 2310, left the Tetrarchy with a vacancy. To resist dissolution or 
  replacement, the remaining Tetrarchs implemented rule-by-com-
  mittee. By 2350, the Union was nearly bankrupt and under attack 
  by the Sarna Supremacy, a conflict that would only be set aside by 
  the arrival of a common enemy: House Davion.
  Supreme Sarna
  The small realm known as the Sarna Supremacy was one of the 
  most powerful in the Capellan Zone. Its capital world, Sarna, was 
  one of the first settled worlds in the region and heavily indus-
  trialized, given the Sarns vast economic and military potential. 
  They quickly expanded, colonizing many worlds until they ran 
  into the borders of the Capellan Holdfast, the St. Ives Association 
  and the Tikonov Grand Union. Controlled as a dictatorship by a 
  single premier, the Supremacy had little compunction against us-
  ing force to accomplish its goals. Of course, wanting something 
  is not the same as having it, and the Supremacy met stalemate 
  after stalemate as its enemies closed the gap militarily.
  Attacking Capella in 2225, the Sarna military found itself 
  forced to retreat by the gathering forces of the Capellan Co-
  Prosperity Sphere. When again they went to war with Capella, 
  this time against the Capellan Hegemony in 2305 after the se-
  cession of Palos and Wei, they fought well but were eventually 
  overmatched after Capella negotiated aid from the Free Worlds 
  League. Pushed into a discontented peace, the Sarns turned 
  their sights on other borders and attacked the Tikonov Grand 
  Union in 2351, where they enjoyed early successes until House 
  Davion attacked and took the Supremacy world of Bell. This 
  attack sparked the long process that would culminate in the 
  Capellan Confederation. 
  Commonality
  In 2357, the Federated Suns occupied the Sarna Supremacy 
  world of Bell, easily overwhelming the local garrison. A combined 
  Capellan task force arrived to contest the Davion occupation, but 
  found nothing—no troops, no civilians, no bodies. In an eerie par-
  allel to ancient Terran Roanoke, the planet’s citizens had apparently 
  vanished. The political effect of this incident was to collapse the 
  government of the current Capellan Commonality Prime Minister, 
  Julian Dux, and allow the election of an electronics wizard from St. 
  Andre: Seluk Tucas.
  Though Tucas was a consummate politician, his decisions had 
  disastrous consequences for the Commonality. At first his actions 
  seemed to be exactly what the Capellan Zone needed. He unified 
  much of the government under his personal control, cutting out 
  costly and wasteful bureaucracies and making several under-the-
  table deals to cement his position. With his power base secure, he 
  turned his attention to external threats.
  Unfortunately, Seluk Tucas was a better politician than military 
  planner. His attempt to capture Lee failed miserably when the 
  Davion troops there ambushed and annihilated his assault force. 
  In the aftermath, Warren Aris, descendant of Jurdan Aris and Tucas’ 
  political foe in the Agropolis, whipped up such a backlash that 
  extremists assassinated Tucas and his family on the eve of new 
  elections.
  FORgED IN FLAMES 
  With Tucas dead, Davions invading the Capellan Zone and 
  Warren Aris the likely winner of any election, things looked bleak. 
  As head of the largest weapons manufacturing conglomerate in 
  Capellan space, Aris’ ambitions were well known, and both the Free 
  Worlds League and the Federated Suns had little interest in seeing 
  Teng’s “Cease Fire”
  Having learned that a number of locals had murdered several Union scouts 
  prior to the assault on the world of Jonathan, General Teng was determined to 
  exact his pound of flesh. Teng was a combination of traditionalist and eccentric. 
  In this age of modern, mechanized warfare, he made a point of commanding 
  whenever possible from horseback. On this occasion, Teng ordered the guards 
  to round up the local population, about 3,000 strong, and march them out of 
  the city. Once they were surrounded, he ordered the troops to open fire indis-
  criminately into the huddled mass of unarmed human beings. As children died 
  beside their parents and entire families alongside their neighbors, Teng swore 
  the firing would not stop until the blood reached his horse’s knees. As provi-
  dence would have it, moments later Teng’s horse stumbled and fell, its knees 
  touching the ground. (This fall was not surprising, considering that the general 
  weighed more than 140 kilos.) The superstitious troopers took it for an omen 
  that enough was enough, and the sound of guns died away while Teng was 
  helped to the rear area.
  Following Jonathan’s recapture, the survivors of the massacre, with the dry 
  humor so typical of Sarns, erected a statue in honor of Teng’s horse.
  —From A War of Extremes, by Aladir Yeng, The Conservative Press, 2402
  Tucas’ Plotting
  Of all the deals Seluk Tucas made to ensure his election as Prime Minister 
  of the Capellan Commonality, two stand out. First, he signed the secret Hessen 
  Conventions with the Tikonov Grand Union, which gave him their support in 
  return for his government’s backing of the Union’s overturning the Acala and 
  Almach Accords with the Federated Suns. Those accords gave a number of worlds 
  to the Federated Suns in return for peace. This back-room deal would come to 
  prominence in 2363, when Tucas severed diplomatic ties with the Federated 
  Suns and recalled his brother Fashir, whom he’d sent there as ambassador.
  The second deal was his daughter Caroline’s arranged marriage to Franco 
  Liao, Duke of Liao and master of the enormous Liao trading fleet. Though made 
  for political expediency, in case Tucas needed to retreat from Capella, this match 
  would have far-reaching repercussions, as Caroline would soon become the 
  catalyst for creating the Capellan Confederation.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  15
  the Capellan Zone come under the control of a man with that much 
  firepower at his command. Agents from both realms approached 
  the other candidates with offers of support, insuring that Aris would 
  not be able to earn the majority vote needed to win the post of 
  Prime Minister of the Commonality—and thereby gaining their 
  own governments time and advantage as they sought to claim as 
  many Capellan worlds as they could. When the first vote returned 
  with no clear winner, Aris demanded a recount. Amid charges and 
  counter-charges of corruption, a Davion agent was captured in the 
  act of paying large sums into the campaign coffers of one of Aris’ 
  opponents. In this atmosphere, the Senate was forced to call for new 
  elections in 2366. Fewer than five percent of native Capellans voted. 
  Democracy in the Commonality was dead.
  In June of 2366, the Senate learned that Reynard Davion had 
  dispatched a “peacekeeping” force to Capella, to oversee new 
  elections and insure the safety of the Capellan people. Several of 
  the regiments listed in this force were veterans of the slaughter on 
  Lee, and so few Capellans had difficulty understanding Reynard 
  Davion’s plan. In one stroke, he hoped to decapitate the Capellan 
  Commonality and remove the threat of a strong Capellan Zone 
  once and for all.
  Warren Aris and Franco Liao
  When a convention of Capellan Zone leaders met on St. Andre 
  in July, the delegate for the Independent Worlds of the Capellan 
  Zone, Duke Franco Liao, proposed a radical solution: dissolve 
  the Capellan Commonality in favor of a new, temporary confed-
  eration that could stand against the Federated Suns and the Free 
  Worlds League. In his Statement for Pan-Capellan Unity, Liao said, 
  “Remove the Commonality, and in one stroke you remove the bone 
  of contention from within and the excuse for foreign invasion from 
  without.” A loose coalition of the embattled Commonality states 
  could not succeed. Only as a unified group could they hope to 
  stand against the other interstellar nations.
  Warren Aris condemned Liao’s plan as an outright dictatorship 
  and urged the convention to censure him and his duchy. When 
  offered his chance at rebuttal, Franco Liao merely smiled and of-
  fered this reply: “We have seen years of Warren Aris’ attempts at 
  governing. I’ll not waste time with him or any of his, nor will my 
  ships. Stand with Aris and stand alone. Unity is the only way we’re 
  going to survive this, and my ships will enforce that unity.” With 
  the threat of blockade, the delegates opted to listen to Franco 
  Liao’s proposals.
  In the end, there were no other good options. Whether they 
  liked acquiescing to Franco’s blackmail or not, the alternative was 
  Warren Aris, and the corruption and disinterest displayed in the 
  previous election proved he was not likely to save them from the 
  present crisis. Franco Liao offered a plan, and something none of 
  the rest of the delegates were willing to assume: responsibility. His 
  new Articles of Confederation called for the creation of a Chancellor 
  to lead the unified Capellan state. A single person with responsi-
  bility could accomplish many things that a council could not, but 
  that single person was also responsible for his failures. Even if they 
  passed Liao’s plan and he then failed, only a small portion of the 
  blame would come back to them. It remained to be seen if Liao 
  himself was the man to lead this new Confederation. By threaten-
  ing force, Liao made many of the delegates disinclined to support 
  him, and he spent much of his efforts at the convention trying to 
  convince fellow delegates that he had only the Capellan Zone’s in-
  terests at heart. In the end, though, the final decision would come 
  from another.
  Caroline’s Word
  After hours of quarreling and no end in sight, many of the del-
  egates were surprised when Duchess Caroline Liao—daughter 
  of slain Commonality Prime Minister Selak Tucas—appeared at 
  the foot of the dais, interrupting her husband’s speech. Most of 
  the rest were shocked to silence when she mounted the dais and 
  drew her husband’s ceremonial sword from his belt. Taking it in 
  both hands, she pointed the tip of the Aldebaran blade at Franco 
  Liao’s chest.
  “We have all heard enough this night,” Duchess Caroline said. 
  “The time is come for us to act, and act quickly. To those of you 
  who fear the threat of dictatorship, to you I swear I will run my hus-
  band through should he ever dare to threaten your freedoms. If 
  need be, I shall demonstrate the truth of my words here and now.” 
  Her statement rolled across the assembled delegates, and with the 
  exception of Warren Aris, every delegate accepted Liao’s terms by 
  acclamation. Each nation and independent world had four hun-
  dred days to ratify or reject the Articles of Confederation, but for 
  the moment Franco Liao had succeeded.
  Assuming the post of Commonality Prime Minister only long 
  enough to declare that nation dead, Franco Liao proclaimed the 
  establishment of the Capellan Confederation and himself its first 
  Chancellor. The Confederation included every delegate’s world 
  and realms: St. Ives, Sarna, Tikonov and Sian. The vote to confirm 
  Franco’s edicts was fourteen to one—only Warren Aris voted 
  against them.
  The Liao Fleet
  The massive fleet with which Franco Liao threatened his enemies in 2367 
  was not an armada of the massive WarShips of the Star League or the Clans. 
  In the 24th century, most interstellar vessels were smaller craft that interacted 
  with planetary surfaces using shuttles or intrasystem freighters (forerunners of 
  today’s DropShips). Most JumpShips of the time were similar in design to mod-
  ern WarShips; they had maneuvering drives that let them move in-system, as 
  well as massive cargo bays and small craft bays, but the DropShip as we know it 
  wasn’t developed and accepted until well into the 25th century.
  The Liao merchant marine was just that—a fleet of armed merchant ships, 
  independent traders who plied the spaceways in the fractious Capellan Zone 
  and nearby space. Pirates were common in those areas, as they are now, and 
  most of Liao’s captains were experienced spacers. If they didn’t have the finesse 
  and polish of true Navy warships and crews, they had decades of practical ex-
  perience in getting in and out of the Capellan systems. No one doubted Franco 
  Liao’s ability to blockade any Capellan world he wanted—his ships and cap-
  tains had been to all of them.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  16
  Franco’s first act as Chancellor—seconds after being con-
  firmed—was to offer Warren Aris the post of Deputy Chancellor. 
  Aris, enraged at the sudden and complete destruction of his po-
  litical dreams, refused. Liao had him arrested for crimes against 
  the Confederation, and not a single delegate spoke in his de-
  fense. After years of turmoil, corruption and deceit, the troubles of 
  Warren Aris were over.
  Franco moved swiftly to secure his Confederation’s position. 
  With a Davion invasion force still bearing down on Capella, he 
  appointed two military commanders for each commonality in 
  the new realm (the former independent states of Sarna, St. Ives, 
  Capella, Sian and Tikonov) and gave them sweeping powers. To 
  make sure he held their loyalty, he also gave each of them sub-
  stantial land grants in their own commonalities, mostly from Aris’ 
  ancestral holdings.
  With the military handled he turned to the nobility. He created 
  an advisory council—the House of Scions—and used appointment 
  to it to buy the loyalty of most of his opponents. His wife, Duchess 
  Caroline, became the first President of the House of Scions.
  Capella Prime, Kurnath and Andurien
  With the basics covered the new Chancellor closed the St. 
  Andre convention and took ship for Capella. He sent messengers 
  to the Davion fleet commander, informing him of the new govern-
  ment and suggesting new negotiations between the Federated 
  Suns and the Confederation on New Avalon. It was a slim chance, 
  but Franco Liao had to take it. The one commodity he did not have 
  was time—the Davion fleet was nearly upon his capital, and it 
  would do the Confederation government little good to reach an 
  occupied capital world. In the end, he bought enough time for 
  he and Caroline to arrive on Capella ahead of the Davion invasion 
  force and make a few contingency plans.
  Before leaving St. Andre, the Chancellor had ordered the most 
  elite units of the new Confederation Army and Navy to assemble, 
  with the naval units rendezvousing within a jump of Capella. With 
  little time to organize, the Chancellor set in motion a bold plan. 
  The Chancellor and his party barely made it offworld before the 
  Davion fleet arrived.
  When the Davion forces landed, they found hardly any re-
  sistance worth the name. They dealt with local sabotage and 
  scattered gunfire from irregulars, but far less of both than they ex-
  pected from a capital world. Three regiments moved to occupy the 
  capital city, Capella Prime. When the sun went down on the first 
  evening, the Davion troopers joked about setting up permanent 
  shop. The Capellans had run rather than fight.
  Or so the invaders thought.
  The next day, reports of combat in orbit began to filter down. 
  Soon, the troopers on the ground could see the evidence with their 
  own eyes as elements of the St. Ives and Sarna navies, together with 
  the bulk of Franco Liao’s fleets, attacked the Davion ships in space. 
  In seven hours of battle the Confederation annihilated the supply 
  ships, transports and escorts that had brought the occupation force 
  to Capella. With space superiority achieved, the Chancellor called on 
  the Davion troops to surrender unconditionally.
  Safely ensconced in Capella Prime, the Davion commander re-
  fused. His troops held the city hostage—his defenses and those 
  of captured Capella would swat Confederation landing craft out 
  of the skies. He had plenty of food and ammunition, and surely 
  One Man to Rule Them…
  Aside from the riveting historical drama of Duchess Caroline’s statement, 
  her words are almost meaningless. The post of Chancellor is the post of a dicta-
  tor, benign or not. Considering her audience, one wonders if she knew she was 
  speaking for posterity, since almost every man at that convention would have 
  leapt at the chance to become that selfsame dictator.
  It is unlikely, however, that the convention would have struck down Franco 
  Liao’s plan even if Caroline Liao had not made her pledge. The realms of the 
  Capellan Zone may have been independent, but each had ties to the Capellan 
  Commonality, and the newly formed super-states of the Federated Suns and 
  Free Worlds League saw that entity as their enemy. They made no distinction 
  between it and the tiny St. Ives Association or the Tikonov Union, or any other 
  Capellan Zone realm. To the rest of the Inner Sphere, Capellans were Capellans. 
  It was inevitable that they begin to act so in order to survive.
  History does not record whether anyone ever called on Caroline Liao to 
  uphold her pledge during the next twenty-eight years, when Franco Liao held 
  the Chancellorship of the Capellan Confederation. It is unlikely, however, as the 
  same security and economic boom that made entry into the Confederation so 
  appealing made it difficult to remove the Chancellor.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  17
  Tikonov Grand
  Union
  Sarna Supremacy
  Capellan Commonality
  St Ives Mercantile
  League
  Sian Commonwealth
  Duchy of
  Liao
  Hechnar
  New Dallas
  Tyrfing
  Afleir
  New Stevens
  Brownsville
  New Florence
  Bex
  Mandal
  Blue Sava
  Pliska
  Elbing
  New Praha
  Jászberény
  Alexandria
  Kalmar
  Kern
  Sunnywood
  Ghorepani
  Corodiz
  Mendham
  Zanzibar
  Royalston
  Ashley
  Courcellete
  Shaunavon
  Aspropirgos
  Gouderak
  Deschenes
  Shenwan
  Siendou
  Beenleigh
  El Giza
  Piriapolis
  Ryerson
  Tay
  Hassad
  Novaya Zemlya
  Bethel
  Muridox
  Mosiro
  Kiga
  Flintoft
  Horsham
  Li
  Pleiades Cl
  Ridgeb
  Robsart
  Rollis
  Wrentham
  Jam
  Landmark
  MacLeod's Land
  New V
  N
  Amiga
  Meg
  Parian
  I
  Menion
  Desolate
  I
  Amity
  Bromhead
  Diefen
  Midale
  Sama
  Ishtar
  New Vandenburg
  Pinard
  Eleusis
  Carmichael
  Deneb
  Kaitos
  Kansu
  Hudeiba
  Kwamashu
  Latice
  Lurgatan
  Sadurni
  Mandaree
  Leyda
  Campbelton
  Dickinson
  Tintavel
  Kearny
  Cirebon
  Fieferana
  Mansu-ri
  Cole Harbour
  Calloway VI
  Ipswich
  Shuen Wan
  Frondas
  Furud
  Gannett
  Tania Australis
  McKenna
  Antipolo
  Vikindu
  Meadowvale
  Flannagan's Ne
  New 
  Aragon
  Taurus
  New Rhodes III
  Angol
  Alrescha
  Acamar
  Spica
  Taga
  Palladaine
  Ngake
  Alcyone
  Daniels
  Redfield
  Concord
  Gallatin
  Launam
  Merak
  Nestor
  Anegasaki
  Cameron
  Danais
  Iknogoro
  Loeches
  Matheran
  Milnerton
  Pella II
  Sophie's World
  Sorunda
  Barlaston
  Bora
  Buenos Aires
  Calpaca
  Carmen
  Fujidera
  Glasgow
  Grand Base
  Hadnall
  Holloway
  Hustaing
  Kaifeng
  Lesalles
  Mauripur
  Mentasta
  Phact
  Preston
  Primus
  Raballa
  Randar
  Relevow
  Sakhalin
  Scheuerheck
  Scituate
  Sendalor
  Sigma Mare
  Tallin
  Teng
  Texlos
  Vestallas
  Warlock
  Watermael
  Wazan
  Xieng Khouang
  Ziliang
  Bristol
  Carmacks
  Gallitzin
  Heligoland
  Kathil
  Klu
  La
  Listowel
  Mandate
  Manteno
  Orbisonia
  Remshield
  Andurien
  Kanata
  Kasdach
  Shiro III
  Verlo
  Ayn Tarma
  Highspire
  Atlas
  Avigait
  Corella
  Cotocallao
  Glentworth
  Jaipur
  Quittacas
  Altorra
  Bellatrix
  Calseraigne
  Kurvasa
  Menke
  New Westin
  Raphael
  Westerhand
  Chilung
  Diass
  Guangzho
  Nullarbor
  Nihal
  Decus
  Prix
  Alkes
  Bordon
  Chol
  Johnsondale
  Avawatz
  Axton
  Farwell
  Flushi
  Monongahela
  Narellan
  Ogil
  Perkasie
  S
  Stein's Folly
  Ulan Batar
  Lee
  Abadan
  Ariel
  Asellus Borealis
  Bentley
  Bithinia
  Castrovia
  Cronulla
  Denbar
  Geifer
  Hexare
  Holt
  Housekarle
  Hunan
  Kashilla
  Kiyev
  Lancaster
  Lungdo
  Necromo
  New Delos
  New Macao
  Ohrensen
  Safe Port
  Salur
  St. Andre
  St. Loris
  Tiber
  Truth
  Ulan Bator
  Vanra
  Ventabren
  Weekapaug
  Zaurak
  Aitutaki
  Avior
  Bainsville
  Jouques
  Keeling
  New Hope
  Rasalas
  Uhuru
  Washburn
  Boardwalk
  Campertown
  Homestead
  Sanilac
  Wappingers
  Regulus
  Oriente
  Smolensk
  Helixmar
  Kumqwat
  Aldertaine
  Bedeque
  Helm
  Ling
  Semenyih
  Tania Borealis
  Tawas
  Tecumseh
  Rosamond
  Kentares IV
  Acala
  Ashkum
  Barstow
  Beecher
  Cammal
  Goderich
  Moravian
  Valexa
  Maladar
  Brighton
  Cordiagr
  Harloc
  Milos
  Old Kentucky
  Ovan
  Tsinghai
  Tsingtao
  Eom
  Imalda
  Propus
  Uravan
  Jonathan
  Poznan
  Angell II
  Daneshmand
  Dayr Khuna
  Elektrougli
  Emris IV
  Fletcher
  Harmony
  Muscida
  St. Ives
  Sian
  Azha
  Miaplacidus
  Talitha
  Alhena
  Augustine
  Kalidasa
  Kyrkbacken
  Van Diemen IV
  Pollux
  New Canton
  Nopah
  Achernar
  Caselton
  Rio
  Ronel
  Schedar
  Tybalt
  Almach
  Buchlau
  Gan Singh
  Mesartim
  Ningpo
  Mira
  Halloran V
  Elbar
  Chamdo
  Indicass
  Jasmine
  Menkar
  Minnacora
  Tsitsang
  Marlette
  Olancha
  Scud
  Tal
  Kyeinnisan
  Oceana
  Olafsvik
  Solaris
  Exeter
  Avellaneda
  Ibstock
  Park Place
  Bell
  Wei
  Asellus Australis
  Goshen
  Kirkenlaard
  Wroxeter
  Kurragin
  Ares
  Capella
  Beten Kaitos
  Elgin
  Emerson
  Liao
  Foochow
  Styk
  Algot
  Addicks
  Fuentes
  Sarna
  Bandora
  New Sagan
  Acubens
  Alphard
  Berenson
  Bharat
  Chertan Dubhe
  Fletcher
  Genoa
  Hamal
  Hean
  Marcus
  Menkalinan
  Nanking
  Nathan
  Remulac
  Ruchbah
  Saiph
  Savannah
  Slocum
  Wing
  Wyatt
  Zosma
  Bernardo
  Hamilton
  New
  Hessen
  Shensi
  Suzano
  Yangtze
  Gei-Fu
  Ingersoll
  Masterson
  Palos
  Quemoy
  B
  Logandale
  Drusibacken
  Keystone
  Tongatapu
  Algol
  Pleione
  Mirach
  Tikonov
  Marik
  McHenry
  Muskegon
  New Olympia
  Procyon
  Rochelle
  Capolla
  Terra Firma
  Bryant
  Sirius
  Woodstock
  Ingress
  Keid
  New
  Home
  Oliver
  Carver V
  CastorDevil's Rock
  Epsilon Eridani
  Epsilon Indi
  Graham IV
  Hall
  Hsien
  Irian
  Northwind
  Outreach
  Small World
  Edwards
  Autumn Wind
  Stewart
  Chesterton
  Demeter
  Foot Fall
  Zion
  Asuncion
  Dieudonne
  Cartago
  Arboris
  Basalt
  Sheratan
  Aldebaran
  Connaught
  Wasat
  Zurich
  Callison
  Kawich
  Tall Trees
  Tigress
  Shiloh
  BORDER KEY
   DISTRICT BORDER
  PROVINCE BORDER
  CAPELLAN CONFEDERATION
  Foundation (2366)
  Coreward
  Spinward
  Anti-spinward
  Rimward
  MAXIMUM  JUMP: APPROXIMATELY 30 LIGHT YEARS
  LEGEND
  NATIONAL CAPITAL
  DISTRICT CAPITAL
  PLANET KEY
  PROVINCE CAPITAL
  © 3067 BLAKE'S TRUTH CARTOGRAPHIC DIVISION
  30 LIGHT YEARS
  90 LIGHT YEARS OR 27.6 PARSECS
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  18
  at least one vessel would escape to warn the rest of the 
  Federated Suns about his situation. The Davion com-
  mander watched the deadline count down to zero with 
  little concern. He told his troops to watch the skies—the 
  Capellans would be coming.
  Two minutes after the deadline, the skies above 
  Capella Prime filled, not with landing craft and shuttles, 
  but with lasers and missiles. The Confederation Navy—
  newly formed and personally commanded by the 
  Chancellor—obliterated Capella Prime. More than 2,000 
  Capellan citizens died, along with three elite regiments 
  of Davion troops.
  Afterward Franco Liao moved the capital of the 
  Capellan Confederation to Sian, where it has remained 
  ever since. A black-edged border was added to the 
  Confederation’s triangle, commemorating the dead of 
  Capella Prime and their sacrifice. The threat averted, 
  and the debacle at Lee that had cost Seluk Tucas his life 
  avenged, Franco looked to the future. The Confederation 
  still faced dire threats, even though the occupation of 
  Capella had ended, and he had much work to do.
  By 2395, the Confederation had more or less secured 
  its borders. Pressure from House Davion had eased 
  since the death of Reynard Davion in 2371, and the lack 
  of heavy combat in the Davion border region enabled 
  the Confederation military to focus on stemming the 
  slow but steady advances of the Free Worlds League. 
  With the government he’d built solidly in place and his 
  borders as secure as possible, Franco Liao resigned the 
  Chancellorship in favor of his younger brother Kurnath, 
  and retired to the planet Liao with his wife.
  Kurnath Liao’s four years in office were tumultuous 
  and decisive. With no pledge from Caroline to stop him, 
  he increased the power of the Chancellor and made the 
  position permanent. He formed the state intelligence 
  agency that would become the dreaded Maskirovka. His 
  most lasting contribution to history, however, was the in-
  stigation of hostilities with the Free Worlds League over 
  the contested Andurien system—an action that touched 
  off the colossal Age of War.
  Aleisha and Ares
  Kurnath’s daughter Aleisha was chosen by the 
  Prefectorate as the third Capellan Chancellor. Only twen-
  ty-seven, she immediately set about ending the conflict 
  over Andurien. Domestically, she appeared much less 
  power-mad than her father, but shrewd observers saw 
  how she played each branch of the Capellan govern-
  ment against the others while maintaining most of her 
  own power. By balancing the powers of the Prefectorate 
  and the House of Scions against each other, Aleisha Liao 
  maintained control, using the military as a lever when 
  THE ARES CONvENTIONS
  We, the undersigned, on this 13th day of June, 2412, in accordance with 
  our commitment to preserving human life, do solemnly pledge to prevent 
  the loss of civilian life in war. Let this document testify to our desire to end 
  the senseless atrocities attendant upon human conflict, and our pledge to 
  uphold the ideals contained within these Conventions or suffer the harsh-
  est consequences. 
   
  Article I — Nuclear Arms 
  The use of any nuclear device or variant thereof on a planetary surface or against any 
  commercial vessel is prohibited. This prohibition extends to tactical nuclear blasts against the 
  aforementioned targets. Controlled nuclear attacks in space against military targets are pro-
  hibited unless they occur at a minimum of 75,000 kilometers from the surface of any inhabited 
  world in a star system. 
   
  Article II — Orbital Bombardment 
  The use of orbital assets to bombard stationary targets (as defined in Appendix B, Section 
  4) on a planetary surface, with the single exception of a valid military objective whose destruc-
  tion the attacker deems necessary to ensure the survival of his own troops, is prohibited. In no 
  case may any orbital attack take place in or near any heavily populated area, and any orbital 
  attack is subject to ex post facto review by a duly appointed council from the signatory states. 
   
  Article III — Surrender 
  To lessen the human cost of warfare, all combatants must accept the surrender of any unit 
  that offers it. A white flag adorned with a red S will represent the universal surrender stan-
  dard, so that any unit unable to communicate by conventional means may still surrender fairly. 
  The universal surrender guidelines in Appendix E outline the provisions for the treatment of 
  prisoners and fair compensation for the capturing forces upon the release of war prisoners to 
  their native realms. 
   
  Article IV — Safe Passage 
  The governments and military commands of the undersigned agree to recognize the 
  aforementioned white flag as a symbol of truce. Any vessel, vehicle or person bearing such a 
  truce flag shall be granted safe passage through any place, insofar as the bearer breaks no laws 
  pertaining to that place, or initiates no hostile activity of any kind. Should the bearer of a truce 
  flag engage in hostile activity as defined in Appendix F, the truce flag shall be deemed invalid, 
  and any action taken against such an individual or individuals becomes the responsibility of 
  those suffering said hostile action. Harassment of a truce flag bearer without provocation will 
  be investigated by a duly appointed board of inquiry from the signatory states. 
   
  Article V — Urban Warfare Restrictions 
  No battle shall be waged in an urban area except under extreme circumstances. If the mili-
  tary objective of an assault lies in a city center, attacking troops must ensure that any hostile 
  action taken causes the least possible amount of collateral damage. No attack may be made 
  against any civilian target, for any reason. Civilian targets shall be deemed to include such 
  life-supporting equipment as water and air purifiers, agricultural assets or any other item that 
  enables a planet’s population to continue their existence. 
   
  Article VI — Chemical and Biological Weapons 
  Because chemical and biological agents kill human life indiscriminately and often per-
  manently damage the biosphere of any world suffering such an attack, the use, further 
  development and production of such agents is strictly prohibited. 
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  19
  necessary. She continued this pattern until a new cause drew her 
  attention: controlling the human cost of warfare.
  In 2412, a series of horrific battles slaughtered more than one 
  hundred thousand civilians in the Tintavel system. Horrified by the 
  loss of life, Chancellor Aleisha Liao began a campaign of aggressive 
  diplomacy that culminated in the Ares Conference, a conclave of 
  delegates from around the Inner Sphere. The end result of these 
  discussions was the adoption of the Ares Conventions, a series of 
  agreements about the method and scale of armed conflict. At the 
  time, the signing of the conventions was hailed as a breakthrough 
  in peace negotiations, but history has shown the accords had the 
  opposite effect.
  Over the next hundred and fifty years, the incidence of war-
  fare actually increased as the stylized nature of combat evolved 
  under the Ares Conventions. By making warfare less costly to ci-
  vilians, the signers made it only more likely that the realms of the 
  Inner Sphere would resort to armed conflict to settle their dis-
  putes. By the time Aleisha Liao died in 2415, warfare had become 
  a near-everyday occurrence.
  The Time of Tribulation
  In 2451, Chancellor Duncan Liao, son of Chancellor Stephen Liao, 
  ordered the Merik’s Grenadiers regiment of the Capellan Hussars 
  to disband half its strength. His actions, brought on by the rising 
  tide of military extremism and power-mongering that had begun 
  appearing among Capellan generals, had the opposite effect from 
  the one he intended. Instead of disbanding, the Grenadiers took 
  the Chancellor hostage and held him captive for almost seven 
  months. The Capellan government, concerned about the security 
  of the state if the Chancellor was killed, allowed the Grenadiers to 
  virtually run the government. These seven months are remem-
  bered as the Time of Tribulation. They ended in February 2452, 
  when Duncan Liao killed himself by lighting an electrical fire in his 
  apartments. He reasoned, correctly, that his life was the only thing 
  holding the junta in power. Alive, he was too useful to kill; dead, 
  there would be no impediment to the rest of the government re-
  moving the traitors from power.
  Jasmine Liao, Duncan’s sister and colonel of the Second Hexare 
  Lancers, acted as soon as she learned of her brother’s death. 
  Declaring herself Chancellor, she moved her regiment and at-
  tacked the Grenadiers’ positions around the Forbidden City. For 
  two days the two units fought, with several units of the Grenadiers 
  attempting to surrender. Jasmime Liao would have none of it—
  and in the end, the Grenadiers ceased to exist. With the junta 
  terminated, the Prefectorate quickly ratified Jasmine as Chancellor. 
  One of her early decrees was to name the Second Hexare as the 
  Chancellor’s personal guards, re-christened the Red Lancers. It was 
  the first of many decrees the new Chancellor would make, and the 
  Capellan military would never be the same.
  Furious over the military’s assumption of power and the gov-
  ernment’s inability to rescue her brother, she moved to curb the 
  power of both. Courts of Inquiry wreaked havoc on the Capellan 
  officer corps, cashiering or executing several hundred general 
  officers. The authority of divisional and sector-level officers was 
  removed and given to the Chancellor. Mindful of the greed seem-
  ingly bred by a general officer’s high rank, Jasmine Liao abolished 
  all officer ranks above colonel by special decree in 2455, a decree 
  that remained in effect until Sun-Tzu Liao’s Xin Sheng reforms of the 
  3060s. No general would again rise to challenge the Chancellor—
  in effect, the Chancellor was the only general left in the realm.
  With the military handled, Jasmine turned to the civilian gov-
  ernment. Careful issuing of edicts allowed her to remove much 
  of the governing authority from the House of Scions and the 
  Prefectorate, transferring it to the Chancellorship. For the first 
  time, the Chancellor became not a constitutionally sanctioned 
  executive, but something close to a monarch. With the power of 
  decree vested in the Chancellor’s person, any decisions he or she 
  wished—subject only to the narrow channels of authority still held 
  by the Prefectorate and the House—were law. The dictator that 
  Caroline Liao had pledged to murder all those years ago on St. 
  Andre had finally come to power.
  It was during Jasmine Liao’s reign that the Terran Hegemony 
  first fielded the BattleMech, and the Maskirovka’s sole focus for 
  many years was the acquisition of that technology. While their ef-
  forts ultimately culminated in the Xanthe operation, netting the 
  Confederation copies of Free Worlds League ’Mech technology, 
  Jasmine focused on international issues. For the first time since the 
  disappearance of Fashir Tucas, Sian and New Avalon exchanged 
  ambassadors. Though little of consequence ever occurred dip-
  lomatically, this action assuaged fears among the Sheng—the 
  hereditary nobility of the pre-Confederation Capellan states—
  that Jasmine would use her newly acquired authority to lead the 
  Confederation into another costly war.
  After Jasmine Liao’s death, power on Sian was held first by 
  the regent Edmund Salindar and then by Jasmine’s second son, 
  Hendrik Liao. Both men were good Chancellors, and the years of 
  their reigns showed much promise. Both expanded the Capellan 
  military, bringing the new ’Mech forces into their own and increas-
  ing Capellan security. During Hendrik Liao’s reign, Kalvar Lorix 
  formulated the famous Lorix Creed. When Hendrik resigned the 
  Chancellorship in 2520, many believed his nephew and successor 
  Kalvin, an intelligent and charming man, would continue the years 
  of peaceful growth to which they’d become accustomed.
  They could not have been more wrong.
  Kalvin the Mad and the Magistracy
  Kalvin Liao quickly revealed himself to be the worst example 
  of Liao Chancellors ever to hold the throne. Corrupt, power-mad 
  and utterly uncaring about the state’s welfare, Kalvin saw the 
  Chancellorship as a way to glorify himself and those sycophants 
  nearest him. In the ten years and eight days of his reign, many 
  Capellans became disenchanted with the Confederation. More of 
  them died—either by Kalvin’s order, or in the wars he started—
  than in the previous century as well.
  The Sheng suffered greatly during Kalvin’s reign. Greedy to a 
  fault, Kalvin routinely ordered the Maskirovka to drum up charg-
  es against rich nobles so he could blackmail or outright murder 
  them for their fortunes. His own family was not immune—he or-
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  20
  dered his uncle Hendrik executed in 2521 for “crimes against the 
  Confederation,” and accused his own father of plotting to give an 
  entire world to the Davions. In 2523, when the Red Lancers foiled 
  an assassination attempt, Kalvin had the young nobleman respon-
  sible drawn and quartered. Then, using the attempt as an excuse, 
  Kalvin had one in ten members of the House of Scions murdered 
  for their alleged complicity in the attack.
  The other realms of the Inner Sphere were not safe from Kalvin 
  Liao, either. Obsessed with a woman, Kalvin launched the Second 
  Andurien War in an insane attempt to win her. He practiced po-
  lygamy, amassing a harem of twenty-six wives before eventually 
  having them all executed for supposedly plotting to assassinate 
  him in his sleep. When a member of the Red Lancers finally mur-
  dered him in 2530, the assassin’s tribunal was almost apologetic in 
  its assignation of guilt.
  CApELLAN MATURITY
  “…and from our turbulent youth shall come our time of 
  sagacity and experience. We shall overcome the dark mem-
  ories of our childhood, and in concert our Confederation 
  shall become a peer of any other realm around us.” 
  —Salicia Liao, 2550
  The next fifty years in the Confederation were relatively peace-
  ful. Chancellors Mica and Salicia Liao both maintained cordial 
  relations with the Federated Suns and a period of détente with 
  the Free Worlds League, and though Terrence Liao did manage to 
  embroil the Confederaton in the abortive Third Andurien War, the 
  assistance of Ian Cameron and the Terran Hegemony ultimately 
  became useful partnerships for Sian. With entry into the Star 
  League, the Capellan Confederation finally could begin focusing 
  on domestic issues. 
  URSULA LIAO
  Ursula Liao, sole child of Terrence Liao and his Terran bride, Lady 
  Victoria Matthews, assumed power on the death of her father and 
  immediately reaffirmed Sian’s commitment to the Star League. She 
  used her powers as Chancellor to bring educational and infrastruc-
  ture improvements to nearly every Confederation world, and she 
  made it her personal mission to leave the Capellan worlds better 
  than she had found them. Her commitment to the Capellan people 
  makes her perhaps the truest example of the benevolent leader that 
  Franco Liao (publicly) intended the Chancellor to be, and stands as 
  a model for many of the best Chancellors since, including Sun-Tzu 
  Liao. There are many parallels between the social programs Ursula 
  Liao instituted and the Xin Sheng reforms of today.
  Ursula took a direct interest in the Capellan educational system. 
  With the Star League treaties resulting in hundreds of new tech-
  nologies arriving on Capellan worlds, it was imperative that the 
  citizens be trained and educated to take full advantage of them. 
  She instituted a national system of weights and measures, creating 
  a standardized set that replaced ancient systems like those of the 
  Tikonov Grand Union and the Sarna Supremacy. Her administra-
  Shepperton’s Freebooters
  That the Freebooters managed to evade capture for more than five years is a 
  testament to either their skill or the incompetence of Capellan and Free Worlds 
  League military planners, or evidence of a silent support structure within the 
  Atreus and Sian governments. This third theory seems most likely in hindsight, 
  as the Freebooters contained no recognizable military geniuses, and the officers 
  of the day in both realms’ armies were not noted for their inability to fight.
  The Freebooters’ initial discontent stemmed from the disposition of the 
  Andurien worlds, but after their flight into the Periphery and subsequent ab-
  sorption of many of the smaller pirate bands inhabiting the near Free Worlds 
  League-Capellan Confederation border, it’s likely they also absorbed several 
  of the known state-sponsored pirate groups. With the powerful ‘Mechs of the 
  Grenadiers added to their arsenal, these pirate bands became much more ca-
  pable of petty political maneuvering than they had been.
  Records from that time show that the Freebooters struck at Free Worlds and 
  Confederation planets, and often seemed to alternate back and forth. Targets 
  struck were often noble ones—facilities controlled by particularly fractious 
  dukes, or nobles who’d been particularly bothersome at court. While no evi-
  dence exists for either the Captain-General or the Chancellor supporting these 
  groups, it’s not impossible for segments within their respective governments to 
  have done so. Years later, groups like the Freebooters would become common-
  place as the House Lords fought each other during the Star League years using 
  pirates and malcontents as proxies.
  Perhaps the Freebooters were an early version of the same.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  21
  tion also pushed for the use of a base-ten Confederation calendar, 
  to supplement Terran Standard Time and each world’s individual 
  time system.
  Aside from the Reunification War, which was fought under the 
  Star League’s aegis and command, the only domestic military chal-
  lenge Ursula Liao faced was the so-called Freebooter’s War, an 
  uprising by units of Shepperton’s Grenadiers in apparent discon-
  tent over the disposition of the Andurien worlds. For nearly five 
  years, Freebooter ’Mechs ranged with impunity along the Free 
  Worlds border, until a combined Free Worlds-Confederation task 
  force struck at the Freebooter base on Wisconsin. Prior to 3057, this 
  was the only recorded instance of Free Worlds and Confederation 
  troops working together.
  NORMANN ARIS  
  AND THE KORvINS
  When Ursula Liao died unmarried and childless in 2599, the 
  Prefectorate chose the last scion of the Aris family, Normann Aris, 
  as the next Chancellor. Despite the recognition of House Liao as 
  the only representatives of the Confederation to the Star League, 
  many of the League’s officials and member states were unhappy 
  with the Liaos because of the “cattle tax” Chancellor Ursula had 
  instituted during the last years of the Reunification War. With 
  Confederation territory being the primary travel route from the 
  Terran Hegemony to the frontiers of the Magistracy of Canopus 
  and the Taurian Concordat, the Star League Defense Force sent 
  transport after transport through Capellan space. Ursula instituted 
  a tax on every soldier passing through the realm, which increased 
  the costs of the war paid by the other states and offset the cost to 
  the Confederation. The Prefectorate hoped that by electing a non-
  Liao as Chancellor, they might placate some of the more vocal Star 
  League members.
  As an executive of Earthwerks, Ltd., Normann Aris had over-
  seen the development of the some of the best weapons the 
  Confederation had. His work on BattleMechs had secured his place 
  in history; as the Reunification War ended, the Confederation 
  needed a man of his caliber more than ever before. As the income 
  from Ursula’s “cattle tax” dried up along with other war-related 
  revenues, the Capellan economy ground to a halt. Entire industries 
  had grown around the twenty-year Reunification War—industries 
  that depended on the steady stream of Star League traffic and 
  on the spending habits of transient soldiers. With those incomes 
  gone, the Confederation fell into a recession that rivalled the worst 
  days of the old Tikonov Tetrarchy.
  Chancellor Aris used his power of decree to enact compulsory or-
  ganization, a system of socialist labor that outlined the state’s right 
  to assign any citizen to whatever task needed doing. As citizens, 
  Capellans were rewarded with many things: protection by the armed 
  forces, health care, and the infrastructure that allowed modern civili-
  zation. Each citizen, the thinking went, should be willing and happy to 
  offer the state whatever service it required in return for those boons.
  In theory (as with socialist theories throughout history), this 
  system allowed for the streamlining of Capellan productivity 
  and the distribution of work and wealth. In practice, however (as 
  also throughout history), those in power corrupted the system 
  to strengthen their own positions at the expense of the people. 
  Chancellor Aris fought these practices wherever he found them, 
  and his inquisitors were adept at rooting out corruption, but his 
  untimely death in 2611 meant that the measures he started contin-
  ued on after him.
  THE SUNDERMANN LIAOS
  The next three Liao Chancellors—Sundermann, Androsar and 
  Warex—reigned during the century and a half of peace that en-
  compassed most of the first Star League. Known collectively by the 
  name of the first—Sundermann—they enhanced and strengthened 
  the social changes begun by Normann Aris. Unlike many previous 
  Chancellors, all three ruled for more than fifty years apiece, giving 
  them plenty of time to make the changes they desired.
  Sundermann Liao organized many of the societal delinea-
  tions that would eventually create the Capellan caste system. He 
  decided that each citizen should contribute to the state as best 
  dictated by his education and talents, and with the economic 
  crisis of the Aris recession ended, allowed the system the flex-
  ibility to make sure needs were met wherever they existed. It 
  was during Sundermann’s reign that the practice of moving citi-
  zens around the Confederation first came into use. If the Sarna 
  Commonality had a shortage of teachers, for example, and the 
  Sian Commonality an excess, teachers were moved. As in all 
  things, the state’s needs were paramount. Rather than wait the 
  years it would take to educate more teachers from the existing 
  labor pool in the Sarna Commonality, the Capellans would solve 
  the problem more quickly and directly. The lives of the teachers 
  in the Sian Commonality, and the distress their uprooting would 
  cause, were simply new problems to be dealt with once the exist-
  ing difficulty was eliminated.
  Androsar Liao, content with the social changes his father had 
  wrought, made it his mission to heal the Confederation’s wounds. 
  The Legacy of Normann Aris
  Normann Aris was a student of the Korvin Doctrine, which states that only 
  an elite can govern effectively. His interpretation of this teaching led him to 
  institute compulsory organization when the Capellan economy collapsed, and 
  the historical record clearly shows his intentions to be in the best interests of 
  the Confederation. It was Aris who first codified in law the precept of state be-
  fore individual, though it is incorrect to assign him credit for the idea. Capellan 
  Chancellors have valued the state over the individual as far back as Franco Liao; 
  Aris did little more than formalize that valuation.
  The Sheng were in an uproar, of course, until they saw their opportunity to 
  shape compulsory organization to meet their own needs. Where Aris intended 
  the system to protect the state from greedy individualists, the Sheng found a 
  way to shape the system to benefit them first and the state second. The last 
  years of Aris’ administration are rife with examples of his breaking such nobles 
  as harshly as possible—for it appears Aris prized the good of state more highly 
  than his own—but his tragic death on Nanking ended many of the purges. 
  With no one to stop them, the greedier members of the Capellan government 
  allowed the drastic changes Aris had instituted to continue in perverted form.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  22
  One of his first acts was to abolish Kalvin the Mad’s polygamist 
  policies and strengthen the rights of Capellan parents over their 
  families. He established guidelines for the periodic redistribution 
  of labor throughout the Confederation, making it illegal to disrupt 
  family units with dependent children. Many of the Sheng who’d 
  made their fortune in the periodic labor migrations protested this 
  ruling, since it cost quite a bit more to ship a man, his wife and his 
  four children across a hundred light-years than just the man him-
  self. Andosar stood his ground, however, and when protest did not 
  cease, he decided to break the protesters.
  Knowing that the cost of transporting so many more people 
  cut steeply into the profits of the transit barons, Androsar quietly 
  worked to establish a guild of nobles devoted to profiting from the 
  resettlement of the displaced. Homes needed to be bought and 
  sold, occupations filled, lost labor replaced, children schooled. One 
  of Androsar’s methods—compulsory schooling for all children in 
  the Confederation, at the state’s expense—paid dual dividends. 
  Subsidized education allowed a savvy few to profit from supply-
  ing the new schools, and the children themselves grew to become 
  productive citizens of the Confederation.  As the transport guilds 
  were realigned or broken, the state-sponsored educational system 
  spread to every world, bringing the national literacy rate up every 
  year. Civic works projects were established to employ these newly 
  educated citizens, and eventually training in secondary occupa-
  tions was added, making labor distribution less necessary as the 
  citizenry became better educated.
  Androsar Liao was no fool. Along with these changes and the re-
  distribution of power they had caused among the Sheng, he made 
  certain his descendants would not have to reinvent the wheel. All 
  the new educational programs included political indoctrination, 
  influencing the way the coming generations would see the gov-
  ernment and the state.
  WAREx AND THE END
  The last of the Sundermann Liaos, Chancellor Warex Liao, 
  ruled the Capellan Confederation as the first Star League began 
  to fail. His focus since replacing his father Androsar had always 
  been the military; it was Warex Liao who created the modern 
  Capellan Confederation Armed Forces, bringing the disparate 
  Army, Navy and aerospace forces under a unified command and 
  logistical structure. His pursuits as the Capellan member of the Star 
  League Council of Lords were almost always military; he lobbied 
  for Member State access to new Terran military technology, gain-
  ing the Confederation many advanced machines and equipment, 
  including BattleMech designs. Basking in the increased appropria-
  tions funneled toward it by the military-minded Chancellor, the 
  Capellan military reached its professional apex. When Warex Liao 
  sponsored an amendment to the Cameron Decree of 2650, each 
  Member State—including the Confederation—began to double 
  the size of its standing army.
  Warex’s interest in all things martial brought much-needed 
  innovation and refinement to the Capellan military, but the previ-
  ous century’s social and infrastructure growth saw drastic cuts in 
  funding and prestige. Nobles unhappy with the new state of af-
  fairs labeled Warex a martinet, more concerned with pretty swords 
  and ’Mechs than with the good of the Capellan people. Unrest 
  grew, and the threat of violence rose across the Confederation. 
  As Warex fell ill and protests over unfair taxation flared to life in 
  the Periphery states, a flashpoint erupted when a group calling it-
  self the Chesterton Liberation Battalion used a nuclear weapon to 
  destroy a BattleMech factory on Demeter. Though news of the at-
  tack didn’t reach Sian until after the aging Warex had succumbed 
  to his frailties, his daughter Barbara Liao immediately refuted the 
  Federated Suns’ claims that the Maskirovka had aided the CLB in 
  destroying the factory, and brought the matter before the Star 
  League Council for adjudication. Unfortunately, other matters in-
  tervened before the Council could rule on the issue.
  In 2762, First Lord Richard Cameron reached his majority and 
  the regency of General Aleksandr Kerensky came to an end. One 
  of Richard’s first acts was to issue Executive Order 156, directing 
  the Member States of the Star League to disband their militaries 
  and depend on the Star League Defense Force for all their military 
  needs. This order was overturned almost before the young First 
  Refrectors
  The position of refrector was created during the reign of Sundermann Liao 
  as an outlet for the people’s anger about their lack of control over their lives. As 
  compulsory organization spread and became embedded in Capellan life, many 
  citizens resented being forced from their homes and occupations to fill some 
  other need of the realm. The refrectors gave a voice to these people. A noble 
  appointed to speak on their behalf to the Diem—or, in extreme cases, directly 
  to the House of Scions—the refrector served as the voice of the common citizen 
  in disputes between the citizenry and the nobility.
  In practice, the refrector was selected from among his peers to be the nobles’ 
  protector against the average citizen. While many refrectors did try to preserve 
  citizens’ rights against compulsory organization, almost none managed to stand 
  up to the combined might of the House of Scions and the rest of the Sheng. After 
  a mere fifty years, the Sheng realized what a powerful position it was for control-
  ling the common citizens; since then, nearly every refrector has been an appointee 
  dedicated to filling his own purse and following his own agenda.
  Chesterton Liberation Battalion
  Though House Davion claimed that the Confederation was behind the 
  Demeter attack and used it as an excuse to launch the invasion known as the 
  Border War (2760-2762), actual Maskirovka records at the time reflect little of-
  ficial connection with the Chesterton Liberation Battalion. The one link House 
  Davion claimed as their “smoking gun” was the admission of former Maskirovka 
  operative (and Chesterton native) Edgar Borlenko into the ranks of the CBL in 
  2759. The Federated Suns cited Borlenko as a ringleader in the Demeter bomb-
  ing, and he may well have been. Maskirovka records of the time show him to 
  be a modestly successful analyst who tried to transfer to field operations and 
  washed out of the training. Borlenko left the Maskirovka on Sian in 2758 and 
  traveled to the Tikonov Commonality, where he was recruited by the CBL. It 
  seems unlikely that he was a plant in a terrorist organization, but of course 
  Maskirovka records are not always the most reliable sources.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  23
  Lord had finished decreeing it, as every House Lord fought it—one 
  of the few times that all five leaders of the soon-to-be Successor 
  States ever agreed on anything.
  STEFAN AMARIS
  Every man, woman, and child in the Inner Sphere knows the 
  name of Stefan Amaris, ruler of the Rim Worlds Republic in the 
  Periphery and the man who destroyed the first Star League. He 
  came to Terra during Richard Cameron’s regency, befriended 
  the young leader and gained his trust. During this time, Amaris 
  pledged Rim Worlds troops to protect the Hegemony if they were 
  ever needed, and when the Periphery States suddenly erupted in 
  rebellion in 2765, the bulk of the Star League Defense Force was 
  quickly deployed out of Hegemony space to put down the revolt. 
  Rim Worlds divisions secured Terran planets, meaning that Amaris’ 
  troops held the defenses of the most technologically advanced 
  realm in the Inner Sphere when the Usurper slaughtered the 
  Camerons on Christmas Day of 2766.
  Upon learning of the deaths of First Lord Cameron and his fam-
  ily, and that Amaris had usurped the First Lord’s throne, General 
  Kerensky brought the full weight of the SLDF to bear first against 
  the Rim Worlds and then against the Usurper’s troops in the Terran 
  Hegemony. For more than a decade, Amaris’ forces fought off the 
  finest military humankind had ever built, until finally Terra fell and 
  Stefan Amaris was brought to justice.
  During this period, the groundwork was laid for what would 
  become the Succession Wars. Kerensky asked each of the House 
  Lords to help with the campaign against Stefan Amaris, but most 
  refused. Some states, like the Federated Suns and the Free Worlds 
  League, allowed Star League troops basing rights and offered ma-
  teriel support, but few House units actively fought Amaris’ armies. 
  Chancellor Barbara Liao, cognizant of the aid the Free Worlds and 
  the Suns were giving, held the Capellan Confederation in a posi-
  tion of armed neutrality, framing the conflict as a matter for the 
  Terran Hegemony and the Rim Worlds Republic. Kerensky and his 
  troops honored the Chancellor’s wishes and offered little conflict, 
  but on several occasions Amaris’ forces landed on Capellan worlds 
  and were attacked and destroyed by CCAF garrisons.
  The capture of Amaris by Star League forces prompted celebra-
  tion around the Inner Sphere, no less in the Confederation than 
  anywhere else. The House Lords reconvened on Terra to form the 
  Star League Council again, but this time without the moderating 
  influence of House Cameron. General Kerensky had appointed 
  himself Protector of the Star League upon the recapture of Terra, 
  but political leadership was not a role he sought. He asked the 
  House Lords to appoint a new First Lord, so that the Star League 
  could begin rebuilding. Instead, blinded by the prospect of the 
  riches to be gained from taking the First Lord’s throne, they be-
  gan to bicker among themselves. One of the few measures they 
  passed was Kerenksy’s removal as Protector, and by 2781 each 
  of them had realized that diplomatic measures would not gain 
  them the First Lordship. The Star League Council dissolved, and 
  each ruler returned to his realm determined to press his claim by 
  other means.
  General Kerensky, faced with the dissolution of the Star League 
  and the likely resumption of open warfare in the Inner Sphere, took 
  his veteran troops into the Periphery in his now-famous Exodus, 
  where they would vanish until the mid-31st century. Lifetimes later, 
  they returned as the invading Clans.
  Armed Neutrality
  Despite requests from General Aleksandr Kerensky (and many of her own 
  nobles), Chancellor Barbara Liao kept the Confederation out of the conflict to re-
  move Stefan Amaris. Her justification, that it was an internal Terran Hegemony 
  affair, had legal backing, but many of her citizens dismissed that as pretext. 
  Whether that was her intent, we cannot say. While many of her personal jour-
  nals reflect her sympathy for General Kerensky’s cause and her disgust at the 
  murder of Richard Cameron and his family, she believed she could not embroil 
  the Confederation in a border-spanning war with the threats of the Free Worlds 
  League and the Federated Suns held like knives at the Capellan throat. Amaris 
  had made his treaties with the Terran Hegemony, after all, and except for a few 
  rogue units, his forces did not attack the other Successor States around him. 
  While his claim to the First Lordship was blatantly spurious, no clear line of suc-
  cession had ever been determined outside of the Cameron family, and while 
  General Kerensky and his SLDF were fighting to right the wrong of the Camerons’ 
  murder, the action did not directly affect the Capellan Confederation.
  Not every Capellan honored the Chancellor’s decision, of course. Many 
  flocked to the training camps established by the SLDF in the captured Rim 
  Worlds Republic, eager to join the fight and overthrow the tyrant. Many small 
  Capellan military units—most no more than a lance or company in size—
  deserted, with or without their equipment, and volunteered their service to 
  General Kerensky’s army. In the Confederation, many demonstrations were 
  staged and speeches given in the House of Scions deriding the Chancellor’s deci-
  sion and calling for Capellan involvement in the war effort. Chancellor Barbara, 
  however, fought off all challenges to her authority.
  Worse than a Crime—A mistake
  I watched as the general listened to the news of removal in silence. 
  Halfway through the speaker’s list of justifications, the general stood up and 
  raised his hand for quiet. The speaker stopped in mid-sentence. We all ex-
  pected an angry refutation of the demotion, a stormy rebuttal, a vehement 
  denunciation of our actions.
  Instead, the general looked each of us in the eye (a most unpleasant mo-
  ment, I confess). Taking the purple robe of office from his shoulders, he sighed 
  and ripped the robe in half. The sound was like the tearing of a human heart. 
  Next, he tore the rank from his uniform lapels, the Star League insignia from 
  his cuffs. After that came the decorations, the citations, the many ribbons of 
  valor and victory…
  In the end, what remained was a plainly clothed, tired, disillusioned old 
  man. Thinking back on it all, I daresay he could have had us all killed with the 
  raising of his little finger.
  How stupid we were to do that to such a hero. How insanely stupid we were.
  Too late, we came to realize that what we did that day was worse than 
  any crime; it was a mistake.
  —From Official Memoirs, by Barbara Liao, Capellan Institute Press, 2797
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  24
  TIMELINE: THE AgE OF WAR AND THE STAR LEAgUE
  2398: 
  Kurnath Liao declares war on Free Worlds 
  League, begins the Age of War—the first 
  time the new super-states that would later 
  be known as Successor States engage in si-
  multaneous open warfare.
  2399: 
  Confederation attack razes Novaya Zemlya, 
  making the planet uninhabitable for years.
  2412: 
  Aleisha Liao drafts Ares Conventions, codi-
  fying warfare in an effort to curb civilian 
  casualties. Despite her best intentions, the 
  Conventions did little more than turn war-
  fare into a more accepted tool of national 
  policy, actually encouraging nations to en-
  gage in force as a method of persuasion.
  2415: 
  Arden Baxter named Chancellor, the first 
  non-Liao to rule the Confederation.  His rule is 
  punctuated by attempts to undo everything 
  earlier Liaos had accomplished and make the 
  Confederation into a more democratic state 
  like the failed Capellan Hegemony. He makes 
  major cuts in the force size and budget of the 
  Confederation military.
  2425: 
  Arden Baxter assassinated; Stephen Liao 
  named Chancellor.
  2430-40: “Sir” Stephen launches military reforms, in-
  cluding a project that will culminate in Union 
  and Overlord DropShips. The Confederation 
  military rebounds to a more professional and 
  capable force.
  2439: 
  Mackie BattleMech makes its debut, destroy-
  ing four tanks on Terra. Every interstellar 
  nation scrambles to acquire BattleMech 
  technology, which will take decades.
  2451: 
  Merik’s Grenadiers take Chancellor Duncan 
  Liao hostage; they stage a coup and control 
  the capital and government in his name. 
  Their leader, General Ral Merik, is unwilling 
  to sacrifice the prestige and power of his po-
  sition, and thanks to Sir Stephen’s reforms, 
  he has to the tools to keep them.
  2452: 
  (february) Duncan Liao commits suicide for 
  the good of the Confederation.
   
  (March) Jasmine Liao assumes the 
  Chancellorship 
  and 
  destroys 
  Merik’s 
  Grenadiers, which marks the start of the 
  period known as the Time of Tribulation. 
  She purges both the civilian and military 
  bureaucracies.
  2455: 
  In order to curb their authority, Capellan of-
  ficers are limited to rank of colonel; the office 
  of the Chancellor assumes those duties and 
  powers previously possessed by generals.
  2462: 
  In an intelligence coup, Operation Xanthe 
  gains BattleMech technology for the 
  Confederation from House Marik.
  2504: 
  Koschei BattleMech enters service.
  2505: 
  Kalvar Lorix injured in BattleMech malfunc-
  tion, writes The Lorix Creed, a tract naming 
  the MechWarrior as the pinnacle of military 
  and social evolution. In coming years this 
  creed will form the basis for virtually deify-
  ing MechWarriors in almost every Successor 
  State.
  2523: 
  House of Scions decimated on orders of 
  Chancellor Kalvin Liao, known to history as 
  Kalvin the Mad, after they oppose some of 
  his policies.
  2524: 
  FireBee BattleMech enters service.
  2528: 
  Kalvin Liao invades Andurien to win the heart 
  of Mesillia Allard, beginning the Second 
  Andurien War.
  2530: 
  Kalvin Liao assassinated.
  2546: 
  The Confederation and the Federated Suns 
  sign Bell Accords, in which both sides agree 
  to disallow the use of nuclear weapons (aside 
  from the provisions of the Ares Conventions, 
  which could be waived).
  2556: 
  Terrence Liao signs Star League Articles; the 
  Confederation joins the Star League.
  2577: 
  Reunification War begins as the Star League 
  uses military force to annex the Periphery 
  states.
  2584-88: Freebooters’ War rages across Capellan and 
  Free Worlds space as rogue soldiers enact a 
  pirate reign of terror. Their eventual capture 
  by a joint Capellan-Free Worlds task force 
  marks the only time before the 3050s that 
  the two realms cooperate militarily.
  2597: 
  Ursula Liao decrees “cattle tax” that exacts 
  payment from Star League soldiers transit-
  ing through the Confederation en route to 
  Periphery space, even as the Reunification 
  War draws to a close after twenty years of 
  conflict.
  2606-10: Confederation economy collapses as Reuni-
  fication War ends. Chancellor Normann Aris 
  begins restructuring Capellan society based 
  on the Korvin Doctrine, which allows for the 
  redirection of labor based on the needs of the 
  state rather than the individual.
  2611: 
  Normann Aris dies in a hunting accident on 
  Nanking.
  2630: 
  (January) First hyperpulse generator (HPG) 
  comes online; it quickly becomes one of his-
  tory’s most important scientific discoveries.
  2760-62: Border War between erupts between the 
  Confederation and the Federated Suns (one 
  of the few open military conflicts of the Star 
  League era).
  2714: 
  As part of the continuing adjustment of 
  Capellan society begun by Normann Aris, 
  Androsar Liao normalizes Capellan noble 
  ranks, decreeing only five that are shared by 
  the Sheng and the Barduc.
  2741: 
  The Third Hidden War begins, with the Great 
  Houses fighting each other through proxies 
  disguised as pirates to keep the Star League 
  from intervening.
  2650: 
  At the suggestion of Chancellor Warex Liao, the 
  Star League Council passes a resolution allow-
  ing Member State militaries to double in size.
  2766: 
  Stefan Amaris murders First Lord Richard 
  Cameron and usurps control of the Terran 
  Hegemony and the Star League. General 
  Aleksandr Kerensky and the SLDF declare war 
  on Amaris and his Rim Worlds Republic, but 
  Chancellor Barbara Liao denies the SLDF’s re-
  quest to use Capellan worlds as bases, afraid 
  of retaliation should Kerensky fail.
  2779: 
  Terra liberated; Amaris executed. After more 
  than a decade of war, the Terran Hegemony 
  is in shambles.
  2780: 
  The Star League Council reconvenes to name 
  Jerome Blake as Minister of Communication 
  and revoke Kerensky’s Protectorship of the 
  Star League. Aside from that, the Great 
  House Lords cannot agree on anything. 
  2781: 
  The Star League Council disbands amid bitter 
  squabbling over each House Lord’s claim to 
  rulership of the League.
  2784: 
  Kerensky and the SLDF depart the Inner 
  Sphere.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  25
  Hechnar
  New Dallas
  Tyrfing
  New Stevens
  Brownsville
  New Florence
  Bex
  Mandal
  Nobel
  Hastur
  Zathras
  Blue Sava
  Pliska
  Elbing
  New Praha
  Jászberény
  Alexandria
  Kalmar
  Kern
  Sunnywood
  Ghorepani
  Corodiz
  Mendham
  Zanzibar
  Royalston
  Ashley
  Courcellete
  Shaunavon
  Aspropirgos
  Gouderak
  vac
  Ruschegg
  Thurrock
  Vakarel
  Butzfleth
  Deschenes
  Shenwan
  Siendou
  Beenleigh
  El Giza
  Leyda
  Piriapolis
  Ryerson
  Tay
  Hassad
  Novaya Zemlya
  Bethel
  Muridox
  Mosiro
  log
  Gallis
  Lockton
  Adherlwin
  Fanardir
  Borgan's Rift
  Trip
  minous
  Joyz
  Early Dawn
  Brixtana
  Cate's Hold
  Kiga
  Flintoft
  Horsham
  L
  Pleiades 
  Ridgeb
  Robsart
  Rollis
  Wrentham
  Jam
  Landmark
  MacLeod's Land
  New V
  N
  Amiga
  Meg
  Parian
  I
  Menion
  Desolate 
  I
  Se
  Ankaa
  Dalton
  Canopus IV
  New Abilene
  Amity
  Bromhead
  D
  Midale
  Sama
  Ishtar
  New Vandenburg
  Pinard
  Eleusis
  Carmichael
  Deneb
  Kaitos
  Kansu
  Hudeiba
  Kwamashu
  Latice
  Lurgatan
  Sadurni
  Mandaree
  Campbelton
  Dickinson
  Tintavel
  Kearny
  Cirebon
  Fieferana
  Mansu-ri
  Cole Harbour
  Calloway VI
  Ipswich
  Shuen Wan
  Frondas
  Furud
  Gannett
  Tania Australis
  McKenna
  Antipolo
  Vikindu
  Meadowvale
  Flannagan's Ne
  New 
  Aragon
  Taurus
  New Rhodes III
  Angol
  Alrescha
  Acamar
  Spica
  Taga
  Palladaine
  Ngake
  Alcyone
  Daniels
  Redfield
  Concord
  Gallatin
  Launam
  Merak
  Nestor
  Anegasaki
  Cameron
  Danais
  Iknogoro
  Loeches
  Matheran
  Milnerton
  Pella II
  Sophie's World
  Sorunda
  Decus
  Barlaston
  Bora
  Buenos Aires
  Calpaca
  Carmen
  Fujidera
  Glasgow
  Grand Base
  Hadnall
  Holloway
  Hustaing
  Kaifeng
  Lesalles
  Mauripur
  Mentasta
  Phact
  Preston
  Primus
  Raballa
  Randar
  Relevow
  Sakhalin
  Scheuerheck
  Scituate
  Sendalor
  Sigma Mare
  Tallin
  Teng
  Texlos
  Umka
  Vestallas
  Warlock
  Watermael
  Wazan
  Xieng Khouang
  Ziliang
  Bristol
  Carmacks
  Gallitzin
  Heligoland
  Kathil
  Klu
  La
  Listowel
  Mandate
  Manteno
  Orbisonia
  Remshield
  Andurien
  Kanata
  Kasdach
  Shiro III
  Verlo
  Ayn Tarma
  Highspire
  Atlas
  Avigait
  Corella
  Cotocallao
  Glentworth
  Jaipur
  Quittacas
  Nihal
  Prix
  Altorra
  Bellatrix
  Calseraigne
  Kurvasa
  Menke
  New Westin
  Raphael
  Westerhand
  Chilung
  Diass
  Guangzho
  Nullarbor
  Tikonov Commonality
  Chesterton
  Commonality
  Sarna Commonality
  Capella Commonality
  St Ives
  Commonality
  Sian Commonality
  Andurien Commonality
  Alkes
  Bordon
  Ch
  Johnsondale
  Avawatz
  Axton
  Farwell
  Flushi
  Monongahela
  Narellan
  Ogil
  Perkasie
  S
  Stein's Folly
  Ulan Batar
  Lee
  Abadan
  Ariel
  Asellus Borealis
  Bentley
  Bithinia
  Castrovia
  Cronulla
  Denbar
  Geifer
  Hexare
  Holt
  Housekarle
  Hunan
  Kashilla
  Kiyev
  Lancaster
  Lungdo
  Necromo
  New Delos
  New Macao
  Ohrensen
  Safe Port
  Salur
  St. Andre
  St. Loris
  Tiber
  Truth
  Ulan Bator
  Vanra
  Ventabren
  Weekapaug
  Zaurak
  Aitutaki
  Avior
  Bainsville
  Jouques
  Keeling
  New Hope
  Rasalas
  Sheridan
  Uhuru
  Washburn
  Boardwalk
  Campertown
  Homestead
  Sanilac
  Wappingers
  Regulus
  Oriente
  Smolensk
  Helixmar
  Kumqwat
  Aldertaine
  Bedeque
  Helm
  Ling
  Semenyih
  Tania Borealis
  Tawas
  Tecumseh
  Rosamond
  Kentares IV
  Acala
  Ashkum
  Barstow
  Beecher
  Cammal
  Goderich
  Moravian
  Valexa
  Maladar
  Brighton
  Cordiagr
  Harloc
  Milos
  Old Kentucky
  Ovan
  Tsinghai
  Tsingtao
  Eom
  Imalda
  Propus
  Uravan
  Jonathan
  Poznan
  Angell II
  Daneshmand
  Dayr Khuna
  Elektrougli
  Emris IV
  Fletcher
  Harmony
  Muscida
  St. Ives
  Sian
  Azha
  Miaplacidus
  Talitha
  Alhena
  Augustine
  Kalidasa
  Kyrkbacken
  Van Diemen IV
  Pollux
  New Canton
  Nopah
  Achernar
  Caselton
  Rio
  Ronel
  Schedar
  Tybalt
  Almach
  Buchlau
  Gan Singh
  Mesartim
  Ningpo
  Mira
  Halloran V
  Elbar
  Chamdo
  Indicass
  Jasmine
  Menkar
  Minnacora
  Tsitsang
  Marlette
  Olancha
  Scud
  Tal
  Kyeinnisan
  Oceana
  Olafsvik
  Solaris
  Exeter
  Avellaneda
  Ibstock
  Park Place
  Bell
  Wei
  Asellus Australis
  Goshen
  Kirkenlaard
  Wroxeter
  Kurragin
  Ares
  Capella
  Beten Kaitos
  Elgin
  Emerson
  Liao
  Foochow
  Styk
  Algot
  Addicks
  Fuentes
  Sarna
  Bandora
  New Sagan
  Acubens
  Alphard
  Berenson
  Bharat
  Chertan
  Dubhe
  Fletcher
  Genoa
  Hamal
  Hean
  Marcus
  Menkalinan
  Nanking
  Nathan
  Remulac
  Ruchbah
  Saiph
  Savannah
  Slocum
  Wing
  Wyatt
  Zosma
  Bernardo
  Hamilton
  New
  Hessen
  Shensi
  Suzano
  Yangtze
  Gei-Fu
  Ingersoll
  Masterson
  Palos
  Quemoy
  B
  Logandale
  Drusibacken
  Keystone
  Tongatapu
  Algol
  Pleione
  Mirach
  Tikonov
  Marik
  McHenry
  Muskegon
  New Olympia
  Procyon
  Rochelle
  Capolla
  Terra Firma
  Bryant
  Sirius
  Woodstock
  Ingress
  Keid
  New
  Home
  Oliver
  Carver V
  Castor Devil's Rock
  Epsilon Eridani
  Epsilon Indi
  Graham IV
  Hall
  Hsien
  Irian
  Northwind
  Outreach
  Small World
  Edwards
  Autumn Wind
  Stewart
  Chesterton
  Demeter
  Foot Fall
  Zion
  Asuncion
  Dieudonne
  Cartago
  Arboris
  Basalt
  Sheratan
  Aldebaran
  Connaught
  Wasat
  Zurich
  Callison
  Kawich
  Tall Trees
  Tigress
  Shiloh
  BORDER KEY
   DISTRICT BORDER
  PROVINCE BORDER
  CAPELLAN CONFEDERATION
  after
  Age of War (2571)
  Coreward
  Spinward
  Anti-spinward
  Rimward
  MAXIMUM  JUMP: APPROXIMATELY 30 LIGHT YEARS
  LEGEND
  NATIONAL CAPITAL
  DISTRICT CAPITAL
  PLANET KEY
  PROVINCE CAPITAL
  © 3067 BLAKE'S TRUTH CARTOGRAPHIC DIVISION
  30 LIGHT YEARS
  90 LIGHT YEARS OR 27.6 PARSECS
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  26
  DAWN OF THE  
  SUCCESSION WARS
  “And so what if he does come back? Are we children to be 
  disciplined? Will he take our toys away, give us a paddling 
  and send us off early to bed? To hell with Kerensky—we 
  make our own rules now.” 
  —Unnamed Capellan officer, 2790
  In September of 2786, Minoru Kurita of the Draconis Combine 
  declared himself First Lord of the Star League, and the other Lords 
  of the Successor States quickly followed suit. With none of them 
  willing to recognize the claim of any other, the conflagration that 
  would become the First Succession War flared to life.
  SLIppINg THE LEASH  
  (DAvION AND TERRA)
  When the Star League Defense Force abandoned the Inner 
  Sphere, it left much of the Terran Hegemony undefended. The 
  bulk of the Hegemony armed forces had long since been na-
  tionalized into the SLDF, even before Amaris and his treachery 
  annihilated the few independent units that remained. Many 
  Hegemony worlds bore the scars of the terrible campaign to 
  displace Rim Worlds troops during the liberation of Terra, and 
  their citizens looked to Terra for leadership when Terra had no 
  real statesmen left. The Hegemony, like the Star League, had long 
  been ruled by the Cameron family; with all claimants to that line 
  slaughtered by Amaris, a mini-Succession War erupted among 
  the surviving lesser nobles.
  Each of the five Successor States surrounding the Hegemony 
  wasted little time in placing many valuable Hegemony worlds—
  and their technology—under “protection.” Between 2785 and 
  2800, the Capellan Confederation moved deep into Hegemony 
  space, claiming world after world with little or no opposition. 
  Many of the planets’ populations were so tired of anarchy that 
  they welcomed the Confederation with open arms. The greed of 
  the other Successor Lords, however, brought war to these weary 
  billions regardless.
  NEW DELOS
  Even as the Successors States scrambled to gobble up as much 
  of the former Hegemony as they could, the various realms also 
  moved against each other. The build-up of armies during the last 
  years of the Star League made each Successor State lord overcon-
  fident, and each launched costly attacks against the other, seeking 
  to redress long-past wrongs or to punish their enemies for earlier 
  assaults. In 2787, word of Marik attacks against worlds near Wazan 
  and Corey reached Sian. Chancellor Barbara Liao, still dealing with 
  the aftereffects of the fall of the Star League and the integration 
  of the first captured Hegemony worlds, gathered a sizable force 
  on Sian and issued orders for a counterattack. Rather than directly 
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  27
  relieve the garrisons of Wazan and Corey, she chose to strike into 
  the Free Worlds League to draw the pressure off of her embattled 
  garrison troops. A massive Capellan flotilla swiftly set out for the 
  League world of New Delos.
  In preparing the embarking troops for battle, Chancellor 
  Barbara issued one order that would set the tone for the entire 
  First Succession War: “Commanders! Henceforth you may consider 
  the Ares Conventions suspended. I expect you to act according-
  ly.” While many wondered at the order, sealed directives to the 
  strike force’s commander—Colonel Devlin—clearly displayed 
  the Chancellor’s intentions. Already, the maneuvering against the 
  other House Lords had shown Barbara Liao that the fighting would 
  be fierce. Like her ancestor Franco, she was determined to demon-
  strate the Confederation’s dedication and resolve.
  The Capellan naval taskforce—more than one hundred 
  ships—entered the New Delos system and hid its identity be-
  hind stolen naval codes provided by the Maskirovka. At first, the 
  ruse succeeded, but the Marik defenders quickly realized that 
  the sheer size of the flotilla—and the fact that every ship was 
  heading for the planet—meant it couldn’t be the simple trading 
  mission its IFF codes said it was. As the Liao ships slid into orbit 
  around New Delos, the Free Worlds League garrison scrambled 
  every defense they could gather. It was not nearly enough. The 
  paltry militia aerospace squadrons deployed, but could not over-
  come the sheer numbers of Liao fighters, and the invaders quickly 
  gained space superiority. With orbit secured, Colonel Devlin dis-
  patched his DropShips to the surface, following the orders given 
  him by Chancellor Liao. The Marik ground commander realized 
  he was outnumbered and spread his forces across New Delos, 
  hoping to keep the Confederation tied up long enough for Marik 
  reinforcements to arrive. The Confederation ’Mechs—elements 
  of ten separate regiments—landed against little opposition and 
  moved out, striding confidently toward the capital. The Marik 
  commander could do nothing more than harass the Liao troops 
  as they began to occupy the city—or so it appeared. By the first 
  night, however, it became horrifyingly clear that occupation was 
  not the Capellan troops’ intent.
  THE DEvLIN SOLUTION
  Chancellor Liao’s sealed orders to Colonel Devlin were sim-
  ple: make the Mariks pay for their temerity in attacking Capellan 
  worlds. Her rationale—the same failed excuse put forth through-
  out history by dictators and tyrants to rationalize atrocities—was 
  to shock the Mariks into drawing back. She wanted to convince 
  them that the cost of attacking Capellan worlds was too high to 
  bear. Colonel Devlin and his troops—those bits and pieces of ten 
  regiments deemed reliable enough by the Maskirovka to carry out 
  such extreme orders—were to destroy as much of New Delos as 
  they could reach in a short time. Civilians were not to be spared. 
  Capellan ’Mechs, working in concert with squadrons of Thrush 
  aerospace fighters assigned to ground-attack missions, lured the 
  few Marik ’Mechs out into the open by firing on civilian targets, 
  and destroyed them. By the time the Liao force lifted from New 
  Delos—anxious to escape before the inevitable Marik counterat-
  Better the Devil you Know
  When General Kerensky led the SLDF out of the Inner Sphere, a bunch of 
  us spread the rumor around that he was on a flanking run—he was going to 
  swing out behind one of the Successor States and attack it from the Periphery, 
  using the same sort of tactics he’d used against the Rim Worlds. We were the 
  Terran Hegemony, after all. No way were we going to go under, not with the 
  Star League Defense Force and the legacy of the Camerons. Our capital was Old 
  Terra herself, by God.
  But the General never came back, and pretty soon the media figured that 
  out. We tried—every HAF unit still in the Hegemony tried—but there just 
  weren’t enough of us to secure the border. I mean, we had a couple of bat-
  talions of troops on-planet. We had no big BattleMech divisions to hold the 
  House Lords off. The Navy was flotsam in the dark space around the core stars. 
  So when Confederation troops landed and didn’t start shooting, we accepted 
  their request for parley. The colonel in charge gave us the straight scoop: the 
  Confederation was claiming Fletcher, whether we wanted them to or not. The 
  Terran Hegemony was dead, and we couldn’t stand alone against every other 
  nation of the Inner Sphere.
  He was right. It hurt, and for a long time I thought I’d eat my gun over it. But 
  damn him, he was right.
  —From It Had To Be Done: A Memoir of the Fall of Fletcher by former 
  Hegemony captain Arnold Vine; Capellan Institute Press, 2786
  New Delos—a preview
  The tactic of shocking an enemy so much that he refuses battle rather than 
  risk inordinate casualties has been used throughout recorded history. The earliest 
  example of a military empire, the Romans, used fear as a pacifier and a tool of 
  conquest. It succeeded for Rome, however, because Roman leaders routinely used 
  it against lesser foes—barbarian tribes, for example, that couldn’t hope to match 
  Rome in pure military power. When Barbara Liao unleashed Colonel Devlin on New 
  Delos, she was no doubt hoping to scare the Mariks back across the border while 
  she finished gobbling up the remains of the Terran Hegemony.
  As has been proven many times, however, such terrorism does not work 
  against an enemy of similar size and capability. In almost every instance where 
  one power or another has tried to frighten a foe into submission, that foe instead 
  has done its level best to annihilate the enemy in return. The Gauls could not 
  hope to stand against the organized might of Rome; but the Free Worlds League, 
  just as large and militarily advanced (if not more so) as the Confederation, did 
  not quail from battle when threatened. As with most societies, the wanton 
  death inflicted by the enemy solidified the Free Worlds’ righteous anger, mak-
  ing a retaliatory strike inevitable and ensuring that its level of barbarity would 
  match the horrors of the Capellans’ attack.
  Instead of bullying the Free Worlds League into submission, Barbara Liao’s 
  calculated atrocity nurtured the latent hatred the League had always harbored 
  toward the Confederation. The citizens of Outreach, Ingersoll and New Canton 
  ultimately paid the price for their Chancellor’s hubris.
  —From Barbara Liao: Chancellor of Doom
  by Jackson Hughes, Andurien Free Press, 2804
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  28
  tack—they had obliterated most every Marik military unit that had 
  reached them, as well as killing upwards of 20,000 civilians and 
  wounding more than ten times that number.
  After the success of New Delos, Barbara Liao sent Strike Force 
  Devlin to Calloway VI, only to find the Marik defenders ready for 
  them. The battle quickly bogged down and resulted in eventual 
  Capellan defeat. Free Worlds forces hunted those they named “the 
  butchers of New Delos” with particular relish and offered them 
  little mercy.
  SANDOL QUINN
  When Barbara Liao died in 2795, the next surviving Liao in the 
  line of succession was Ilsa Liao, the orphaned daughter of one of 
  Barbara’s sons. As Ilsa was too young to serve, the Prefectorate 
  chose Sandol Quinn as regent. Prefect of the Tikonov Commonality 
  and Duke of Sirius, Quinn was the last non-Liao Chancellor in 
  Confederation history.
  Quinn was a loyal nobleman devoted to ensuring Ilsa Liao’s 
  eventual ascension to the Celestial Throne, but he was also an 
  ambitious man, and he spent nearly every waking moment of 
  his regency working to increase his own and his Commonality’s 
  prestige. With renewed fighting against House Kurita drawing 
  many of the most elite Federated Suns units out of the neighbor-
  ing Capellan March, Quinn ordered several assaults against the 
  weakened Davion positions and captured a number of worlds. The 
  six years of his regency were categorized by swift Confederation 
  assaults and a number of valiant successes. Quinn was always 
  quick to praise the soldiers—he spent much of his time off Sian, 
  nearer the battlefront that coincidentally lay in his own Tikonov 
  Commonality—and awarded more medals in a shorter time than 
  any other Chancellor.
  The Capellan military, still reeling from the losses at Calloway 
  and other battles, welcomed the attention and successes. Senior 
  colonels in the Tikonov Commonality often fought for the prestige 
  of having the Chancellor-Regent in their headquarters, and more 
  than one assault suffered greater casualties than necessary as the 
  troops showed off for their commander. Ilsa Liao declined most of 
  Quinn’s invitations to accompany him to the front lines soon after 
  the first visit. She found the constant clamor of combat distracting 
  and, while by no means a pacifist, disliked first-hand exposure to 
  the massive casualties of the battlefield. These experiences would 
  color her Chancellorship later, but at the time it gave her the ad-
  vantage of having a distant regent who allowed her considerable 
  control over Sian’s politics at a young age. Upon ascending the 
  throne, she would put this experience to good use.
  In 2801, Quinn’s regency came to an end. He turned over to Ilsa 
  a Confederation that had grown in size at the expense of the hated 
  Davions, and a military that took pride in its accomplishments—
  though it was also approaching exhaustion. Almost twenty years of 
  constant operations had taken a large toll in men and equipment. 
  Ilsa’s own brief military service—a two-month lance command in 
  the Red Lancers on Sian—showed her some of that exhaustion, 
  and one of her first concerns was finding a way to give her soldiers 
  time to rest.
  ILSA THE pEACEMAKER
  Though forced to continue fighting the First Succession War, 
  Chancellor Ilsa attempted to buy her realm some breathing room 
  with a peace proposal to New Avalon in 2808. In return for House 
  Davion’s concession of the Chesterton worlds, Ilsa promised to re-
  nounce Capellan claims to the First Lordship and to back Paul Davion 
  for the position. While many in her government argued against 
  it, some even labeling her a traitor to her ancestors, Ilsa awaited a 
  response from the Federated Suns government. The message that 
  finally came was delivered by the heavy ’Mechs of the Crucis Lancers, 
  renewing their assaults on several Capellan worlds.
  DEBACLE AT CHESTERTON
  Four years after the failure of her peace proposal, Ilsa Liao 
  switched tactics with Chesterton. Four regiments of Capellan 
  troops gathered and set off for the lost Commonality capital, 
  expecting to surprise the defending Federated Suns troops. 
  Operational security in the regiments held, as no one save the 
  Capellan Strategios, the Chancellor and the Maskirovka knew the 
  regiments’ eventual target. Unfortunately for the Confederation, a 
  Maskirovka mole managed to warn the Davion intelligence minis-
  try, and Chesterton’s defenders were ready and waiting.
  Elements of the Crucis Lancers and several mercenary regi-
  ments allowed the Capellan units to make planetfall and move 
  away from their landing zones before ambushing them and inflict-
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  29
  ing heavy damage. The First and Second Ariana Fusiliers took heavy 
  casualties, losing more than two battalions of ’Mechs in the first 
  skirmish as the Crucis Lancers fired from prepared positions and 
  then waded into the disorganized enemy troops. Subsequently, 
  the Capellans were forced to consolidate both regiments into two 
  oversized battalions. The other Capellan regiments faced similar 
  losses in the first exchange. 
  Badly hurt, but still under arms and on Chesterton’s virtually 
  sacred soil, the Capellan forces hung in for two more days until it 
  became clear they lacked the strength to overcome the Davion de-
  fenders. The senior surviving officer ordered a retreat while they still 
  had enough ’Mechs to secure a landing zone for their DropShips, 
  but barely two battalions out of the twelve that had landed made 
  it back aboard. Even more damaging than the equipment losses 
  was the capture or killing of most of the regiments’ MechWarriors. 
  It took decades for the Capellan Armed Forces to make good the 
  loss of so many veteran troops. Soon after the Chesterton deba-
  cle, an uneasy peace settled across the Inner Sphere as the First 
  Succession War limped to an end from sheer exhaustion.
  Every Capellan frontline unit had taken heavy losses, and many 
  were outright destroyed. In the interim before the outbreak of the 
  Second Succession War, Chancellor Ilsa did all she could to re-equip 
  and re-arm her troops. The hopes for peace that had characterized 
  her first years were gone—decades of battle had brought Ilsa’s in-
  ner MechWarrior to the fore, and she spent her every effort on the 
  Capellan military. When House Davion opened negotiations for 
  the return of Federated Suns POWs, Ilsa used them as a lever to 
  gain major concessions, which she used to help defray the cost of 
  the Strategios’ crash rebuilding plans.
  THE RED HEART gUARD
  As war returned to the Inner Sphere in 2828, Chancellor Ilsa Liao 
  knew her realm faced serious threats from the two larger, more 
  powerful states on her borders. The Confederation could not hope 
  to stand against concerted attacks by both the Free Worlds League 
  and the Federated Suns. In one of the first Capellan actions of the 
  Second Succession War, Ilsa launched a major assault against a 
  Davion staging world, hoping to hurt the Federated Suns war ef-
  fort badly enough to buy time to launch more of her own attacks. 
  In anticipation of these actions, she undertook an intelligence op-
  eration to disguise the fact that she was stripping the Marik border 
  of its garrisons. The Maskirovka ably used a massive disinformation 
  campaign to keep the Free Worlds and its intelligence agency—
  SAFE—misinformed about the woeful state of Capellan defenses.
  The Chancellor personally led the assault on the Davion world 
  of Orbisonia in 2828, leading the Red Lancers and elements of 
  the Prefectorate Guard against regiments of the Avalon Hussars. 
  Many Confederation citizens cheered the Chancellor’s involve-
  ment. Despite her attempts at peace near the turn of the century, 
  she had become the epitome of a warrior-queen to many in the 
  Confederation military, and her willingness to place her life on the 
  line along with those of her troops earned her fanatical loyalty.
  Unfortunately, however, the Capellan military had yet to re-
  cover from the long attrition of the First Succession War and the 
  hammer-blow of the debacle on Chesterton. The Federated Suns 
  troops were more experienced, and despite the Confederation’s 
  advantage in ‘Mech weight soon rolled the invading forces back to 
  their drop zones. Chancellor Ilsa Liao was slain in a final rearguard 
  action, holding back the Davion defenders long enough for the 
  remnants of the Red Lancers to board their DropShips and escape. 
  In honor of her sacrifice, the Red Lancers have been known ever 
  since as the Red Heart Guard.
  The death of Ilsa Liao—the first Capellan Chancellor killed in 
  battle—demoralized the Capellan military, and over the next 
  thirty years the realm’s enemies pounded on its weakening fight-
  ing forces. Ilsa’s daughter Laurelli tried to stem the tide, but could 
  do little against concerted attacks from both sides with an army 
  harshly handled over the past decades.
  DAvION pUSHES, MARIK pULLS
  Anxious to capitalize on Ilsa Liao’s death, House Davion 
  launched a series of attacks beginning in 2832. The first of these, 
  against most of the border worlds near Chesterton, were spear-
  Ilsa Liao and Chesterton—A gamble
  Critics of the 2808 peace proposal to House Davion fail to see the artistry in 
  Ilsa Liao’s plan. Her request—the return of Chesterton and its worlds to Capellan 
  suzerainty in return for Confederation support of Paul Davion as First Lord of the 
  Star League—was ludicrous. It played on strong emotions on both sides of the 
  border, pitting the ego of a Davion against the greed of Capellan nobles.
  Chesterton had been the bogeyman of the Confederation from the realm’s 
  birth. Chesterton fell to a Davion assault years before the Confederation came 
  into existence, and it remained a burning issue to the Confederation’s found-
  ing states. Until well into the 31st century, the Capellan government maintained 
  a Commonality-in-Exile for the Hargreaves family, displaced nobles from 
  Chesterton. Whenever a Liao Chancellor tried to drum up fervor for anything, 
  Chesterton was the lever used to move the people and the House of Scions. Even 
  by 2808, Chesterton was a thoroughly Davion world—the oft-touted resistance 
  movements there were no more numerous than fringe elements on any other 
  world. By involving Chesterton in her peace bid, Ilsa Liao got the attention of 
  nearly every noble in the Confederation.
  The other side—the offer to recognize Paul Davion as First Lord—was 
  designed to appeal to vanity and nothing else. After almost thirty years of war, 
  there was no Star League left to be First Lord of, and precious little chance of any 
  Successor States coming together to form a new one. It was an empty gesture, 
  one Paul Davion made clear he saw through when he sent the Crucis Lancers to 
  Farwell and Ulan Bator. 
  Had the gamble worked, Ilsa would have been hailed as a hero for the re-
  turn of Chesterton, and it would have been child’s play to convince the Capellan 
  people of the Star League’s utter demise. Even the lowest servitor would have 
  laughed when the Chancellor likened her recognition of Paul Davion as First 
  Lord to tales of the fabled monarch, King Canute, who commanded the tide 
  to stop. But it didn’t work, and the First Succession War raged on for another 
  decade at least.
  —From Ilsa Liao: Always Watch the Quiet Ones, 
  by Theo Jenks, University of Sian Press, 2904
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  30
  headed by the ’Mech regiments of the Deneb Light Cavalry and 
  the Avalon Hussars, and succeeded in capturing several Capellan 
  worlds. In many cases, the defending CCAF forces refused to 
  retreat and were destroyed, denying the Confederation these 
  desperately needed troops as they fought off one attack after an-
  other. The highly trained and mobile Davion invaders were well 
  matched against the Capellans’ plodding, artillery-based defens-
  es, and quickly broke through one defensive line after another. 
  When the Davion advance finally halted, as much because the 
  Davions had so many conquered worlds to consolidate as because 
  of any action by the CCAF defenders, the Capellans breathed a 
  quick sigh and swiftly redeployed to face other threats.
  The few Capellan successes came against House Marik, which 
  had been suffering under a ComStar communications interdic-
  tion ever since Charles Marik’s ill-advised attack on the Oriente 
  hyperpulse generator station. In the summer and fall of 2837 the 
  Capellan military took several border worlds against disjointed 
  and isolated Free Worlds garrisons, and many Confederation 
  military planners envisioned making up losses to House Davion 
  by plucking particularly juicy plums from House Marik. The in-
  terdiction’s end in 2838, however, soon dashed those hopes. 
  The Free Worlds League military soon bounced back to fight-
  ing form and engaged in fierce counterattacks against Capellan 
  worlds.
  The next twenty years, except for a series of costly raids by 
  House Davion, passed in the grinding, fruitless total warfare 
  that characterized much of the Second Succession War. The 
  Confederation poured its scant military surplus into rebuilding 
  small units again and again as they were shattered in combat 
  against Houses Marik and Davion. Chancellor Laurelli Liao, des-
  perate to keep her realm afloat amid seemingly endless war, did 
  miraclulous work keeping the struggling Capellan arms industry 
  alive and providing the tools her soldiers needed to survive the 
  constant conflicts.
  Many histories present the Confederation during the Second 
  Succession War as the first example of a desperate, resource-poor, 
  militarily exhausted realm, but such accounts ignore the fanati-
  cal dedication shown by Capellan soldiers and citizens. While it is 
  true that the Federated Suns and the Free Worlds League enjoyed 
  enormous successes at the Confederation’s expense, the people 
  as a whole remained resolutely loyal and defiant against the ag-
  gressors. Many histories record Laurelli Liao as “the Chancellor 
  who tried” while ignoring her impressive accomplishments in 
  keeping the Capellan nation together during the war years. She 
  traveled extensively throughout the Confederation, and died on 
  the battlefield of service to her people just as her mother died in 
  a BattleMech. All of her journeys had one purpose: keeping the 
  Confederation alive and functioning. Many of her visits brought 
  countless citizens back from the brink of despair.
  TIMELINE: FIRST SUCCESSION WAR
  2785: 
  Confederation forces begin systemic occupa-
  tion and annexation of former Hegemony 
  worlds, taking advantage of the disorga-
  nization of the remaining HAF and militia 
  forces. Most worlds surrender without com-
  bat, grateful to be taken into a stronger 
  national polity.
  2786: 
  (december) Chancellor Barbara Liao and 
  other House Lords each declare themselves 
  First Lord of the Star League, triggering First 
  Succession War.
  2787: 
  The Free Worlds League invades Corey and 
  Wazan as a part of a general assault into 
  Confederation space.
   
  (october) Confederation task forces cap-
  ture several Federated Suns worlds in the 
  Terran Corridor, reducing Davion access to 
  Terra while gathering up more former Terran 
  Hegemony worlds.
  2788: 
  Jerome Blake claims Terra for ComStar, us-
  ing former SLDF troops and mercenaries. 
  He gains the Great Houses’ consent with a 
  combination of diplomacy and the threat 
  of cutting them off from interstellar com-
  munication.
  2789: 
  A Confederation task force razes much of 
  New Delos in response to the assaults on 
  Corey and Wazan. The Free Worlds League re-
  taliates by firebombing Outreach, Ingersoll, 
  New Canton and Hall. Chancellor Barbara 
  Liao decides the League has not been suffi-
  ciently cowed.
  2790: 
  Task Force Devlin attacks Calloway VI, hop-
  ing to replay New Delos, but a traitor leaks 
  advance knowledge of the attack to the Free 
  Worlds League. The Confederation task force 
  retreats with heavy losses, including both of 
  Barbara Liao’s sons.
  2793: 
  The Twenty-First Centauri Lancers destroy 
  the Fourth Marik Militia on Anegasaki, in one 
  of their first contracts as mercenaries after 
  the Star League Defense Force’s withdrawal.
  2795: 
  Barbara Liao dies; Sandol Quinn named 
  Chancellor-regent for Barbara’s daughter 
  Ilsa. He rules with a firm plan to hand over a 
  Confederation larger than he found it.
  2795-99: Concerted attacks recapture many of the 
  Chesterton worlds from Davion, but not 
  Chesterton itself. The Capellan victories are 
  tainted by this lack, casting a shadow across 
  Quinn’s other military successes.
  2796: 
  Confederation task forces capture enough 
  Terran Corridor worlds to cut the Federated 
  Suns off from Terra and the few remaining 
  Hegemony worlds that have not already 
  been absorbed by other Successor States.
  2801: 
  Ilsa Liao ascends the Celestial Throne, gain-
  ing a Confederation larger but militarily 
  exhausted.
  2808: 
  Ilsa Liao renounces her claim to the First 
  Lordship and offers peace to Paul Davion in 
  exchange for the return of Chesterton.
  2809: 
  In answer to Ilsa Liao’s peace proposal, the 
  Third and Fifth Crucis Lancers attack Liao 
  worlds near Chesterton.
  2812: 
  Forced into fighting, Ilsa Liao dispatches a large 
  Confederation assault force against Chesterton, 
  but the attack fails when a double agent warns 
  the Federated Suns forces on the planet. The 
  Capellan force suffers heavy losses.
  2821: 
  The Confederation and the Federated Suns sign 
  a cease-fire, ending the First Succession War.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  31
  Tikonov
  Commonality
  Sarna
  Commonality
  Capella Commonality
  St Ives
  Commonality
  Sian Commonality
  Andurien Commonality
  Chesterton
  Commonality
  New Florence
  Hechnar
  New Dallas
  Tyrfing
  Afleir
  New Stevens
  Brownsville
  Bex
  Mandal
  Pardeau
  Kolobrzeg
  Catroxx
  Bonaire
  Grobin
  Köln
  Zara
  Flychenia
  Heart Fjord
  Bogrib
  Pavia
  Sarkel
  Aquileia
  Gniezno
  Kievanur
  Pec
  Szombathely
  St Gall
  August
  Ragusa
  Manaus
  Marathon
  Blue Sava
  Pliska
  Elbing
  New Praha
  Jászberény
  Thamel
  Amu Darya
  Kalmar
  Ghorepani
  Hastur
  Zathras
  Brinton
  Centa
  Flatspin
  Woogi
  Girondas 
  Qalzi
  Paf
  Mas
  Gangtok
  Katinka
  Artru
  Coromodir 
  Megaris
  Parian
  Ina
  Menion
  Klamriz V
  Reinhardstein
  Saltur
  Everett
  Carnac
  Aggstein
  Gruyeres
  Gravensteen
  Chillon
  Mytilene
  Dol
  Vecc
  Branzoll
  Fathe
  Waycross
  Fable
  Sanurcha
  Shaobuon
  Arn
  Espia
  Salardion
  Naryn
  Bringdam
  Maldive
  Tengil
  Dili
  Rosendal
  Konopiste
  Kupang
  New Troy
  Nam Dinh
  Banfora
  Borka
  Aomen
  Ullieri
  Sappho
  Sumy
  Zanzor
  Java
  Mazdru
  Lucknow
  Patan
  Dowles
  Kristiandsund
  Chengdu
  Ramen II
  Jilin
  Snailzar
  Manennaia
  Achilles
  Gahral
  Lacadon
  Myrvoll
  Lukla
  Aodh
  Vintru
  Knutdor
  Plataea
  Westphalia
  Genf
  Dhaulgiri
  Sharpe
  Namen
  Brabent
  Blida
  Paches
  Caria
  Jenet
  Crawford
  Stockpoll
  Conwy
  Tazaraki
  Pentvar
  Payia
  Antias
  Segerica
  Athna
  Pernik
  Mattisskogen
  Dì-fang
  Nukus
  Harbin
  Chitwan
  Haerhbin
  Jungar Qi 
  Toch Zu
  Maharet
  Lochmantle
  Bodnath
  Florarda
  Tianamon
  Bhaktapur
  Bhaktapur
  Anaea
  Gorki
  Belluevue
  Kohlman
  Yàn-huì
  Dansur
  Weitinger
  Ryans Fate
  Lyreton
  Chennai
  Umgard
  Zhaomaon
  Viribium
  Hibuarius
  Adrar
  Linhauiguan
  Ordino
  Aquagea
  Karlstejn
  New Athens
  Ilmachna
  Staffin
  Brest
  Burl
  Tetschner
  Bogerth
  Mumbai
  Pell
  Itica
  Hè-shì
  Itsbur
  Katla
  Sichuan
  Lhasa
  Adler
  Shui-pào
  Klayne
  Boeotia
  Oli
  Turko
  Chouli
  Smythe
  Angelsey
  Bahl's Retreat
  Dalian
  Kalindam
  Fjaldr
  Kazu
  Sindalin
  Oligar
  Tunlmar
  Wantorill
  Kek
  Laong
  Alto
  Undra
  Blandou
  Yongd
  Bergtatt
  Achtur
  Tyrlon
  Itrom
  Enkra
  Runrig
  Khi
  Finnalon
  Zindao
  Hurgh
  Non Diz
  Smithon
  Mollako
  Kern
  Alexandria
  Aosia
  Adhafera
  Bondurant
  Scarborough
  Decus
  Prix
  Nihal
  Manapire
  Shiba
  Menkib
  No Return
  Purvo
  Tantara
  Shipka
  Capricorn III
  Cap Rouge
  Granera
  Maritgues
  Meadowvale
  Saonara
  Skvorec
  Trznadel Cluster
  Wisconsin
  Yanchep
  Megarez
  Krimari
  Novo Tressida
  Dunianshire
  Luxen
  Palm
  Dainmar Majoris
  Abruzzi
  Abruzzi
  Ambergrist
  Andarmax
  Armaxa
  Ashley
  Aucara
  Bacum
  Barras
  Beid
  Betelgeuse
  Borden
  Carbonis
  Cavalor
  Claxton
  Claybrooke
  Columbine
  Conquista
  Corodiz
  Courcellete
  Cursa
  Decatur
  Dicon
  Drozan
  Egress
  Elnath
  Exedor
  Fagerholm
  Fortymile
  Frazer
  Fronde
  Gomeisa
  Goodna
  Gunthar
  Gurnet
  Haappajarvi
  Harsefeld
  Hurik
  Ikast
  Immenstadt
  Ingonish
  Ito
  Jacomarle
  Jacson
  Jonzac
  Kafr Silim
  Kittery
  Krin
  Kujari
  Larsha
  Les Halles
  Lopez
  Madras
  Matsu
  Mendham
  Mitchel
  Monhegan
  Nashuar
  New Roland
  Niomede
  Overton
  Pilpala
  Pojos
  Principia
  Quimberton
  Renown
  Repulse
  Royalston
  Sarmaxa
  Sax
  Second Chance
  Second Try
  Shaunavon
  Shoreham
  Sirdar
  Turin
  Vard
  Velhas
  Victoria
  Villanueva
  Wallacia
  Ward
  Weatogue
  Wright
  Xanthe III
  Yunnah
  Yuris
  Zanzibar
  Detroit
  Herotitus
  Corey
  Andro
  Jansen's Hold
  Jansen's Hold
  Illiushin
  Camadeierre
  Flaum
  Burton
  Atreus Prime
  Mithron
  Brisbane
  Laconis
  Cumberland
  E
  Rockwellawan
  Aspropirgos
  Gouderak
  Obrenovac
  Ruschegg
  Thurrock
  Vakarel
  Butzfleth
  Deschenes
  Shenwan
  Siendou
  Beenleigh
  El Giza
  Leyda
  Piriapolis
  Ryerson
  Taygeta
  Hassad
  Novaya Zemlya
  Bethel
  Muridox
  Mosiro
  Bethonolog
  Gallis
  Lockton
  Adherlwin
  Fanardir
  Borgan's Rift
  Trip
  Harminous
  Joyz
  Early Dawn
  Brixtana
  Cate's Hold
  Firgro
  Kaitangata
  Olte
  Hobson
  Kigamboni
  Markesan
  Electra
  Flintoft
  Horsham
  Lindsay
  Maia
  Merope
  Pleiades Cluster
  Ridgebrook
  Robsart
  Rollis
  Wrentham
  Jamestown
  Landmark
  MacLeod's Land
  New Vallis
  New Ganymede
  100
  Nahoni
  Amiga
  Camlann
  Nova Roma
  Sekulmun
  Ankaa
  Dalton
  Canopus IV
  New Abilene
  Amity
  Brockway
  Bromhead
  Diefenbaker
  Midale
  Samantha
  Ishtar
  Renfield
  New Vandenburg
  Pinard
  Eleusis
  Carmichael
  Deneb Kaitos
  Kansu
  Hudeiba
  Kwamashu
  Latice
  Lurgatan
  Sadurni
  Mandaree
  Campbelton
  Dickinson
  Ionus
  Tintavel
  Kearny
  Al Jubaylah
  Cirebon
  Fieferana
  Mansu-ri
  Cole Harbour
  Calloway VI
  Ipswich
  Shuen Wan
  Frondas
  Furud
  Gannett
  Tania Australis
  Hellos Minor
  McKenna
  Antipolo
  Vikindu
  Flannagan's Nebulea
  New Aragon
  Taurus
  New Syrtis
  New Rhodes III
  New Rhodes III
  Angol
  Alrescha
  Acamar
  Spica
  Taga
  Palladaine
  Strawn
  Ngake
  El
  Alcyone
  Daniels
  Redfield
  Wernk
  Concord
  Gallatin
  Launam
  Merak
  Nestor
  Anegasaki
  Cameron
  Danais
  Iknogoro
  Loeches
  Matheran
  Milnerton
  Pella II
  Sophie's World
  Sorunda
  Barlaston
  Bora
  Buenos Aires
  Calpaca
  Carmen
  Fujidera
  Glasgow
  Grand Base
  Hadnall
  Holloway
  Hustaing
  Kaifeng
  Lesalles
  Mauripur
  Mentasta
  Phact
  Preston
  Primus
  Raballa
  Randar
  Relevow
  Sakhalin
  Scheuerheck
  Scituate
  Sendalor
  Sigma Mare
  Tallin
  Teng
  Texlos
  Umka
  Vestallas
  Warlock
  Watermael
  Wazan
  Xieng Khouang
  Ziliang
  Bell
  Bristol
  Carmacks
  Gallitzin
  Heligoland
  Kathil
  Kluane
  Layover
  Listowel
  Mandate
  Manteno
  Montco
  Mordialloc
  Orbisonia
  Remshield
  Victoria
  H
  Andurien
  Kanata
  Kasdach
  Shiro III
  Verlo
  Ayn Tarma
  Highspire
  Highspire
  Chebanse
  Okains
  Atlas
  Avigait
  Corella
  Cotocallao
  Glentworth
  Jaipur
  Quittacas
  Altorra
  Bellatrix
  Calseraigne
  Kurvasa
  Menke
  New Westin
  Raphael
  Westerhand
  Chilung
  Diass
  Guangzho
  Nullarbor
  Faleolo
  Alkes
  Bordon
  Blandinsville
  Cholame
  Johnsondale
  Saunemi
  Avawatz
  Axton
  Corydon
  Farwell
  Flushing
  Freisland
  Monongahela
  Narellan
  Ogilvie
  Perkasie
  Salem
  Stein's Folly
  Strea
  Ulan Batar
  Lee
  Abadan
  Ariel
  Asellus Borealis
  Bentley
  Bithinia
  Castrovia
  Cronulla
  Denbar
  Geifer
  Hexare
  Holt
  Housekarle
  Hunan
  Kashilla
  Kiyev
  Lancaster
  Lungdo
  Necromo
  New Delos
  New Macao
  Ohrensen
  Safe Port
  Salur
  St. Andre
  St. Loris
  Tiber
  Truth
  Ulan
  Bator
  Vanra
  Ventabren
  Weekapaug
  Zaurak
  Aitutaki
  Arcadia
  Avior
  Bainsville
  Gienah
  Jouques
  Keeling
  Laureles
  McAffe
  New Hope
  Rasalas
  Sheridan
  Uhuru
  Washburn
  Boardwalk
  Campertown
  Homestead
  Odell
  Sanilac
  Wappingers
  Regulus
  Oriente
  Smolensk
  Brusett
  Helixmar
  Dirk's Gulf
  Kumqwat
  Aldertaine
  Bedeque
  Helm
  Ling
  Semenyih
  Tania Borealis
  Tawas
  Tecumseh
  Rosamond
  Kentares IV
  Acala
  Ashkum
  Barstow
  Beecher
  Cammal
  Goderich
  Moravian
  Tiskilwa
  Valexa
  Maladar
  Brighton
  Cordiagr
  Harloc
  Milos
  Old Kentucky
  Ovan
  Tsinghai
  Tsingtao
  Eom
  Imalda
  Propus
  Uravan
  Jonathan
  Poznan
  Poznan
  Angell II
  Daneshmand
  Dayr Khuna
  Elektrougli
  Emris IV
  Fletcher
  Harmony
  Muscida
  St. Ives
  Sian
  New
  Azha
  Miaplacidus
  Talitha
  Alhena
  Augustine
  Kalidasa
  Kyrkbacken
  Van Diemen IV
  Pollux
  New Canton
  New Canton
  Nopah
  Achernar
  Caselton
  Rio
  Ronel
  Schedar
  Tybalt
  Almach
  Buchlau
  Gan
  Singh
  Mesartim
  Ningpo
  Sonnia
  Mira
  Halloran V
  Elbar
  Chamdo
  Indicass
  Jasmine
  Menkar
  Minnacora
  Tsitsang
  Argyle
  Clovis
  Marlette
  Olancha
  Rochester
  Scudder
  Talcott
  Coriscana
  Kyeinnisan
  Oceana
  Olafsvik
  Hyde
  Solaris
  Exeter
  Avellaneda
  Ibstock
  Park Place
  Bell
  Wei
  Asellus Australis
  Goshen
  Kirkenlaard
  Wroxeter
  Kurragin
  Ares
  Capella
  Beten Kaitos
  Elgin
  Emerson
  Liao
  Foochow
  Styk
  Algot
  Addicks
  Fuentes
  Sarna
  Bandora
  New Sagan
  Acubens
  Alphard
  Alula Australis
  Berenson
  Bharat
  Bharat
  Chertan
  Dubhe
  Fletcher
  Genoa
  Hamal
  Hean
  Marcus
  Menkalinan
  Nanking
  Nathan
  Remulac
  Ruchbah
  Saiph
  Savannah
  Slocum
  Slocum
  Wing
  Wyatt
  Zosma
  Dubhe
  Wing
  Zosma
  Bernardo
  Hamilton
  New Hessen
  New Hessen
  Shensi
  Suzano
  Yangtze
  Gei-Fu
  Ingersoll
  Masterson
  Palos
  Quemoy
  Batavia
  Logandale
  New Valencia
  Drusibacken
  Keystone
  Tongatapu
  Algol
  Pleione
  Mirach
  Tikonov
  Terra
  Caph
  Marik
  McHenry
  Muskegon
  New Olympia
  Procyon
  Robinson
  Rochelle
  Capolla
  Terra Firma
  Bryant
  Sirius
  Woodstock
  Ingress
  Keid
  New Home
  Oliver
  Carver V
  Castor
  Devil's Rock
  Epsilon
  Eridani
  Epsilon Indi
  Graham IV
  Hall
  Hsien
  Irian
  Northwind
  Outreach
  Small World
  Zavijava
  Edwards
  Autumn Wind
  Stewart
  Chesterton
  Demeter
  Foot Fall
  Zion
  Asuncion
  Dieudonne
  Cartago
  Phecda
  Arboris
  Basalt
  Sheratan
  Aldebaran
  Aldebaran
  Connaught
  Wasat
  Zurich
  Callison
  Kawich
  Tall Trees
  Tigress
  Shiloh
  Ruchbah
  Small World
  CAPELLAN CONFEDERATION
  after
  First Succesion War (2822)
  Coreward
  Spinward
  Anti-spinward
  Rimward
  MAXIMUM  JUMP: APPROXIMATELY 30 LIGHT YEARS
  LEGEND
  BORDER KEY
  NATIONAL CAPITAL
  DISTRICT CAPITAL
  PLANET KEY
   DISTRICT BORDER
  PROVINCE BORDER
  2786 (PRE-WAR) BORDER
  PROVINCE CAPITAL
  120 LIGHT YEARS OR 26,8 PARSECS
  30 LIGHT YEARS
  © 3067 BLAKE'S TRUTH CARTOGRAPHIC DIVISION
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  32
  DAINMAR LIAO
  In one of the great ironies of history, the resolute militarism of 
  Ilsa Liao and the steadfast labor of Laurelli Liao gave way to the 
  reign of Dainmar Liao—Laurelli’s younger brother, almost univer-
  sally considered the Confederation’s weakest and most worthless 
  Chancellor. How he became the Prefectorate’s choice is a mys-
  tery—and as the Second Succession War ground to a close, he did 
  more damage to the Capellan war effort through incompetence 
  than the realm’s enemies did through combat.
  Dainmar Liao was present on St. Ives in 2861 when the Davion 
  Assault Guards surprised that planet’s defenders in a lightning at-
  tack. Overpowered by the Guards’ assault ’Mechs and the effective 
  leadership of their commander, Colonel Melissa Davion, the defend-
  ers soon barely held a perimeter around the Chancellor’s palace. 
  The Chancellor himself, Celestial Wisdom of the Confederation 
  and direct ruler of billions, huddled under his bed in the bunker 
  far beneath the palace. He finally sued for peace, accepting Davion 
  control of all the worlds the Federated Suns had claimed in the 
  Second Succession War and making large concessions elsewhere.
  Had the Second Succession War continued any longer, Dainmar 
  Liao might have brought down the Confederation. Had it not been 
  for the dictatorial powers enjoyed by any sitting Chancellor, he 
  would surely have been impeached. In fact, during the immediate 
  postwar period a number of laws were proposed in the House of 
  Scions that would have made it easier to remove the Chancellor, but 
  hardcore elements of the Prefectorate quickly quashed those bills. 
  Dainmar would not be Chancellor forever, they reasoned, and with 
  peace finally breaking out they would have a chance to rebuild.
  Recently recovered documents shed some light on the choice 
  of Dainmar Liao as Chancellor. The most powerful figure in the 
  Capellan Prefectorate at the time was Angmar Liao, Duchess of 
  Liao and Prefect of the Sarna Commonality, a powerful and ambi-
  tious woman born to a branch of the Liao family not in the line of 
  succession. She may have intended to order the meek Dainmar 
  killed soon after his ascension, thereby placing herself in position 
  to be named regent for Dainmar’s young son Otto. Unfortunately 
  for her—and for the rest of the Confederation—Dainmar sur-
  vived long enough for Otto to gain his majority. Nearly every 
  Capellan citizen quietly celebrated when Dainmar abdicated to 
  Otto in 2866.
  KAMACHI IMARRA 
  AND THE WARRIOR HOUSES
  The brief gap between the Second and Third Succession Wars 
  was filled with frantic rearmament programs as each realm tried 
  to prepare for the inevitable next conflict. In the Confederation, 
  first Dainmar and then Otto Liao lavished money and resources on 
  nearly anyone with a worthwhile idea for giving the Confederation 
  an edge against the expected hordes of Davion and Marik troops. 
  One such idea came from Kamachi Imarra, a MechWarrior who had 
  just mustered out of the Prefectorate Guard. A fellow Capellan offi-
  cer, Colonel Hiritza Hikaru, had proposed the formation of Warrior 
  Houses, small enclaves of soldiers devoted to the Chancellor 
  and the state who had no other vocation in life than soldiering. 
  Hikaru claimed that by recreating a warrior class—janshi—the 
  Confederation would gain elite soldiers who could fight to victory 
  against overwhelming odds. Hikaru died before he could found 
  the first Warrior House, but Kamachi Imarra had become enam-
  ored of his theories. After suitable application of his own ideals to 
  Colonel Hikaru’s, Warrior House Imarra was born.
  Imarra selected his future warriors from among the 
  Confederation’s secondary schools, having decided that a true 
  warrior should be steeped in the traditions of martial discipline 
  and glory from a young age. He took only volunteers—no con-
  scripts, no assignments—and used a carefully chosen and trained 
  cadre of officers and enlisted men to instruct his new warriors in 
  the ways of combat. He raised a battalion of MechWarriors and one 
  of infantrymen, numbers that would become the standard for all 
  Warrior Houses.
  Opponents of the new order—and there were many, as the 
  Warrior Houses drew valuable materiel and funds away from the 
  general reconstruction effort—claimed that these small, elite 
  forces were using state resources far disproportionate to their size 
  and likely effectiveness. To silence his detractors, Imarra arranged 
  a demonstration. A small group of his best warriors would fight a 
  like number of soldiers from the Prefectorate Guard in a series of 
  simulator and training environments.
  The contest went on for two weeks, but it was clear by the end 
  of the first week that the regular Capellan soldiers would never 
  match the Warrior House’s scores. All of the Warrior House candi-
  dates chosen to represent Imarra were young soldiers, fresh from 
  their schools and the Imarra training program. Despite protests 
  that the contest was rigged, impartial observers declared Warrior 
  House Imarra the winner. In one of his last acts as Chancellor, 
  Dainmar Liao pronounced the Imarra Warrior House ready for ser-
  vice with the Capellan Armed Forces.
  THIRD SUCCESSION WAR
  “Of course nothing has changed—we haven’t won yet, 
  have we? Of course we’ll be ready to resume hostilities. We 
  can’t give up, we can’t surrender. For the Confederation, 
  the choices are fight or die. Our enemies will not be sat-
  isfied with tribute. They seek to destroy everything that 
  makes us Capellan. You’re damned right we’ll fight them, 
  against that.”
   —Otto Liao, 2865
  In 2866 hostilities flared to life again along nearly every border in 
  the Inner Sphere. Unlike the previous two wars, the Third Succession 
  War was categorized by near-constant, small-scale combat punctu-
  ated by a series of larger offensives. The damage to infrastructure 
  done by the first two Succession Wars meant that no realm—espe-
  cially the resource-strapped Confederation—could afford the sort 
  of massive assault forces fielded in the First Succession War. The gen-
  eral level of technology stagnated and in some cases retreated as 
  every resource of the state went toward military revitalization. Upon 
  the resignation of his father—whom he regarded scarcely better 
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  33
  than did the rest of the Capellan realm—Otto Liao made several de-
  cisions to strengthen Capellan defenses.
  The first was to hire as many mercenary units as the Capellan 
  budget would support. Mercenaries had become vital to the Inner 
  Sphere; each realm depended on them for supplemental forces 
  and, in rare cases, additional shock troops. More than a century 
  of warfare had created the perfect support system for the merce-
  nary industry, as every battle produced trained soldiers who had 
  become disillusioned with their national militaries and yearned 
  for something different. Many were forced to stick with the only 
  profession they knew, but at least as mercenaries they could claim 
  some independence.
  In the Confederation, Otto Liao spearheaded the system of 
  chartered mercenary units that survives to this day. Mercenaries 
  were hired under specific terms, and each unit was expected to 
  perform to the letter of its contract. Disobedient mercenaries were 
  punished, most often with contract cancellation but sometimes 
  with force. Many larger mercenary commands accepted Capellan 
  offers, some of them serving for so long that they became indis-
  tinguishable from regular Capellan commands. The Fourth Tau 
  Ceti, for example, have served the Confederation almost exclu-
  sively since the fall of the Star League, but only after Chancellor 
  Sun-Tzu Liao’s Xin Sheng reforms was the unit brought into the 
  Confederation proper as citizens and regular soldiers.
  ELASTIC DEFENSE
  In addition to bolstering the number of troops available to the 
  Confederation, Otto Liao directed a more controversial change 
  in general military strategy that caused significant unrest among 
  the nobility. A realist if nothing else, Otto Liao decreed that hence-
  forth the Confederation would operate under “elastic defense” 
  rather than fortifying every border world. Even with the addition 
  of mercenary troops, the Confederation lacked the numbers to 
  turn every border world into a fortress capable of withstanding 
  a Davion or Marik invasion. Otto therefore ordered the creation 
  and disbursement of various strategic reserve units, combat forces 
  with enough transport capability to respond to an attack on sev-
  eral nearby worlds. He also placed small harassment units on most 
  border planets and created a series of planet-sized defensive re-
  doubts to supply the worlds around them.
  The nobles, especially those with lands on worlds near the 
  Federated Suns and the Free Worlds League, screamed bloody 
  murder. The young Chancellor’s name was reviled in the House 
  of Scions, and the minutes of a Prefectorate meeting record a 
  Prefect asking the Chancellor how he intended to reclaim the lost 
  Chesterton worlds from three jumps away. His answer shocked the 
  assembled Prefects but revealed the clarity of the Chancellor’s in-
  tentions: “I don’t.”
  The dream of every Capellan Chancellor since the fall of the Star 
  League (and probably most before that) had been to expand the 
  Confederation’s borders. Otto Liao was the first to recognize that 
  dream for the folly it was. His military could barely hold onto the 
  worlds he already controlled; it could not hope to conquer the oth-
  er Successor States and place him on the throne of a reconstituted 
  Star League.
  The first test of elastic defense came in 2901, when House 
  Marik attacked Sirius. Though the world sustained damage, the 
  defensive reserves’ quick response soon forced the invaders to 
  retreat, and similar incursions were likewise contained with very 
  few worlds falling to the enemy. In time, the Free Worlds League 
  military elected to leave no more than light raiding forces on the 
  Capellan border and concentrate on the Lyran Commonwealth. 
  Otto Liao’s elastic defense strategy had proven its strength.
  MELANCHOLY MERLIN
  Secure in the knowledge that elastic defense and reliance on 
  mercenaries had made the Confederation safe from massive inva-
  sion (if not from attack), Otto Liao passed the Celestial Throne to 
  his son Merlin in 2917. Many feared that the new Chancellor, often 
  called Melancholy Merlin because of his constant air of worry, 
  would be as timid as his grandfather Dainmar. Fortunately, that did 
  not turn out to be the case.
  Merlin Liao earned his nickname because he cared deeply 
  about the inevitable toll elastic defense took on the Capellan mili-
  tary. To be successful, the strategy required keeping large numbers 
  of troops on high alert for long periods of time—and often, these 
  periods were broken not by rest and refit, but by combat.
  By time 2930 rolled around a new, unofficial policy had formed. 
  BattleMechs were almost too scarce to risk—Capellan command-
  ers were learning that in an untenable situation (or even one when 
  Elastic Defense, Inelastic Offense
  We’d just gotten back from a Marik raid on Drozan. We’d taken maybe ten 
  percent casualties, not that bad considering the usual numbers. Our ’Mechs were 
  shot to shit, though. We needed a good month of downtime at least, time for the 
  techs to crawl around the ’Mechs and put them back together. Time for us to crawl 
  off-post, relax, maybe get our tubes cleaned. Decompress, you know?
  Didn’t happen. The Colonel told us we were going right back on ready alert 
  when we landed. No one got more than a twelve-hour pass off the base. The 
  techs—God bless the techs, you know? They’d been working hand and foot since 
  we boosted from Drozan, twelve-hour shifts, trying to get the machines rebuilt 
  from the ready stores. I thought they were going to mutiny, and I’d hardly have 
  blamed them. My guys were all complaining, but that’s what soldiers do, right?
  We got back to base and things started breaking. I mean, things always break. 
  That’s a soldier’s job: break things. Even the ’Mech boys, whose toys cost more than 
  most of us’ll make in a lifetime, they’re really only good at breaking things. But 
  this was bit much. Things like trucks were breaking. Doors went missing from the 
  junior-officers’ quarters. Somebody sabotaged the cooling units in the commis-
  sary. We had to eat field rations for three days. The Colonel was livid. He stood the 
  whole unit up for a general inspection.
  And then the alarm went off, and we were back on the DropShip. Elastic de-
  fense and all that. Sit in place, then respond whenever and wherever needed. No 
  matter whether you’re ready or not. Elastic? It’s the opposite, and that’s a fact.
  —From an interview with Subcommander Georgia Berenson, 2922
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  34
  heavy combat could be expected), it was far better to withdraw 
  and preserve their forces than stick around and hope for a final, 
  glorious battle.
  THE gREAT LEE TURKEY SHOOT
  In 2952 Chancellor Ingrid “Little Inga” Liao ordered a massive 
  aerospace assault on the Davion world of Lee in the Capellan 
  March. Though she’d been trained as a MechWarrior, Ingrid was 
  fascinated by the aerospace arm of the Confederation military 
  and directed large amount of funds and resources toward fighter 
  programs. After a particularly successful aerospace battle against 
  House Marik, she sent her fighters against Lee, hoping for a quick 
  victory over the fortified Davion staging world. More than two 
  hundred of the precious craft were gathered and sent, and Ingrid 
  waited on Sian for word of the attack’s success.
  It was a slaughter, but not the one the Chancellor had envisioned. 
  The Federated Suns met the heavy Capellan fighters in space and 
  used the superior maneuverability of their Sparrowhawk fighters to 
  demolish the Capellan squadrons. More than forty Capellan fight-
  ers were destroyed and the rest took heavy damage before they 
  withdrew, leaving a large number of captured or dead veteran pilots 
  behind just as they had at Chesterton so many years ago.
  The losses over Lee forced a reorganization of the Capellan 
  aerospace arm, a task Ingrid Liao wisely left to her colonels. She 
  was too busy presiding over the disintegration of the Capellan 
  military under the constant friction of elastic defense and the pres-
  sure of two-front fighting against Houses Marik and Davion. The 
  sheer scale of the losses forced the Chancellor and her colonels to 
  take a serious look at the readiness of the entire Capellan military, 
  and what they found was disheartening.
  Almost sixty years of elastic defense had ground the Capellan 
  military nearly to dust. No one doubted its vital importance to the 
  state’s security, but the armed forces simply could not keep up 
  the frantic operational tempo. Operational experience among the 
  Capellan officer corps was abysmal; two entire generations of of-
  ficers had joined up, fought and retired under the specter of elastic 
  defense. There were no veterans of successful campaigns to rotate 
  into the various martial academies to give the new recruits season-
  ing and pass on the lessons of experience. There were only near 
  shell-shocked retirees and medically discharged vets, and they 
  rarely had positive views of being a Capellan soldier.
  The Capellan military procurement system was collapsing as 
  well, as the attrition rate of machines matched or exceeded that for 
  soldiers. The few intact industries in Confederation space were so 
  overworked that they could permit no downtime. Lack of regular 
  maintenance drove more and more industries into uncontrolled 
  shutdowns as their production equipment failed. Unless someone 
  found a way to bring a few years’ peace to the Confederation, its 
  future looked bleak.
  TORMAx LIAO
  In 2980, Tormax Liao inherited from his aunt Ingrid a 
  Confederation on the brink of collapse. The popular ComStar his-
  tory of House Liao makes it seem as though the Confederation 
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  35
  hovered on the edge of a new Stone Age, but in reality things nev-
  er got that bad. ComStar has become infamous for making epic 
  “adjustments” to the details of history in order to present them-
  selves in the best possible light. Still, even if the Confederation was 
  not quite as near to barbarism as ComStar claimed, for a time its 
  survival was in genuine doubt.
  Even though they suffered the effects of constant warfare just 
  as acutely as the Confederation, Marik and Davion worlds had far 
  larger populations and stores of materiel to draw on. Both realms 
  had hinterlands composed of worlds barely touched by war, or only 
  sporadically affected by bandits or the consequences of shifting 
  resources to wartime needs. These worlds could at least produce 
  soldiers and basic equipment. Nearly every Confederation planet, 
  densely packed as they were, had felt the caress of an invader’s 
  whip since the fall of the Star League. The Confederation occupied 
  so little territory by comparison to the other Successor States that 
  every world was a potential target for enemy raids. Even Sian had 
  been struck by the Seventh Crucis Lancers in recent memory.
  Tormax Liao knew all this, and also knew how exhausted his 
  military was. The frontline regiments were nearly shattered—
  none possessed more than seventy percent of their authorized 
  strength—and the Home Guard was reeling from being forced to 
  train and forward so many soldiers to regular line units. Tormax did 
  what he could, adjusting troop rotations and increasing the use 
  of the Capellan Hussars in border disputes, a practice Ingrid Liao 
  had begun with limited success. He ordered overhauls of much of 
  the Capellan military, including the aerospace innovations that re-
  sulted in the Transgressor aerospace fighter. His colonels revamped 
  much of the Home Guard, consolidating those formations that had 
  won victories into useful training cadres and relying even more on 
  mercenaries. Several Capellan worlds hosted no garrisons aside 
  from mercenary troops, with surprisingly few repercussions.
  The state itself foundered as the military did. Few in the House of 
  Scions had the bravery to question the exorbitant military budget 
  when enemies were attacking on all sides, but some tried. A number 
  of nobles appeared to be laying odds on the Confederation’s sur-
  vival—the Maskirovka intercepted a number of quiet feelers from 
  border-world dukes and lamas seeking terms for surrender to the 
  Free Worlds League. Each of these transgressions was made public 
  and harshly punished. Beset from outside and shackled with an in-
  creasingly disloyal nobility, Tormax was a man using both hands to 
  build bricks without straw. He trusted none but family.
  That was his worst mistake.
  DIABLO TAKES CHARgE
  Maximilian Liao had briefly commanded the Red Lancers as 
  head of his father’s bodyguard. His short military service earned 
  him the nickname Diablo—devil—from Free Worlds forces he 
  fought near Andurien. He was a cunning man, always quick to ex-
  ploit an advantage and cut an opponent’s legs out from beneath 
  him. By 2990, he had assumed a position on his father’s staff and 
  a seat on the Prefectorate. He watched his father work himself 
  nearly to death trying to hold the Confederation together, to give 
  it the tools it needed to fight off its enemies. He knew he would be 
  Chancellor someday, and he feared for the realm he might inherit 
  by the time his father died or abdicated.
  So he decided not to wait.
  MAxIMILIAN TRIUMpHANT
  An elaborate ruse that combined military adventurism with 
  social disorder allowed Maximilian to distract his already harried 
  father and ensure Tormax’s downfall. Maximilian orchestrated 
  the deployment of the Capellan Hussars and much of the Warrior 
  Houses to the Davion border, to put down supposed insurrec-
  tions and demonstrate the Confederation’s ability to defend itself 
  against the Federated Suns. Maximilian was appointed to lead this 
  force, and Tormax gave them a rousing speech when they depart-
  ed Sian. Upon their return, the situation would be much different.
  Maximilian used the journey to buy the loyalty of a few last 
  holdouts in the Warrior Houses. He used little direct bribery—the 
  loyalty of the Warrior House orders is a bedrock article of faith among 
  them—but instead relied on methodical arguments to convince 
  them Tormax was doing the Confederation more harm than good, 
  and that the realm needed a new voice and a new direction. The 
  so-called insurrections—surreptitiously funded by Maximilian—
  were easily put down. In one instance, the soon-to-be Chancellor 
  is recorded as single-handedly convincing the “insurgents” of the 
  hopelessness of their cause and forcing their surrender. That the ar-
  chitects of this particular insurrection were longtime friends of the 
  heir to the Celestial Throne, with whom they shared seats on many 
  corporate boards, was left out of the daily reports to Sian.
  Using the successful end of the insurrections—and the alleged 
  cowing of the Davion threat, of which no official record exists—
  Maximilian shipped back toward Sian at the head of the Capellan 
  The Capture of the King
  Several Chancellors have been assassinated throughout Confederation his-
  tory. One died in battle, and at least one killed himself. None of them was a 
  victim of a coup until Tormax fell prey to his duplicitous son Maximilian. That 
  Maximilian succeeded is testament to his personal charisma, as well as the 
  dangerous dual nature of the Chancellor’s power and the overriding ideal of 
  service to the state that every Capellan learns at primary school. By using his 
  military prowess to establish himself as a victor in the public mind—in fact, 
  making himself the shining example of military adventurism that his father was 
  not—Maximilian cemented the loyalty of the Capellan Hussars and the Warrior 
  Houses. Every soldier swears loyalty to the state and the Chancellor, but neither 
  appears on the line with them, producing victories they can brag about in bars 
  and brothels. Neither state nor Chancellor gives them gifts of lands and money, 
  incomes to support families or mistresses. Maximilian understood well the hu-
  man need for direct comfort and the overriding power of personal greed. His 
  father, Chancellor Tormax Liao, sent rousing missives from Sian and struggled 
  with every breath to keep the Confederation alive. A small group of soldiers 
  were not his concern.
  Maximilian knew that soldiers, above all others, can project power out of 
  scale with their numbers. He let his father concentrate on the Confederation, 
  while he concentrated on the men with the ’Mechs. In the end, those same 
  ’Mechs gave him the power to depose his father.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  36
  Hussars and a body of Warrior House troops wedded to him per-
  sonally by oaths of loyalty and not a few debts. He sent word ahead 
  by trusted couriers with evidence he had manufactured against 
  his father, poisoning the Prefectorate against Tormax before the 
  Chancellor realized his position was under attack. The shock of his 
  son’s betrayal blinded Tormax to these political maneuverings un-
  til it was too late. By the fall of 2990, Maximilian Liao was elected 
  Chancellor and his father was in shackles.
  And he did it all without firing a shot in anger.
  MAxIMILIAN DUpLICITIOUS
  The usurpation of Tormax’s throne provided an early model of 
  how Maximilian Liao would lead as Chancellor. He spent the early 
  years of his reign cleaning up the messes his ascension had caused. 
  By manipulating the loyalty of the regular military and the Warrior 
  Houses, Maximilian had created a stark divide between the two 
  organizations. The military saw him as a great leader who would 
  send them against the Marik and Davion enemies in victory after 
  victory. The Warrior Houses, swayed by his promises of honor and 
  loyalty and combat, expected him to rein in the wasteful military 
  excesses of the Strategios. The people and the Prefecture looked 
  to him to ease the oppressive (but necessary) policies of his father. 
  Where these competing interests might have driven some men in-
  sane, Diablo reveled in it.
  The regular military he placated by instituting a massive over-
  haul of combat doctrine—including a reevaluation of elastic 
  defense and the various restructurings begun by meddlesome 
  Chancellors. Where previous Chancellors had embroiled them-
  selves personally in these sorts of policy changes, Maximilian 
  merely directed it. By keeping his nose out of the specifics, he gave 
  the Strategios nearly free rein to experiment—and thereby kept 
  them too busy to pester him for adventurous orders. He had simi-
  lar plans for the Warrior Houses—but rather than change policy, 
  he changed scale. At the end of Tormax’s reign, there had been 
  four Warrior Houses. Soon there would be eight, all of them swear-
  ing personal loyalty to the office of the Chancellor.
  ANTON AND THE WOLF
  The Maskirovka gained considerable increases in funding and 
  operational independence during Maximilian’s reign. Barely five 
  years after assuming the Chancellorship, Maximilian and his in-
  telligence apparatus had thoroughly penetrated the Free Worlds 
  bureaucracy along the Capellan border. In every instance, he en-
  couraged nascent disloyalty in the fractious Free Worlds nobles, 
  often offering under-the-table trade and military support to 
  rebellions against Janos Marik, then Captain-General. The crown-
  ing achievement of this scheming was the revolt of Anton Marik, 
  brother of Janos and Duke of New Delos.
  Anton Marik hungered to be Captain-General, and the entice-
  ments offered by Maximilian Liao convinced him to launch an open 
  rebellion against Janos’ government. He gathered as much support 
  as he could and in 3014, with military aid from the Confederation 
  through the elite Wolf’s Dragoons mercenary unit, moved against 
  his brother. (He was also promised marriage to Maximilian’s daugh-
  ter Candace, but that union never came to pass.)
  The deadly ’Mechs of the Dragoons led Anton’s forces to victory 
  after victory in the first months of the rebellion, and these success-
  es brought more troops to the rebel duke’s side. As his campaigns 
  continued to succeed, Anton grew bolder. Convinced of his own 
  superiority, he began to interfere with his generals’ plans. Before 
  long, his meddling cost him the initiative, and even the Dragoons’ 
  fearsome prowess could not save him. He sowed the seeds of his 
  own destruction when he turned on the mercenaries, murdering 
  more than a score of their dependents. The Dragoons’ vengeance 
  has become the stuff of legend, and the death of Anton Marik end-
  ed Maximilian Liao’s schemes to control the Free Worlds.
  That those schemes cost him nothing but the lives of millions 
  of Free Worlds citizens and the services of a first-rate mercenary 
  unit did not escape his notice. Traditional Capellan regiments were 
  untouched and none of his planets had been attacked. And it al-
  most worked.
  Maximilian came up with more schemes, most of them direct-
  ed at House Davion and its new First Prince, Hanse Davion. While 
  he plotted and trusted his military to hold the line, the Federated 
  Suns spent the years between 3015 and 3020 sending out probes to 
  hammer Capellan defenses. The AFFS appeared to hold the CCAF in 
  contempt, as demonstrated by raids against St. Ives, a Commonality 
  capital, and even one against Sian. Confederation regiments scram-
  bled to meet these attacks, but could not keep up. By 3018, Davion 
  forces were raiding a new Capellan world each month.
  McCARRON’S WAR
  In response to these Davion attacks, Maximilian ordered 
  Archibald McCarron, commander of the Confederation’s pre-
  mier mercenary unit, McCarron’s Armored Cavalry, to strike 
  into Federated Suns space and disrupt the Davion war machine. 
  McCarron and his regiments embarked on a three-year campaign 
  of swift raids and deep strikes designed to confuse and harass the 
  Capellan March defense system. The five McCarrons’ regiments 
  struck more than a dozen worlds, routing the militia or mercenary 
  forces that guarded each one and withdrawing before heavy AFFS 
  To the Death (Commandos)
  One of Tormax Liao’s few interferences in the military operations of the 
  Strategios was the creation of the Death Commandos, a group of soldiers drawn 
  from the Warrior Houses who were personally loyal to the Chancellor and served 
  as the elite strike troops of the Confederation. After Maximilian’s coup, the Death 
  Commandos were reorganized. Many of them, loyal to Tormax, had died in the 
  quiet conflict that raged for two nights on Sian while forces loyal to Maximilian 
  eliminated the holdouts of his father’s regime. Though the Commandos were 
  quickly reconstituted, their fate was in limbo. They operated under the aegis 
  of the Strategios, but their troops were all former Warrior House members. The 
  two groups, though loyal Capellans to a man, disagreed on many things.
  Tired of the constant bickering, Maximilian Liao decreed that the Death 
  Commandos could recruit from the entire CCAF, not just the Warrior Houses. 
  This brought more traditional tactics into the Commandos’ ranks and reminded 
  the former Warrior House soldiers that they were members of the CCAF first, and 
  Warrior House troops second.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  37
  forces could be brought to bear against them. The MAC’s only 
  real setback came when the unit chanced upon a detachment of 
  Davion Guards on Beten Kaitos. The elite House troops fought the 
  MAC to a standstill before the mercenaries withdrew.
  In the Confederation, news of McCarron’s victories brought a 
  resurgent sense of morale across the realm. The Chancellor played 
  these tidbits of good news for all they were worth in the Capellan 
  press, and used the resulting political clout to get many of his own 
  programs begun or continued. With public attention focused on 
  McCarron’s war with House Davion, Maximilian Liao directed the 
  Maskirovka toward domestic operations that further secured his 
  control of the state and eliminated the last lingering naysayers 
  who remembered just how he had attained the Celestial Throne.
  MICHAEL HASEK-DAvION
  When Prince Ian Davion died on Mallory’s World, the throne 
  fell to his younger brother Hanse. That succession was not without 
  conflict, however; the young duke of the Capellan March, Michael 
  Hasek-Davion, also coveted the First Prince’s throne. Though he’d 
  sworn loyalty to the new First Prince like every other noble of the 
  Federated Suns, Michael never got over the loss. He nursed a secret 
  hatred of Hanse Davion, and that hatred was the lever Maximilian 
  Liao needed to launch an intrigue in hopes of repeating the suc-
  cess of Anton’s Revolt in the Free Worlds League.
  In 3022, Maximilian’s entreaties and platitudes convinced Duke 
  Michael to conclude a secret non-aggression treaty between the 
  Confederation and the Capellan March. Maximilian offered sev-
  eral Capellan systems in exchange for open rebellion against 
  Hanse Davion, but Duke Michael demurred. The next three years 
  saw intense—if clandestine—negotiations between Maximilian 
  and Michael Hasek-Davion as each attempted to gain advantage 
  over the other.
  Documents recently recovered from that era illustrate the su-
  preme arrogance of both men. Chancellor Maximilian Liao, sworn 
  enemy of the Federated Suns, saw Michael Hasek-Davion as an 
  embodiment of the weak-willed nobleman endemic to that realm. 
  He thought he could entice the Capellan March into revolt against 
  New Avalon and then swoop in and crush both sides after they’d 
  bled each other dry. At the very least, he figured to take much of 
  the Capellan March and hold it after he sued for peace. For his 
  part, Michael Hasek-Davion had similar plans: he’d unseat Hanse 
  and then turn and crush the Capellan Confederation, making him 
  a hero to the people of the entire Federated Suns.
  Whatever their private hopes, neither man truly believed the 
  other’s word. Maximilian continued with his other plans, content 
  with the status quo. His negotiations thus far had cut Davion at-
  tacks on his worlds in half, and the secret provisions of his 3022 
  accord with Duke Michael meant the raids that did occur weren’t 
  as damaging as they might have been. The people on the border 
  worlds slept a bit more peacefully at night, but the business of run-
  ning both nations continued as it always had: through conflict.
  It is interesting to note the approaches both men took in their 
  subterfuges. The Chancellor offered several Capellan worlds to 
  Duke Hasek-Davion as bribes; how the Capellan citizens on those 
  worlds would have felt being abandoned by the Confederation 
  is a subject of some conjecture. Would the Sheng with holdings 
  on worlds like Remshield and Jonathan have been satisfied to 
  become nobles of the Federated Suns? Would the planetary mi-
  litias and members of the CCAF who’d bled to keep those worlds 
  Capellan over the years simply lay down their guns and allow the 
  AFFS free rein? Would the Prefecture have accepted such a fait ac-
  compli, all to see Davion killing Davion? Given the sheer amount 
  of conflict brought about by a similar disposition of the Andurien 
  worlds, it seems likely that the worlds Maximilian was willing to 
  barter away would have become hotbeds of discontent and con-
  flict for generations—much like worlds conquered by force.
  Duke Michael likewise viewed the universe through the lens of 
  his own hubris. Toppling Hanse Davion may well have been militar-
  ily possible, but the citizens of House Davion’s Crucis March would 
  never have accepted Hasek rule. The Sandoval family, obsessed 
  with the Draconis Combine, may well have allowed the fighting to 
  continue as long as it did not weaken the border with House Kurita, 
  but unless Duke Michael proved himself capable of seeing past the 
  Confederation, he would never have found support there. And his 
  own people, the citizens of the Capellan March, almost uniform-
  ly hated the Confederation. Much of this hatred could be laid at 
  the feet of Duke Michael’s propaganda machine, but centuries of 
  raid and counter-raid had done much to cement it. Admitting to 
  Liao, Davion and Mercenaries
  By the turn of the 31st century, mercenaries were doing the bulk of the fight-
  ing between the Capellan Confederation and the Federated Suns. In the last 
  years of the Third Succession War, the Federated Suns was perhaps the largest 
  employer of mercenary regiments in the Inner Sphere, and many of those regi-
  ments fought and died on the Capellan border. Hanse Davion, always anxious 
  to keep his enemies off-balance, employed mercenaries as offensive troops and 
  as garrison soldiers to free his own regular regiments for other duties. Along 
  the Draconis Combine border, mercenaries mostly served as garrison troops, but 
  against the Capellan Confederation—which he held in far less regard than he 
  did the Combine samurai—Hanse Davion let his mercenaries carry the weight 
  of attacks and raids as well.
  Regiments such as Tristram’s Terrorists and Vestal’s Stilettos were active 
  against the Capellans and known as enemies of the Confederation. Many merce-
  nary regiments came to be as fiercely hated as regular Davion units by Capellan 
  border populations. In fact, when House Davion wanted to remind the Chancellor 
  that even he was not beyond reach, they sent the two regiments of Smithson’s 
  Chinese Bandits rather than a frontline RCT to raid Sian. Though many mercenary 
  regiments were destroyed, many more stood ready to replace them.
  Action against House Liao was a mercenary regiment’s chance to build a 
  name. Most other nations refused to give mercenaries primacy of place in as-
  sault fleets, but Hanse Davion often sent mercenaries with little more than AFFS 
  logistical support and a liaison officer. The draw of glory—and the enhanced 
  contracts such glory could bring on the Galatea merc markets—brought mer-
  cenaries to Hanse Davion’s banner, and he spent them like coin to keep the 
  Confederation guessing. That such spending preserved regular AFFS units was 
  an added benefit, one the wily Prince Hanse no doubt relished.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  38
  collusion with House Liao—even collusion intended as a double-
  cross—would have gutted Duke Michael’s support base.
  In reaction to the growing alliance between the Federated Suns 
  and the Lyran Commonwealth, Maximilian Liao joined the rulers 
  of the Free Worlds League and the Draconis Combine in a loose 
  confederation dubbed the Concord of Kapteyn. Under the terms 
  of this concord, each realm agreed to share information on the 
  Suns-Commonwealth axis, and Houses Marik and Liao pledged 
  the support of several mercenary regiments should hostilities re-
  sume against any of the signatories. Chancellor Liao viewed the 
  concord as just another scheme to bear fruit for the Confederation. 
  Documents show he cared little for either of his allies, and may 
  have intended to renege on his military commitments if the Free 
  Worlds League was attacked.
  Unluckily for Maximilian Liao, the nascent Federated 
  Commonwealth had little interest in House Marik. They had other 
  targets in mind.
  Operation Doppelganger
  The Confederation’s vaunted Sian University could not compete with the 
  New Avalon Institute of Science in knowledge or technique, but neither could 
  the Federated Suns’ Ministry of Information, Intelligence and Operations 
  compete with the Maskirovka in sheer ruthlessness. Where Davion-sponsored 
  intelligence operations might be denied because they were too costly, the 
  Maskirovka cared only about results. One of the longest-running and most 
  expensive operations the Maskirvoka undertook came from the fruits of the 
  capture of several Davion geneticists on Sanilac. These scientists were put to 
  work for a black operation that the Maskirovka named Doppelganger. This proj-
  ect had one purpose: to create as perfect a duplicate as possible for a person of 
  interest in the Federated Suns.
  A duplicate for First Prince Hanse Davion.
  After years of work and preparation, the opportunity came for House Liao to 
  replace Hanse Davion with the double. For months, the double assumed the First 
  Prince’s identity and began to shift Federated Suns policy closer to House Liao’s 
  interests. A number of projects were threatened before the double was revealed, 
  and if it hadn’t been for the unlucky survival of a member of Hanse Davion’s per-
  sonal staff, the double might have ruled the Federated Suns into the ground.
  Once the double was exposed and the rightful First Prince placed back 
  on his throne, the Third Succession War crawled to a close. Doppelganger was 
  perhaps the last significant act of that war, and Maximilian drove its limited suc-
  cesses for all they were worth. When hostilities petered out, he set the Capellan 
  Armed Forces to rebuilding and the Maskirovka on to new projects. Much of 
  the funding spent on Doppelganger was redirected toward efforts to turn Duke 
  Michael Hasek-Davion. 
  Doppelganger would have far-reaching consequences. The few in the 
  Federated Suns who were allowed to learn the full truth reacted with disgust 
  and loathing for the Capellan Confederation. We now know that the informa-
  tion was also shared with the Suns’ new allies, the Lyran Commonwealth, where 
  it prompted much the same response. The truth of that would become clear just 
  a few years later.
  —From The Devil You Didn’t Know: Diablo’s Secret Programs 
  by Anson Roswell, Solaris Press, 3059
  TIMELINE: SECOND AND 
  THIRD SUCCESSION WARS
  2826: 
  Vindicator BattleMech enters service, serving with distinction on 
  Tikonov.
  2828: 
  Chancellor Ilsa Liao leads an attack on Orbisonia and is killed in battle 
  while leading a rearguard that allows her troops to escape.
  2829: 
  House Davion launches assaults along the Chesterton border, pressing the 
  Confederation defenses hard as they drive toward Tikonov. When they fi-
  nally reach it, they will attack and be repulsed three times in three years.
  2832: 
  First Battle of Tikonov.
  2833: 
  Second Battle of Tikonov.
  2834: 
  Third Battle of Tikonov.
  2837: 
  Capellan forces attack Cursa on intelligence from ComStar—which, 
  when SAFE discovers the motive behind the assault, results in the 
  destruction of the HPG on Oriente by Free Worlds League military 
  forces and ComStar’s subsequent Interdiction of Free Worlds League; 
  Capellan forces capture several Marik worlds as a result.
  2838: 
  UrbanMechs defend Carver V from Marik attacks, in one of the first 
  uses of specialized ’Mechs.
  2840: 
  Capellan Confederation captures Asuncion, a symbolic victory but the 
  first of several over-extensions now that the Free Worlds League has 
  regained access to ComStar HPGs.
   
  The Chesterton Decree grants the Hargreaves family stewardship 
  (and Prefectorate voting privileges) for lost Chesterton—a state of 
  affairs that gains the Confederation access to the massive Hargreaves 
  fortune and allows the Hargreaves family to retain a modicum of au-
  thority in Confederation affairs.
  2846: 
  Free Worlds League retakes Asuncion, marking the beginning of a 
  counteroffensive the CCAF will be hard-pressed to defend against.
  2854: 
  By this point, most of the worlds captured from House Marik during 
  the ComStar Interdiction are lost to counterattacks, and the CCAF is 
  firmly on the defensive. The Confederation’s logistical system is on 
  the verge of collapse, and most combat units are suffering from ex-
  treme exhaustion.
  2861: 
  Davion Assault Guards attack St. Ives, driving Chancellor Dainmar Liao 
  below ground and forcing him to sue for peace before the massive 
  enemy assault ’Mechs bring Tian-tan down around him.
  2862: 
  Dainmar Liao signs peace accord with Federated Suns, recognizing 
  Davion territorial gains and ending hostilities.
  2864: 
  Second Succession War ends; Kamachi Imarra forms Warrior House 
  Imarra and begins its specialized training.
  2866: 
  Third Succession War begins. Capellan March forces under Jason Hasek 
  invade the Confederation; Dainmar Liao resigns in favor of Otto Liao.
  2901: 
  Operating under the new principles of elastic defense, Capellan troops 
  defeat a deep raid against Sirius. Though many of the establishment 
  scream treason at the idea of trading space for time, Capellan military 
  planners recognize that the CCAF has dwindled to a size incapable of 
  defending every world at once.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  39
  Tikonov
  Commonality
  Sarna
  Commonality
  Capella Commonality
  St Ives
  Commonality
  Sian
  Commonality
  Andurien Commonality
  Chesterton
  Commonality
  New Florence
  New Florence
  Brownsville
  Bex
  Mandal
  Pardeau
  Bonaire
  Grobin
  Köln
  Zara
  Bogrib
  Pavia
  Sarkel
  Aquileia
  St Gall
  August
  Ragusa
  Manaus
  Marathon
  Blue Sava
  Pliska
  Elbing
  New Praha
  Jászberény
  Thamel
  Kalmar
  Ghorepani
  Hastur
  Zathras
  Brinton
  Centa
  Flatspin
  Girondas 
  Qalzi
  Paf
  Mas
  Gangtok
  Katinka
  Artru
  Coromodir 
  Megaris
  Ina
  Klamriz V
  Reinhardstein
  Saltur
  Carnac
  Gruyeres
  Gravensteen
  Chillon
  Dol
  Branzoll
  Fathe
  Fable
  Sanurcha
  Arn
  Espia
  Salardion
  Naryn
  Bringdam
  Maldive
  Tengil
  Rosendal
  New Troy
  Nam Dinh
  Banfora
  Borka
  Aomen
  Ullieri
  Sappho
  Sumy
  Java
  Mazdru
  Lucknow
  Patan
  Dowles
  Kristiandsund
  Chengdu
  Ramen II
  Snailzar
  Manennaia
  Achilles
  Gahral
  Lukla
  Aodh
  Vintru
  Westphalia
  Dhaulgiri
  Sharpe
  Namen
  Brabent
  Blida
  Paches
  Jenet
  Crawford
  Stockpoll
  Conwy
  Tazaraki
  Payia
  Segerica
  Athna
  Pernik
  Mattisskogen
  Dì-fang
  Chitwan
  Haerhbin
  Jungar Qi 
  Maharet
  Bodnath
  Florarda
  Tianamon
  Tianamon
  Bhaktapur
  Bhaktapur
  Belluevue
  Kohlman
  Yàn-huì
  Weitinger
  Ryans Fate
  Lyreton
  Chennai
  Umgard
  Zhaomaon
  Viribium
  Hibuarius
  Linhauiguan
  Ordino
  Aquagea
  Karlstejn
  New Athens
  Ilmachna
  Staffin
  Brest
  Tetschner
  Bogerth
  Mumbai
  Pell
  Itica
  Katla
  Sichuan
  Lhasa
  Shui-pào
  Boeotia
  Smythe
  Bahl's Retreat
  Dalian
  Fjaldr
  Kazu
  Sindalin
  Oligar
  Wantorill
  Kek
  Laong
  Alto
  Blandou
  Yongd
  Bergtatt
  Enkra
  Non Diz
  Kern
  Alexandria
  Aosia
  Adhafera
  Bondurant
  Scarborough
  Decus
  Prix
  Nihal
  Manapire
  Shiba
  Menkib
  No Return
  Purvo
  Tantara
  Shipka
  Capricorn III
  Cap Rouge
  Granera
  Maritgues
  Meadowvale
  Saonara
  Skvorec
  Trznadel Cluster
  Wisconsin
  Yanchep
  Megarez
  Krimari
  Novo Tressida
  Dunianshire
  Luxen
  Palm
  Dainmar Majoris
  Abruzzi
  Ambergrist
  Andarmax
  Armaxa
  Ashley
  Aucara
  Bacum
  Barras
  Beid
  Betelgeuse
  Borden
  Carbonis
  Cavalor
  Claxton
  Claybrooke
  Columbine
  Conquista
  Corodiz
  Courcellete
  Cursa
  Decatur
  Dicon
  Drozan
  Egress
  Elnath
  Exedor
  Fagerholm
  Fortymile
  Frazer
  Fronde
  Gomeisa
  Goodna
  Gunthar
  Gurnet
  Haappajarvi
  Harsefeld
  Hurik
  Ikast
  Immenstadt
  Ingonish
  Ito
  Jacomarle
  Jacson
  Jonzac
  Kafr Silim
  Kittery
  Krin
  Kujari
  Larsha
  Les Halles
  Les Halles
  Lopez
  Madras
  Matsu
  Mendham
  Mitchel
  Monhegan
  Nashuar
  New Roland
  Niomede
  Overton
  Pilpala
  Pojos
  Principia
  Quimberton
  Renown
  Repulse
  Royalston
  Sarmaxa
  Sax
  Second Chance
  Second Try
  Shaunavon
  Shoreham
  Sirdar
  Turin
  Vard
  Velhas
  Victoria
  Villanueva
  Wallacia
  Ward
  Weatogue
  Wright
  Xanthe III
  Yunnah
  Yuris
  Zanzibar
  Detroit
  Herotitus
  Corey
  Andro
  Jansen's Hold
  Jansen's Hold
  Illiushin
  Camadeierre
  Flaum
  Burton
  Atreus Prime
  Mithron
  Brisbane
  Laconis
  Cumberland
  E
  Rockwellawan
  Aspropirgos
  Gouderak
  Obrenovac
  Ruschegg
  Thurrock
  Vakarel
  Butzfleth
  Deschenes
  Shenwan
  Siendou
  Beenleigh
  El Giza
  Leyda
  Piriapolis
  Ryerson
  Taygeta
  Hassad
  Novaya Zemlya
  Bethel
  Muridox
  Mosiro
  Bethonolog
  Bethonolog
  Gallis
  Lockton
  Adherlwin
  Fanardir
  Borgan's Rift
  Trip
  Harminous
  Joyz
  Early Dawn
  Brixtana
  Cate's Hold
  Firgro
  Kaitangata
  Olte
  Hobson
  Kigamboni
  Markesan
  Electra
  Flintoft
  Horsham
  Lindsay
  Maia
  Merope
  Pleiades Cluster
  Ridgebrook
  Robsart
  Rollis
  Wrentham
  Jamestown
  Landmark
  MacLeod's Land
  New Vallis
  New Ganymede
  100
  Nahoni
  Amiga
  Camlann
  Nova Roma
  Sekulmun
  Ankaa
  Dalton
  Canopus IV
  New Abilene
  Amity
  Brockway
  Bromhead
  Diefenbaker
  Midale
  Samantha
  Ishtar
  Renfield
  New Vandenburg
  Pinard
  Eleusis
  Carmichael
  Deneb
  Kaitos
  Kansu
  Hudeiba
  Kwamashu
  Latice
  Lurgatan
  Sadurni
  Mandaree
  Campbelton
  Dickinson
  Ionus
  Tintavel
  Kearny
  Al Jubaylah
  Cirebon
  Fieferana
  Mansu-ri
  Cole Harbour
  Calloway VI
  Ipswich
  Shuen Wan
  Frondas
  Furud
  Gannett
  Tania Australis
  Hellos Minor
  McKenna
  Antipolo
  Vikindu
  Flannagan's Nebulea
  New Aragon
  Taurus
  New Syrtis
  New Rhodes III
  Angol
  Alrescha
  Acamar
  Spica
  Taga
  Palladaine
  Strawn
  Ngake
  El
  Alcyone
  Daniels
  Redfield
  Wernk
  Concord
  Gallatin
  Launam
  Merak
  Nestor
  Anegasaki
  Cameron
  Danais
  Iknogoro
  Loeches
  Matheran
  Milnerton
  Pella II
  Sophie's World
  Sorunda
  Barlaston
  Bora
  Buenos Aires
  Calpaca
  Carmen
  Fujidera
  Glasgow
  Grand Base
  Hadnall
  Holloway
  Hustaing
  Kaifeng
  Lesalles
  Mauripur
  Mentasta
  Phact
  Preston
  Primus
  Raballa
  Randar
  Relevow
  Sakhalin
  Scheuerheck
  Scituate
  Sendalor
  Sigma Mare
  Tallin
  Teng
  Texlos
  Umka
  Vestallas
  Warlock
  Watermael
  Wazan
  Xieng Khouang
  Ziliang
  Bell
  Bristol
  Carmacks
  Gallitzin
  Heligoland
  Kathil
  Kluane
  Layover
  Listowel
  Mandate
  Manteno
  Montco
  Mordialloc
  Orbisonia
  Remshield
  Victoria
  H
  Andurien
  Kanata
  Kasdach
  Shiro III
  Verlo
  Ayn Tarma
  Highspire
  Chebanse
  Okains
  Atlas
  Avigait
  Corella
  Cotocallao
  Glentworth
  Jaipur
  Quittacas
  Altorra
  Bellatrix
  Calseraigne
  Kurvasa
  Menke
  New Westin
  Raphael
  Westerhand
  Chilung
  Diass
  Guangzho
  Nullarbor
  Faleolo
  Alkes
  Bordon
  Blandinsville
  Cholame
  Johnsondale
  Saunemi
  Avawatz
  Axton
  Corydon
  Farwell
  Flushing
  Freisland
  Monongahela
  Narellan
  Ogilvie
  Perkasie
  Salem
  Stein's Folly
  Strea
  Ulan Batar
  Lee
  Abadan
  Ariel
  Asellus Borealis
  Bentley
  Bithinia
  Castrovia
  Cronulla
  Denbar
  Geifer
  Hexare
  Holt
  Housekarle
  Hunan
  Kashilla
  Kiyev
  Lancaster
  Lungdo
  Necromo
  New Delos
  New Macao
  Ohrensen
  Safe Port
  Salur
  St. Andre
  St. Loris
  Tiber
  Truth
  Ulan
  Bator
  Vanra
  Ventabren
  Weekapaug
  Zaurak
  Aitutaki
  Arcadia
  Avior
  Bainsville
  Gienah
  Jouques
  Keeling
  Laureles
  McAffe
  New Hope
  Rasalas
  Sheridan
  Uhuru
  Washburn
  Boardwalk
  Campertown
  Homestead
  Odell
  Sanilac
  Wappingers
  Regulus
  Oriente
  Smolensk
  Brusett
  Helixmar
  Dirk's Gulf
  Kumqwat
  Aldertaine
  Bedeque
  Helm
  Ling
  Semenyih
  Tania Borealis
  Tawas
  Tecumseh
  Rosamond
  Kentares IV
  Acala
  Ashkum
  Barstow
  Beecher
  Cammal
  Goderich
  Moravian
  Tiskilwa
  Valexa
  Maladar
  Brighton
  Cordiagr
  Harloc
  Milos
  Old Kentucky
  Ovan
  Tsinghai
  Tsingtao
  Eom
  Imalda
  Propus
  Uravan
  Jonathan
  Poznan
  Poznan
  Angell II
  Daneshmand
  Dayr Khuna
  Elektrougli
  Emris IV
  Fletcher
  Harmony
  Muscida
  St. Ives
  Sian
  New
  Azha
  Miaplacidus
  Talitha
  Alhena
  Augustine
  Kalidasa
  Kyrkbacken
  Van Diemen IV
  Pollux
  New Canton
  New Canton
  Nopah
  Achernar
  Caselton
  Rio
  Ronel
  Schedar
  Tybalt
  Almach
  Buchlau
  Gan
  Singh
  Mesartim
  Ningpo
  Sonnia
  Mira
  Halloran V
  Elbar
  Chamdo
  Indicass
  Jasmine
  Menkar
  Minnacora
  Tsitsang
  Argyle
  Clovis
  Marlette
  Olancha
  Rochester
  Scudder
  Talcott
  Coriscana
  Kyeinnisan
  Oceana
  Olafsvik
  Hyde
  Solaris
  Exeter
  Avellaneda
  Ibstock
  Park Place
  Bell
  Wei
  Asellus Australis
  Goshen
  Kirkenlaard
  Wroxeter
  Kurragin
  Ares
  Capella
  Beten Kaitos
  Elgin
  Emerson
  Liao
  Foochow
  Styk
  Algot
  Addicks
  Fuentes
  Sarna
  Bandora
  New Sagan
  Acubens
  Alphard
  Alula Australis
  Berenson
  Bharat
  Bharat
  Chertan
  Dubhe
  Fletcher
  Genoa
  Hamal
  Hean
  Marcus
  Menkalinan
  Nanking
  Nathan
  Remulac
  Ruchbah
  Saiph
  Savannah
  Slocum
  Slocum
  Wing
  Wyatt
  Zosma
  Dubhe
  Wing
  Zosma
  Bernardo
  Hamilton
  New Hessen
  Shensi
  Suzano
  Yangtze
  Gei-Fu
  Ingersoll
  Masterson
  Palos
  Quemoy
  Batavia
  Logandale
  New Valencia
  Drusibacken
  Keystone
  Tongatapu
  Algol
  Pleione
  Mirach
  Tikonov
  Terra
  Caph
  Marik
  McHenry
  Muskegon
  New Olympia
  Procyon
  Robinson
  Rochelle
  Capolla
  Terra Firma
  Bryant
  Sirius
  Woodstock
  Ingress
  Keid
  New Home
  Oliver
  Carver V
  Castor
  Devil's Rock
  Epsilon
  Eridani
  Epsilon Indi
  Graham IV
  Hall
  Hsien
  Irian
  Northwind
  Northwind
  Outreach
  Zavijava
  Edwards
  Autumn Wind
  Stewart
  Chesterton
  Demeter
  Foot Fall
  Zion
  Asuncion
  Dieudonne
  Cartago
  Phecda
  Arboris
  Basalt
  Sheratan
  Aldebaran
  Aldebaran
  Connaught
  Wasat
  Zurich
  Callison
  Alhena
  Marcus
  Zavijava
  Callison
  Kawich
  Tall Trees
  Tigress
  Shiloh
  Ruchbah
  Small World
  CAPELLAN CONFEDERATION
  after
  Second Succesion War (2864)
  Coreward
  Spinward
  Anti-spinward
  Rimward
  MAXIMUM  JUMP: APPROXIMATELY 30 LIGHT YEARS
  LEGEND
  BORDER KEY
  NATIONAL CAPITAL
  DISTRICT CAPITAL
  PLANET KEY
   DISTRICT BORDER
  PROVINCE BORDER
  2830 (PRE-WAR) BORDER
  PROVINCE CAPITAL
  120 LIGHT YEARS OR 36.8 PARSECS
  30 LIGHT YEARS
  © 3067 BLAKE'S TRUTH CARTOGRAPHIC DIVISION
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  40
  Tikonov
  Commonality
  Sarna
  Commonality
  Capella Commonality
  St Ives
  Commonality
  Sian
  Commonality
  Adhafera
  Bondurant
  Scarborough
  Decus
  Prix
  Nihal
  Manapire
  Shiba
  Menkib
  No Return
  Purvo
  Tantara
  Shipka
  Capricorn III
  Cap Rouge
  Granera
  Maritgues
  Meadowvale
  Saonara
  Skvorec
  Trznadel Cluster
  Wisconsin
  Yanchep
  Megarez
  Krimari
  o Tressida
  Dunianshire
  Luxen
  Palm
  Dainmar Majoris
  Abruzzi
  Ambergrist
  Andarmax
  Armaxa
  Ashley
  Aucara
  Bacum
  Barras
  Beid
  Betelgeuse
  Borden
  Carbonis
  Cavalor
  Claxton
  Claybrooke
  Columbine
  Conquista
  Corodiz
  Courcellete
  Cursa
  Decatur
  Dicon
  Drozan
  Egress
  Elnath
  Exedor
  Fagerholm
  Fortymile
  Frazer
  Fronde
  Gomeisa
  Goodna
  Gunthar
  Gurnet
  Haappajarvi
  Harsefeld
  Hurik
  Ikast
  Immenstadt
  Ingonish
  Ito
  Jacomarle
  Jacson
  Jonzac
  Kafr Silim
  Kittery
  Krin
  Kujari
  Larsha
  Les Halles
  Les Halles
  Lopez
  Madras
  Matsu
  Mendham
  Mitchel
  Monhegan
  Monhegan
  Nashuar
  New Roland
  Niomede
  Overton
  Pilpala
  Pojos
  Principia
  Quimberton
  Renown
  Repulse
  Royalston
  Sarmaxa
  Sax
  Second Chance
  Second Try
  Shaunavon
  Shoreham
  Sirdar
  Turin
  Vard
  Velhas
  Victoria
  Villanueva
  Wallacia
  Ward
  Weatogue
  Wright
  Xanthe III
  Yunnah
  Yuris
  Zanzibar
  Detroit
  Herotitus
  Corey
  Andro
  Stero
  Jansen's Hold
  Jansen's Hold
  Illiushin
  Camadeierre
  Flaum
  Burton
  Atreus Prime
  Mithron
  Brisbane
  Laconis
  Cumberland
  Empori
  Loth
  Rockwellawan
  Aspropirgos
  Gouderak
  enovac
  Ruschegg
  Thurrock
  Vakarel
  Butzfleth
  Deschenes
  Shenwan
  Siendou
  Beenleigh
  El Giza
  Leyda
  Piriapolis
  Ryerson
  Taygeta
  Hassad
  Novaya Zemlya
  Bethel
  Muridox
  Mosiro
  onolog
  onolog
  Gallis
  Lockton
  Adherlwin
  Fanardir
  Borgan's Rift
  Trip
  rminous
  Joyz
  Early Dawn
  Brixtana
  Cate's Hold
  Firgrove
  Kaitangata
  Oltepesi
  Hobson
  Kigamboni
  Markesan
  Electra
  Flintoft
  Horsham
  Lindsay
  Maia
  Merope
  Pleiades Cluster
  Ridgebrook
  Robsart
  Rollis
  Wrentham
  Jamestown
  Landmark
  MacLeod's Land
  New Vallis
  New Ganymede
  100
  Nahoni
  Amiga
  MacLeod's Land
  Camlann
  Nova Roma
  Sekulmun
  Ankaa
  Dalton
  Canopus IV
  New Abilene
  Amity
  Brockway
  Bromhead
  Diefenbaker
  Midale
  Ishtar
  Renfield
  Hya
  New Vandenburg
  Pinard
  Eleusis
  Carmichael
  Deneb
  Kaitos
  Kansu
  Hudeiba
  Kwamashu
  Latice
  Lurgatan
  Sadurni
  Mandaree
  Samantha
  Campbelton
  Dickinson
  us
  Tintavel
  Kearny
  Jubaylah
  Cirebon
  Fieferana
  Mansu-ri
  Cole Harbour
  Calloway VI
  Ipswich
  Shuen Wan
  Frondas
  Furud
  Gannett
  Tania Australis
  s Minor
  McKenna
  Antipolo
  Vikindu
  Flannagan's Nebulea
  New Aragon
  Taurus
  New Syrtis
  New Rhodes III
  Angol
  Alrescha
  Acamar
  Spica
  Taga
  Palladaine
  Strawn
  Ngake
  El Dor
  Alcyone
  Daniels
  Redfield
  Wernke
  Dela
  Concord
  Gallatin
  Launam
  Merak
  Nestor
  Anegasaki
  Cameron
  Danais
  Iknogoro
  Loeches
  Matheran
  Milnerton
  Pella II
  Sophie's World
  Sorunda
  Barlaston
  Bora
  Buenos Aires
  Calpaca
  Carmen
  Fujidera
  Glasgow
  Grand Base
  Hadnall
  Holloway
  Hustaing
  Kaifeng
  Lesalles
  Mauripur
  Mentasta
  Phact
  Preston
  Primus
  Raballa
  Randar
  Relevow
  Sakhalin
  Scheuerheck
  Scituate
  Sendalor
  Sigma Mare
  Tallin
  Teng
  Texlos
  Umka
  Vestallas
  Warlock
  Watermael
  Wazan
  Xieng Khouang
  Ziliang
  Bellado
  Bog
  Bristol
  Carmacks
  Gallitzin
  Heligoland
  Ip
  Kathil
  Kluane
  Layover
  Listowel
  Mandate
  Manteno
  Montcoal
  Mordialloc
  Orbisonia
  Remshield
  Remshield
  Victoria
  Hobbs
  Andurien
  Kanata
  Kasdach
  Shiro III
  Verlo
  yn Tarma
  Highspire
  Highspire
  Chebanse
  Okains
  Atlas
  Avigait
  Corella
  Cotocallao
  Glentworth
  Jaipur
  Quittacas
  Altorra
  Bellatrix
  Calseraigne
  Kurvasa
  Menke
  New Westin
  Raphael
  Westerhand
  Chilung
  Diass
  Guangzho
  Nullarbor
  olo
  Alkes
  Bordon
  Blandinsville
  Cholame
  DeWi
  Johnsondale
  Saunemin
  Avawatz
  Axton
  Corydon
  Farwell
  Flushing
  Freisland
  Monongahela
  Narellan
  Ogilvie
  Perkasie
  Salem
  Stein's Folly
  Streator
  Ulan Batar
  Lee
  Abadan
  Ariel
  Asellus Borealis
  Bentley
  Bithinia
  Castrovia
  Cronulla
  Denbar
  Geifer
  Hexare
  Holt
  Housekarle
  Hunan
  Kashilla
  Kiyev
  Lancaster
  Lungdo
  Necromo
  New Delos
  New Macao
  Ohrensen
  Safe Port
  Salur
  St. Andre
  St. Loris
  Tiber
  Truth
  Ulan
  Bator
  Vanra
  Ventabren
  Weekapaug
  Zaurak
  Aitutaki
  cadia
  Avior
  Bainsville
  enah
  Jouques
  Keeling
  reles
  cAffe
  New Hope
  Rasalas
  Sheridan
  Uhuru
  Washburn
  Boardwalk
  Campertown
  Homestead
  Odell
  Sanilac
  Wappingers
  Regulus
  Oriente
  Smolensk
  Brusett
  Helixmar
  Dirk's Gulf
  Kumqwat
  Aldertaine
  Bedeque
  Helm
  Ling
  Semenyih
  Tania Borealis
  Tawas
  Tecumseh
  Rosamond
  Kentares IV
  Acala
  Ashkum
  Barstow
  Beecher
  Cammal
  Goderich
  Moravian
  Tiskilwa
  Valexa
  Maladar
  Brighton
  Cordiagr
  Harloc
  Milos
  Old Kentucky
  Old Kentucky
  Ovan
  Tsinghai
  Tsingtao
  Eom
  Imalda
  Propus
  Uravan
  Jonathan
  Jonathan
  Poznan
  Angell II
  Daneshmand
  Dayr Khuna
  Elektrougli
  Emris IV
  Fletcher
  Harmony
  Muscida
  St. Ives
  Sian
  New Aval
  Azha
  Miaplacidus
  Talitha
  Alhena
  Augustine
  Kalidasa
  Kyrkbacken
  Van Diemen IV
  Pollux
  New Canton
  New Canton
  Nopah
  Achernar
  Caselton
  Rio
  Ronel
  Schedar
  Tybalt
  Almach
  Buchlau
  Buchlau
  Gan
  Singh
  Mesartim
  Ningpo
  Sonnia
  Mira
  Halloran V
  Elbar
  Chamdo
  Indicass
  Jasmine
  Menkar
  Minnacora
  Tsitsang
  Argyle
  Clovis
  Marlette
  Olancha
  Rochester
  Scudder
  Talcott
  scana
  Kyeinnisan
  Oceana
  Olafsvik
  Hyde
  Solaris
  Exeter
  Avellaneda
  Ibstock
  Park Place
  Bell
  Wei
  Asellus Australis
  Goshen
  Kirkenlaard
  Wroxeter
  Kurragin
  Ares
  Capella
  Beten Kaitos
  Elgin
  Emerson
  Liao
  Foochow
  Styk
  Algot
  Addicks
  Fuentes
  Sarna
  Bandora
  New Sagan
  Acubens
  Alphard
  Alula Australis
  Alula Australis
  Berenson
  Bharat
  Chertan
  Dubhe
  Fletcher
  Fletcher
  Genoa
  Hamal
  Hean
  Marcus
  Menkalinan
  Nanking
  Nathan
  Remulac
  Saiph
  Savannah
  Slocum
  Slocum
  Wing
  Wyatt
  Zosma
  Dubhe
  Wing
  Zosma
  Bernardo
  Hamilton
  New Hessen
  Shensi
  Suzano
  Yangtze
  Gei-Fu
  Ingersoll
  Masterson
  Palos
  Quemoy
  Batavia
  Ke
  Logandale
  New Valencia
  Drusibacken
  Keystone
  Tongatapu
  Algol
  Pleione
  Mirach
  Tikonov
  Terra
  Caph
  Marik
  McHenry
  Muskegon
  New Olympia
  Procyon
  Robinson
  Rochelle
  Capolla
  Terra Firma
  Bryant
  Sirius
  Sirius
  Woodstock
  Ingress
  Keid
  New Home
  Oliver
  Carver V
  Castor Devil's Rock
  Epsilon
  Eridani
  Epsilon Indi
  Graham IV
  Hall
  Hsien
  Irian
  Northwind
  Outreach
  Zavijava
  Edwards
  Autumn Wind
  Stewart
  Chesterton
  Demeter
  Foot Fall
  Zion
  Asuncion
  Dieudonne
  Cartago
  Phecda
  Arboris
  Basalt
  Sheratan
  Aldebaran
  Aldebaran
  Connaught
  Wasat
  Berenson
  Wasat
  Zurich
  Callison
  Alhena
  Marcus
  Zavijava
  Callison
  Kawich
  Tall Trees
  Tigress
  Shiloh
  Ruchbah
  Small World
  CAPELLAN CONFEDERATION
  after
  Third Succesion War (3025)
  Coreward
  Spinward
  Anti-spinward
  Rimward
  MAXIMUM  JUMP: APPROXIMATELY 30 LIGHT YEARS
  LEGEND
  BORDER KEY
  NATIONAL CAPITAL
  DISTRICT CAPITAL
  PLANET KEY
   DISTRICT BORDER
  PROVINCE BORDER
  2866 (PRE-WAR) BORDER
  PROVINCE CAPITAL
  120 LIGHT YEARS OR 36.8 PARSECS
  30 LIGHT YEARS
  © 3067 BLAKE'S TRUTH CARTOGRAPHIC DIVISION
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  41
  FOURTH SUCCESSION WAR
  “Here, my love—I give you the Capellan Confederation!”
  —Hanse Davion, to his wife Melissa Steiner-Davion
  The period of détente from 3025 to 3028 can be characterized as the calm before the storm. Each of the five Inner Sphere realms was 
  exhausted, militarily and economically. Regiments struggled to refit, cities to rebuild, manufacturing to restructure. The Third Succession 
  War had raged for generations and many were thankful for the quiet of semi-peace. The Capellan military concentrated on giving its 
  units much-needed rest and refit periods, while the Maskirovka kept careful watch on the Confederation’s borders. Massive troop move-
  ments in the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth initially caused some concern, but the Maskirovka accepted the positions of 
  the Commonwealth and Suns governments: the movements (Operations Thor and Galahad) were strategic redeployments and training 
  exercises, defensive in nature. The Confederation was doing much the same, albeit on a much smaller scale. Besides, almost every media 
  outlet in the Inner Sphere was overwhelmed with shock at the announcement of the engagement of First Prince Hanse Davion of the 
  Federated Suns to Archon-Designate Melissa Steiner of the Lyran Commonwealth. As the border clashes of the Third Succession War ap-
  peared to be over, public attention turned to the world where war never ended: Solaris VII.
  TIMELINE: SECOND AND THIRD SUCCESSION WARS
  2905: 
  Otto Liao and Joseph Davion II sign the tem-
  porary Armistice of Van Diemen IV, agreeing 
  not to attack JumpShips. All Successor States 
  unofficially adopt this practice, as the unre-
  lenting open warfare of the First and Second 
  Succession Wars has all but eliminated 
  JumpShip production facilities and the 
  know-how to create more.
  2920: 
  Warrior Houses Kamata and Hiritsu form as 
  the Imarra regiment proves its worth.
  2928: 
  Major Troi Lu Sann raises a fourth Warrior 
  House during a lull in the fighting.
  2930: 
  Détente between the Confederation and 
  the Federated Suns ends when the AFFS at-
  tacks New Aragon. The Strategios scrambles 
  to respond, but a general assault along the 
  border limits their options.
  2942: 
  Erica Laurel holds off a Davion assault 
  on Hsien long enough for Warrior House 
  Kamata to arrive, in one of the few victories 
  the Confederation can claim during this pe-
  riod.
  2952: 
  A Capellan aerospace assault over Lee, 
  dubbed Great Lee Turkey Shoot, is savagely 
  defeated; the loss prompts a reorganization 
  of the Confederation’s scant aerospace assets 
  and is the driving force in the development 
  of the new aerospace fighter that will be-
  come the Transgressor.
  2970: 
  The Xieng Khouang Home Guard is mas-
  sacred; Chancellor Ingrid Liao blames the 
  Federated Suns, though no proof is ever 
  presented.
  2982: 
  Transgressor aerospace fighter enters service, 
  figuring strongly in the defense of Tikonov 
  the next year and signaling a resurgence in 
  the Capellan aerospace service. Though their 
  numbers remain low, the Capellan pilots’ 
  performance equals that of their Marik and 
  Davion counterparts.
  2987: 
  The AFFS attempts six assaults on Tikonov, 
  all of which fail thanks to a combination 
  of stubborn defense and a steady trickle of 
  reinforcements. The end of the fighting is a 
  barely noted sign of the increasing exhaus-
  tion of both realms’ militaries after more 
  than a century of steady warfare.
  2988: 
  Death Commandos form, becoming the elite 
  of the Confederation armed forces. They are 
  comprised solely of recruits from the Warrior 
  House orders and swear personal fealty to 
  the Chancellor.
  2990: 
  Maximilian Liao deposes his father Tormax 
  and assumes the Celestial Throne, using a 
  combination of military subversion and pub-
  lic attitude adjustments to declare his father 
  incompetent to rule.
  2991: 
  Warrior Houses Dai Da Chi, Fujita, Ma-Tsu Kai 
  and Ijori form by order of Maximilian Liao, as 
  a means of strengthening his control over 
  the military. The new Warrior Houses quickly 
  make names for themselves in the near-con-
  stant raids and counter-raids that punctuate 
  the next quarter-century.
  3014: 
  With urging from Maximilian Liao and the 
  support of Wolf’s Dragoons, Anton Marik 
  launches a rebellion in the Free Worlds 
  League, but is ultimately defeated after 
  turning on Wolf’s Dragoons. Liao’s involve-
  ment is underplayed, though Janos Marik 
  will remain distrustful of House Liao even as 
  he later signs the Concord of Kapteyn.
  3022-25: McCarron’s Armored Cavalry embarks on 
  three years of raids into Federated Suns 
  space in retaliation for a damaging series of 
  raids conducted by the AFFS between 3015 
  and 3020. The raids are a smashing success, 
  drawing the attention of the AFFS through-
  out the Capellan March for three years. The 
  CCAF takes the time to refit and attempt to 
  rest, though they do not quite reach active 
  status again before the end of hostilities.
  3024: 
  The Concord of Kapteyn—a loose alliance 
  meant to defend against the growing power 
  of the Steiner-Davion alliance—is ratified 
  by the Capellan Confederation, Draconis 
  Combine and Free Worlds League. While not 
  as inclusive in scope as the secret Federated-
  Commonwealth Document, the Concord 
  does allow for intelligence sharing and lim-
  ited military support.
  3025: 
  End of Third Succession War.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  42
  JUSTIN ALLARD
  Most intelligence agencies with a presence on Solaris VII 
  marked the arrival of Justin Xiang Allard on that world. Usually, 
  the arrival of yet another MechWarrior on the Game World was 
  hardly an event of note—but Allard’s presence was sure to inflame 
  the already high tensions among the various stables and fight-
  ers. Wounded in combat in the Capellan March, Allard’s treason 
  trial had been widely broadcast across the Federated Suns. When 
  Hanse Davion personally denounced him, he became a figure of 
  note across the Inner Sphere. Many called Allard, who was half-
  Capellan, a traitor to the Federated Suns; others wondered that he 
  was still alive. Exiled from the Suns, Allard fled to the Game World 
  to enter the MechWarrior competitions.
  From the start, Justin Allard targeted Federated Suns fighters 
  on Solaris. His skill in a ’Mech swiftly made him the focal point of 
  several popular feuds, culminating in his defeat of Suns favorite 
  Philip Capet. Allard vanished from Solaris soon afterward, eventu-
  ally reappearing on Sian in the court of Maximilian Liao.
  Impressed with Allard’s fighting ability and cognizant of the 
  service he had done the Capellan state in defeating so many 
  Federated Suns MechWarriors, Maximilian offered him a position 
  with the Maskirovka. Allard, angry with his former homeland, glad-
  ly began service as an analyst dealing with the Federated Suns. This 
  put him into direct conflict with his father, Quintus Allard, head of 
  Davion’s MIIO. Justin Allard did excellent work for the Chancellor 
  and the Maskirovka, and it wasn’t long before Chancellor Liao 
  promoted Allard and his partner—Tsen Shang, who would later be-
  come Director of the Maskirovka—to leadership of a “crisis team” 
  of analysts focusing on the Federated Suns. As part of this promo-
  tion, Allard was given access to the intelligence from Maximilian’s 
  clandestine arrangement with Duke Michael Hasek-Davion of the 
  Capellan March.
  The Maskirovka maintained a close watch over Justin Allard even 
  while he served the Capellan state. Though he had the Chancellor’s 
  ear and appeared to be doing well for the Confederation, many in-
  side the Maskirovka feared he might harbor some lingering loyalty 
  to his former homeland. They ignored his half-Capellan heritage 
  from his mother (Quintus Allard’s first wife) and maintained tight 
  surveillance. Allard gave them no sign of disloyalty, and before 
  long they redirected those resources elsewhere. 
  Allard’s position was put to the test in August of 3028 when the 
  Chancellor’s party reached Terra to attend the wedding of Hanse 
  Davion and Melissa Steiner. Maximilian had ordered his daughters 
  Candace and Romano to attend the wedding with Justin Allard 
  and Tsen Shang, allowing him to keep his experts on the Federated 
  Suns with him during the important event. The meeting of Justin 
  Allard and his family—the first time Allard had seen them since 
  his banishment—was cold, to say the least. Any lingering doubts 
  about Allard’s loyalty were laid to rest as the wedding began. The 
  real shock, however, came at the reception following the ceremo-
  ny. With his wedding toast, the First Prince of the Federated Suns 
  declared war on the Capellan Confederation.
  OpERATION RAT
  Even as the Prince and his wife were cutting their wedding 
  cake, the first JumpShips were delivering the DropShips of doz-
  ens of Davion RCTs to Capellan systems in the Sarna and Tikonov 
  Commonalities. Davion’s Operation Rat—the invasion of the 
  Capellan Confederation—had been in the offing ever since the 
  Operation Galahad exercises had proved to the Prince that he 
  could rapidly move large numbers of troops around. Every other 
  realm—save for the Lyran Commonwealth, which launched its 
  own attack into the Draconis Combine—had dismissed Galahad, 
  but the real threat it posed had just been revealed.
  The leading elements of the Davion invasion struck swiftly 
  and unexpectedly, and shattered all their targets. The Capellan 
  military had barely begun rebuilding, and the overwhelming 
  force displayed by the Davions meant that even the most robust 
  Confederation units had little hope. Where a Capellan battalion 
  defended a world, the AFFS arrived with a regiment. Where a 
  Confederation regiment gathered, three Davion regiments came 
  calling. The stalemated grind of the Third Succession War was not a 
  pattern Hanse Davion wished to repeat; his troops proved his new 
  methods of warfare worked, and worked ruthlessly.
  The men and women of the Capellan Armed Forces put forth 
  their best effort. To their credit, many of them died in the at-
  tempt to repulse the invaders. The advanced planning and sheer 
  numbers of Davion troops, however, meant there was little they 
  could do. Armed with the knowledge gleaned from analyzing the 
  Galahad and Thor maneuvers, the AFFS struck hard and fast and 
  gave no quarter. Most of the units involved in the first wave were 
  regiments from the Crucis March, or household guard units that 
  answered directly to Prince Hanse Davion rather than the lord 
  of the Capellan March, Duke Michael Hasek-Davion, which gave 
  House Liao no hope of any leverage with the enemy.
  Nine worlds fell to House Davion in the first wave of Operation 
  Rat, including Liao, the ancestral homeworld of the Liao family. 
  Also targeted were three of the Chancellor’s elite Warrior Houses, 
  The Legend-Killer
  One of the few friends Justin Allard made on Solaris was Gray Noton, the 
  so-called Legend Killer of Solaris. Noton, a former champion MechWarrior, 
  had retired and entered the underground business of information trading. He 
  was known to broker information and even special operations teams from his 
  headquarters on Solaris, and is suspected of participating in a number of high-
  risk ’Mech operations. Rumors persist that he was responsible for the action 
  that cost Justin Allard his arm and led to the trial that ejected him from the 
  Federated Suns.
  Whatever his role, Maskirovka records show they had many dealings with 
  him through intermediaries on Solaris in the years before Justin Allard’s arrival. 
  Noton is known to have helped finance Allard’s rise through the arena, and even 
  lent the MechWarrior the use of his Rifleman—Legend-Killer—in his final 
  fight with Philip Capet. Noton was murdered that same evening, and Allard left 
  Solaris soon after. The Solaris police never identified Noton’s assailant, though 
  the personal records of Lord Tsen Shang indicate he believed Allard had com-
  mitted the murder.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  43
  and in each case the AFFS assigned frontline regiments support 
  by mercenary auxiliaries to make sure the job got done. The waves 
  that followed would repeat this tactic, each precisely targeted to 
  overcome local defenses and tangle the delicately balanced web 
  of elastic defense. The Capellan forces on each world sold them-
  selves dearly, but the scale of the invasion outpaced even the most 
  liberal planning of the CCAF, and the Capellan response was dis-
  jointed and ineffective. Elastic defense called for the consolidation 
  of military strength against incursions, but these incursions were 
  too numerous to counteract. Battalion after battalion gave their all 
  in the defense of the state as their duty demanded, but the Davion 
  juggernaut rolled onward.
  The invasion was particularly costly for militia and Home Guard 
  formations. Standing orders for frontline regiments were to with-
  draw when their position became untenable, in order to preserve 
  the Confederation’s scant BattleMech resources. The sheer speed 
  of the Davion attack, however, made withdrawal impossible for 
  many units, and captured Davion documents show that the invad-
  ers were specifically tasked with preventing withdrawal whenever 
  they could. The AFFS did not intend to let a single ’Mech escape 
  that might face them again on another Capellan world. For Home 
  Guard formations, escape had never been an option, and so the 
  invasion meant almost certain death in battle.
   
  THE DEATH OF  
  MICHAEL HASEK-DAvION
  On Sian the prevailing attitude was one of gathering counterat-
  tack. Maximilian Liao and his family, including the crisis team of 
  Tsen Shang and Justin Allard, watched as world after world fell to 
  the first three Davion invasion waves. Liao’s Concord of Kapteyn 
  allies had no help to send: the Draconis Combine was under heavy 
  attack by Lyran Commonwealth regiments and Janos Marik was 
  unwilling to draw the ire of a newly powerful Commonwealth 
  when his forces were still dealing with the lingering effects of 
  Anton Marik’s rebellion from a decade earlier.
  By December 3028 the full weight of the assault was wearing 
  heavily on Maximilian Liao’s shoulders. He sent angry missives 
  to his commanders around Tikonov and Liao, but no answers 
  came—many of those commands had been destroyed by the 
  time the messages reached them, and others had already re-
  treated in the face of overwhelming Davion force. The defection 
  of the Northwind Highlanders’ four regiments was a master stroke 
  of diplomacy by Hanse Davion’s government, and the Fox’s mili-
  tary commanders wasting no time in redeploying the RCTs facing 
  those veteran regiments against other Capellan commands. Both 
  the Capellan military and the Maskirovka seemed helpless to react, 
  until the Maskirovka raised an intriguing possibility.
  A number of logistical choke points had been identified in the 
  Davion invasion plans, and six worlds were isolated from intel-
  ligence data as holding significant stockpiles. Capellan military 
  strategists seized on this information as a way to stop the inva-
  sion in its tracks and give the Confederation a chance to gather 
  its forces and counterattack. Dubbed Operation Riposte, the at-
  tack proceeded after the data was corroborated with information 
  passed to Chancellor Liao by Michael Hasek-Davion. Six Capellan 
  regiments were dispatched on some of the last remaining Capellan 
  JumpShips with orders to capture or destroy as much of the en-
  emy’s supplies as possible. Most of the units were survivors of 
  earlier Davion assaults—they received the mission as a chance to 
  redeem their shattered honor, and to avoid the use of the few fresh 
  troops expected to counterattack when the Davion forces ran out 
  of materiel. The Chancellor ordered the transports launched and 
  awaited word of success. 
  When word came, it was not the news the Chancellor had 
  hoped for. The information had been planted, and the six tar-
  gets were traps. Barely any Capellan troops escaped from them, 
  and the Federated Suns invasion continued without a hiccup. The 
  Maskirovka immediately purged several officers from its ranks for 
  this failure, and the Davion crisis team—Shang and Allard—pored 
  over reports trying to identify the culprit. It came down to one 
  conclusion—Michael Hasek-Davion’s information was wrong, 
  modified to lure the Capellans into a debacle. The traitor in House 
  Davion had betrayed them.
  The only bit of good news from Operation Riposte was a small 
  raid on the world of Axton, which brought confirmation of a secret 
  BattleMech research center located on the Suns world of Bethel. 
  Justin Xiang Allard had been working diligently to discover more 
  about this facility, and the Axton information gave him what he 
  needed to create a workable plan. As he finalized it, more im-
  portant news rushed through the Forbidden City: Duke Michael 
  Hasek-Davion had arrived on Sian.
  The March duke had realized, after the Capellan attacks on the 
  alleged supply worlds failed, that Prince Hanse knew of his trea-
  son. He immediately fled New Syrtis for Sian before MIIO agents 
  Hints and Shadows
  It appears certain now that Hanse Davion suspected his brother-in-law, 
  Michael Hasek-Davion, of treating with Maximilian Liao. The exchange of mili-
  tary data between Chancellor Liao and the lord of the Capellan March shows 
  inflation and undervaluing of troop strength, materiel readiness and as-
  set placement on both sides. Both men lied to each other about the relative 
  strengths of their militaries and the status of units along the border, each trying 
  to gain advantage over the other.
  It recently came to light that the data provided to Michael Hasek-Davion 
  from the First Prince’s MIIO and the AFFS High Command on New Avalon was 
  doctored as well. Hanse Davion (or more likely, Quintus Allard) provided Duke 
  Michael with information that misrepresented the strength of Crucis March 
  units in Capellan March space. It seems likely they were using this information 
  as a double-blind test of Michael’s loyalty. It has been common practice for mil-
  lennia to feed a suspected traitor false data and see if that information can be 
  confirmed by loyal assets in the enemy’s camp. Since Michael was passing this 
  information to Maximilian Liao’s government—a government we now know 
  Quintus Allard’s MIIO had thoroughly penetrated—there is little chance MIIO 
  agents did not see this faulty data and report it to their superiors.
  One wonders how much more damage might have been done by Operation 
  Rat had it not been partially hamstrung by Michael Hasek-Davion’s treason.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  44
  could apprehend him. He knew his only hope of salvation lay in a 
  Capellan victory, and so he brought with him all the most current 
  and reliable military intelligence he could gather. The Chancellor 
  received him in the palace throne room, with the crisis team in 
  attendance. Duke Michael claimed that Hanse Davion had be-
  trayed him and offered to start open warfare against his liege lord. 
  Chancellor Maximilian’s years of intriguing, however, had taught 
  him that desperate men rarely tell the truth, and he knew that a 
  man with as flexible a sense of loyalty as Michael Hasek-Davion 
  would betray him at the first opportunity. He looked at the infor-
  mation and listened to the plans, then ordered the plans burned 
  and the traitor duke shot. Justin Xiang Allard personally pulled the 
  trigger then and there. 
  In March of 3029, Justin Xiang Allard arrived at a neutral point, 
  adjudicated by ComStar, to return Michael Hasek-Davion’s body to 
  the Federated Suns. Official Davion propaganda said the duke had 
  traveled to Sian to negotiate a peaceful end to the war, and most 
  Capellan March citizens believe that lie to this day.
  INTRUDER’S COMMUNION
  Returning quickly to Sian, Justin Xiang Allard threw himself into 
  preparation for the raid on Bethel’s secret ’Mech research facility, 
  a raid he dubbed Operation Intruder’s Communion. For weeks the 
  participants rehearsed, using carefully constructed replicas of the 
  Bethel labs and coordinating with the Fourth Tau Ceti Rangers, 
  who would raid the planetary garrison to hide the activities of the 
  Maskirovka team that would accompany them. Justin Allard had 
  operational control of the entire mission, and would directly com-
  mand the intrusion team that would enter the lab and capture the 
  Davion data. Once confident of his preparations—and fearing a re-
  sumption of hostilities might warrant the lab’s relocation—Xiang 
  Allard launched for Bethel.
  Bethel was garrisoned by the Davion Light Guards’ Delta 
  Company, an irregular force that had gained fame in the inva-
  sion’s early months by helping defeat Cochraine’s Goliaths and 
  the Freemont Cuirassers. Rotated to Bethel for refit and rest, 
  they were unprepared but still willing to oppose the apparent 
  raid by the Fourth Tau Ceti Rangers, and deployed by DropShip 
  to the Capellans’ projected landing zone. Only at the last mo-
  ment did they dscover the Confederation force’s subterfuge as 
  the Maskirovka DropShip escaped from the radar shadow of the 
  Rangers’ Overlord-class vessel and burned toward the planet. A 
  single lance of ’Mechs, commanded by Captain Andrew Redburn, 
  remained aboard the Light Guards’ DropShip in position to try to 
  intercept the raiding force. Unfortunately, Delta Company could 
  not reach the lab until after the Maskirovka force had plundered 
  it. By the time they arrived, Justin Xiang Allard and his people 
  were already back in their ’Mechs, and the two lances squared off. 
  The modifications Xiang Allard had made to his Centurion when 
  he fought on Solaris VII easily enabled him to overcome Captain 
  Redburn, and the Maskirovka force quickly made their escape.
  Upon return to Sian, the CCAF was amazed to discover that 
  the Bethel researchers had devised a method of creating myo-
  mer fibers—the pseudomuscles that power ’Mechs—that offered 
  nearly triple the strength of conventional myomer at no increase 
  in weight or size. The Capellan Science Foundation quickly threw 
  every resource it had at unlocking the secrets of manufacturing 
  this musculature. The Chancellor ordered his ’Mechs outfitted with 
  the stronger myomer, beginning with the ’Mechs of Warrior House 
  Imarra’s battalions on Sian. As the Davion invasion resumed, more 
  worlds were targeted, but the Chancellor and his government bid-
  ed their time, waiting for the captured myomers to spread across 
  the Confederation. Unfortunately, the formation of the Tikonov 
  Free Republic under the traitor Pavel Ridzik and the Federated 
  Suns assault on Sarna didn’t allow them much breathing room. The 
  annihilation of the Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers by the combined regiments 
  of McCarron’s Armored Cavalry on Sarna was a salve to wounded 
  Capellan pride, but by then the burns were getting worse—and 
  salve would not be enough.
  KATHIL AND SIAN
  Even as ComStar announced its Interdiction of Federated Suns 
  communications, more Davion regiments were landing on Capellan 
  worlds and simply brushing aside the weak and ill-equipped 
  forces facing them. Worse, the Maskirovka brought reports to the 
  Chancellor that many worlds of the Sarna Commonality, with their 
  capital lost and the Confederation helpless to reinforce them, had 
  begun feeling out the Federated Suns with tentative inquiries 
  Communion Interrupted?
  After-battle analysis of the TerraDyne facilities on Bethel after the de-
  parture of the Capellan raiding force revealed evidence of discord among the 
  Maskirovka team inside the facility. One of their number was killed, apparently 
  by their own forces, and another wounded; later forensic testing revealed the 
  wounded man to be none other than Justin Xiang Allard. Given that Allard was 
  later revealed as a traitor to the Capellan state, it makes sense that one of the 
  Maskirovka operatives caught Allard doing harm to the Confederation’s mission 
  and attacked him, but was killed by Allard or his accomplices. 
  Interdiction
  One effect of the assault on Sarna was the destruction of its ComStar HPG 
  facility, which induced the Order to enact an Interdiction across the Federated 
  Suns. Without the faster-than-light communications of the hyperpulse gen-
  erator network, many expected the Federated Suns war machine to grind to a 
  halt, but it did not. The wily Prince Davion—known by then as the Fox—had 
  expected interference from ComStar at some point and had already planned a 
  series of Pony Express JumpShip circuits to pass orders from New Avalon to units 
  fighting in the field. Though this circuit of hand-carried messages was much 
  slower than HPG, communication never truly ceased. House Liao, which had 
  embraced the Interdiction as a means of halting the invasion, suffered continual 
  losses as the Prince’s commanders, in the absence of higher orders, attacked as 
  planned.
  —From The Fourth Succession War: A Primer, 
  by Gerard Talbot, Tikonov Free Press, 3042
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  45
  about surrender. Most of those worlds despised the Free Worlds 
  League more than the Federated Suns; if the Sarna Commonality 
  (and, as they feared, the Confederation) was collapsing, they would 
  rather submit to Davion than Marik rule.
  An ambitious plan authored by Tsen Shang offered the 
  Capellans a way to slow the Davion juggernaut. The JumpShip 
  yards of the Capellan March world of Kathil were one of the few 
  remaining production facilities for JumpShips in the Inner Sphere; 
  a strike to disable their repair facilities would almost certainly slow 
  or even halt the Davion advance as their JumpShips succumbed 
  to drive failures and other malfunctions. With no other troops to 
  spare, the Chancellor sent his elite Death Commandos and the 
  Fourth Tau Ceti Rangers from Sian to attack Kathil. Had the attack 
  succeeded, it could well have altered the later course of the war. 
  But it failed through treachery.
  Justin Xiang Allard, as every schoolchild now knows, was a 
  Davion double agent. He warned the Federated Suns of the im-
  pending attack using a bogus message to his father, and Hanse 
  Davion managed to gather a new regiment on Kathil to de-
  feat the Death Commandos and save the shipyards. The Death 
  Commandos were destroyed; the Fourth Tau Ceti surrendered 
  their DropShips for repatriation to Tikonov and eventual return to 
  the Confederation.
  With the Interdiction in full force throughout Federated Suns 
  space, the first the Chancellor and his court heard of the Kathil op-
  eration was an announcement from the Fourth Tau Ceti Rangers 
  that they had captured Morgan Hasek-Davion, newly elevated 
  Duke of the Capellan March and son of the slain Michael Hasek-
  Davion. Though the raid itself had failed, Maximilian and his court 
  celebrated the capture of Hanse Davion’s heir and prepared to 
  receive the Rangers with their prize at the private military space-
  port in the Forbidden City. They knew nothing of the Fourth Tau 
  Ceti’s surrender. Morgan Hasek-Davion was on the descending 
  DropShips—not as a prisoner, but commanding them. As the 
  vessels neared the surface, turrets on their hulls spewed fire and 
  missiles exploded across the concourse. The ’Mechs of Warrior 
  House Imarra, the only Capellan ’Mechs retrofitted with the stron-
  ger myomers captured on Bethel, moved to protect the Chancellor 
  and came under fire from ’Mechs deployed from the counter-
  feit DropShips. The First Kathil Uhlans had arrived to reclaim the 
  Davion spy in the Capellan court: Justin Xiang Allard.
  Having served his duty to the Federated Suns throughout the 
  war effort, Allard had sent a code signal announcing his readiness 
  to come in from the cold, and the Uhlans came to free him. They 
  attacked the Imarra ’Mechs with enough savagery to breach their 
  armor and expose the experimental myomers to the gas clouds 
  created by the DropShips’ missiles. The myomers burst into flames 
  when they came into contact with the catalytic gas, rendering the 
  Imarra ’Mechs helpless. As the Uhlan ’Mechs stomped around the 
  spaceport searching for the spy, a Centurion appeared from the 
  ’Mech bay: Justin Allard, carrying Duchess Candace Liao in his 
  cockpit. The Uhlans held the spaceport long enough for the survi-
  vors to load and then escaped into space and made their way back 
  to the Federated Suns.
  The raid on Sian was the last significant action of the Fourth 
  Succession War on the Capellan-Suns front. Though another wave 
  of invasions gutted the Sarna Commonality, the fighting was 
  desultory as both sides were exhausted. Hanse Davion sued for 
  peace and the lifting of the ComStar Interdiction, and the St. Ives 
  Commonality seceded from the Capellan Confederation. The bulk 
  of the fighting ceased, replaced by the near-constant grind of low-
  level raids that are almost a way of life in the Inner Sphere.
  ST. IvES COMpACT
  Duchess Candace Liao’s decision to remove her St. Ives 
  Commonality from the Capellan Confederation was an act of 
  rebellion calculated to save the Compact from the madness of 
  the Chancellor and the threat of destruction by an ever-growing 
  Federated Suns. Encouraged by her lover, Justin Allard, she negoti-
  ated independence and the promise of peace from Prince Hanse 
  Davion, and began to build the Commonality of old into the new 
  St. Ives Compact, an independent Capellan nation.
  As with any realm, the Compact suffered growing pains. 
  Not all the new Compact citizens wished to separate from 
  the Confederation, especially not when the peace treaty with 
  House Davion was signed barely months after their withdrawal. 
  Confederation loyalists spoke out every chance they got, even 
  turning to armed resistance in 3029 and 3030 to bring the Compact 
  back into the Confederation fold. Duchess Candace, knowing of 
  her father’s instability and certain of the savage punishment her 
  elder sister Romano would have in store, fought back. Despite 
  several early loyalist victories, over the course of three weeks the 
  duchess and her fledgling military—with support from Federated 
  Suns intelligence units—overcame the loyalist forces and won 
  back control of St. Ives and Tian-tan, its capital city.
  The Confederation was reluctant to part with one of its few 
  remaining Commonalities, and while it lacked the military where-
  Needs must…
  After the failure on Kathil, many in the Confederation criticized the 
  Chancellor’s decision to squander such precious troops—and even more 
  precious transportation assets—on such a long-range, high-risk mission. 
  Maximilian Liao’s usual answer to criticism was violence, and despite his weak-
  ening mental state, this situation was no different. A number of Chancellory 
  Courts were convened to examine “collusion with the Davion enemy,” and sev-
  eral nobles were executed for daring to speak out. In hindsight, however, most 
  objective historians recognize that Maximilian had little choice. With half the 
  Confederation’s worlds under Federated Suns control, the Capellan economy 
  had ground to a halt. Every transport hull capable of carrying troops was dra-
  gooned into the defense effort; every manufacturer still capable of production 
  was making war materiel, and workers were conscripted from every other seg-
  ment of industry to support them. Production of consumer goods stopped—not 
  slowed, stopped. Literal famines occurred on a dozen Confederation worlds. The 
  Chancellor’s options were to take any chance to slow the invasion, or to sur-
  render.
  And Maximilian Liao was incapable of surrender.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  46
  withal to reconquer the rebellious province, Romano Liao—acting 
  in her father’s stead—ordered a near-constant stream of small 
  punitive raids against the Compact’s civilian infrastructure. She 
  wanted to punish the traitors of St. Ives, and though the St. Ives 
  Armored Cavalry and the Blackwind Lancers fought valiantly to 
  stop the raids, they couldn’t be everywhere. Duchess Candace 
  was forced to appeal again to House Davion for military aid, which 
  brought the raiding to a manageable level.
  ApART, BUT STILL AKIN
  In 3031 the Compact’s independence was tested. With the 
  Confederation under assault by the combined forces of the 
  Free Worlds League’s rebellious Duchy of Andurien and the 
  Magistracy of Canopus, Hanse Davion again cast covetous eyes 
  on Confederation planets. This time, he hoped to conquer the 
  rest of the Confederation and forever remove the Liao threat from 
  his people. His attack plans floundered, however, when Duchess 
  Candace refused to allow the Federated Suns military access to St. 
  Ives worlds for the assault. Instead, she mobilized the St. Ives mili-
  tary to oppose any Davion invasion, and threatened to broadcast 
  the Davion invasion plans to the Confederation military should he 
  strike. Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao alluded to this very action in his 
  speech on St. Ives in 3065, when he said “…and despite the differ-
  ences our fathers and mothers may once have had, in our hearts 
  we are all Capellans—all sons and daughters of the same ances-
  tors, all wards of the same great state, against all enemies of our 
  Capellan culture….”
  For whatever reason, the threatened Davion attack never came. 
  Whether the Fox listened to his advisors—Duchess Candace’s hus-
  band Justin Allard among them—who counseled against igniting 
  war with both Capellan states, or whether he simply missed the 
  opportunity, or shifted his gaze to the Federated Suns’ other bor-
  der, where the Draconis Combine was still recovering from the 
  body-blows of the Lyran assault during the Fourth Succession War, 
  is not known, but records show that the Prince soon after allowed 
  his quiet program aimed at assimilating the Compact to lapse.
  ROMANO ASCENDANT
  The duping of the Warrior House Imarra battalion and the raid 
  on Sian were the last straws that broke Maximilian Liao’s sanity. 
  Though he lingered for six more years, responsibility for day-to-
  day operation of the state fell to his daughter Romano in 3030. The 
  Prefectorate may have wished to appoint someone else, but the 
  post-Fourth Succession War Confederation was a fearful place and 
  no one could doubt the Duchess of Highspire’s zeal and devotion. 
  When her father’s breakdown gave her the opportunity, Romano 
  took it, and even though the Prefecture declined to bestow 
  Maximilian’s title on her while he still lived, all his powers—includ-
  ing that of decree—were granted her.
  Romano immediately set the Confederation on a path of 
  reconstruction. Aside from essential civilian services—food, 
  utilities, health care, education—she allocated the entirety of 
  the Confederation’s remaining industrial base to rebuilding the 
  Capellan military. She—or her consort, Tsen Shang, whom she 
  elevated to head of the Maskirovka in 3036—ordered bloody 
  purges of the officer corps and the rest of the military, removing 
  defeatists or those she feared might escape the Confederation and 
  Service on Texlos
  I never much cared where the AFFC sent me—I figured I signed up to do my 
  duty as the Prince saw fit, and if that meant going to the Compact and making 
  sure those yellow devils didn’t invade our ally, that was just fine. Me and the rest 
  of my boys got in our ’Mechs and did our patrols, participated in the parades, 
  fought off the raids. We did our part for “hearts and minds” when we weren’t on 
  duty—everything a good soldier in the AFFC is supposed to do.
  Thing was, most of those Compact boys and girls we fought beside were just 
  as yellow as the Liaos. I mean, they was Capellans too, you know? Had the same 
  languages, prayed to the same gods, used that same damned caste system that 
  don’t make no sense anywhere. They knew how to fight, of course—any man 
  will do that, when someone comes to burn his house down. But they didn’t hate, 
  you know? Not even after a Mask raid came through and burned out the winter 
  grain stores, or when a ’Mech exploded and took out half a football stadium.
  Sure, they’d cuss. They’d swear up and down, get blood in their eyes. 
  But they swore at the Chancellor—that gasbag Romano. Tore her name in 
  half and set it on fire, most times. But they never said nothing bad about the 
  Confederation, most of them. Strangest damn thing I ever saw.
  —Transcript of an MIIO interview with Sergeant Roy Stroud, AFFC, 3043
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  47
  flee to her enemies. The armed forces that survived, though still 
  shocked from the beating they had taken at Hanse Davion’s hands 
  and bloodied by the ruthless purges, was a hardened, loyal instru-
  ment of the state. Without the need to throw soldier after soldier 
  against an oncoming horde of invaders, the small Capellan military 
  replenishment system sorted itself out and began rebuilding the 
  remaining Capellan regiments.
  The people of the Confederation suffered along with their mili-
  tary, but for every “loyalty purge” there were instances of Capellan 
  citizens making great sacrifices for the betterment of the state. 
  Beginning with Mandrinn Orin Tao of Redding on Minnacora, many 
  of the Sheng donated most or all of their incomes to the Capellan 
  treasury month after month, for as long as they could. More than 
  a hundred nobles of the Confederation did likewise (though not all 
  donated their entire income), and the monies were spent on the bat-
  tered Capellan military. The Maskirovka went on a six-month postwar 
  intelligence offensive, using the camouflage of the Interdiction and 
  the lingering fighting to snatch up every military secret it could. By 
  this time news of the Helm Memory Core’s existence and contents 
  was beginning to spread and the Maskirovka placed a high priority 
  on obtaining a copy of that priceless database.
  The latter part of 3030 and 3031 were difficult years for the 
  Confederation, but the state survived and began to organize it-
  self in its reduced capacity. Romano Liao was single-mindedly 
  devoted to making sure the Confederation could defend itself, a 
  goal she enforced domestically and internationally. Raids in the 
  breakaway St. Ives Compact continued, designed to punish the re-
  bellious province and to demonstrate to the Inner Sphere that the 
  Confederation could still strike out against its enemies. 
  Unfortunately for the Confederation, not everyone was con-
  vinced by Romano’s show of force. In late 3030 the Free Worlds 
  League’s Duchy of Andurien allied with the power-mad Canopian 
  Magestrix Kyalla Centrella and attacked the Confederation, hoping 
  to finish off the wounded state and claim its territory for them-
  selves. This conflict showed the rest of the Inner Sphere—and 
  Romano Liao’s critics—that she had been correct in her estimation 
  of the threat to the Confederation.
  ANDURIEN AND CANOpUS
  Though Canopian and Andurien forces both made sizable initial 
  gains, by 3032 a counterattack spearheaded by McCarron’s Armored 
  Cavalry and Warrior House Dai Da Chi stopped the Magistracy forc-
  es cold and slowed the Andurien advance to a near-standstill. By 
  3033, the CCAF was on a firm counteroffensive, pushing the invad-
  ers back out of Confederation space in a way they had never been 
  able to handle the AFFS in the Fourth Succession War.
  The Andurien-Canopus conflict was exceptional in several 
  ways. First, the Capellans traded space for time, allowing units to 
  fight unconventional battles and then withdraw to join other CCAF 
  forces behind the line of advance in order to create large coun-
  terattack groups. The tactics of Houses Dai Da Chi on Drozan and 
  Fujita on Grand Base showed that the Capellan military would not 
  simply stand and die, as many of them had done barely two years 
  earlier during Operation Rat. On the advice of Lord Tsen Shang, 
  Chancellor-regent Romano Liao waited until her counterattack was 
  ready before she dispatched it, and the results were stellar. Led by 
  the newly refitted regiments of McCarron’s Armored Cavalry, the 
  Capellan counterattack did more than restore the Capellan flag to 
  worlds the realm had lost: it also restored a measure of pride to the 
  Confederation Armed Forces.
  Romano the Mad?
  There have been comparisons, mostly in the foreign press, of Romano Liao 
  to her infamous ancestor, Kalvin Liao. Most of her detractors point to her bloody 
  purges, frequent bouts of anger and paranoia, and her impulsiveness in setting 
  policy as signs that Mad Kalvin had passed his insanity down to Maximilian’s 
  youngest daughter. And while by any sane standard many of her actions did 
  verge on the crazy, the results they brought cannot be disputed. The harsh hand 
  of Romano Liao welded the Confederation back together well enough to resist 
  the Andurien-Canopus invasion in the early 3030s. Her management of the 
  Maskirovka through her consort, Tsen Shang, was competent enough that few 
  foreign agents could infiltrate that organization before 3040. Her management 
  of the military, perhaps the bloodiest operation of her reign, resulted in a solid 
  core of loyal veterans that took the fresh crop of academy graduates and recruits 
  and turned them into a solid fighting organization.
  So, yes—perhaps she did have a touch of madness. But there was a method 
  to it, and that method saved the Confederation from near-certain destruction 
  at the hands the Anduriens, the Canopians and even the weakest members of 
  Capellan society who might rather have just rolled over and died.
  —From Romano Ascendant, Sian University Press, 3054
  The Not-So-Filthy Lucre
  Though millions of words have been written about the determination of 
  the Capellan soldier during the Andurien crisis, few Confederation texts men-
  tion the stalwart service of the mercenary regiments in the Confederation’s 
  employ at that time. Units like the Fifteenth Dracon and the Fourth Tau Ceti 
  Rangers fought with distinction; the Big MAC (McCarron’s Armored Cavalry) 
  served with the dedication they had always shown, and which would gain them 
  official Capellan citizenship and adoption into the CCAF several decades later. 
  Where lesser units might have broken, or accepted the bribes offered by the 
  Canopians on several occasions, groups like the Fifteenth Dracon held true to 
  their contracts and fought the Confederation’s fight as well as any regular unit 
  might have. The Fifteenth’s commander, Samuel Shimosa, was widely regarded 
  as “Sir Samuel” in tribute to “Sir” Stephen Liao, the Chancellor who had done so 
  much to reform the Capellan armed forces centuries ago. In all his dealings with 
  Canopian officers, he remained true to his contract and the people he was paid 
  to protect. Many of the mercenaries hired by the Confederation right after the 
  Fourth Succession War were the worst of their kind, examples that make the 
  holovid news and give professional soldiers a bad name. But not all of them—
  and those that were loyal to their salt were loyal to the bone.
  —From Paid Sentinels: Mercenaries of the 31st Century,
  by Cally Moreau, Harlech Press, 3066
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  48
  The average soldier of House Liao after the Fourth Succession 
  War was far from the shell-shocked, inept charlatan that the 
  Andurien and Canopus leadership had expected. Instead, they 
  faced regiments of soldiers who’d had time to recover from the 
  trauma of the Fourth War and had begun to achieve new confi-
  dence, with a resolute determination that their realm would never 
  be so abused again. Despite the early purges and occasional irra-
  tional threat from Sian, most Capellan soldiers went about their 
  training and rebuilding with an air of getting the job done. It was 
  that attitude, more than any other, which allowed them to survive 
  the initial attacks in 3030-3031.
  The ejection of all the invading forces from Capellan space 
  proved to Romano Liao that her policies were working—that 
  her vision was correct and would guide the Confederation back 
  from the abyss on whose edge it had teetered since 3029. The 
  few that dared to criticize her were quickly silenced—either by 
  acclaim for her successes or by the knives of her assassins. When 
  Chancellor Maximilian Liao took his own life with poison in 3036, 
  Romano Liao was confirmed as the next Chancellor of the Capellan 
  Confederation. She immediately triggered another round of purg-
  es, this time including the Maskirovka, after which she elevated 
  Lord Tsen Shang to Director of the organization. Hundreds of 
  analysts and agents were put to death or exiled, including every 
  single Maskirovka agent who had worked with Justin Allard or 
  Alexi Malenkov, the Federated Suns double agents of the Fourth 
  Succession War. That Tsen Shang directed those executions was a 
  lucky break for him; he alone was allowed to live among Maskirovka 
  employees who had dealt with Allard or Malenkov. Those who sur-
  vived the purges were dedicated to Romano Liao’s vision of the 
  Capellan Confederation, a vision she would continue to shape over 
  the next decade.
  TEMpERED RESOLvE
  With the sanctity of her borders restored, Romano Liao turned 
  to domestic policy. Her priorities remained the same: rebuild and 
  strengthen the military, secure what she already possessed, and 
  prepare to retake the worlds lost to the Federated Suns in the 
  Fourth Succession War. To these goals, she devoted all her time 
  and attention, and left the actual running of the state to its own 
  devices. Which is to say, she decreed what would happen, and 
  then let the people figure out how to make her wishes a reality.
  Since before the end of the Fourth Succession War, the manu-
  facture of consumer goods had fallen by the wayside as industries 
  shifted to wartime production. Despite the end of hostilities, this 
  policy remained in place—no expense was spared to re-equip the 
  armed forces, rebuild the Home Guard and hire more mercenar-
  ies to help protect the Confederation’s borders. The production of 
  non-military manufactured goods was actually outlawed by decree 
  in 3036, after which civilian manufacturing continued clandestine-
  ly. A black market spread throughout the Confederation—not in 
  illicit items like weapons and explosives, as might happen in other 
  realms, but in prosaic consumer items like toasters, washing ma-
  chines, holovid sets and radios. “Surplus” military production was 
  redirected for sale to the masses in some cases, but by and large 
  the enormous needs of the common people went unmet while 
  most production stayed military.
  In 3040, the Chancellor took matters one step further; she seized 
  all private property and turned it over to the state for disposition 
  “as needed for the war effort.” Though this seizure was a radical de-
  parture from Confederation tradition, it was technically legal, and 
  despite a number of opposition measures in the Prefecture and the 
  House of Scions, the decree was allowed to stand. The actual dispo-
  sition—a matter adjudicated by the Ministry of Development—was 
  never as severe as some pundits made it out to be. In almost every 
  case, the decree meant that instead of owning property, landown-
  ers throughout the Confederation were informed that they had 
  become “caretakers of Confederation property” and would be di-
  rected how best to use it. For most of the citizenry, this directive was 
  phrased as, “continue to provide the same services to the state.” In 
  effect, keep doing what you’re doing.
  This decree also meant, however, that the state could—at 
  Romano Liao’s whim—disown and relocate any family, any noble-
  man, anywhere in the Confederation. A number of opponents of 
  Romano’s policies received “recouped property notices” stating 
  that the Confederation was reclaiming “state property” for use as 
  the state required. In this way, Romano bankrupted her foes and 
  broke them—in public enough fashion that any others who might 
  have contemplated disputing some of her more esoteric decrees 
  could see the consequences of disloyalty.
  In general, the late 3030s and 3040s were rebuilding years for 
  the Confederation. The state adapted to a continual wartime pro-
  duction schedule. Employment was nearly universal, as the Fourth 
  Succession War and the Andurien-Canopian war had proven that 
  any world, anywhere in the Confederation, was open to attack at 
  any time. Capellans had always been the target of raids, but in 
  the 3030s this harsh reality surged to a new height. The creeping 
  paranoia that infected Romano Liao spread to most Confederation 
  citizens, deepening and entrenching the historical Capellan atti-
  tude of “us against the Inner Sphere.”
  Outside the Confederation other realms decried the Chancellor’s 
  policies at every opportunity. In the puppet Davion state of the St. 
  Ives Compact, Duchess Candace Liao called for Romano’s removal 
  almost daily. From New Avalon, Mandrinn Tormano Liao, disowned 
  son of Maximilian Liao, led his Free Capella movement from political 
  activism to terrorism. With Davion support, he agitated for an upris-
  ing in the Confederation to remove his “murderous, insane sister,” 
  and drew many disaffected Capellan expatriates to his banner. The 
  Federated Commonwealth, despite its inconclusive encounter with 
  the Draconis Combine in 3039, continued to probe for weaknesses in 
  Capellan defenses. The Free Worlds League, mostly embroiled in in-
  ternal power struggles for much of the 3030s and early 3040s, began 
  to pick once again at the border after Thomas Marik assumed the 
  Captain-General’s throne. The resurgent Capellan military, however, 
  successfully turned back all attacks. The Confederation appeared 
  more than ready to survive another round of assaults, should the 
  Inner Sphere again devolve into open warfare.
  The next attacks, when they came, did not touch one Capellan 
  world—yet threatened all of them.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  49
  Capella Commonality
  Sian
  Commonality
  Adhafera
  Bondurant
  Scarborough
  Decus
  Prix
  Nihal
  Manapire
  Shiba
  Menkib
  No Return
  Purvo
  Tantara
  Shipka
  Capricorn III
  Cap Rouge
  Granera
  Maritgues
  Meadowvale
  Saonara
  Skvorec
  Trznadel Cluster
  Wisconsin
  Yanchep
  Megarez
  Krimari
  Novo Tressida
  Dunianshire
  Luxen
  Palm
  Dainmar Majoris
  Abruzzi
  Ambergrist
  Andarmax
  Armaxa
  Ashley
  Aucara
  Bacum
  Barras
  Beid
  Betelgeuse
  Borden
  Carbonis
  Cavalor
  Claxton
  Claybrooke
  Columbine
  Conquista
  Corodiz
  Courcellete
  Cursa
  Decatur
  Dicon
  Drozan
  Egress
  Elnath
  Exedor
  Fagerholm
  Fortymile
  Frazer
  Fronde
  Gomeisa
  Goodna
  Gunthar
  Gurnet
  Haappajarvi
  Harsefeld
  Hurik
  Ikast
  Immenstadt
  Ingonish
  Ito
  Jacomarle
  Jacson
  Jonzac
  Kafr Silim
  Kittery
  Krin
  Kujari
  Larsha
  Les Halles
  Les Halles
  Lopez
  Madras
  Matsu
  Mendham
  Mitchel
  Monhegan
  Monhegan
  Nashuar
  New Roland
  Niomede
  Overton
  Pilpala
  Pojos
  Principia
  Quimberton
  Renown
  Repulse
  Royalston
  Sarmaxa
  Sax
  Second Chance
  Second Try
  Shaunavon
  Shoreham
  Sirdar
  Turin
  Vard
  Velhas
  Victoria
  Villanueva
  Wallacia
  Ward
  Weatogue
  Wright
  Xanthe III
  Yunnah
  Yuris
  Zanzibar
  Detroit
  Herotitus
  Corey
  Andro
  Jansen's Hold
  Jansen's Hold
  Illiushin
  Camadeierre
  Flaum
  Burton
  Atreus Prime
  Mithron
  Brisbane
  Laconis
  Cumberland
  E
  Rockwellawan
  Aspropirgos
  Gouderak
  Obrenovac
  Ruschegg
  Thurrock
  Vakarel
  Butzfleth
  Deschenes
  Shenwan
  Siendou
  Beenleigh
  El Giza
  Leyda
  Piriapolis
  Ryerson
  Taygeta
  Hassad
  Novaya Zemlya
  Bethel
  Muridox
  Mosiro
  Bethonolog
  Bethonolog
  Gallis
  Lockton
  Adherlwin
  Fanardir
  Borgan's Rift
  Trip
  Harminous
  Joyz
  Early Dawn
  Brixtana
  Cate's Hold
  Firgro
  Kaitangata
  Olte
  Hobson
  Kigamboni
  Markesan
  Electra
  Flintoft
  Horsham
  Lindsay
  Maia
  Merope
  Pleiades Cluster
  Ridgebrook
  Robsart
  Rollis
  Wrentham
  Jamestown
  Landmark
  MacLeod's Land
  New Vallis
  New Ganymede
  100
  Nahoni
  Amiga
  MacLeod's Land
  Camlann
  Nova Roma
  Sekulmun
  Ankaa
  Dalton
  Canopus IV
  New Abilene
  Amity
  Brockway
  Bromhead
  Diefenbaker
  Midale
  Ishtar
  Renfield
  New Vandenburg
  Pinard
  Eleusis
  Carmichael
  Deneb
  Kaitos
  Kansu
  Hudeiba
  Kwamashu
  Latice
  Lurgatan
  Sadurni
  Mandaree
  Samantha
  Campbelton
  Dickinson
  Ionus
  Tintavel
  Kearny
  Al Jubaylah
  Cirebon
  Fieferana
  Mansu-ri
  Cole Harbour
  Calloway VI
  Ipswich
  Shuen Wan
  Frondas
  Furud
  Gannett
  Tania Australis
  Hellos Minor
  McKenna
  Antipolo
  Vikindu
  Flannagan's Nebulea
  New Aragon
  Taurus
  New Syrtis
  New Rhodes III
  Angol
  Alrescha
  Acamar
  Spica
  Taga
  Palladaine
  Strawn
  Ngake
  El
  Alcyone
  Daniels
  Redfield
  Wernk
  Concord
  Gallatin
  Launam
  Merak
  Nestor
  Anegasaki
  Cameron
  Danais
  Iknogoro
  Loeches
  Matheran
  Milnerton
  Pella II
  Sophie's World
  Sorunda
  Barlaston
  Bora
  Buenos Aires
  Calpaca
  Carmen
  Fujidera
  Glasgow
  Grand Base
  Hadnall
  Holloway
  Hustaing
  Kaifeng
  Lesalles
  Mauripur
  Mentasta
  Phact
  Preston
  Primus
  Raballa
  Randar
  Relevow
  Sakhalin
  Scheuerheck
  Scituate
  Sendalor
  Sigma Mare
  Tallin
  Teng
  Texlos
  Umka
  Vestallas
  Warlock
  Watermael
  Wazan
  Xieng Khouang
  Ziliang
  Bell
  Bristol
  Carmacks
  Gallitzin
  Heligoland
  Kathil
  Kluane
  Layover
  Listowel
  Mandate
  Manteno
  Montco
  Mordialloc
  Orbisonia
  Remshield
  Victoria
  H
  Andurien
  Kanata
  Kasdach
  Shiro III
  Verlo
  Ayn Tarma
  Highspire
  Chebanse
  Okains
  Atlas
  Avigait
  Corella
  Cotocallao
  Glentworth
  Jaipur
  Quittacas
  Altorra
  Bellatrix
  Calseraigne
  Kurvasa
  Menke
  New Westin
  Raphael
  Westerhand
  Chilung
  Diass
  Guangzho
  Nullarbor
  Faleolo
  Alkes
  Bordon
  Blandinsville
  Cholame
  Johnsondale
  Saunemi
  Avawatz
  Axton
  Corydon
  Farwell
  Flushing
  Freisland
  Monongahela
  Narellan
  Ogilvie
  Perkasie
  Salem
  Stein's Folly
  Strea
  Ulan Batar
  Lee
  Abadan
  Ariel
  Asellus Borealis
  Bentley
  Bithinia
  Castrovia
  Cronulla
  Denbar
  Geifer
  Hexare
  Holt
  Housekarle
  Hunan
  Kashilla
  Kiyev
  Lancaster
  Lungdo
  Necromo
  New Delos
  New Macao
  Ohrensen
  Safe Port
  Salur
  St. Andre
  St. Loris
  Tiber
  Truth
  Ulan
  Bator
  Vanra
  Ventabren
  Weekapaug
  Zaurak
  Aitutaki
  Arcadia
  Avior
  Bainsville
  Gienah
  Jouques
  Keeling
  Laureles
  McAffe
  New Hope
  Rasalas
  Sheridan
  Uhuru
  Washburn
  Boardwalk
  Campertown
  Homestead
  Odell
  Sanilac
  Wappingers
  Regulus
  Oriente
  Smolensk
  Brusett
  Helixmar
  Dirk's Gulf
  Kumqwat
  Aldertaine
  Bedeque
  Helm
  Ling
  Semenyih
  Tania Borealis
  Tawas
  Tecumseh
  Rosamond
  Kentares IV
  Acala
  Ashkum
  Barstow
  Beecher
  Cammal
  Goderich
  Moravian
  Tiskilwa
  Valexa
  Maladar
  Brighton
  Cordiagr
  Harloc
  Milos
  Old Kentucky
  Old Kentucky
  Ovan
  Tsinghai
  Tsingtao
  Eom
  Imalda
  Propus
  Uravan
  Jonathan
  Jonathan
  Poznan
  Angell II
  Daneshmand
  Dayr Khuna
  Elektrougli
  Emris IV
  Fletcher
  Harmony
  Muscida
  St. Ives
  Sian
  New
  Azha
  Miaplacidus
  Talitha
  Augustine
  Kalidasa
  Kyrkbacken
  Van
  Diemen IV
  Pollux
  New Canton
  Nopah
  Achernar
  Caselton
  Rio
  Ronel
  Schedar
  Tybalt
  Almach
  Buchlau
  Buchlau
  Gan
  Singh
  Mesartim
  Ningpo
  Sonnia
  Mira
  Halloran V
  Elbar
  Chamdo
  Indicass
  Jasmine
  Menkar
  Minnacora
  Tsitsang
  Argyle
  Clovis
  Marlette
  Olancha
  Rochester
  Scudder
  Talcott
  Coriscana
  Kyeinnisan
  Oceana
  Olafsvik
  Hyde
  Solaris
  Exeter
  Avellaneda
  Ibstock
  Park Place
  Bell
  Wei
  Asellus Australis
  Goshen
  Kirkenlaard
  Wroxeter
  Kurragin
  Ares
  Capella
  Beten Kaitos
  Elgin
  Emerson
  Liao
  Foochow
  Styk
  Algot
  Addicks
  Fuentes
  Sarna
  Bandora
  New Sagan
  Acubens
  Alphard
  Alula Australis
  Berenson
  Bharat
  Chertan
  Fletcher
  Genoa
  Hamal
  Hean
  Marcus
  Menkalinan
  Nanking
  Nathan
  Remulac
  Saiph
  Savannah
  Slocum
  Wyatt
  Zosma
  Dubhe
  Dubhe
  Wing
  Zosma
  Bernardo
  Hamilton
  New Hessen
  Shensi
  Suzano
  Yangtze
  Gei-Fu
  Ingersoll
  Masterson
  Palos
  Quemoy
  Batavia
  Logandale
  New Valencia
  Drusibacken
  Keystone
  Tongatapu
  Algol
  Pleione
  Mirach
  Tikonov
  Terra
  Caph
  Marik
  McHenry
  Muskegon
  New Olympia
  Procyon
  Procyon
  Robinson
  Rochelle
  Capolla
  Terra Firma
  Bryant
  Sirius
  Woodstock
  Woodstock
  Ingress
  Keid
  New Home
  Oliver
  Northwind
  Carver V
  Castor Devil's Rock
  Epsilon
  Eridani
  Epsilon Indi
  Graham IV
  Hall
  Hsien
  Irian
  Outreach
  Edwards
  Autumn Wind
  Stewart
  Chesterton
  Demeter
  Foot Fall
  Zion
  Asuncion
  Dieudonne
  Cartago
  Phecda
  Arboris
  Basalt
  Sheratan
  Aldebaran
  Connaught
  Wasat
  Berenson
  Wasat
  Zurich
  Callison
  Alhena
  Marcus
  Zavijava
  Callison
  Kawich
  Tall Trees
  Tigress
  Shiloh
  Ruchbah
  Small World
  Aea
  Regis Roost
  Spitz
  Carthage
  Argos
  Hellespont
  Spencer
  Portland
  Addasar
  CAPELLAN CONFEDERATION
  after
  Fourth Succesion War (3030)
  Coreward
  Spinward
  Anti-spinward
  Rimward
  MAXIMUM  JUMP: APPROXIMATELY 30 LIGHT YEARS
  LEGEND
  BORDER KEY
  NATIONAL CAPITAL
  DISTRICT CAPITAL
  PLANET KEY
   DISTRICT BORDER
  PROVINCE BORDER
  3028 (PRE-WAR) BORDER
  PROVINCE CAPITAL
  120 LIGHT YEARS OR 36.8 PARSECS
  30 LIGHT YEARS
  © 3067 BLAKE'S TRUTH CARTOGRAPHIC DIVISION
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  50
  THE RETURN  
  OF KERENSKY
  “The descendants of Kerensky have returned, Chancellor. 
  They are the Clans.”
  —Jaime Wolf, 3051
  In 3049, unknown attackers drove across the Periphery border 
  and attacked the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth, 
  the Free Rasalhague Republic and the Draconis Combine. Using 
  sophisticated BattleMechs and aerospace fighters, and gargan-
  tuan WarShips not seen since the Star League era, they advanced 
  through all defenders at a pace not even Hanse Davion could have 
  dreamed of, capturing world after world. The entire Inner Sphere 
  rocked back on its collective heels at the juggernaut bearing down 
  on it. As the Kuritas and the Steiner-Davions rushed to reallocate 
  their regiments to stop the invaders, the Confederation reinforced 
  its own Periphery borders in case the Clans, as they called them-
  selves, struck from another axis. In mid-3050, after an aerospace 
  action in the Radstadt system claimed the life of their war lead-
  er, the Clans temporarily halted their assault. Shortly thereafter, 
  representatives of Wolf’s Dragoons invited the leaders of all the 
  Successor States to a summit on Outreach to discuss the invasion. 
  The Chancellor and her family accepted the invitation, despite the 
  attendance of the hated Hanse Davion and his spawn, and the 
  presence of Candace Liao and Justin Allard.
  OUTREACH
  Once all the leaders had gathered on the Dragoons’ fiefdom of 
  Outreach, Colonel Jaime Wolf revealed startling news. The Dragoons 
  were not simply successful mercenaries: they had come to the Inner 
  Sphere in 3005 as an advance party for the Clan invasion now sweep-
  ing down from the Periphery. The room erupted in shock as the 
  House leaders took in the fact that the best mercenaries in the Inner 
  Sphere had come from their new—and fearsome—enemy. Wolf fur-
  ther revealed that his Dragoons had broken from the Clans decades 
  ago, and stood ready to help train Inner Sphere forces to success-
  fully fight them. There followed several months of cross-training and 
  intelligence conferences as the Successor Lords tried to overcome 
  centuries of hatred and work together against a common foe.
  Despite the invasion’s distance from her realm, Chancellor 
  Romano Liao immediately sensed the depth of the threat and 
  worked as much with the other House leaders as their longstand-
  ing contempt for the Capellan state would permit. She had to stand 
  fast against slurs and derision from Hanse Davion and Thomas 
  Marik; in the end, only by direct appeal to the Fox’s wife, Melissa 
  Steiner-Davion, was she able to overcome Hanse Davion’s hatred 
  of her family and her realm.
  Outreach was also the first place where the presumptive heirs 
  of the Successor States met face-to-face and took each others’ 
  measure. Sun-Tzu Liao, son of Romano Liao and Tsen Shang and 
  heir to the Celestial Throne, participated in the mock battles and 
  “team-building” scenarios along with his counterparts, including 
  Victor Steiner-Davion and Hohiro Kurita. He was paired with Kai 
  Allard-Liao in a BattleMech testing cycle, but a malfunction in his 
  Dragoon-manufactured BattleMech caused his ejection system to 
  fire his command couch out of the ’Mech before he could make 
  more than desultory attack against his opponents.
  Despite the Dragoons’ assurances, the Chancellor was not im-
  pressed with their attempts to “assist” the Inner Sphere. Jaime 
  Wolf refused to reveal the location of the Clan homeworlds, claim-
  ing that the Dragoons no longer possessed that information. He 
  revealed that the Dragoons had the wherewithal to produce Clan-
  tech weapons and equipment, equipment light-years ahead of even 
  the technology gleaned from the Helm Memory Core, but refused 
  to share it with the Inner Sphere. Wolf did little more than confirm 
  what most of his guests already knew: that the invaders came from 
  beyond the Periphery and were known as the Clans, and that they 
  were the descendants of the long-lost Star League Defense Force 
  that fled the Inner Sphere with General Aleksandr Kerensky.
  At the end of the Outreach Conference, the Chancellor and her 
  party returned to Sian, having agreed to aid the general Inner Sphere 
  war effort by offering Capellan military production for sale to the 
  Combine and the Federated Commonwealth. Her journals show her 
  disgust with the Dragoons’ half-hearted assistance, and her distrust 
  of Hanse Davion’s motives. They also show a cautious optimism for 
  the Confederation’s prospects with the attention of House Davion’s 
  MIIO focused on the other side of the Inner Sphere.
   
  JUSTIN ALLARD REDUx
  As the Clans resumed their invasion and attention focused sol-
  idly on that portion of the Inner Sphere, Romano Liao made her own 
  plans for the Confederation’s betterment. Since her early twenties, 
  she had maintained relations with the Thuggee cult that infected 
  much of the Capellan realm. Her own former world of Highspire 
  (now a vassal of the Federated Commonwealth’s Sarna March) had 
  Innuendoes
  Media accounts of the Outreach Conference of 3051 are just starting to come out, 
  and many of them paint Chancellor Romano Liao as a negative influence there. Several 
  accounts depict her as divisive and confrontational throughout almost the entire con-
  ference. During one instance, when the First Prince of the Federated Commonwealth 
  offered the Chancellor a non-aggression pact, she is recorded as accusing him of a 
  subterfuge to denude the Confederation border of troops so he could finish the work 
  of the Fourth Succession War. These same accounts claim that only a personal appeal 
  from Melissa Steiner-Davion assuaged the Chancellor’s doubts.
  Several other notable accounts claim the Chancellor used the conference as a vehicle 
  to attack her sister Candace and the St. Ives Compact by calling Candace’s son, Kai Allard-
  Liao, a war criminal for his victory over the Jade Falcon Clan on Twycross. Eyewitnesses 
  even claim she engineered a kangaroo court and called witnesses from across the Inner 
  Sphere in an effort to discredit the Allard-Liao family. It may not be too far from the truth 
  to say that the Inner Sphere’s war effort against the Clans might have gone much better 
  had Romano Liao chosen not to attend the Outreach summit.
  —From Romano Liao: The First Lady of Janus,
  by Gregory Talbot, Free Capella Press, 3056
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  51
  long suffered rumors of being a Thuggee stronghold, and the crimi-
  nal organization known as the House of the Setting Sun had offered 
  support to Romano’s government as early as 3040, which many took 
  to be an indication of Thuggee influences in the syndicate.
  Whatever the source, as the Clan invasion resumed, Romano 
  Liao activated an agent she had placed on New Avalon with a 
  specific mission. The agent infiltrated the embassy of the St. Ives 
  Compact, where Candace Liao and her husband Justin Allard lived, 
  and attempted to assassinate them. Justin Allard was killed, al-
  though he managed to kill the assassin almost simultaneously, and 
  Candace Liao was grievously wounded.
  Though the sleeper agent had few connections with the 
  Capellan Confederation, there were very few people who wanted 
  Candace Liao and Justin Allard dead badly enough to threaten 
  them on the Federated Suns’ capital world. Romano had placed 
  her sister under edict of death several times—her most recent 
  decree meant little to the duchess or her husband. With Justin’s 
  death, however, things changed.
  Tsen Shang placed the Confederation’s borders on alert after 
  confirming the news of Allard’s death. He feared—rightly, many 
  believed—a retaliatory attack from the St. Ives Compact at least, 
  very likely supported by the Compact’s allies in the Federated 
  Commonwealth. Indeed, had the Clans not been so success-
  fully devouring a quarter of the Commonwealth’s Lyran half, the 
  Confederation might have been invaded again and destroyed. The 
  Capellan armed forces had been amazingly well rebuilt since the 
  3030s, but they could not possibly stand against the Federated 
  Commonwealth’s more than 250 regiments. Garrison units along 
  the border went on high alert as Maskirovka agents flooded the 
  Capellan and Sarna marches, seeking signs of the impending 
  Davion invasion. Aside from an increase in raids into the Sian 
  Commonality, no invasion came—the threat of the Clans took far 
  higher priority. The Chancellor had gambled and won, removing 
  an enemy of the Confederation while their enemies were too dis-
  tracted to retaliate.
  Meanwhile, the Capellan economy staggered beneath the new 
  demands of a border-wide alert. Though appearing to operate 
  reasonably well, the economy was already struggling under the 
  weight of Chancellor Romano’s military-only production decrees. 
  Essential services were beginning to fail, and the military was be-
  ing forced to pick up the scraps—there was no one else, since 
  every bit of Capellan manufacturing was directed toward military 
  matters. Even as the threat level on the border increased, more and 
  more troops were shifted to the Capellan interior to deal with un-
  rest and social disorder resulting from the lack of consumer goods. 
  Many of the Sheng were thinking twice about trying to rescind the 
  Chancellor’s no-civilian-manufacturing policy, even if it meant 
  risking Romano’s ire. The Confederation would not survive long 
  unless some production capacity was redirected to the people.
  Even in the military, dissent was beginning to grow. The 
  Capellan armed forces of 3051 were well trained and adequately 
  supplied. New technologies, those negotiated for on Outreach 
  and those stolen from the Helm Memory Core, were trickling into 
  most regiments. All eight Warrior Houses had rebuilt to their pre-
  Fourth Succession War strength and awaited a chance to prove 
  their mettle. It meant little to some Capellan soldiers, especially 
  those in the Home Guard, to be guarding citizens who were clearly 
  suffering beneath the Chancellor’s orders. Open rebellion was nev-
  er an option, but many began to consider ways to “interpret” the 
  Chancellor’s orders in a way that might benefit the people.
  JUSTIN’S REvENgE
  As it became clear that the Federated Commonwealth did 
  not intend to respond to Justin Allard’s murder with all-out war, 
  the Capellan military slowly took border units off alert and set 
  them back to training and reorganization. The treaties forged 
  on Outreach soon began to pay dividends; battalion after bat-
  talion of the CCAF began to receive upgrade packages, either 
  from domestic factories or imported from Free Worlds League 
  manufacturers. Chancellor Romano followed the advice of her 
  Prefects and sought closer ties with the Free Worlds League, 
  making sure the Confederation gained access to as many new 
  technologies as possible. In the private sector, more and more 
  industrialists were girding themselves for the dreaded cam-
  paign to restore some consumer production and bring a little 
  rationality to the Capellan economy. These preparations were 
  disrupted in 3052 by the news of the epic battle at Tukayyid, 
  where ComStar’s Com Guards defeated the Clans and bought 
  the Inner Sphere a fifteen-year truce. During this détente, Justin 
  Allard’s ghost had his revenge—the Chancellor and her consort, 
  Tsen Shang, were murdered in their Celestial Palace quarters. 
  Sun-Tzu Liao was quickly named Chancellor after his mother’s 
  death was announced, and many in the Confederation held in 
  their sighs of relief at Romano’s end as they waited to see how 
  Sun-Tzu would react to his parents’ murder.
  The Capellan military went back on full alert after Chancellor 
  Romano’s murder. The Strategios was certain that the assassina-
  tion of the Chancellor and the Director of the Maskirovka could 
  only be a prelude to a full-scale invasion; intelligence teams 
  again swept nearby worlds, searching for the invasion forces 
  they believed were marshaling. The new Chancellor approved 
  the Strategios’ plans and did little else to influence them. In a 
  The Benefit of Cancer
  The assassin that killed Justin Allard and wounded Candace Liao used a 
  laser pistol, most likely because its composite construction and lack of ammuni-
  tion made it undetectable to most weapons scanners. A laser fires short pulses 
  of coherent light, rather than a single slug or cloud of needles—a nasty weapon 
  that causes devastating wounds at close range.
  Justin Allard took a shot to the throat and quickly bled to death, but the as-
  sassin struck Candace Liao mostly in the chest and shoulder. Such injuries would 
  have killed any other woman, Candace Liao had received myomer-implant re-
  placements after successfully battling breast cancer, and the myomers acted as 
  a pseudo-shield against the laser beam. She was badly wounded, but surgeons 
  in Avalon City managed to stop the bleeding in time to save her. Had she not 
  suffered from breast cancer, she would certainly have been slain. Her survival 
  confirms the ancient proverb: that which does not kill you makes you stronger.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  52
  rare act for a Capellan Chancellor, Sun-Tzu Liao appeared to trust 
  his colonels to do their duty without his interference. Instead, 
  he nominated an interim director for the Maskirovka and began 
  a Confederation-wide manhunt for his parents’ killer. He con-
  firmed the trade agreements with House Marik and renewed 
  the Confederation’s commitment to oppose the Clans. In all re-
  spects he acted like a new leader intent on shepherding his realm 
  through a difficult transition.
  At the private funeral for his parents on Sian, the new 
  Chancellor offered his first public address to his people. He spoke 
  of the sacrifices his parents had made for the state, and of the 
  need to remain true to their vision and the plans they had laid out 
  to make the Confederation strong again. He assured the nation’s 
  enemies that the Capellan armed forces stood ready to enforce 
  the Confederation’s sovereignty, and reassured the people that 
  their borders were safe, their homes protected. “We will all go 
  on as best we can,” he said, “making sure the Confederation of 
  tomorrow is stronger than the Confederation of today—that the 
  celestial wonder we have built, that my parents built, will still be 
  shining for our children.”
  DYNASTIC HEIR
  It soon became clear that Sun-Tzu Liao intended to be a 
  Chancellor like no other. Instead of making the radical changes 
  that had characterized many Chancellors before him, he solicited 
  advice and, if sound, acted on it. When the industrialists who had 
  been preparing to brace Romano Liao about the economy cau-
  tiously approached the new Chancellor, they found a man who 
  had anticipated their requests. One of Sun-Tzu Liao’s first de-
  crees was to abolish Romano Liao’s seizure of private property. 
  A newly empanelled Commission of Inequity in the Ministry of 
  Development was charged with returning as much property as 
  possible to Capellan citizens. In many cases, this simply meant re-
  turning the deeds to the families who still lived on the property, 
  but the wily Sun-Tzu made full use of the opportunity as well. He 
  rewarded those individuals who were actively trying to rebuild 
  the state’s economy, which stimulated recovery much more 
  quickly than if he had he tried to do so himself. In this way, he 
  again showed himself to be man who trusted others to do their 
  duty. A few notable attempts at graft on the new Commission 
  were identified and harshly dealt with, making it clear that Sun-
  Tzu would not tolerate attempts to gain personal benefit from 
  the Confederation’s travails. Like few Chancellors before him 
  Sun-Tzu Liao genuinely put the state first, even before himself—
  and demanded that others do the same.
  Those who observed Sun-Tzu Liao as leader saw a young man 
  with surprising drive and intelligence, who possessed his mother’s 
  ruthlessness and his father’s cunning. They saw a Chancellor like 
  few others before him, and they began to have hope.
  Hope, it turned out, would be Sun-Tzu Liao’s greatest asset.
  Unsolved murder
  No group or individual has ever claimed responsibility for the slaying of 
  Chancellor Romano Liao and Tsen Shang, but Candace Liao’s reemergence after 
  the announcement of her sister’s death suggests that she may have employed 
  the assassin in revenge for her husband’s murder on New Avalon. Her survival 
  had been kept secret during her convalescence, as she was still vulnerable while 
  healing. Her appearance on St. Ives and her decision to rule the Compact di-
  rectly, rather than through a regent as when she remained on New Avalon with 
  Minister of Intelligence Justin Allard and her children, suggests that Allard may 
  have been her only real link to the Davions on New Avalon.
  The actual assassin has never been identified. The Maskirovka, at Sun-
  Tzu’s personal direction, instituted a Confederation-wide investigation and 
  extensively interrogated all members of Warrior House Imarra and the Death 
  Commandos, who are charged with the Chancellor’s safety and protection. A 
  lack of claimants of responsibility hampered the investigation, and the new 
  Chancellor eventually allowed it to fall into the Maskirovka’s cold case files as 
  more pressing matters claimed his attention.
  Rumors abound, mostly fomented by radicals in the St. Ives Compact, that 
  Sun-Tzu himself murdered his parents. To suggest that the Celestial Wisdom 
  would stoop to murder is ludicrous: by all accounts, he was devoted to his par-
  ents and even more devoted to the Confederation. Whatever her faults, Romano 
  Liao had helped the Confederation survive the post-Fourth Succession War pe-
  riod, and her vision seemed capable of carrying the Confederation through the 
  Clan crisis. Surely Sun-Tzu Liao would not have been ambitious enough to mur-
  der his parents at such a fractious time.
  —From Famous Regicides of the Thirty-First Century
   by Dame Erica Dannimore, Free Skye Press, 3056
  The Least-Like Liao
  There are many theories of how Sun-Tzu Liao came to be such an effective 
  dictator, but the most often dismissed is perhaps the most likely: Sun-Tzu is the 
  product of his family and upbringing. Most historians scoff at the idea, citing 
  Romano Liao’s extremes of temperament and the sheer madness of Maximilian 
  Liao, but when one factors in the moderating influence of the Chancellor’s fa-
  ther, Lord Tsen Shang, it becomes possible to form a working thesis.
  Sun-Tzu was always an observant child. This trait was undoubtedly nur-
  tured in him by his father, who knew the value of noticing things—especially 
  the links between things and how those links affected outcomes. Sun-Tzu would 
  have learned devotion to the Confederation from his mother—for all her mad-
  ness, her zeal for her realm’s welfare was unequaled—while his father taught 
  him how to separate the state’s needs from those of the Liao family. He had 
  the example of his grandfather, Maximilian, to show the flaw in thinking the 
  Chancellor defined the state. No other Liao had Maximilian’s megalomania, and 
  while he did much to enrich the Confederation during the first two decades of 
  the 31st century, his arrogance crippled the nation during the Fourth Succession 
  War. Sun-Tzu would have learned that while the Chancellor was the undisputed 
  ruler, it would take a leader to make the Confederation great again—and a 
  leader must lead, not embezzle.
  The other thing Sun-Tzu Liao would have learned from his mother was the 
  danger of hubris. Tsen Shang, who undoubtedly loved Romano Liao despite her 
  bouts of paranoia and rage, would have counseled his son about his mother’s 
  excesses. It would have been Tsen Shang, not Romano, who saw the danger to 
  the Confederation from Justin Allard’s murder. He would never have allowed his 
  son to miss that lesson—even if the learning was not enough to save him from 
  the assassin’s laser.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  53
  TIMELINE: FOURTH SUCCESSION WAR AND CLAN INvASION
  3028: 
  (aug) Hanse Davion marries Melissa Steiner 
  of the Lyran Commonwealth and launches 
  the Fourth Succession War, an attack into 
  the Confederation by the AFFS and into the 
  Draconis Combine by the LCAF. The attacks 
  are a complete surprise, and both realms 
  make stunning early gains.
   
  The Northwind Highlanders accept Hanse 
  Davion’s invitation to return to Northwind 
  in return for defecting from the Capellan 
  Confederation; their betrayal creates a gap in 
  the Confederation’s defenses that the AFFS is 
  quick to exploit.
   
  The mercenary Gray Death Legion discov-
  ers the Helm Memory Core, a repository of 
  Star League-era data, and manages to elude 
  ComStar’s and House Marik’s efforts to capture 
  and destroy them. The Helm Memory Core 
  eventually finds its way to every Successor 
  State, bringing a technological renaissance.
   
  (dec) Operation Riposte, a counterattack 
  designed to slow the Davion advance, fails; 
  warned beforehand, the AFFS is prepared for 
  the attacks and soundly defeats the Capellan 
  invaders. The only success is a small effort 
  against the world of Axton, which gains the 
  Confederation valuable intelligence.
  3029: 
  Operation Intruders’ Communion—a raid 
  on a New Avalon Institute of Science facility 
  on Bethel—nets the Confederation a flawed 
  triple-strength myomer, which is retrofitted 
  onto the Warrior House Imarra BattleMechs 
  on Sian. Manufacturing the material is too 
  difficult to provide widespread use, but the 
  Capellan Science Foundation works diligent-
  ly on solving that problem.
   
  ComStar interdicts House Davion for al-
  legedly destroying the HPG compound on 
  Sarna, hampering the AFFS’ effectiveness 
  and giving the CCAF hope. Unfortunately for 
  the Confederation, Hanse Davion anticipated 
  the Interdiction and uses a system of Pony-
  Express JumpShips to keep in contact with 
  his commanders.
   
  The Death Commandos and the Fourth Tau 
  Ceti Rangers attack Kathil, but are defeated 
  by the First Kathil Uhlans—an ad hoc unit 
  commanded by Morgan Hasek-Davion, son 
  of slain Duke Michael Hasek-Davion. Using 
  captured DropShips, the Uhlans raid Sian and 
  rescue Justin Allard and Candace Liao after 
  using a catalytic gas to disable the Imarra 
  BattleMechs on guard duty.
   
  The St. Ives Commonality secedes from the 
  Confederation and becomes the St. Ives 
  Compact, an independent realm closely tied 
  to the Federated Suns.
   
  The Tikonov Free Republic secedes from the 
  Confederation, led by the traitor Colonel Pavel 
  Ridzik and coerced by the Federated Suns.
  3030: 
  Fourth Succession War ends; Maximilian Liao 
  suffers a psychotic break. Romano Liao is 
  named Chancellor-regent and immediately 
  purges the state of anyone who might have 
  collaborated with the Davions.
  3030-31: The Duchy of Andurien and Magistracy of 
  Canopus invade the Confederation, think-
  ing it on the brink of collapse after the losses 
  of the Fourth Succession War. Though they 
  make several early gains, the Capellan forces 
  facing them refuse to be drawn into decisive 
  battles. Instead, they string the attackers 
  out, tying them down and gaining the CCAF 
  time to gather reinforcements.
  3032: 
  Counterattacks by McCarron’s Armored 
  Cavalry and Warrior House troops stop the 
  Magistracy and Andurien assaults cold. 
  Several Capellan units emerge from hiding 
  or guerrilla campaigns and eject the invad-
  ers, reversing the momentum of the war.
  3033: 
  In the face of growing Confederation coun-
  terattacks and its obvious determination, 
  Magistracy and Andurien troops withdraw 
  from Confederation space.
  3036: 
  Chancellor Maximilian Liao commits suicide. 
  Romano Liao is named Chancellor; she be-
  gins another round of purges and begins to 
  reshape Capellan society to complete her vi-
  sion of a reclaimed Confederation. One of her 
  first acts is the Decree of Military Necessity, 
  which outlaws consumer manufacture in 
  favor of military production.
  3038: 
  Com Guard BattleMechs begin to garrison 
  Confederation HPG compounds, as the 
  Order’s military steps more and more into 
  the public eye.
  3040: 
  Romano Liao issues the Decree of National 
  Preparedness, which seizes all private 
  property in the Confederation. She uses 
  Chancellory Courts to name dissenters en-
  emies of the state.
  3049: 
  The Clans—descendants of the lost Star 
  League Defense Force—return and attack 
  the Lyran Commonwealth, Free Rasalhague 
  Republic and Draconis Combine. No 
  Inner Sphere force can stop them, until a 
  Rasalhagian aerospace pilot rams the invad-
  ers’ flagship with her fighter and kills the 
  Clans’ war leader.
  3050-51: Wolf’s Dragoons summon the leaders of 
  the Inner Sphere to Outreach and reveal 
  their Clan origins, declaring their intention 
  to stand with the Inner Sphere against the 
  Clans. They begin a regimen of training and 
  orientation, trying to bring the Inner Sphere 
  leaders to grips with the Clans’ abilities be-
  fore the invasion resumes.
   
  Justin Allard is assassinated at the St. Ives 
  Consulate on New Avalon; Candace Liao is 
  gravely wounded and drops out of sight dur-
  ing her recovery.
  3052: 
  ComStar defeats the Clans on Tukayyid, tem-
  porarily ending the Clan Invasion in one of 
  the largest battles ever to take place in the 
  Inner Sphere. As a condition of their defeat, 
  the Clans agree to halt their invasion for fif-
  teen years.
   
  On Sian, Romano Liao and Tsen Shang are as-
  sassinated; Sun-Tzu Liao is named Chancellor 
  and begins an investigation that will 
  never bear fruit. As one of his first acts, he 
  arranges his engagement to Isis Marik, heir 
  to Captain-General Thomas Marik of the Free 
  Worlds League.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  54
  ASCENDANCE 
  “With a mother like Romano Liao and a grandfather like 
  Maximilian, how dangerous can he be? He controls half a 
  nation, and their martial tradition is pretty much like, ‘I’m 
  going to say bad things now, please don’t shoot me. I’m run-
  ning out of worlds to lose.’ I don’t worry about Sun-Tzu Liao. 
  Namesake aside, really—what can he do?”
  —Recorded conversation in an AFFC barracks, 
  Kittery, 3049
  As the rest of the Inner Sphere adjusted to the presence of the 
  Clans, the Capellan Confederation embarked on its most remark-
  able period of rebuilding. Directed by the Chancellor and enforced 
  by every facet of his government, the people of the Confederation 
  were turned toward a grand goal: a Confederation worthy of the 
  name and history it carried.
  MAKINg THE MOST OF TIME
  In the wake of the Truce of Tukayyid, a sense of peace descend-
  ed across the Inner Sphere. The Draconis Combine, the Federated 
  Commonwealth and the shattered Free Rasalhague Republic em-
  barked on crash rearmament programs. The Free Worlds League, 
  its economy untouched by war and noticeably quiescent in re-
  cent decades, rumbled to impressive life as the Inner Sphere’s 
  armory. Trade agreements were signed with every Inner Sphere 
  nation—including the Confederation—and the eagle soon came 
  to challenge the C-bill as the Inner Sphere’s dominant currency. 
  The Confederation quietly sat aloof, making small agreements 
  here and there, but shying away from grand announcements or 
  proclamations—with one exception.
  In 3052, Captain-General Thomas Marik accepted Chancellor 
  Sun-Tzu Liao’s offer of marriage to his daughter Isis Marik. The rea-
  sons for the Marik lord’s acceptance are varied, but he surely hoped 
  to gain a bulwark against a Federated Commonwealth he was busy 
  arming. On the Confederation side, the Chancellor gained a pow-
  erful ally with the strongest economy in known space, and secured 
  enough peace to cut his garrisons along the Marik border to the 
  bone, allowing him to strengthen garrisons along the Periphery 
  and Capellan March borders. Though both leaders deferred set-
  ting a date for the nuptials, no Inner Sphere leader could fail to see 
  the parallels. The marriage of a Steiner and a Davion had created 
  the massive Federated Commonwealth; what would come from 
  the wedding of a Marik and a Liao?
  With his Free Worlds border secured, Chancellor Sun-Tzu 
  turned to ComStar. After the failure of the late Primus Myndo 
  Waterly’s Operation Scorpion, in which ComStar had intended to 
  emerge as the “savior” of an Inner Sphere shattered by the Clans, 
  ComStar was forced to renegotiate garrison rights for its massive 
  Com Guard military across the Inner Sphere. Every contract in ev-
  ery Successor State soon included a provision for dragooning Com 
  Guard forces stationed on any world in case of planetary invasion. 
  Chancellor Liao bargained further, stipulating that the Strategios 
  have right of refusal over any Com Guard posting in Confederation 
  space. ComStar grudgingly agreed, and the Com Guard garrisons 
  were posted mainly along the border with the Sarna and Capellan 
  marches of the Federated Commonwealth. This action freed up 
  yet more CCAF forces from border duty, which allowed them more 
  time for rest and refit, and also gave the Confederation military 
  room to expand for the first time in decades.
  Despite his successes with the Com Guards, the Chancellor 
  only agreed to a short-term contract with ComStar. Though 
  many wondered about this move, his reasoning became clear in 
  3056 when he allowed the contract to lapse and instead signed 
  on with the fanatical splinter group Word of Blake. Throughout 
  3056 and early 3057, ComStar administrators and Com Guard 
  troops were removed from Capellan worlds and replaced 
  with Word of Blake adepts. To gain the Confederation-wide 
  contract, the Word agreed to supply the Capellans with tech-
  nological assistance on a number of projects—including the 
  joint Confederation-FWL development of the Impavido-class 
  destroyer—as well as other provisions. This pattern appeared 
  in a number of dealings across the Confederation and even be-
  tween realms, as the Chancellor used every opportunity to gain 
  whatever small advantage he could for his nation. Each of these 
  agreements was focused on reducing the CCAF’s commitments. 
  The contracts with the Word of Blake, for example, while in-
  cluding provisions for technological assistance, were otherwise 
  identical to the ComStar contracts; Word of Blake troops as-
  sumed garrison responsibility for many Capellan worlds, dealt 
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  55
  with pirates and offered humanitarian aid wherever possible. In 
  fact, quiet rumors persist that the Chancellor ordered unrest to 
  be instigated on several worlds solely to force the Word of Blake 
  into humanitarian “hearts and minds” campaigns that included 
  a great many public works.
  Whereas most previous Chancellors had concerned them-
  selves strictly with military matters, the back-and-forth 
  competition Sun-Tzu brought to the ComStar-Word of Blake is-
  sue showed he had broader areas of concern. He pitted the two 
  against each other, using their mutual antagonism to benefit 
  the Capellan people. When the Word of Blake constructed and 
  donated a modern hospital, ComStar retaliated with a school. If 
  the Word built a child-care center, ComStar countered it with a 
  centralized food distribution site. The Inner Sphere’s two com-
  munications giants battled for a larger share of the Capellan 
  market, and the Capellan people reaped the rewards.
  CLOSER TIES WITH MARIK
  Though the crowning achievement of Sun-Tzu Liao’s dealings 
  with the Free Worlds League must have been his engagement to 
  Isis Marik, the Capellan realm gained many more tangible benefits 
  from the closer ties he forged with Thomas Marik and his govern-
  ment. Trade agreements, begun by Romano Liao on Outreach, 
  were continued or expanded to include consumer as well as mili-
  tary goods. Free Worlds manufacturers were thrilled with access to 
  Capellan markets, but Sun-Tzu had other goals.
  The Capellan economy has never been particularly capitalistic, 
  but supply and demand remain factors in its success. With Capellan 
  manufacturers finally returning to consumer goods, Sun-Tzu’s ad-
  visers knew they could create competition by allowing Free Worlds 
  League products to flood the market. Careful manipulation of me-
  dia presentation followed by almost imperceptibly rising trade 
  tariffs slowly priced Free Worlds products out of the market and 
  created a demand for Capellan-made items. The Chancellor fully 
  embraced this plan, directing the Ministry of Trade and Exchange 
  to ruthlessly exploit the League’s cooperation.
  When League-based industries complained to the Free Worlds 
  government, the Capellan Ministry merely cited exchange tar-
  iff rates in the Free Worlds League and shrugged. Exports to the 
  League from Capellan manufacturers were taxed at twice the rate 
  The White Sentinels
  By early 3053, the first Com Guard formations were arriving along the 
  Confederation’s Periphery border and the CCAF military garrisons were pulling 
  out, moving toward the central warrens of the Capellan realm. The citizens of 
  Larsha and Repulse especially were concerned about the lack of native Capellan 
  troops in the area. Pirate raiding from the Periphery was common, and though 
  the Com Guards looked impressive in their white ’Mechs and tanks, and told many 
  a tale of the massive battles on Tukayyid, they remained an unknown quantity. 
  “Wait until the first bandit raid,” the saying was in the pubs and teahouses.
  In May 3053, that saying was tragically proved. Pirates descended on 
  Providence, a minor city on Repulse’s southern continent, and ravaged a Home 
  Guard supply base, killing the entire infantry company guarding the supplies and 
  destroying several civilian power stations as a diversion. The Com Guard response, 
  when it came, was two VTOLs of medical troops escorted by a squad of infantry. 
  The people of Providence, busy burying their dead, harrumphed and went about 
  their business. Repulse’s Diem complained to Sian, and Chancellor Sun-Tzu replied 
  by threatening to expel every Com Guard soldier from the Confederation. The of-
  ficer in charge of Repulse’s Com Guard garrison was cashiered by the end of June, 
  and statements were issued promising increased support.
  In October 3053, another raiding force landed on Repulse, this time in the 
  industrial town of Barclay on the coast. The pirates—three ’Mechs and a dozen 
  vehicles—entered the city and set fire to the constabulary headquarters. As 
  they moved toward a food distribution center, brilliant fusion exhaust lit the 
  night sky; a pair of Com Guard DropShips had dropped two Level IIs of Com Guard 
  ’Mechs and armored infantry into the city. The Com Guards quickly destroyed or 
  captured the pirates, and Com Guard marines captured the pirate DropShip and 
  JumpShip in lightning strikes. The next day the pirates were turned over to the 
  Diem for trial, while the DropShip and JumpShip were given to the CCAF in repa-
  ration for May’s losses in Providence.
  Since then, the Com Guards on Repulse and Larsha have been the primary 
  reaction forces against pirate raids. By 3055, the incidence of banditry had de-
  creased by sixty percent. Most Com Guard installations have become the site of 
  annual festivals celebrating the ComStar troops’ presence.
  —From The White Knights: ComStar and the Periphery Border,
  Sian University Press, 3055
  A Tale of Two Cities
  In 3054, Rama Industries in the city of Hobbes on the planet Ward success-
  fully moved from producing compact handheld navigation kits for infantry to a 
  line of handheld educational holovids. A similar product had been unveiled for 
  pre-order by an Irian firm in the Free Worlds League. Initial orders had amount-
  ed to three shipments—roughly ninety thousand units—by jump freighter. 
  They were scheduled to arrive in November 3054, before the holiday season of 
  Ward’s large Christian population. Rama’s model hit store shelves in September, 
  concurrent with a massive holovid and newsfax ad campaign. Rama’s price 
  point exactly matched the sale price of the Irian model—99 yuan. The Irian 
  model, however, carried a 19 yuan shipping and tax surcharge.
  Holiday sales for both models were adequate, but Irian agents on-world 
  were disappointed not to capture the market. Performance reports edged out 
  the Rama model in favor of the Irian—better workmanship, better battery 
  life, fewer crashes. But the Rama sold in roughly the same numbers. The two 
  companies ended up splitting the market. Irian’s sales force ordered another 
  shipment for the spring, certain that they’d recoup the losses when the Rama 
  versions failed and had to be replaced.
  Unfortunately for Irian, trade tariffs in the Sian Commonality readjusted 
  in the first quarter of 3055 and the shipping charge increased to 23 yuan. The 
  Rama model, taking advantage of a temporary tax credit issued by the Ministry 
  of Trade and Exchange, reduced its price to 80 yuan.
  By summer 3055, the Irian trade mission on Ward retreated to the Free 
  Worlds League, unable to compete with the Rama Industries model. The final 
  Irian shipment—most of which returned with the Irian team—had retailed at 
  105 yuan, with a 32 yuan shipping charge.
  —From Across Borders: A Sampling of Tariff Modification Planning,
  Ministry of Trade and Exchange white paper, 3059
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  56
  of League imports entering the Confederation. The Ministry could 
  hardly be expected to force local Diems to adjust to national rates—
  the right to adjust taxation was a noble right in the Confederation. 
  The Chancellor himself was totally in favor of freer trade with the 
  Free Worlds League—and he’d take that issue up with the over-
  zealous nobles at his first (regrettably delayed) chance.
  Not to say, of course, that all trade and exchange with the Free 
  Worlds League was civilian. A number of military exchange pro-
  grams were enacted as well, from troop exchanges and reciprocity 
  agreements between weapons suppliers to the highly classified de-
  sign program for the deadly Impavido-class destroyers. Though the 
  Word of Blake contributed greatly to the Impavido project, Capellan 
  involvement was thorough and necessary—a large segment of the 
  sub-assembly design work for the prototype was carried out at the 
  ground-base hub of the Aris Memorial Yards at Necromo.
  Cooperation with the Word of Blake also assisted a num-
  ber of research and economic initiatives with the Free Worlds. 
  Medical research, in cooperation with League medical facilities, 
  moved forward in myomer-replacement therapy and burn care. 
  Cybernetics—a field abhorred in the Free Worlds League—found 
  a welcome haven in the Confederation as some League indus-
  tries fled the childish attitudes of the League member states for 
  Capellan-sponsored research facilities. This research has since 
  benefitted countless Capellans, the victims of dismemberment or 
  accidents, as well as adding to the Confederation’s general fund of 
  medical knowledge.
  Military exchanges and training exercises brought the Capellan 
  and Free Worlds League militaries to a better understanding 
  of each other, culminating with the placement of the newly 
  raised Harloc Raiders on the League world of Shiloh to train with 
  the Third Sirian Lancers. Despite an incident with a Federated 
  Commonwealth raiding force, the deployment was a success, gain-
  ing the Confederation military unit much-needed experience.
  ZHANZHENg DE gUANg
  Despite almost thirty years of rule by the Federated 
  Commonwealth, many of the worlds in the former Tikonov and 
  Sarna Commonalities maintained strong Capellan elements. The 
  Davions, forced to live up to their claims of “liberation” during the 
  Fourth Succession War, had to allow the Sarna March worlds to 
  maintain much of their Capellan heritage or else be accused of cul-
  tural genocide. Many of the nobles and even common citizens of 
  those worlds yearned to be Capellan. They ached to once again be 
  part of the heritage of the Confederation, the state for which their 
  ancestors had sacrificed so much. The Maskirovka brought their 
  pleas to the Chancellor’s ears, and he made returning them to their 
  homeland a personal priority.
  Chancellor Sun-Tzu knew he lacked the military strength to 
  force House Davion to relinquish the former Capellan worlds, but 
  he could fund and foment resistance movements on them. Such 
  movements would increase unrest under Davion rule and force the 
  Federated Commonwealth to spend troops and resources trying to 
  quell them. Though he knew he could be accused of fomenting ter-
  rorism, he allowed the Maskirovka to arrange a network of Capellan 
  freedom-fighter groups known as the Zhanzheng de Guang—which 
  had operated, though disorganized and ineffective, since just after 
  the Fourth Succession war—into a viable, cell-structured force. The 
  Maskirovka provided arms, money and training, and the Zhanzheng 
  de Guang provided resistance fighters. By 3057, a near-constant 
  stream of sabotage, bombings and kidnappings was occurring on 
  more than a score of Sarna March worlds.
  In most Sarna March communities, the Zhanzheng de Guang 
  were derided as cowards and terrorists, but they retained a core 
  of support among many poorer families. Maskirovka propagan-
  dists migrated between these worlds, spreading tales of universal 
  health care for Confederation citizens, of free education and nearly 
  universal employment. For many of the disaffected in the Sarna 
  March, those without jobs or who felt ignored by the massive 
  Federated Commonwealth bureaucracy, these reports swayed 
  their loyalty. When they were told of freedom fighters even now 
  resisting the FedCom “imperialists,” they believed the stories and 
  supported the fighters. And there were many more of them than 
  the Davions believed.
  Liao or Death
  The Zhanzheng de Guang operating in the Sarna March in 3054 were disor-
  ganized, undisciplined criminals. Sarna March Militia units were used to dealing 
  with them. They were ill-equipped fanatics who occasionally managed to blow 
  up an isolated bridge or ambush a military convoy with poorly aimed rifles. The 
  real guerrillas had mostly been killed in the 3030s and 3040s, before the malcon-
  tents exhausted themselves. The Zhanzheng de Guang of 3054 were disaffected 
  youths and vagrants angry at the system.
  Enter the Maskirovka.
  In 3054, Maskirovka teams arrived in the Sarna March and contacted 
  Zhanzheng de Guang cells on a dozen worlds. The most effective group was on 
  Zurich, and this group received extensive training in paramilitary tactics and po-
  litical destabilization. Maskirovka “training advisors” traveled with the groups, 
  assisted in planning, and even undertook high-risk missions designed to desta-
  bilize the local Federated Commonwealth government. Weapons were provided, 
  including (in extraordinary cases) gear for defeating BattleMech security.
  The Sarna March authorities recognized what was happening, but failed to cap-
  ture any of the Maskirovka advisors. Complaints to Capellan embassies were ignored. 
  “Produce some proof,” Capellan diplomats replied, knowing full well the Maskirovka 
  operatives would retreat to the embassies well before any FedCom forces got close 
  enough to identify them.
  In the months leading up to the Marik-Liao invasion of the Federated 
  Commonwealth, Zhanzheng de Guang attacks escalated to the point where they 
  occurred at least once a week across the March. The people were terrified—some 
  of being killed, some of failing. Pro-Capellan fervor reached an all-time high. 
  Media outlets on several worlds appeared to take the Zhanzheng de Guang’s side, 
  calling them freedom fighters rather than revolutionaries or terrorists.
  Soon, of course, the whole March went up, and Sun-Tzu Liao got back most 
  of the worlds our fathers took away from his grandfather. And the rest of them, 
  well… they went to shit.
  —From The Last Days of the Sarna March,
  by Captain Trenton Powell, AFFC (ret.)
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  57
  OpERATION gUERRERO
  During the Outreach Conference, one of the carrots offered to 
  Thomas Marik by Hanse Davion to entice him to provide the neces-
  sary weapons contracts was the care of Thomas’ sickly son Joshua 
  at the New Avalon Institute of Science. Joshua, who had battled 
  leukemia for almost all of his short life, spent the next six years in 
  the care of the Davions on New Avalon, taking advantage of the 
  foremost minds in oncology in the Inner Sphere. Unfortunately 
  for the Marik family, young Joshua succumbed to his illness and 
  passed away. Though the child’s death was a tragedy, it was not 
  unexpected. The same cannot be said for Archon Prince Victor 
  Steiner-Davion’s reaction to that event.
  When Joshua first arrived on New Avalon, Prince Hanse Davion 
  enacted a secret MIIO program known as Operation Gemini, with 
  the sole purpose of creating a convincing double for Joshua Marik. 
  The double was intended to ensure Thomas Marik’s continued co-
  operation with the war effort should the worst happen. Though 
  Hanse Davion died in late 3052, the operation continued, and 
  when Joshua Marik died the plan and its logic were presented to 
  Victor Steiner-Davion.
  He chose to set Gemini in motion.
  As fate would have it, the Maskirovka was the first to discover 
  the deception, but House Marik’s SAFE quickly confirmed it. After 
  a botched assassination attempt, the evidence was irrefutable, 
  and Thomas Marik accepted Chancellor Sun-Tzu’s suggestion that 
  the perfidious Davions be punished for their inhumanity. The Free 
  Worlds League military quickly prepared and launched Operation 
  Guerrero, designed to recapture worlds the League had lost to the 
  Lyran Commonwealth in the Fourth Succession War. At the same 
  time, Capellan regiments exploded across the Sarna March border 
  and struck former Capellan worlds. Marik-sponsored mercenary regi-
  ments supported the Capellan efforts, smashing the Davion garrisons 
  and allowing smaller Capellan or Capellan-sponsored forces to take 
  control. The Liberation, as it came to be known, was a resounding 
  success. In a choice that won them particular glory, all eight Warrior 
  Houses joined to conquer the planet Liao, returning the ruling dy-
  nasty’s ancestral homeworld to the Confederation’s bosom.
  As Capellan military units assaulted Federated Commonwealth 
  garrisons, the Zhanzheng de Guang erupted into open warfare, using 
  terrorist tactics like roadside bombs, assassinations and kidnappings 
  to undermine the governments and military command structures 
  on more than a score of worlds. Local militia forces managed to over-
  come most of these attacks, but on several worlds—Zurich among 
  them—the Zhanzheng de Guang toppled the planetary government 
  and claimed control of the planet for House Liao.
  Along with early reports of overwhelming successes against the 
  unprepared Sarna March, even better news reached Sian. Katherine 
  Steiner-Davion, Hanse Davion’s eldest daughter, declared the dis-
  tricts of the Lyran Commonwealth in a state of crisis because of 
  the Marik invasion and effectively removed the Lyran state from 
  the Federated Commonwealth. In a stroke, she claimed control of 
  the Lyran realm, renamed it the Lyran Alliance, and removed the 
  hundreds of FedCom regiments in Lyran space from her brother’s 
  control. With the threat of the Jade Falcons and Steel Vipers along 
  the borders of what had been the Lyran province of Tamar, the 
  majority of Federated Commonwealth military JumpShips were 
  stationed in Lyran space. Lack of transport hampered the Davion 
  response to Operation Guerrero, and Capellan and Free Worlds 
  forces expanded their attack waves. The self-proclaimed Archon 
  of the Lyran Alliance, now calling herself Katrina Steiner-Davion 
  in remembrance of her late (and famed) grandmother, invited all 
  Lyran-sponsored military units in the Federated Suns—including 
  those in the Sarna March—to return home to the Alliance. Many 
  regiments and regimental combat teams took her up on the offer.
  After their departure, the Sarna March collapsed. Analysts 
  around the Inner Sphere looked on in wonder as world after world 
  in that region erupted in open warfare. The withdrawal of much of 
  the Steiner-Davion war machine, combined with the Free Worlds 
  and Capellan invasions, seemed to give every petty warlord 
  in the region casus belli to proclaim himself emperor of the uni-
  verse. Single worlds proclaimed themselves independent of any 
  nation; small collections of planets joined together in defensive 
  alliances like tiny Successor States, with names like the TerraCap 
  Confederation and the Styk Commonality. Insurgents on Sarna 
  even declared the rebirth of the Sarna Supremacy, one of the sig-
  natories of the original Confederation charter with Franco Liao.
  The Chancellor and his Strategios responded to the situation 
  as best they could. The Confederation annexed as many worlds as 
  it could lay claim to and protect, and a number of planets filled 
  the zone known as the Disputed Territories as irregular forces 
  fought to reclaim them for the Confederation or keep them in the 
  Federated Suns. Mercenaries flooded the region and the worlds 
  nearby. Soon the entire area became known as the Chaos March, 
  as no one could keep track of who controlled what planet for more 
  than a week at a time.
  Operation Gemini
  Internal MIIO documents recount the Maskirovka’s Operation Doppelganger 
  during the Third Succession War as the inspiration for Operation Gemini, though 
  it’s clear the Gemini double operation was never as drastic as the Liao plan. 
  Davion’s double for Joshua Marik was a carefully cultivated actor who knew 
  full well what he was doing and why. The Doppelganger Hanse Davion had 
  been a shell of a man, his original personality erased and replaced with the 
  Maskirovka’s version of Hanse. Whatever else can be said about Hanse Davion, 
  he never missed the value of an enemy’s ideas. Gemini was intended to secure 
  the flow of war materiel from the Free Worlds League, but Hanse Davion never 
  really understood Thomas Marik. It is unlikely the Captain-General would have 
  stopped the flow of ’Mechs, arms and ammunition simply because his son suc-
  cumbed to an often fatal disease. Honor would have prevented him from acting 
  out of pique.
  That same honor, of course, necessitated a violent response when 
  Victor Steiner-Davion’s cowardly activation of Gemini hid the son’s death 
  from his father.
  —From The Devil You Didn’t Know: Diablo’s Secret Programs
  by Anson Roswell, Solaris Press, 3059
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  58
  By the time Captain-General Thomas Marik called an end to 
  Operation Guerrero, Free Worlds League military units had laid 
  claim to nearly every world lost to the Lyran Commonwealth near-
  ly thirty years earlier. The Chancellor sent many terse messages 
  to the Captain-General, inviting him to continue the invasion and 
  exploit the disorganized state of House Davion’s defenses, but 
  Thomas Marik demurred. His campaign had never been about 
  mere conquest, and he achieved his goals with few losses. He al-
  lowed the Confederation to take over the contracts of many of the 
  mercenary regiments operating in the war zone, however, and 
  shifted logistical priorities to help keep Capellan forces supplied.
  Though not as successful as they’d hoped for, the Liberation 
  campaign went better than the Strategios expected, and the disin-
  tegration of the Sarna March into chaos was even more damaging 
  to the Federated Suns. Even better, from the Chancellor’s point of 
  view, was the sundering of the Federated Commonwealth. While 
  Katrina Steiner-Davion had always called the situation a temporary 
  response to the emergency, Sun-Tzu Liao knew the reality. Katrina 
  would never willingly surrender that much power gained. Once 
  again, the Inner Sphere held five major realms—and with the re-
  capture of much that it had lost in the Fourth Succession War, the 
  Confederation was again fit to sit among them as an equal.
  pERIpHERY INTERESTS
  Soon after the end of major hostilities in the Chaos March, the 
  Chancellor turned his attention outward. The balkanization of the 
  Sarna March greatly increased the Confederation’s military needs. 
  In addition to garrison forces for the newly returned worlds, more 
  troops were needed to assist pro-Capellan resistance groups 
  and put down the petty rebellions on many planets that had 
  claimed independence. Around this same time, rumors crept into 
  Maskirovka stations on the Periphery border that the Magistracy 
  of Canopus faced an increase in pirate raiding, which it attributed 
  to the Confederation. Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao knew he had not 
  authorized any support for piracy against the Magistracy; when 
  combined with other factors, the situation presented an interest-
  ing possibility that he decided to give his direct attention.
  The Magistracy of Canopus had a checkered history with the 
  Confederation. Within living memory, the Magistracy had invaded 
  the Confederation bent on conquest. Relations with the Capellan 
  state were almost non-existent, though there had been tenuous 
  communications through the Word of Blake, whose personnel 
  administered the hyperpulse generators in both realms. What in-
  terested the Chancellor, however, was the stance of the current 
  Magestrix, Emma Centrella, toward diplomacy. The Magestrix had 
  recently concluded an alliance with the Taurian Concordat, another 
  Periphery realm near Confederation space. The terms of the Treaty 
  of Taurus called for the two Periphery realms to jointly colonize 
  the region of space between them, unimaginatively dubbed the 
  New Colony Region. The Magestrix was the only Periphery leader 
  Whatever Works
  The three worlds of the Sarna Supremacy in 3058 sat like a boil on the skin 
  of the Confederation. Possessing a strong enough military to hold off a sizable 
  Confederation assault force, the Supremacy looked as though it might survive 
  if nothing was done. The historical (and industrial) value of Sarna, joined with 
  the agricultural might of Kaifeng and the mineral wealth of Sakhalin, made the 
  tiny realm almost entirely self-sufficient. They hired mercenaries to supple-
  ment their main forces and requested recognition from ComStar, New Avalon 
  and Atreus. The Chancellor wished those worlds returned to the Confederation. 
  Sarna, a former Commonality capital, carried special historical significance to 
  the Confederation as the birthworld of the original Sarna Supremacy, one of the 
  states that had created the Confederation in 2367.
  Unable to conquer the Sarna worlds by main force, the Chancellor and 
  his colonels turned to stratagems and subterfuge. Warrior House Hiritsu in-
  filtrated the Kaifeng system and quickly landed and seized control of most 
  of that world’s transit hubs. A stinging defeat of the Kaifeng Sarna March 
  Militia meant the Confederation now controlled the Supremacy’s breadbas-
  ket world. Even after House Hiritsu was rotated off Kaifeng and replaced with 
  on-loan Canopian troops, Kaifeng remained in Confederation hands. Food 
  shortages quickly became common on Sarna and Sakhalin, and the Ministry of 
  Development rationed the sale of food based on how well the Supremacy bent 
  to the Chancellor’s will. In 3062, the Supremacy was named a protectorate of the 
  Capellan Confederation, and in 3066 the two remaining worlds were returned to 
  the Confederation proper.
  —from A Han-Themed Tide: Reclamation and Restoration,
  by Addison Sorrel, Sian University Press, 3067
  The Politics of Secrecy
  One of the lesser-known benefits of the Chancellor’s mission to the 
  Periphery was the discovery of the Word of Blake’s ties to the bandit kingdom 
  known as the Marian Hegemony. A sect of the Word of Blake known as the 
  Sixth of June had been supplying Caesar Sean O’Reilly with arms, munitions 
  and even troops to use against the Magistracy in an effort to destabilize that 
  realm in the wake of its alliance with the Taurian Concordat. The Chancellor, 
  along with the Magistracy Armed Forces and mercenary auxiliaries, discovered 
  the Word of Blake connection and destroyed much of the supplies stockpiled 
  on the Free Worlds League world of Campoleone. The Sixth of June’s leader, 
  Precentor Demona Aziz of Atreus, was one of the last believers in slain Primus 
  Myndo Waterly’s interpretation of Jerome Blake’s writings: namely, that if the 
  Successor and Periphery states did not collapse of their own accord, they should 
  be made to collapse so that the Word of Blake could then bring enlightenment 
  to their peoples.
  The Chancellor refrained from outing the Word’s actions to the Inner Sphere 
  at large, but as a condition of his silence he forced the Word of Blake to assist 
  in refurbishing the Star League-era repair facility on the planet Victoria into 
  a full-blown research and production complex. Currently, the Victoria facil-
  ity produces some of the most advanced BattleMechs and weapons in the 
  Confederation’s arsenal. 
  —From ScandalVids: A Collection of the Best of the Unknown,
  Solaris Press, 3066
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  59
  known to have offered alliances to many of the other Periphery 
  states. Clearly, she was willing to deal in order to strengthen her 
  realm—and if there was one art of diplomacy the Chancellor ex-
  celled at, it was the art of the deal.
  Arriving at Canopus at the height of a particularly brutal series 
  of pirate raids, the Chancellor offered the Magistracy a full alliance. 
  In exchange for military aid in the Inner Sphere, the Confederation 
  offered the Canopians technical and educational support, as well 
  as reciprocity agreements in military aid and the immediate use of 
  an elite battalion of Capellan troops to free up Magistracy units for 
  operations against the pirates plaguing the realm. The Magestrix 
  accepted the Chancellor’s offer, in the first stage of what would 
  become the Trinity Alliance. After assisting in anti-pirate opera-
  tions, the Chancellor returned to Sian and presented his Strategic 
  Military Director, Talon Zahn, with new Canopian troops to assist 
  Capellan efforts in the Chaos March.
  STAR LEAgUE REBORN
  In mid-3058, the Jade Falcon Clan struck deep into the Lyran 
  Alliance, getting as far as the industrial world of Coventry before 
  halting their advance. They occupied Coventry and engaged the 
  forces set to dislodge them in a series of battles designed to blood 
  their younger warriors. Though the khans of the Jade Falcons no 
  doubt intended this assault to prepare them for the resumption of 
  hostilities when the Tukayyid Truce expired, the Coventry attack 
  would have far-reaching consequences.
  The threat against Coventry, a core Alliance world and a valu-
  able part of the Lyran Alliance Armed Forces’ logistical network, 
  was so great that Katrina Steiner-Davion requested aid from ev-
  ery Inner Sphere state in repulsing the Clan enemy. Under the 
  terms of the agreements signed on Outreach during the initial 
  Clan invasion, each realm was duty-bound to respond, and they 
  did. The Free Worlds League sent their elite Knights of the Inner 
  Sphere; the Federated Commonwealth, the Davion Heavy Guards; 
  the Draconis Combine released their Genyosha; and ComStar, its 
  feared Invader Galaxy. The Chancellor ordered the Harloc Warriors 
  to the rallying point at Tharkad, where they were joined by the 
  bulk of Wolf’s Dragoons mercenary regiments. This massive force, 
  one of the largest ever assembled since the Star League, proceed-
  ed to Coventry to lift the siege under the command of Prince Victor 
  Steiner-Davion. The Jade Falcons, upon learning who was com-
  ing, relished the glory the coming battle would bring. When the 
  task force finally landed, however, Victor Davion took a coward’s 
  approach. Rather than fight, he allowed the Jade Falcons to with-
  draw, preserving his own and the Falcons’ remaining forces.
  Katrina Steiner-Davion immediately saw the camaraderie en-
  gendered by the multi-national force on Coventry and called for a 
  summit meeting on Tharkad. Dubbed the Whitting Conference, in 
  honor of the site of the Inner Sphere forces’ final victory over the 
  Jade Falcons, it was the first time the leaders of the Inner Sphere 
  had met face-to-face since Outreach. The Chancellor attended 
  with his senior advisors, but not even he could have anticipated 
  the meeting’s outcome. Chaired by Anastasius Focht and ComStar, 
  the Whitting Conference delegates together created a new Star 
  League comprised of all five Successor States, the St. Ives Compact 
  and ComStar.
  The new Star League’s mission was to end the Clan invasion, 
  once and for all. The military planners among them chose as their 
  target the violent Clan Smoke Jaguar, which had preyed merci-
  lessly on the Draconis Combine. The new Star League intended to 
  annihilate the Smoke Jaguars, an act they hoped would shock the 
  gathered Clans into taking the Star League seriously. As their mil-
  itary forces assembled, the Council Lords made one last choice: 
  a new First Lord to lead the reborn Star League to victory over 
  the Clans.
  By acclamation, the First Lord of the new Star League was Sun-
  Tzu Liao of the Capellan Confederation.
  Though the position was ceremonial in almost every respect, 
  the Chancellor embraced his role as First Lord and directed the 
  eventual operations against the Smoke Jaguars and the rest of the 
  Clans that brought an end to the invasion. While the armies of the 
  Star League fought in the Draconis Combine and the Periphery, 
  the First Lord oversaw their support and the non-military aspects 
  of the Star League accords.
  The Coalition of the Willing
  Though the Outreach Conference is rightly considered the first peaceful 
  diplomatic meeting of the Successor State lords since the fall of the Star League 
  (the wedding of Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner was not, properly speaking, 
  a diplomatic event), its results were never more than lackluster. Much has been 
  made over the years of the Free Worlds League’s export of military hardware, but 
  it most likely would not have taken a grand conference on the Dragoons’ home-
  world to create such activity. League manufacturers are canny industrialists, and 
  they would have seen the lucrative markets opening in other realms as the Clans 
  demolished the militaries of the Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis 
  Combine. Not even Thomas Marik—had he been inclined—could have kept the 
  various provincial manufacturers from selling to those threatened states.
  The military agreements made on Outreach never got past the planning 
  stages. The only realm to send troops to face the Clans on another nation’s soil 
  was the St. Ives Compact, which rotated a roughly battalion-sized expedition-
  ary force along the Lyran border from 3052 to 3056. No Capellan unit was ever 
  sent into the Commonwealth or the Combine before the Harloc Raiders arrived 
  on Coventry, despite the aid provisions of the Outreach Accords. The quieting of 
  the border after the Com Guards’ victory on Tukayyid meant that the emergency 
  provisions were never invoked. That is, never until Coventry.
  The coalition of forces from every realm showed the Inner Sphere leaders 
  that they could cooperate militarily against their enemies. The reformation of 
  the Star League on Tharkad, it could be argued, is the only logical outcome from 
  such a peaceful assemblage of warmaking units as was gathered on Coventry 
  after the Jade Falcons withdrew, and it would take the banner of the Star League 
  to bring those units to fight alongside each other.
  —From Dreams Whispered and Made Real: The Second Star League,
  by Hayes Christianson, Donegal Press, 3059
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  60
  Capella Commonality
  Sian
  Commonality
  Adhafera
  Bondurant
  Scarborough
  Decus
  Prix
  Nihal
  Manapire
  Shiba
  Menkib
  No Return
  Purvo
  Tantara
  Shipka
  Capricorn III
  Cap Rouge
  Granera
  Maritgues
  Meadowvale
  Saonara
  Skvorec
  Trznadel Cluster
  Wisconsin
  Yanchep
  Megarez
  Krimari
  o Tressida
  Dunianshire
  Luxen
  Palm
  Dainmar Majoris
  Abruzzi
  Ambergrist
  Andarmax
  Armaxa
  Ashley
  Aucara
  Bacum
  Barras
  Beid
  Betelgeuse
  Borden
  Carbonis
  Cavalor
  Claxton
  Claybrooke
  Columbine
  Conquista
  Corodiz
  Courcellete
  Cursa
  Decatur
  Dicon
  Drozan
  Egress
  Elnath
  Exedor
  Fagerholm
  Fortymile
  Frazer
  Fronde
  Gomeisa
  Goodna
  Gunthar
  Gurnet
  Haappajarvi
  Harsefeld
  Hurik
  Ikast
  Immenstadt
  Ingonish
  Ito
  Jacomarle
  Jacson
  Jonzac
  Kafr Silim
  Kittery
  Krin
  Kujari
  Larsha
  Les Halles
  Les Halles
  Lopez
  Madras
  Matsu
  Mendham
  Mitchel
  Monhegan
  Monhegan
  Nashuar
  New Roland
  Niomede
  Overton
  Pilpala
  Pojos
  Principia
  Quimberton
  Renown
  Repulse
  Royalston
  Sarmaxa
  Sax
  Second Chance
  Second Try
  Shaunavon
  Shoreham
  Sirdar
  Turin
  Vard
  Velhas
  Victoria
  Villanueva
  Wallacia
  Ward
  Weatogue
  Wright
  Xanthe III
  Yunnah
  Yuris
  Zanzibar
  Detroit
  Herotitus
  Corey
  Andro
  Stero
  Jansen's Hold
  Jansen's Hold
  Illiushin
  Camadeierre
  Flaum
  Burton
  Atreus Prime
  Mithron
  Brisbane
  Laconis
  Cumberland
  Empori
  Loth
  Rockwellawan
  Aspropirgos
  Gouderak
  enovac
  Ruschegg
  Thurrock
  Vakarel
  Butzfleth
  Deschenes
  Shenwan
  Siendou
  Beenleigh
  El Giza
  Leyda
  Piriapolis
  Ryerson
  Taygeta
  Hassad
  Novaya Zemlya
  Bethel
  Muridox
  Mosiro
  onolog
  onolog
  Gallis
  Lockton
  Adherlwin
  Fanardir
  Borgan's Rift
  Trip
  rminous
  Joyz
  Early Dawn
  Brixtana
  Cate's Hold
  Firgrove
  Kaitangata
  Oltepesi
  Hobson
  Kigamboni
  Markesan
  Electra
  Flintoft
  Horsham
  Lindsay
  Maia
  Merope
  Pleiades Cluster
  Ridgebrook
  Robsart
  Rollis
  Wrentham
  Jamestown
  Landmark
  MacLeod's Land
  New Vallis
  New Ganymede
  100
  Nahoni
  Amiga
  MacLeod's Land
  Camlann
  Nova Roma
  Sekulmun
  Ankaa
  Dalton
  Canopus IV
  New Abilene
  Amity
  Brockway
  Bromhead
  Diefenbaker
  Midale
  Ishtar
  Renfield
  Hya
  New Vandenburg
  Pinard
  Eleusis
  Carmichael
  Deneb
  Kaitos
  Kansu
  Hudeiba
  Kwamashu
  Latice
  Lurgatan
  Sadurni
  Mandaree
  Samantha
  Campbelton
  Dickinson
  us
  Tintavel
  Kearny
  Jubaylah
  Cirebon
  Fieferana
  Mansu-ri
  Cole Harbour
  Calloway VI
  Ipswich
  Shuen Wan
  Frondas
  Furud
  Gannett
  Tania Australis
  s Minor
  McKenna
  Antipolo
  Vikindu
  Flannagan's Nebulea
  New Aragon
  Taurus
  New Syrtis
  New Rhodes III
  Angol
  Alrescha
  Acamar
  Spica
  Taga
  Palladaine
  Strawn
  Ngake
  El Dor
  Alcyone
  Daniels
  Redfield
  Wernke
  Dela
  Concord
  Gallatin
  Launam
  Merak
  Nestor
  Anegasaki
  Cameron
  Danais
  Iknogoro
  Loeches
  Matheran
  Milnerton
  Pella II
  Sophie's World
  Sorunda
  Barlaston
  Bora
  Buenos Aires
  Calpaca
  Carmen
  Fujidera
  Glasgow
  Grand Base
  Hadnall
  Holloway
  Hustaing
  Kaifeng
  Lesalles
  Mauripur
  Mentasta
  Phact
  Preston
  Primus
  Raballa
  Randar
  Relevow
  Sakhalin
  Scheuerheck
  Scituate
  Sendalor
  Sigma Mare
  Tallin
  Teng
  Texlos
  Umka
  Vestallas
  Warlock
  Watermael
  Wazan
  Xieng Khouang
  Ziliang
  Bellado
  Bog
  Bristol
  Carmacks
  Gallitzin
  Heligoland
  Ip
  Kathil
  Kluane
  Layover
  Listowel
  Mandate
  Manteno
  Montcoal
  Mordialloc
  Orbisonia
  Remshield
  Victoria
  Hobbs
  Andurien
  Kanata
  Kasdach
  Shiro III
  Verlo
  yn Tarma
  Highspire
  Chebanse
  Okains
  Atlas
  Avigait
  Corella
  Cotocallao
  Glentworth
  Jaipur
  Quittacas
  Altorra
  Bellatrix
  Calseraigne
  Kurvasa
  Menke
  New Westin
  Raphael
  Westerhand
  Chilung
  Diass
  Guangzho
  Nullarbor
  olo
  Alkes
  Bordon
  Blandinsville
  Cholame
  DeWi
  Johnsondale
  Saunemin
  Avawatz
  Axton
  Corydon
  Farwell
  Flushing
  Freisland
  Monongahela
  Narellan
  Ogilvie
  Perkasie
  Salem
  Stein's Folly
  Streator
  Ulan Batar
  Lee
  Abadan
  Ariel
  Asellus Borealis
  Bentley
  Bithinia
  Castrovia
  Cronulla
  Denbar
  Geifer
  Hexare
  Holt
  Housekarle
  Hunan
  Kashilla
  Kiyev
  Lancaster
  Lungdo
  Necromo
  New Delos
  New Macao
  Ohrensen
  Safe Port
  Salur
  St. Andre
  St. Loris
  Tiber
  Truth
  Ulan
  Bator
  Vanra
  Ventabren
  Weekapaug
  Zaurak
  Aitutaki
  cadia
  Avior
  Bainsville
  enah
  Jouques
  Keeling
  reles
  cAffe
  New Hope
  Rasalas
  Sheridan
  Uhuru
  Washburn
  Boardwalk
  Campertown
  Homestead
  Odell
  Sanilac
  Wappingers
  Regulus
  Oriente
  Smolensk
  Brusett
  Helixmar
  Dirk's Gulf
  Kumqwat
  Aldertaine
  Bedeque
  Helm
  Ling
  Semenyih
  Tania Borealis
  Tawas
  Tecumseh
  Rosamond
  Kentares IV
  Acala
  Ashkum
  Barstow
  Beecher
  Cammal
  Goderich
  Moravian
  Tiskilwa
  Valexa
  Maladar
  Brighton
  Cordiagr
  Harloc
  Milos
  Old Kentucky
  Old Kentucky
  Ovan
  Tsinghai
  Tsingtao
  Eom
  Imalda
  Propus
  Uravan
  Jonathan
  Jonathan
  Poznan
  Angell II
  Daneshmand
  Dayr Khuna
  Elektrougli
  Emris IV
  Fletcher
  Harmony
  Muscida
  St. Ives
  Sian
  New Aval
  Azha
  Miaplacidus
  Talitha
  Augustine
  Kalidasa
  Kyrkbacken
  Van
  Diemen IV
  Pollux
  New Canton
  Nopah
  Achernar
  Caselton
  Rio
  Ronel
  Schedar
  Tybalt
  Almach
  Buchlau
  Buchlau
  Gan
  Singh
  Mesartim
  Ningpo
  Sonnia
  Mira
  Halloran V
  Elbar
  Chamdo
  Indicass
  Jasmine
  Menkar
  Minnacora
  Tsitsang
  Argyle
  Clovis
  Marlette
  Olancha
  Rochester
  Scudder
  Talcott
  scana
  Kyeinnisan
  Oceana
  Olafsvik
  Hyde
  Solaris
  Exeter
  Avellaneda
  Ibstock
  Park Place
  Bell
  Wei
  Asellus Australis
  Goshen
  Kirkenlaard
  Wroxeter
  Kurragin
  Ares
  Capella
  Beten Kaitos
  Elgin
  Emerson
  Liao
  Foochow
  Styk
  Algot
  Addicks
  Fuentes
  Sarna
  Bandora
  New Sagan
  Acubens
  Alphard
  Alula Australis
  Berenson
  Bharat
  Chertan
  Fletcher
  Genoa
  Hamal
  Hean
  Marcus
  Menkalinan
  Nanking
  Nathan
  Remulac
  Saiph
  Savannah
  Slocum
  Wyatt
  Zosma
  Dubhe
  Dubhe
  Wing
  Zosma
  Bernardo
  Hamilton
  New Hessen
  Shensi
  Suzano
  Yangtze
  Gei-Fu
  Ingersoll
  Masterson
  Palos
  Quemoy
  Batavia
  Ke
  Logandale
  New Valencia
  Drusibacken
  Keystone
  Tongatapu
  Algol
  Pleione
  Mirach
  Tikonov
  Terra
  Caph
  Marik
  McHenry
  Muskegon
  New Olympia
  Procyon
  Procyon
  Robinson
  Rochelle
  Capolla
  Terra
  Firma
  Bryant
  Sirius
  Woodstock
  Woodstock
  Ingress
  Keid
  New Home
  Oliver
  Carver V
  Castor Devil's Rock
  Epsilon
  Eridani
  Epsilon Indi
  Graham IV
  Sirius
  Graham IV
  Hall
  Hsien
  Irian
  Northwind
  Outreach
  Edwards
  Autumn Wind
  Stewart
  Chesterton
  Demeter
  Foot Fall
  Zion
  Asuncion
  Dieudonne
  Cartago
  Phecda
  Arboris
  Basalt
  Sheratan
  Aldebaran
  Connaught
  Wasat
  Berenson
  Wasat
  Zurich
  Callison
  Alhena
  Marcus
  Zavijava
  Callison
  Kawich
  Tall Trees
  Tigress
  Shiloh
  Ruchbah
  Small World
  Small World
  Aea
  Regis Roost
  Spitz
  Carthage
  Argos
  Hellespont
  Spencer
  Portland
  Addasar
  CAPELLAN CONFEDERATION
  after
  Operation Guerrero (3058)
  Coreward
  Spinward
  Anti-spinward
  Rimward
  MAXIMUM  JUMP: APPROXIMATELY 30 LIGHT YEARS
  LEGEND
  BORDER KEY
  NATIONAL CAPITAL
  DISTRICT CAPITAL
  PLANET KEY
   DISTRICT BORDER
  PROVINCE BORDER
  3057 (PRE-WAR) BORDER
  PROVINCE CAPITAL
  120 LIGHT YEARS OR 36.8 PARSECS
  30 LIGHT YEARS
  © 3067 BLAKE'S TRUTH CARTOGRAPHIC DIVISION
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  61
  xIN SHENg!
  “The time has come to announce to the Inner Sphere—
  and to ourselves—that we are Capellans! To remind our 
  enemies that we are worthy of their respect; to remind our 
  children that we are worthy of their honor! The time has 
  come for us, a united Capellan nation, to retake our pri-
  macy of place from the ghosts that plague us—to again toe 
  the line and declare our existence! We must, like the fabled 
  phoenix, rise again. Xin Sheng!”
  —Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao, 3060
  The years following the reformation of the Star League saw 
  growth and change in nearly every Successor State. That growth 
  was not always simple or painless—the reintegration of the many 
  worlds conquered by the Smoke Jaguars, for instance, caused 
  serious difficulties for the Draconis Combine—but it happened 
  nonetheless. In the Confederation, this period of change was just 
  the trigger the Chancellor had been waiting for to unveil the full 
  breadth of his reforms to the Capellan state—reforms he hoped 
  would move the Confederation away from the specter of the 
  Fourth Succession War and back toward equality with the other 
  realms of the Inner Sphere.
  FIRST LORD OF THE CART
  As First Lord, Sun-Tzu Liao’s primary duty to the Star League was 
  to oversee the massive logistical effort supporting the gathered 
  regiments that were undertaking Operation Bulldog. His creation 
  of the logistical command necessary to supply the regiments—
  each from a different Successor State, with different needs, 
  support expectations and materiel requirements—is still studied 
  in military academies across the Inner Sphere as a model of logisti-
  cal organization. The leaders of the Successor States had decreed 
  the Star League’s creation, but it fell to the First Lord and the House 
  Lords’ various bureaucracies to make the model work.
  As a first step, the First Lord convened a command council 
  comprised of the designated command officers from each partici-
  pating state. Each was tasked with identifying the needs of all units 
  contributed by their states and comparing those needs with the 
  estimated supply contribution allocated by the units’ parent orga-
  nizations. For example, Colonel Yevgeniy Karskov was appointed 
  liaison with the Star League Logistical Command (SLLC) from the 
  Capellan Confederation Armed Forces; his models showed that 
  while the CCAF had allocated sufficient technical staffing for the 
  Red Lancers’ projected needs, the tonnage of munitions allocated 
  would only support two weeks of campaigning. On his suggestion, 
  a pool was established of standard equipment, such as ammuni-
  tion and generic armor patches. Also pooled were food, medical 
  supplies and basic mechanical needs like fuel and lubricants. This 
  pool was to be replenished by the hosting state—in this case, the 
  Draconis Combine, since such mundane supplies could be more 
  easily manufactured and transported locally. More esoteric equip-
  ment, such as advanced electronics or weaponry manufactured 
  only by one state, would come from that state’s logistical alloca-
  tion. The First Lord approved of this plan and instituted it across 
  the board.
  Another of the First Lord’s acts was to approve the impressment 
  of civilian shipping where necessary in order to move supplies 
  to the front. Impressed ships were given vouchers for standard 
  shipping rates, and each realm agreed to accept the vouchers as 
  payment for outstanding debt. Though trade was seriously dis-
  rupted in several areas, the impressments did not destroy the 
  shipping companies themselves, as had so often happened in the 
  past. Only the stamp of the Star League made this possible, though 
  we cannot discount the First Lord’s diplomatic efforts in getting 
  every Star League member state to agree to it.
  Of all the miracles worked by the reborn Star League Defense 
  Force, the logistical effort may have been the most underrated but 
  vital enterprise of all. Any soldier will tell you he’s perfectly willing 
  to kill the enemy given the right tools, and under the leadership 
  of First Lord Sun-Tzu Liao, those soldiers got the tools. In fact, they 
  got the tools and more, and the first campaign of the re-formed 
  Star League under Sun-Tzu Liao’s stewardship was more swiftly 
  victorious than anyone had dared to dream.
  NEW BIRTH
  As the Star League Defense Force first drove the Smoke Jaguars 
  from the Inner Sphere and then pursued them all the way to Clan 
  space, the First Lord stepped out of the way of the logistical chain 
  whose creation he had overseen and turned his attention to do-
  mestic matters. Though pleased and honored to be First Lord, he 
  Despite Appearances
  Most of my troops grumbled when we got picked for Star League duty. It 
  wasn’t the duty that bothered us—we were all ready to fight, ready to show 
  these Clanners how real soldiers fought, and pleased as hell to be doing it under 
  Star League colors. What had us wound up was all the supply briefings. This was 
  real early, see—but we’d be in a tactical exercise without troops, and the S-4 
  would raise his head and ask where the beans and bullets were coming from.
  “The First Lord is seeing to that,” we got told. The First Lord being His 
  Slinkiness, Sun-Tzu Liao.
  Come on. I mean, have you even looked at a map of the Capellan 
  Confederation? Sure, he could probably manage to get grapefruits shipped from 
  Sian to Capella. Probably take six jumps, but they’d get there. But feed and sup-
  ply and army, from Regulus to the Draconis Combine? I had troopers muttering 
  about facing down Smoke Jaguars with chopsticks. 
  He came through, though. For all the griping, the supply situation was 
  never better—everything showed up where it was supposed to, on time and 
  not broken. I mean, sure, there were problems. There are always problems, 
  companies of tanks getting the fuel ration for a VTOL squadron, things like that. 
  But on the whole, the supplies flowed from all over the Inner Sphere, and ended 
  up where we needed ‘em on Wolcott or Schuyler or wherever.
  The First Lord saw to it, I guess.
  —From an interview with Lieutenant (senior grade)
  Amos Thibideau, FWLM, 3062
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  62
  remained Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation as well, and 
  Sun-Tzu Liao was first and foremost a child of his nation. Using 
  the status and goodwill he had gained as First Lord, he declared 
  a period of Xin Sheng—new birth—across the Confederation. He 
  judged the time had finally come to complete the reforms he had 
  planned since 3052, both civil and martial, and with the power of 
  the First Lordship behind him he knew he would never have a bet-
  ter opportunity.
  On the first day of January, 3060, the Chancellor announced 
  his Xin Sheng vision to the Confederation at large. Claiming that 
  his work with the Star League as First Lord had shown him how 
  successful a nation could be when its people cooperated totally to-
  ward a single goal—and glossing over the fact that Capellan social 
  philosophy had expounded that view for centuries—he declared a 
  six-month period of all-out effort to strengthen the Confederation. 
  Production of everything was increased—’Mechs, tanks, civilian 
  cars, bathroom tissue, everything—and marketed for domestic 
  sale or export through the Star League. Every citizen and worker 
  had his income taxed at stiff rates. Every business, from corporate 
  giants like Ceres Metals to the smallest cobbler on Ward, had its 
  profits taxed, all with a six-month grandfather date. For half a year, 
  Capellans worked toward a better Confederation. Taxes were col-
  lected and reinvested in infrastructure. The people, aside from a 
  few grumblers, embraced Xin Sheng and turned those six months 
  of hardship into a period of proud sacrifice.
  The Heart of the Matter
  The Xin Sheng movement became a rallying cry for more than increased pro-
  ductivity or political support. It also sparked renewed appreciation for Capellan 
  culture, so much of which depends on the Han (Chinese) heritage brought from 
  Terra and long associated with House Liao.
  Not all of the threads that make up the Confederation tapestry are Asian, 
  however. It is a measure of Sun-Tzu Liao’s political astuteness that, where ap-
  propriate, he called for pan-Capellan unity while recognizing the many Capellan 
  subcultures.
  Those Capellans who did not claim Han ancestry nonetheless appreciated 
  Han culture. Born and raised in a Chinese-influenced society, they were as proud 
  of that heritage as of any other ties to Terra. The measure of their support ap-
  peared in current fashions, their choices of entertainment, and the resurgent 
  popularity of older Han celebrations and holidays. Like their Han brothers and 
  sisters, they also venerated the Liao family, Sun-Tzu in particular.
  In making his Xin Sheng pan-Capellan, Sun-Tzu allowed the ethnic Slavs 
  of Tikonov to embrace the resurgence as well. He welcomed the views of the 
  neo-pacifists of Ward and the more martial-minded denizens of Menke. By em-
  bracing all that made them Capellan, but focusing on his own heritage, he tied 
  the Tikonovs and the Sarns and every other non-Han Capellan more closely to 
  himself and his family.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  63
  This period of production was what many consumer-goods 
  manufacturers in the Confederation had been waiting for ever 
  since Sun-Tzu’s ascension to the Chancellorship. Capellans turned 
  out in record numbers to purchase the largesse of the all-out Xin 
  Sheng effort. The call for Capellan unity meant that Confederation-
  produced goods were suddenly in high demand. Record numbers 
  of foreign importers reported record losses—on several planets of 
  the Sian Commonality, for example, sellers couldn’t give away a Free 
  Worlds League-manufactured holovid player. Confederation indus-
  tries enjoyed the rash of sales and then rejoiced again when the 
  taxation subsidies arrived, further stimulating the Confederation 
  economy. By August 3060, nearly every Confederation business re-
  ported third-quarter earnings with double-digit increases. The end 
  of the high tax rate after six months did little to end either demand 
  or high prices—manufacturers simply pocketed and reinvested the 
  extra earnings, further strengthening themselves.
  A few made attempts at profiteering from the Xin Sheng re-
  forms, but in almost every case the citizenry of the affected worlds 
  flew into such a rage that the verdicts were almost always guilty. 
  Commune Courts handed out harsh sentences against anyone 
  who tried to profit illegally from other Capellans’ sacrifices. As one 
  justice put it, “A man will cut his own meal in half and give it to his 
  neighbor for free, if the man asks. But he’ll put a knife in that same 
  neighbor, should the man try to steal half that meal unoffered.”
  Xin Sheng touched every caste of the Confederation, even (or 
  perhaps especially) the massive numbers of servitors. Though Sun-
  Tzu had abolished the servitors’ near-slavery and enforced a wage 
  for them, Xin Sheng formalized and expanded on those reforms. 
  The rising power of the servitor caste over Capellan society by 3067 
  was built on the broader rights granted them in 3060. In fact, many 
  sociologists have begun to theorize about the end of the servitor 
  caste’s existence in the next several generations as they more or 
  less breed themselves into the ranks of the Commonality.
  As the Inner Sphere glued itself to the nightly holovid news, 
  desperate for some word from the Smoke Jaguar Occupation Zone 
  or the distant Periphery, the Confederation put its head down and 
  bootstrapped itself into a stronger, more vibrant nation. When 
  the attention of the rest of the Sphere wandered away from the 
  scandalvids or the incessant “no comment” replies of Star League 
  officers, they found a resurgent Confederation growing surer of 
  itself by the day. In many cases, it seemed as if the wounds of the 
  Fourth Succession War had never been inflicted, but in fact the 
  rape of the Confederation by Hanse Davion was never far from 
  most Capellans’ minds.
  It was never far from the mind of the Chancellor, either, and he 
  soon turned his attention to military matters.
  SHELL gAMES
  The success of his negotiations with Magestrix Emma Centrella 
  and the Magistracy of Canopus added several Canopian regiments 
  to the Capellan order of battle, and the Strategios wasted little 
  time in putting them to use. The Chancellor employed them as 
  well, as political tools to enforce his will in the Disputed Territories 
  and the Chaos March. Together with his position as First Lord of 
  the Star League, the Chancellor placed Canopian troops as peace-
  keepers on Sarna and Styk, two powerful worlds in the Disputed 
  Territories that hosted BattleMech manufacturing facilities. Along 
  with his possession of the agricultural world of Kaifeng, this gave 
  the Chancellor de facto control of the Sarna Supremacy, and con-
  trol of the exports from Styk—which meant control of that world 
  as well. Objections raised were quickly dismissed; again acting 
  as First Lord, Sun-Tzu decreed that all production from the Sarna 
  and Styk facilities should be directed to the Star League Defense 
  Force or to member state formations under Star League colors. 
  When their rotations were over, however, the Chancellor ordered 
  his Strategic Military Director to replace them with Capellan line 
  units that did not rotate out. Eventually, under economic pres-
  sure and “advised” by nobles and independents in the pay of the 
  Maskirovka, both worlds rejoined the Confederation.
  This pattern was often repeated. Canopian or Capellan units 
  under Star League colors would land on a contested world and put 
  an end to the fighting, all in the name of the Star League. As those 
  Star League units withdrew, they were replaced by Capellan units. 
  Aldebaran and other worlds quickly joined Sarna and Styk in the 
  Confederation’s embrace, as well as a dozen more worlds before 
  the end of the First Lord’s tenure in 3061.
  The three-year term of the First Lord’s office gave Sun-Tzu Liao a 
  tight dealine for accomplishing his goals. Though he had done much 
  in a short time—far more than his detractors had ever thought pos-
  sible—there remained much more to do. He worked the CCAF to a 
  frenzy, using his newly promoted sang-jiang-jun and the Master of 
  Ladies in Waiting: The Magistracy
  The alliance that brought Canopian regiments into the Confederation for 
  aid missions may have seemed one-sided to many observers, but it was not. 
  The Confederation’s contribution to the Magistracy was mostly civilian: a 
  host of trade agreements that capitalized on rampant Capellan production to 
  export Capellan goods to the Magistracy, along with educators and advanced 
  infrastructure—better roads, medical care and so on—and an agreed-upon 
  exchange of scientists to further research in both realms. In military terms, the 
  Confederation gained the services of several Canopian regiments on a rotating 
  basis, which it agreed to supply with advanced equipment.
  The Magistracy’s most visible benefits were military. Each Canopian 
  regiment that entered the Confederation was immediately placed high on 
  the CCAF’s priority list for advanced technology and replacement parts. For a 
  Canopian soldier, deployment to the Inner Sphere meant he or she might re-
  turn with a BattleMech far more advanced than the one in which he had left 
  the Periphery. The Canopian officers were exposed to new Inner Sphere tactics 
  on a fundamental level, and senior officers often liaised with Sang-jiang-jun 
  Talon Zahn and his staff, learning grand strategy from the finest minds in the 
  Confederation. This made all of them better soldiers, which of course only ben-
  efited the Confederation, since the Canopians were doing the lion’s share of the 
  fighting and dying on Confederation worlds.
  Alliances are based on mutual need and respect. The Confederation needed 
  soldiers. The Magistracy needed the technology the Confederation could pro-
  vide. And both realms needed the growth that came from the agreement.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  64
  the Blessed Order of the Warrior Houses to move regiments and bat-
  talions where they were most needed. Canopian regiments came 
  and went, often for terms of less than six months, but always having 
  served a necessary purpose in the Chancellor’s plan.
  As the end of his term as First Lord neared, Sun-Tzu Liao set in 
  motion a final, ambitious plan to net him the majority of the goals 
  he had yet to attain. Using the lessons he’d learned over the past 
  eight years, he embarked on a tour of the worlds bordering the 
  St. Ives Compact, with speaking engagements on every world de-
  signed to reinforce the Xin Sheng efforts underway.
  The centerpiece of this tour was his announcement of the 
  adoption of McCarron’s Armored Cavalry into the regular CCAF 
  rolls. No longer mercenaries, the Armored Cavalry had earned a 
  permanent home in the Confederation from their years of loyal 
  service. The unit’s commander was inducted into the Barduc nobil-
  ity and granted a landhold in the Sian Commonality. The tenets of 
  Xin Sheng called for new birth, and the Armored Cavalry’s rebirth 
  as the bulwark of the Confederation’s garrison near the St. Ives bor-
  der should have been cause for celebration.
  Instead, it invited the worst of the Confederation’s enemies 
  to action—bloody, terrible action that cost millions of Capellans 
  their lives.
  ST. IvES gAMBIT
  In September 3060, a battalion of the Compact’s Blackwind 
  Lancers moved without orders and attacked Hustaing, intending to 
  assassinate Chancellor Sun-Tzu, who had been scheduled to speak 
  there. Because of faulty intelligence, they missed the Chancellor, 
  but managed to threaten his fiancée, Duchess Isis Marik, before 
  they were isolated and destroyed by Warrior House Hiritsu. The 
  Chancellor, who barely escaped and was rushed back to Sian for 
  his safety, immediately condemned the attack and the Compact’s 
  position that the Lancers had acted without orders. Whether sanc-
  tioned or not, regular forces of the St. Ives Compact military had 
  carried out an act of war against the Confederation, and those 
  forces could not be trusted not to violate the peace again.
  Acting as First Lord of the Star League, Sun-Tzu requested peace-
  keeping forces from several Star League member-states to patrol 
  the dangerous border. The Free Worlds League, Lyran Alliance and 
  Federated Suns all contributed troops to guarantee the peace in 
  St. Ives. In further acts of madness, St. Ives troops refused to ac-
  cept the neutrality and authority of the Star League units. These 
  actions were immediately condemned in the Star League Council, 
  of which Duchess Candace Liao was a member, but nothing came 
  of the debates as the Council remained focused on the Clan threat. 
  St. Ives reinforced its border worlds, leading to small clashes with 
  the Star League peacekeepers. The First Lord could not allow the 
  peacekeepers to be threatened and moved Capellan units to sup-
  port them in the event of an attack by St. Ives forces. Duchess 
  Candace Liao and her government challenged these deployments 
  vigorously, but the tenuous peace held for a time. Then a full-
  blown battle erupted on Indicass and sparked open combat across 
  the Compact between St. Ives regulars and Star League units. 
  Just as his terms as First Lord ended, the Chancellor was forced 
  to annex several Compact worlds to guarantee the safety of their 
  citizens—and the Capellan regiments there removed their Star 
  League colors for good. The battle for St. Ives began in earnest.
  On worlds like Nashuar and Indicass, the fighting began as con-
  flicts between the defending St. Ives troops and the soldiers of the 
  foreign peacekeeping regiments, but quickly devolved to combat 
  strictly between Capellans. Denbar became a meat-grinder of bat-
  tles as each side sent in reinforcements, but with the much greater 
  strength the Confederation had to call on, not to mention the ad-
  ditional regiments from the Magistracy of Canopus, the result was 
  a foregone conclusion. The Compact had little chance to stand 
  against the full might of the Confederation, and neither Sun-Tzu 
  nor Candace Liao really wanted to see the fighting degenerate to 
  all-out war on the Compact worlds.
  Not all Compact planets resisted the Confederation’s return. 
  The populations of Milos and large portions of Vestallas and 
  Brighton, for example, welcomed the Confederation troops as 
  liberators.
  Citizens Honored
  Along with McCarron’s Armored Cavalry, the Chancellor offered Capellan 
  citizenship to several other long-standing Confederation-employed mercenary 
  units, such as the Fourth Tau Ceti Rangers, the Fifteenth Dracon and Lockhardt’s 
  Ironsides. Each of these mercenary units had offered long and loyal service to 
  the Confederation, and the Chancellor chose to reward them with a home of 
  their own.
  Of course, not everyone saw it as a reward. Critics of the move immedi-
  ately accused the Chancellor of buying the loyalty of money-soldiers with 
  Confederation riches. For his part, the Chancellor ignored the critics. He knew 
  his reasons, and he saw that those so honored knew them as well.
  And if the arrangement benefited the Confederation as much as it did the 
  mercenaries, what of it? To say that the Confederation gained the services of al-
  most a dozen crack regiments without spending the expense of training them is 
  short-sighted. All these regiments had been in Capellan service for a generation 
  or more—the Confederation had signed their checks, paid their bills. The state 
  had already paid to train and equip them. By inducting them into the regular 
  CCAF and making them citizens, the Chancellor did little more than regularize 
  the agreements they had already signed.
  And, in the end, all these units chose to join the CCAF. No one forced 
  them.
  The Price of Disobedience
  The battalion of Blackwind Lancers that attacked Hustaing was quickly 
  decimated and captured by House Hiritsu, who had orders to act as bodyguards 
  for Duchess Isis Marik. After the surviving Lancers were repatriated, the 
  Capellan armed forces kept the captured equipment and used it as the core of a 
  new Reserve Cavalry regiment designated the Hustaing Warriors. Built around 
  Hustaing’s Home Guard and a crop of new recruits and recalled retirees, the 
  Hustaing Warriors claimed a prominent role in the coming hostilities in St. Ives. 
  The irony of using captured St. Ives equipment against their former masters was 
  never lost on the janshi of the Warriors.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  65
  Not all the Compact’s military remained on the defensive, ei-
  ther. Kai Allard-Liao, heir to Duchess Candace and hero of the Clan 
  invasion as well as Champion of Solaris VII, led the First St. Ives 
  Lancers on a long series of raids against the Confederation proper, 
  trying to break its logistical tail. Despite several early successes, 
  the Strategios eventually anticipated his attacks and ambushed his 
  force on Sarna, forcing it to withdraw with heavy losses.
  As it became clear that neither the Confederation nor the 
  Compact would back down, many Capellans began to draw the ob-
  vious conclusion: the Compact would lose, and it was only a matter 
  of how long they chose to draw it out before they surrendered. 
  This attitude infected many Confederation soldiers, who began to 
  dehumanize their St. Ives opponents. The horrors of combat made 
  for a virulent hatred, nurtured by the thought that the St. Ives sol-
  diers were only prolonging their inevitable defeat at the price of 
  their fellow Capellans’ lives. In March and April 3062, Capellan of-
  ficers began to report unusual aggression in their men, and the 
  Strategios looked for ways to move new units onto the line. A slight 
  respite eventually came, but at a terrible price.
  STANDINg FIRM
  In May 3062, Chancellor Sun-Tzu learned from his sister Kali 
  Liao that she had secured a large quantity of a nerve agent 
  from the planet Wei and smuggled it to suicide bombers in the 
  St. Ives Compact. Like her mother before her, Kali Liao had gar-
  nered support and contacts from the psychotic Thuggee cult on 
  the reclaimed world of Highspire, and these zealots had pledged 
  themselves to her service. Putting aside all other matters—includ-
  ing the battles raging on a half-dozen worlds—the Chancellor 
  ordered the information sent to Compact and Capellan forces alike. 
  Unfortunately for everyone, it was too late to stop all the suicidal 
  Thuggee attacks. Several succeeded, in what became known as 
  Black May. Thousands died horribly, including Mandrinn Tormano 
  Liao, forsaken son of Maximilian Liao and leader of the Free Capella 
  terrorist organization. Despite his attempts to halt the attacks, and 
  his total lack of sanction or foreknowledge, the horrific events re-
  ignited hatred of Sun-Tzu Liao and his family among the people of 
  St. Ives—and the fighting flared back to devastating life.
  Rather than surrender the gains made across the previous year 
  and half, the Chancellor ignored calls for peace in the wake of Black 
  May and struck forward, anxious to gain the initiative and bring 
  the conflict to a quick close. In a bold stroke, Confederation forces 
  struck for St. Ives itself, leapfrogging some of the more determined 
  resistance and aiming for the head of the snake. The battles for 
  St. Ives were hard-fought, but in the end Duchess Candace Liao 
  fled her capital world rather than be captured before the situation 
  became untenable. The remaining free Compact forces arranged 
  themselves in a defensive formation dubbed the St. Loris line and 
  continued to resist, but the fall of St. Ives took most of the wind 
  from their sails. The signature of Protector Grover Shraplen of the 
  Taurian Concordat on the seals of the three-way Trinity Alliance 
  sealed the Compact’s fate as Taurian troops entered the war on 
  the Confederation’s side. The Chancellor had once again gotten 
  more soldiers for his needs from an alliance with a Periphery realm.
  Though the armistice process had several fits and starts, by 
  mid-3063 the arrival of former Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht 
  to mediate the peace in St. Ives brought that conflict to a close. 
  Despite vigorous opposition in the House of Scions, Chancellor 
  Sun-Tzu agreed to keep Duchess Candace and her family in charge 
  of the St. Ives Commonality, as the Compact would henceforth be 
  known. This act placated many of the Compact loyalists still living 
  on the St. Ives worlds and showed the people that the Chancellor 
  was sensitive to their wishes. It also avoided international censure, 
  as Victor Steiner-Davion for certain would have contested the ejec-
  tion of his friend Kai Allard-Liao from St. Ives.
  REINTEgRATION AND TRINITY
  As the peace accords were signed, the Chancellor threw 
  himself into the rest of his plans for reintegrating the St. Ives 
  Commonality. He formalized the Allard-Liao family’s suzerainty 
  Star League Go Home
  The former Compact world of Milos welcomed the Confederation’s return, 
  with only a few holdout Compact loyalists resisting. The CCAF quickly moved 
  on, leaving behind the beginnings of a Home Guard formation to protect Milos 
  while they concentrated on more disruptive worlds in St. Ives space. No one ex-
  pected a counterattack, and when it came, it was shocking to see Star League 
  soldiers arrive as liberators to “free Milos’ people from the tyranny of Sun-Tzu 
  Liao’s rule.”
  Unfortunately for the Star League troops, the people of Milos had chosen 
  Sun-Tzu and the Confederation, and they resisted the Star League peacekeepers 
  instead. After suffering large numbers of casualties and soaking up a counter-
  attack by a regiment of McCarron’s Armored Cavalry, the Star League troops 
  withdrew in defeat.
  Ever since St. Ives’ reintegration into the Confederation, Milos’ people 
  have provided far more than their share of recruits to the CCAF, partly in 
  recompense for the loyalty the Confederation showed them during the Star 
  League occupation.
  Kali Liao
  Like her mother Romano, most people considered Kali Liao’s hold on reality 
  tenuous at best. If asked, most Capellans would cite Kali Liao as the chief reason 
  to protect Sun-Tzu Liao at all costs, because the thought of Kali as Chancellor 
  terrified anyone capable of reason. Her ideas of right and wrong differ sharply 
  from those values in rational people, an attitude ably demonstrated with the 
  Black May attacks of 3062.
  To his credit, Sun-Tzu immediately surrendered his sister to a court of nobles 
  in the Free Worlds League for trial and sentencing, a move that gained him a 
  measure of distance from her actions. Though the Confederation was painted 
  with the brush of Kali’s madness for a few months, the Chancellor’s actions to 
  thwart and then contain the dangerous attacks proved the truth of his inno-
  cence in the matter.
  The Free Worlds League tribunal interrogated Kali and found her certifiably 
  insane.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  66
  over the Commonality even as he regularized the formation of the 
  Victoria and Liao commonalities, and the restructured Prefecture 
  met in 3064 with Candace Liao taking her seat among them for the 
  first time since the Fourth Succession War. Despite the presence of 
  joint ComStar/Star League observers in the St. Ives Commonality 
  until 3066, the absorption of the St. Ives worlds has been far more 
  painless than many expected. The Maskirovka maintains a large 
  presence in the area, but active resistance to Confederation rule 
  has been marginalized. Duchess Candace Liao has been a moder-
  ating influence, as has the retention of the St. Ives military as the 
  Commonality’s defense force, though it remains subject to the 
  Strategios’ ultimate command.
  With his citizenry still afire with Xin Sheng and succored by 
  victory in St. Ives, Chancellor Sun-Tzu returned his gaze to the 
  Disputed Territories and the Chaos March. Using mostly Canopian 
  and Taurian troops, supported by mercenaries, he has expanded 
  the borders of the Liao Commonality almost daily, reclaiming for-
  mer Capellan worlds for the Confederation. Xin Sheng’s massive 
  successes continue to buoy this amazing growth, with commercial 
  surpluses being quickly exported to the new worlds to show their 
  populations the benefits of Capellan citizenship.
  Sun-Tzu Liao commands almost universal respect and admira-
  tion inside the Confederation. No other Chancellor since Aleisha 
  Liao has been so highly regarded, and perhaps not even the long-
  ago architect of the Ares Conventions. The Capellan military is an 
  experienced, professional force very different from the shattered 
  formations of 3030. The ghost of insane Liao rulers has been laid 
  to rest, despite Kali Liao, by Sun-Tzu’s level-headed and intelligent 
  stewardship of his nation.
  The Trinity Alliance has brought the Confederation interna-
  tional respect as well. With millions of Periphery natives seeing the 
  Confederation as the advanced partner in the alliance, Capellans 
  everywhere are now regarded as something other than the under-
  dogs. For years—centuries, even—Capellans traveling abroad had 
  to deal with stereotypes of them as uneducated louts desperate to 
  learn the secrets of other realms. They were always wheedling the 
  medical professionals of the Free Worlds League or the merchants 
  of the Lyran Commonwealth. They grudgingly admired the military 
  prowess of the Davions and the unyielding tenacity of the Kuritas. 
  Since Xin Sheng and the recovery of the St. Ives worlds, Capellans 
  can look for examples like these from among their own, rather 
  than from other states. For the first time in centuries, Capellan par-
  ents can tell their children that other realms would be lucky to be 
  doing so well, and know that those words are true.
  The Confederation has truly experienced xin sheng. As we 
  approach the next Whitting Conference, we can be certain our 
  Chancellor will continue to lead us on the correct path.
  Picador
  Even as the war with St. Ives entered its most critical phase, Chancellor 
  Sun-Tzu Liao paid close attention to his diplomatic initiatives with the Taurian 
  Concordat, counterpart to the Magistracy of Canopus in the Periphery and an-
  other likely ally. Armed with the obvious—and visible—successes with the 
  Magistracy, the Chancellor had only to promise the Taurians the same to get the 
  Protector to agree to the Trinity Alliance.
  Many experts agree that the Taurians’ entry into the alliance was almost a 
  foregone conclusion. The Taurians already had an alliance with the Magistracy 
  when that realm signed its treaty with the Confederation. The previous 
  Concordat ruler, Protector Jeffrey Calderon, had opposed the alliance with 
  House Liao, but was tragically murdered during an abortive coup attempt in the 
  New Colony Region. The new Protector was much more likely to agree to a part-
  nership with enemies of the Taurians’ eternal bogeyman, the Federated Suns.
  Taurian intelligence in the Magistracy would have been good enough to 
  reveal the upgrades to Canopian regiments that had served in Capellan space. 
  They would have seen the information received by the Magistracy in techni-
  cal exchanges, and the Confederation technicians had heavily upgraded the 
  Detroit BattleMech factory in the New Colony Region—a factory to which the 
  Concordat was supposed to share access, but of whose production lines the 
  Confederation had claimed a steadily increasing share.
  Protector Shraplen, anxious to prove himself as the first non-Calderon 
  leader of the Taurian Concordat in living memory, could do little else but tie the 
  Concordat to the three-way alliance with the Magistracy and the Confederation. 
  He had to make his mark somehow.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  67
  TIMELINE: xIN SHENg
  3057: 
  In response to the cover-up of Joshua 
  Marik’s death, the Confederation and the 
  Free Worlds League attack the Federated 
  Commonwealth’s Sarna March, reclaim-
  ing many of the worlds lost in the Fourth 
  Succession War and throwing the rest into 
  what becomes known as the Chaos March. 
  Though Sun-Tzu wishes to continue the 
  invasion, Thomas Marik declares his goals 
  met and sues for peace with the Federated 
  Commonwealth and the breakaway Lyran 
  Alliance.
  3058: 
  Warrior House Hiritsu reclaims Kaifeng for 
  the Confederation, forcing the secession-
  ist Sarna Supremacy to treat with them for 
  food shipments. Sun-Tzu Liao negotiates 
  an alliance with the Magistracy of Canopus, 
  trading technical expertise for troops and 
  gaining the Confederation needed forces in 
  the Chaos March.
   
  In response to a Clan attack on Coventry, 
  the leaders of the Great Houses convene on 
  Tharkad and re-form the Star League, naming 
  Sun-Tzu Liao as First Lord and assembling a 
  plan to end the Clan threat once and for all.
  3059: 
  Under Operation Bulldog, units from every 
  Successor State join together and attack the 
  Clan Occupation Zone. Clan Smoke Jaguar 
  is annihilated by the Star League Defense 
  Force. A follow-on force, Task Force Serpent, 
  is sent to the Clan homeworlds to attack the 
  Smoke Jaguars there.
  3060: 
  Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao formally an-
  nounces Xin Sheng, a nationwide call for 
  pan-Capellan unity intended to revitalize 
  the Confederation. Nearly every Capellan 
  community reacts positively, and production 
  and military recruitment skyrocket. As a part 
  of the effort, the Chancellor begins a tour of 
  border worlds near the St. Ives Compact.
  3061-63: War breaks out between St. Ives and 
  the Confederation after the Compact’s 
  Blackwind Lancers attack and nearly kill the 
  Chancellor’s fiancée, Isis Marik, on Hustaing. 
  After several years of bloody fighting, 
  the Compact is reabsorbed as the St. Ives 
  Commonality, with Duchess Candace Liao 
  and her family declared its legal rulers and 
  heirs.
  3062: 
  The Supremacy worlds of Sarna and 
  Sakhalin are named protectorates of the 
  Confederation, as part of their eventual re-
  patriation to the Capellan realm.
   
  (May) Thuggee fanatics unleash nerve agent 
  attacks across St. Ives, despite the best ef-
  forts of Confederation and St. Ives forces to 
  stop them. The attacks are remembered as 
  Black May, and Kali Liao is delivered to a Star 
  League tribunal to stand trial for war crimes. 
  She is eventually declared insane and re-
  turned to the Confederation.
   
  The Taurian Concordat joins the newly 
  dubbed Trinity Alliance with the Magistracy 
  and the Confederation, bringing more 
  troops to the Confederation’s side and tip-
  ping the tide against St. Ives. As a condition, 
  the Taurian troops are sent to fight against 
  Federated Suns-sponsored peacekeepers.
  3064-67: Capellan, Magistracy and Taurian troops 
  diligently reclaim world after world in the 
  Disputed Territories for the Confederation, 
  using force, guile and diplomacy to welcome 
  former Sarna March planets back into the 
  fold.
  3067: 
  Warrior House Dai Da Chi reclaims Tikonov for 
  the Confederation, after the withdrawal of 
  Victor Steiner-Davion allows unrest to threat-
  en ethnic Capellan citizens on that world.
  
  HISTORY OF THE NATION
  68
  Capella Commonality
  Sian
  Commonality
  Victoria
  Commonality
  Sian
  Commonality
  St Ives
  Commonality
  Liao
  Commonality
  Adhafera
  Bondurant
  Scarborough
  Decus
  Prix
  Nihal
  Manapire
  Shiba
  Menkib
  No Return
  Purvo
  Tantara
  Shipka
  Capricorn III
  Cap Rouge
  Granera
  Maritgues
  Meadowvale
  Saonara
  Skvorec
  Trznadel Cluster
  Wisconsin
  Yanchep
  Megarez
  Krimari
  o Tressida
  Dunianshire
  Luxen
  Palm
  Dainmar Majoris
  Abruzzi
  Ambergrist
  Andarmax
  Armaxa
  Ashley
  Aucara
  Bacum
  Barras
  Beid
  Betelgeuse
  Borden
  Carbonis
  Cavalor
  Claxton
  Claybrooke
  Columbine
  Conquista
  Corodiz
  Courcellete
  Cursa
  Decatur
  Dicon
  Drozan
  Egress
  Elnath
  Exedor
  Fagerholm
  Fortymile
  Frazer
  Fronde
  Gomeisa
  Goodna
  Gunthar
  Gurnet
  Haappajarvi
  Harsefeld
  Hurik
  Ikast
  Immenstadt
  Ingonish
  Ito
  Jacomarle
  Jacson
  Jonzac
  Kafr Silim
  Kittery
  Krin
  Kujari
  Larsha
  Les Halles
  Les Halles
  Lopez
  Madras
  Matsu
  Mendham
  Mitchel
  Monhegan
  Monhegan
  Nashuar
  New Roland
  Niomede
  Overton
  Pilpala
  Pojos
  Principia
  Quimberton
  Renown
  Repulse
  Royalston
  Sarmaxa
  Sax
  Second Chance
  Second Try
  Shaunavon
  Shoreham
  Sirdar
  Turin
  Vard
  Velhas
  Victoria
  Villanueva
  Wallacia
  Ward
  Weatogue
  Wright
  Xanthe III
  Yunnah
  Yuris
  Zanzibar
  Detroit
  Herotitus
  Corey
  Andro
  Ster
  Jansen's Hold
  Jansen's Hold
  Illiushin
  Camadeierre
  Flaum
  Burton
  Atreus Prime
  Mithron
  Brisbane
  Laconis
  Cumberland
  Empor
  Lot
  Rockwellawan
  Aspropirgos
  Gouderak
  enovac
  Ruschegg
  Thurrock
  Vakarel
  Butzfleth
  Deschenes
  Shenwan
  Siendou
  Beenleigh
  El Giza
  Leyda
  Piriapolis
  Ryerson
  Taygeta
  Hassad
  Novaya Zemlya
  Bethel
  Muridox
  Mosiro
  onolog
  onolog
  Gallis
  Lockton
  Adherlwin
  Fanardir
  Borgan's Rift
  Trip
  rminous
  Joyz
  Early Dawn
  Brixtana
  Cate's Hold
  Firgrove
  Kaitangata
  Oltepes
  Hobson
  Kigamboni
  Markesan
  Electra
  Flintoft
  Horsham
  Lindsay
  Maia
  Merope
  Pleiades Cluster
  Ridgebrook
  Robsart
  Rollis
  Wrentham
  Jamestown
  Landmark
  MacLeod's Land
  New Vallis
  New Ganymede
  100
  Nahoni
  Amiga
  MacLeod's Land
  Camlann
  Nova Roma
  Sekulmun
  Ankaa
  Dalton
  Canopus IV
  New Abilene
  Amity
  Brockway
  Bromhead
  Diefenbaker
  Midale
  Ishtar
  Renfield
  Hy
  New Vandenburg
  Pinard
  Eleusis
  Carmichael
  Deneb
  Kaitos
  Kansu
  Hudeiba
  Kwamashu
  Latice
  Lurgatan
  Sadurni
  Mandaree
  Samantha
  Campbelton
  Dickinson
  us
  Tintavel
  Kearny
  Jubaylah
  Cirebon
  Fieferana
  Mansu-ri
  Cole Harbour
  Calloway VI
  Ipswich
  Shuen Wan
  Frondas
  Furud
  Gannett
  Tania Australis
  s Minor
  McKenna
  Antipolo
  Vikindu
  Flannagan's Nebulea
  New Aragon
  Taurus
  New Syrtis
  New Rhodes III
  Angol
  Alrescha
  Acamar
  Spica
  Taga
  Palladaine
  Strawn
  Ngake
  El Do
  Alcyone
  Daniels
  Redfield
  Wernke
  Del
  Concord
  Gallatin
  Launam
  Merak
  Nestor
  Anegasaki
  Cameron
  Danais
  Iknogoro
  Loeches
  Matheran
  Milnerton
  Pella II
  Sophie's World
  Sorunda
  Barlaston
  Bora
  Buenos Aires
  Calpaca
  Carmen
  Fujidera
  Glasgow
  Grand Base
  Hadnall
  Holloway
  Hustaing
  Kaifeng
  Lesalles
  Mauripur
  Mentasta
  Phact
  Preston
  Primus
  Raballa
  Randar
  Relevow
  Sakhalin
  Scheuerheck
  Scituate
  Sendalor
  Sigma Mare
  Tallin
  Teng
  Texlos
  Umka
  Vestallas
  Warlock
  Watermael
  Wazan
  Xieng Khouang
  Ziliang
  Bellado
  Bo
  Bristol
  Carmacks
  Gallitzin
  Heligoland
  I
  Kathil
  Kluane
  Layover
  Listowel
  Mandate
  Manteno
  Montcoal
  Mordialloc
  Orbisonia
  Remshield
  Victoria
  Hobb
  Andurien
  Kanata
  Kasdach
  Shiro III
  Verlo
  yn Tarma
  Highspire
  Highspire
  Chebanse
  Okains
  Atlas
  Avigait
  Corella
  Cotocallao
  Glentworth
  Jaipur
  Quittacas
  Altorra
  Bellatrix
  Calseraigne
  Kurvasa
  Menke
  New Westin
  Raphael
  Westerhand
  Palladaine
  Westerhand
  Chilung
  Diass
  Guangzho
  Nullarbor
  olo
  Alkes
  Bordon
  Blandinsville
  Cholame
  De
  Johnsondale
  Saunemin
  Avawatz
  Axton
  Corydon
  Farwell
  Flushing
  Freisland
  Monongahela
  Narellan
  Ogilvie
  Perkasie
  Salem
  Stein's Folly
  Streator
  Ulan Batar
  Lee
  Abadan
  Ariel
  Asellus Borealis
  Bentley
  Bithinia
  Castrovia
  Cronulla
  Denbar
  Geifer
  Hexare
  Holt
  Housekarle
  Hunan
  Kashilla
  Kiyev
  Lancaster
  Lungdo
  Necromo
  New Delos
  New Macao
  Ohrensen
  Safe Port
  Salur
  St. Andre
  St. Loris
  Tiber
  Truth
  Ulan
  Bator
  Vanra
  Ventabren
  Weekapaug
  Zaurak
  Aitutaki
  cadia
  Avior
  Bainsville
  enah
  Jouques
  Keeling
  reles
  cAffe
  New Hope
  Rasalas
  Sheridan
  Uhuru
  Washburn
  Boardwalk
  Campertown
  Homestead
  Odell
  Sanilac
  Wappingers
  Regulus
  Oriente
  Smolensk
  Brusett
  Helixmar
  Dirk's Gulf
  Kumqwat
  Aldertaine
  Bedeque
  Helm
  Ling
  Semenyih
  Tania Borealis
  Tawas
  Tecumseh
  Rosamond
  Kentares IV
  Acala
  Ashkum
  Barstow
  Beecher
  Cammal
  Goderich
  Moravian
  Tiskilwa
  Valexa
  Maladar
  Brighton
  Cordiagr
  Harloc
  Milos
  Old Kentucky
  Old Kentucky
  Ovan
  Tsinghai
  Tsingtao
  Eom
  Imalda
  Propus
  Uravan
  Jonathan
  Jonathan
  Poznan
  Angell II
  Daneshmand
  Dayr Khuna
  Elektrougli
  Emris IV
  Fletcher
  Harmony
  Muscida
  St. Ives
  Sian
  New Av
  Azha
  Miaplacidus
  Talitha
  Augustine
  Kalidasa
  Kyrkbacken
  Van
  Diemen IV
  Pollux
  New Canton
  New Canton
  Nopah
  Achernar
  Caselton
  Rio
  Ronel
  Schedar
  Tybalt
  Almach
  Buchlau
  Buchlau
  Gan
  Singh
  Mesartim
  Ningpo
  Sonnia
  Mira
  Halloran V
  Elbar
  Chamdo
  Indicass
  Jasmine
  Menkar
  Minnacora
  Tsitsang
  Argyle
  Clovis
  Marlette
  Olancha
  Rochester
  Scudder
  Talcott
  scana
  Kyeinnisan
  Oceana
  Olafsvik
  Hyde
  Solaris
  Exeter
  Avellaneda
  Ibstock
  Park Place
  Bell
  Wei
  Asellus Australis
  Goshen
  Kirkenlaard
  Wroxeter
  Kurragin
  Ares
  Capella
  Beten Kaitos
  Elgin
  Emerson
  Liao
  Foochow
  Styk
  Algot
  Addicks
  Fuentes
  Sarna
  Bandora
  New Sagan
  Acubens
  Alphard
  Alula Australis
  Alula Australis
  Berenson
  Bharat
  Chertan
  Fletcher
  Genoa
  Hamal
  Hean
  Marcus
  Menkalinan
  Nanking
  Nathan
  Remulac
  Saiph
  Savannah
  Slocum
  Wyatt
  Zosma
  Dubhe
  Dubhe
  Wing
  Zosma
  Errai
  Bernardo
  Hamilton
  New Hessen
  Shensi
  Suzano
  Yangtze
  Gei-Fu
  Ingersoll
  Masterson
  Palos
  Quemoy
  Batavia
  Ke
  Logandale
  New Valencia
  Drusibacken
  Keystone
  Tongatapu
  Algol
  Pleione
  Mirach
  Tikonov
  Terra
  Caph
  Mallory's World
  Marik
  McHenry
  Muskegon
  New Olympia
  Procyon
  Procyon
  Robinson
  Rochelle
  Capolla
  Terra
  Firma
  Bryant
  Sirius
  Woodstock
  Woodstock
  Ingress
  Keid
  New
  Home
  Oliver
  Liberty
  Castor Devil's Rock
  Epsilon
  Eridani
  Epsilon Indi
  Epsilon
  Eridani
  Epsilon Indi
  Graham IV
  Sirius
  Graham IV
  Hall
  Hsien
  Irian
  Northwind
  Outreach
  Edwards
  Autumn Wind
  Stewart
  Chesterton
  Demeter
  Foot Fall
  Zion
  Asuncion
  Dieudonne
  Cartago
  Phecda
  Arboris
  Basalt
  Sheratan
  Aldebaran
  Connaught
  Denebola
  Milton
  Berenson
  Wasat
  Zurich
  Callison
  Alhena
  Marcus
  Zavijava
  Callison
  Kawich
  Tall Trees
  Tigress
  Shiloh
  Ruchbah
  Small World
  Small World
  Aea
  Regis Roost
  Spitz
  Carthage
  Argos
  Hellespont
  Spencer
  Portland
  Addasar
  CAPELLAN CONFEDERATION
  after
  FedCom Civil War (3067)
  Coreward
  Spinward
  Anti-spinward
  Rimward
  MAXIMUM  JUMP: APPROXIMATELY 30 LIGHT YEARS
  LEGEND
  BORDER KEY
  NATIONAL CAPITAL
  DISTRICT CAPITAL
  PLANET KEY
   DISTRICT BORDER
  PROVINCE BORDER
  3058 BORDER
  PROVINCE CAPITAL
  120 LIGHT YEARS OR 36.8 PARSECS
  30 LIGHT YEARS
  © 3067 BLAKE'S TRUTH CARTOGRAPHIC DIVISION
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  69
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  70
  T
  hough the Capellan Confederation occupies a smaller area 
  of space than any other Successor State, with fewer than 
  200 occupied star systems, the planets that make up this 
  nation are tightly packed into that region.  The relative closeness 
  of its worlds has often helped the Confederation, both socially 
  and militarily.  Even before the advent of the hyperpulse genera-
  tor, Capellans enjoyed high levels of inter-world communication, 
  and with fewer jumps needed to travel from world to world, the 
  Capellan Confederation Armed Forces can redeploy quickly to 
  meet aggression from any of our enemies.
  A number of traditionally Capellan worlds sadly remain lost to us 
  in the Chaos March, but more and more planets in that tumultuous 
  region of space are being welcomed back into the Confederation. 
  Recently returned worlds such as Gan Singh and Palos are enjoy-
  ing the prosperity that flourishes across the Confederation as the 
  Chancellor’s Xin Sheng efforts continue to bear fruit.
  HOW TO READ  
  THIS ATLAS
  The following section reviews many of the Confederation’s key 
  worlds, arranged by commonality—Sian, Capella, Liao, St. Ives and 
  Victoria—and containing statistical, cultural and historical informa-
  tion.  Each world description contains blocks of statistics, including 
  world name, noble ruler, primary star type and JumpShip recharging 
  time in hours.  Planetary position, DropShip travel times to standard 
  jump points with normal acceleration, number and names of moons 
  or other satellites, planetary gravity, atmospheric quality, surface 
  water and highest type of native life are listed as well.  In addition, 
  the classification of local hyperpulse stations is provided, along with 
  the most recent estimate of planetary population.
  The final statistic listed is the Universal Socio-Industrial Index 
  Rating (USIIR), a five-letter code that uses an A through F grading 
  system to represent (in order) a settled world’s level of techno-
  logical sophistication, industrial development, dependence on 
  imported raw materials, industrial output (relative to population) 
  and agricultural dependence (relative to population).  The USIIR 
  Table below explains these gradations.
  TECHNOLOGICAL SOPHISTICATION
  Rating 
  Description
  A 
  High-tech world. Advanced research centers and univer-
  sities; best medical care; cutting-edge microelectronics 
  industry.
  B 
  Advanced world. Access to new technologies; hosts uni-
  versities; good medical care available (though lacking the 
  most cutting-edge medical tech); basic microelectronics 
  industry.
  C 
  Moderately advanced world. Average local education 
  and medical care; minimal microelectronics industry 
  (must be imported for sale).
  D 
  Lower-tech world.  Poor educational system; medical 
  technology equivalent to 21st-22nd century level; non-
  existent microelectronics industry (excepting possible 
  isolated regions run by private concerns).
  F 
  Primitive world. Inhabitants live without dependence 
  on technology; no advanced education; medical care 
  equivalent to 20th century level (at best).
  INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
  Rating 
  Description
  A 
  Heavily industrialized. Capable of manufacturing any 
  and all complex products.
  B 
  Moderately industrialized. May produce a limited quan-
  tity and range of complex products.
  C 
  Basic heavy industry.  Equivalent to roughly 22nd cen-
  tury tech; fusion technology possible, but no complex 
  products (including BattleMechs).
  D 
  Low industrialization. Roughly equivalent to mid-20th 
  century level; fusion technology must be imported.
  F 
  No industrialization.
  UNIvERSAL SOCIO-INDUSTRIAL 
  LEvEL REFERENCE TABLE
  RAW MATERIAL DEPENDENCE
  Rating 
  Description
  A 
  Fully self-sufficient. System produces all needed raw materi-
  als and may export in large quantities.
  B 
  Mostly self-sufficient. System produces all needed raw ma-
  terials and may export a small surplus.
  C 
  Self-sustaining. System produces some of its needed raw 
  materials and imports the rest.
  D 
  Dependent. System is poor in raw materials and must im-
  port most of its material needs.
  F 
  Heavily dependent. System utterly reliant on imported ma-
  terials to maintain industry and population.
  INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT
  Rating 
  Description
  A 
  High output. World has wide industrial and commercial base 
  capable of exporting most of its products.
  B 
  Good output. World’s industrial and commercial base is suf-
  ficient for modest product export.
  C 
  Limited output. World has a small industrial base that limits 
  exports; imported goods are common.
  D 
  Negligible output. World’s industrial base is insufficient for 
  major exports.  Reliant on imported goods.
  F 
  No output. World must import most—if not all—of its heavy 
  industrial and high-tech needs.
  AGRICULTURAL DEPENDENCE
  Rating 
  Description
  A 
  Breadbasket. Planetary agro industries meet all local needs 
  and sustain a thriving export trade.
  B 
  Abundant world. Rich agricultural environment sustains lo-
  cal needs and permits limited exports.
  C 
  Modest agriculture. Most food is locally produced, though 
  some agricultural needs rely on imports.
  D 
  Poor agriculture. Minimal agricultural output forces heavy reli-
  ance on off-world imports to sustain the local population.
  F 
  Barren world.  World’s agricultural output cannot sustain the 
  local population without continuous off-world imports.
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  71
  CAPELLA
  Noble Ruler: Duke Gregory Liao
  Star Type (Recharge Time): G8III (189 hours)
  Position in System: 7
  Time to Jump Point: 6.19 days
  Number of Satellites: 1 (Nikos)
  Surface Gravity: 1.02
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 38° C (Temperate)
  Surface Water: 60 percent
  Recharging Station: Zenith, Nadir
  HPG Class Type: A
  Highest Native Life: Plant
  Population: 6,987,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: A-A-B-A-D
  Capella 
  is 
  sacred 
  to 
  the 
  Confederation 
  as 
  the 
  realm’s 
  birthworld, second only to Sian in 
  continuing national importance. 
  All Capellans learn early the story 
  of Capella Prime and August 2367, 
  when the character of their nation 
  was forged by its first Chancellor.  
  An annual remembrance is held 
  each August in the ruins of Capella 
  Prime, attended by almost every 
  noble in the Confederation when 
  events permit.
  Today Capella remains a pillar of the Confederation thanks to 
  the planet’s economic power. The Capella Commonality Bank, 
  the Confederation’s central banking entity, is headquartered 
  there, as is the massive Ceres Metals conglomerate.  Between 
  them these two corporations employ a staggering four per-
  cent of Capella’s total population—a number that continues to 
  grow as the entire commonality reaps the benefits of increased 
  industry and capital flowing through it, a direct result of the 
  CCAF’s ongoing reclamation of fallen Tikonov.  The House of 
  Scions, also ensconced on Capella, does little to hinder this situ-
  ation, being perfectly positioned to siphon a large portion of 
  the profits.
  Significant industry has clung to life on Capella throughout the 
  Succession Wars, including the aging Rashpur-Owens shipyards, 
  which for centuries were the only functioning JumpShip shipyards 
  in Confederation space.  The powerful Lung Wang DropShip—one 
  of which, the Pearl of True Wisdom, is the Chancellor’s personal 
  DropShip—is built here, as are the more venerable Union and 
  Overlord-class vessels.  The massive interplanetary drives for the 
  Free Worlds League-built Impavido destroyers were first designed 
  and built here also, and much of that production has been shifted 
  to support the new Necromo yards that construct the flagship 
  Feng Huang-class cruisers.  In addition, Ceres Metals operates one 
  of the Confederation’s largest manufacturing centers on Capella, 
  building military and civilian products.
  The Capella War College, the preeminent center for martial sci-
  ences in the Confederation, is also on Capella and has graduated 
  trained cadets since 2270, making it one of the longest-operating 
  academies in the Inner Sphere.
  THE CApELLA COMMONALITY
  The Capella Commonality is the bedrock of the Confederation, though that bedrock has 
  been sorely tested.  The Fourth Succession War, in particular, placed a terrible burden on the 
  commonality by transforming it from a mostly peaceful internal region to a heavily fortified 
  border commonality forced to become the bulwark against the hulking military might of the 
  Federated Commonwealth.  An entire generation of Capella Commonality citizens grew up 
  waiting for the day the FedCom would resume its invasion, a fear that might have been real-
  ized had it not been for the intervention of the Clans in 3049.
  Today the Capella Commonality is the gateway between the Confederation as a whole 
  and the coreward areas of its former territory that remain in contention: the Chaos March 
  and the remnants of the Disputed Territories.  The formation of the Liao Commonality has 
  taken much of the border duties away from the tired troops of Capella and given them a 
  welcome breather, even though many commonality troops quickly rotate coreward or to 
  one of the borders.  The average denizen of the Capella Commonality regards this position 
  as a birthright; natives of this region have always prided themselves on their place in the 
  Confederation hierarchy.  In their view, the homeworld of the Confederation—Capella it-
  self—should never be threatened.
  Something of a cultural backlash is simmering in the Capella Commonality lately, as its 
  people resume dialogue with the citizens of the reclaimed Liao Commonality.  So many years 
  spent regarding the Liao Commonality planets as enemy worlds have made it difficult for 
  some older Capella citizens to adjust to seeing them as comrades again.
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  72
  ARES
  Noble Ruler: Lord Adrian Dunbar
  Star Type (Recharge Time): M1IV (202 hours)
  Position in System: 8
  Time to Jump Point: 2.96 days
  Number of Satellites: 1 (Aphrodite)
  Surface Gravity: 0.98
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 42°C (Temperate)
  Surface Water: 36 percent
  Recharging Station: Zenith
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Reptile
  Population: 4,500,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: A-A-C-A-D
  Chancellor Aleisha Liao secured Ares’ 
  place in the history of the Inner Sphere when 
  she chose that world to host her famous 
  peace summits that resulted in the Ares 
  Conventions.  In an irony of history, the most 
  famed peace accords in history were signed 
  on a planet that later suffered horribly under 
  bombardments and raids throughout the 
  Succession Wars, prompted by its significant 
  military industry.
  It is a testament to Capellan determi-
  nation that this battered world remained 
  one of the economic powerhouses of the 
  Confederation, with facilities like Bergan 
  Industries and Earthwerks Limited remaining 
  at the forefront of BattleMech and naval innovation throughout 
  the Succession Wars.  Bergan Industries was one of the first firms 
  to successfully correct the defect in the triple-strength myo-
  mers stolen during the Fourth Succession War, while Earthwerks 
  shepherded the Kuan Ti DropShip through two decades of devel-
  opment before beginning production in 3055.
  Lord Adrian Dunbar, grandson of the last Dunbar to rule Ares, 
  has only recently returned to his fief.  During the reign of Romano 
  Liao, Lady Mariette Dunbar’s son Alisander spoke out against 
  one of the Chancellor’s purges in the presence of a Maskirovka 
  informer.  Lord Alisander disappeared, and Romano appointed a 
  Refrector to oversee Ares.  This “elected” official—a crony of one of 
  Romano Liao’s alleged lovers—managed to hold his post until he 
  succumbed to age and drink in 3065.  Sun-Tzu Liao approved Lord 
  Adrian’s request to return to his family’s holding, and the Dunbar 
  family has maintained strong loyalty to the Confederation—and 
  the Chancellor—ever since.  
  GEIFER
  Noble Ruler: Lord Victor Wellington
  Star Type (Recharge Time): G9V (190 hours)
  Position in System: 3
  Time to Jump Point: 5.82 days
  Number of Satellites: 2 (Mushu and Dabney)
  Surface Gravity: 0.99
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 31°C (Temperate)
  Surface Water: 62 percent
  Recharging Station: None
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Mammals
  Population: 600,500,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: B-C-A-A-C
  Geifer once housed the massive li-
  braries of the Capellan Republic, a center 
  of knowledge and learning that made 
  the Republic a respected technologi-
  cal nation until the resurgence of Terra. 
  Though the Succession Wars were not 
  kind to the libraries, remnants allowed 
  them to continue operating and remain 
  near the forefront of learning in the 
  physical sciences and languages.  One of 
  Sun-Tzu Liao’s Xin Sheng reforms direct-
  ed the rebuilding and replenishment of 
  the stacks at Geifer, and this new, larger 
  library stands to rival even the New Avalon Institute of Science in 
  a decade or less.
  The presence of the library’s priceless collections prompted the 
  establishment of the Capellan Institute of Linguistics on Geifer in 
  2978.  Since its inception, the Institute has been hailed through-
  out the Inner Sphere for its work on languages, most recently for 
  a cogent study of the aberrant language traits of the Clans.  Along 
  with its scholarly work, the school provides excellent training for 
  Capellan diplomats through the study of linguistics.  Capellan 
  diplomats have often been accused of “mind-reading” by their 
  counterparts in other realms—claims that can be attributed to the 
  vital knowledge disseminated on Geifer.
  The current Lord of Geifer, Victor Wellington, is a graduate 
  of Sian University who returned after his studies and joined the 
  Institute faculty. He has earned praise most recently for his work 
  on linguistic drift between the St. Ives Commonality and the rest of 
  the Confederation.  He has theorized that St. Ives’ trend toward  the 
  more standard English and even French common in the Federated 
  Suns that occurred during the existence of the St. Ives Compact will 
  continue to affect the people of St. Ives as they grow comfortable 
  being part of the Confederation again.  The Maskirovka has taken 
  this theory to heart and increased the already high amount of pro-
  Capellan propaganda being broadcast in the St. Ives Commonality.
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  73
  INGERSOLL
  Noble Ruler: Mandrissa Elisha Silverburg
  Star Type (Recharge Time): G2V (183 hours)
  Position in System: 5
  Time to Jump Point: 9.12 days
  Number of Satellites: 2 (Talley and Rand)
  Surface Gravity: 1.01
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 35°C (Temperate)
  Surface Water: 52 percent
  Recharging Station: Nadir
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Amphibian
  Population: 4,500,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: B-C-A-A-C
  Ingersoll might well have been 
  named Paradise by those who first set-
  tled it.  A beautiful world of island chains 
  and sandy beaches, Ingersoll is the jew-
  el of the Capella Commonality, and its 
  beaches are often filled with the cream 
  of Capellan society.  Many Capellan 
  nobles reside on Ingersoll year-round, 
  delegating the day-to-day operations 
  of their fiefs to seconds or unfavored 
  sons.  Mandrissa Silverburg does noth-
  ing to discourage this practice—no 
  one spends more money on vacation 
  than a nobleman, and Ingersoll’s econ-
  omy never lacks for tourist income. More conventional economic 
  concerns earn their share of profits as well.  Several of the larger 
  islands (small continents, really) are rich in silver and gold, and the 
  miners are some of the most productive in the Inner Sphere.  Who 
  wouldn’t be, with ready vacation territory just across the prover-
  bial fence?
  In addition to its economic power, Ingersoll is a treasure of the 
  Capellan arts scene.  Most of the islands are dotted with studios 
  and museums, and some of the finest fine art schools are present 
  as well.  Since the capture of Tikonov in the Fourth Succession War, 
  Ingersoll has hosted the Universal Exhibition, an annual competi-
  tion held every September.  With its proximity to Capella (and the 
  yearly Native Capellan Art Fair), the Universal Exhibition has be-
  come a hotbed of competition as the nobles try to outpace each 
  other by sponsoring one or more of the budding artists always in 
  residence.  Mandrissa Silverburg encourages this, as she is thrilled 
  to host the Exhibition.  There have been persistent efforts to move 
  the Exhibition to Liao, in the new Liao Commonality, but thus far 
  Ingersoll (and the nobles residing there) has managed to overturn 
  the motion in the House of Scions.
  Though the planet has seen little military action since the 
  Andurien invasion in the 3030s, the Capellan Confederation Armed 
  Forces keep a respectable garrison in place, and the aerospace 
  training center on the island fortress of Danika houses nearly a full 
  regiment of aerospace fighters.
  NECROMO
  Noble Ruler: Lord Tang Wu Sen
  Star Type (Recharge Time): M5V (206 hours)
  Position in System: 10
  Time to Jump Point: 2.45 days
  Number of Satellites: 1 (Acorna)
  Surface Gravity: 1.03
  Atmospheric Pressure: Low (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 39°C (Arid)
  Surface Water: 12 percent
  Recharging Station: Zenith and Nadir
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Mammals
  Population: 1,500,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: A-A-D-B-F
  In 3025, Necromo was a backwater world of 
  barely 5,000 people, a planet mostly forgot-
  ten by the rest of the Confederation.  The site 
  of a DropShip repair facility, for decades the 
  planet was under strict Maskirovka control. 
  Every member of the local population was em-
  ployed at the repair yards, where they worked 
  for three-month stints.  Workers were forbidden 
  to have offworld visitors, and all correspon-
  dence was censored. While outside observers 
  couldn’t fathom why, at a mere DropShip repair 
  depot—even a military one, which it obviously 
  was—the workers were so loyal that even dur-
  ing the Fourth Succession War, not one was ever 
  suborned into giving up its secrets.
  We now know, of course, that whatever the project was in the 
  early 31st century, today Necromo hosts the Aris Memorial Yards 
  where the mighty Feng Huang-class cruisers are constructed.  Since 
  the yards’ public unveiling in 3058, the population of Necromo has 
  skyrocketed, going from approximately 80,000 workers in 3058 to 
  just over 1.5 million workers, residents and fortune seekers.  The 
  Maskirovka eased travel restrictions to the system somewhat in 
  3055—allegedly when the first orbital shipyards were boosted 
  into orbit, and hence out of the reach of any dissidents on the 
  ground—and the population has boomed in response.
  The Aris Memorial Yards, built with assistance from the Free 
  Worlds League and the Word of Blake, are the most advanced 
  shipyards in the Confederation.  They eclipse even the ancient 
  Rashpur-Owens yards above Capella in production output, and ru-
  mor has it that several military DropShips may begin construction 
  there in the near future.  The Aris Yards orbit at the L4 Trojan point 
  of Necromo and her single moon, Acorna.  The cluster of facilities is 
  clearly visible in Necromo’s night sky, even when Acorna is full, and 
  many of the recreation facilities in Landingplace (Necromo’s larg-
  est and only real city) have installed transparent roofs to showcase 
  this marvel of Capellan engineering.
  Though the rebellious forces of St. Ives struck at Necromo during 
  the brief conflict that brought St. Ives back to the Confederation fold, 
  the shipyards were not damaged and production has not halted on 
  the remaining Feng Huangs commissioned by the Capellan navy.
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  74
  LIAO
  Noble Ruler: Shonso Hurtong Liao
  Star Type (Recharge Time): K5V (196 hours)
  Position in System: 3
  Time to Jump Point: 4.12 days
  Number of Satellites: 1 (Elias’ Promise)
  Surface Gravity: 1.05
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 30°C (Temperate)
  Surface Water: 55 percent
  Recharging Station: Nadir
  HPG Class Type: A
  Highest Native Life: Reptile
  Population: 3,800,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: B-C-C-D-A
  In 3028, House Davion’s Thirty-third 
  Avalon Hussars Regimental Combat 
  Team, supplemented by the three 
  regiments of the mercenary Blue Star 
  Irregulars, managed to pry Liao from 
  the Confederation’s bosom during the 
  opening moves of Operation Rat.  The 
  loss of the Liao family’s ancestral home 
  was a gaping wound in the honor of the 
  Liaos and the Confederation as a whole, 
  and when the opportunity came to reclaim the world during the 
  Liberation of 3057, the Chancellor allocated all eight elite Warrior 
  Houses to the task.
  Where Liao’s previous prestige came from the presence of 
  the Forbidden City and the Liao family palaces in the northern 
  hemisphere, since 3061 the planet has experienced an economic 
  and cultural renaissance resulting from its designation as a com-
  monality capital world.  The once-verdant grasslands that made 
  Liao an agricultural power in its heyday are at full capacity as the 
  world’s delicacies rise in demand throughout the former Sarna 
  Commonality.  The opening of the respected Liao Conservatory 
  of Military Arts in 3059 was another important touchstone, 
  adding a qualified military academy to the Liao Commonality 
  throneworld.
  Shonso Hurtong Liao, a distant cousin of the Chancellor, is the 
  current planetary ruler, as well as Prefect of the Liao Commonality. 
  He has been instrumental in bringing the planet’s population back 
  into line with the Confederation proper. A generation of Federated 
  Commonwealth rule eroded many established customs on Liao, 
  and many—particularly those in the servitor caste—resent their 
  lowered status in the Confederation.  Shonso Liao has worked hard 
  to integrate the two cultures, even going so far as to recognize the 
  veterans of the Liao Sarna March Militia as heroes of the common-
  ality. “The mission of the Sarna March Militia was to protect the 
  inhabitants of the nearby worlds,” Hurtong Liao said in a recent 
  address.  “How does that mission—to protect the worlds nearest 
  us, those other worlds of our commonality—make them anything 
  other than heroes?”  While many other former Sarna March worlds 
  have embraced this philosophy, continual low-level harassment 
  of regular Capellan interests by the remaining FedCom (now 
  FedSuns) loyalists makes accepting its new role difficult for the 
  commonality as a whole.
  THE LIAO COMMONALITY
  The Liao Commonality (formerly the Sarna Commonality) only returned to the 
  Confederation fold a decade ago.  Almost wholly captured by House Davion during the 
  Fourth Succession War, the commonality and its citizens chafed beneath the Steiner-Davion 
  fist until freed by Capellan forces during the Liberation of 3057, when we struck in concert 
  with our Free Worlds allies to reclaim what was taken from us.
  Sun-Tzu Liao formally declared the creation of the Liao Commonality in 3061.  In doing so, 
  he announced that the planet Liao had shown “…resolve and honor of the highest rank…” 
  during its occupation by the Federated Commonwealth.  He stripped Sarna from the ranks of 
  commonality capitals for its treasonous secession just after its liberation from the Federated 
  Commonwealth, when it tried to re-create the centuries-dead Sarna Supremacy and at-
  tempted to remain apart from the Confederation.
  The Liao Commonality today is a place of change.  An entire generation of children grew to 
  adulthood as citizens of the Federated Commonwealth, and are now finding their place among 
  their true brothers and sisters.  In addition to the turmoil understandably created by this ad-
  justment, the borders of the Liao Commonality are continuing to expand as the CCAF reaches 
  out to free more of the former Tikonov worlds from the yoke of Davion oppression or from the 
  petty warlords who have taken over various planets in the absence of strong leadership.
  The current Prefect of the Liao Commonality is Shonso Hurtong Liao, ruler of the planet 
  Liao.  His most pressing need is to integrate the former FedCom subjects of the Liao worlds 
  into the Confederation proper, a task made most difficult by the differences between the 
  Capellan caste system and the less regimented societies of the Federated Commonwealth. 
  In particular, he has spent vast amounts of wealth and political capital trying to maintain a 
  higher standard of living for the servitors in his commonality, many of whom resent the often-minimal living conditions afforded them.
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  75
  GAN SINGH
  Noble Ruler: Lord Stanley Baxter
  Star Type (Recharge Time): F7V (178 hours)
  Position in System: 4
  Time to Jump Point: 12.89 days
  Number of Satellites: 4 (Hari, Kishen, Nain, Ranjit)
  Surface Gravity: 1.0
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 30°C (Tropical)
  Surface Water: 72 percent
  Recharging Station: None
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Mammal
  Population: 1,156,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: C-D-C-D-B
  The world of Gan Singh, for-
  merly a Tikonov Union planet 
  claimed by the Confederation 
  when it absorbed that small realm, 
  is largely agricultural with impres-
  sive forests and jungles.  A number 
  of fair-sized cities ring the equator, 
  but the majority of the planet’s in-
  habitants live and work in the large 
  rain forests that blanket the northern hemisphere.
  In the years Gan Singh spent under the administration of the 
  Federated Commonwealth, it often served as the garrison post 
  of the First Federated Commonwealth Regimental Combat Team, 
  the unit built around the regiment of BattleMechs Melissa Steiner 
  gave Hanse Davion as a wedding present.  The presence of this 
  high-profile unit made Gan Singh a popular item in the newslines, 
  which kept trade and tourism income flowing into the world’s cof-
  fers during its time as part of the Sarna March.
  When the Sarna March collapsed upon the Lyran secession 
  from the Federated Commonwealth, Gan Singh joined the nearby 
  former Tikonov world of Styk in a defensive alliance rather than 
  asking the distant Confederation for aid when so many worlds 
  between them had succumbed to war and unrest.  Several years 
  passed before Styk and Gan Singh were brought back into the 
  Confederation proper, when the CCAF finally succeeded in quash-
  ing the petty warlords and mercenaries who had kept the planet 
  from re-entering the Confederation more quickly.
  Since its adoption into the Liao Commonality a wave of econom-
  ic revitalization has swept Gan Singh as Confederation corporations 
  try to capture some of the revenue coming out of the native forests. 
  Pharmaceutical companies are descending on the forests like lo-
  custs after the discovery in 3066 of an enzyme that has significant 
  ability to heal radiation damage in some tissue, and the investment 
  in heavy industry needed to capitalize on these finds has added to 
  the already impressive mining concerns cropping up around the 
  equatorial cities.  Much of this wealth is falling into the hands of 
  Gan Singh’s newly risen nobles, most notably Lord Stanely Baxter, 
  the planet’s ruler.  A distant cousin of McCarron’s Armored Cavalry’s 
  Lord Marcus Baxter, Lord Stanley was given control of Gan Singh 
  after he publicly condemned its previous mandrinn for embezzling 
  funds from the planet’s coffers.  Most of Gan Singh’s people believe 
  Lord Stanley simply redirected the funds to his own accounts, as 
  little has changed since Baxter took over.
  HIGHSPIRE
  Noble Ruler: Duchess Kali Liao
  Star Type (Recharge Time): F9V (180 hours)
  Position in System: 2
  Time to Jump Point: 11.19 days
  Number of Satellites: 1 (Peak)
  Surface Gravity: 0.99
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 38°C (Temperate)
  Surface Water: 78 percent
  Recharging Station: None
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Plant
  Population: 1,234,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: B-C-C-D-C
  Highspire, the former personal 
  holding of Chancellor Romano 
  Liao and current holding of her 
  daughter, Duchess Kali Liao, is a 
  study in stark contrasts. Here visi-
  tors will find the highest ranks of 
  Capellan nobility, drawn by plan-
  et’s connection to the ruling Liao 
  dynasty, living cheek by jowl with 
  some of darkest elements in the Capellan underworld—most no-
  tably the largest enclave of the Thuggee cult that caused so much 
  harm during the re-integration of the St. Ives worlds.
  Despite being a strongly garrisoned border world during the 
  years leading up to the Fourth Succession War, Highspire fell rela-
  tively easily to the Bell Training Battalion after the withdrawal of 
  Marion’s Highlanders (part of the Northwind Highlanders) when that 
  unit and its sister regiments took Hanse Davion’s offer to return their 
  homeworld.  Many local residents, especially the servitor caste, still 
  remember this abandonment with solemn rites of remembrance on 
  what used to be called Liberation Day, the day the planet officially 
  surrendered to the invading Federated Suns armies.
  The nobles on Highspire tend to confine themselves to the opu-
  lent city of Crescent near the equator in the southern hemisphere, 
  but the largest population is centered around the 900-kilometer 
  Chu-Li mountain range.  These mountains are rumored to hold the 
  base camps of various Thuggee cells, including a massive com-
  plex of caverns for ritual worship and, some say, sacrifice.  Kali Liao 
  maintains a palace in the Chu-Li foothills near a fully functional 
  starport, which has been used by secure military flights on more 
  than one occasion.
  Aside from intrigue, Highspire is also known as an exporter of 
  fine woodcrafts and timber.  Highspire tallwood planks are highly 
  sought after in the Sian Commonality, the Victoria Commonality 
  and the Federated Suns (a relic of the times when Highspire was 
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  76
  part of the Sarna March).  The Maskirovka is curtailing exports 
  harshly, given the current coolness between the two realms, but a 
  thriving black market remains in operation despite the intelligence 
  service’s best efforts.
  A great deal of military construction has occurred recently in 
  the Chu-Li Mountains, though details are sketchy.  Given the mili-
  tary buildup in the Liao Commonality since the end of the St. Ives 
  conflict, it’s not surprising that a planet where the Chancellor’s sis-
  ter lives should be well-protected.
  SARNA
  Noble Ruler: Mandrinn Sod Koo
  Star Type (Recharge Time): F8IV (179 hours)
  Position in System: 3
  Time to Jump Point: 12.01 days
  Number of Satellites: 1 (Grace)
  Surface Gravity: 1.03
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 41°C (Temperate)
  Surface Water: 70 percent
  Recharging Station: Zenith and Nadir
  HPG Class Type: A
  Highest Native Life: Reptile
  Population: 3,534,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: A-A-D-C-D
  Sarna has a long and proud his-
  tory of leadership and prosperity. 
  That same history is currently the 
  source of much pain, frustration 
  and feelings of inadequacy among 
  the Sarns.  The Sarna Supremacy 
  was an original signatory of the 
  treaties that created the Capellan 
  Confederation in the 24th cen-
  tury, and for hundreds of years Sarna was a commonality capital 
  much respected for its industry and culture.  During the hellish 
  years of the Fourth Succession War, Sarna was the site of one of 
  the Confederation’s few victories, if only briefly.  It eventually fell 
  to the Federated Suns, but then became the capital of a new Sarna 
  March as part of the Federated Commonwealth.  Even though they 
  had succumbed to the enemy, the Sarns marshaled their pride and 
  strove to become a preeminent world in the FedCom.  That pride, 
  many say, led to their undoing.
  When the Liberation of 3057 allowed the Sarns to break free of 
  the Federated Commonwealth, they chose to resurrect the fallen 
  Sarna Supremacy rather than rejoin the Capellan Confederation.  
  Led by Governor Lorete Montog-Chandler, the defending Sarnese 
  forces drove off their Capellan rescuers and then secured Sakhalin 
  and Kaifeng for themselves.  By quickly hiring mercenary regi-
  ments to bolster her limited forces, Montog-Chandler’s reborn 
  Supremacy soon became the most powerful independent realm 
  in the fragmenting area of space.  Chancellor Sun-Tzu, displeased 
  by his troops’ failure, allowed this situation to remain until 3058, 
  when he dispatched Warrior House Hiritsu to Kaifeng. The cap-
  ture of Kaifeng, which supplied a critical share of the Supremacy’s 
  foodstuffs, signaled the death knell for the Supremacy, and it had 
  returned to the Confederation by 3066.
  Though many in the Confederation proper still view the Sarns 
  with suspicion, the world’s military industries are too important 
  to allow that disdain to fuel prejudice or outright rebellion.  CCAF 
  forces in the system are carefully vetted by the Maskirovka to en-
  sure loyalty, but the population is not abused, nor forced to endure 
  unfair restrictions on their movements or actions.
  The decision in 3066 to adopt Sarna and Sakhalin fully into the 
  Confederation (they had been deemed protectorate worlds since 
  3062) brought about a new wave of optimism in students at the 
  Sarna Martial Academy, and the most recent class was deemed the 
  most qualified since 3058 by the Maskirovka.  While the academy 
  still bears the stigma of its homeworld’s rebellion, the students are 
  working hard to overcome it.
  WEI
  Noble Ruler: Lady Aurelia ben Noen
  Star Type (Recharge Time): G3IV (184 hours)
  Position in System: 3
  Time to Jump Point: 8.53 days
  Number of Satellites: 2 (Arils and Arlis)
  Surface Gravity: 1.0
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 45°C (Tropical)
  Surface Water: 76 percent
  Recharging Station: Nadir
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Reptiles
  Population: 3,500,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: C-D-C-F-B
  Just prior to the Fourth Succession War 
  the Capellan military, trying to capitalize 
  on its few strengths despite its overall dire 
  state, encouraged and spread rumors of a 
  cache of nerve gas on the planet Wei.  In a 
  rare case of rumors proving true, the CCAF 
  did have access to chemical weapons, and 
  the planet was heavily defended.  The 
  Twelfth Vegan Rangers and supporting 
  regiments that came to take the planet 
  from Sung’s Cuirassiers paid a heavy toll, 
  almost two full battalions.
  Wei did well under Federated Commonwealth administra-
  tion, largely due to the efforts of Asuncion Industries, which 
  relocated there after the Free Worlds League captured their origi-
  nal homeworld.  Unwilling to relocate a second time, corporate 
  executives negotiated contracts with the FedCom government 
  that allowed them to continue to honor their agreements in the 
  Confederation as well as open new markets in the sprawling 
  Federated Commonwealth.  When Wei’s region of space erupted 
  in turmoil in 3057, the planet’s population split.  A large portion 
  of them welcomed the Capellan troops that would return them 
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  77
  to the Confederation, but a larger part—and almost all of the planetary militia—wanted to remain in the Federated Commonwealth, 
  or even to be independent.  Largely influenced by the wealth that had flowed into Wei—and the fact that it spread well beyond the 
  Directorate overseers—the servitors fought to remain separate from the Confederation.  Even the deployment of the chemical agents 
  from the Fourth Succession War against a battalion of the Nightriders regiment of McCarron’s Armored Cavalry could not prevent the 
  Confederation’s eventual reclamation of the world.
  The Maskirovka has come down hard on the servitors of Wei, though they are careful not to drive them to outright rebellion again.  In a 
  move to help the world readjust to Capellan life, the House of Scions has allowed Asuncion Industries to honor all of its foreign contracts, 
  which has kept the tariffs and trade incomes of Wei nearly as high as they were before. The added influx of capital into state coffers—
  through taxes on exports and the like—are precisely the grease the Scions needed to push these measures past Maskirovka opposition.
  THE SIAN COMMONALITY
  The heartland of the Confederation, the Sian Commonality is host to the most developed 
  and prestigious worlds of the Capellan state and holds in its membership some of the most 
  prestigious noble houses in Capellan space.  It is the largest commonality in area, and con-
  trols much of the most valuable industry.  The capital of Sian is the most important planet in 
  the Confederation, of course, but the commonality also hosts the powerful planets of Menke 
  (homeworld of McCarron’s Armored Cavalry) and Grand Base, second only to recaptured 
  Tikonov as an economic juggernaut.
  The people of the Sian Commonality are among the most affluent and haughty in the 
  Confederation.  A larger proportion of nobles hold lands among the warrens and demesnes 
  of the Sian Commonality than in any other part of the Confederation as each of them jockeys 
  closer to the halls of power on Sian itself.  
  SIAN
  Noble Ruler: Chacellor Sun-Tzu Liao
  Star Type (Recharge Time): G0III (181 hours)
  Position in System: 2
  Time to Jump Point: 10.43 days
  Number of Satellites: 3 (Fu His, Nuwa, Shennong)
  Surface Gravity: 1.00
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 30°C (Temperate)
  Surface Water: 70 percent
  Recharging Station: Zenith and Nadir
  HPG Class Type: A
  Highest Native Life: Plant
  Population: 7,300,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: A-A-C-A-C
  Sian has been the Capellan 
  Confederation’s capital world since 
  the bombardment of Capella in 
  2367.  The political, social and mili-
  tary heart of the Confederation, 
  Sian is the jewel in the Capellan 
  crown.  The site of the Forbidden City and the Chancellor’s Summer 
  Palace, Sian is a lush world, with strict laws in place to keep heavy 
  industry in check and the gem of the Confederation shining.
  Several elite regiments garrison the planet, most notably 
  those considered the Chancellor’s bodyguard regiments.  The Red 
  Lancers, lead regiment of the Capellan Armed Forces, as well as 
  Warrior House Imarra, consider Sian their homeworld.  Sian is also 
  the homeworld of the Maskirovka, House Liao’s secret police and 
  intelligence apparatus.  The Death Commandos, the elite warriors 
  of the Maskirovka, also call Sian home, giving the planet defenses 
  to rival that of any other Successor State capital.  Despite all this, 
  the world has been successfully raided, most famously by the 
  Kathil Uhlans during the Fourth Succession War when they arrived 
  to rescue the spy Justin Allard.
  Sian is also an economic powerhouse, playing host to the 
  powerful Hellespont Industrials as well as the Saroyan Special 
  Production aerospace facility, the sole manufacturer of the ven-
  erable Transgressor aerospace fighter.  The Sian Center for Martial 
  Disciplines is probably the best military academy in Capellan 
  space, and the nearby Sian University hosts the most demanding 
  and lauded officer candidate school in the Confederation.  Civil 
  industries are strong as well, and the recent influx of Canopian 
  
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  78
  citizens has swelled the entertainment industry with new business 
  and competition.
  Life on Sian is comparable to life elsewhere in the Confederation, 
  though more regimented.  Unlike the capitals of other Successor 
  States, which often try to be more cosmopolitan than other worlds, 
  Sian is the centerpiece of the Capellan caste system, and nowhere 
  else are individual roles more sharply defined.  The Barduc rule 
  Sian, under the Chancellor, but during times of conflict the sword 
  nobility rises to the occasion and life as a servitor becomes excep-
  tionally harsh.  The past several years have been largely peaceful, 
  however, and Sian is currently undergoing somewhat of a renais-
  sance as the Entitled and the Intelligentsia attempt to rein in some 
  of the Barduc’s excesses.  The Directorate, of course, remains above 
  such quibbles (in public, at least).
  Another reason for the increasingly positive changes on Sian is 
  the influx of Magistracy citizens, both soldiers and the many scien-
  tists, educators and engineers who have flocked to Sian to learn 
  all they can from the more advanced Capellan scientific system. 
  Though many segments of the Confederation remain scientifically 
  behind the rest of the Inner Sphere—especially the Federated 
  Suns’ core worlds—they are far enough ahead of the Periphery 
  norm that many Canopians are as excited as schoolchildren about 
  learning from them. The Capellans, pleased to be on the advanced 
  side of the equation for once, enjoy teaching the Magistracy’s elite 
  what they can, or at least what the Maskirovka allows.
  GRAND BASE
  Noble Ruler: Mandrinn Joao Rajpita
  Star Type (Recharge Time): G5IV (186 hours)
  Position in System: 4
  Time to Jump Point: 7.47 days
  Number of Satellites: 2 (Hightower and Capetown)
  Surface Gravity: 1.10
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 36°C (Temperate)
  Surface Water: 34 percent
  Recharging Station: Zenith, Nadir
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Reptile
  Population: 4,200,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: A-A-C-A-C
  During 
  the 
  years 
  that 
  Tikonov spent apart from the 
  Confederation, 
  Grand 
  Base 
  emerged as the Capellan realm’s 
  most important economic and 
  manufacturing center.  Though the 
  sprawling Shengli Arms facilities 
  on Victoria soon challenged the 
  supremacy of Earthwerks-Grand 
  Base, not until Tikonov returned to the Confederation was Grand 
  Base eclipsed.
  The first years after the Fourth Succession War were difficult for 
  Grand Base.  The last shots had barely quieted from the Davion as-
  sault when Grand Base was attacked by the Sixth Defenders of 
  Andurien in September of 3030.  Warrior House Fujita and a number 
  of militia regiments, as well as trainees from the Death Commando 
  training grounds, were all that stood between the Sixth Defenders 
  and the Earthwerks facilities on the world. The loss of these produc-
  tion facilities would have devastated the Capellan war effort, but 
  skillful fighting on the part of House Fujita and outright terror tac-
  tics from the Death Commandos soon brought the Sixth to retreat.
  In 3036, Lord Tsen Shang, consort of the newly confirmed 
  Chancellor Romano Liao, took a personal interest in restoring the 
  damaged facilities on Grand Base to full capacity, and it was largely 
  through his efforts that the planet’s economy struggled back to 
  full force in 3040.  By 3042, the Earthwerks facilities had almost 
  doubled production and the first scattered bits of recovered tech-
  nology were being tested on secure proving grounds. Since then, 
  Earthwerks-Grand Base has stayed near the forefront of Capellan 
  military development, even as Shengli Arms and Victoria attempt 
  to steal as much of the spotlight as possible.
  Warrior House Fujita was moved from Grand Base just before 
  the St. Ives conflict.  They were replaced by Warrior House Lu Sann 
  upon that House’s return from a disastrous mission into the Taurian 
  Concordat.  The first large-scale combat that Grand Base had seen 
  in a decade occurred when a rebellious unit of Taurian troops fol-
  lowed Lu Sann home and attacked them.  Surprised by the assault, 
  Lu Sann took serious casualties before destroying the Taurian unit.
  Grand Base is a pleasant world, with rolling landscapes on most 
  of the main continent. A coastal mountain range protects the main 
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  79
  continent’s eastern edges, and three other mid-sized continents 
  lie within easy intra-atmospheric flight.  The freshwater oceans 
  are rich with native reptilian life and introduced Terran species 
  of fish.  The zenith and nadir jump points host fully functional re-
  charge and security stations, and security forces at both stations 
  are equipped with the latest technology.
  The planet’s noble ruler, newly elevated Mandrinn Joao 
  Rajpita, is a connoisseur of modern Capellan literature and hosts 
  a yearly symposium that draws the best writers from across the 
  Confederation.  His family has controlled Grand Base since Lord 
  Shang’s withdrawal back to Sian in 3040.
  HUSTAING
  Noble Ruler: Lord Kevin Dittimore
  Star Type (Recharge Time): G1V (182 hours)
  Position in System: 4
  Time to Jump Point: 9.75 days
  Number of Satellites: 1 (Atria)
  Surface Gravity: 1.02
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 36°C (Temperate)
  Surface Water: 45 percent
  Recharging Station: None
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Reptile
  Population: 2, 345,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: C-C-C-D-C
  Hustaing shot to prominence at 
  the start of the St. Ives conflict as 
  the world where it was thought the 
  Chancellor had been captured by the 
  rogue Blackwind Lancers. When it 
  came out that the Chancellor had es-
  caped and his then-fiancée, Duchess 
  Isis Marik of the Free Worlds League, 
  had been taken instead, the ten-
  sion level scarcely lowered.  Not until 
  House Hiritsu overcame the Blackwind Lancers and forced them to 
  surrender did the Confederation as a whole draw breath and relax.  
  The creation of the Hustaing Warriors from surviving soldiers of 
  the Hustaing Home Guard battalions gave the planet a chance to 
  claim great honor for the Confederation, and the unit gave sterling 
  service during the conflict with St. Ives.
  Since then, Hustaing’s rise to prominence has earned this for-
  merly quiet world an economic boom.  Tourism has increased 
  exponentially as Capellan citizens flock to see the famous land-
  mark battle sites: the intersection where Isis Marik escaped, the 
  memorial to Warrior House Hiritsu’s dead near the spaceport, even 
  a re-creation of the small office where House Master Ty Wu Non ac-
  cepted the surrender of the disgraced Blackwind Lancers.
  Lord Kevin Dittimore has leveraged every angle he can from his 
  world’s prominence.  The planet’s tax base was adjusted follow-
  ing the Hustaing Warriors’ designation of Hustaing as their official 
  homeworld, bringing welcome military and industrial contracts to 
  the planet.  A crash program of industrial expansion was completed 
  in 3066 to jumpstart the military-manufacturing industry.  Many of 
  the personal weapons and small arms used by the Hustaing Warriors 
  and the rebuilt Hustaing Home Guard are manufactured locally.
  The increase in tourism has also brought about a staggering in-
  crease in the arts on Hustaing, as many artists have come to take 
  advantage of the planet’s large potential customer base.  Painters, 
  in particular, have been selling canvases in truly breathtaking num-
  bers.  Most of the pieces touch on the famous battles in some way, 
  but not all of them are violent.  Several scathing editorials written 
  by artists in the rest of the Confederation have circulated recently, 
  deriding the work as too commercial, but several pieces have been 
  prominently displayed nonetheless in some of the Confederation’s 
  most respected galleries.
  MENKE
  Noble Ruler: Lord Marcus Baxter
  Star Type (Recharge Time): K7V (198 hours)
  Position in System: 2
  Time to Jump Point: 3.70 days
  Number of Satellites: 1 (Darbonne)
  Surface Gravity: 1.13
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 42°C (Tropical)
  Surface Water: 74 percent
  Recharging Station: Zenith
  HPG Class Type: A
  Highest Native Life: Plant
  Population: 5,500,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: A-B-C-C-C
  Menke has always been a powerful world 
  in the Confederation, not least because of 
  its status as the primary base of the famed 
  McCarron’s Armored Cavalry mercenary unit. 
  With the Armored Cavalry’s adoption into 
  the CCAF and the investiture of Lord Marcus 
  Baxter into the Barduc, Menke has climbed 
  even higher.
  Most of the inhabited portions of Menke are 
  sunny and tropical, known for their pleasant 
  climate.  Local citizens identify heavily with the 
  dependents of the Armored Cavalry, almost all 
  of whom maintain homes and estates on the world.  Menke has 
  long been the hereditary holding of the McCarron family, but with 
  Lord Baxter’s investiture it became the capital world for the lord’s 
  new warren.
  The presence of the Armored Cavalry has always meant that 
  military matters took much of the spotlight on Menke.  A modest 
  military production facility churns out materiel for the Armored 
  Cavalry directly and for the rest of the CCAF as well.  One or two 
  McCarron’s regiments are almost always present (and often the 
  rest as well), which makes Menke very well defended.  The planet 
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  80
  has been successfully raided several times, most notably by Wolf’s 
  Dragoons’ Seventh Kommando early in the 31st century, but its de-
  fenders have always managed to drive the attackers off.  While the 
  Armored Cavalry maintains a modest training academy, the Barton 
  Memorial Training Center in the southern hemisphere gets the li-
  on’s share of attention from the rest of the CCAF.  It has worked 
  hard in the last three years to build a reputation as the finest jungle 
  warfare training center in the Confederation.
  Though Lord Marcus Baxter is the ultimate authority on Menke, 
  his position as head of the Armored Cavalry forces him to leave 
  civilian administration to Archibald McCarron’s nephew, Gregory 
  McCarron.  Director of the McCarron Trading Company, Gregory 
  manages the day-to-day operation of Menke in Baxter’s stead.  His 
  most remarkable accomplishment to date was the creation of the 
  Wei Memorial, a statue dedicated to the battalion of the Nightriders 
  regiment that died reclaiming Wei for the Confederation.
  WESTERHAND
  Noble Ruler: Duke Quon Thuc
  Star Type (Recharge Time): G3V (184 hours)
  Position in System: 2
  Time to Jump Point: 8.53 days
  Number of Satellites: 3 (Delsia, Ralston, and Vannora)
  Surface Gravity: 0.93
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 49°C (Temperate)
  Surface Water: 66 percent
  Recharging Station: Nadir
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Mammals
  Population: 1,031,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: C-D-C-D-C
  Westerhand 
  first 
  rose 
  to 
  prominence during the reign of 
  Chancellor Maximilian Liao, when 
  he established a series of Quarterly 
  Games. 
  These 
  ’Mech-combat 
  fights, akin to the Solaris games, 
  were intended to draw monetary 
  investors and talented MechWarriors into the Confederation. 
  Though the spectacle-filled Quarterly Games were a casualty of 
  internal corruption and the Fourth Succession War, new and ex-
  panded contests have recently brought economic and social 
  rescue to Westerhand.
  Maximilian Liao envisioned a series of eye-popping spectacu-
  lars he could milk for all he needed: warriors, ’Mechs and money. 
  For a short time his scheme succeeded, but the Davion invasion 
  spelled the end of the games and the beginning of three decades 
  of decline for Westerhand’s citizens.  In Victory City, the planetary 
  capital, the six large arenas that hosted Maximilian’s cream of the 
  crop in the 3020s fell victim to “the stuff that floats to the top” in 
  the 3030s and ‘40s.  Ne’er-do-wells, two-bit mercenary companies 
  and wannabe warriors unable to make the long journey to Solaris 
  kept the arenas in operation, but the glory was gone.
  When Sun-Tzu Liao began a crash program to revitalize 
  Westerhand’s economy in the late 3050s, most of the world’s 
  citizens leaped at the chance.  They leaped so high, in fact, that 
  rumors flag Westerhand’s remarkable recovery as one of the initia-
  tives that led to the Xin Sheng movement.  Using recognition by 
  the CCAF and even the Free Worlds League Military, Westerhand’s 
  games began to attract the elite again: mercenary recruiters, talent 
  scouts and recruiters from the best Confederation and Free Worlds 
  military academies. Today, the Games on Westerhand—while not 
  as opulent as the Solaris Games—are one of the highlights of the 
  Capellan entertainment circuit.
  Victory City is in the midst of a rebirth, as the influx of capital 
  from the government and liquid cash from massive numbers of 
  Games participants and viewers allows the city fathers to liter-
  ally make over their city.  Duke Thuc has taken personal charge of 
  several projects, including a highly successful one to gather the 
  servitor-caste homeless from the streets and put them to work 
  on civic projects.  While labor has always been cheaper than tech-
  nology in the Confederation, Duke Thuc appears to be trying to 
  win his servitors’ loyalty; instead of a simple work-for-food policy, 
  he is using a seniority-based system to try to place hardworking 
  servitors in long-term employment with the growing Victory City 
  industrial base.
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  81
  THE ST. IvES COMMONALITY
  The St. Ives Commonality is a study in contradictions. Long a bulwark against Davion ag-
  gression, it split from the Confederation in the aftermath of the Fourth Succession War and 
  became barely more than a Davion protectorate.  Ruled throughout its separate existence 
  by Maximilian Liao’s eldest daughter Candace, the short-lived St. Ives Compact fiercely main-
  tained its independence from the Federated Commonwealth through Duchess Candace’s 
  iron will.  The citizens of the Compact came to see themselves as the true upholders of the 
  best in Capellan culture and to view the Confederation proper as the subjects of despots—
  specifically, Romano Liao and her son, Sun-Tzu.
  The culmination of the Xin Sheng program was the reclamation of the entire St. Ives 
  Commonality. The so-called Capellan-St. Ives war was brief but bitter, punctuated by the mur-
  derous Black May attacks of the Thuggee cult.  Upon the cessation of hostilities Chancellor 
  Sun-Tzu decreed the re-absorbtion of the Compact and confirmed Duchess Candace Liao 
  and her family as hereditary rulers. The worlds of the Compact have embraced their return; 
  indeed, several are so deeply entrenched in Xin Sheng movements that many pundits fear 
  rebellion would break out again if the Compact attempted to resurrect itself—except that 
  this time, the insurgents would be fighting to stay with the Confederation.
  ST. IVES
  Noble Ruler: Duchess Candace Liao
  Star Type (Recharge Time): G8V (189 hours)
  Position in System: 3
  Time to Jump Point: 6.19 days
  Number of Satellites: 1 (Cochrane)
  Surface Gravity: 1.01
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 34°C (Temperate)
  Surface Water: 67 percent
  Recharging Station: Zenith and Nadir
  HPG Class Type: A
  Highest Native Life: Plant
  Population: 5,900,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: A-A-B-A-C
  As the capital of a commonal-
  ity in regular contact with Davion 
  forces, St. Ives has always been 
  a beautiful contradiction: some 
  of the loveliest landscapes in the 
  Confederation and yet one of the 
  best defended worlds in the Inner 
  Sphere.  During the years of the St. 
  Ives Compact, the people of St. Ives 
  took to being citizens of a mini-realm’s capital world; only rigorous 
  educational and economic oversight kept this world’s reintegration 
  into the Confederation from being more costly and less efficient.
  Knowing that her realm must be able to defend itself, and able 
  to draw on the contacts established by her then-husband, the late 
  Justin Allard, Candace Liao mandated the creation of one of the 
  most powerful and concentrated defense industries in the Inner 
  Sphere. The HildCo Interplanetary factories on St. Ives and other 
  Compact worlds went from respectable weapons producers to 
  high-production powerhouses, capable of integrating the most 
  advanced technologies rediscovered by the New Avalon Institute 
  of Science.  Since returning to Capellan control, these industries 
  have not slackened their production, but their distribution now 
  spans the entire Confederation.
  Though defense industries are most common, the civilian 
  economy of St. Ives prospered during the relatively peaceful years 
  of the Compact, and those industries as well are now spreading 
  their output across the Confederation.  This has raised the cost 
  of domestically produced goods inside the St. Ives Commonality.  
  Analysts debate whether or not this effect is intentional—certainly 
  it is helping to bind the former Compact to the Confederation, but 
  also forcing them to import goods from other Commonalities to 
  help keep costs down.
  The two regiments of the St. Ives Lancers remain the pre-
  eminent formations of the St. Ives Armored Cavalry, but the new 
  regiments of the St. Ives Janissaries have gained increasing at-
  tention from the Capellan Strategios.  Their effectiveness against 
  Capellan troops during the Capellan-St. Ives war demanded 
  review after that conflict’s conclusion, and the CCAF has been 
  actively evaluating their tactics.
  Candace Liao and her family, including her son, the famous 
  MechWarrior Kai Allard-Liao, spend much of their time on St. Ives, 
  overseeing the operation of the commonality.  Many observers 
  expected the Chancellor to demand Candace’s presence on Sian 
  as a hostage for her family’s behavior, but aside from meetings of 
  the Prefectorate, the Duchess and her children mainly stay on St. 
  Ives. The exception is Candace’s daughter, former major Cassandra 
  Allard-Liao, who left the Compact in the company of a mercenary 
  regiment at the war’s conclusion.
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  82
  BRIGHTON
  Noble Ruler: Shonso Ellen Brazeau
  Star Type (Recharge Time): F9III (180 hours)
  Position in System: 4
  Time to Jump Point: 11.19 days
  Number of Satellites: 1 (Brazen Heart)
  Surface Gravity: 1.01
  Atmospheric Pressure: Low (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 28°C (Arid)
  Surface Water: 23 percent
  Recharging Station: Zenith
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Mammals
  Population: 4,500,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: C-D-D-C-C
  In 2998, the Brighton Home Guard held 
  off Davion invaders long enough for several 
  Warrior Houses to come and relieve them. 
  Though successful, this action had two reper-
  cussions that carried through to Brighton’s 
  tenure as a part of the St. Ives Compact. It 
  gave the indigenous Brighton soldiery a 
  strong sense of pride and entitlement, and it 
  also created a sense of superiority among the 
  citizenry because of how well they had held 
  up under the Davion siege. 
  During the Compact years, some of the 
  St. Ives military’s most aggressive officers 
  came from Brighton.  Though no regular formations were ever 
  raised, the battalions of the Brighton Home Guard often rotated 
  off-world to spar with other Compact units as opposition forces, in 
  addition to maintaining training facilities across Brighton.  Though 
  they kept their skills sharp, the Brighton units were never tested in a 
  serious battle until the Capellan-St. Ives war.
  In that conflict, they were shattered.
  In three swift engagements, elements of McCarron’s Armored 
  Cavalry landed on Brighton specifically to engage the Brighton 
  Home Guard. Despite all their posturing, the unit’s officers never 
  managed to steal the initiative from the Armored Cavalry, and the 
  Guard suffered the consequences. The Armored Cavalry struck 
  and departed without occupying the planet, but the cease-fire 
  came before follow-on occupation forces could be sent.
  The destruction of their pride and joy took some wind out of the 
  sails of Brighton’s people.  One of the first acts of the new Capellan 
  governor took the rest when he reopened the long-closed penal 
  facility on the moon Brazen Heart.  The first crop of prisoners came 
  from Brighton, but the prison complex quickly filled with the loud-
  est voices for independence.  The CCAF has maintained control 
  of the prison, restricting access and denying access even to the 
  Duchess’ inspectors.
  Economically, Brighton is well positioned to survive reinte-
  gration with little ill effect.  The copper and silver mines at the 
  south pole are still active, and all have received a fresh influx of 
  labor as the deactivated Home Guard units find work for their 
  surviving soldiers.
  Shonso Ellen Brazeau is cousin of the former ruling Brazeaus 
  of Brighton.  While most of her family followed Duchess Candace 
  into the Compact in the 3030s, Ellen’s parents stayed in the 
  Confederation.  A former member of the House of Scions, Ellen ap-
  pears to be doing her best to work with her own people, rather 
  than punish them for her family’s transgressions.
  DENBAR
  Noble Ruler: Mandrinn Gabriel Motte
  Star Type (Recharge Time): M2IV (203 hours)
  Position in System: 8
  Time to Jump Point: 2.86 days
  Number of Satellites: 1 (Kenilworth)
  Surface Gravity: 0.98
  Atmosphere Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 32°C (Temperate)
  Surface Water: 67 percent
  Recharging Station: None
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Plant
  Population: 1,432,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: C-D-C-D-C
  The citizens of Denbar were surprised to be 
  exempted from ComStar’s earlier report on the 
  Confederation.  That report claimed the world 
  was uninhabited except for a small ComStar 
  exploration team, and that the Confederation 
  had contemplated the planet’s settlement 
  solely as a military position.  Needless to say, 
  this came as news to the roughly 1.2 billion 
  people living there.
  Documents unearthed during ComStar’s 
  secularization in the mid-3050s revealed the 
  purpose of this charade: the Denbar HPG had 
  been responsible for testing hypothetical 
  advancements in HPG range, and ComStar 
  needed a plausible explanation for the odd 
  signals associated with it. The archeological site at the northern 
  pole was a fake created by ComStar in case anyone came to visit, 
  but the wreckage had been recovered by 3032 and the stories 
  debunked.
  During the Compact years, Denbar’s economy experienced 
  phenomenal growth as the Compact poured defense monies 
  into the planet’s infrastructure.  As one of the worlds bordering 
  the Confederation, it was essential that Denbar not be left unde-
  fended, which meant permanently stationing at least a regiment 
  of BattleMechs on-world.  Denbar was the scene of savage fight-
  ing during the opening phases of the Capellan-St. Ives war, and 
  that fighting continued for much of the conflict.  After the cease-
  fire, the world remained a hotbed of resistance to rightful Capellan 
  rule until 3064, when Colonel Sao Fang was captured leading a raid 
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  83
  on a CCAF supply installation.  The colonel—branded a traitor by 
  Duchess Candace herself in 3063—was publicly executed along 
  with most of his troops.
  Mandrinn Gabriel Motte, a young noble who served with the 
  CCAF unit that captured Sao, volunteered to administer Denbar for 
  the duchess after the colonel’s execution.  The House of Scions ap-
  proved his appointment and the young man has spent nearly every 
  waking moment campaigning for Denbar’s prosperity.  His civil ini-
  tiatives alone have generated a great deal of goodwill among all 
  the castes, even the servitors.  A series of holodramas have been 
  produced about him, including one showing stock footage of the 
  mandrinn weeping as he led Sao’s firing squad.  “A man of convic-
  tion and principle,” he said at the time, speaking about Sao, “who 
  led as best he could and held to his ideals until the end.”
  Motte’s first act as planetary administrator was to pardon all of 
  Sao’s remaining resistance fighters, effectively ending resistance 
  on Denbar.
  TExLOS
  Noble Ruler: Shonso Indri del Schwann
  Star Type (Recharge Time): K8V (199 hours)
  Position in System: 6
  Time to Jump Point: 3.47 days
  Number of Satellites: 3 (Maxia, Alicia, and Rose)
  Surface Gravity: 0.99
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 30°C (Tropical)
  Surface Water: 45 percent
  Recharging Station: Zenith
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Amphibian
  Population: 5,500,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: A-B-B-B-B
  Of all the worlds in St. Ives to prosper 
  during the Compact’s tenure, Texlos may 
  have the greatest claim to fame.  Long a 
  popular destination because of its com-
  fortable climate and stable economy, 
  Texlos became a bastion for Capellan 
  expatriates after it seceded from the 
  Confederation with the rest of the St. Ives 
  Commonality.  When combined with the 
  massive industrial growth of the 3040s 
  and 3050s, the wealth brought by the expatriates rich enough to 
  travel by JumpShip made Texlos the peer of any other industrial 
  world in production, if not prestige.
  When Candace Liao created the St. Ives Compact, she invited 
  all like-minded Capellans to flee the Confederation and join her. 
  Thousands of Capellans did so, and many settled into expatriate 
  communities across the face of Texlos.  These immigrants—who 
  had feared Davion aggression when Texlos was a Davion border 
  world—flocked there because of the newfound peace under 
  Federated Commonwealth protection.  The expanding factories 
  (and the infrastructure to support them) offered investment op-
  portunities for the money they’d brought, and so Texlos boomed. 
  The aerospace industry exploded as Mujika Aerospace became the 
  primary supplier to the St. Ives military and secured prime export 
  contracts to the Federated Commonwealth’s Capellan March.
  The fighting during the reclamation of St. Ives touched Texlos 
  lightly, as neither side wanted to threaten the valuable industry 
  there.  When the cease-fire took effect, however, many citizens fled 
  Texlos for the Federated Suns, unwilling to be Capellan subjects 
  again.  All told, almost a million people fled the planet over the 
  course of 3064 and 3065, before the loss of skilled manpower af-
  fected military production enough that Shonso Schwann stepped 
  in and halted the exodus.
  Texlos today is fighting tooth and nail against a recession as the 
  remaining workforce adjusts to their servitor status and military 
  production falters.  Shonso Schwann has lobbied the duchess re-
  peatedly for drafts of skilled workers from, more populous worlds 
  to fill her factories, but her pleas have so far been rebuffed.
  The one area of Texlos that has seen an increase is tour-
  ism, as less-restricted travel between St. Ives and the rest of the 
  Confederation has brought many from the Confederation’s in-
  terior to visit the world.  Older nobles in the Confederation still 
  remember previous visits to Texlos and have made pilgrimages to 
  introduce their younger scions to the sense of wonder and calm-
  ness that Texlos offers its guests.
  WARLOCK
  Noble Ruler: Shonso Carter Ibo
  Star Type (Recharge Time): F9IV (180 hours)
  Position in System: 3
  Time to Jump Point: 11.19 days
  Number of Satellites: 1 (Blackguard)
  Surface Gravity: 1.03
  Atmospheric Pressure: Low (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 5°C (Arctic)
  Surface Water: 12 percent
  Recharging Station: Zenith and Nadir
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Plant
  Population: 5,450,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: A-A-C-A-D
  Warlock is an aptly named 
  world that has risen to great prom-
  inence in the past decade. During 
  its time as a St. Ives Compact 
  world, Warlock experienced sky-
  rocketing growth as a resort world 
  and a manufacturing center.  Once 
  it returned to the Confederation, 
  the CCAF and the Prefectorate 
  worked to make sure Warlock did not suffer the loss of production 
  that befell Texlos, and to date their precautions have been largely 
  successful.
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  84
  Much of Warlock’s inhabited areas exist in frigid arctic regions, 
  which makes the planet a favorite destination for vacationing 
  nobles who prefer alpine vacations.  The Liao family has long main-
  tained a winter retreat on Warlock, and while Candace and her 
  family never barred any of their other Liao relatives from using the 
  facility, few wanted to risk the wrath of Romano Liao to do so, and 
  most other Capellan nobles followed suit.  With the reconciliation 
  of the St. Ives Commonality, nobles have flocked to the slopes of 
  Warlock, following the lead of the Chancellor, who spent six days 
  of rest in a ski lodge there in 3066. The influx of cash and recogni-
  tion has been well received by the local people.
  Militarily, the Strategios is developing the weapon manufac-
  turing facilities on Warlock’s equatorial continent, and plans an 
  expansion of the arctic training facilities in the south for 3068.  
  As elsewhere in the former Compact, CCAF procurement offi-
  cers have been impressed with the production capabilities of the 
  FedCom-influenced factories, and many engineers visit to try to 
  bring comparable renovations to Capellan production centers on 
  Grand Base and Victoria.
  Shonso Carter Ibo is the grandson of the long-serving Lady 
  Seng Ibo.  Whereas Carter’s father Dan and his grandmother 
  both took their own lives rather than see Warlock returned to 
  the Confederation, Carter has embraced reunification.  A for-
  mer MechWarrior who served with the St. Ives Cheveau Legers, 
  Carter returned to Warlock in 3064 and accepted his mother’s 
  former title with the Chancellor’s blessing.  His services to 
  Warlock and the commonality prompted Duchess Candace 
  to elevate him to the rank of shonso in 3066, shortly after the 
  Chancellor’s visit.
  The amount of inter-system traffic between Warlock and 
  Blackguard has recently increased, giving rise to speculation 
  that the CCAF is upgrading the abandoned naval installation 
  on Warlock in preparation for an expansion of the Capellan 
  Navy’s forward staging in the St. Ives Commonality.  The sta-
  tion—a storage and repair facility largely abandoned by the 
  Compact military—is large enough to repair a half-dozen 
  DropShips of 50,000 tons at once, and can house a regiment 
  of marines.
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  85
  THE vICTORIA COMMONALITY
  The Victoria Commonality is the newest in the Confederation, established during Sun-Tzu 
  Liao’s Xin Sheng reforms.  It encompasses almost all of the rimward Confederation, worlds 
  that have seen little direct combat since the Andurien invasion of the early 3030s.  These years 
  of peace have allowed the area to quietly build itself into a cultural and industrial fortress of 
  Capellan unity. Though no truly outstanding manufacturing concerns exist in the common-
  ality except for Shengli Arms on Victoria, countless small to mid-size industrial concerns are 
  scattered across the worlds that still produce much of the high-quality consumer goods that 
  once made the Capellan Confederation a prized trading partner.  With jump routes to both 
  Periphery signatories of the Trinity Alliance passing through the commonality, these indus-
  tries are starting to see more significant growth.
  The people of the Victoria Commonality are beginning to overcome generations’ worth 
  of prejudice against them as “those people out there” because of their proximity to the 
  Periphery.  Part of that change, of course, is a result of an influx of Taurians and Canopians; 
  actual “people from farther out there” now exist in the commonality to scoff at.  But much of 
  it also derives from the sheer determination the commonality’s citizens have shown in the 
  past few years to prove themselves worthy of commonality status.
  VICTORIA
  Noble Ruler: Duchess Abigail O’Hanlon
  Star Type (Recharge Time): K7IV (198 hours)
  Position in System: 2
  Time to Jump Point: 3.70 days
  Number of Satellites: 4 (Jocelyn, Jennifer, Astrid, Lissete)
  Surface Gravity: 1.00
  Atmospheric Pressure: Low (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 2°C (Boreal)
  Surface Water: 9 percent
  Recharging Station: Zenith
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Plants
  Population: 2,100,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: A-A-C-B-D
  The newest commonality capital in the 
  Confederation, Victoria is currently enjoying 
  an upswing in prosperity and influence. The 
  world’s fortunes have been on the rise more 
  or less since the opening of the Shengli Arms 
  BattleMech factories.  Since then, the planet 
  has become a haven of advanced learning, 
  with the Victoria Institute of Engineering be-
  ginning to rival Sian University as a research 
  facility.
  Though Victoria’s atmosphere is breath-
  able, the planet has a highly unstable weather 
  system that routinely generates damaging 
  storms.  As a result, most of Victoria’s popu-
  lation and industry is underground.  Because 
  humans crave sunlight, the many domes of Victoria were erected 
  to give people a safe place to see the sky.  These domes, mas-
  sive ferro-glass structures that dot the world, are some of the 
  most amazing examples of Capellan engineering—of human 
  engineering as a whole, some say—and visitors arrive every day 
  from across the Confederation to view them.  A routine final-term 
  exam for VIE students is to design an addition to the domed park 
  system; the valedictorian’s design has been added to the system 
  since 3061, when a grant was established for that purpose.
  The industrial heart of Victoria is Shengli Arms, the reconsti-
  tuted BattleMech facility based around a recovered Star League 
  research center.  One of Sun-Tzu Liao’s first projects was to invite 
  the Word of Blake to help the Confederation refurbish and redesign 
  the center for BattleMech production, and since then the factory 
  has churned out powerful Capellan ’Mechs such as the Jinggau. 
  The facility—and of course, graduates of VIE—is constantly experi-
  menting with new technologies, and the CCAF liaison office is one 
  of the best-staffed of any world.
  The presence of the Prefectorate Guard regiment of the 
  Capellan Hussars has made Victoria a popular world with the CCAF 
  and the Prefectorate, whose members often come to inspect their 
  “guardian” regiment. The Guards have a working relationship with 
  Shengli Arms, trading testing expertise for excellent supply and 
  repair facilities.
  Victoria’s ruler, Duchess Abigail O’Hanlon, spent much political 
  capital to get her family the rulership of the entire commonality 
  and herself the commonality’s seat on the Prefectorate. She is of-
  ten away from Victoria, leaving planetary administration in the 
  hands of her niece, Diem Annalise O’Hanlon.  Duchess Abigail is 
  away so often, in fact, that many in Victoria’s popular media often 
  refer to Annalise as “the young duchess.”
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  86
  DROzAN
  Noble Ruler: Lord Henry Kingsbury
  Star Type (Recharge Time): F2V (173 hours)
  Position in System: 5
  Time to Jump Point: 18.75 days
  Number of Satellites: 0
  Surface Gravity: 0.96
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 29°C (Temperate)
  Surface Water: 71 percent
  Recharging Station: Zenith and Nadir
  HPG Class Type: A
  Highest Native Life: Mammals
  Population: 6,240,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: C- D-C-C-A
  If any world can be called the bread-
  basket of the Confederation, surely Drozan 
  can claim that prize.  A warm and temper-
  ate planet, Drozan boasts vast swathes of 
  land mass devoted to agriculture.  Little 
  industry exists in the few small cities that 
  dot the landscape, most of it devoted sup-
  porting the planet’s many spaceports.
  Contrary to the claims of ComStar’s ear-
  lier publication, Drozan does not actually 
  feed five percent of the Confederation’s 
  hundreds of billions of subjects. Instead, 
  Drozan produces an estimated eight 
  percent of the Confederation’s luxury 
  foodstuffs.  Both land and sea are utilized, and agribusinesses 
  run the gamut from gourmet meats to exotic artisanal grains. 
  Though the food industry was always Drozan’s forte, the addition 
  of information from the Gray Death memory core in the mid-3030s 
  allowed Drozan to reach even more markets, and it has since be-
  come a powerhouse in agricultural genetic engineering.
  Because of the value of land for arable uses, Drozan holds no 
  large-scale BattleMech proving grounds like those found on many 
  other worlds, though the CCAF does maintain a large canton-
  ment currently occupied by Marshigama’s Legionairres. Instead, 
  Drozan’s military installations focus on infantry training.  The mas-
  sive motorized infantry school in the coastal city of Midas was 
  recently enhanced with one of the few dedicated underwater war-
  fare schools in the Confederation.  Rumors abound that the Death 
  Commandos may place a detachment at the new facility to teach 
  extreme underwater demolition tactics, but to date nothing more 
  than feasibility studies have been completed.
  At peace since the Andurien invasion, Drozan has remained 
  blessedly free of strife; even bandits seem to avoid the world.  This 
  has led to a discernable gap in attitudes between the CCAF cadre 
  on Drozan and local citizens.  The cadre, devoted to their train-
  ing mission, remain as loyal as ever, but the grangers on Drozan’s 
  northern continent have recently begun agitating to reduce the 
  taxes that fund the planetary garrison.  Without a significant mili-
  tary action in the past twenty-five years, many are beginning to 
  doubt the need for a strong garrison, as well as noting the poten-
  tial cost of the land left fallow for military use. Lord Kinsbury, head 
  of the one of the largest granges as well as the planet’s noble ruler, 
  is taking steps to increase the education of his people on this sub-
  ject.  Many believe the lord’s actions—undertaken in just the past 
  eighteen months—stem from a “your way or our way” visit from 
  the Maskirovka.
  ROLLIS
  Noble Ruler: Lord Yuri Gastov
  Star Type (Recharge Time): F3V (174 hours)
  Position in System: 2
  Time to Jump Point: 17.36 days
  Number of Satellites: 1 (Rory)
  Surface Gravity: 1.02
  Atmospheric Pressure: Low (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 32°C (Temperate)
  Surface Water: 56 percent
  Recharging Station: None
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Plant 
  Population: 89,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: D-D-D-F-C
  At the far rimward edge of the 
  Confederation, Rollis has long 
  been the realm’s bastion against 
  the Periphery and a flanking at-
  tack by the Federated Suns. Fewer 
  than one hundred million people 
  populate the world, though re-
  cent indexes show the population 
  growing as new opportunities 
  arise in trade with the Taurian Concordat and the newly indepen-
  dent Fronc Reaches.
  Historically, Rollis has been the jumping-off point for Capellan 
  expeditions into the Periphery.  The planet earns a large part of its 
  hard currency by supporting interstellar explorations, both state-
  sponsored and private.  Though neither of Rollis’ jump points have 
  recharge stations, a small orbital repair facility exists for DropShips 
  and small craft.  Lord Gastov is currently lobbying the Prefectorate 
  to approve construction of at least one recharge station to help 
  speed travel between the Confederation and the Concordat.
  The citizens of Rollis are some of the most independent-mind-
  ed in the Confederation.  Most of the planet’s native industry is 
  self-sustaining, though high-technology items must be import-
  ed.  Wood harvested from the jungles on the equatorial island 
  of Iskandia fetches high prices throughout the Confederation. It 
  is prized for its pungent aroma, similar to Terran cedar, but also 
  for its strength and near-imperviousness to fire. The lumberjacks 
  who clear those forests command nearly any price they wish for 
  the planks, and a thriving black market allows the wood to be ex-
  ported to the Federated Suns’ Capellan March.
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  87
  Given Rollis’ somewhat strategic position, the CCAF has always 
  maintained a minimal garrison to supplement the Rollis Home 
  Guard.  In 3066, construction began on a new facility near the capi-
  tal city of New Harmon to house up a full regiment of BattleMechs 
  and their attendant support units.  As no new unit of the Capellan 
  Reserves has been called up, locals speculate that Chancellor 
  Sun-Tzu intends to allow a Magistracy regiment to garrison the im-
  portant corridor to the Taurian Concordat, in line with the treaty 
  obligations of the Trinity Alliance.
  The one anomaly on Rollis is the aptly named city of Freeport 
  in the southern hemisphere, on the island of Tucson.  An open 
  city, Freeport caters to the independent traders and prospectors 
  that filter through Rollis with the tacit approval (and modest duty 
  collections) of Lord Gastov. Situated near a dry lakebed used as 
  a spaceport, Freeport more resembles some settlements in the 
  Periphery than a large city on a Successor State world, but it func-
  tions as a profitable waypoint and acclimatization stop for travelers 
  coming from or heading into the Periphery.
  TURIN
  Noble Ruler: Lama Tsuma von Avon
  Star Type (Recharge Time): G2V (183 hours)
  Position in System: 5
  Time to Jump Point: 9.12 days
  Number of Satellites: 1 (Shroud)
  Surface Gravity: 1.02
  Atmospheric Pressure: Standard (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 32°C (Temperate)
  Surface Water: 23 percent
  Recharging Station: Zenith
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Reptile
  Population: 3,983,000,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: C-D-C-D-A
  If Drozan is the Confederation’s 
  breadbasket, Turin is surely its 
  steakhouse. The discovery that 
  the Turin bull could be mated with 
  Terran steers to create a new breed 
  both fleshier and tastier than either 
  brought grangers by the thou-
  sands to this mostly arid world of 
  open pasture and few predators. 
  Turin quickly grew into an agricultural powerhouse, though dairies 
  were distressed to discover that while the Turin bull’s meat is eas-
  ily digestible, the milk of the Turin cow is not.  Turin dairies focus 
  exclusively on Terran cows and goats for their dairy production.
  Turin is also famous for its horses.  Just prior to the Fourth 
  Succession War, a breeding program was instituted to re-
  populate the dwindling Liao stallion population. Despite the 
  disruption of the war and the subsequent Andurien-Magistracy 
  invasion, the project has largely succeeded.  Nobles from across 
  the Confederation make a pilgrimage to Turin to purchase one of 
  the magnificent animals every year.
  In 3054, the Salerno Derby opened in the coastal resort city of 
  Salerno, three hundred kilometers south of the capital.  The derby 
  is an annual horse race, showcasing the finest animals bred during 
  the year, and is the midweek highlight of a week of festivities and 
  engagements.  Lama von Avon organized the event the first year, 
  and it has since taken off.  The 3066 Salerno Derby had more than 
  a million visitors from across the Confederation, and early registra-
  tions for the ’67 derby show that number climbing. The 3067 derby 
  promises to be quite an event—three Sorundan stallions from the 
  Free Worlds League are entered, despite the recent cooling of rela-
  tions between the League and the Confederation.
  Turin is also home to a CCAF jump-infantry training center. 
  Prior to the Fourth Succession War, the 212th Flying Furies jump 
  infantry regiment was based on Turin, but like so many others, that 
  regiment never returned from its deployments.  The vacant facility 
  was reconditioned into a training center after the Andurien crisis, 
  and since then has built a reputation as one of the premier jump-
  infantry training centers in the Confederation.  The current training 
  schedule is filled to 3074 with units waiting their turn to undergo 
  the rigorous Turin regimen.
  
  TOURINg THE REALM
  88
   
  WARD
  Noble Ruler: Lord Dagmar Ricardo
  Star Type (Recharge Time): F6V (177 hours)
  Position in System: 6
  Time to Jump Point: 13.87 days
  Number of Satellites: 1 (Courage) 
  Surface Gravity: 0.91
  Atmosphere Pressure: Low (Breathable)
  Equatorial Temperature: 34°C (Arid)
  Surface Water: 89 percent
  Recharging Station: None
  HPG Class Type: B
  Highest Native Life: Amphibian
  Population: 2,267,000
  Socio-Industrial Levels: C-C-C-D-C
  Settled by Utopians during the Exodus 
  from Terra, Ward is the furthest rimward 
  outpost of the Capellan Confederation. 
  The original settlers planned Ward as a 
  community based on principles of har-
  monic and cooperative activity.  The First 
  Ward Constitution, the document that 
  laid out the foundations of the Utopian 
  creed and how that creed would apply 
  to government, is one of the most widely 
  studied documents of the time period. 
  This pseudo-pacifistic model held until 
  2644, when the inhabitants of Ward chose 
  to modify their governmental structure to allow greater access to 
  planetary trade and looser control over military action.
  Before the recovery of the Helm Memory Core, many Ward 
  natives traveled off-planet as laborers in infrastructure projects. 
  Utopian principles do not hinder them from work unrelated to 
  violence, and the road-building skill of the Ward Utopians was un-
  matched in the Confederation. For many years the Utopians’ unique 
  process of asphalt construction was a closely held secret, until the 
  emergence from the Helm memory core of an improved road-build-
  ing formula that equals the Utopian method’s efficiency.
  As the last bulwark of the Confederation before the wilds of 
  the Periphery, Ward has long been a waypoint for prospectors 
  and explorers, and a large naval station hangs above the north 
  pole of Courage, Ward’s single moon.  The Utopians are largely 
  unconcerned with this base, which is managed by a specially cho-
  sen crew of non-natives imported by Lord Ricardo. The Courage 
  station generates a sizable percentage of Ward’s trade profit, a 
  situation that has prospered since the formation of the Trinity 
  Alliance.
  The Maskirovka maintains a watch post on the ice of Ward’s 
  north polar cap to monitor traffic between the Periphery and 
  the Confederation.  In the 3040s, this station was expanded in 
  tandem with the construction of the Courage naval base, becom-
  ing a full-sized Maskirovka installation in charge of all rimward 
  Periphery facilities.  Major wings were added beneath the ice af-
  ter the signing of the Trinity Alliance to accommodate bureaus 
  devoted to the Magistracy and the Concordat.
  Rumors have surfaced in the past year or so that Ward has be-
  come a weapons-smuggling haven, using the innocence of the 
  Utopians as cover. Smuggler vessels are no recent addition, of 
  course, but word of arms sales to worlds in the Fronc Reaches—
  sales not authorized by the Ministerial—has reached the ears of 
  the local Maskirovka director. What action he will take remains 
  to be seen.
  
  gOvERNMENT
  89
  
  gOvERNMENT
  90
  T
  o outsiders, the Chancellor appears to be virtually the sole power in the Confederation, a position reinforced by our referring to 
  him as “Celestial Wisdom” and his adopting the trappings of aristocracy about his person.  The Chancellor does wield considerable 
  power, but it is mistaken to assume that his will alone drives the Confederation, with no input from any other source.
  Three legislative entities govern the Confederation:  the Chancellor, the Prefectorate and the House of Scions.  While the Chancellor 
  has the most authority, in many matters he  must work with the other two governing bodies to make sure his agendas are met.  This 
  tripartite governance ensures that the state, above even its Chancellors, prospers as it should.  Though many Chancellors have chafed at 
  restrictions forced upon them by the Prefectorate and the Scions, almost no one wants to see the troika abolished and the Chancellor 
  given the power to rule by fiat over the entire Confederation.
  It is also important to note the power of the Confederation nobility.  They exert some influence over the whole Confederation through 
  the House of Scions, but a nobleman’s power in his own demesne is near-absolute, subject only to the control of his direct superior or 
  the Chancellor.
  THE CHANCELLOR
  The role of the Chancellor is like a shepherd to his flock—
  but the flock goes where the shepherd leads, or else it feels 
  the rod!
  —Attributed to Chancellor Jasmine Liao
  Chosen from the Prefectorate upon the death of the current 
  Chancellor, this position has historically been held by the Liao 
  family, though Confederation law does not require that this be so. 
  The Chancellor is the head of state, with sole executive powers to 
  deal with foreign leaders as an equal, to make and ratify treaties 
  with other interstellar polities, and to direct domestic and foreign 
  policy for the Capellan state.
  Though the Prefectorate holds some legislative power, their 
  ability to wield it is determined by the Chancellor’s declaration of 
  a suitable emergency, whereas the Chancellor is under no such 
  limitation.  Since the time of Kalvin the Mad, the Chancellor has 
  enjoyed the power of decree, effectively making him a legislative 
  power unto himself.  Though legislation passed by the Prefectorate 
  is inviolable—not even the Chancellor may overturn it—the fact 
  that the Chancellor sits on the Prefectorate (and often has signifi-
  cant say in who is chosen to sit beside him) mitigates this liability.
  Nearly all Capellan Chancellors have come from the Liao family 
  since the time of Franco Liao, the result of centuries of influence-
  wielding and nation-building.  Though recent memory recalls the 
  deception of Maximilian and the blatant terror of Romano, Liao 
  rulers have also brought decades of peace and enlightened gover-
  nance, as illustrated by Sun-Tzu Liao.
  Throughout its history, the Confederation has prospered or 
  faltered in tune with the attitude of its Chancellors.  The reigns 
  of Kalvin and Maximilian Liao, for example, were tumultuous 
  times filled with insane power grabs that had dire consequences 
  Rank Has its Privileges
  Like the Chancellor, nobles in the Confederation have certain powers of de-
  cree and privilege inside their own holdings, principally the following:
  Nominating a Family Successor
  Though most noble titles are hereditary and pass down through primo-
  geniture, nobles may name whoever they wish as inheritors of their titles 
  and estates.  They use this power most often to bypass disappointing eldest 
  children for more auspicious siblings, but it is not uncommon for nobles with 
  no heirs—either through death or unsuitability—to pass their titles on to 
  favored friends or retainers.
  Judication
  In place of the full Capellan judiciary, nobles may act as the supreme judiciary 
  for the people under their suzerainty.  This practice has risen to prominence—and 
  unfortunately, some abuse—in the Liao Commonality as nobles placed in charge 
  of recently reclaimed worlds use their power to mete out swift justice.
  Enactment
  In unusual circumstances, a duke or duchess may invest a non-noble per-
  son or family line with noble status, up to the rank of mandrinn.  The last time 
  this occurred was in 3066, when Duke Gregory Liao of the Sian Commonality 
  ennobled the research team that discovered a powerful new treatment for 
  Alzheimer’s disease at Sian University.
  So It Shall Be
  The power of decree is perhaps the most influential policy tool the Chancellor 
  possesses.  In almost every instance, decrees have had profound impact on the 
  Confederation, as demonstrated by the following famed examples:
  Decree of Prime Extension
  One of Regent Salindar’s few decrees, the Decree of Prime Extension in 2480 
  extended the Chancellor’s term of office from ten years to life. Though his critics 
  at the time decried Salindar as a power-mad tyrant, most believe the decree 
  was meant to benefit the next Chancellor, Raxal Liao.
  Decree of Succession
  This statement in 2598 declared that in the event the Prefectorate failed to 
  elect a Chancellor in three formal votes, the position should devolve to the se-
  nior member of House Liao.  Though taken as a statement of loyalty at the time, 
  recently recovered documents hint that Chancellor Quinn was blackmailed into 
  making the decree by the disenfranchised Liao family.
  Decree of Remediation
  Issued by Chancellor Romano Liao in 3041, this decree cancelled the 2840 
  Chesterton Decree.  Proclaimed in a rage after a dispute among the Prefectorate, 
  this decree stripped the last member of the Hargreaves family of his place in 
  that body.  “If Chesterton is so important to the Confederation,” the Chancellor 
  is reported to have said, “then I will allow you back when you’ve recaptured it.”
  
  gOvERNMENT
  91
  for the Confederation.  Kalvin led the realm into a wasteful war 
  and nearly destroyed the national economy, and the schemes of 
  Maximilian—while sometimes netting the realm short-term bene-
  fits—ultimately cost Capellans half our worlds when Hanse Davion 
  retaliated for Maximilian’s attempt to place a double agent on the 
  Federated Suns’ throne.
  THE pREFECTORATE
  Oh, yes, we are a brake on the wishes of the Chancellor.  
  My father sits at the head of our council, determines who 
  can and cannot hold the nobility required to sit, and con-
  trols the military that protects us. Quite a brake we are.
  —Remark made by Duchess Candace Liao, 3026
  The highest policy- and decision-making body in the 
  Confederation, the Prefectorate (Prefecture) is the second only 
  to the Chancellor (who sits on the 12-member group) in authority 
  within the realm.  Members 
  of the Prefectorate are 
  elected from the House of 
  Scions for ten-year terms. 
  Each 
  commonality 
  has 
  a representative in the 
  Prefectorate, and the oth-
  er members are similarly 
  powerful men and women 
  in the Confederation.
  The Prefecture is the 
  oldest governing body in 
  the Confederation, formed 
  by Franco Liao in 2368 as an 
  advisory council of nobles 
  from the major Capellan 
  regions.  Expanded and 
  enlarged by Kurnath Liao 
  and given legislative powers, the Prefecture has become a power-
  ful—if quiet—force in the Confederation government.
  Though the Prefecture originally derived its power from the 
  right to choose the next Chancellor from among its own number, 
  the decrees granting the Chancellor a lifetime term and the Star 
  League’s decision to recognize only members of House Liao as 
  representatives of the Capellan state deprived the Prefectorate 
  of much of its authority. The Chancellor has long wielded signifi-
  cant power without Prefectorate oversight, but the Prefectorate 
  still has some powers of its own.  Through acts of ennoblement, 
  the Prefecture has counteracted decrees of the Chancellor with 
  which they disagreed, and they retain control of administrative 
  military officer appointments outside the Chancellor’s control. 
  In addition, the Prefectorate is responsible for appropriations di-
  rected to the Capellan Armed Forces.  A number of Chancellors 
  have had to come to the Prefecture, hat in hand, to finance their 
  military actions.
  Current Prefects
  Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao
  Duchess Kali Liao
  Gao-shiao-zhang Ion Rush 
  Duke Gregory Liao
  Duchess Abigail O’Hanlon
  Shonso Hurtong Liao
  Duchess Candace Liao
  Lady Evadne Rivoli
  Mandrissa Alana Morgaine
  Duchess Helen Ling
  Lama Wu Tao-Zu
  Lama Ivan Teng
  CHANCELLORS OF THE 
  CApELLAN CONFEDERATION
  From first to current, these men and women have left 
  indelible marks on the history of the Confederation.
  Franco Liao (2366-2395)
  The first Chancellor of the Confederation, Franco Liao is remembered as the man 
  who created the realm we recognize as Capellan and the standards for living 
  in it—most importantly, service to the state above the individual, so that we 
  might all survive and prosper.
  Kurnath Liao (2395-2399)
  Kurnath Liao was responsible for two acts that had far-reaching consequences. 
  He was the first Chancellor to solidify his position beyond what Franco Liao had 
  created, and he ordered the creation of the Maskirovka intelligence service.
  Aleisha Liao (2399-2415)
  Many have speculated that Aleisha’s aversion to warfare stemmed from her 
  father’s lack of ability in that area, but every schoolchild in the Inner Sphere 
  knows her as the architect of the famed Ares Conventions that limited—and 
  prolonged—the ravages of warfare for centuries.
  Arden Baxter (2415-2425)
  Arden Baxter, the first non-Liao Chancellor, is remembered for trying to disman-
  tle everything that three previous generations of Liaos had built. His reward for 
  his attempts to bring democracy back to the Condederation was assassination 
  by a member of Marion’s Highlanders in 2425.
  Stephen Liao (2425-2450)
  Sir Stephen, as he was known, spent his reign building the Capellan military into 
  a far stronger and more professional force than it had been.  Though he did not 
  survive to see it used in battle, his preparations stood the Confederation in good 
  stead—and grave danger.
  Duncan Liao (2450-2452)
  Duncan Liao had no chance to make his mark on the Confederation, though his 
  attempts to curb factionalism in the military and his subsequent capture by 
  coup and suicide were the sparks need to ignite a harsh but necessary purge.
  Jasmine Liao (2452-2477)
  Sister of Duncan Liao, Jasmine Liao assumed the Chancellorship upon her broth-
  er’s suicide and wreaked bloody vengeance on his captors.  Her reforms of the 
  Capellan military were thinly veiled purges that stripped the military elite of 
  their ranks and titles and shaped the armies into a tool of the state rather than 
  personal tools of the generals.
  Edmund Salindar (Regent) (2477-2482)
  Remembered as an honest man, Salindar served as regent upon Jasmine Liao’s 
  death until her sons came of age.
  
  gOvERNMENT
  92
  CHANCELLORS OF THE 
  CApELLAN CONFEDERATION
  Raxal Liao (2482-2482)
  The shortest reign in Capellan history—twelve min-
  utes—Raxal Liao served long enough to abdicate to 
  his twin brother Hendrik.
  Hendrik Liao (2482-2520)
  A student of the responsible governmental policies of 
  Edmund Salindar, Hendrik Liao was a good man in a bad 
  position, and eventually resigned the Chancellorship 
  amid criticism of his diplomatic policies.
  Kalvin Liao (2520-2530)
  Kalvin the Mad, also called Kalvin the Devourer, used 
  the Chancellorship solely for personal gain—be it 
  money, women or power.  He was finally assassinated 
  by a bodyguard in 2530.
  Mica Gabriel Liao (2530-2542)
  Kalvin’s sister, Mica Gabriel Liao, was raised on New 
  Avalon in the Federated Suns, spent her entire reign 
  bringing peace back to the Confederation however 
  she could.
  Salicia Liao (2542-2551)
  The only Capellan Chancellor ever to hold dual 
  citizenship in the Confederation and the Federated 
  Suns, Salicia used the peace her mother had brought 
  to build defenses against the predations of the Free 
  Worlds League.
  Terrence Liao (2551-2571)
  The illegitimate son of Kalvin Liao, Terrence Liao is re-
  membered for bringing the Confederation closer ties 
  with the government of Terra.
  Ursula Liao (2571-2599)
  Ursula Liao spent the largesse that poured into 
  the Confederation during the first years of the Star 
  League to build up the state’s infrastructure and 
  educational systems.
  Normann Aris (2599-2611)
  A brilliant man, Normann Aris enacted the system of 
  compulsory organization that saved the Confederation 
  in the economic wake of the Reunification War.
  Sundermann Liao (2611-2663)
  The first of the so-called Sundermann Liaos, 
  Sundermann embraced the social reforms of Normann 
  Aris and used the tranquil years of the Star League to 
  enact and stratify them.
  Androsar Liao (2663-2719)
  Androsar continued the policies of his father, abol-
  ishing the polygamy favored by Kalvin the Mad and 
  defining the five classes of Capellan nobility. 
  Warex Liao (2719-2760)
  The last of the Sundermann Liaos, Warex Liao insti-
  tuted far-reaching military reforms that would pay 
  dividends in the years to come.
  Barbara Liao (2760-2795)
  The last Chacellor to serve during the Star League, 
  Barbara Liao presided over the Confederation’s entry 
  into the Succession Wars with as much savagery as any 
  other House Lord.
  Sandol Quinn (2795-2801)
  The last of the non-Liao Chancellors, Sandol Quinn 
  reconquered nearly all of lost Chesterton before 
  turning the Confederation over to Barbara’s grand-
  child, Ilsa Liao.
  Ilsa Liao (2801-2828)
  Though she began her reign with a peace overture, in 
  the end Ilsa LIao died in combat on Orbisonia.
  Laurelli Liao (2828-2860)
  Laurelli Liao bore up as best she could during her reign, 
  fighting off the invasions engendered by her mother’s 
  politics until her death in 2860.
  Dainmar Liao (2860-2866)
  Barely surviving the Second Succession War, Dainmar 
  abdicated the Chancellorship to his son Otto as the 
  Third Succession War ignited.
  Otto Liao (2866-2917)
  Otto Liao is remembered as the first Chancellor to 
  realize the Confederation’s precarious position and 
  organize the policy of “elastic defense” to concentrate 
  the Capellan military where it was most needed.
  Merlin Liao (2917-2942)
  Otto’s son Merlin inherited the battered state his fa-
  ther had kept alive and quickly realized it was near 
  exhaustion, but the pace of warfare made his attempts 
  at conservation nearly impossible.
  Tarlak Liao (2942-2950)
  Tarlak Liao’s short rule was punctuated by a series of 
  sharp, decisive actions that signified a new focus in 
  Capellan military strategy.
  Ingrid Liao (2950-2980)
  Ingrid Liao’s rule saw the destruction of her aero-
  space forces at the Great Lee Turkey Shoot and the 
  near-collapse of the Capellan military from sheer 
  exhaustion.
  Tormax Liao (2980-2990)
  Tormax Liao, as many historians are pointing out, 
  never got a fair shake as Chancellor.  He inherited a 
  realm filled with battered worlds and dead soldiers, 
  and the coup that finally deposed him was engi-
  neered by his own son.
  Maximilian Liao (2990-3036)
  Several early successes allowed Maximilian Liao to 
  give the appearance of a Capellan resurgence, but poor 
  decisions as the horrors of the Fourth Succession War 
  drove him to madness tainted the rest of his reign until 
  his death in 3036.
  Romano Liao (3036-3052)
  Chancellor in all but name by the end of the Fourth 
  Succession War, Lady Romano held the Confederation 
  together with determination, terror and sheer cha-
  risma until her assassination in 3052, just as the Clan 
  Invasion was ending.
  Sun-Tzu Liao (3052—)
  Son of Romano Liao and Tsen Shang, Sun-Tzu learned 
  from an early age his role in the state and embraced it, 
  becoming the most powerful and successful Chancellor 
  in centuries.
  
  gOvERNMENT
  93
  Since the early years of Romano Liao’s rule, the Prefectorate has 
  moved almost in lockstep with the Chancellor.  Romano used the 
  Maskirovka to remove obstacles to her power in the Prefecture and 
  then filled the vacant seats with sycophants to get her policies en-
  acted.  Sun-Tzu Liao has likewise managed to pack the Prefecture 
  with suitably loyal individuals, though he has not needed to stoop 
  to the draconian policies his mother preferred.
  THE HOUSE OF SCIONS
  When children play, you often give them toys or shiny 
  ornaments to hold their attention while the adults decide 
  what happens.  And thus you get the House of Scions…
  —Chancellor Kalvin Liao
  Originally formed as a check against the power of the Chancellor 
  and the Prefectorate, the House of Scions has evolved into a semi-
  legislative body built from the hereditary and Barduc nobility. 
  Scions serve in the House for a term of twelve years, though the 
  terms are staggered to create a near-constant influx of new blood.
  Franco Liao organized the House of Scions, but it was under 
  Mica Liao that the Scions first began to gather real power.  Mica al-
  lowed the House to review legislation enacted by the Prefectorate 
  and approve or disapprove it, but she wisely kept the House impo-
  tent with regard to the Chancellor’s power of decree.  
  During the reigns of the Sundermann Liaos, the House gained 
  the right to appoint new members of the Prefectorate from within 
  its ranks.  Riding this tide of power, they negotiated with Ilsa Liao 
  to gain a measure of control over taxation.  The general tax status 
  of each commonality is determined not by its Prefect, but by the 
  House of Scions.
  The House of Scions’ power has waxed and waned through 
  the years along with the power and influence of its members.  At 
  its lowest ebb—just after the Fourth Succession War—the House 
  was little more than an appendage to Romano Liao’s decrees.  The 
  Maskirovka, loyal to the Chancellor alone during those years, ruth-
  lessly supported her control of the Scions. Many Scions learned 
  the hard way that voting against the Chancellor’s measures in the 
  House quickly led to unfortunate “accidents.”
  The reign of Sun-Tzu Liao has brought a large measure of con-
  trol back to the House, making them more influential than they 
  have been in generations.  Much of this improvement can be at-
  tributed to the success of the Chancellor’s Xin Sheng programs 
  and the reintegration of the industrially powerful St. Ives worlds. 
  The Chancellor himself is responsible for much of this growth as 
  well.  He finds it far easier, it appears, to earn the trust and loy-
  alty of his Scions by allowing them the latitude to help make the 
  Confederation—and themselves—stronger.
  THE MINISTERIAL
  Some people still believe that because he is in charge, 
  the Chancellor makes every decision in regard to the state.  
  A new power station in Hobbes on Ward? The Chancellor’s 
  will.  Never mind that the Chancellor couldn’t be bothered 
  to find Ward on a map.
  —Remarks recorded during the reign of Chancellor 
  Arden Baxter
  While the Chancellor is the supreme executive of the state, and 
  the Prefectorate and the House of Scions pass the legislation that 
  becomes the law of the realm, such a small group of people simply 
  cannot control the governing of billions of citizens on hundreds 
  of worlds across thousands of light years.  Into this gap step the 
  men and women of the Ministerial, the bureaucracy that keeps the 
  wheels of state turning.
  Until 3059, the various ministries’ headquarters were distrib-
  uted across commonality capital worlds, one ministry to each 
  world. Sun-Tzu Liao ended this system and moved all ministry 
  headquarters to Sian.  Each of the ministries now maintains hier-
  archies in each commonality, with the entire system centered in 
  Sian’s Forbidden City.
  MINISTRY OF RESOURCES
  This ministry has traditionally been responsible for the efficient 
  development of the Confederation’s natural and technological re-
  sources.  The Ministry of Resources was charged with exploiting 
  the Gray Death memory core, and it has kept at the forefront of 
  Capellan technological development ever since.  Most recently, 
  ministry personnel have liaisoned with adepts from the Word 
  of Blake, adapting advanced technologies to the needs of the 
  Confederation.  
  MINISTRY OF  
  INFORMATION STANDARDS
  The Ministry of Information Standards coordinates data sys-
  tems, weights and measures, and timekeeping duties across the 
  Duke Omar had less than a year left of his appointment in 2980, and he 
  knew it.  He came to me almost daily, lobbying me to enact his reform bill for 
  the Sarna Commonality, but he never grasped the simple reality of politics in the 
  House. Though eclipsed by massive industrialization in Tikonov, Sarna was still 
  a real power in manufacturing, and we couldn’t let that tax base drop.  He had 
  good arguments, telling me it would allow those industries to expand, but we 
  needed the money too badly.  The appropriations from the Prefectorate were 
  too high—we couldn’t lose the income.  Or rather, we could… but I couldn’t.  
  Not with Mandrinn Ling’s seat opening soon on the Prefectorate. That was my 
  seat—no way was I going to jeopardize that.
  —Excerpted from the journals of Prefect Gabriel Shin, 
  republished as My Life in Politics, Tikonov State Press, 2999
  
  gOvERNMENT
  94
  Confederation. While the entire Inner Sphere tracks Terran Standard 
  Time, the various worlds and warrens of the Confederation each 
  keep individual time as well.  This ministry also performs the vital 
  task of managing Capellan currency, the yuan.  The L-bill has al-
  ways been the weakest of the Successor State currencies, but it has 
  slowly begun to claw its way out of inflationary depths through the 
  impressive industrial capacity of the St. Ives Commonality.
  MINISTRY OF TRADE  
  AND ExCHANgE
  The Ministry of Trade and Exchange oversees Confederation 
  trade with other states, a mission that took a mortal blow in 3040 
  when Chancellor Romano Liao’s reforms stripped all private land-
  holders of their property and ended the struggling luxury goods 
  industry her father had propagated.  With the Confederation iso-
  lated from nearly every realm by conflict or Romano’s paranoia, the 
  Trade and Exchange bureaucracy shifted to assist the Ministry of 
  Development in administering the newly nationalized lands.  Only 
  since the recent improvement in the Confederation’s international 
  relations—first with the Free Worlds League, then with the states 
  of the Trinity Alliance—has the Ministry of Trade and Exchange at-
  tempted to revive its original mission.
  MINISTRY OF DEvELOpMENT
  The Ministry of Development is responsible for the 
  Confederation’s domestic growth.  Its mission to rebuild the na-
  tion’s industrial and agricultural infrastructure makes it the largest 
  ministry in terms of sheer money invested.  This ministry is one of 
  the few that Romano Liao did not manage to gut with her purges 
  and policies—its mission coincided with her need to rebuild the 
  Confederation and mete out personal revenge.
  MINISTRY OF SOCIAL EDUCATION
  Originally tasked with maintaining the state-sponsored educa-
  tional system, this ministry has evolved since the reign of Tormax 
  Liao into the organization responsible for indoctrinating Capellan 
  youth into becoming valuable future citizens.
  MINISTRY OF THE MILITARY
  Though the Ministry of Development may garner a larger share 
  of the Capellan budget, the Ministry of the Military maintains the 
  highest prestige of any Ministerial department, especially after 
  the reclamation of the St. Ives Commonality.  The ministry works 
  closely with the Chancellor and the Prefecture, accepting man-
  dates from them and fashioning operations for the Strategios to 
  implement.  The ministry oversees all aspects of the CCAF, from 
  training new soldiers to procuring new weapons.
  MINISTRY OF ALLIED RELATIONS
  The newest Capellan ministry, the Ministry of Allied Relations 
  was created to oversee relations between the Confederation and 
  its partners in the Trinity Alliance—the Magistracy of Canopus and 
  the Taurian Concordat.  This Ministry often clashes with the Ministry 
  of Trade and Exchange, whose personnel believe they should have 
  been given responsibility (and the accompanying larger budget) 
  for affairs with the Confederation’s allies.
  CApELLAN NOBILITY
  Ever since Cameron and his Peer List, we’ve been trying 
  to find ways to ennoble people and place them in author-
  ity over others.  How useful for us, since the greatest way 
  to secure the success of the state is to secure the success 
  of its elite.
  —Lord Garmat Seng, 2893
  Unlike their counterparts in other realms, the Capellan nobility 
  is composed of two types: the Sheng and the Barduc.  The Sheng 
  are hereditary nobles descended from the landed gentry of the 
  original five Capellan states from the mid-25th century.  Though 
  most of these titles were carried over from previous allegiances, 
  the Chancellor has been known to ennoble additional members 
  of the Sheng nobility for valuable civilian service to the state.  The 
  Barduc—or sword—nobility hold titles that originate in their mili-
  tary service (or sometimes outright bribes).
  The Sheng are what most of the Inner Sphere consider normal 
  nobles—great families that pass their titles by heredity to their 
  children and keep their landholds in perpetuity unless the land 
  is seized by the state or lost in conflict to the realm’s enemies. 
  Barduc titles are not normally hereditary, though they can be if the 
  Chancellor or duke granting the title so wishes. These patents of 
  nobility are often used as rewards for outstanding service.  By mak-
  ing the titles apply only to the person holding them, the Chancellor 
  allows the Barduc to stay the domain of the military elite.  For ex-
  ample, should a person chosen as Strategic Military Director be a 
  member of the Sheng, he or she must renounce all noble titles be-
  fore accepting the position, with the understanding that he or she 
  will receive a rank in the Barduc, but that person can never reclaim 
  those displaced titles even after retirement.
  The Sheng suffered a serious blow to their power when 
  Chancellor Romano nationalized all private property in 3040. 
  Though technically she did not disposses the nobles, she seized 
  all but scant minimums of their incomes and almost all their prop-
  erty.  Sun-Tzu Liao has begun to return these confiscated lands to 
  the Sheng, but only just.  In early 3067, he announced the return 
  of each commonality to its local ruler, with instructions that those 
  Noble Titles
  Nobility in the Confederation use distinct titles, analo-
  gous to the standard titles created by Cameron’s Peer List.  
  They are listed with approximate equivalents below.
  Generic 
  Capellan
  Knight/Lady 
  Lord/Lady
  Baron/Baroness 
  Mandrinn/Mandrissa
  Count/Countess 
  Shonso/Shanna
  Marquis/Marquessa 
  Lama/Lamia
  Duke/Duchess 
  Duke/Duchess
  Both the Barduc and the Sheng recognize these ranks.
  
  gOvERNMENT
  95
  rulers should begin to redistribute lands to the Sheng and Barduc 
  to encourage individual growth.
  HOUSE LIAO
  Since the time of Franco Liao, the fate of the Confederation has 
  been entwined with House Liao’s fortunes.  For most of the realm’s 
  existence, a Liao has been Chancellor, with a non-Liao holding of-
  fice only during those few times when a suitable Liao candidate 
  did not exist.  As with any family, some Liaos have been brilliant, 
  others impotent; some members harsh, others gentle; some mem-
  bers hesitant and some decisive.  With each Chancellor—from 
  Kalvin the Mad to Sun-Tzu—the Confederation has gained or lost 
  in relation to the Chancellor’s personal qualities.
  The Liao family has kept its hold over the Confederation through 
  the respect and admiration each Liao learns for the Capellan 
  realm.  The unifying ideal of every Liao Chancellor has been ser-
  vice to the state, an ideal they have extended to all citizens of the 
  Confederation.
  Sun-Tzu Liao
  The son of Romano Liao and Tsen Shang, Sun-Tzu Liao is thank-
  fully more like an early version of his grandfather Maximilian than 
  his psychotic mother.  Claiming the Chancellorship when his par-
  ents were assassinated in 3052, Sun-Tzu became among the first 
  of the Inner Sphere’s young leaders to emerge in the following 
  years (he, Prince Victor Steiner-Davion and Archon Katherine 
  Steiner-Davion all claimed power before the age of thirty), and he 
  immediately set to work reversing the damage done to his realm 
  by the Fourth Succession War.
  Aware that he lacked the military strength to accomplish his 
  goals by force—as have almost all Capellan Chancellors—Sun-
  Tzu turned to subterfuge and diplomacy.  An alliance with the 
  Free Worlds League secured the Confederation’s strength against 
  the hegemony of the Federated Commonwealth and allowed the 
  Confederation to reclaim a number of lost worlds when Thomas 
  Marik went to war over the death of his son in Davion care.  The re-
  sulting chaos and the sundering of the Federated Commonwealth 
  made opportunities for Sun-Tzu to orchestrate the return of more 
  lost worlds, from the newly created Disputed Territories and the 
  Chaos March, and from lost St. Ives in the early 3060s.
  The brightest star in this constellation of success, however, is 
  Sun-Tzu Liao’s election as the initial First Lord of the Second Star 
  League and his successful governance during the destruction of 
  the Smoke Jaguar Clan.  That Sun-Tzu Liao succeeded in a task 
  many of his forebears lusted after—claiming Star League leader-
  ship—is a testament to his skill and political acumen.
  Coming on the heels of these accomplishments are the fa-
  mously successful Xin Sheng national revitalization projects and 
  the Trinity Alliance, an alliance between the Confederation and the 
  two largest Periphery realms, the Magistracy of Canopus and the 
  Taurian Concordat.  Though his engagement to Free Worlds heir-
  ess Isis Marik collapsed during the conflict in St. Ives, the Chancellor 
  has been spending large amounts of time lately with the Canopian 
  heir, Naomi Centrella.
  Kali Liao
  The second child of Romano Liao and Tsen Shang, Kali Liao was 
  never intended nor trained to accept the Chancellor’s seat, and 
  so focused her attentions elsewhere.  As a favorite of her mother, 
  many fear Kali absorbed some of her mother’s madness along with 
  other lessons she learned at Romano’s knee.  
  The Confederation’s reclamation of Highspire made Kali 
  duchess of her mother’s former holding, and she spends much 
  of her time there.  She often deputizes other nobles to take her 
  proxy to meetings of the Prefectorate, as she does not wish to 
  leave Highspire.  She generally travels only to Sian to serve her 
  brother the Chancellor, as she holds strong opinions of how the 
  Confederation should be governed.
  Her role in the Black May attacks of the St. Ives conflict marked 
  her with madness as she helped fanatical Thuggee extremists 
  use a nerve agent against the people of St. Ives. Though she was 
  censured by a court of nobles and remanded into her brother’s 
  custody, Kali remains a danger to those she sees as enemies of 
  House Liao or the Confederation.
  Candace Liao
  The once and current duchess of the St. Ives Commonality, 
  Candace Liao is the only surviving child of Maximilian Liao.  Had 
  she not fled the Confederation with her lover Justin Xiang-Allard 
  at the close of the Fourth Succession War and removed the St. 
  Ives Commonality from Capellan control to save its people from 
  Romano Liao’s insanity, she would have become Chancellor in 
  Romano’s place.
  Though she resisted the reintegration of St. Ives, her family was 
  given primacy in the commonality during the armistice negotia-
  tions.  Since then, Candace has used her position as duchess of St. 
  Ives and as a member of the Prefectorate to make sure the people 
  of St. Ives have the same opportunities and rights as any other 
  Capellan citizens.
  Kai Allard-Liao
  Kai Allard-Liao is known as perhaps the greatest MechWarrior 
  in the Inner Sphere.  His list of accolades (Grand Champion of 
  the Games on Solaris VII, destroyer of the Jade Falcon Guards on 
  Twycross, survivor of an ambush on Alyina) is longer than that of 
  most holovid heroes.  As the eldest son of Justin Allard, Davion 
  Minister of Intelligence, and Candace Liao, Duchess of St. Ives, his 
  childhood friends were the sons and daughters of the highest no-
  bles in the Federated Commonwealth.
  Though he fought against Confederation troops during the St. 
  Ives conflict, Duke Allard-Liao has since become a welcome part of 
  the CCAF and an exemplary member of the Sheng.  He serves most 
  of his time on St. Ives, at the head of the St. Ives Lancers, working 
  to bring the Lancers back into the Confederation’s fold without re-
  igniting secessionist flames.
  Duke Gregory Liao
  Duke and Prefect of the Capella Commonality, lord of the de-
  mesne of Capella, chairman of the Capella Commonality Bank 
  
  gOvERNMENT
  96
  and cousin to Sun-Tzu and Candace Liao, Gregory Liao is often 
  called the “quiet Liao.”  His branch of the family has overseen 
  events on Capella for generations with nary a hint of craving the 
  Chancellorship.
  A devoted nobleman, Gregory Liao has been likened sev-
  eral past Liao Chancellors, most notably Sir Stephen and even 
  the founder of the Sundermann Liao mini-dynasty.  He oversees 
  the Commonality Bank, and by extension much of the Capellan 
  economy, and also sits on the boards of Rashpur-Owens and Ceres 
  Metals.  He takes his role as caretaker of the people very seriously, 
  and is fiercely devoted to the Chancellor’s Xin Sheng iniatives.
  OTHER NOBLES IN 
  gOvERNMENT
  The Liaos are not the only noble family to serve in the 
  Confederation government, nor are members of that august lin-
  eage the sole holders of significant government positions. From 
  Strategic Military Director to important Prefects, noble Capellans 
  of many names are proud to serve their realm.
  Talon zahn
  The youngest Strategic Military Director in Capellan history, 
  Sang-jiang-jun Talon Zahn commands all the Confederation’s 
  military forces.  He sits at the right hand of the Chancellor in all 
  meetings of the Strategios, and is among the most fervent and 
  dedicated of the young Chancellor’s advisers.
  A master of strategy, Zahn first came to the Chancellor’s atten-
  tion during the 3057 offensives when he was censured for pointing 
  out a flaw in his superior’s plans that eventually led to the man’s 
  defeat.  Though his penchant for bluntly speaking his mind some-
  times chafes, Sun-Tzu Liao made him head of the Capellan military 
  because Zahn is often correct, and his loyalty to the Chancellor is 
  unquestioned.
  Gao-Shiao-zhang Ion Rush
  The Grand Master of the Blessed Order of Warrior Houses, Ion 
  Rush leads Warrior House Imarra and serves as a personal adviser 
  to the Chancellor.  A long-serving officer, Rush has been a staple 
  in Sian politics since the end of the Fourth Succession War and is 
  noted for his dedication to the Capellan state.  Rumors swirled qui-
  etly in Sian’s rarified social scene that Ion Rush—a past compatriot 
  of Candace Liao—had a hand in the deaths of Romano Liao and 
  Tsen Shang, but Rush enjoys the Chancellor’s complete trust.
  Injured protecting the Chancellor during an assassination attempt 
  in 3062, reconstructive surgeries replaced much of Rush’s musculature 
  with myomer, making him one of the strongest men alive.
  Lord Marcus Baxter
  Lord Marcus Baxter, commander of McCarron’s Armored 
  Cavalry, was made a lord of the Barduc when the Cavalry formally 
  entered the rolls of regular Capellan line units and gave up their 
  mercenary status.  A long-serving Armored Cavalry officer, Baxter 
  accepted command of the regiments after the death of Archibald 
  McCarron in 3050, on condition that he adopt McCarron’s children 
  and name one of them heir to his command and titles.
  Baxter is a strong man and a talented commander, but he does 
  not shine with the fierce brightness of Talon Zahn or Ion Rush.  He is a 
  trusted soldier, however, and while he may not embrace the Han cul-
  ture of the Confederation, his loyalty to the state is unquestioned.
  Lady Evadne Rivoli
  At twenty-six years old, Evadne Rivoli is the youngest president 
  in the history of Ceres Metals.  She assumed her post upon the un-
  expected death of her father, Killian Rivoli, in 3066.  Her first actions 
  quieted fears that she was too inexperienced for the position, de-
  spite having been groomed as a replacement by her father since 
  she was fourteen and holding a place on the company’s board of 
  directors since she was twenty-one.  
  Promoted by her father to head the civilian manufacturing divi-
  sion, Evadne oversaw the diversification of the Ceres Metal lines by 
  increasing production and marketing of civilian vehicles and home 
  consumer products.  Given the recent relaxation of production 
  standards by the Ministerial, this change has brought the company 
  huge influxes of capital. 
  Her elevation to her father’s place on the Prefectorate marks 
  one of  Sun-Tzu Liao’s most visible reforms, as she is the youngest 
  Prefect by more than a decade in the Confederation’s history.  The 
  Chancellor prevailed upon her to seek the position, and many are 
  waiting to see if she uses it to better Ceres Metals only, or the entire 
  Confederation.
  
  gOvERNMENT
  97
  Mandrissa Alana Morgaine
  Alana Morgaine took control of Hellespont Industrials in 3025, 
  just before the Fourth Succession War, and has held that position 
  ever since through sheer determination.  Under her stewardship, 
  HI moved from its position as the chief armored vehicle manufac-
  turer in the Confederation to building some of the most advanced 
  BattleMechs in the Inner Sphere.  The unlocking of the Helm 
  memory core allowed HI to finally bring the Raven BattleMech to a 
  frontline footing, and Morgaine’s dogged determination brought 
  HI the first Capellan OmniMech, the Men Shen.
  A movement is currently underway on the Hellespont board of 
  directors to encourage the aging Mandrissa into retirement, but 
  she has so far ignored them.  By all indications, Alana Morgaine 
  intends to shepherd her company into the next decade as ably as 
  she has the previous decades.
  Though Hellespont may not be able to remove her, there are rum-
  blings among the Prefectorate that her seat will soon be given to 
  someone else.  Her industrial acumen is unrivaled, but she has resisted 
  many of the Chancellor’s social reforms and many of the changes that 
  do not directly benefit the Confederation’s manufacturers.
  Nancy Bao Lee
  Rising to prominence in the wake of Sasha Wanli’s departure 
  for St. Ives, Maskirovka Director Nancy Bao Lee has shifted the 
  agency’s focus away from domestic monitoring and back to for-
  eign affairs.  The success of the Xin Sheng efforts has meant the 
  Maskirovka requires fewer resources inside the Confederation.
  As director, Lee has attempted to remove the stigma of fear 
  from the Maskirovka and turn it into a more professional organi-
  zation.  While she maintains her predecessors’ draconian grip on 
  information and allows her operatives wide latitude in accomplish-
  ing their goals, she no longer uses outright terror as her primary 
  tool. The threat of a return to “the old days” is often enough to 
  secure whatever goal she seeks.
  Mandrinn Dan Lao-Tzu
  Director of Shengli Arms on Victoria, Mandrinn Dan is a graduate 
  of the Victoria Institute of Engineering and holds dual doctorates 
  from Sian University.  His doctoral thesis in 3028 was an analysis of 
  the likelihood that the Confederation could bring the recovered 
  Star League ’Mech facilities on Victoria back to life.  He believed 
  it would be impossible without technological support and infor-
  mation long lost to time, but has since quite happily been proved 
  wrong.  His ascension to the Sheng came in 3066, after seven years 
  of successful production by Shengli Arms, with help from the Word 
  of Blake and recovered technologies from the Helm memory core.
  Appointed director of the facility in 3061, Dan brought Shengli 
  from a start-up to a peer in the field, able to match its products 
  against those of manufacturing juggernauts like Ceres Metals and 
  Hellespont Industrials.
  Lord Thomas McCarron
  Brother of Archibald McCarron, Thomas currently serves as 
  diem of Marcus Baxter’s warren, Menke and Mitchel, and also cur-
  rently acts as president of the House of Scions. Though junior in 
  rank to have such a high position in the House, Thomas has par-
  layed the influence gained by the Armored Cavalry and its many 
  newly ennobled officers into a powerful voting bloc.
  Thomas has used his position to benefit his warren and his lord, 
  but he has also benefited many veterans of the St. Ives conflict. 
  He has used the limited power of the Scions to enact significant 
  reform in veteran’s affairs, which fell into disrepute during the 
  troubled 3030s.
  Duchess Helen Ling
  A scion of one of the noblest Sheng families in the Confederation, 
  Duchess Ling is the current CEO of Earthwerks Limited-Tikonov. 
  She is the first Ling to return to Tikonov and reassert the family’s 
  control over the Earthwerks facilities there—a major adjustment 
  for her after spending her formative years on Grand Base.
  The board of Earthwerks gave her a mandate to reintegrate 
  the factories on Tikonov and the company’s other Confederation-
  based facilities without causing a loss in production.  Thus far, she 
  has succeeded, renegotiating supplier contracts with firms in the 
  Confederation to replace those voided when the Confederation 
  reclaimed Tikonov.
  SUB-NATIONAL 
  gOvERNMENTS
  In government, just as in economics and corpora-
  tions, there is a trickle-down effect: decisions made at the 
  top are passed to lower and lower levels of authority until 
  finally they reach the people.  The Chancellor must rule—
  he doesn’t have time to speak individually to billions of 
  Capellans on every decision.
  —Attributed to the President of the House of Scions, 
  2956
  COMMONALITIES
  Just as the other Successor States are distributed into prov-
  inces, marches and military districts, the Capellan Confederation 
  is distributed into five commonalities: Liao, Capella, Sian, Victoria 
  and St. Ives.  Each commonality is an administrative district ruled 
  by a duke or duchess, who also holds that commonality’s seat on 
  the Prefectorate.
  The original Commonalities were created from the founding 
  states of the Confederation and centered on Sian, Sarna, Capella, 
  Tikonov and St. Ives.  In addition, a Chesterton Commonality-in-
  Exile was recognized until 3040, but Chancellor Romano Liao 
  discarded the in-name-only district when she banished its reign-
  ing Hargreaves family from the Confederation.
  DUCHIES
  Just as the Confederation is broken into commonalities, each 
  commonality is formed of a collection of duchies, ranging in size 
  from two to six or even eight star systems ruled by a duke or duch-
  
  gOvERNMENT
  98
  ess.  Though part of the Confederation and loyal to the Chancellor, 
  each duchy is ruled as a noble fief of its liege lord, giving regional 
  duchies vast power—as long as they comply with the laws of the 
  Confederation, as monitored by the Ministerial and enforced by 
  the Maskirovka.
  Many duchies are ruled by diems, noblemen hired by a duke or 
  duchess to oversee their duchy while they are away at court on Sian. 
  This practice filters down to warrens and demesnes whenever the 
  local noble has the largesse to afford such things—largesse that is 
  becoming more and more common as the Confederation prospers.
  WARRENS
  A warren is normally a pair of star systems, sometimes com-
  prising several inhabited worlds each. Though it might seem odd 
  to assign arbitrary divisions to duchies rather than simply ad-
  minister single star systems, the system of warrens benefits the 
  Confederation by allowing the national government to combine 
  the output of two or more worlds into a single entity for purposes 
  of asset tracking and setting production requirements.  
  DEMESNES
  A warren is normally comprised of individual worlds known as 
  demesnes.  A demesne is ruled by a nobleman under the authority 
  of the lord of the warren, duchy and commonality—and the ulti-
  mate authority of the Chancellor, of course.  
  THE MASKIROvKA
  It is better to be feared than respected? Bah—fear IS re-
  spect.
  —Unofficial Maskirovka motto
  The Maskirovka is perhaps the most feared intelligence appa-
  ratus in the Inner Sphere.  Though House Kurita’s Internal Security 
  Force might claim more diligence in its application of fear as a 
  means to an end, most people believe the Maskirovka uses fear as 
  a matter of course and preference.
  In many ways, they may be right.  But the fearsome reputation 
  of the Maskirovka has its origin in the company-wide fear that long 
  pervaded the agency, and in many cases that same reputation has 
  stood in the way of enemy aggression when nothing else would.
  TRAININg
  The Maskirovka is headquartered on Sian, where it remains 
  within easy reach of the Chancellor.  The Zang shu er trains its op-
  eratives away from the capital on a personal basis—no dedicated 
  training facility exists for foreign-service operatives. Most are se-
  lected from a target world’s population and turned into “sleeper” 
  agents.  The largely bureaucratic staff of the Maskirovka’s non-
  operations departments are trained on Sian in small secondary 
  facilities.  No centralized training facility has ever been approved, 
  the theory being that the loyalty engendered by such an institu-
  tion could undermine larger loyalty to the state.
  COMMAND
  The Director of the Maskirovka—currently Citizen Nancy Bao 
  Lee—is responsible for the Maskirovka’s operational focus and for 
  personally reporting its findings to the Chancellor.  Director Lee is 
  almost never more than a single jump away from the Chancellor, of-
  ten traveling with him on the Pearl of True Wisdom, the Chancellor’s 
  personal DropShip.
  The heads of the Maskirovka’s two main branches—the Huang 
  Di Shi Zhe (the Chancellor’s Hand, formerly the Capellan Operations 
  Branch) and the Huang Di Yi Zhi (the Chancellor’s Will, formerly the 
  Special Serviecs Bureau)—report to the Director and on rare oc-
  casions to the Chancellor.  The various Zang sub-departments of 
  each branch report to their respective heads, in a strict tier of com-
  mand that repeats down to the staff level.
  DIvISIONS
  Though a part of Capellan culture most Capellans would choose 
  to forget, even the Maskirovka was touched by the Chancellor’s 
  Xin Sheng reforms. Like the bulk of Capellan society, the agency 
  gained a number of Han-influenced conventions. These are most 
  noticeable in the revised department titles, but also in Maskirovka 
  operations.
  Under Maximilian and Romano Liao, the Maskirovka suffered vi-
  cious purges to its ranks and serious setbacks in funding.  By the time 
  Romano Liao executed Lady Chandra Ling in 3036 and appointed her 
  consort, Lord Tsen Shang, to oversee the agency, the Maskirovka had 
  been reduced to a shadow of itself, forced to use brutality and fear as 
  its main weapons to keep the Confederation’s enemies at bay.
  Sun-Tzu Liao has attempted to reverse that trend, increasing the 
  agency’s funding and resisting the urge to “shoot the messenger” 
  when given bad news.  Though both Dina Ferrara and Sasha Wanli 
  attempted to improve the organization, only after the successful 
  reintegration of the St. Ives Commonality was the Maskirovka able 
  to overcome its institutional bad memories and begin to grow.
  Ma Si Jia Ruo Na Dong Shi Bu (Maskirovka Directorate)
  The Office of the Director is the top of the chain as far as the 
  Maskirovka is concerned.  Only the Chancellor has higher authority 
  over the agency than the Director does.  It is the Director’s duty to 
  keep the Chancellor and his Strategic Military Director appraised 
  of all concerns or threats, within the Confederation and outside it.
  Of all the recent Directors, only Nancy Bao Lee has overcome 
  the inertia of the Maskirovka bureaucracy to get the agency op-
  erating on a par with other Successor State intelligence agencies.  
  Her directives have gone a long way toward improving the abil-
  ity of operatives to fulfill their missions without direct oversight 
  or fear of reprisal, though she has not shirked from the harshest 
  punishments for failure.
  Huang Di Shi zhe (Chancellor’s Hand)
  The Chancellor’s Hand—led by Citzen Aaron Ward—is the for-
  mer Capellan Operations Branch, tasked with foreign operations: 
  espionage, intelligence-gathering, sabotage, fomenting rebellions 
  and so on.  Three distinct and separate departments operate un-
  
  gOvERNMENT
  99
  der the Huang’s umbrella: the Zang shu er, the Zang shu jiao zha and 
  the Zang shu jian.
  zang shu er (Chancellor’s Ear): The Chancellor’s Ear is the 
  most capable of the Hand’s operational departments, which is 
  surprising given typical Capellan xenophobia. Tasked with infor-
  mation-gathering and infiltration, the Chancellor’s Ear maintains 
  a web of informants and turncoats—sleepers—across the Inner 
  Sphere, all ready to provide the Maskirokva with the information 
  it requires.  Citizen Hyun-Ki Takeo oversees the Ear.
  zang shu jiao zha (Chancellor’s Cunning): The Chancellor’s 
  Cunning—formerly the Department of Misinformation—is 
  responsible for spreading discord among the Confederation’s ene-
  mies by feeding false information to known enemy spies inside the 
  Confederation and to enemy news outlets in the other Successor 
  States.  Citizen Sven Borkavich oversees this department.
  zang shu jian (Chancellor’s Sword): The Chancellor’s Sword 
  is the covert operations department, which handles offensive mis-
  sions outside the Confederation’s borders. These missions range 
  from sabotage to assassination to outright theft. The Maskirovka 
  sometimes recruits hardened criminals to perform small actions, 
  but large-scale guerrilla organizations like the Zhangzeng de Guang 
  also receive aid from the Sword.  Citizen Lavina Hastings controls 
  this department.
  Huang Di Yi zhi (Chancellor’s Will)
  The Chancellor’s Will is the department of the Maskirovka most 
  people think of when they curse the agency’s brutality.  Formerly 
  the Special Services Branch, the Will is the domestic arm of the 
  Maskirovka, charged with ensuring national security and loyalty 
  among the citizens.  Citizen Thomas Jarra oversees the day-to-day 
  operations of the Chancellor’s Will and its three departments: the 
  Zang shu zhe, the Zang shu sheng and the Zang shu cheng.
  Zang shu zhe (Chancellor’s Shield): The Chancellor’s Shield is 
  the Maskirovka’s counterinsurgency arm, responsible for quelling 
  domestic unrest sparked by foreign agents fomenting rebellion or 
  by disloyal citizens.  The Shield acts swiftly and often violently—
  more than any other branch, the Chancellor’s Shield gives the 
  Maskirovka its thuggish reputation.  Citizen Zahra Sanora encour-
  ages her operatives to act in the Confederation’s interest in these 
  matters; she believes it is better to be feared than respected.
  Zang shu sheng (Chancellor’s Voice): All propaganda in the 
  Confederation is generated by the Chancellor’s Voice. Every media 
  outlet in the Confederation includes an operative of this branch 
  on staff, and so nothing is printed, broadcast or recorded in the 
  Confederation without the Voice’s authorization.  Much of the 
  success of the Xin Sheng movement can be laid at the feet of the 
  Chancellor’s Voice and its director, Citizen Shaiming Xuan Loc.
  Zang shu cheng (Chancellor’s Eyes): The Chancellor’s Eyes are 
  the most visible arm of the Maskirovka, tasked with observation 
  and cultural monitoring.  Civilian monitors note training methods 
  at Capellan educational facilities and watch for trends in the diverse 
  Capellan art scene.  In the military, Eyes operatives are assigned to 
  line and Home Guard units as political officers, charged with main-
  taining unit loyalty and fighting so-called Hopeless Battle Syndrome 
  to make sure military officers don’t throw their lives—and the lives of 
  their men—away in battle unnecessarily.  Citizen Mikhail Sigmund, 
  head of this branch, takes his duties very seriously.
  Death Commandos
  The Death Commandos are not actually part of the Maskirovka, 
  but many assume they are because of the elite special operations. 
  Neither the Commandos nor the Maskirovka publicly dispute 
  this—the Maskirovka because anything that aids their reputation 
  is useful, and the Commandos because they don’t care about pub-
  lic opinion.
  The Death Commandos—numbering a little more than two full 
  battalions—are the elite of the Capellan military, deadly in every-
  thing from BattleMechs to barehanded combat.  The Commandos 
  answer only to the Chancellor and their own officers.  Not even the 
  sang-jiang-jun can order the lowliest Death Commando to any task.
  Though mutually accommodating in public, in private the 
  Commandos and the Maskirovka constantly chafe at each other. 
  Because of their doctrine, the Death Commandos often perform 
  missions other states would assign to covert operations branches, 
  and many in the combat arms of the Maskirovka fear the Chancellor 
  intends to disband their operational branches in favor of more 
  Death Commandos. The director and department heads attempt 
  to correct this attitude whenever they can—it is ludicrous to think 
  less than a hundred warriors could do the work of literally thou-
  sands of Maskirovka operatives all across the Inner Sphere—but, 
  as with so many other things, fear of being discarded is embedded 
  deep in the Maskirovka’s institutional memory.
  
  CONFEDERATION MILITARY
  100
  
  CONFEDERATION MILITARY
  101
  T
  he military of the Capellan Confederation in 3067 is a profes-
  sional, seasoned force that is steadily pushing the borders 
  of the Confederation outward while the rest of the Inner 
  Sphere seems preoccupied with old rivalries. It is a far cry from the 
  exhausted formations of 3027, and a distant memory of the emo-
  tionally and physically shattered commands of the early 3030s.
  Though the economic growth of the late 3040s and 3050s al-
  lowed the CCAF to begin to reclaim its lost strength—aided by 
  the Capellans’ distance from the Clan threat and by their partner-
  ship with the impressive industrial capacity of the Free Worlds 
  League—it wasn’t until Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao unveiled his Xin 
  Sheng reforms that the CCAF fully regained its lost prestige and 
  self-worth. In giving Capellan soldiers more respect for their state 
  and for themselves, the Chancellor unleashed the driving pride 
  that has brought many rewards to the soldiers themselves and to 
  the Confederation they serve.
  The desperate defense of the Confederation against the inva-
  sion in the 3030s by the Magistracy of Canopus and the breakaway 
  Andurien province of the Free Worlds League did much to repair 
  Capellan pride, but the successes of Operation Guerrero in 3057 
  gained the CCAF as an organization a far larger measure of con-
  fidence. Working in concert to drive Federated Commonwealth 
  forces from formerly Capellan worlds, the CCAF liberated many of 
  the occupied planets and sparked pro-Capellan revolts on others. 
  The successful reintegration of the St. Ives Commonality and the 
  ongoing reclamation of worlds in the Disputed Territories contin-
  ues to give the CCAF even more proud accomplishments.
  Xin Sheng, a national effort that involved every aspect of 
  Capellan society, worked wondrous changes on the Capellan 
  Confederation Armed Forces. The most notable are several new 
  equipment models from the Ministry of Development such as the 
  Fa Shih battlesuit and the Yu Huang assault BattleMech. In ad-
  dition to materiel concerns, the Strategios revamped the CCAF’s 
  ranking conventions, creating new ranks influenced by Chinese 
  traditions.
  STRUCTURE  
  OF THE CCAF
  The Capellan Confederation Armed Forces have always been 
  competent and professional, but historically much of their 
  strength has been lost to poor maintenance, interference from 
  inept Chancellors and the simple reality of being too small an 
  army to effectively garrison the entire Confederation. A combi-
  nation of these weaknesses allowed Hanse Davion’s armies to 
  overrun much of the Confederation in the Fourth Succession War, 
  and Sun-Tzu Liao has spent years of patient effort correcting ex-
  actly those flaws.
  Though supreme command of the Capellan military rests with 
  the Chancellor, Sun-Tzu Liao has proven himself capable of trust-
  ing his subordinates to do their duties. This trust has brought 
  a resurgence of authority to the Capellan High Command, the 
  Strategios. Though the Chancellor sits at the head of the High 
  Command, he does not dictate their actions, but accepts their 
  input and that of his jiang-jun and his Strategic Military Director 
  when making decisions.
  Three main branches of service comprise the CCAF: the front-
  line Armed Forces, the Home Guard regiments and planetary 
  militias, and the Warrior House orders. The Strategios controls the 
  CCAF and the Home Guard, but only the Chancellor commands the 
  Warrior Houses and the elite Death Commandos.
  The rank of jiang-jun (general) has recently returned to the 
  Capellan roster. Prior to the Xin Sheng reforms, there had not been 
  a Capellan general since the time of Jasmine Liao.
  CCAF HIgH COMMAND
  The High Command of the Capellan Confederation Armed 
  Forces—the Strategios—has traditionally been relegated to the 
  sidelines as inept or power-mad Chancellors exercised direct con-
  trol over the military, often bypassing the High Command (and the 
  Ministry of the Military) entirely. Maximilian Liao was famous for 
  this—he more or less gave control of the CCAF to his Maskirovka 
  analysts, which ultimately led to the loss of the Tikonov and St. Ives 
  commonalities in the Fourth Succession War.
  Under Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao, the Strategios is once again in 
  charge of the Capellan military. Like his ancient namesake, Sun-Tzu 
  recognizes that he is not a professional military officer and there-
  fore has no business meddling in the day-to-day operations of his 
  armed forces. He has carefully chosen officers at the top of their 
  respective fields and allowed them to take charge as they should. 
  Where his mother or grandfather would order a specific battalion 
  into battle, Sun-Tzu merely orders the result. How that result oc-
  curs is up to the professionals he entrusts with those duties.
  Strategic Military Director
  The Strategic Military Director oversees the Capellan military, 
  with the notable exceptions of the Warrior House orders and the 
  Death Commandos, both of which fall under the Chancellor’s pur-
  view. In the Chancellor’s absence, the Strategic Military Director 
  serves as regent of Sian and commander of the entire CCAF, with 
  authority over the Ministry of the Military and the Strategios.
  Pavel Ridzik’s lust for power helped House Davion capture the 
  Tikonov worlds from the Confederation in the Fourth Succession 
  War, and since then Capellan Chancellors have learned the cost 
  of allowing the number-two man in the Capellan military to re-
  main connected to his previous affiliations. The Strategic Military 
  Director must now relinquish—in perpetuity—all ties to any 
  Sheng titles he or she may have, so that his only loyalty is to the 
  Confederation.
  In practice, the Chancellor uses the Death Commandos and the 
  Warrior Houses as brakes on the SMD’s authority. Though the mili-
  tary director commands the loyalty of every regular military and 
  Home Guard unit—and most mercenaries, by contract—he has no 
  authority over the Warrior House orders or the Death Commandos. 
  In recent practice, as demonstrated by the St. Ives conflict, Sun-Tzu 
  used the gao-shiao-zhang of the Blessed Order to complete tasks 
  that Sang-jiang-jun Zahn did not fully support.
  
  CONFEDERATION MILITARY
  102
  The Jiang-Jun
  Not seen since the time of Jasmine Liao, the Xin Sheng rank of 
  jiang-jun (general) was created as an administrative command 
  rank to help combat the decentralized nature of the CCAF left over 
  from the Succession Wars. There are two “staff” jiang-jun in each 
  commonality, one each for regular forces and one for Home Guard 
  and militia forces. These officers oversee military readiness, train-
  ing, supplies and personnel. They answer directly to the Strategios 
  and the duke or duchess of the commonality for which they are 
  responsible. The admiral commanding the Capellan Navy is also 
  a jiang-jun.
  In addition to those officers, each of the five departments of the 
  Ministry of the Military is headed by jiang-jun, who in turn report to 
  the Minister of the Military and the Strategios. The Ministry of the 
  Military is one of the most efficient departments in the Ministerial, 
  and all the Xin Sheng reforms directed at it have only made it more 
  so. As a brake on ambition, however, only the sang-jiang-jun is 
  senior to any of these general officers—so each must compete 
  against the other for primacy, giving none a clear advantage.
  REgIONAL COMMANDS
  Capellan Hussars
  The oldest of the Capellan 
  brigades, the Capellan Hussars 
  were created by Franco Liao 
  to serve as the elite of the 
  Capellan Armed Forces. These 
  regiments are the proudest 
  in the CCAF. The Red Lancers 
  serve as the garrison of Sian 
  and as the Chancellor’s body-
  Ministry of the Military
  The Ministry of the Military is a streamlined and efficient organization, forced 
  to become so to counteract the meddling of any number of Chancellors and senior 
  colonels over the years. Under Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao, this efficiency has made the 
  Ministry of the Military one of the most quietly efficient bureaucracies in known 
  space. Five departments support the Capellan Confederation Armed Forces, with 
  a sixth bureau managing the newly powerful Capellan Navy. The heads of each of 
  these departments report to the Minister of the Military and the Strategios.
  Administration and Finance
  Administration and Finance (A&F) is the massive rear-echelon bureaucracy 
  that keeps track of all personnel and payroll functions in the CCAF. In addition to 
  its paymaster duties, the A&F also manages individual selection lists for soldiers 
  considered for promotions. As the unit responsible for the disposition of payroll, 
  disability and death benefits, this division has a standing Maskirovka team run-
  ning a near-constant audit of its activities. The current head of A&F is Jiang-jun 
  Melinda Kung.
  Acquisitions and Training
  Acquisitions and Training (A&T) is the recruitment and training arm of the 
  CCAF, responsible for attracting and training soldiers. This branch operates every 
  RTC and training academy in the Confederation, as well as monitoring the small 
  basic training and militia intake facilities found on almost every world. A&T de-
  termines the number of RTC graduates needed each year, and when so directed 
  by the Strategios, A&T oversees the standing-up of new formations such as the 
  Dynasty Guard or the Hustaing Warriors. Jiang-jun Freida Caruso oversees the 
  training of the CCAF’s future.
  Capellan Medical Corps
  The Capellan Medical Corps oversees all medical and health concerns in the 
  CCAF. In addition to providing medics and corpsmen to line and Home Guard units, 
  the CMC maintains a cadre of fourteen emergency medical battalions, all with their 
  own attached transport divisions, to respond to combat areas and provide the close 
  and capable medical support the Capellan soldier deserves and expects.
  The CMC does not extend care to enemies of the state, except when taken pris-
  oner, and then only long enough to keep them alive and turn the prisoners over 
  to the civilian government to learn their new roles as servitors. The only notable 
  exception came during the St. Ives conflict; many doctors and emergency staffs saw 
  the St. Ives combatants as Capellans as well, and offered them aid even though they 
  were fighting against the CCAF. Jiang-jun Homer Tarp was promoted to head the 
  CMC for supporting this practice.
  Capellan Navy
  The impressive might of the Capellan naval fleets gave Franco Liao the power 
  to form the Confederation as we know it, and successive Capellan Chancellors 
  have done what they can to keep that tradition alive. For centuries the loss of so 
  much technological infrastructure and the ever-shrinking area covered by the 
  Confederation consigned the Capellan Navy to ever-smaller budgets, but the re-
  naissance of the 3050s and ‘60s reversed that with the reintroduction of WarShips 
  to the Capellan arsenal.
  The Confederation fields the following WarShips: the Impavido-class Xizang, 
  Zhejiang and Anhui, and the Feng Huang-class Elias Jung, Franco Martell, Aleisha Kris 
  and Sundermann Rhys. The Feng Huang-class Ilsa Hyung is still in dock. Kong-jiang-
  jun Zhang Han Su commands the Capellan Navy.
  Procurement Division
  The Procurement Division is the logistical heart of the CCAF. This division is 
  responsible for maintaining the supplies and readiness of every military unit in 
  the CCAF, from the lowliest planetary militia to the most elite Death Commando 
  company. It handles the purchasing of equipment—from infantry socks to assault 
  BattleMechs—and the transport of said equipment across the Confederation. The 
  Procurement Division is headed by Jiang-jun Piotr Lodz.
  Research and Development
  R&D conducts scientific research to improve the capabilities of the CCAF’s air, 
  ground and space assets. In conjunction with civilian research agencies (many of 
  whom are sometimes nationalized for security purposes), they test, develop and 
  ensure quality control for the hash of new technologies available to the Capellan 
  soldier. In addition to deadly new BattleMechs like the Sha Yu and the Jinggau, they 
  also oversee the stealth armor that is making the new ying qiang (shadow lances) 
  so deadly to the Confederation’s enemies. Jiang-jun Jasper Koniev holds the reins 
  of this department.
  
  CONFEDERATION MILITARY
  103
  guard regiment, while the Holdfast Guard and the Prefectorate 
  Guard serve similar functions for the Prefectorate and the House 
  of Scions. The Dynasty Guard is the flagship regiment of the Liao 
  Commonality and guardians of the Sheng nobility in general.
  Warrior House Orders
  The eight Blessed Disciplines of the Order of Warrior Houses 
  (Imarra, Kamata, Hiritsu, Dai Da Chi, Lu Sann, Fujita, Ma-Tsu Kai and 
  Ijori) are among the most disciplined and fanatical troops available 
  to the Chancellor. Like the Death Commandos, they exist outside 
  the CCAF chain of command, mak-
  ing them a powerful brake on the 
  ambitions of any jiang-jun who might 
  attempt to wield too much power. 
  Though the Warrior Houses normally 
  operate independently, they can 
  conduct joint operations under the 
  control of the gao-shiao-zhang (grand 
  master) of the Order, the Master of 
  House Imarra, as was ably demonstrated when all eight Warrior 
  Houses recaptured the planet Liao during the Liberation of 3057.
  Death Commandos
  The elite among the elite of the Capellan 
  Military, the Death Commandos are the 
  Chancellor’s personal unit and the trou-
  bleshooters of the Capellan state. Deadly 
  capable at any form of combat—from 
  unaugmented infiltration to esoteric assas-
  sination to BattleMech warfare—the Death 
  Commandos are recognized as some of the 
  most lethal warriors in the Inner Sphere. A 
  pair of Death Commando bodyguards escorts the Chancellor ev-
  erywhere, supplanting even the Warrior House orders and the Red 
  Lancers in their duties.
  Confederation Reserve Cavalry
  Normally 
  based 
  in 
  the 
  Sian 
  Commonality, the Strategios has 
  pledged to make the Reserve Cavalry 
  true to its name—a brigade for the en-
  tire realm, not just one commonality. 
  To this end, the five regiments of the 
  Reserve Cavalry have been moving 
  across the Confederation in two-year 
  deployments, which is wearing the 
  soldiers down but doing a good job of 
  “showing the flag” in areas where the 
  citizens are unused to seeing these 
  Sian-based regiments.
  Capellan Defense Force
  The Capellan Defense Force has 
  not forgotten how the commonalities 
  surrounding it were quickly swal-
  lowed by the Federated Suns in the 
  Fourth Succession War, making their 
  quiet Capella Commonality a sudden-
  ly threatened border protectorate. 
  With largesse from Ceres Metals and 
  access to prime recruits from the Gei-
  Fu RTC, the CDF has recently added a 
  third regiment to its rolls.
  TALON ZAHN
  born: 17 January 3024 (Ares)
  education: Ares MechWarrior Academy 
  ocs: Sian University
  early duty: Stapleton’s Grenadiers
  commands:Second Confederation Reserve Cavalry
    Capellan Reserves, Executive Officer
  selected as strategic Military director: 28 December 3057
  The Liberation of 3057 did more for the CCAF than rebuild its confidence. It 
  also confirmed a young officer by the name of Talon Zahn as the ideal choice for 
  Strategic Military Director.
  Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao discovered Zahn when looking into the debacle 
  that lost Sarna, Sakhalin and Kaifeng to the resurrect ed Sarna Supremacy. The 
  military briefing contained a charge of insubordination leveled at Zahn, then 
  the executive officer of the Capellan Reserves, apparently over a mes sage he 
  had sent to then-Strategic Military Director James Teng. The message said, “Wo 
  gão-su le ni (I told you so).”
  A subsequent Maskirovka investigation made it clear that Zahn was suffer-
  ing under fellow officers more concerned with protect ing their positions than 
  enforcing the Chancellor’s wishes. Prior to the attempt to take Sarna, Zahn had 
  prepared a report on Stapleton’s Grenadiers for Director Teng in which he stated 
  that the regiment could not take the planet. The Strategic Director appar ently 
  hoped to bury his lack of attention to the report, and Zahn along with it. 
  Impressed by Zahn’s honesty, the Chancellor killed the charges and included 
  Zahn in strategy ses sions throughout the rest of the offensive.
  Chancellor Sun-Tzu appears to appreciate Zahn’s outspokenness; the 
  young commander never seems afraid to speak his mind, nor does he back 
  down under pressure. It also became apparent, as other officers relied more 
  and more on this young colonel, that Zahn possessed an uncanny knack for 
  strategy. Zahn dared to advise the Chancellor against reinforcing the planet 
  Nanking at the expense of Zurich, flatly characterizing such a move as a mis-
  take. The fact that Zahn’s assessment proved correct persuaded Sun -Tzu to 
  make allowances for its being impolitic.
  Zahn’s recently attained rank of sang -jiang-jun has made him perhaps the 
  most important individual in the Confederation after the Chancellor. Fortunately, 
  the Chancellor retains an appropri ate sense of caution; he takes care to isolate 
  his senior general, using the Warrior Houses and the Maskirovka as brakes. So 
  far, Zahn appears unswervingly loyal to Sun-Tzu. However, the needs of the 
  Capellan nation have yet to diverge from the desires of its Chancellor. When and 
  if that happens, Zahn’s loyalty will truly be put to the test.
  
  CONFEDERATION MILITARY
  104
  Liao Chang-Cheng
  The Liao Chang-Cheng coalesced in 3061 as the Liao 
  Commonality grew in size to rival the Sian Commonality. The four 
  regiments permanently tasked with its defense are hardy and re-
  liable, and also some of the most experienced because of their 
  near-constant state of combat. With unrest still occurring in the re-
  cently liberated worlds and conflicts unabated along the borders 
  of the Chaos March, the Chang-Cheng holds strong.
  Victoria Commonality Rangers
  Though many saw the creation of 
  the Victoria Commonality as a neces-
  sary bureaucratic construct to free up 
  more capacity in the Sian administra-
  tion, the CCAF has taken the defense 
  of the new commonality very serious-
  ly. The two regiments of the Victoria 
  Commonality 
  Rangers—Kingston’s 
  Rangers and Sung’s Rangers—are 
  spread thin across the commonality, 
  and often beg for help from free regi-
  ments or Canopian auxiliaries. With 
  the conflict in the Federated Suns ended, Jiang-jun Andreyvich is 
  requesting more troops to defend against what he considers an 
  inevitable Davion invasion.
  McCarron’s Armored Cavalry
  The adoption of the five pow-
  erful regiments of McCarron’s 
  Armored Cavalry into the ranks of 
  the regular CCAF may be the most 
  potent military advantage gained 
  from the Xin Sheng reforms. Lord 
  Marcus Baxter and his regiments 
  have fought hard over the past several years, determined to prove 
  their loyalty to the Confederation and the Chancellor. Disreputable 
  officers and troops have been moved out or cashiered, and one 
  full aerospace wing was disbanded when it refused to comply with 
  Maskirovka directives, but these have been the exceptions. In gen-
  eral, it appears the Armored Cavalry is happy in their new home.
  Citizens’ Honored
  One of the Confederation’s “free 
  brigades,” the Citizen’s Honored—
  former mercenary troops adopted in 
  the manner of McCarron’s Armored 
  Cavalry—are 
  spread 
  across 
  the 
  Confederation and its Canopian allies 
  in defense of the realm. They have been 
  stalwart in that duty, as if proving their 
  loyalty day after day. No other brigade has received so much praise 
  in recent years, and with two regiments forming the bulwark of 
  the newly strengthened Free Worlds League border garrison, that 
  is good news.
  Capellan Brigade
  The soldiers of the Capellan Brigade are 
  unique in the CCAF, the only soldiers not to 
  hold Capellan citizenship. Former merce-
  nary commands that were adopted into the 
  CCAF, given Capellan rank structures and 
  access to the Procurement Department like 
  any other line unit, they serve as best they 
  can, trying to earn citizenship for their warriors. Their looser stan-
  dards of discipline make that difficult, but they try nonetheless.
  St. Ives Armored Cavalry
  The premier units of the St. Ives 
  Commonality, the First and Second St. 
  Ives Lancers are both operating at full 
  strength and are based in St. Ives. The 
  First Lancers, under the command of 
  Sang-shao Kai Allard-Liao, maintain the 
  guardianship of the planet of St. Ives, 
  while the Second rotates through the 
  other worlds of the commonality. The 
  Maskirovka has deemed both regiments loyal to the Confederation, 
  while acknowledging that this stems largely from their loyalty to 
  Duchess Candace and her loyalty to the Confederation.
  St. Ives Janissaries 
  Much of the CCAF regards the 
  Janissaries as an abomination, 
  relying as they do on a bastardiza-
  tion of equipment and structure 
  modeled on House Davion’s Ceti 
  Hussars. Only the patronage of 
  the Duchess of St. Ives—and the 
  Janissaries’ sterling combat re-
  cord—has kept them from being 
  disbanded, though it has not kept 
  the Strategios from using the bulk 
  of the Second Janissaries to fulfill the CCAF’s treaty obligations in 
  the Magistracy of Canopus.
  St. Ives Sentinels
  The two regiments of the St. Ives 
  Sentinels have been more or less for-
  gotten by much of the CCAF. Though 
  they receive logistical support from 
  the Procurement Department, many 
  of their operations are generated by 
  their St. Ives Commonality headquar-
  ters rather than the Strategios. Duchess 
  Candace, loyal to her troops even when the jiang-jun are not, 
  keeps the regiments occupied with rotating garrison assignments, 
  but without some action soon the Maskirovka expects the regi-
  ments to degenerate to the sorry state they were in at the end of 
  the St. Ives conflict.
  
  CONFEDERATION MILITARY
  105
  MAJOR TRAININg CENTERS
  The primary strength of the Capellan Confederation Armed 
  Forces has always been the proud devotion of its citizens toward 
  their state’s defense. While other realms are plagued with short 
  enlistments and quick turnovers in officers and enlisted men, the 
  average term of service for a Capellan soldier is seven to nine years. 
  Devotion and loyalty are not enough to face down the BattleMechs 
  of the Confederation’s enemies, however.
  All military training in the Confederation is state-sponsored—
  independent schools, such as one might find in the Federated 
  Suns or the Free Worlds League, do not exist. From the smallest 
  regional training center in the Victoria Commonality to the grand 
  halls of the officer candidate school at Sian University, the citizen 
  soldiers of the CCAF are armed with knowledge of combat and 
  faith in their realm.
  Regional Training Centers
  Every duchy in the Confederation 
  hosts a regional training center (RTC) 
  tasked with sending a number of trained 
  soldiers to the CCAF every year. The RTCs 
  train the bulk of the Capellan military: the 
  legions of infantrymen, tankers and sup-
  port staff that serve as the backbone of 
  the regular and Home Guard regiments. 
  RTCs are demanding organizations, of-
  ten placing physical fitness at the head 
  of their training regimens. All RTCs train conventional troops and a 
  growing number of them provide MechWarrior instruction as well. 
  Notably, all four RTCs in the St. Ives Commonality have successfully 
  resisted quiet requests to scale back their training, and they all still 
  continue to offer MechWarrior, aerospace pilot and armored infan-
  try training programs.
  Capella War College
  The War College on Capella was 
  founded in 2270, created in the same 
  year as the Capellan Hegemony. One 
  of the oldest academies in the Inner 
  Sphere, the War College remains at the 
  cutting edge of training recruits for 31st-
  century warfare. Students study the 
  clas sics of warfare, such as the works 
  of Sun-Tzu and Von Clausewitz, along 
  with contemporary masters of the bat-
  tlefield such as Anastasius Focht and 
  Shiao-zhang Jasmine Liu. Considerable time is also devoted to the 
  Confederation’s military philosophies. The War College sets a chal-
  lenging pace unequaled by any other Confederation academy. 
  Combat training stresses independent operations and combined-
  arms tactics, adding to the regular workload. 
  The War College’s semiannual Graduation Days are local 
  holidays. Major cities hold parades, led by the new graduates. 
  Festivities also include exhibitions of BattleMech combat, air 
  shows and historical re-enactments of famous cavalry and infantry 
  battles. The Holdfast Guard of the Capellan Hussars takes first pick 
  of each year’s War College graduates. Alumni may wear a small jian 
  sword pin on the lapel of any uniform.
  Liao Conservatory of Military Arts
  Established eight years ago 
  on the homeworld of the Liao dy-
  nasty, the Conservatory of Military 
  Arts saw its first class of graduates 
  enter military service in 3062 to 
  much acclaim. Half of them went to 
  the newly formed Dynasty Guard 
  regiment of the Capellan Hussars, 
  which may hand-pick from each 
  graduat ing class. Nicknamed the “thinking warrior’s academy” 
  for its devotion to meditation and its emphasis on individual ef-
  fort, this facility is more concerned with accentuat ing personal 
  strengths than with shaping its students to fit a standardized 
  mold. Most courses are self-paced, allowing recruits to speed 
  through subject areas for which they demon strate particular 
  aptitude.
  For a military training facility, the Conservatory offers an un-
  usually relaxed environment, with a noticeable lack of rush ing 
  around and shouting. The self-motivated student body enables 
  Conservatory instructors to say more and motivate better with a 
  disappointed shake of the head or a few words of encouragement. 
  Conservatory students are never allowed to forget that they are at 
  the primarily MechWarrior and aerospace academy because they 
  wish to be there, in service to House Liao.
  Sarna Martial Academy
  When Sarna fully rejoined the 
  Confederation in 3066, the Sarna Martial 
  Academy re-entered the mainstream of 
  Capellan training as well. The school has 
  tried to remain true to its roots—it re-
  mains one of oldest training academies 
  in the Inner Sphere—but the final clash-
  es between the training methods of the 
  short-lived Sarna Supremacy (and the 
  Federated Commonwealth before it) 
  and the Confederation proper proved too difficult for many of the 
  students and instructors.
  So many cadets opted to transfer to the Sarna RTC that the 
  Martial Academy Training Battalion was disbanded in the spring of 
  3067. Though the school remained open, and the graduating class 
  of 3066 received high marks from the Maskirovka, it was also the 
  smallest class in the school’s history—a mere twenty-nine cadets. 
  The Strategios recently directed the Department of Acquisitions 
  and Training to audit the school, to see if it remains a viable facility 
  or if it should be closed.
  
  CONFEDERATION MILITARY
  106
  Sian Center for Martial Disciplines
  On the Confederation’s capital world, 
  nothing and no one can escape the po-
  litical realities of the Capellan nation. 
  Stringent admission requirements at the 
  Sian Center for Martial Disciplines reflect 
  this state of affairs. Any applicant wish-
  ing to be considered, let alone accepted, 
  needs a letter of recommendation by 
  a noble patron or a CCAF officer ranked sang -shao or higher. The 
  aspiring student must also measure up to demanding standards. 
  Preparatory work in a military school is a bonus, though it does 
  not guarantee admission. The Maskirovka handles political assess-
  ments, ensuring that all accepted applicants espouse correct views.
  The Center for Martial Disciplines includes courses in 
  Confederation civics and military philosophies as part of basic and 
  continued training. Through its relationship with Sian University, 
  the academy also puts deserving recruits through the univer-
  sity’s vaunted officer candidate program. SCMD instructors are 
  the best in their fields: members of Warrior House Imarra and the 
  Death Commandos are com mon sights on academy grounds. The 
  Strategic Military Director teaches a three-week course on strate-
  gies and tactics every year. Even the Chancellor has been known 
  to visit, quietly observing students or instructors and occasionally 
  agreeing to requests for a discussion.
  Sian University
  Sian University hosts the CCAF’s 
  lauded Officer Candidate Program, the 
  Hen gao Xiao-Iu—the High Path. The 
  OCP takes all officer candidates from the 
  Center for Martial Disciplines as well as 
  several hundred who transfer annually 
  from other acad emies or return from 
  active duty for command-level training. The Maskirovka conducts 
  background checks and political assess ments of all candidates. 
  Only those transferring in from the Center for Martial Disciplines 
  may have this second check waived. Military drill is kept to a mini-
  mum, except for exercises that test candidates and help them 
  apply their lessons to the battlefield. All cadets are expected to ex-
  cel academically. Just before graduation, each student undergoes 
  a series of pass/fail oral boards and exercises. Regardless of previ-
  ous academic stand ing, a single failure in these tests can cost a 
  cadet his or her commission. This standard applies even to ranking 
  CCAF offi cers undergoing further training. Many consider these fi-
  nal tests a battlefield, where years of training and preparation can 
  similarly hinge on a few hours of performance.
  St. Ives Academy of Martial Sciences
  In 3036, the St. Ives Science Institute (SISI) and the attached 
  Academy of Martial Sciences opened their doors after six years 
  of upgrading. In an unorthodox arrange ment, SIAMS remains an 
  independent college of the Science Institute. The academy is op-
  erated by the St. Ives Training Command, with students spread 
  out among the many other col leges 
  and programs offered by the Institute. 
  Admission is limited to Capellan citi-
  zens, conforming to common practice 
  in all other Capellan military training 
  centers. 
  All SIAMS candidates live in their 
  own dormitories, apart from the rest 
  of the SISI student body. The cadet 
  corps holds daily formations as well as frequent inspections and 
  PT ses sions, which maintain the military atmosphere during those 
  trimesters when the cadets join the science institute’s normal class 
  schedule. Students spend the final trimester of the third year in a 
  completely military atmosphere, preparing them for tours of duty 
  in the CCAF.
  Despite lingering tensions between St. Ives and the rest of the 
  Confederation, enrollment at SIAMS has been filled to capacity ev-
  ery year since 3056, and the Department of A&T is already planning 
  an expansion. The Maskirovka maintains a slightly higher presence 
  here than anywhere else except Sian University, but no secession-
  ist activities have yet been reported.
  Victoria Academy of Arms and Technology
  The Victoria Academy of Arms and Technology is the 
  Confederation’s newest training center, graduating its first class in 
  the last month of 3063. With the Shengli Arms factory nearby, stu-
  dents can easily become involved in this refurbished Star League 
  production site. In fact, the Victoria Academy currently enrolls 
  more tech nicians than cadets in combat disciplines. Tech students 
  spend time working in the factories in order to earn the occasional 
  hour with an off-duty master technician or engineer.
  The Victoria Academy offers the least competitive atmos phere 
  of the major academies. It stresses a working knowledge of the 
  technologies of warfare, even for students in combat specialties. 
  MechWarriors, pilots and cavalry crew are enlisted as test subjects 
  and encouraged to find ways to break the equipment. Though this 
  system has proved an interesting expe rience for many students 
  and helped them hone their reflexes, it has also led to a few train-
  ing-related deaths.
  The Prefectorate Guard of the Capellan Hussars regiment is 
  perma nently stationed on Victoria, and it may select from the 
  Victoria Academy’s graduating class a reasonable number of the 
  best recruits. 
  Warrior House Orders
  Since their inception, the Capellan Confederation’s eight Warrior 
  Houses have set themselves apart from the regular CCAF. These 
  quasi-religious military regiments may make alter ations to CCAF 
  uniforms, are exempt from the authority of nobles, and lie outside 
  the armed forces’ regular chain of com mand. Unsurprisingly, they 
  handle their own recruitment and training.
  Future members of a Warrior House are traditionally select ed 
  between ten and twelve years of age. Families may request con-
  sideration for a child, or the child may petition on his or her own 
  
  CONFEDERATION MILITARY
  107
  behalf. Local nobles may also recommend outstanding potential 
  candidates to a Warrior House. Petitions and recommendations 
  only guarantee an interview, however. Each order also sponsors in-
  dependent scouts (usually trained House infantrymen) who travel 
  to primary recruitment sites and look for applicants. No student is 
  ever forced into a Warrior House.
  Every aspirant is assigned a Sifu, a mentor, who oversees their 
  instruction. Training begins at an advanced military school and 
  includes heavy indoctrination into Warrior House traditions and 
  philosophies. For two years, the aspirant will not see the world 
  outside the House stronghold. The only available break from 
  training is meditation. The basic curriculum includes infantry 
  training and self-defense, preparing each candidate for the field. 
  Candidates may specialize beginning in their fourteenth year, in 
  areas such as scouting, battle-armor infantry, Special Forces or 
  even MechWarrior training.
  Nothing in the Confederation or in any Successor State com-
  pares to life in a Warrior House. The closest approximation is a Clan 
  trueborn sibko, though Warrior House training rarely reaches the 
  Clans’ level of brutality or even the pressure-cook er atmosphere 
  attributed to the Capella War College. Aspirants are diligently in-
  structed but never expected to hold up under more than they can 
  stand. In hard times, each student can rely on the Warrior House for 
  support. Ties beyond family or com patriots-at-arms bind a Warrior 
  House order together. All mem bers respect one another, regard-
  less of station, and join in the feeling of oneness that typically 
  flows from the shiao-zhang (House Master) to the newest recruit.
  UNIT TYpES
  The CCAF recognized four main divisions of combat units: regu-
  lar units, Warrior Houses, Home Guard units and mercenaries.
  Regular Units
  Regular formations are the front-line combat units of the 
  Capellan Confederation Armed Forces. They receive the lion’s 
  share of national defense appropriations and media attention, 
  and are generally the best-trained and equipped forces at the 
  Strategios’ disposal.
  Warrior Houses
  First formed by Kamachi Imarra, the Blessed Orders of the 
  Warrior Houses are elite and fanatical troops devoted to the 
  Chancellor. Though they are supplied and supported by—and 
  sometimes given authority over—units of the regular CCAF, the 
  Warrior Houses are not part of the CCAF’s chain of command. They 
  answer only to the Chancellor or the Gao-Shiao-Zhang (Grand 
  Master) of the Order.
  Home Guard
  The Home Guard is the Capellan militia system. Though kept 
  separate from the unorganized system of local planetary militias 
  for centuries, part of the Xin Sheng program has been to bring all 
  planetary militias under the control of the Home Guard. A main 
  Home Guard regiment consists of three battalions, one of which is 
  equipped with BattleMechs, and is expected to respond to attacks 
  within its warren.
  Planetary militias, by contrast, are not expected to respond to 
  threats outside their demesne. These local forces only rarely in-
  clude BattleMechs, depending on the budget allocated them by 
  their local lord or diem. Prosperous worlds such as Sian or Capella 
  might boast dozens or even scores of militia regiments, but back-
  waters like Ward can rarely muster more than a few battalions of 
  volunteers or conscripts.
  Mercenaries
  The Confederation has long employed mercenaries, but the 
  adoption of several mercenary commands into the regular CCAF 
  in the early 3060s brought about a lull in mercenary hiring. The 
  Confederation slowed its hiring rate while it assimilated so many 
  new troops, and many mercenaries let contracts slide to see if the 
  Chancellor was attempting a new form of “company store” coer-
  cion. Not until 3065 did hiring pick up again as small units, seeing 
  the respect with which the absorbed mercenary troops were treat-
  ed, flocked to the Capellan banner seeking inclusion.
  The CCAF has not hired many large mercenary companies, but 
  thousands of smaller units have been retained by the various com-
  monalities and duchies for local defense and security. Consistent 
  with past practice, these contracts are worded to allow the CCAF 
  to take them over should the need arise.
  UNIFORMS AND INSIgNIA
  Military dress in the Confederation generally emphasizes func-
  tion over form. Battle dress can vary widely among the branches of 
  the CCAF, as professional needs dictate. Otherwise, little difference 
  exists among ranks or forms of service, especially in combat units. 
  Early in Confederation history, the realm’s rulers made an effort to 
  ensure that the armed forces blended together in order to foster 
  a sense of equality in the defense of the nation. Alterations to the 
  uniform have generally been allowed only for units unequivo-
  cally deserv ing of the extra recognition—or, in the case of St. Ives 
  forces, as a political face-saver. Though St. Ives forces have been 
  granted the right to wear the enameled seal of their com monality, 
  many St. Ives personnel continue to wear their old uni forms and 
  insignia in silent protest of the armistice that returned their worlds 
  to the Confederation. This pas sive resistance is likely to fade as the 
  CCAF tightens its control.
  Each class within the armed forces has a special insignia, de-
  scribed below, which identifies a soldier’s branch of the mil itary. On 
  most uniforms, this insignia is the only method of dis tinguishing 
  the form of service.
  Parade Dress
  The CCAF ceremonial uniform consists of a light blue-gray jer-
  sey and pants, trimmed along legs, shoulders, chest and arms in 
  what is commonly called Liao green. A black border along the out-
  side seams from underarm to ankles and across the upper chest 
  memorializes the Day of Martyrs—a reminder to service men and 
  -women of the price sometimes demanded by the realm.
  
  CONFEDERATION MILITARY
  108
  A belt is hidden in the waistband, with only the silver buckle 
  showing. Green plasteel mesh keeps the sleeves in place around 
  the wrist. This uniform has a low mandarin col lar, closed at the 
  throat, on which rank devices are worn. The crest of the Capellan 
  Confederation appears as a patch uppermost on the right arm. 
  Ribbons and medals are worn over the left breast, the first of which 
  displays the insignia of the warrior’s class.
  A Han-influenced helmet and black boots complete the basic 
  parade dress uniform. In the field, green plasteel mesh is worn as 
  leggings over the boots. Enlisted personnel and officers may wear 
  a dao sword on formal occa sions (mandatory in the field). The 
  dao’s scabbard hangs from a wide black sling that runs over the 
  right shoulder and down across the chest. Officers may also wear 
  a narrow cape, black with green trim, which drapes from the neck 
  and is gathered near the waist before spreading down to mid-calf.
  This uniform is authorized only for parade detail and semi -formal 
  or formal occasions. It must be kept well tailored, at the soldier’s 
  expense. Though the parade dress uniform makes no special al-
  lowances for males or females, at social occasions female officers 
  may wear appropriate civilian dress instead. Any such choice must 
  be approved beforehand by the area’s ranking officer.
  The Death Commandos and Warrior Houses can select their 
  personal colors for parade dress.
  Combat Officer Uniforms
  A combat officer’s working uniform consists of sleeveless beige 
  overalls, trimmed in Liao green and worn over a brown jer sey 
  with a low mandarin collar. A brown and beige collared jack et, 
  also piped with green, is worn over the top. Green plasteel mesh 
  seals the jacket cuffs and is used as leggings over black boots. The 
  brown forage cap is reinforced with plasteel and syn thetic ceramic 
  fibers, offering extra protection. A sidearm and sword are autho-
  rized for working dress.
  Senior officers (sao-shao and above) may also wear a silk cravat, 
  worn loosely around the neck and tucked beneath the jacket. The 
  cravat’s color signifies the officer’s service branch. Light green de-
  notes infantry, red denotes armor, blue aerospace, and Liao green 
  most MechWarriors. Senior officers of Warrior Houses wear a dark 
  reddish-brown cravat. High com mand-level officers (sang-shao 
  and above) wear a jacket with a high mandarin collar.
  In combat, infantry officers must wear their field uniforms. All 
  other officers are encouraged to do so when not in battle dress. 
  Senior officers may wear their silk cravats with the field uniform. 
  The main piece of MechWarrior battle dress is the cooling vest, 
  with rank insignia sewn onto the lapels. Fingerless gauntlets are 
  common. The rest of the battle dress includes brown shorts, a hal-
  ter top for female MechWarriors, and boots with green plasteel 
  mesh worn as protective leggings. The MechWarrior insignia is a 
  dark green inverted triangle with black cross hairs over the top. 
  Many MechWarriors embroi der it on their jacket’s left arm.
  Capellan pilots wear a dark green flight suit trimmed in 
  lighter Liao green. Each suit is fitted with internal sensors and 
  envi ronmental controls that regulate G-forces and internal temper-
  atures, monitor pilot life signs and compensate for stress fac tors 
  during combat. The suit seals with the pilot’s helmet to cre ate a 
  self-contained environment. A pilot who ejects into space has a 
  sixty-minute reserve of breathable air. The aerospace insignia is an 
  inverted dark green triangle with a black cross covering it. When 
  not in their flight suits, pilots wear the appropriate officer dress.
  Battle dress for the crew of a Confederation armored vehicle 
  consists of green, padded combat fatigues woven with ballistic 
  material that can deflect small shell fragments. A beige armored 
  body shell is worn over the uniform, similar to a MechWarrior suit, 
  but a one-piece design with more padding than a MechWarrior 
  needs. The extra padding prevents injury when crew members are 
  jostled around inside the vehicle. In addition, the body shell serves 
  the same function as a cooling vest. As with the infantry, armor 
  crew fatigues dis play a shoulder stripe to distinguish officers from 
  enlisted per sonnel. Officers have a gold stripe and enlisted per-
  sonnel a red stripe. Each crew member also carries a sidearm and 
  is issued a small LCD logbook capable of holding several maps as 
  xIN SHENg AND HISTORICAL RANKS
   
  CCAF 
  WARRIOR HOUSE
  xin Sheng 
  Historical 
  xin Sheng 
  Historical
  Sang-jiang-jun 
  Senior Colonel 
  Gao-shiao-zhang 
  Grand Master
  Jiang-jun 
  — 
  Shiao-zhang 
  House Master
  Sang-shao 
  Colonel 
  — 
  —
  Zhong-shao 
  Major 
  — 
  —
  Sao-shao 
  Captain 
  Lien-zhang 
  Company Leader
  Sang-wei 
  Commander  
  Pai-zhang 
  Lance Leader
  Sao-wei 
  Subcommander 
  Ban-zhang 
  MechWarrior
  Yi-si-ben-bing 
  Master Sergeant 
  — 
  —
  Si-ben-bing 
  Sergeant 
  Zhang-si 
  Warrior
  San-ben-bing 
  Corporal 
  — 
  --
  Shia-ben-bing 
  Recruit 
  — 
  —
  
  CONFEDERATION MILITARY
  109
  well as text. The insignia is an inverted green triangle with a sword 
  driven into it.
  Infantry and other conventional combat troops such as artillery 
  wear the standard Capellan field uniform, which is also authorized 
  (and encouraged) for any soldier in a combat envi ronment. The 
  dark green, fire-retardant fatigues are trimmed in Liao green along 
  the shoulders and the seam from underarm to ankles. Shoulders, 
  elbows and knees are heavily reinforced and lightly padded. 
  Plasteel mesh covers the lower arms and is also used as leggings 
  over combat boots. The standard field helmet, a Han design similar 
  to the parade dress helmet, is reinforced with synthetic ceramic 
  fibers that provide extra pro tection against enemy laser fire. The 
  field uniform also includes a jian sword, a more practical weapon 
  for the battlefield than the curved dao. Rank insignia is worn on 
  the uniform collar. The Confederation crest is sewn on the upper 
  right arm. Name and rank are stenciled over the right breast. Along 
  the shoulder line are service stripes that distinguish officers from 
  enlisted per sonnel. A thin gold line denotes an officer and a red 
  line an enlisted rank. A reddish-brown service stripe identifies a 
  Warrior House infantryman, either officer or enlisted; both of these 
  use the same field uniform as the regular CCAF. The infantry in-
  signia is an inverted green triangle. Standard infantry places the 
  silhouette of a torch and flame over the triangle. Artillery also tips 
  all three points of the trian gle in black. The insignia may be worn 
  on the upper left sleeve.
  In a combat environment, working dress for support personnel 
  (on the ground) is the standard House Liao field uniform. Fatigues 
  are trimmed with a beige stripe along the outside seam, running 
  from underarm to ankles. Otherwise, enlisted personnel wear 
  green dungarees trimmed in beige. Fire- and acid-retardant, the 
  uniform is suitable for hard work. Rank devices are worn on the 
  collar. Lower-level officers (below sao-shao) wear white pants and 
  a collared shirt, both trimmed in Liao green, and a forage cap.
  The naval uniform is slightly different. Enlisted personnel wear 
  a dark green dungaree shirt with sleeveless, white overalls. Pants 
  legs are tucked into green boots. Officers wear beige overalls and 
  brown boots. Rank devices for both are worn on the collar. Officers 
  and senior enlisted personnel are issued communications head-
  bands that help to keep activities on a tight schedule, especially 
  in combat.
  On all uniforms, service stripes set in the shoulder line denote 
  the support field. Dark green stripes identify engineering, brown 
  denotes technician and bright red the medical corps. The insignia 
  for all support services is an inverted green triangle with a small 
  black notch along the upper side.
  RANKS AND INSIgNIA
  The main body of the CCAF employs a streamlined ranking 
  system with four enlisted ranks, five direct command ranks for 
  officers and two administrative com mand ranks at the top levels. 
  This system prevents the enlisted ranks from becom ing too stri-
  ated with noncommissioned officers, while allowing just enough 
  officer ranks to delineate responsibilities and follow a clear chain 
  of command.
  Every branch of the CCAF and the Death Commandos follows 
  the same ranking conventions. The Warrior Houses use a slightly 
  different system that recognizes each member through position, 
  seniority and favor of the House Master. The Warrior Houses use 
  the same rank devices as the regular army, but not the same titles. 
  They are not part of the regular chain of command unless specifi-
  cally ordered to integrate for the duration of an operation. The 
  following entries make note of the differences.
  As of January 3061, all ranks are referred to by their equivalent 
  names in Hanyu (Chinese). Rank devices are worn as collar tabs on 
  all uniforms except those that include a full-face helmet, which 
  covers collar insignia. In such cases, insignia patches are sewn ver-
  tically on the front shoulder.
  Sang-Jiang-jun (Senior General)
  This singular rank is awarded 
  to the Capellan Confederation’s 
  Strategic Military Director. The 
  sang-jiang-jun 
  reports 
  directly 
  to the Chancellor, overseeing all 
  CCAF military operations and as-
  suming 
  responsibility 
  for 
  any 
  joint operation where the Death 
  Commandos or Warrior Houses 
  work with the regular armed forc-
  es. In the Chancellor’s absence from Sian, the sang-jiang-jun acts 
  as regent. The rank insignia is the jiang-jun triangle device with a 
  green enameled center.
  Jiang-jun (General)
  The Confederation has few gen-
  erals. The short list includes two 
  military representatives of each 
  commonality, one responsible for 
  all line regiments and the other for 
  the commonality’s Home Guard. 
  The admiral of the Capellan Navy 
  has also received this rank, and 
  the Chancellor has agreed to one 
  jiang-jun for each of the other five divisions in the Ministry of the 
  Military. The rank device is an inverted, tarnished brass triangle 
  with an open center.
  The Warrior House equivalent, gao-shiao-zhang (Lord General), 
  is the Master of House Imarra. The Imarra Master also serves as the 
  Grand Master of the Blessed Discipline, representing all Warrior 
  Houses to the Chancellor and tak-
  ing responsibility for their actions.
  Sang-shao (Colonel)
  The 
  mainstay 
  of 
  the 
  Confederation military, the sang-
  shao 
  traditionally 
  commands 
  BattleMech and fleet regiments. 
  This rank also applies to command-
  
  CONFEDERATION MILITARY
  110
  ers of the new Confederation WarShips, though in practice they 
  follow maritime tradition and are called captains. In administrative 
  roles, a sang-shao might take charge of a military base or an ex-
  tremely important department of the Ministry of the Military. By 
  Confederation tradition, only MechWarriors or aerospace officers 
  can hope to rise to this level, though exception al armor and infan-
  try officers have occasionally earned the rank. The insignia is an 
  inverted silver triangle with an open center.
  In the Warrior Houses, the comparable post held by a House 
  Master is shiao-zhang, or Lord Colonel. The shiao-zhang is 
  undis puted leader of the House, reporting to no jiang-jun and an-
  swerable only to the leader of House Imarra and the Chancellor.
  zhong-shao (Lieutenant Colonel)
  This 
  rank 
  generally 
  denotes command of a 
  ‘Mech battalion or a full 
  aerospace wing, or a regi-
  mental executive officer 
  within these forces. Unless the Chancellor makes an exception, 
  zhong- shao is the highest rank to which infantry and armor officers 
  can rise in the CCAF, as conventional regimental commanders. In 
  JumpShip and DropShip command and in various administrative 
  roles, this rank is the highest attainable. Zhong-shao wear a tar-
  nished brass bar with three silver triangular pips.
  Because MechWarriors and aerospace pilots are granted an 
  honorary commission on the successful completion of their train-
  ing, they are not considered “command-level” officers. They may 
  not hold the rank of zhong-shao or higher without first completing 
  officer candidate school.
  The Warrior House rank for a ‘Mech battalion leader is ying-
  zhang. This rank is rarely awarded, as the BattleMech battalion is 
  typically led by the shiao-zhang. It is, however, commonly applied 
  to the commander of a Warrior House infantry battalion.
  Sao-shao (Major)
  This rank applies to a 
  company commander or 
  flight leader in the main 
  regiments, and to a bat-
  talion 
  commander 
  or 
  regi mental executive of-
  ficer among armor and infantry forces. A sang-wei might also be 
  field-promoted to di-sao-shao (brevet-major) in recognition of 
  superior performance. Such a promo tion attaches the sang-wei to 
  the battalion command staff (in conventional forces, the regimen-
  tal command staff), a posi tion that requires this rank adjustment. 
  Sao-shao also denotes upper-level management among non-com-
  bat administrative positions. The rank device is a tarnished brass 
  bar with two sil ver triangular pips.
  The Warrior House equivalent rank is lien-zhang. A lien- zhang 
  may command a company of ‘Mechs or conventional forces, and 
  the rank traditionally provides the command staff for the House 
  Master.
  Sang-wei (Captain)
  An officer of this rank 
  commands a lance of 
  BattleMechs or a squad-
  ron of aerospace fighters 
  in the CCAF’s primary 
  forces. As a conventional officer, the sang-wei acts as compa ny 
  commander among armor and infantry or mid-level manage ment 
  for non-combat roles. The insignia is a tarnished brass bar with a 
  single silver pip.
  Pai-zhang is the similar rank among Warrior Houses, lead ing a 
  lance of ‘Mechs or an infantry platoon. Senior pai-zhang may be 
  advisory members of the command staff.
  Sao-wei (Lieutenant)
  All MechWarriors and 
  aerospace pilots enter the 
  military at this rank, show-
  ing them the preference 
  due their unique abili ties. 
  In a fighter element, one sao-wei is recognized as first among 
  equals. Within conventional forces, this rank denotes a command-
  er of an infantry platoon or armor lance and is the lowest-level 
  management position within non-combat roles. The rank device 
  is a plain, tarnished brass bar.
  Ban-zhang identifies either a MechWarrior or an infantry squad 
  leader in the Warrior Houses. The Warrior Houses also identify 
  MechWarriors as janshi, warrior.
  Yi-si-ben-bing (Master Sergeant)
  Partly an administra-
  tive rank, the yi-si-ben-bing 
  serves as the senior en-
  listed representative of a 
  conventional military bat-
  talion. In the case of an infantry unit, this individual is usu ally 
  attached directly to the battalion command staff. In a non -combat 
  command, this rank is the senior enlisted representa tive of major 
  departments. Within a conventional regiment or a non-combat 
  command, one yi-si-ben-bing is recognized as first among equals, 
  the equivalent of a command master sergeant, and is attached to 
  the command staff. The rank device is a tar nished brass bar with 
  two diagonal green stripes.
  Si-ben-bing (Sergeant)
  The 
  senior 
  enlisted 
  rank among a lance of 
  armored vehi cles or an 
  infantry platoon, the si-
  ben-bing 
  can 
  assume 
  tempo rary command in the absence of the sao-wei. At company 
  level, one si-ben-bing is recognized as first among equals. In non -
  combat commands, the si-ben-bing is an administrator, acting as a 
  direct link between officers and enlisted personnel. A spe cialized 
  
  CONFEDERATION MILITARY
  111
  technician or accomplished administrator might also be awarded 
  this rank. The insignia is a tarnished brass bar bisect ed by a large, 
  diagonal green stripe.
  In the Warrior Houses, an average trooper is considered the 
  equivalent of a si-ben-bing because of the warrior orders’ excep-
  tional training requirements. The title given to these sol diers is 
  zhang-si, which literally means warrior, though the Warrior Houses 
  have redefined it to mean infantryman.
  San-ben-bing (Corporal)
  Infantry squad leaders 
  and armored vehicle com-
  manders receive the rank 
  of san-ben-bing. Enlisted 
  infantry specialists may 
  also be granted this rank. In the support services, the rank is com-
  mon among corpsmen, technicians and specialized equipment 
  operators. The rank device is a green bar with two thin, diagonal 
  stripes of tarnished brass.
  Shia-ben-bing (Recruit)
  The rank of shia-ben-
  bing is awarded to anyone 
  who com pletes basic train-
  ing. Until then, recruits are 
  simply gong, or citi zen. 
  (The CCAF does not accept non-citizens, and so the military may 
  not be used to earn Capellan citizenship.) This rank is the staple 
  of infantry squads, support crews for armored vehicles and most 
  non-rated laborers. Its insignia is a solid green bar.
  MEDALS AND HONORS
  Because service to the state is so important, the Capellan 
  Confederation awards honors almost as often to civilians as to its 
  military. The following list therefore includes civilian and military 
  awards. Confederation custom is to award based on the act of 
  service, not the branch—so civilians performing military service 
  can earn military awards, and military members may earn civilian 
  awards.
  Baton of Illustrious Service
  The Confederation’s most prestigious military decoration, 
  the Baton of Illustrious Service recognizes individuals who have 
  served the interests of House Liao under conditions of extreme 
  risk or hardship and far beyond the normal call of duty. This award 
  has gone to civilians on occasion, including the presi dent of Ceres 
  Metals and a few of the Sheng nobility, but it is usually reserved for 
  the armed forces. The baton is thirty-five centimeters long, cov-
  ered with a white leather braid. The Confederation crest is etched 
  and enameled on a gold setting at the baton’s center. At the base 
  of the baton, a Mao Zedong saying is inscribed in Han ideograms: 
  “Wherever our comrades go, they remain a part of us.”
  This award is bestowed personally by the Chancellor, along 
  with a promotion in rank. There is no accompanying ribbon or 
  medal; the baton must be carried. In social settings, this award 
  confers on its recipient the equivalent rank of sang-shao. All per-
  sonnel below this rank are required to salute the bearer. Because of 
  the award’s prestige, all nominated recipients are investigated by 
  a special inquiry team of Maskirovka agents and CCAF officers. The 
  team ensures that the decoration is deserved and that the recipi-
  ent is an upstanding Capellan citi zen worthy of such recognition.
  Chancellor’s Colors
  In uniforms and BattleMech paint schemes, the color gold is the 
  prerogative of the Chancellor. This tradition harks back to ancient 
  times on Terra, when only the Han emperor was allowed to use 
  the color and could share it with his favored advisers and military 
  men. To be allowed to use even a touch of real gold, as opposed 
  to the brassy color common in rank insignia and uniform stripes, 
  is a point of immense pride for a Capellan soldier. The Capellan 
  Hussars, the CCAF’s premier line regi ment, may wear gold silk cra-
  vats with their uniforms and paint touches of gold on their ‘Mechs 
  and fighter craft.
  Citation for Meritorious House Service
  This civilian award is presented by local diems to citizens whose 
  actions have set examples worthy of emulation by their fellow 
  Capellans. The decoration is an inverted green triangle set over 
  a disk embossed with a red and black yin-yang symbol. Though 
  a relatively common award, receiving it is considered no less an 
  honor for that.
  Civil Seal of Valor and Sacrifice
  This decoration is a rice-paper scroll, on which is written in Han 
  ideograms precisely what the citizen has done, at grave personal 
  risk or loss, to aid the Capellan armed forces in wartime. This high-
  est civilian award, personally presented by the Chancellor, confers 
  upon the recipient’s family special pref erence in education for chil-
  dren or selection for any branch of the civil service for which an 
  individual qualifies. If the Chancellor wishes, he may also confer 
  a small landhold with the seal. Nominees are investigated by the 
  Maskirovka to prevent any political embarrassments.
  Cluster of Conspicuous Heroism
  Warriors who demonstrate extreme bravery under fire in aid of 
  their comrades qualify for this medal. Set on a triangular base, it 
  displays a dao sword and the seal of the Strategios —a wreathed 
  jiang-jun rank device. It is typically reserved for MechWarriors, 
  though it can be awarded to other deserving sol diers. The CCAF 
  and Maskirovka conduct a background inquiry into potential re-
  cipients to ensure their worthiness. The deco ration is awarded in 
  a ceremony held on the appropriate com monality’s capital world 
  and is presented by a jiang-jun.
  Confederation Master at Arms
  This award is presented by the Strategic Military Director to a 
  warrior who has proved his mastery of the battlefield. Though no 
  set definition exists of what con stitutes such proof, the award is 
  
  CONFEDERATION MILITARY
  112
  usually given for the refine ment of a theoretical grand stratagem 
  or the invention and proven success of a new battlefield tactic. 
  Commanders who have proved themselves masters at combined-
  arms deploy ments have won this award, as have warriors who 
  fought through the infantry and into the armor forces, and later 
  rose to command a BattleMech regiment or an aerospace wing.
  Potential candidates are nominated by a military officer of sang-
  shao rank or higher, and the nomination is conferred by a jiang- jun. 
  The paperwork and all supporting evidence—often includ ing vid-
  eo testimony and, when appropriate, gun-camera footage—are 
  then forwarded to the Capellan War College, where determining 
  eligibility may take up to a year. The award is an inverted triangle 
  formed by three miniature silver dao swords, connected point to 
  hilt. The triangle frames a jade field on which a gold yin-yang sym-
  bol is etched. In each corner of the field are the Han ideograms for 
  Mind, Spirit and Weapons.
  Duchy Citation
  The Duchy Citation is awarded to units that performed above 
  and beyond the call of duty in service to the St. Ives Compact (now 
  the St. Ives Commonality). Only a handful of units have won this 
  prestigious award. Most recently, the First St. Ives Lancers and the 
  second battalion of the Second St. Ives Lancers have been award-
  ed the Duchy Citation for their participation in Operations Bulldog 
  and Serpent.
  Units awarded this citation mount a green ribbon, bordered in 
  gold leaf, on their standard. Individual unit members may wear a 
  similar ribbon on their dress uniforms.
  Grand Cordon of Merit
  The Grand Cordon of Merit may be awarded to military per-
  sonnel of any rank or branch of the armed forces who have acted 
  in defense of the realm above and beyond the normal demands 
  of duty. The Grand Cordon is a red disk on which a wreath frames 
  concentric circles of varying materials. The outer jade circle repre-
  sents House Liao, followed by a thin gold ring for the Chancellor. 
  Set in the center is the tri-blade symbol rep resenting the ‘Mech, 
  aerospace and conventional forces of the CCAF. Recipients of the 
  Grand Cordon of Merit usually receive their awards in a ceremony 
  preliminary to one for awarding a Cluster of Conspicuous Heroism. 
  In the absence of such an occasion, the Grand Cordon may be de-
  livered by an officer of sang-shao rank or higher.
  Liao Sunburst of Gallantry
  The Liao Sunburst of Gallantry is a common military deco ration 
  awarded to those who have demonstrated heroism under fire. It 
  can be given to individuals of any rank or branch of service. The 
  medal is a circular device reminiscent of the Davion sunburst; the 
  medal was originally awarded to those who performed admirably 
  against the Federated Suns. The Liao Sunburst is usually presented 
  by the recipient’s commanding officer.
  Order of the Legion of Liao
  Membership in this honorary society is open to any 
  Confederation citizen as a reward for unique self-sacrifice in the 
  defense of the Confederation or some other grand contribution 
  to the nation. Recipients must be nominated by local nobility or a 
  commanding officer, confirmed as worthy by a diem or refrector, 
  and are finally named members of the order by a duke or duchess 
  of the Confederation.
  Members of the order may wear the Legion medal: the green 
  cross of Liao embossed with a Confederation crest. Recipients are 
  given preferment in education, civil-service placement and mili-
  tary promotion.
  St. Ives Legion of Honor
  The Legion of Honor is the only SIMC decoration that can also 
  be earned by St. Ives Commonality civilians. It is awarded for ser-
  vice to St. Ives well beyond expectations, often with per sonal 
  sacrifice. The decoration consists of a platinum disc worn on a 
  crimson ribbon. emblazoned with a mailed fist holding a sword 
  and set against the stars of the St. Ives Commonality. Those in-
  ducted into the Legion of Honor are also granted a landhold and a 
  noble title on their homeworld.
  
  SOCIETY & CULTURE
  113
  
  SOCIETY & CULTURE
  114
  L
  ife in the Capellan Confederation is both simpler and much 
  more difficult than life in some other Successor States. 
  Capellans are a rightfully proud people, a class of citizens 
  who know that everyone among them has earned that appella-
  tion. The state provides many of the basic services that citizens 
  of other realms so often squabble over, and the Capellan mili-
  tary of 3067 provides Capellans the most secure lifestyle that any 
  Confederation citizen has enjoyed in a century or more.
  CApELLAN CITIZENSHIp
  Unlike many other interstellar realms, birth is not a qualifica-
  tion for citizenship in the Capellan Confederation. Every Capellan 
  citizen—noble-born or not—must offer the state some service in 
  order to earn his or her citizenship. At birth, every Capellan is le-
  gally made a ward of the state under the nominal authority of the 
  child’s parents or state-appointed guardians. Though not support-
  ed in legal precedents, unwritten laws keep families together. Only 
  in difficult circumstances is a child removed from its parents—if 
  the parents were killed soon after the child was born, perhaps, or 
  if they are deployed on extended military missions. The family is a 
  venerated unit of Capellan society, and whatever the legal status 
  of children, no attempts to disrupt families are made without very 
  good reasons.
  The Ministry of Social Education regulates citizenship, and the 
  obligation to provide some service to the state is taken seriously 
  during the child’s growth and education. By age fifteen, a native 
  Capellan must have completed his citizenship service, normally a 
  volunteer program designed to provide a vehicle for citizenship—
  for example, working in the conservation corps or the Capellan 
  Star Scouts, or volunteering in a hospital or retirement hospice.
  A Capellan youth who fails to meet his or her citizenship re-
  quirements by age fifteen is put on probation and subjected to a 
  crash program of social and political indoctrination. Because the 
  MSE recognizes a lack of sufficient moral character as the only rea-
  son a child would not be sufficiently motivated to earn citizenship, 
  these classes emphasize the need for a strong state and the sac-
  rifices an individual must be willing to make to ensure the state’s 
  prosperity. Most probationary students pass this second round of 
  examinations and earn their citizenship, but a small percentage 
  still refuse to be a productive part of the state, and so are relegated 
  to the servitor caste.
   
  Immigration
  Citizens of other realms may immigrate to the Confederation, 
  but non-noble immigrants must undergo a complete educational 
  cycle about life in the Confederation and the meaning of Capellan 
  citizenship. They are required to perform the same service to 
  the state as any Capellan schoolchild, though they often do this 
  through several months of unpaid labor in their chosen profession, 
  or assignment to a public works project, rather than the commu-
  nity service-oriented programs for students.
  Noble-born immigrants may avoid the indoctrination period 
  and service requirement by paying a sizable relocation fee to the 
  state treasury, and are inducted into the Sheng nobility at one rank 
  lower than their previous noble rank.
  Populations of worlds conquered by the Confederation military 
  are immediately entered into the ranks of the servitor caste, mak-
  ing them second-class citizens. Though this practice sometimes 
  costs the Confederation the productivity of skilled specialists and 
  technicians, it is important for each world to learn its place in the 
  Capellan realm. A planet whose inhabitants actively resisted the 
  Confederation only days before can hardly expect to become an 
  honored member of it overnight, not when every Capellan citi-
  zen—whether from the backwater villages of Ward or the cultured 
  cities of Sian—has already sacrificed to earn his or her place in 
  the nation. Caste assignment is generally accomplished within a 
  few years, and the conquered populations can then be allowed to 
  qualify for Capellan citizenship. The only exceptions to this rule are 
  children born on a planet after its conquest, who are accorded the 
  same state protection as any Capellan child.
  Citizens’ Obligations
  As a citizen of the Confederation, every Capellan is expected to 
  place the good of the state before personal gain. As a testament to 
  that, every citizen must take an oath of loyalty to the Confederation, 
  to House Liao and to the Chancellor, whose decrees may not be 
  questioned. Though for the most part Capellans are free to pursue 
  whatever lifestyle they choose, in extreme situations they are sub-
  ject to the direction of a planetary diem, who may determine that 
  a certain industry or segment thereof must be strengthened.
  Likewise, citizens are subject to colonization directives, should 
  the Confederation need to quickly populate a newly colonized 
  world to ensure its rapid exploitation. Skilled laborers may also be 
  retrained to address labor shortages in other industries. For exam-
  ple, if a world has too many vehicle manufacturers and not enough 
  textile engineers, a number of vehicle-manufacturing employees 
  will be retrained to work in the textile industry. This retraining is 
  mandatory, though the cost of it is covered by the state.
  Citizens not already part of the regular Capellan military are 
  encouraged to join their planetary Home Guards, and every 
  Capellan citizen must register with the local militia for duty in the 
  event of invasion or catastrophe. When natural disasters occur, all 
  Capellans—citizens or not—are expected to help with relief ef-
  forts and follow the direction of planetary officials.
  In theory, every Capellan citizen has the right to appeal directly 
  to the Chancellor for perceived grievances against government of-
  ficials or organizations. In practice, this is exceedingly rare, even 
  more so now than fifty years ago. Chancellor Romano Liao became 
  known for executing citizens whom she thought wasted her time 
  with petitions, and so most Capellans now address these concerns 
  to local officials such as their refrector, who can forward their peti-
  tions to the House of Scions.
  As with any earned right, citizenship can be revoked. The 
  Capellan courts may revoke the citizenship of criminals, and the 
  Chancellor may do likewise for any reason he wishes. In some 
  cases, citizenship is revoked to facilitate governmental seizure of 
  property. In the military, loss of citizenship is one of the punish-
  
  SOCIETY & CULTURE
  115
  ments for many of the worst crimes, such as cowardice in the face 
  of the enemy or treason. A citizen who has his citizenship revoked 
  is immediately relegated to servitor rank.
  THE CApELLAN CASTE SYSTEM
  Capellans live at the mercy of their bureaucracy, and though 
  for the most part the state does its best not to interfere in the lives 
  of its citizens, it does not hesitate to do so when necessary. Franco 
  Liao established an incentive program for workers in the arms 
  industry, granting special privileges to those supporting the war 
  effort. Over the years, more of these incentive programs were cre-
  ated, with each gradually coalescing into the social caste system 
  that dominates the Confederation today.
  It is important to note that the caste system is largely created 
  and maintained by Capellan citizens themselves, not by the gov-
  ernment. In an effort to relieve some of the stress inherent in living 
  in such a regimented culture, the caste system promotes feelings 
  of community between social peers, and these communities have 
  grown to include social monetary funds, support structures and 
  even (in rare cases) self-governance in certain aspects of their lives.
  Caste leaders, for example, are elected by popular vote of 
  their caste, in the only remnant of democracy still existing in 
  the Confederation. While caste leaders have no say over the 
  Confederation’s governance, they do have significant control over 
  the attitudes and feelings of their caste members, and leaders in 
  the past have taken advantage of this power to attempt to influ-
  ence policy.
  The caste system is not hereditary, nor is it exclusive. A member 
  of one caste is free to marry a member of another, for example, 
  and membership in a certain caste is open to any should they wish 
  to move, so long as they can qualify and gain permission from the 
  caste leaders. Confederation society currently contains seven of-
  ficial castes and one unofficial caste.
  Directorship
  The directorship is the caste of the bureaucrat, the caste to 
  which most administrators as high as the planetary level belong. 
  Because of their ease of movement throughout the bureaucracy, 
  members of the directorship display influence far outside their ac-
  tual numbers, and have an excellent relationship with the House of 
  Scions (which includes many directorship members).
  Intelligentsia
  The intelligentsia are the Confederation’s thinkers. As the sec-
  tor of the population most vital to the Confederation’s growth, 
  they are accorded the highest regard and most flexible living 
  conditions of any caste. Scientists, technicians and religious lead-
  ers make up this caste, and many of them are amply rewarded for 
  their contributions to the state with noble titles or large proper-
  ties. Their salaries are the highest of any caste, even the non-noble 
  members.
  Supporters
  Supporters are the non-science-oriented professionals of the 
  Confederation: educators, political economists, members of the 
  judiciary and so on. Teachers are perhaps the most widely re-
  spected professionals in the entire Confederation—as long as they 
  maintain the correct political outlook—and make up a large por-
  tion of the supporters. Business leaders and industrialists fall into 
  the supporters caste as well.
  Artists
  Art in the Confederation is a venerated profession, so long as 
  the art has demonstrable value for the state. Painters, sculptors, 
  musicians, entertainers, actors and show people of all descriptions 
  make up the ranks of the Artists caste. Of all castes except the ser-
  vitors, artists receive on average the lowest wages and benefits, 
  though numerous state-sponsored endowments exist to promote 
  artists who make significant contributions to Capellan life.
  The Entitled
  The entitled are the Confederation’s medical professionals: 
  doctors, nurses and other health-care workers. Given the nature of 
  their service, members of this caste are the only ones with a blan-
  ket travel allowance, permitting them to travel anywhere in the 
  Confederation without restriction. Because of this, the Maskirovka 
  Capellan Concordat
  The Capellan Concordat is a declaration of the rights of every Capellan 
  citizen.  First drafted after Jasmine Liao’s Time of Tribulations, when unrest was 
  at its worst, the Concordat was designed to ensure that every citizen was pro-
  tected by due process of law.  Its basic tenets are:
  •	 No Chancellor or representative of the chief executive may deprive a citizen 
  of the Confederation of life or liberty without due process of law.  In the 
  case of nobles, this includes a right of appeal to the House of Scions.
  •	 Any individual subjected to personal injury or abuse at the hands of any 
  member of the Capellan government may petition the judiciary to bring 
  charges against said person(s) by way of civil or criminal proceedings.
  •	 An individual may request that charges brought against his person by the 
  state be adjudicated by the noble ruler under whose direct authority the 
  defendant stands.
  •	 An individual may request that a refrector act on behalf of an accused, even 
  to the extent of demanding and achieving a personal audience with the 
  Prefectorate to ensure that evidence bearing on a given case is fairly and 
  properly presented.
  •	 No individual shall be deprived of Capellan citizenship, with all the rights 
  pertaining thereto, without a majority vote of the House of Scions follow-
  ing an official presentation of sufficient cause.
  As with any laws, of course, the devil is in the details—or, in such cases, 
  prior legal precedents. Though the Concordat was designed to placate citizens 
  who felt threatened by Jasmine Liao’s proscriptions, none of these tenets are 
  absolute.  They can be overridden by the Chancellor’s power of decree or legisla-
  tion passed by the Prefectorate.
  
  SOCIETY & CULTURE
  116
  monitors the entitled very closely for foreign agents, but surpris-
  ingly few are discovered among them.
  The Commonality
  The commonality caste represents the bulk of Capellan citi-
  zens: the huge masses of skilled and unskilled laborers who toil to 
  operate the state’s industries, keep its farms productive and main-
  tain its infrastructure. Because of this caste’s sheer size and the 
  power it holds over industry, commonality caste leaders on every 
  Confederation planet meet often with planetary diems to discuss 
  wages, price adjustments and holidays. While any such decision 
  is at the discretion of the diem, anyone can see that productivity 
  increases when laborers feel they have a voice with those whose 
  decisions affect their daily lives.
  Servitors
  Only officially recognized after the ascension of Sun-Tzu Liao to 
  the Celestial Throne, servitors are the largest segment of Capellan 
  society to grow out of the centuries of Succession Wars. Servitors 
  are second-class Capellans, not considered citizens, and are treated 
  as little more than slave labor. The servitors, more than any other 
  caste, were often cited by Hanse Davion and his propaganda ma-
  chine as the cause of the Fourth Succession War, despite the fact 
  that this caste had existed for hundreds of years.
  Servitors perform society’s mundane tasks, those that are nec-
  essary but that other Capellans are unwilling or disinclined to do. 
  Most servitors are treated as slaves, and until 3052 could be owned 
  by noble Capellan citizens. One of Sun-Tzu Liao’s first acts was to 
  abolish the ownership of servitors and establish the beginnings of 
  a true caste system for them. These actions paid fulsome dividends 
  when the Confederation embraced Xin Sheng, making the servi-
  tors some of Sun-Tzu’s most fervent supporters.
  As with other castes, servitors may earn (or attempt to re-earn) 
  their citizenship after ten years of service, and more and more servi-
  tors have done so since 3052. The children of servitors are treated like 
  any other Capellan child, entered into state schools and given the 
  same citizenship requirements as the children of Capellan nobles.
  Janshi
  The first murmurs of a warrior (janshi) caste began after Xin 
  Sheng, when the resurgent Capellan military engineered victory 
  after victory. In the past, Capellan soldiers existed outside the 
  caste system for as long as they served, but the national and mar-
  tial pride brought about by Xin Sheng is leading many to suggest 
  forming a new caste for the military.
  EDUCATION
  In the Confederation, all education is provided at the state’s ex-
  pense, and is available to every child regardless of caste or noble 
  birth. Every world in the Confederation maintains many schools 
  on each continent, and even the few scattered orbital habitats 
  offer the same state-sponsored education as any ground-bound 
  student might receive. Though the quality of instruction has im-
  proved markedly since the end of the first Clan Invasion (and the 
  ascendancy of Sun-Tzu Liao to the Chancellorship), the Capellan 
  education system remains a state-sponsored program designed 
  to serve and empower the state. Individual accomplishment is cel-
  ebrated only in service to the Capellan realm.
  The quality of education is surprisingly uniform throughout 
  the Confederation, given the disparate technology levels and tax 
  bases on many planets. The curriculum of a mid-grade elementary 
  student is almost identical on Sian as it is on Turin, though students 
  on Sian enjoy a higher general level of technology; Turin teach-
  ers may still use chalkboards or whiteboards, where Sian teachers 
  have access to holovid units and even limited-scale holotanks.
  Elementary and Secondary Education
  Political education begins in elementary school, as a necessary 
  part of the journey toward citizenship that every Capellan child is 
  expected to undertake. Elementary education is available to every 
  child, regardless of caste or status. The curriculum, revised in 3054, 
  focuses first on basic literacy and arithmetic and has only a small 
  amount of political indoctrination. This focus on teaching the ba-
  sics first has already begun to pay off. Comparison of test scores 
  from 3050 with those of 3067 shows a marked improvement in gen-
  eral knowledge and a concurrent increase in aptitude.
  Another of the 3054 changes was a focus on gender equal-
  ity in education. Centuries of institutionalized discrimination 
  against female students (except for nobles and the daughters of 
  Knowledge is Power
  I still remember when the proctor from Liao arrived in Bennison—it 
  was halfway through the longwinter snowstorms, when the snow was still 
  only about three meters deep in the lowlands. She came bundled like it was 
  nightwinter—big electric parka, heated boots, face mask. She looked like one 
  of those ads they use to make fun of overprotective mothers, you know the ones 
  I mean? The ones with the little woman screaming about her children being lost 
  in the drifts, but then cutting to the kids in their ice fort with a heater, laughing 
  at her hysterics.
  Anyway, she came into school with Mr. Parkinson on Tenday. Kept calling 
  it Tuesday for some reason, like it was the third day of the week, not the tenth. 
  Her name was Ms. Harker. She was real nice, most of the time, but she kept 
  looking at the wood stove in the corner, and she giggled when Mr. Parkinson 
  started drawing on the board. Like she’d never seen a chalkboard before. Mr. 
  Parkinson took her out in the alcove and gave her what for—my desk is right 
  by the door, so I could hear. He wanted to know what she was laughing at. She 
  told him she wondered how he managed to teach anything on a chalkboard, of 
  all things. I know, right? Like she’d never seen an HV’s tubes freeze after dark? 
  Like she’d never seen the parts hovercraft from Barclay miss a ravine and go off? 
  Come on, right?
  She quieted down when we got back to calculus. She sat through the whole 
  lesson, following along. She had a noteputer—don’t know how that survived 
  the trip, what with the magnetics—and she looked like she was checking our 
  math. Honestly, like any fourteen-year-old can’t do simple calculus. 
  —From Memoirs of a Rural Education,
  by Mandrissa Claire Dalton, Sian University Press, 3032
  
  SOCIETY & CULTURE
  117
  MechWarrior families) were thrown out—with forcible help from 
  the Maskirovka, if necessary. Sixteen percent of the total increase 
  in test scores since has come from the successes of female stu-
  dents. “Brilliance happens only a few times in every generation,” 
  Minister of Social Education Soon Ho Lu has said. “By denying the 
  talents of half our population—the female half—we have denied 
  ourselves half our potential.”
  Learning groups are formed like collectives during students’ 
  early schooling. From preschool to the end of secondary school, 
  a group of fifteen to twenty-five students learns from the same 
  instructor. Though not quite as rigorous as the Warrior House 
  concept of sifu, instructors grow and learn with their classes, 
  often taking only two or three classes throughout their career. 
  Socially members of the supporter caste, teachers are highly 
  venerated in the Confederation. Many often become honorary 
  members of their students’ families, sought out for advice by 
  both parent and child.
  Though each student is responsible for his or her own aca-
  demic performance, Capellan instructors are held responsible 
  for the actions and performance of their classes as a whole. An 
  instructor who fails to bring a majority of his students along 
  through the various academic checkpoints each year is inves-
  tigated; those who continue this failure after ministry officials 
  have begun remediation are disciplined or even terminated. The 
  Ministry of Social Education regards children as far too important 
  an asset to waste.
  The modification of the elementary curriculum required chang-
  es to secondary education as well. With more time spent teaching 
  the students, more time must likewise be spent maintaining ap-
  propriate levels of indoctrination and political adjustment as they 
  progress. Secondary-age learning groups spend significant time 
  on social studies and political theory. Teachers are encouraged to 
  show the strength of the Capellan state as opposed to the weaker, 
  individual-oriented polities around it, and stringent testing en-
  sures that loyalty is maintained and fostered. It is not uncommon 
  for a teacher at this level to begin pointing out the various ways in 
  which the state maintains it citizens, from health care to military 
  defense to the free education the students are experiencing.
  Vocational training in the Confederation is begun at the second-
  ary school level as each instructor wishes. It is common practice for 
  students to spend a part of each year in an apprenticeship, learn-
  ing a trade or skill so that they can become productive Capellan 
  citizens. Instructors also work closely with CCAF recruiters to fit 
  applicable students into the military. For a select few students, 
  higher education is available.
  Special Schools
  Though the Confederation lacks the sophisticated web of high-
  er-education institutions common in other realms, it is misleading 
  to assume that Capellan citizens are generally mere high-school 
  educated mendicants stumbling along while an elite few run the 
  nation. Aside from Sian University, other schools of higher or al-
  ternate education exist, though they are administered below 
  university level to maintain Sian University’s prestige.
  Martial Academies
  Each of the Confederation’s commonalities maintains a martial 
  academy, dedicated to training military officers and providing them 
  a level of higher education than most soldiers receive in regional 
  training centers. These institutions offer students more than military 
  arts, though topics such as mathematics and literature are taught 
  from a military bent; mathematics are necessary to cryptology and 
  navigation skills, while the study of literature is critical for officers 
  destined for staff positions like intelligence and public relations.
  Each of the martial academies has its own focus and its own 
  politics. The Sian Center for Martial Disciplines, for example, is 
  much more stringent on political issues than the St. Ives Martial 
  Academy. The Sarna Academy is fighting like a bulldog to regain 
  its institutional pride after the Sarna Supremacy debacle. The 
  Capella War College competes for prestige with the much newer 
  Liao Conservatory of Military Arts, and instructors at both institu-
  tions encourage this competition as another way to motivate and 
  unify their cadets.
  Noble Schools
  In addition to state-sponsored programs, nobles are also per-
  mitted to create and maintain educational systems in their own 
  warrens. They are required to hold to the standard curriculum, but 
  many noblemen have used their own schools to reward exception-
  al students with even more educational opportunities.
  
  SOCIETY & CULTURE
  118
  The majority of noble schools are vocational, designed to help 
  older students transition into the warren’s workforce. Many nobles 
  work with the Ministry of Social Education in providing such train-
  ing, allowing MSE instructors to manage political philosophy and 
  indoctrination while other teachers focus on career skills.
  Philotechnique Institutes
  Established in the mid-28th century as places of post-secondary 
  learning for scientific and technical skills, the philotechnique insti-
  tutes are highly sought-after posts of academic learning. Students 
  do not apply to these schools—instead, they are chosen by plan-
  etary directors and sent to participate at no cost to themselves.
  Of the sixteen institutes created by the original commission, 
  ten escaped the crushing losses of the Fourth Succession War and 
  remained in Capellan space. Though several have since returned to 
  the Confederation along with their recaptured worlds, only those 
  in the St. Ives Commonality practice anything like their original 
  functions. The St. Ives institutes are under review by the Ministry of 
  Social Education and the Maskirovka to ensure that their curricula 
  are in accord with the latest Ministry-approved models.
  In the first years of the 31st century, a shift occurred in the phi-
  lotechnique institutes’ curricula. Many courses were modified or 
  added to create a course structure designed to emphasize politi-
  cal thought and correctness. Though labeled philosophy courses, 
  they were little more than advanced propaganda classes, and they 
  helped create the generation of bureaucrats whose ineptitude 
  contributed to the losses incurred in the Fourth Succession War. 
  With the Xin Sheng reforms of the past few years, the Ministry has 
  again changed the focus of these courses from political indoctrina-
  tion toward a more respectful attention to the legacy and heritage 
  of the Capellan state.
  Sian University
  In 2988, Chancellor Tormax Liao directed the creation of a new 
  university on Sian dedicated to “…bringing a new age of enlight-
  enment and stability to the Capellan people.” He dedicated the 
  University of Sian and declared it the only university of its kind in 
  the Confederation, the only pan-world institute of higher learning 
  dedicated not to commonality or warren, but to the Confederation 
  as a whole. In the 3020s, Chancellor Maximilian Liao gifted the uni-
  versity with lavish bequests in an effort to keep the prestige of 
  “his” college as high as that of the nascent New Avalon Institute of 
  Science in the Federated Suns.
  Sian University offers courses in almost every field of human 
  endeavor, but its programs for philosophy, political science, 
  economics and interstellar relations are the most respected. In 
  3064, Sun-Tzu Liao decreed Sian University the center of the Xin 
  Sheng movement and dedicated a new hall to house the study 
  of that movement. Students are enrolled from worlds across 
  the Confederation, and while the number of transfer students 
  from the Free Worlds League dropped off after the cooling of 
  relations between that realm and the Confederation, the Trinity 
  Alliance has brought new applicants from the Magistracy and 
  the Taurian Concordat.
  Though it strictly adheres to the state-centric philosophy man-
  dated by the Ministry of Social Education, Sian University is also 
  the one place in the Confederation where academics from across 
  the Inner Sphere gather to witness and learn from the successful 
  experiment that is Capellan life. The new Xin Sheng wing is abuzz 
  with activity as scholars dive into the terabytes of data on this 
  highly successful social program.
  In military circles, there is no more rigorous school than the Hen 
  gao Xiao-lu—the High Path—officer candidate program, which 
  fulfills many of the staff and war college functions of academies 
  in other realms. Cadets in the High Path are among the elite of the 
  Capellan military, and are expected to perform as such. 
  MEDIA AND THE ARTS
  As one might expect in a structured society like the 
  Confederation, the media are strictly controlled by the govern-
  ment. Capellans have little notion of a free press, and most are 
  thankful for that fact. After centuries of watching how the profit-
  driven, privately run media affects public opinion in neighboring 
  realms, Capellans are grateful for the relative stability of their own 
  media institutions.
  Capellan Broadcast Service
  The main instrument by which government informs and shapes 
  public opinion is the Capellan Broadcast Service, a state-spon-
  sored news and entertainment conglomerate with local branches 
  in nearly every population center and an HPG-based network 
  program that brings news of the entire Confederation to the far-
  thest reaches of Capellan space. The Sian-based main news hub 
  broadcasts three times a day on HPG (according to a Terran-day 
  schedule), offering updates on the latest actions of the Capellan 
  government. Each commonality capital hosts a similar news hub, 
  bringing the commonality’s citizens the most up-to-date news; 
  this hierarchy extends all the way down to community-based local 
  news stations.
  The main purveyor of non-military news in the Confederation 
  is the CBS, which offers news outlets in every district. Local news 
  is similar to that in other Successor States, light content designed 
  to reinforce the Capellan citizen’s natural assumption that the gov-
  ernment is in firm control of all issues and that individual action is 
  not required. For example, when a forest fire threatened the small 
  town of Haskell on Repulse, the local CBS outlet reported every 
  two minutes on the Haskell Fire Brigade’s progress, reassuring 
  the town’s inhabitants that the Brigade had the situation in hand. 
  Had the news anchors simply announced the fire’s progress and 
  trusted local viewers to make their own ill-informed decisions in 
  response, the Brigade might easily have been delayed by overzeal-
  ous, untrained citizens getting in the way.
  Though the exact title differs on every world, each CBS bureau 
  employs a senior broadcaster in the role of political commissar. On 
  Sian, where the realities of Capellan governance are more open, the 
  political commissar is clearly identified as such. On distant or more 
  recently conquered worlds like those of the Liao Commonality, the 
  population’s lingering familiarity with the Federated Suns’ more 
  
  SOCIETY & CULTURE
  119
  liberal style of news makes a certain circumspection necessary, 
  and political employees are simply called senior broadcasters.
  Propaganda
  Protected societies like the Capellan Confederation require 
  a steady level of government-sponsored information to shape 
  public opinion in a way that keeps the current regime in power 
  and avoids disruptive threats of proletarian rebellion and loss of 
  efficiency. The Confederation’s system of government has worked 
  admirably for more than six hundred years—were it genuinely 
  flawed, it would have collapsed before now. The Maskirovka works 
  closely with the news media to make sure the Capellan people are 
  kept informed of their state’s progress and the threats it faces from 
  outside the realm.
  In many CBS branches, the political commissar is also a 
  Maskirovka agent, or is assumed to be. Over the centuries, many of 
  these broadcasters have played on the level of mystery the public 
  affords the Maskirovka to exploit any advantage they can.
  The message given to the Capellan people is uniformly pro-
  Capellan, stressing Capellan superiority over other realms. Even 
  when allied with other nations—such as the Free Worlds League 
  during the Clan crisis, or currently with the Confederation’s Trinity 
  partners—the message remains that the Confederation is the 
  last true bastion of civilization and that those working together 
  with the Confederation reap the lion’s share of benefits. In gen-
  eral, the public believes that the Confederation is allied with the 
  Taurian Concordat and Magistracy of Canopus not out of the 
  Confederation’s need, but because of Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao’s 
  supreme beneficence toward all of humanity. 
  ARTS AND LITERATURE
  Creativity is an inalienable human endeavor, and the peoples 
  of the Capellan Confederation are no exception. A thriving artistic 
  community exists in the Confederation, and while it may not range 
  as freely or subversively as similar movements in other states, it 
  fulfills the basic human need for expression while bringing added 
  cohesiveness to the Capellan state. Members of the artist caste are 
  among the least wealthy Confederation citizens, but this is only to 
  be expected. Even before humanity left Terra, most artists worked 
  with little, often gaining much of their drive from the hardships 
  under which they lived.
  Sculpture, painting, music and theatre are the primary modes 
  of artistic expression in the Confederation, with nearly every 
  Capellan world hosting a number of high-prestige exhibition halls 
  for the presentation of sponsored artwork. A number of annual art 
  shows are held every year, and most Capellan nobles eventually 
  acquire a small stable of artists whom they support. The Sheng, in 
  particular, expend considerable political clout gaining the services 
  of artists, and many artists are eager to earn this patronage.
  In the last twenty years, the Confederation has experience a 
  resurgence of interest in literature. Long regarded with a certain 
  suspicion, literature has never attained strong support in the 
  Confederation, and the Maskirovka still keeps a close eye out for 
  subversive literary works. In 3033, for example, only seventy-six 
  works of fiction were published. Chancellor Romano Liao’s gov-
  ernment was not known for tolerance, and her inquisition against 
  any words perceived as potentially harmful to the Liaos or the 
  Confederation was thorough. Chancellor Sun-Tzu, by contrast, ap-
  pears to welcome literature in the Confederation; since the start of 
  Xin Sheng, a slew of new titles has appeared extolling the virtues 
  of Capellan life.
  SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOgY
  The Confederation has struggled to remain at the forefront of 
  scientific advancement since the rise of the Terran Hegemony cost 
  the Library of the Capellan Republic its primacy. Since then, the 
  Capellan realm has managed to at least remain in step with other 
  Successor States, even though the Confederation suffered more 
  drastically than other nations during the ravages of the Succession 
  Wars. While we cannot match the innovation and research capabil-
  ities of House Davion’s New Avalon Institute of Science (as, indeed, 
  can no other realm), Capellan scientists and other members of the 
  intelligentsia are making significant strides; in many cases, they are 
  exceeding technological innovation in other realms. Chancellor 
  Sun-Tzu has made it clear to his ministers that they are to build up 
  the Confederation’s scientific base as quickly as possible and, while 
  allowing technological partnerships with advanced organizations 
  Tonight in the News
  Shortly after the planet Jonathan’s return to the Confederation, a minor 
  scuffle erupted among the prominent citizens of Gaston, a small town on the 
  edge of the southern continent. The following is transcript of a meeting be-
  tween the planetary refrector and several businessmen.
  <planetary refrector absalom bung-wei> I fail to see the harm, gentlemen.
  <horace farnsworth> That’s exactly our point, sir. You don’t understand that 
  the people of Jonathan expect to be a part of any response to such an event—
  <ab-w> Forgive me—the people of Jonathan, or the citizens?
  <hf> What?
  <ab-w> Are you speaking of the servitors, or of citizens?
  <hf> We’re all citizens of Jonathan, sir, and I resent—
  <ab-w> I don’t particularly care what you resent, Mr. Farnsworth. According 
  to my office’s records, you have yet to earn your Capellan citizenship. Until 
  you’re ready to become a productive member of Jonathan’s society, I don’t see 
  why I should waste my time.
  <hf> Just you wait a minute! I’ve been a member of the Chamber of Commerce 
  for thirty years!
  <ab-w> And that entitles you to what, exactly? Jonathan is a Capellan world, 
  Mr. Farnsworth. Until you’re a citizen, until you’re ready to offer some service to 
  the state to earn the state’s consideration, I will continue to operate the local 
  constabulary response to natural disasters as I have in the past. Along with the 
  local Home Guard detachment, the operation of the schools, and the goddamn 
  bus route. Good day, sir!
  
  SOCIETY & CULTURE
  120
  like the Word of Blake, see to it that the Capellan Confederation 
  can stand alone in parity if necessary.
  Like the rest of the Confederation, the intelligentsia has re-
  sponded to the implicit challenges of Xin Sheng with great success. 
  Though military research retains its primacy of place—and pro-
  duces such marvels as BattleMech-scale stealth armor and the new 
  plasma-based weapons—civilian and consumer research has kept 
  pace. Companies like Asuncion Industries and Lustrix Commodities 
  are making new discoveries almost every day.
  Capellan Science Foundation
  The Capellan Science Foundation was established in 2818 
  as a clearinghouse of government-funded projects. During the 
  Succession Wars, the CSF was based on Tikonov, but relocated 
  to Capella when Tikonov fell to the Federated Suns in the Fourth 
  Succession War. One of the Science Foundation’s most prominent 
  missions during that era was research into and discovery of lost 
  Star League-era equipment and facilities, though a large chunk of 
  its funding and focus was diverted to the Maskirovka in the early 
  3020s. After the Fourth Succession War, Chancellor Romano Liao 
  shifted the CSF’s primary focus away from discovery and directly 
  into research on the Helm Memory Core. Most of the recovered 
  Star League technology employed by Confederation manufac-
  turers today was teased out of that massive data repository by 
  researchers at the Capellan Science Foundation.
  In 3058, Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao moved the Capellan Science 
  Foundation into new, modern facilities near Capella Prime and 
  gave them the task of spearheading several research initiatives. 
  The same bureaus that produced the Raven and Cataphract 
  BattleMechs in the 3020s were at the forefront of developing such 
  high-profile weapons as the Yu Huang assault ’Mech and even the 
  Feng Huang WarShip.
  Prefectorate Special Commission
  Established in 3020, the Special Commission is a subset of the 
  CSF directly concerned with battlefield technology. Throughout 
  the Fourth Succession War—even during the crushing defeats 
  of those years—Special Commissioners roved the battlefields, 
  gathering intelligence and desperately seeking some weakness 
  in the Davion war machine. After the war, they were redirected 
  into clandestine observation of newly recovered technologies be-
  ing used in other realms. Many commissioners were seconded to 
  the Maskirovka—and many Maskirovka agents seconded to the 
  CSF—so they could observe tests of Federated Commonwealth 
  weaponry. Their reports enabled the CSF to unlock many of the 
  tangled secrets of the Helm Memory Core.
  Consumer Research
  Under Chancellor Romano Liao, every scrap of Capellan in-
  frastructure—including research and design—was redirected 
  to military efforts. While these extreme measures kept the 
  Confederation alive during the turbulent 3030s and the quiet cold 
  wars of the 3040s, they also stagnated consumer markets. Soon after 
  his ascension, Chancellor Sun-Tzu rescinded the blanket decree on 
  ANNUAL ART SHOWS
  Confederation worlds sponsor a number of annual exhibitions, all at differ-
  ent times of year. Most are high-profile events liberally attended by nobles from 
  across the Confederation as they search for new talent to add to their stables.
  Native Capellan Art Fair
  Open only to Capellan citizens, the Native Capellan Art Fair is held every 
  January on Capella. The format is open—any type of artist may submit entries, 
  from any commonality in the Confederation. The most common submissions are 
  paintings and sculptures, but there is a vocal—if small—holovid community 
  as well. Johnny Tchang made his film debut at the NCAF many years ago, and 
  the 3067 fair showcased the first holo of newcomer Lao Feng, who many say 
  is even better than Tchang. Also notable in the ’67 show were the top three 
  prize-winners: First place went to Gunnar Gogol, for his novel Enchanted Dawn 
  (a chronicle of one man’s return to liberated Tikonov), while second and third 
  places were tied between Isobel Manning’s painting Denbar at Dusk and Tam 
  Phun’s bronze Black May, White June.
  St. Ives Book Expo
  First held in 3034 on St. Ives in what was then the St. Ives Compact, the St. 
  Ives Book Expo was organized to recognize works of literature by Capellan ex-
  patriates. Though fiction has recently gained some cachet in the Confederation, 
  for many years it was a dangerous form of expression, and many novelists and 
  writers fled the Confederation for the St. Ives Compact rather than face “edito-
  rial correction” by the Maskirovka. Entrants to the Book Expo were restricted 
  to topics that in some way reflected on the Capellan state, though Duchess 
  Candace’s judges were careful to weed out or castigate obvious (or sometimes 
  not-so-obvious) hate literature.
  Since St. Ives’s reintegration, the Book Expo has not been held, though a 
  committee was formed in 3067 to explore the feasibility of reviving it given the 
  renewed interest in literature throughout the Confederation. Duchess Candace 
  is known to support the Expo, and it appears only a matter of time before she 
  convinces her nephew to allow its resumption.
  Tikonov Universal Exhibition
  Long held on Tikonov, the fall of that world to House Davion in the Fourth 
  Succession War brought the Tikonov Universal Exhibition to the Sarna March 
  of the Federated Suns. Chancellor Romano Liao decreed that a new Universal 
  Exhibition should be held each year on a different Capellan world, a situation 
  that held until Warrior House troops reclaimed Tikonov during the Federated 
  Commonwealth Civil War. Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao ordered the Universal 
  Exhibition returned to Tikonov after its liberation, and the show was a smashing 
  success even amid the stresses caused by the reintegration of St. Ives.
  Open to entrants from any Successor State, the re-established Tikonov 
  Universal Exhibition offers a chance for Capellan artists to shine against those 
  of other realms. That a Capellan artist has taken top honors at every Exhibition 
  since its return to Tikonov is a shining endorsement of the Xin Sheng movement. 
  While some have cried foul and accused the Confederation of fixing the results, 
  Ministerial officials are quick to point out that judges are chosen by lot from 
  across the Successor States, and the chairman of the prize committee has yet 
  to be a Capellan citizen.
  
  SOCIETY & CULTURE
  121
  military production and redirected substantial parts of the Capellan 
  economy back into civilian consumer goods. These initiatives had 
  scarcely begun to bear fruit when the Chancellor enacted Xin Sheng; 
  once the revitalized Capellan economy began to take hold, consum-
  er manufacturers rolled out the fruits of eight quiet years of design. 
  The result is the envy of many worlds in other nations.
  Firmir Commerical led the charge with a complete line of preci-
  sion home electronics, from the low-end reliable equipment that 
  made them a household name in the early 31st century to custom 
  electronics that specialists quickly came to prize. Companies with 
  large consumer divisions—Earthwerks, Aldis and more special-
  ized manufacturers like Asuncsion Industries—quickly followed 
  suit. Each of them soon favored quality over quantity, prompting 
  high levels of demand among Capellan consumers that has greatly 
  benefited these producers. Firmir, for example, has used strong 
  domestic sales and word-of-mouth advertising to springboard 
  sales initiatives into the Liao Commonality, where many people are 
  still used to the consumer goods they grew up with as part of the 
  Federated Commonwealth.
  RELIgION AND pHILOSOpHY
  Though the Confederation has no official religion, recent years 
  have seen a sharp increase in the number of reported Buddhists in 
  the state. Most studies root this increase squarely in the fertile fields 
  of Xin Sheng, as many Capellans embrace the faith of the Chancellor 
  and most of the Sheng in order to tie themselves more closely to the 
  ruling order. Neither the Chancellor nor his government has made 
  any official comment, instead releasing cleverly parsed statements 
  that support the adoption of Buddhism without bluntly saying so. 
  Across the Confederation, citizens are legally permitted to worship 
  however they wish, but local laws and nobles often circumvent the 
  common laws to enforce their own religions. The Confederation has 
  historically had little use for organized religion—such loyalties often 
  detract from a good Capellan citizen’s efforts to further the state’s 
  goals—but since the Liberation of 3057, the Liao Commonality es-
  pecially has shown remarkable tolerance of other faiths. The former 
  Federated Commonwealth subjects returned to the Confederation 
  with the religions of their fathers and mothers, and the Prefect of 
  the commonality recently announced his intention to approach 
  the New Avalon Catholic Church to appoint a bishop for the Liao 
  Commonality worlds. Whether the Chancellor will allow this, or 
  even permit this level of religious diversity to spread throughout the 
  Confederation, remains to be seen.
  The Korvin Doctrine
  Based on the writings of early Terran explorer Alana Korvin DeVall, 
  the Korvin Doctrine is a philosophical construct that deems subser-
  vience to a “greater humanity” a necessary trait of human beings in 
  a star-faring age. Though she was not Capellan, Alana Korvin’s views 
  would later be used by successive Capellan Chancellors and their 
  ministers to merge the idea of service to the state with the Capellan 
  Confederation’s common societal outlook.
  
  SOCIETY & CULTURE
  122
  Korvin, who spearheaded the initial exploration of several 
  colonies that eventually became Capellan worlds after the Terran 
  Hegemony disintegrated, was affected by what she called “the 
  immensity of space and the cold, heartless nature of it.” Her per-
  sonal letters and diaries—many of them in the archives of Sian 
  University—are filled with dire predictions for a humanity that 
  remained divided into petty factions when faced with the sheer 
  open terror of space. The application of Korvin’s theories about the 
  destructive nature of factionalism on interstellar scale is a popu-
  lar topic for doctoral dissertations at Sian University, and many of 
  those doctoral students have gone on to become powerful forces 
  in the Capellan government. House Liao, especially, is always on 
  the lookout for new voices in the academic world that support 
  Korvin’s theories. After all, there is no reason the “…overriding au-
  thority of Greater Humanity, the singular power that protects the 
  vagabond scattering of the human race…” cannot be House Liao 
  and the Confederation.
  Interestingly, it was a non-Liao Chancellor, Normann Aris, who 
  brought the teachings of Alana Korvin DeVall into mainstream 
  Capellan society. He embraced the ordered potential of Korvin’s 
  logic to engineer his social restructuring projects, which helped 
  pull the Confederation out of a deadly economic depression and 
  give it purpose. That later Liao Chancellors embraced and expand-
  ed his restructuring projects is a testament to the soundness of the 
  ideas behind them.
  The Sarna Mandate
  The Sarna Mandate is a social legacy of the long-dead Sarna 
  Supremacy (not the abortive pirate state that usurped that hon-
  ored name following the chaos of the Liberation of 3057) that 
  codifies the duties of society’s elite in relation to the state. In 
  its simplest interpretation, the Mandate reveals how the most 
  powerful military, political and scientific elite classes are fit to 
  rule the people. Because simple laborers lack the sophistication 
  to look past their own personal needs, the educated elite must 
  shoulder the responsibility of government. No other group pos-
  sesses the long view of history—the knowledge of past mistakes 
  and a realistic appraisal of current values—needed to make ad-
  equate decisions.
  Ever since its acceptance as a practical tool of Capellan gov-
  ernance, the Sarna Mandate has been used to support almost 
  any change to the established order. Its first serious inclusion in 
  Capellan society came during the military purges of Jasmine Liao’s 
  reign, after the kidnapping and death of her brother Duncan. Since 
  then, it has been cited for nearly any purpose. During the first Star 
  League era, when prosperity across the Confederation threatened 
  the powers of the nobility, the Sheng clutched the Mandate like a 
  life raft, declaring their own “elite-ness” and the dire consequenc-
  es to the Confederation should they be replaced by “less capable 
  citizens” such as businessmen and scientists. During the turbulent 
  years under Tormax and Maximilian Liao, when the sheer scale 
  of destruction across the Confederation had the people at their 
  highest level of discontent with the Liao Chancellors, the Sheng 
  used the Mandate to quietly feed anti-Liao tensions and increase 
  their own control at the local level. Even recently, during Xin Sheng, 
  Sun-Tzu Liao used every gram of influence he could wring from 
  the Mandate to help convince the waffling worlds of the Disputed 
  Territories to return to the Capellan fold.
  In Capellan society, the Mandate holds so much sway not 
  because it is inherently right (which does not mean it is wrong, 
  merely that its strength comes from other areas), but because 
  centuries of experience have shown that the Confederation pros-
  pers most when the state is properly aligned and governed. No 
  one is more qualified to govern than the elite of the realm, who 
  are nearly all scientists, warriors or politicians. Those professions 
  are not inherently more elite than, say, the finest potter on Sian, 
  but the focus of those professions makes them uniquely suited 
  to governing. A potter, whether a journeyman or the artisan who 
  creates the Chancellor’s custom bowls, spends all his focus on 
  clay, heat and the skill of his hands. A politician concerns himself 
  with the Confederation as a whole, a scientist with reason and or-
  der, a warrior with the defense of the state. These concerns span 
  worlds, trades, populations. Men and women who think in these 
  terms are likeliest to make good decisions for the whole, and so it 
  is only logical to place them in a position to do so. An artisan may 
  be able to make the finest porcelain bowl in the Confederation, 
  but he cannot determine the best way to get food to a starving 
  world in the Liao Commonality when there are grain surpluses 
  in Victoria.
  Alana’s Common Sense
  Critics of the Confederation’s focus on the teachings of Korvin decry us as 
  communists, accuse us of rewriting history to mend our own mistakes, and of 
  plain old power madness. What they seldom do is apply the most basic observa-
  tion of human behavior to the Korvin Doctrine, because when they do, they are 
  forced to acknowledge the simple truths it reveals.
  Consider: Humankind has spread across the stars, across thousands of 
  light years and worlds. Children are born on the far edges of the Federated 
  Suns that will never even see light from the suns of other worlds in their realm 
  within their lifetimes. Attempting something as absurd as “federating” such 
  a construct of far-flung worlds is proof of folly. What does that child care for 
  the needs, wants and dreams of a person on that other world, who will never 
  see the light of the other sun, either? Why should he sacrifice his food, his 
  surplus money or goods, even his personal desires, for that other child? He 
  shouldn’t—unless he is given reason to.
  Such is the logic of the Korvin Doctrine. By binding these disparate worlds 
  into a “Greater Humanity,” as Alana Korvin DeVall put it—into a true confedera-
  tion of worlds—we can make each child care about every other. Because we 
  have invested each child with a concern for the whole—a concern for the state, 
  a concern for others who live in it—he will be glad to share, even to sacrifice, 
  content in the knowledge that the other child would do the same for him were 
  their positions reversed.
  —From A Common Sense Guide to the Korvin Doctrine,  
  Tikonov Commonality Printing Office, 2834
  
  SOCIETY & CULTURE
  123
  The Lorix Order
  Kalvar Lorix was many things, most of them disreputable. He 
  was a middling MechWarrior, though his ego would never let 
  him admit it. He was an on-again, off-again drunk and abuser 
  of mind-altering substances. He had little compunction about 
  sharing the marriage bed (neither his nor others’), and persis-
  tent urban legends claim he liked to organize underground 
  blood fights among the lower castes by promising them ad-
  vancement into higher castes if they won. Despite all these 
  things, however, his Lorix Order has become the model of the 
  modern MechWarrior’s Creed across not just the Confederation, 
  but the entire Inner Sphere.
  The basic premise of the Lorix Order is that the MechWarrior 
  above all others, soldier or civilian, is the pinnacle of society, 
  and that everyone else should exist to serve (and be defended 
  by) the MechWarrior. Modesty was not one of Kalvar Lorix’s vir-
  tues, and the trash he recruited to his Order in 2672 lasted barely 
  a generation before they got themselves killed or executed. The 
  precepts of the Order, especially numbers three, four and five, 
  made them incompetent soldiers who often disregarded battle 
  plans and were impossible to discipline. The precepts spread, 
  however, and if other nations’ MechWarriors held concepts like 
  discipline and teamwork in slightly higher regard, the sheer 
  hubris of the Order appealed to them. By the time the Third 
  Succession War ended, nearly every MechWarrior in every realm 
  knew Kalvar Lorix’s name and upheld at least precepts one and 
  two of his creed.
  In the modern Confederation, the most powerful adherents 
  of the Lorix Order are the Blessed Orders of Warrior Houses, 
  who use many of Lorix’s ideas to shape their own warriors into 
  disciplined and loyal soldiers. The precepts learned by Warrior 
  House adherents stress loyalty to the Warrior House and the 
  Chancellor directly, rather than the general terms set down by 
  Kalvar Lorix. Hiritza Hikaru, whose ideals Kamachi Imarra ad-
  opted for the first Capellan Warrior House, spent much time 
  refining the Lorix Order into a form that would build the elite 
  mindset of Imarra’s final vision of the Warrior Houses.
  Warrior House Orders
  The Blessed Order of the Warrior Houses is the closest the 
  Confederation has to a quasi-religious order revered by all Capellan 
  citizens. Its adherents—soldiers and trainees of the eight Warrior 
  Houses—live the precepts of their Houses every moment of every 
  day, and each Warrior House has a slightly different focus. Where 
  the Imarra Order is adept at navigating the treacherous battlefields 
  of politics, the Hiritsu Order focuses on internal contemplation 
  and courtesy, elements of self-respect that allow one to reach new 
  heights of accomplishment. House Dai Da Chi celebrates combat 
  and victory above all things. Each of the Warrior Houses approach-
  es its goals with a religious fervor born out of shared experience, 
  loyalty to the Chancellor and the Confederation, and excellence in 
  all aspects of performance.
  pOLITICS AND MOvEMENTS
  “Politics in the Confederation are what I say they are—
  until and unless that gets too unpopular, at which time I will 
  modify what I say to something a little less controversial—
  and the people will love me for it.” 
  —Maximilian Liao
  At its core, Capellan political philosophy can be distilled to a 
  simple order of priority: state, then people. Every Capellan citizen 
  believes that the state is more important than his or her personal 
  wishes. Every Capellan citizen knows that the state, having been 
  given this sacrifice, will do its best to return the best quality of life 
  it can—and that, given the sheer size of the state and the resources 
  it can draw upon, that return will be adequate if not lavish. The 
  Capellan state is a grand structure built on the foundation of its 
  citizens. Such is the basic message of every Capellan textbook 
  across the Confederation. The theory is foolproof—the ultimate 
  expression of “from each according to his abilities, to each accord-
  ing to his needs…”.
  Reality, of course, is somewhat different.
  Power From the People
  Since the first days of Franco Liao’s rule, every Capellan citizen 
  has known that the state is more important than any individual. 
  Every sacrifice made by a laborer on Palos, or a scientist on Victoria, 
  or a soldier on Turin, is a sacrifice of personal gain for the gain of 
  the whole Confederation. Nearly every other realm considers 
  the rights of the individual paramount; almost every other realm 
  Dicta of the Lorix Order
  1. The individual citizen has the right to expect the highest degree of profes-
  sionalism from the officers who decide his fate.
  2. The highest order of warrior and defender is, and forever shall be, the 
  MechWarrior.
  3. MechWarriors are and should remain a breed unto themselves. They should 
  be accorded the highest honor possible, and in turn should be expected to 
  perform the most outstanding feats of daring in defense of the state and 
  its citizens.
  4. To perform their most important tasks, MechWarriors must be afforded op-
  portunities to advance their skills and expertise to the highest possible level. 
  To this end, war is an acceptable way of life because it invariably contributes 
  to the defense of the state through the increased skill of its defenders.
  5. Once a MechWarrior has reached the summit of his profession, only another 
  MechWarrior has the right to terminate his life. Conversely, in certain cases 
  (such as personal or professional betrayal), the MechWarrior has the right to 
  exact personal retribution without fear of reprisal.
  6. The highest and most important ideal in any MechWarrior’s life is loyalty: to 
  the citizenry he protects, to the state that provides, and to the chief execu-
  tive of the state, who is the MechWarrior’s commander-in-chief.
  
  SOCIETY & CULTURE
  124
  would rather trample the goodwill of thousands than wrong one 
  individual. True Capellans, however, recognize that the individual 
  is best protected by a strong state, and keeping that state strong 
  requires sacrifice.
  From their early years, every Capellan is educated (some say 
  indoctrinated) with the belief that the Confederation is more impor-
  tant than they are. Every Capellan, even before he or she becomes a 
  citizen, is imbued with the knowledge that they will better prosper 
  among the rest of the Capellan family—that achievement without 
  sharing is hollow and wasteful. Capellans, as a nation, share all sacri-
  fices equally so that no undue burden is placed on one person.
  Outsiders question why what they term “this nonsense” flour-
  ishes. Why don’t Capellans rise up en masse and demand that the 
  Chancellor and the Prefecture respect their rights? Why don’t they 
  organize into collectives to defy the House of Scions and the cor-
  rupt, greedy Sheng who rule their warrens or duchies? Outsiders 
  ask these questions, but fail to see the answer staring them in the 
  face: Capellans are already organized.
  Every Capellan child knows he belongs to something greater—
  he is a member of the Confederation. He knows that every other 
  Capellan is also part of this larger family—“Greater Humanity,” as 
  Korvin put it—and that knowledge arms him against the individ-
  ualistic urges of nonaligned peoples. For all their great debates 
  and public outcry about the rights of free people, every other 
  nation suffers occasionally as one charismatic person rises up 
  and uses this “every man a fortress” fallacy to convert a group of 
  people to his personal point of view. Even in the Confederation, 
  we are not immune to such personalities. Kalvin the Mad was ob-
  viously insane. But we accept our poor leaders with our strong 
  ones, because for every manipulative Maximilian Liao there is a 
  visionary Sun-Tzu.
  xin Sheng
  Sensing the inherent abilities he possessed, the leaders of 
  the Inner Sphere chose Sun-Tzu Liao, Chancellor of the Capellan 
  Confederation, as the first First Lord of the resurrected Star 
  League before they embarked on the campaign to destroy the 
  Smoke Jaguar Clan. Though the position carried none of the 
  dictatorial powers the Camerons enjoyed during the first Star 
  League, the title of First Lord granted the holder massive goodwill 
  and diplomatic power. Chancellor Sun-Tzu, aware of the pound-
  ing the Confederation had taken in recent generations, used that 
  goodwill for all it was worth. Thus was born Xin Sheng—and the 
  modern Capellan Confederation.
  Using his authority as Chancellor, Sun-Tzu decreed sweeping 
  reforms throughout the Confederation. These reforms touched 
  nearly every sector of Confederation life, from military spending 
  to research and design in consumer goods, trade strategies with 
  other realms, and alliances with several worlds and realms in the 
  Periphery. The Trinity Alliance is a direct result of the successes of 
  Xin Sheng. Many ministries of the Confederation government are 
  still struggling to adapt to some of the changes the Chancellor 
  ordered. The most serious change, the initial tax, lapsed after 
  only six months with little complaint. The monies gained were 
  invested back into the Confederation, mostly in massive projects 
  and infrastructure building. Social reforms, building on Sun-Tzu’s 
  initial efforts in 3052, have been and continue to be far-reaching.
  The most visible change, the reorganization of the Capellan 
  officer corps, is only one of the many advances Xin Sheng has 
  brought. The servitors have gained more rights—one of Xin 
  Sheng’s earliest reforms was the establishment of a percentage-
  based minimum wage across the Confederation. Diems and 
  refrectors have been directed to crack down on abuses against 
  the children of servitors. In an address in 3065, the Chancellor 
  himself decreed that anyone “caught maligning the children of 
  servitors, be they on Sian or Kaifeng, will be punished to the full-
  est extent of the law,” and the Confederation legal system has 
  taken those words to heart. As a result, approval ratings for Sun-
  Tzu Liao among the servitors are higher than any ever recorded 
  for any caste.
  Trinity Alliance
  Outside the Confederation, Sun-Tzu Liao’s most prominent 
  accomplishment has been to form a three-way alliance with the 
  Magistracy of Canopus and the Taurian Concordat. Both Periphery 
  realms share a common border with the Victoria Commonality and 
  have benefited greatly from increased trade and cooperation with 
  the Confederation. In return, the Confederation has gained more 
  soldiers for its military needs, more markets for its goods and ex-
  posure to more cultures. This last benefit is two-fold—where the 
  Confederation meets the Magistracy or the Concordat, so too do 
  they meet us, and all three realms are better for it. The formal ac-
  ceptance of the Taurian Concordat into the Star League as a full 
  member at the last Star League council meeting on the planet 
  Marik testifies to the successes of the Trinity Alliance and to Sun-
  Tzu Liao’s abilities as a statesman.
  A House Built on Sand
  The trial of Lama Erik von Dangmar ended this past week, with the court 
  handing down a decision that will surely be used as a precedent across the 
  Confederation. Our viewers will remember von Dangmar as the noble accused of 
  embezzling billions of yuan from the corporations in his warren over the past six 
  years. At his trial he attempted an analogy as his defense: We all know that the 
  state comes first—that we are only the supports that give the state its structure. 
  The bricks that build the foundation, if you will. How can it weaken the state for 
  those bricks to grow stronger? The stronger the bricks, the stronger the foundation, 
  and the stronger the building. You say I have weakened the state—how can that 
  be so, when I am a part of it? If I am one of those bricks, and I am strengthened, is 
  not the state strengthened through me?
  The court was not swayed by von Dangmar’s arguments, and ruled against 
  him. His execution was broadcast throughout his warren by special courier at 
  the direction of the ranking diem. The monies seized—as well as his personal 
  fortune—were directed back into the warren’s budget, with a sizable fraction 
  earmarked for increased education. If the nobles of our realm can so misun-
  derstand our system, surely the children cannot hope to be properly educated 
  without increased effort.
  —From the July 3066 vidcast of CBS: Repulse’s Evening Edition.
  
  SOCIETY & CULTURE
  125
  CRIME AND pUNISHMENT
  As with any star-faring polity, the rule of law controls 
  Confederation life. While the Chancellor is the ultimate authority 
  in civil and criminal cases, in practice most judiciary work is car-
  ried out at the local level. It is only in matters of state—or when 
  sufficient political capital is spent to bring an issue to higher at-
  tention—that the higher levels of the Capellan government, the 
  Prefecture and the House of Scions, get involved.
  “Legality? The law is that which I approve.” 
  —Chancellor Kalvin Liao
  Courts and Judges
  The majority of judicial processes are carried out at the communi-
  ty level by Confederation justices, who are appointed authority over 
  a section of the population by their diems. A justice has complete 
  authority to adjudicate disputes and enforce the law, and his deci-
  sions are almost always upheld by the diem as a matter of course. 
  Appointment as a justice is a prestigious post and is often seen as a 
  rite of passage for junior members of the directorship caste.
  The next level of justice—and the first level of trial—are the 
  Commune Courts, held over from the days of the Tikonov Grand 
  Union. A Commune Court is just that—a gathering of peers who 
  discuss and pass judgment on disputes. They have authority over 
  all manner of minor disputes, but the accused can sometimes 
  appeal the decisions of such courts to their refrectors or higher—
  though in the history of the Confederation, only one such appeal 
  has made it to the ear of the Chancellor.
  In matters under dispute among nobles, the House of Scions 
  appoints a Court of Tolerance to examine the issue and pass judg-
  ment. At their inception, these courts were intended to provide the 
  nobility a means of policing themselves, using their noble peers as 
  jurors. In practice, borne out of centuries of petty infighting and 
  corruption, the Courts of Tolerance are most often used as witch-
  hunts for nobles out of favor with the current power.
  The final level is the Chancellory Courts, three-person panels 
  convened at need by the sitting Chancellor to examine issues of 
  merit to the Prefectorate. The historical justification for the con-
  vening of a Chancellory Court has always been treason, whether 
  real or supposed. It was a Chancellory Court that gave Romano 
  Liao ruling authority before her father’s death in the 3030s—and a 
  Chancellory Court that examined Maximilian Liao’s usurpation of 
  Tormax Liao’s throne and declared it valid.
  Brazen Heart
  Punishment for crimes in the Confederation is normally at the 
  discretion of the deciding court or, in most cases, the local diem. 
  Noble rulers have extraordinary latitude in such matters, and while 
  corporal punishment and seizure of property are popular penalties 
  for minor offenses, some major crimes merit transport to a penal 
  colony. Three penal colonies currently exist in the Confederation, 
  but the most infamous is the facility on Brazen Heart, the moon of 
  Brighton in the St. Ives Commonality.
  Though the penal compound was closed down during the lat-
  ter half of the St. Ives Compact’s existence, it was reopened upon 
  the re-entry of the St. Ives Commonality into the Confederation. 
  The facility is the only manned outpost on Brazen Heart, and 
  though the air and water are breathable, humans can digest none 
  of the native plants or animals. All food is shipped to the moon on 
  dedicated intra-system hulls, making slow starvation the ultimate 
  price of any prison uprising. In perhaps the cruelest element of 
  Brazen Heart’s environment, many of the plants that grow on the 
  surface are edible—they are not poisonous, and some are quite 
  palatable. They provide no nutritional value, however. Escaped 
  prisoners who try to survive on Brazen Heart’s native flora quickly 
  find themselves starving to death with full stomachs.
  Edicts of St. Ives
  The Edicts of St. Ives were drafted by the St. Ives Mercantile Association in the 
  early 24th century and later adopted (in part, at least) by the Sarna Supremacy 
  and Franco Liao when he first began to build the Capellan Confederation. The 
  Edicts are the basis for much of the Confederation’s current system of govern-
  ment, declaring the need for a central ruling family (when they were written, 
  they meant the Ling family of St. Ives) and the nationalization of all industry for 
  the success of the state. Under the Sarns, these ideas were further refined to 
  place the needs of the state first, and when combined with the Korvin Doctrine 
  became the model for current Confederation economic and political theory.
  
  SOCIETY & CULTURE
  126
  Given the expense of transporting prisoners across light-years 
  of space, only the most influential political prisoners or those 
  who need to “disappear” are sent there. The permanent prison 
  population hovers around nineteen thousand dissidents at a time, 
  though during the first year of the St. Ives reclamation that num-
  ber reached twenty-nine thousand persons. During the reign of 
  Maximilian Liao, Brazen Heart’s copper mines were a favorite des-
  tination for the Chancellor’s enemies. A number of fractious nobles 
  met their deaths digging out copper by hand in the dark mining 
  tunnels of Brazen Heart. Today, the compound is mostly filled with 
  military prisoners and political dissidents. A large number of crimi-
  nals from the terrorist Free Capella organization are interned there, 
  awaiting disposition by courts martial.
  Big Brother Is Watching
  Along with the Capellan judicial system—and the ever-present 
  eye of the Maskirovka—Capellan society encompasses a number 
  of watchdog entities. Groups such as the Philosophical Examinars, 
  the Courts of Philosophical Inquiry, and the defunct Ranks of the 
  Dedicated move through everyday Capellan life, observing, re-
  porting and sometimes enforcing “proper Capellan thought.”
  The Philosophical Examinars are inspectors of the Capellan ed-
  ucational system. They oversee political instruction in primary and 
  secondary schools, and though they once had access to and re-
  sponsibility for institutions of higher education like Sian University 
  and the martial academies, their authority now ends in secondary 
  schools. An examinar is authorized to observe any teacher, to sit 
  in on any lesson and to inspect the teaching materials and lesson 
  plans of any educator. If they feel the instructor is not teaching 
  the approved course, or not giving proper instruction, they can 
  suspend that teacher and recommend the sitting of a Court of 
  Philosophical Inquiry.
  A Court of Philosophical Inquiry, comprised of three examinars, 
  a noble member of the House of Scions and a Prefect (or his or 
  her representative, often a diem) sits in judgment over the educa-
  tor in question. Because the educational system is so vital to the 
  Confederation’s welfare, most take this duty seriously. Nobles who 
  complain about being forced to oversee “the managers of a bunch 
  of whelps” are quickly reminded by their peers of the men and 
  women those whelps will grow into. If the court finds the accused 
  guilty, they can suggest punishment without appeal—anything 
  from a reprimand to a sentence at Brazen Heart. 
  Punishment and Rehabilitation
  In general, the Confederation takes a dim view of rehabilitation. 
  The ready availability of replacement workers—through retrain-
  ing or relocating—means that the general value of an individual 
  who commits a crime is less than the cost of rehabilitating him. It 
  is often simpler and less expensive to the state to simply replace a 
  convicted man than reclaim him for society.
  That being said, communal courts rarely offer harsh sentences, 
  except when called for in cases of violent crimes, such as murder 
  or rape. Most courts offer reprimands and heavy fines, or periods 
  in manual labor camps or municipal work parties. More serious 
  offenses bring more serious punishments—seizure and reassign-
  ing of property, sentence to a penal colony, or harsher corporal 
  punishment. Many Confederation worlds maintain the practice of 
  flogging, for example. For offenses against caste or community, 
  the communal court may decide to remove the offender from his 
  or her caste and reassign him to the servitor caste.
  In matters of higher concern—crimes between nobles or mat-
  ters of state—the Chancellory Courts or the Courts of Tolerance 
  normally pass much harsher punishments as a matter of scale. 
  Stripping a convicted noble of his rank is quite common, though 
  in Chancellory Courts exile or outright execution are the norm. 
  These harsher punishments keep frivolous accusations to a mini-
  mum. When the Chancellor’s Court routinely orders the seizure 
  and death of those they find guilty, few are willing to risk negative 
  judgments by referring their disputes there.
  Sentenced to Death
  The death penalty is used in the Confederation, as in other nations, in cases 
  of violent crime or state treason. Though the communal courts have the author-
  ity to issue capital verdicts, death penalty cases are automatically reviewed by 
  a panel of the House of Scions, which encourages the communal courts to avoid 
  sentencing criminals to death.
  Chancellory Courts, on the other hand, answer to no authority except the 
  Chancellor and rarely shy away from issuing capital sentences. The exact meth-
  od of execution is left to the court’s discretion, and the court often seconds that 
  selection to the Chancellor or the criminal’s noble lord. Firing squad, hanging, 
  lethal injection and electrocution are all common forms of execution, but more 
  esoteric methods have also been used: disembowelment, vacuum exposure and 
  even beheading by sword or guillotine. More barbaric executions sometimes 
  occur, but with little of the outcry against them that other realms endure. Life is 
  hard and precious in the Confederation; little pity is spared for those who harm 
  other citizens.
  
  ECONOMICS
  127
  
  ECONOMICS
  128
  “Only when a nation is united behind a common goal can 
  truly miraculous results be obtained—in finance, in industry, 
  or in war. It is the strength of the common good that unites 
  Capellans—we live for our state. It does not live for us.” 
  —Franco Liao
  T
  he Capellan Confederation, as the smallest of the five 
  Successor States, has always suffered under the weak-
  est economy. Only the close proximity of Capellan worlds 
  keeps them from collapsing economically, as many worlds of the 
  widespread Davion Outback have done. That same proximity has 
  led Capellan Chancellors—if they were so inclined—to meddle 
  needlessly in the affairs of Capellan corporations and planetary 
  economies. Such meddling reached its height under Chancellor 
  Maximilian Liao, who codified what economists have labeled “the 
  Liaoist Doctrine.” It was this doctrine more than anything else that 
  hurt the Confederation economically in the years leading up to the 
  Fourth Succession War, yet also helped it survive the ravenous de-
  cade of the 3040s.
  Though Xin Sheng has brought the Confederation prolific riches 
  and pride, the seeds of this rebirth began sprouting in the first 
  months of Sun-Tzu Liao’s Chancellorship. Todays’ Capellan econ-
  omy is thriving and growing, using the new markets opened by 
  the reclamation of the St. Ives Commonality and the worlds of the 
  Disputed Territories to bootstrap rapid recovery.
  NATIONAL ECONOMY
  For centuries the Confederation economy had one focus: to 
  support the Capellan military during the centuries-long Succession 
  Wars. The Chancellor almost always exercised direct control over 
  as much of the economy as possible, using the Ministry Planning 
  Committee as his tool to assert which areas of production were to 
  be filled and which discarded. This level of control allowed succes-
  sive Chancellors to radically shift the focus of the Confederation 
  very quickly: when the Chancellor’s tastes ran to, say, aerospace 
  technologies, almost the entire Capellan economy would move 
  to support those technologies. This control allowed Chancellor 
  Romano Liao to force the Confederation into a tenuous recovery 
  and set the stage for her son to effect a fuller one.
  At base, Capellan economic theory is expressed thus: any 
  problem can be overcome with sufficient planning. Leaving 
  aside the underlying assumption that only entropy is a model 
  of economics, this means that Capellans are encouraged to be 
  prepared, but also to accept that preparation always includes a 
  cycle of decisions. In the Confederation, that cycle almost always 
  includes the Chancellor—whether the decision involved how 
  much to focus the national economy on military production, or if 
  the Gassine City School District on Turin could raise its tax rates 
  for the next fiscal year.
  The Confederation economy is currently directed by the 
  Ministry Planning Committee at the behest of Sun-Tzu Liao, 
  who has charged them to provide continual growth balanced 
  against the damaging inflation of the 3030s. Two members of 
  the Prefectorate sit on the Planning Committee, as does Duchess 
  Candace Liao. Where past Liao Chancellors have held more direct 
  control over the realm’s economic concerns, as in other areas Sun-
  Tzu Liao appears to trust his subordinates and leaves the details of 
  implementing his policies to them.
  Interstellar Trade
  Though Maximilian Liao managed to restrain his xenophobia 
  enough to trade with his short-lived Concord of Kapteyn allies, 
  Romano Liao’s rabid isolationism all but severed the Confederation 
  from interstellar trade. Xin Sheng and the rise of the Trinity Alliance 
  Tenets of the Liaoist Doctrine
  1. Economic policies shall be directed by Ministerial deputies advising 
  the Chancellor, who alone provides the direction for the state’s eco-
  nomic goals.
  2. The Capellan Confederation shall limit economic contact with outside 
  states to avoid or minimize economic dependence. At the same time, the 
  Confederation shall use foreign investment with its allies as a means of 
  strengthening the economy over the long term.
  3. The administration of the Confederation treasury since the mid-29th cen-
  tury has been under the authority of a member of the Liao family. It shall 
  remain so.
  4. The Confederation shall maintain an economic system capable of provid-
  ing a reasonable standard of living for a majority of the Confederation’s 
  inhabitants.
  5. The Confederation shall maintain a narrow-based export pattern that 
  concentrates on key products of high quality rather than permitting 
  broad-based export. It is hoped that this concen tration on a few key ex-
  port /luxury goods will generate in other states an economic dependency 
  on Capellan goods that can be used to the state’s political advantage.
  6. Under the direction of Maximilian Liao, the Capellan state aims to accu-
  mulate as much hard currency, especially foreign currencies, as possible, 
  preferably to the disadvantage of neigh boring Successor States.
  7. A policy of planetary exploitation shall be encour aged, especially in raw 
  materials, to eliminate shortages among the various Capellan worlds.
  8. Central to the Liaoist Doctrine is the concept of perpetual competition, which 
  suggests there can be no compromise eco nomically or politically with 
  the Confederation’s neighbors. All policies that can be employed by the 
  Chancellor to create eco nomic dislocation within the remaining Successor 
  States shall be followed. Such actions are, by definition, justifiable.
  As written by Maximilian Liao, the Liaoist Doctrine attempted to be a state-
  first policy of rapid economic recovery aimed at bringing the Confederation to 
  parity with the other Successor States. That Maximilian Liao was no economist 
  is clear to anyone with an aptitude for finance or monetary policy, and this 
  doctrine was one of the first discarded by Sun-Tzu Liao when he ascended the 
  Celestial Throne. Though he retains prior Chancellors’ control of the economy, 
  Sun-Tzu has chosen to delegate much of that authority to Capellan citizens with 
  more aptitude for it. The success of the Xin Sheng reforms and the rest of the 
  Confederation can be laid directly at the feet of this decision.
  
  ECONOMICS
  129
  has brought Capellan manufacturers countless new markets, and 
  the resulting influx of foreign products has even induced limited 
  competition on Capellan border worlds—legal competition, that 
  is, instead of the long-standing black market for foreign goods.
  The re-creation of the Star League has meant a Sphere-wide mar-
  ket for Capellan goods, and the Chancellor wisely allowed Capellan 
  corporations to reap the benefits of this new amity. Ceres Metals, 
  one of the few Confederation-based corporations already trading 
  outside Capellan space, saw near-record growth in some of its civil-
  ian divisions as far-flung consumers in the Free Worlds League and 
  Lyran Alliance deemed its products hot items of the year. 
  Mints and Taxation
  The official Capellan currency—the yuan—is controlled by 
  the Capellan government through the offices of the Capella 
  Commonality Bank. It is minted across the Confederation, but its 
  value is assigned on Capella. This power of assignation has virtu-
  ally eliminated the Sheng nobility’s use of their historical right to 
  mint their own currency. With the yuan’s value being assigned 
  hundreds of light-years away, there is no longer any point to mint-
  ing more money—it just contributes to rampant inflation.
  According to the mandates of the Capellan charter, all Capellans 
  contribute equally to the Confederation. This ideal is in accordance 
  with the Capellan mindset—individuality is suborned to the state, 
  and so all Capellans must contribute to the state’s welfare. During 
  the long centuries of the Succession Wars, however, practice has 
  fallen far afield from theory.
  Non-noble citizens are taxed in accordance with rates assessed 
  by their local diems, who set those rates after learning their ex-
  pected tax income for the fiscal year from Sian. Rates are set yearly, 
  but are subject to modification at need and without warning. Tax 
  rates in the Sian Commonality, for example, jumped sixteen per-
  cent during the St. Ives conflict as the Confederation struggled to 
  pay for that costly campaign. While this system appears impossible 
  for an individual citizen to keep track of, that reality matters little; 
  the state assesses taxes without citizens’ involvement. If a citizen 
  is behind in his tax payments one year, no warnings or fines are as-
  sessed. The citizen’s wages are simply amended the next calendar 
  year until the difference is paid off.
  In theory, noble Capellans are taxed just like their non-noble 
  cousins, at a rate assessed by a special non-noble commission es-
  tablished by the Prefectorate. In practice, almost every Capellan 
  noble has his taxes deferred year after year, a situation wily 
  Chancellors such as Maximilian Liao took advantage of to disen-
  franchise nobles with whom he had quarrels. Few nobles have 
  access to the funds necessary to pay off years (or decades, or in 
  the case of long-established Sheng families, centuries) of accrued 
  debt.
  Members of the Capellan armed forces are not taxed, and the 
  CCAF takes every opportunity to capitalize on this valuable re-
  cruiting tool. Many citizens, unhappy with their current civilian tax 
  bracket, have chosen to enlist in the CCAF rather than work only to 
  fill the Confederation’s coffers. The Chancellor supports this prac-
  tice, saying, “As long as they wish to serve the Confederation, the 
  manner in which they do so does not concern me.”
  Industry in the Confederation is taxed on a sliding scale, with 
  a base thirty percent of annual profits being the norm. Industries 
  deemed more productive or vital to the state (such as military 
  manufacturers) receive tax breaks in excess of their civilian cous-
  ins. In addition, any corporation may take advantage of several tax 
  deductions, such as monies spent on research and development, 
  scientific research or gifts to Sian University. Before the recovery of 
  the Helm Memory Core, corporations were allowed to deduct ex-
  penses from the attempted recovery of Star League artifacts; since 
  the dissemination of knowledge from the Helm core, that deduc-
  tion has been removed, but on average corporations still manage 
  to get their taxes down to about 10-15 percent annually.
  MAJOR INDUSTRIES
  Military and civilian industry has always enjoyed primacy of 
  place in the Confederation. Perennially lacking the military power 
  of its neighbors, the Confederation has had to rely on economic 
  strength to carry it through difficult times. Since the days of Elias 
  Liao, House Liao has been connected with corporate power, 
  and the family has continued that tradition down the centuries. 
  Maximilian Liao was perhaps the most adroit of his family at 
  business matters; by the end of 3027, he or his children held posi-
  tions—many of them on boards—with more than four hundred 
  corporations across the Confederation.
  Emergency Funding
  Because of the Chancellor’s complete authority over economic matters, 
  several mechanisms have been put in place over the years to make it easier for 
  the state to raise funds when necessary that protect the government from the 
  appearance of direct theft from the citizenry.
  Commonality Loans
  The Capella Commonality Bank is required by charter to set aside five per-
  cent of its assets for use as direct loans to the Confederation at the discretion of 
  the Prefectorate.
  Government Sale of Landed Property
  Any land not already owned by a Capellan noble is held in trust by the 
  Capellan state, and can be sold at the direction of the Chancellor or the Ministry of 
  Development in order to raise funds for the national government. In practice, such 
  land is often bestowed on nobles in return for significant investments with the 
  state, or given to the newly ennobled to help bind their loyalty to the realm.
  Chancellory Decree
  The Chancellor’s power of decree can also be used as a means to quickly 
  raise capital. Past Chancellors often accomplished this by disenfranchising out-
  of-favor nobles and selling their lands and property. Sun-Tzu Liao, wary of the 
  precarious balance of goodwill in the wake of his successful Xin Sheng reforms, 
  has used this power sparingly, preferring to the let the Capellan bureaucracy 
  work through any difficult issues.
  
  ECONOMICS
  130
  Though the bisecting of Capellan space by the Federated Suns 
  in the Fourth Succession War was as staggering a blow to the 
  Capellan industrial sector as it was to the rest of the realm, many 
  of the firms on conquered planets remained open and even pros-
  pered under Davion rule. Now that many of them have rejoined the 
  Confederation, that same prosperity is slowly returning Capellan 
  industry to its full strength.
  In today’s Confederation, large corporations have greater 
  autonomy than ever before. Though he will never give the 
  Confederation over to the free markets so beloved by our ad-
  versaries, Sun-Tzu Liao has allowed Capellan industries to adapt 
  as they think best to the new Confederation. Companies receive 
  mandates by the Ministry Planning Committee and are expected 
  to abide by them—but how they reach those results is left up to 
  the company.
  ASUNCION INDUSTRIES
  Main Headquarters: Planck (Wei)
  CEO: Adam Nakoma
  Main Products: Aerospace and interstellar systems, inter-sys-
  tem small craft, personal vacuum equipment
  Profile: 
  Asuncion Industries was formed on the planet Asuncion, now 
  controlled by the Free Worlds League, but originally a colony world 
  of the Sian Supremacy. When the Confederation lost that world to 
  the League, AI moved its headquarters to Wei, where it remained 
  safely Capellan until the Fourth Succession War took Wei into the 
  free-market economy of the Federated Commonwealth.
  The transition from the FedCom’s freewheeling economic sys-
  tem back to the more tightly structured Capellan has been harsh 
  for AI, as many of its employees were sympathetic to the pro-Fed-
  Com factions on Wei that the Maskirovka has been eradicating. 
  CEO Nakoma has worked hard to reintegrate his company with the 
  Confederation economy. He counts it as a coup that he convinced 
  the Capellan government to allow him to continue to serve his for-
  eign clients; many believe AI’s success outside the Confederation 
  was a key example that convinced Sun-Tzu Liao to allow other 
  Capellan industries to open Sphere-wide markets as well.
  AI is currently riding high on early reviews of the Asuncion es-
  cape suit, or skinsuit. A next-generation lightweight survival suit 
  for vacuum or low-pressure environments, the skinsuit provides 
  unparalleled mobility and protection. The company hopes it will 
  become the unofficial undress uniform of Capellan naval crews, 
  and AI is reportedly considering opening a second production fa-
  cility on Necromo to fill Capellan Navy contracts.
  Merchants and Mercenaries
  Corporations in the Confederation are permitted to employ mercenary 
  troops to add to their local defense. Chancellor Maximilian Liao encouraged this 
  practice, arranging contracts so that the corporations would pay the mercenar-
  ies’ fees, but those same mercenaries would be obligated to defend the entire 
  planet against attackers. Many canny corporate negotiators got around this 
  edict, wording their contracts so that the state would have to take responsibil-
  ity for the mercenaries in such events. In addition, some mercenary negotiators 
  managed to nullify these clauses with riders concerning the exact conditions 
  under which they would be expected to fight. For example, one ’Mech battal-
  ion’s contract to defend a company on Sarna obligated them to fight outside the 
  boundaries of the corporate facility only beneath a dual-moon eclipse. Sarna, of 
  course, has a single moon.
  Capellan Currency
  Each yuan is divided into 10 jiao and each jiao into 10 fen. Coins exist in 1, 2 
  and 5 fen denominations (copper alloy); 1, 2 and 5 jiao (silver alloy); and 1, 5, 10 
  and 50 yuan denominations (gold alloy). All Capellan coins have a hole bored 
  through the center, allowing them to be carried on money strings. Notes also 
  exist in 10, 50, 100 and 1,000 yuan denominations, but they are considerably less 
  common than coins.
  Coins display the flag of the Confederation on one side and the flag of a 
  commonality capital world on the other (reclaimed Tikonov being the only 
  exception). Notes are uniformly designed and of one size. They are custom-
  milled paper, colored a shade of green to purple based on denomination; the 
  10-yuan-note is green with a purple tint, while the 1,000- yuan-note is purple 
  with a green tint. The backside of all bills shows the flag of Capella, the Capella 
  Commonality Bank building, and the flag of the Confederation. The fronts are 
  three-paneled, with the left panel a darndao, the middle a portrait and the right 
  side a rampant Chinese dragon. The newest minting of the 1,000-yuan note is a 
  Xin Sheng note that replaces the dragon with a stylized rising phoenix.
  Coins 
  Notes
  Fen (copper alloy) 
   
  Yuan
  1 – flag of Tikonov 
   
  10 – Barbara Liao
  2 – flag of St. Ives 
   
  50 – Ursula Liao
  3 – flag of Victoria 
   
  100 – Franco Liao
    
   
  1,000 – Sun-Tzu Liao
  Jiao (silver alloy)
  1 – flag of Liao
  2 – flag of Capella
  5 – flag of Sian
  Yuan (gold alloy)
  1 – Aleisha Liao
  5 – Jasmine Liao
  10 – Ilsa Liao
  50 – Stephen Liao
  
  ECONOMICS
  131
  CAPELLA COMMONALITY BANK
  Main Headquarters: Herald (Capella)
  CEO: Duke Gregory Liao
  Main Products: none
  Profile: 
  The Capella Commonality Bank is the central financial play-
  er in the Confederation. It controls the valuation of the yuan 
  and the state’s main currency reserves. It also functions as the 
  Confederation’s central bank, issuing loans and extending credit 
  across the realm to citizens and corporations alike, as well as hold-
  ing assets in reserve for the Capellan government. A member of 
  the Liao family has historically sat at the head of CCB’s board; Duke 
  Gregory Liao currently holds that post.
  The CCB is also responsible for external financial matters, in-
  cluding currency exchanges and trade negotiations, and often 
  hosts delegations from other Successor States who hope to open 
  new trade ventures with one or more Capellan industries. The 
  bank works closely with the Ministry to oversee foreign contracts 
  and make sure they are in line with current Capellan economic 
  goals. This role has risen in prominence as Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao 
  has relaxed the Liaoist Doctrine, making the Capellan economic 
  environment much more volatile.
  FIRMIR COMMERCIAL
  Main Headquarters: Kingston (Betelgeuse)
  CEO: Mandrissa Adrienne Kardhor
  Main Products: Commercial electronics, laser weaponry
  Profile: 
  Founded in the 2340s, Firmir Commercial began as a small 
  manufacturer of medical, scientific and consumer electronics that 
  specialized in robust, reliable and low-cost equipment. As the 
  Confederation grew and matured, the company moved away from 
  precision instruments and expanded into the civilian market, even-
  tually becoming a household name in the Confederation. While 
  Maximilian Liao’s economic policies were exporting the few luxury 
  items produced in the Confederation, Firmir was quietly placing at 
  least one item from its diversified electronics line into almost every 
  Capellan home.
  When Romano Liao began her crash rearmament program after 
  the Fourth Succession War, Firmir expanded into weaponry, using 
  their expertise in electronics to create a successful line of lasers 
  ranging in size from personal lasers to BattleMech-scale weapons. 
  When the technology became available, Firmir was one of the first 
  firms to incorporate recovered Star League specifications into their 
  lasers, earning the Kardhor family a Sheng title.
  IVECO CORPORATION
  Main Headquarters: Patrick (Jonathan)
  CEO: Neil Caspar
  Main Products: Burro trucks
  Profile: 
  Though most of Iveco’s production takes place on Caph in the 
  Chaos March, Iveco built a new assembly plant on Jonathan in 
  the Capellan Confederation to take advantage of the popularity 
  of their Burro line of civilian vehicles. The Capellan branch started 
  small in 3066 but recently secured contracts to produce vehicles 
  for resale to the Confederation’s Trinity allies. The deal’s architect, 
  Neil Caspar, is rumored to be on the 3067 ennoblement list as a 
  reward, since the Capellan treasury stands to benefit greatly from 
  distribution rights.
  Iveco’s vehicles are reliable and rugged, using components pro-
  duced in the Confederation for ease of maintenance. This practice is 
  hardly unique, however—Iveco’s Free Worlds League branch follows 
  it, as does its Caph facility. The Jonathan facility stands out because 
  Caspar negotiated the right to produce the parts as well, in licensing 
  agreements with several Capellan manufacturers. Shipments from 
  the Jonathan factories now include a selection of the most com-
  monly used replacement parts with the initial vehicle.
  LEBEDEV NAUTICAL ENTERPISES
  Main Headquarters: Asura (Tikonov)
  CEO: Teodor Lebedev
  Main Products: Kaleen Bay- and Anstaska Maro-class displace-
  ment hulls, Lucius Zhao-class escort carrier
  Profile: 
  LNE on Tikonov has been quietly designing, building and main-
  taining massive displacement hull oceangoing vessels for centuries, 
  despite the troubles of the Succession Wars. LNE-designed vessels 
  range from massive cargo ships to compact patrol frigates, and the 
  firm recently acquired a team of submarine designers in hopes of 
  offering a new line of vessels.
  The LNE facilities on Tikonov are deceptively small. The coastal 
  city of Asura is not large, and though it sports huge graving docks 
  along the harbor, there is no sign of the tier upon tier of factories 
  one would expect to see supporting a firm that routinely con-
  structs 100,000-ton supertankers. In fact, the busiest place in Asura 
  is its spaceport.
  LNE offers design, consultant and management services to na-
  vies hoping to build ships, but they do not construct the ships on 
  Tikonov. LNE hulls routinely mass as much or more than almost ev-
  ery DropShip in use and cannot be moved from planet to planet 
  without profligate spending. Instead, LNE sends its advisors to cli-
  ent worlds, where they oversee construction and training on-site 
  by local shipyards.
  
  ECONOMICS
  132
  LUSTRIx COMMODITIES
  Main Headquarters: Patterson (Wright)
  CEO: Nannette Baker
  Main Products: Medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, pros-
  theses
  Profile: 
  Lustrix is the pharmaceutical giant of the Confederation, re-
  sponsible for nearly forty percent of all drug and medical supply 
  production inside the realm’s borders as well as a large export 
  base. Lustrix exports drugs to the Free Worlds League and both 
  Periphery realms of the Trinity Alliance. The company is particu-
  larly keen on deepening its ties to the Taurian Concordat and the 
  Magistracy, hoping to send research teams into both realms to 
  search out new medical compounds for introduction into their 
  product lines.
  Lustrix is also heavily involved with the Word of Blake, holding 
  the sole contract to provide medical products to the Order. The 
  company always had an excellent relationship with ComStar, and 
  transferred that allegiance (and preferential contracts) to the Word 
  after its formation. Working partnerships with Word medical teams 
  have advanced the Lustrix prosthetics department to almost the 
  equal of the New Avalon Institute of Science.
  Nannette Baker is the daughter-in-law of Norman Baker IV, the 
  last patriarch of the Baker family. When Baker and his son died in a 
  hunting accident early in 3066, Nannette took control of the com-
  pany. She was born and raised on Terra, having met young Baker 
  while he was there on a trade mission to the Word of Blake.
  MóTUö CHë SHANG
  Main Headquarters: Saofeng (Sian)
  CEO: Howard Shang
  Main Products: Motorcycles
  Profile: 
  Mótuö Chë Shang motorcycles have been hand-crafted mas-
  terpieces of design and engineering since 2467, when founder 
  Trun Shang landed a contract to create a one-of-a-kind bike for a 
  nobleman in the Chancellor’s court. Since then, each bike has been 
  specially made to order—no two Shang bikes are the same.
  Howard Shang is a direct descendant of Trun Shang, and takes, 
  if anything, even more pride in his work than his ancestor. Since 
  the success of Xin Sheng, Shang has taken to adding Chinese ico-
  nography to some of his masterpieces, as have several of his dozen 
  understudies. Rumor has it that Shang—who guards his contract 
  list more securely than some vaults—is working on a special bike 
  for Sang-jiang-jun Talon Zahn.
  Of particular note is the arrival of Lupo Salazar, a native of the 
  Free Worlds League planet Sierra, who arrived in February and 
  petitioned Shang for acceptance into Mótuö Chë Shang. After a 
  seven-hour interview, Salazar was hired, and his first project is 
  unique in the company’s history—a street bike, created with the 
  same care and devotion as the Shang cruisers.
  MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMpLEx
  Any fool can beat a sword into a plowshare—all it takes is a ham-
  mer, an anvil and a lot of sweat. But beating a sword out of the ore, 
  that’s a challenge. There’s an art to making weapons, a dark mystery 
  of care and precision placed into an instrument designed to break and 
  destroy.
  —Kurnath Liao
  Military industry has always held pride of place in the 
  Confederation, and though the Capellan economy generally man-
  aged to pull itself along even during the worst of times, the military 
  industries have always been the tail that wags the dog. Xin Sheng 
  and the miraculous technological renaissance sweeping the Inner 
  Sphere have enabled Capellan arms manufacturers to reap enor-
  mous benefits, and the inclusion of the St. Ives worlds’ massively 
  concentrated industrial base has triggered phenomenal growth.
  ALDIS INDUSTRIES
  Main Headquarters: Kingston (Betelgeuse)
  CEO: Peter Abrahamson
  Main Products: Behemoth Heavy Tank, Demolisher Heavy 
  Tank, Regulator Hovertank, Schrek PPC Carrier, Zhukov Heavy 
  Tank
  Profile: 
  Aldis Industries’ Capellan division is headquartered at the 
  sprawling weapons works on Betelgeuse. The company is for-
  mally based on Terra, but the Terran division has always held its 
  subsidiary manufacturers on a loose leash. The Abrahamson family 
  has managed the Capellan branch of the corporation for the past 
  ninety years.
  Aldis is a popular manufacturer with the CCAF, especially the 
  Capellan Home Guard and the various planetary militias. The heavy 
  tanks produced on Betelgeuse are spread across the Confederation 
  and form a powerful bulwark against outside aggression. The 
  firm’s new Regulator Hovertank is the Confederation’s preemi-
  nent cavalry vehicle, with at least a platoon of the agile hovercraft 
  serving with every Capellan line regiment. Aldis has petitioned for 
  permission from the Strategios to open sales to mercenary units 
  and outside realms, but to date only the Star League and Capellan-
  affiliated mercenaries have been approved for purchase.
  
  ECONOMICS
  133
  BERGAN INDUSTRIES
  Main Headquarters: Ausapolis (Ares)
  CEO: Nestor Bergan
  Main Products: Locust and Stinger BattleMechs
  Profile: 
  Bergan Industries is one of the oldest BattleMech manufactur-
  ers in the Inner Sphere, but the Succession Wars were not kind to 
  the company, and after the Clan assault the Ares compound is the 
  manufacturer’s last Inner Sphere-controlled production facility. 
  While the Bergans have managed to keep their products abreast of 
  current technologies, they lack the flagship appeal of Ceres Metals’ 
  Vindicator or Shengli’s Yu Huang. Though the ’Mechs produced on 
  Ares are staples of light ’Mech units across the Inner Sphere, they 
  don’t stand out.
  Nestor Bergan recently reclaimed control of the Ares facilities 
  for his family and is determined to change all that. Lacking the 
  funds for research and development, he is currently seeking a part-
  ner firm to supply research capital. He has already secured funding 
  from the Capella Commonality Bank for an expansion of the bat-
  tered Ares production lines, but needs outside help for design.
  BITHINIAN BALLISTICS
  Main Headquarters: Hera (Bithinia)
  CEO: Mandrissa Elaine Jackson
  Main Products: Autocannons
  Profile: 
  Bithinian Ballistics is the Confederation’s prime builder of ’Mech-
  scale ballistic weaponry, manufacturing the popular Myrdon line 
  of autocannons. Capellan operatives stole the plans and molds 
  from the Federated Suns during the Second Succession War, and 
  BB has manufactured them ever since.
  Elaine Jackson, current CEO, was ennobled by Romano Liao 
  (though some suggest it was at the behest of Romano’s con-
  sort, Tsen Shang) in 3051 after she secured an exchange program 
  with the Federated Suns-based Myrdon Automatic Weaponry to 
  upgrade the Bithinian facilities to build the new LB-X class of weap-
  ons. Jackson further cemented her control over the company by 
  securing the plans for the Imperator Corporation’s Ultra 10 auto-
  cannon. She is rumored to be working on a home-built barrel for 
  the massive class-20 weapons.
  Not everyone at BB is a fan of Jackson’s, however. Persistent 
  rumors claim that her staff brokered the deals with Mydron and 
  Imperator, after which she fired them and stole the credit. Certainly, 
  any of her four ex-husbands would testify that she is a scheming 
  woman who cares only for what she can control. The Ministry of 
  the Military, however, turns a blind eye so long as the BB factories 
  continue to provide quality weapons, as they have done for more 
  than a century.
  CERES METALS INDUSTRIES
  Main Headquarters: Ceres City (Capella)
  CEO: Lady Evadne Rivoli
  Main Products (Capella): Firestarter OmniMech, Marauder, 
  Ostroc, Snake, Thunder, Ti Ts’ang and Vindicator BattleMechs; 
  Defiance and Transit aerospace fighters; Fa Shih, standard and Ying 
  Long battle armor
  Main Products (Indicass): Galleon Tank, Heavy Hover APC, 
  Hetzer Wheeled Assault Gun, Swift Wind Scout Car, Wheeled APC 
  Main Products (Menke): Po Heavy Tank
  Main Products (Sian): Thunder BattleMech
  Main Products (St. Ives): Blackjack, Phoenix Hawk and Thunder 
  BattleMechs; Po Heavy Tank
  Main Products (Tikonov): Minion and Morningstar vehicles
  Main Products (Warlock): Blackjack, Cossack, Helios, Ostroc 
  and Marauder BattleMechs; Minion Advanced Tactical Vehicle and 
  Morningstar City Command Vehicle
  Profile: 
  Ceres Metals has always been synonymous with the Capellan 
  Confederation even though it does business in every Successor 
  State in one form or another. Though it is widely known for manu-
  facturing BattleMechs, CMI made its initial fortune in the civilian 
  sector as the largest investor in and exploiter of new colony words 
  in the 25th and 26th centuries.
  Today CMI is a diversified firm that remains the leader in 
  Capellan BattleMech manufacturing, but also holds sway over sev-
  eral sectors of the civilian industrial market and controls shares of 
  companies as far away as Detroit and Inarcs. CMI’s market share 
  in the Confederation’s industrial-equipment sector, for example, 
  is challenged only by fellow conglomerate Earthwerks Limited—
  but Earthwerks’ challenge is insignificant at best, given Ceres 
  Metals’ immense manufacturing edge. Almost every world in the 
  Confederation, even backwaters like Larsha or Ward, maintains at 
  least one CMI-owned factory.
   Though her grandfather Kingston was famous for his contri-
  butions to the Capellan state, Evadne Rivoli appears to give her 
  loyalty to Ceres Metals first and the realm second. Her administra-
  tion has seen none of the bribe-ridden excesses her grandfather 
  (and to a lesser extent, her father) saw fit to allow almost daily. Her 
  stewardship of Ceres Metals indicates a drive to make the corpora-
  tion responsible to itself first and then to the nation in which it 
  resides, an attitude that has earned her a certain amount of unwel-
  come attention from the Maskirovka.
  
  ECONOMICS
  134
  EARTHWERKS, LIMITED
  Main Headquarters: Tikograd (Tikonov)
  CEO: Duchess Helen Ling
  Main Products (Ares): Kuan Ti, Overlord, and Union DropShips
  Main Products (Grand Base): Archer, Cataphract, Shadow Hawk 
  and Stinger BattleMechs; Sherpa Armored Truck
  Main Products (Tikonov): Cataphract, Koschei, Stinger and 
  Thunderbolt BattleMechs; Thrush aerospace fighter
  Main Products (Victoria): Flea BattleMech
  Profile: 
  For years, Earthwerks’ main headquarters on Tikonov was in the 
  hands of the Federated Suns and subject to that realm’s economic 
  policies and ideologies. Though this led to considerable growth 
  for the facilities in Tikograd, the reintegration of the Tikonov-based 
  company with the rest of Earthwerks in the Capellan Confederation 
  has not occurred without labor pains.
  When Tikonov fell in the Fourth Succession War, the Ling fam-
  ily fled to the nascent factories on Grand Base to reestablish their 
  incomes. Over the next thirty years, they succeeded in raising 
  Grand Base to the second most important military manufacturing 
  world in the Confederation and seeded small expansion factories 
  on Victoria to supplement production on Ares and Grand Base. 
  When Tikonov returned to the Confederation, the Lings returned 
  to Tikonov.
  Duchess Helen Ling has tried to reintegrate the Tikonov branch 
  of the company without inconveniencing the larger Earthwerks 
  parent corporation, which controls the factories still in Davion 
  space as well as the company’s several branches in the Free Worlds 
  League. She has so far managed this thanks to her family’s posi-
  tion—the Lings are the hereditary owners of more than forty 
  percent of Earthwerks stock—and because she has not forced the 
  company to breach its existing contracts, though no new contracts 
  have been signed with Federated Suns customers.
  HELLESPONT INDUSTRIALS
  Main Headquarters: Sian
  CEO: Mandrissa Alana Morgaine
  Main Products: Assassin, Men Shen, Pillager, Raven, Sha Yu, 
  Stinger and Wasp BattleMechs; Heavy Wheeled and Tracked APCs, 
  Hover APC, Maxim Hover Transport, Pegasus Scout Hover Tank, 
  Scorpion Light Tank and Vedette Medium Tank; Fa Shih and stan-
  dard battle armor
  Profile: 
  A long-standing company battered by the Succession Wars, 
  Hellespont has spent its years of security on the Capellan throne-
  world building itself into an economic juggernaut in military 
  production, mostly through the outstanding leadership of its ag-
  ing CEO, Alana Morgaine.
  Though the development of the Raven BattleMech secured 
  Hellespont a place in the annals of military lore, the military re-
  naissance of the post-Clan Invasion years brought Hellespont’s 
  experienced research and design team to the fore. After quickly 
  and efficiently using recovered technologies to bring the Raven 
  fully to life, Hellespont has been the first to roll out several of 
  the Confederation’s most prized technologies: the first Capellan 
  OmniMech and the first examples of stealth armor. The factories 
  on Sian also produce the advanced Fa Shih battle armor, as well as 
  generic battle armor and a laundry list of armored vehicles.
  HILDCO INTERPLANETARY
  Main Headquarters: Tian-tan (St. Ives)
  CEO: Lama Arthur Kenson
  Main Products (St. Ives): Victor and Pillager BattleMechs
  Main Products (Texlos): Lightning aerospace fighter
  Profile: 
  HildCo Interplanetary was once one of the main builders of 
  interstellar spacecraft in the pre- and early Star League eras. The 
  vicious fighting of the Succession Wars destroyed that capability, 
  and the firm never recovered that aspect of its business. Instead, 
  it focused on what had been its subsidiary ’Mech manufacturing 
  division. Today, the firm produces only one military aerospace 
  vehicle, and then only in a secondary facility, while its powerful 
  BattleMechs are the backbone of the St. Ives Commonality de-
  fenses.
  During the St. Ives Compact era, HildCo profited greatly from 
  the Compact’s warm relations with the Federated Commonwealth, 
  drawing on the larger realm for newer technologies and expertise 
  and turning themselves into the main weapons manufacturer for 
  the entire St. Ives military, with large exports to the FedCom. Since 
  the reclamation of the St. Ives Commonality, that production has 
  been shifted to the CCAF, with welcome results.
  Quiet inquiries have recently been made about HildCo reenter-
  ing the military interstellar market. The tiny Compact could not 
  sustain a WarShip program, but with the Capellan Navy already 
  fielding several vessels in active service, HildCo is interested in bid-
  ding on support contracts for the massive ships in the hopes of 
  one day reclaiming prominence in naval architecture.
  
  ECONOMICS
  135
  aerospace
  HOLLIS INCORPORATED
  Main Headquarters: Valasha (Corey)
  CEO: Lord Jason Hollis
  Main Products: Huron Warrior and Catapult BattleMechs
  Profile: 
  Hollis Incorporated manufactures the lethal Huron Warrior 
  BattleMech for the Capellan Confederation Armed Forces. A long-
  established firm almost doomed to death by the Succession Wars, 
  Hollis is famous for introducing the Catapult and BattleMaster 
  BattleMechs. Though the famed factories of Corey were destroyed 
  during the First Succession War, subsidiary production plants re-
  mained, enabling the company to keep manufacturing replacement 
  parts and the odd Highlander ‘Mech until the Fourth Succession War.
  Lord Jason Hollis, the current CEO, holds a Barduc title from 
  his service during the Andurien invasion of the 3030s and is de-
  termined to return Hollis, Inc. to its former glory. His board is 
  restraining him as best they can, as Hollis’ schemes for expansion 
  are not always fiscally responsible.
  MENKE ARMOR AND ARMAMENT
  Main Headquarters: Archibald (Menke)
  CEO: Lord Thomas McCarron
  Main Products: Arrow IV missile batteries, assorted weapons
  Profile: 
  Menke Armor and Armament is a personal holding of the 
  McCarron family, of McCarron’s Armored Cavalry fame. The 
  Armored Cavalry is its principal customer, using its replacement 
  parts to supplement what they receive from the CCAF. Managed by 
  Lord Thomas McCarron, current president of the House of Scions 
  and brother of the late Archibald McCarron, the firm has begun an 
  expansion program aimed at BattleMech manufacture now that 
  the Armored Cavalry has been adopted into the regular CCAF.
  MUJIKA AEROSPACE
  Main Headquarters: Tian-tan (St. Ives)
  CEO: Esther Cisneros
  Main Products: Crane and Guardian Conventional Fighters, TC-
  80 Skyliner aircraft, Thrush Aerospace Fighter
  Profile:
  The reintegration of the St. Ives Commonality has his Mujika 
  Aerospace hard. Although they able to survive on strong sales of 
  the Thrush and TC-80 civilian air transport, the Guardian conven-
  tional fighter had been a disappointment for most of its production 
  life, and new CEO Esther Cisneros made the decision to halt pro-
  duction in 3062.  Although the lines have been dismantled, the 
  production molds and specs are in storage rather than reclama-
  tion, leading many observers to wonder if the CCAF is considering 
  a new purchase of the lackluster craft.  Ceres Metals’ new Katya 
  would seem to fill the Guardian’s role quite ably, though rumors 
  are circulating that the Strategios intends to offer the Guardian for 
  sale to the Confederation’s Trinity Allies.
  QUIKSCELL COMPANY
  Main Headquarters: Ausapolis (Ares)
  CEO: Dieter Brasche
  Main Products (Ares): Bulldog Medium Tank, Heavy Tracked 
  APC, LRM Carrier, Manticore Tank, SRM Carrier, Scorpion Light 
  Tank, Tracked APC
  Main Products (Indicass): Hetzer Wheeled Assault Gun
  Profile: 
  Like most of the Quikscell divisions spread across the Inner 
  Sphere, the Capellan Quikscell Company manufactures a sizable 
  percentage of all armored vehicles in the Confederation. While 
  Hellespont may hold the prestige and Aldis Industries the reputa-
  tion, Quikscell has the numbers. At least ten models built by the 
  company in one realm or another can be found on every Capellan 
  world, and they all suffer from the same questionable standards of 
  quality.
  Dieter Brasche recently transferred from Quikscell’s Lyran bu-
  reau with a mandate to begin repairing Quikscell’s reputation for 
  shoddy workmanship. The move has not come a moment too 
  soon. During the hard years of the Succession Wars and especially 
  after the Fourth War, the Capellans could not afford to be choosy 
  in their purchasing. With the current manufacturing boom, how-
  ever, the Strategios has begun hinting that it might not renew its 
  purchashing agreements with Quikscell; Brasche’s mandate is to 
  make sure they do.
  RASHPUR-OWENS, INCORPORATED
  Main Headquarters: Herald (Capella)
  CEO: Riley Doh
  Main Products: Achilles, Avenger, Excalibur, Lung Wang and 
  Triumph DropShips; Invader, Merchant and Monolith JumpShips; 
  Feng Huang and Impavido interplanetary drives
  Profile: 
  During the Succession Wars, the orbital shipyards of Rashpur-
  Owens were considered a shining symbol of yin and yang in the 
  night skies of Capella. On the positive side, the yards were for a 
  long time the only functioning naval construction facility in the 
  Confederation, and a symbol of Capellan pride and determination. 
  On the negative, the yards were so old, decrepit and prone to mal-
  function that the paltry few vessels they constructed per year cost 
  much more than purchasing foreign-built hulls; citizens in the know 
  called the yards the “Citizen’s Crutch” because so much was spent 
  to keep them functional more as a symbol than an economic asset.
  When Riley Doh ascended to the chairmanship of the Rashpur-
  Owens board in 3051, he set about changing the yards’ course. A 
  self-made man who’d earned his citizenship working in the yards, 
  he slowly used the small amount of free capital available to up-
  grade their infrastructure and began to beg, borrow or steal newer 
  technology. By 3056, the Rashpur-Owens facilities had doubled 
  production on every hull they constructed, and back-channel 
  deals had secured the plans and molds to produce the deadly 
  Achilles-class assault DropShip for the Capellan admiralty.
  
  ECONOMICS
  136
  SAROYAN SPECIAL PRODUCTION
  Main Headquarters: Saofeng (Sian)
  CEO: Lord Oleg Raskov
  Main Products: Heavy Strike Fighter, Transgressor aerospace 
  fighter
  Profile: 
  Saroyan Special Production is the sole producer of the 
  Confederation’s heavy aerospace fighter, the Transgressor. A rela-
  tively young fighter when most airframes measure their design 
  ages in centuries, the Transgressor was—until the recent develop-
  ment of more advanced fighters like the Defiance or the Troika—the 
  pinnacle of Capellan aerospace power.
  The emergence of OmniFighters and even more deadly tech-
  nologies than those recovered from the Helm Memory Core has 
  SSP on the defensive. The CCAF Admiralty recently cut their stand-
  ing order for new Transgressors by thirty percent, a move that has 
  cost SSP significant profits. Director Raskov is reportedly shopping 
  for an alliance with a corporation in the Trinity Alliance realms to 
  explore developing a newer fighter to supplement or even replace 
  the Transgressor, but has had little luckso far, as both realms are 
  well satisfied with the Troika.
  SHENGLI ARMS
  Main Headquarters: Gwinnett (Victoria)
  CEO: Mandrinn Dan Lao-Tzu
  Main Products: Duan Gung, Jinggau, Lao Hu and Yu Huang 
  BattleMechs
  Profile: 
  Shengli Arms is the most recent arms manufacturer to begin 
  operations in the Confederation. The factories are built on the site 
  of a recovered Star League research station, and the Capellans were 
  able to use recovered data (and a huge influx of capital and exper-
  tise from the Word of Blake) to create an ultra-modern BattleMech 
  production facility on Victoria.
  The ’Mechs produced on Victoria are among the most advanced 
  in the Confederation arsenal. The Duan Gung is a robust light 
  machine designed to counter certain Federated Suns weapons 
  systems, while the Jinggau and Lao Hu are dedicated and deadly 
  attack ’Mechs. The mighty Yu Huang is the flagship BattleMech of 
  the CCAF, fully designed to identify with the Xin Sheng Han motifs 
  of the rest of the Confederation.
  In addition to its production capabilities, Shengli is also near the 
  Victoria Institute of Engineering, which gives it access to some of 
  the sharpest young minds in the Confederation—and those same 
  young minds easy access to some of the most advanced produc-
  tion equipment and methods to be found off Sian.
  STARCORPS INDUSTRIES
  Main Headquarters: Archibald (Menke)
  CEO: Ophelia Rawls
  Main Products (Menke): Emperor and Warhammer BattleMechs; 
  Marco IndustrialMech
  Main Products: (St. Ives): Longbow and Emperor BattleMechs
  Profile: 
  The Capellan branches of the StarCorps Industries industrial jug-
  gernaut are concentrated on two worlds, St. Ives and Menke. Both 
  produce powerful assault ’Mechs for the Capellan government (and 
  the St. Ives Compact government, prior to the reclamation of the St. 
  Ives Commonality) as well as a slew of replacement parts, mainte-
  nance packages and other products.
  StarCorps interests in Capellan space are overseen by Ophelia 
  Rawls, a middle-aged woman from Demeter who rose to promi-
  nence bringing StarCorps’ Crofton factories back online in the late 
  3050s. She maintains her headquarters on Menke rather than at the 
  larger facilities on St. Ives, a move many see as tacit pandering to the 
  Capellan government. It seems unlikely that the Strategios wishes to 
  disrupt any StarCorps operations, no matter where Ms. Rawls bases 
  herself, given the value of StarCorps ’Mechs to the CCAF.
  Another reason for the move to Menke may have to do with 
  the Menke Armor and Armament works. There are reports of Lord 
  Thomas McCarron meeting with StarCorps and Rawls to explore li-
  censing one or more StarCorps BattleMech designs, should Menke 
  Armor and Armament begin BattleMech production.
  TENGO AEROSPACE
  Main Headquarters: Tian-tan (St. Ives)
  CEO: Duke David Hunter
  Main Products (Sarna): Yangtze Air Transport; Cheetah, 
  Lightning and Thrush aerospace fighters; Mammoth, Mule and 
  Seeker DropShips
  Main Products (St. Ives): Cheetah, Lightning and Thrush aero-
  space fighters
  Profile: 
  Tengo Aerospace has had a rough decade. Duke Hunter and his 
  family managed to retain control over both major production facilities 
  in the wake of the Fourth Succession War, when the Sarna facilities 
  were taken by the Federated Suns and St. Ives seceded from the 
  Confederation. Based on St. Ives, the Hunters retained control after 
  the Demos family, who had long controlled the Sarna plants, died in 
  the war. Both locations continued to operate and even benefited from 
  their ties to the Federated Commonwealth, but atmospheres have 
  changed since the return of Sarna and St. Ives to the Confederation.
  Just as Sarna is more or less snubbed by the rest of the 
  Confederation, so are the airframes and DropShips produced by 
  Tengo-Sarna. The executives who ran Tengo on Sarna fled when the 
  world was formally inducted back into the Confederation, leaving a 
  power vacuum the Hunters were quick to exploit, but the expected 
  orders from the Strategios have yet to develop.
  Tengo-St. Ives is flush with orders from the St. Ives Commonality, 
  but Tengo-Sarna is finding domestic Capellan markets much harder 
  to crack. Excess production is currently being offered for sale to mer-
  cenaries and planetary militias throughout the Confederation, but 
  unless a major conflict erupts, it seems likely the Sarna factories will 
  soon have to slow or even cease production.
  
  ECONOMICS
  137
  TExLOS MILTRONICS
  Main Headquarters: Valencia (Texlos)
  CEO: Lady Alicia Rao
  Main Products: Communications and targeting and tracking 
  systems
  Profile: 
  Texlos Miltronics is a small firm in the St. Ives Commonality 
  that builds electronics for combat aircraft throughout the 
  Confederation. They have a reputation for quality manufacture 
  that is both uncommon and unparalleled in the Confederation, 
  and many technicians rate Texlos equipment higher than any oth-
  er in the Inner Sphere, hands down.
  Since the return of the St. Ives Commonality to the Confederation, 
  visitors have descended on Texlos Miltronics like a plague of lo-
  custs, trying to determine the secret of the company’s successes. 
  Lady Alicia Rao allows them to observe everything except propri-
  etary technologies, which has led many to speculate that those 
  proprietary technologies are the key. The Maskirovka has placed a 
  large number of security teams at the Texlos production facility to 
  guard against industrial espionage.
  One team not subject to Maskirovka interference is a small 
  delegation from the Victoria Institute of Engineering, whose mem-
  bers requested and got permission from Lady Rao to place interns 
  in the Texlos Miltronics workforce in order to better understand 
  how the TM team gets such quality from notoriously incapable 
  Capellan servitors. The team’s initial reports are promising, but the 
  methods are somewhat controversial; TM grants its all-servitor la-
  bor force a much greater degree of freedom than most companies 
  are prepared to allow.
  TRELLIS ELECTRONICS
  Main Headquarters: Trellis (Victoria)
  CEO: Xavier Bannson
  Main Products: Communications and targeting and tracking 
  systems
  Profile: 
  Trellis Electronics was a minor producer of combat vehicle sub-
  systems until 3057, when Xavier Bannson assumed control of the 
  Board of Directors. Young for the job, Bannson won the position on 
  a platform of innovation and reform that promised to make Trellis 
  Electronics a powerhouse of Capellan industry.
  Bannson’s first triumph came in 3061, when he won Trellis a 
  contract to provide replacement equipment to the Star League 
  Defense Force. As the SLDF used equipment from across the Inner 
  Sphere, Trellis was given access to advanced data from many other 
  weapon manufacturers. It used this data to streamline production 
  and begin creating newer and more advanced electronics equip-
  ment for the Capellan military. The profits from the SLDF contract 
  allowed Trellis to build a second production facility on Victoria, 
  more than doubling the company’s output by 3066. This influx of 
  capital has been welcome outside the company as well. The city of 
  Trellis (for which the company is named) is far from the tunnels of 
  the Victoria Engineering Institute and Shengli Arms, and while the 
  trickle of growth that reached those facilities helped, it was noth-
  ing compared to the largesse found in the capital.  Trellis’ growth 
  has brought an economic boom to the city that has generated a 
  great deal of goodwill (and tax benefits) for Trellis Electronics.
  
  RULES ANNEx
  138
  
  RULES ANNEx
  139
  The following rules cover roleplaying settings as well as the 
  BattleTech board game, allowing all types of players to emulate 
  the unique qualities of Capellan Confederation inhabitants in their 
  games.
  A TIME OF WAR:  
  THE BATTLETECH Rpg RULES
  This section provides new rules to supplement those found 
  in A Time of War: The BattleTech RPG. These rules offer players and 
  gamemasters additional features they can use to enhance cam-
  paigns based in the Capellan Confederation.
  CREATURES
   This section provides several new creatures native to worlds 
  in the Capellan Confederation. All of them follow the rules for crea-
  tures presented in A Time of War. 
  BITHINIAN DIRT gRINDER 
  (vERMICULA TORTURUS 
  BITHINIALIS)
  Some of the first inhabitants of Bithinia were surprised when 
  their fields were ravaged by a local underground dweller, and all 
  attempts to restrict its movements failed. Dubbed the dirt grinder, 
  this creature is essentially a larger, more robust and dangerous 
  version of a Terran earthworm. Like its Terran cousins, the dirt 
  grinder spends much of its time burrowing through the ground, 
  only surfacing for sustenance and water. Its secretions form natu-
  ral stiffeners in Bithinian soil, and its digestive tract can dissolve 
  to trace compounds nearly a meter of dirt an hour. In addition, its 
  slit mouth contains a sizable number of herbivore-style grinding 
  teeth for disposing of small rocks—a dirt grinder’s teeth are nearly 
  diamond-hard.
  A small market exists for dirt grinder teeth, but their poor qual-
  ity makes them useful only as novelty items. Attempts to harvest 
  the teeth for jewelry have uniformly failed—few people want to 
  wear a worm’s tooth, after all.  
  Homeworld: Bithinia, Capellan Confederation
  Environment: Subterranean, arid climates
  Type: Native
  Body Shape: Snake-like (vermicular)
  Coloring: Gray
  Length: 100-200 cm
  Diameter: 20 cm
  Weight: 3-7 kg
   
  STR 
  BOD 
  DEx 
  RFL 
  INT 
  WIL 
  EDG
   
  2 
  2 
  1 
  1 
  1 
  2 
  1
  Traits: Poor Vision –3, Good Hearing, Shy
  Skills: AniMelee +0, Perception +0
  Size: Small (–1)
  Armor: None [0/0/0/0]
  Attack: [Bite: 2M/2]
  Movement: Ground 0.2/—/—; Burrowing 0.5/0.1 (soil/hard earth)
  DROZAN WHITEFISH 
  (ExOCOREgONUS OCEANIS 
  DROZANUS)
  Drozan has long been recognized as the breadbasket of the 
  Victoria Commonality (and often the Confederation as a whole) 
  largely on the strength of its aquaculture. Shrimp farms, kelp farms 
  and saltwater game fisheries all contribute much to the planetary 
  output, but none of those comes close to the sheer numbers of 
  whitefish bred and processed in the coastal fisheries. Ubiquitous 
  in the Drozan oceans, the whitefish seems almost tailor-made for 
  breeding in captivity.
  Hatched from eggs that are laid in the thousands, a whitefish 
  grows to maturity in six Terran weeks. At that point, they begin to 
  reproduce, with each fish capable of hatching a brood of offspring 
  every six months. This growth rate, when discovered, shocked 
  early biologists—at that rate, the whitefish should have overpopu-
  lated and eaten Drozan’s oceans bare centuries ago. Susceptibility 
  to pollution in the oceans—in particular to toxins released into the 
  water by native reefs—keeps their natural population down, but 
  in captivity, with the toxin filtered out, their reproduction knows 
  no bounds.
  Homeworld: Drozan, Capellan Confederation
  Environment: Cold-water oceans
  Type: Native
  Body Shape: Fish
  Coloring: Mottled silver
  Length: 80 cm
  
  RULES ANNEx
  140
  Diameter: 40 cm
  Weight: 2-10 kg
   
  STR 
  BOD 
  DEx 
  RFL 
  INT 
  WIL 
  EDG
   
  2 
  2 
  2 
  5 
  2 
  1 
  1
  Traits: Cold-Blooded, Hyper-Productive
  Skills: Perception +0, Swimming +4
  Size: Very Small (–2)
  Armor: Thin Scales [1/0/0/0]
  Attack: [Bite: 0M/1]
  Movement: Water 10/24; Diving infinite
  Notes: Hyper-Productive: Abnormally fast reproduction. In 
  toxin-free (non-native) waters, each adult female may spawn 2-12 
  hatchlings every 6 months, as long as there are at least one-third as 
  many males present in the population.
  gEIFER pACHY  
  (pACHYDERMATA gEIFERI)
  Geifer is best known for the Capellan Institute of Linguistics and 
  the Libraries of the Capellan Republic, which draw high numbers 
  of scholarly people year-round. These visitors contribute much 
  to the enlightenment of the Confederation, but they also have to 
  eat—and it has been a truism since long before humans left Terra 
  that those who spend their days thinking often know little about 
  practical matters like growing food. Luckily, Geifer also boasts a 
  large number of tenant farms on its fertile western continent, op-
  erated by local servitors—and many of them use pachys for much 
  of the work.
  Roughly the size of a Terran ox, the Geifer pachy looks more like 
  a small elephant, with leathery brown skin that is relatively hair-
  less. They are docile creatures, difficult to anger, and display little 
  of their Terran cousins’ famous stubbornness. Many tenant farmers 
  keep a pair of them for use in all manner of semi-heavy agriculture: 
  they pull plows, push mill wheels and drag carts. That such primi-
  tive farming techniques exist on world renowned as a repository 
  of knowledge is an intentional anachronism—Lord Wellington, 
  the planet’s noble ruler, is a noted environmentalist and promotes 
  organic farming.
  Homeworld: Geifer, Capellan Confederation
  Environment: Temperate grasslands
  Type: Native
  Body Shape: Six-legged
  Coloring: Brown
  Length: 325 cm
  Height: 245 cm
  Weight: 1,000-2,000 kg
   
  STR 
  BOD 
  DEx 
  RFL 
  INT 
  WIL 
  EDG
   
  35 
  33 
  1 
  5 
  5 
  6 
  2
  Traits: Good Hearing, Toughness
  Skills: AniMelee (Ram) +3, Perception +2
  Size: Large (+1)
  Armor: Thick Hide [1/1/0/0]
  Attack: [Tusks, Ram: 2M/2 (+1 per meter moved)]
  Movement: Ground 7/24/48 (Max Sprint: 6 turns)
  Notes: Tamed and Domesticated pachys may be used as rid-
  ing mounts or beasts of burden. Attempts to train a Geifer pachy 
  receive a +1 Skill Roll modifier.
  gRAND BASE gREAT CROCODILE 
  (CROCODYLYS TYRANNUS BASIS)
  Grand Base is famous as the homeworld of the Death 
  Commandos and a premier BattleMech construction facility, but 
  the Commandos are not the only predators found there. In the 
  6,000-kilometer Parung River in the southern hemisphere, the 
  great crocodile is the undisputed master of the ecosystem.
  Growing to lengths of more than five meters and weighing half 
  a ton, the great croc is a powerful reptile. Its preferred food is the 
  large herbivores that inhabit the forest—it strikes from ambush 
  in the water when they come near the river to feed. Unlike Terran 
  crocodiles, the great crocodile cannot travel on land. Instead of 
  clawed feet, it retains the flippers of a water creature. It is utterly 
  fearless, however, and most river transports carry heavy weapons 
  to deal with crocs if attacked.
  Rumors tell of a secret Death Commando ritual in which a 
  single commando sets out to hunt a great croc, but this story has 
  never been acknowledged or proven. The skin of a great croc is 
  tough enough to turn the point of any weapon less powerful than 
  a vibroblade, and while the Death Commandos are fierce warriors, 
  they do not have a reputation for stupidity. 
  Homeworld: Grand Base, Capellan Confederation
  Environment: Tropical rivers
  
  RULES ANNEx
  141
  Type: Native
  Body Shape: Reptilian
  Coloring: Pale gray
  Length: 520 cm
  Diameter: 225 cm
  Weight: 490 kg
   
  STR 
  BOD 
  DEx 
  RFL 
  INT 
  WIL 
  EDG
   
  19 
  18 
  3 
  7 
  4 
  6 
  1
  Traits: Aggressive, Bad Vision –1, Cold-Blooded, Good Hearing, Terror
  Skills: AniMelee +3, Perception +2, Stealth +3, Swimming +2
  Size: Large (+1)
  Armor: Scales [1/1/0/0]
  Attack: [Bite: 3M/4 (if successful, target is grappled)]; [Thrash: 
  +0M/+2D (performed only after successful grapple)]
  Movement: Water 7/35; Diving 15 meters
  Notes: Terror: In place of an attack, the creature may make an 
  opposed WIL Check against a target character as a Simple Action. 
  If successful, the creature terrifies its target. A terrified target acts 
  as if it possesses the Combat Paralysis Trait for a number of turns 
  equal to the creature’s MoS. (If the target already has Combat 
  Paralysis, the target begins every turn of effect Stunned; if the tar-
  get has Combat Sense, the Combat Sense Trait is negated while 
  under this effect. 
  The Grand Base great crocodile cannot move on land.
  KAIFENg TREE SLOTH 
  (BRADYpUS KAIFENgIS)
  The Kaifeng tree sloth lives in the trees across most of the 
  planet’s equatorial belt. These mostly harmless creatures ignore 
  humans, though some of the Kaifeng nobility prize them as pets 
  for their stature. They are notoriously difficult to keep alive in 
  captivity, however, and none have ever been observed breeding, 
  leading to rumors that the creatures are long-lived.
  The tree sloths are omnivores—they eat fruits and berries from 
  the trees, but also insects and the occasional small Kaifeng peck-
  bird. They have six limbs, four of which they mainly use for hanging 
  from tree branches, and two more delicate arms near their heads 
  that they use to find and grab food. The red-white cabo berry is 
  their preferred sustenance, but they are also known to eat leaves 
  from the mando tree in large quantities.
  Tree sloths kept as pets are held in enclosed arboretums re-
  created to look like the forest outside. Sheng nobles go to great 
  expense to keep their enclosures as natural as possible, sending 
  regular expeditions into the forest to capture food animals and re-
  trieve fresh insects and plant specimens.
  Homeworld: Kaifeng, Capellan Confederation
  Environment: Jungle
  Type: Native
  Body Shape: Six-legged
  Coloring: Pale brown 
  Height: 40 cm
  Length: 70-150 cm
  Weight: 2-4 kg
   
  STR 
  BOD 
  DEx 
  RFL 
  INT 
  WIL 
  EDG
   
  1 
  2 
  6 
  2 
  4 
  2 
  2
  Traits: Bad Vision –2, Good Hearing, Shy, Susceptible
  Skills: AniMelee (Claws) +0, Climbing +3; Perception +1, Tracking +0
  Size: Extremely Small (–3)
  Armor: 
  Attack: [Bite: 0M/2]; [Claws: 1M/1]
  Movement: Ground 3/6/12 (Max Sprint: 2 turns) 
  Note: Susceptible: Kaifeng tree sloths taken out of their natural 
  habitat halve all their Attributes and Skill Roll modifiers (rounding 
  up). In addition, for every month a Kaifeng tree sloth is out of its 
  natural habitat, it must make a successful BOD Attribute Check or 
  fall ill and die within 1 week.
  LIAO BUFFALO  
  (BISON CYNTHIANAE)
  The Liao buffalo is a large food animal bred across the plains 
  of the planet Liao. It is one of the few native animals whose meat 
  is digestible to humans, as settlers quickly discovered when the 
  world was still named Cynthiana. Today, the Liao buffalo is consid-
  ered a delicacy on some worlds, and is exported across the Liao 
  Commonality and even as far as Sian.
  The animal itself is a reptile, despite being large and covered 
  in brownish hair (which is why the first settlers called it a buffalo). 
  Cold-blooded creatures, the buffalos range across Liao’s broad 
  plains in vast herds that gather to conserve warmth in the evening 
  and soak up the day’s sun. They have few natural predators—a na-
  
  RULES ANNEx
  142
  tive cougar was hunted to extinction in the first century of Liao’s 
  colonization—and have become a staple of rural life on Liao. They 
  are docile creatures, slow to anger and relatively easy to domes-
  ticate. Many families subsist on a small herd of their own. As long 
  as enough buffalos are present to survive the cold nights (or have 
  heated shelter), they need no more than grassland and abundant 
  food, and the Liao grasses grow fast enough to quickly replenish 
  their food supply.
  Homeworld: Liao, Capellan Confederation
  Environment: Arid plains
  Type: Native
  Body Shape: Six-legged with massive tail
  Coloring: Brown
  Height: 175 cm
  Length: 295 cm
  Weight: 1,000-2,000 kg
   
  STR 
  BOD 
  DEx 
  RFL 
  INT 
  WIL 
  EDG
   
  25 
  22 
  1 
  3 
  3 
  3 
  2
  Traits: Cold-Blooded, Shy
  Skills: AniMelee (Ram) +1, Perception +1
  Size: Large (+1)
  Armor: Fur over scales [2/1/0/0]
  Attack: [Bite or Tail Lash: 1M/3]; [Ram: 1M/3 (+1 BD per meter 
  moved)] 
  Movement: 10/22/50 (Max Sprint: 3 turns)
  Notes: Domesticated Liao buffalo can be used as beasts of bur-
  den or riding mounts.
  REpULSE LYNx
  (LYNx REpULSAIE)
  The Astrid Mountains on Repulse are home to one of the wili-
  est and deadliest predators in the Confederation, the Repulse lynx. 
  Roughly the same size as their Terran counterparts, the Repulse 
  lynx has six legs rather than four, all of them ending in razor-
  sharp claws. It is as fast on open ground as a Terran cheetah and 
  is as comfortable in trees as a panther. The Repulse lynx is usually 
  found above the snowline in the Astrids; unlike many other native 
  Repulse mammals, they do not hibernate during the six-month 
  Repulse winter.
  The lynxes’ natural prey is the large, clumsy mammal Repulse 
  natives call the neo-ox, but the lynx has also become a feared 
  manhunter. Even though it cannot digest human flesh, a Repulse 
  lynx will still track a mountain party, sometimes for days, and pick 
  off straggling climbers when no one notices. A common folk story 
  tells of a lynx named Nelson who stalked a party of mountaineers 
  for thirteen days, each day picking off another climber without be-
  ing seen.
  Homeworld: Repulse, Capellan Confederation
  Environment: Tundra and temperate regions
  Type: Native
  Body Shape: Six-legged
  Coloring: White or pale cream fur
  Length: 125 cm
  Height: 100 cm
  Weight: 30 kg
   
  STR 
  BOD 
  DEx 
  RFL 
  INT 
  WIL 
  EDG
   
  8 
  7 
  3 
  8 
  7 
  7 
  4
  Traits: Aggressive, Good Vision, Good Hearing, Patient
  Skills: Acrobatics +2, AniMelee +4, Climbing +4, Perception +2, 
  Running +5, Stealth +3, Tracking +3
  Size: Medium (+0)
  Armor: Furred hide [1/0/0/0]
  Attack: [Bite: 2M/3]; [Claws: 2M/2]
  Movement: Ground 16/36/150 (Max Sprint: 7 turns)
  Notes: The Repulse lynx can be domesticated and trained as 
  a guard animal. A –2 modifier applies to all Animal Handling Skill 
  Rolls.
  SARMAxAN SQUIRREL
  (SCIURUS MUTATUS SARMAxIS)
  During one of the many bombardments of the Succession Wars, 
  a nuclear weapon was detonated over the city St. Bartholomew 
  on Sarmaxa. Most of the city’s residents survived in shelters, but 
  the many parks and zoos were struck full-force by the radiation 
  and most of the animals were killed. One small animal, however, 
  thrived: the Sarmaxan squirrel.
  Over the centuries of Sarmaxa’s colonization, the squirrel adapt-
  ed to life in the cities the colonists built, becoming as ubiquitous 
  on Sarmaxa as the common rat on Terra. When St. Bartholomew 
  
  RULES ANNEx
  143
  was destroyed, a number of the squirrels were exposed to radia-
  tion and died, but the few survivors underwent a rapid mutation. 
  Before long, in true comic-book fashion, they became a scourge of 
  the streets for reclamation crews and treasure seekers.
   The mutated squirrel is an aggressive rodent, often striking in 
  packs to destroy new buildings for their insulation and wiring. The 
  squirrels seem unable to resist the taste of particulate insulation 
  even though it is toxic to them, and many are found wherever new 
  construction is ongoing, having gorged themselves to death. The 
  mutated squirrels are so aggressive that they will attack crews who 
  stumble onto them while they are feeding, and their bites often 
  cause symptoms similar to Terran rabies in humans.
  Homeworld: Sarmaxa, Capellan Confederation
  Environment: Urban
  Type: Introduced (Mutated)
  Body Shape: Four-legged
  Coloring: Deep gray with white streaks
  Length: 30 cm
  Height: 16 cm
  Weight: 8 kg
   
  STR 
  BOD 
  DEx 
  RFL 
  INT 
  WIL 
  EDG
   
  2 
  3 
  3 
  8 
  5 
  5 
  3
  Traits: Aggressive, Blood Rage, Good Hearing, Pack Hunter (1-6 
  packs), Poisonous
  Skills: AniMelee +4, Climbing +4, Perception +4, Tracking +3
  Size: Extremely Small (–3)
  Armor: Furred hide (1/0/0/0)
  Attack: [Bite/Claws: 1M/2]; [Bite Poison: 1S/2; Injected; 2-minute du-
  ration; Lethal, Continuous]
  Movement: Ground: 8/13/30 (Max Sprint: 5 turns)
  Notes: Poisonous: Any successful attack that delivers damage 
  to a character will inflict the listed Bite Poison effects only if the 
  target fails a BOD Attribute Check.  
  Blood 
  Rage: 
  Wounded 
  Sarmaxan squirrels fly into a Blood Rage that lasts 10 turns, dur-
  ing which time they ignore any Injury and Fatigue modifiers and 
  increase their bite damage to 2M/3 (poison is unaffected). After 
  the rage wears off, the creature immediately suffers an additional 
  5 points of Fatigue damage. A blood-raging Sarmaxan squirrel will 
  not retreat.
  TURIN BEEFBULL 
  (BOS TAURUS TURIN)
  The Turin bull (or beefbull) was one of the first alien creatures 
  found that could mate with Terran animal stock, and the newly 
  created crossbreed animal quickly became a food staple across 
  several worlds near Turin. The thick and hearty meat is normally 
  prepared in ways similar to Terran beef, though the Turin meat is 
  green rather than red. This often confuses tourists or other visitors 
  who have never eaten Turin meat; the shade of beefbull meat at its 
  most delectable mimics the color of Terran beef when spoiled.
  Currently, Turin is the site of exciting new research as scientists 
  labor to make the milk of the Turin cow—indigestible by hu-
  mans—into something acceptable, if not palatable. Experiments 
  are underway to isolate the amino acids responsible for the milk’s 
  deleterious effects on humans and replace them with less poi-
  sonous ones, but the work is proceeding slowly. Initial successes 
  by Star League-sponsored researchers have brought new invest-
  ments from nobles all around Turin, including Turin’s own Lama 
  von Avon. Adding a dairy component to Turin’s already bustling 
  meat industry would make the world an even greater economic 
  powerhouse.
  Homeworld: Turin, Capellan Confederation
  Environment: Arid plains
  Type: Native, genetically altered
  Body Shape: Four-legged
  Coloring: Brown
  Length: 340 cm
  Height: 153 cm
  Weight: 1,000-2,000 kg
   
  STR 
  BOD 
  DEx 
  RFL 
  INT 
  WIL 
  EDG
   
  24 
  25 
  2 
  4 
  3 
  2 
  2
  Traits: Bad Smell (2), Domesticated, Shy 
  Skills: AniMelee (Ram) +3, Perception +3, Swimming +5
  Size: Large (+1)
  Armor: Thick furred hide [1/1/0/0]
  Attack: [Bite: 1M/3], [Ram: 3M/2 (+1 per meter moved)] 
  Movement: 10/22/50 (Max Sprint: 2 turns)
  
  RULES ANNEx
  144
  WARBIRD 
  (ACCIpITER WARLOCKUS)
  The cold, dry mountains of Warlock are the playground of the 
  huge raptor known as the Warlock warbird. With wingspans as large 
  as two meters, these birds are fierce and very territorial, claiming vast 
  swathes of the mountain passes as their own. They feed exclusively 
  on a small rodent known as the Warlock mountain otter, which lives 
  in the snows and ice. The truly remarkable thing about this ecosys-
  tem is that neither of these species is native to Warlock. Both were 
  introduced at some point in the past six hundred years and have 
  thrived, and no one has yet identified their planet of origin.
  The mountain otter is a small, furred creature that subsists on 
  the various lichens that grow among Warlock’s glacial rock forma-
  tions. It reaches just under a meter in length, with light brown fur, 
  four small padded feet, and a long fibrous tongue for scraping the 
  lichens from rock walls. Genetic testing shows that the otter comes 
  from the same world as the warbird, but all attempts to identify that 
  world have failed.
  Homeworld: Warlock, Capellan Confederation
  Environment: Arctic mountains
  Type: Introduced
  Body Shape: Winged
  Coloring: White or dark gray feathers
  Wingspan: 197 cm
  Height: 35 cm
  Weight: 12 kg
   
  STR 
  BOD 
  DEx 
  RFL 
  INT 
  WIL 
  EDG
   
  4 
  2 
  3 
  8 
  3 
  6 
  2
  Traits: Aggressive, Compulsion (–2)/Mountain Otter diet, Good 
  Vision, Good Hearing
  Skills: AniMelee +4, Perception +4, Swimming +5, Tracking +2
  Size: Very Small (–2)
  Armor: Feathers [1/0/0/0]
  Attack: [Bite, Claws: 1M/2]
  Movement: Ground 0.5/—/—; Air: 35
  Notes: While not truly Susceptible, the warbird’s exclusive diet 
  makes it particularly aggressive against competitors. Warbirds 
  have been known to attack humans who venture within their 
  hunting grounds.
  pERSONAL EQUIpMENT
  The equipment described below follows the standard rules for 
  A Time of War. 
  ASUNCION ESCApE SUIT
  The Asuncion escape suit is an emer-
  gency 
  vacuum 
  garment 
  worn 
  by 
  vessel and orbital habitat crews that 
  provides short-period vacuum pro-
  tection without compromising the 
  wearer’s mobility. Introduced in 3064, 
  the escape suit (or skinsuit) has won 
  praise throughout the Capellan Navy, 
  and persistent rumors claim the 
  Strategios is considering making the 
  skinsuit the navy’s regulation un-
  dress uniform.
  Made from a vacuum-proof 
  weave of ballistic fabric and in-
  sulators, the skinsuit is no more 
  cumbersome than a cold-weath-
  er suit, allowing full mobility to 
  the wearer with no loss of func-
  tion. It offers little to no combat 
  protection, making it unsuit-
  able for boarding actions, but 
  it will keep the wearer alive for 
  at least twenty minutes in full 
  vacuum. A pullover hood with 
  removable 
  faceplate 
  provides 
  head protection, but the skinsuit’s 
  one weakness (and the reason for the 
  twenty-minute time limit) is insula-
  tion—the weave leaves little room for 
  any temperature-control apparatus. If 
  the wearer cannot quickly reach shel-
  ter or find some other way to regulate 
  his or her temperature, his own body 
  heat  will kill him.
  Game Rules: Asuncion escape 
  suits function like standard pressure 
  suits, except that they do not impede 
  the wearer’s movement and so do 
  not apply the normal –2 roll modi-
  fiers to Action Checks for wearing 
  space suits and the like. However, the suit lacks any 
  BAR values, and its temperature control is almost non-existent; if 
  the wearer is exposed to vacuum and extreme temperatures for 
  more than twenty minutes, the suit’s life support will fail and nor-
  mal damage from extreme temperatures will apply.
  Fastening the suit’s hood and faceplate are two separate 
  Simple Actions.
  
  RULES ANNEx
  145
  AppLE-CHURCHILL pERSONAL 
  SURvEILLANCE KIT
  The Maskirovka is perhaps the most feared secret police in the 
  Inner Sphere. While the Draconis Combine’s Internal Security Force 
  may have a better record of success and ruthlessness, not even the 
  dreaded Draconis Elite Strike Teams compare with the raw fear the 
  Mask engenders in the Capellan people. To most Capellan citizens 
  the Maskirovka is everywhere—their agents hear all, see all and 
  know all. Inept criminals and would-be traitors often find them-
  selves apprehended with treasonous words barely out of their 
  mouths, or illegal acts scarcely begun. In the decades since the 
  recovery of Star League-era technology, the Maskirovka has only 
  gotten more efficient. A large part of that success comes from their 
  surveillance technology, such as the Apple-Churchill personal sur-
  veillance kit. 
  A personal surveillance kit is designed to provide all the tools 
  an operative might need to enter a suspect’s home or office, moni-
  tor for sound, vision and electronic surveillance, and exit without 
  leaving a trace. Compact enough to be carried in a backpack, the 
  Apple-Churchill PSK is the preferred tool of domestic (and foreign) 
  Maskirovka operatives.
  The kit’s basic units are suites of nearly undetectable visual 
  and audio monitors, designed to be hidden in light fixtures or air 
  ducts. A pre-loaded software package can be added to suspects’ 
  personal computers, and a small base station can be hidden to 
  accept the draw from all these sensors and transmit it either con-
  tinuously or by burst. As most Capellan citizens lack the skills or 
  equipment to locate such devices, the continuous-transmit op-
  tion is most often used.
  A small assortment of forensic devices is offered as well, used 
  for collecting hair, skin and fingerprint samples. Most of these 
  devices are undetectable to the naked eye, and designed to be 
  quickly retrieved by the operative who placed them. To protect 
  the Maskirovka’s anonymity, a full-body catchsuit is provided—it 
  protects the operative from leaving his own forensic evidence be-
  hind by covering his hands, feet and mouth, as well as his head to 
  keep in loose hairs.
  Game Rules: The Apple-Churchill personal surveillance kit in-
  cludes a fully functional basic forensic kit, 6 microphone bugs, a 
  micro-camcorder and a bug scanner.
  AppLE-CHURCHILL  
  pERSONAL MINE DETECTOR
  Designed for use by Special Forces, the personal mine detec-
  tor is a sophisticated helmet-mounted sensing system intended to 
  give slow-moving troops advance warning of the presence of most 
  types of land mines. Using a combination of chemical sniffers, 
  electromagnetic sensors and a miniaturized ground-penetrating 
  radar system, the mine detector can warn users of mines before 
  they reach them. Though it cannot physically locate the mines, the 
  simple knowledge of a mine’s presence is usually enough to warn 
  an operator to proceed with caution.
  Game Rules: The personal mine detector (PMD) is worn like 
  a standard combat helmet and functions as such, but incorpo-
  rates additional sensors specifically tuned to detect common land 
  mines and sound an audible (and vibrating) alarm in the operator’s 
  ear whenever he approaches one. Its detection capability is identi-
  cal to that of a bug scanner (see A Time of War, p. xx), except that 
  the detectors only detect mines. For contact explosives (conven-
  tional mines), the PMD’s chemical sensors have an effective range 
  of 3 meters; for command-detonated mines (which are picked up 
  by the PMD’s electromagnetic sensors), the detection range is 6 
  meters. For other specialized minefield types, the PMD relies on 
  ground-penetrating radar that senses objects within 2 meters. 
  The detector itself does not provide location or direction; it sim-
  ply alerts the wearer that mines are present. However, a successful 
  Sensor Operations Check will enable the operator to identify the 
  mine’s location using the detector’s limited capabilities.
  
  RULES ANNEx
  146
  CERES ARMS  
  SLASHER COMBAT KNIFE
  Modeled on the Fairbairn-Sykes combat knife of ancient Terra, 
  this stiletto-style weapon is made from high-quality nickel steel. It 
  is double-edged and balanced for throwing, and the tip and cut-
  ting edge are custom-tempered to hold their sharpness. The grip 
  is rough steel (though some users wrap thin leather around it) and 
  is hollow with a removable cap.
  Interestingly, the Slasher was designed and marketed for ex-
  port. The largest customers have been the Magistracy of Canopus 
  and the Taurian Concordat, which have purchased hundreds of 
  thousands of the knives for their militaries.
  Game Rules: The Ceres Arms slasher may be used as a regular 
  dagger or as a thrown weapon with the same AP/BD values.
  CERES ARMS  
  STALKER SNIpER RIFLE
  Ceres Arms’ small arms division has always been profitable, 
  but the plethora of new weapons systems glutting the market re-
  quires them to continually introduce new and updated weapons 
  to remain competitive. With the Stalker sniper system, they fixed 
  their sights on the market niche currently held by the Zeus heavy 
  rifle. Firing a 12mm round from a bolt-action chamber, the Stalker 
  is rated accurate as far as 1.5 kilometers. Apocryphal rumors claim a 
  Death Commando sniper made a kill with this weapon at almost 3 
  kilometers, but the story remains unconfirmed.
  As with most Ceres Arms weapons, the Stalker breaks down 
  easily for cleaning and service. The weapon is fed from a massive 
  nine-round magazine and has a built-in telescopic scope with low-
  light and infrared modes. It has sold modestly since its debut, but 
  the biggest customer thus far is the Capellan Home Guard; Ceres 
  offered them discounted rates in order to get the new weapon in 
  the field.
  Game Rules: The Stalker sniper rifle uses a bolt-action design, 
  and so a Simple Action is required to chamber the next round be-
  tween shots.
  CERES ARMS STRIKER CARBINE
  Ceres Arms’ latest entry in the small arms market is the Striker 
  carbine, a reliable weapon intended for use in urban conflicts and 
  other areas of close-quarters combat. Built from a mix of compos-
  ite parts and high-stress metals, and fed from a sixty-round drum 
  magazine, this 3-kilogram, 7mm weapon can fire 400 rounds per 
  minute in single-shot, three-round burst or full-auto. It has an 
  adaptable rail-module for accessories such as telescopic or infra-
  red sights. Designed for heavy use, it has rugged parts and simple 
  jam-clearing mechanisms.
  Introduced in 3066, the Striker is currently being field-tested for 
  the CCAF by the infantry contingent of the Dynasty Guards, and 
  early reports are favorable. According to one user, “…you can sink 
  this gun in the swamp, leave it in the sun and bury it in sand, and 
  it’ll still fire.” Ceres has shipped all units produced with a complete 
  set of replacement parts and a cleaning kit custom-designed for 
  the Striker, hoping to prove its worth.
  Game Rules: The Striker uses standard rules for a burst-capa-
  ble small arms weapon.
  
  RULES ANNEx
  147
  SUppORT vEHICLES
  CERES-85 DELIvERY vEHICLE
  In cities across human space, competition always exists be-
  tween local delivery companies, and the vehicles they choose 
  always depend on the local environment and the anticipated 
  needs of their customers. Ceres Motors offers a wide variety of 
  delivery vehicles, but the newest model to debut on the busy 
  thoroughfares of Capella is the Ceres-85—nicknamed the 
  Sprinter. Designed to service the House of Scions and several 
  of the corporations that make their headquarters on Capella, 
  including the Capella Commonality Bank, the Sprinter is a high-
  speed courier and delivery vehicle. For the niche market it fills, 
  the returns on the relatively small investment have more than 
  offset the costs of production.
  Ceres Motors interviewed several top-rated courier firms on 
  Capella before beginning design work, and each of them asked 
  for the same things: unassuming vehicles with few maintenance 
  needs that move quickly and can carry a light-to-medium load at 
  CApELLAN CONFEDERATION EQUIpMENT TABLE
  (BT: Rpg STATISTICS)
   
   
  eqpt. 
  damage 
  range (meters) 
   
  cost/ 
  weapon 
  skill 
  ratings 
  ratings 
  s/M/l/e 
  shots 
  reload 
  wt. 
  notes
  Slasher Knife 
  Melee Weapons 
  B/X-X-C/C 
  1M/1 
  (STR + DEX) x 1/2/3/4 
  NA 
  12 
  150 g 
  Range applies only when 
  thrown
  Stalker Sniper Rifle Small Arms 
  C/X-X-D/D 
  4B/4 
  60/180/420/1,500 
  9 
  5,000/6 
  9 kg 
  Simple Action to chamber 
  next round; Includes IR/
  Rangefinder scope (negates 
  darkness modifiers, +2 to 
  attack rolls at M/L/E, –1 to 
  attack rolls at S)
  Striker Carbine 
  Small Arms 
  D/X-X-D/F 
  3B/2B 
  18/45/115/275  
  60 
  875/8 
  3 kg 
  Burst: 30; Recoil: –2
   
  eqpt. 
  bar 
  cost/ 
  non-weapon 
  ratings 
  (M/b/e/X) 
  reload 
  wt. 
  notes
  Asuncion Escape Suit 
  D/X-X-E/C 
  0/0/0/0 
  350 
  3 kg 
  Ignore –2 roll modifier when in vacuum; maximum du-
  ration in space/extreme temperatures: 20 minutes.
  AC Surveillance Kit 
  D/X-E-F/D 
  — 
  7,000/75 
  7 kg 
  Includes Basic Forensic Analysis Kit, 6 Microphone 
  Bugs, 1 Bug Scanner, 1 Micro-Camcorder, plus hacking 
  software (+1 to Computers rolls)
  AC Mine Detector 
  D/X-X-E/D 
  3/3/4/2 
  6,800 
  3.5 kg 
  Sensor Operations required to locate mines; detects 
  standard mines at 3m, command-detonated mines at 
  6m and other mines at 2m
  CBT INFANTRY pLATOON CONSTRUCTION DATA
   
  tech 
  class/type 
  base 
  damage 
  weight of weapon/
  item 
   (rating) 
  (damage type) 
  range 
  (each) 
  ammo (shots) 
  crew 
  bv
  Slasher Combat Knife 
  IS (B) 
  Small/Melee (P) 
  0 
  0.02 
  0.15 kg/NA (NA) 
  1 
  0.02
  Stalker Sniper Rifle 
  IS (C) 
  Small/Standard (B) 
  2 
  0.25 
  9 kg/0.11 kg (9) 
  1 
  0.25
  Striker Carbine 
  IS (D) 
  Small/Standard (B) 
  1 
  0.29 
  3 kg/0.34 kg (60/2) 
  1 
  0.29
  
  RULES ANNEx
  148
  least two hundred and fifty kilometers, if necessary. Ceres took all 
  these aspects into consideration, and the resulting vehicle, which 
  debuted at the start of the 3067 session of the House of Scions, has 
  gotten terrific reviews. Orders have been placed for more than two 
  hundred Ceres-85s in the first six months alone, and Ceres Metals 
  is already ramping up a marketing proposal to take to other highly 
  urbanized worlds.
  The two-and-a-half ton vehicle can carry more than eight hun-
  dred kilograms of documents or small packages in a pre-shelved 
  cargo bay at speeds of more than one hundred kilometers per 
  hour. Because it is intended to operate inside the city limits, where 
  quiet contemplation is often sought, the Sprinter uses an ultra-
  quiet electric drive with long-endurance batteries that give it a 
  straight-line travel distance of more than five hundred kilometers. 
  The vehicle is built from locally processed materials, a “Made on 
  Capella” stamp that has become a considerable stock in trade after 
  Xin Sheng.
  The basic C-85A is a document transport vehicle, but the C-85B 
  is intended for sale to the CCB and corporate clients. Its cargo bay 
  features locked cubicles instead of open cargo space, making it 
  slightly more secure for document transportation.
  Type: Ceres Motors C-85 Sprinter Delivery Vehicle
  Chassis Type: Wheeled, Small
  Tonnage: 2,500 kg
  Equipment Rating: D/X-X-B/B
  Equipment 
   
  Mass
  Chassis/Controls: 
   
  300 kg
  Engine/Trans: 
  Electric (Battery) 
  938 kg
   Cruise MP: 
  11 
   Flank MP: 
  17 
  Heat Sinks: 
  0 
  0 
  Fuel (520 km): 
   
  244 kg
  Armor Factor (BAR 4): 
  8 
  208 kg
   
   
  Internal 
  Armor
   
   
  Structure 
  Value
   Fore 
  1 
  2
   Left/Right 
  1 
  2/2
   Rear 
  1 
  2
  Weapons and Ammo 
  Location 
  Tonnage
  None
  Crew: 1
  Cargo
   810 kg standard 
  Body 
  1 Door (Rear)
  AppLE-CHURCHILL 
  SURvEILLANCE vTOL
  The Apple-Churchill Surveillance VTOL is a purpose-built air-
  frame sold only to the Maskirovka and select constabulary and 
  militia units across the Confederation. It is manufactured only on 
  Sian and distributed as needed, and barely sixteen are built per 
  year (unless larger orders are received). It is the only vehicle that 
  Apple-Churchill builds entirely in-house, using no outside con-
  tractors or labor. Even the parts machining is done in-house, and 
  Apple-Churchill trains their own mechanics and operators. In the 
  ninety-six years this surveillance VTOL has been on the market, not 
  one outside worker has ever been hired to work in that wing of the 
  factory.
  At twenty tons, the Apple-Churchill VTOL compares favorably 
  with common news helicopters throughout the Inner Sphere, 
  but differs in performance and durability. In ninety-six years, only 
  three Apple-Churchill airframes have crashed, and all three of 
  those were deemed pilot error. The craft is delivered with a sup-
  ply of spare parts and precise directions on when to replace them, 
  and any parts damaged by weapons fire or accident are repaired 
  on the spot by specially dispatched Apple-Churchill technicians. 
  This level of secrecy in construction and operation is rare even for 
  BattleMechs, let alone a VTOL; if the main user were anyone other 
  than the Maskirovka, it likely would not be offered.
  In use, the Apple-Churchill airframe is nearly silent at anything 
  under two hundred meters. It uses a dual-ring, counter-rotating, 
  multi-blade rotor to “whisper” in the air. Rumors persist that the 
  Maskirovka has perfected some sort of sonic cloaking device for 
  the rotors—there are confirmed reports of observers looking at 
  an Apple-Churchill hovering in daylight from not more than three 
  hundred meters away and not being able to hear it. Though it 
  uses an internal-combustion engine rather than a quieter electric 
  motor, the Apple-Churchill is still perhaps the quietest VTOL in 
  anyone’s inventory.
  As an observation craft, it mounts a suite of sensors and cam-
  eras. A trio of operators in the rear compartment controls remote 
  sensor dispensers in sonic and visual ranges, and the airframe 
  carries integral visual and infrared cameras in the nose. Trained 
  Maskirovka operators have claimed to be able to tail a single man, 
  through traffic, using nothing but the remote sensors dispensed 
  from the air.
  
  RULES ANNEx
  149
  Though all official reports claim the craft is strictly an obser-
  vational vehicle, stories abound of a similar vehicle deploying 
  Maskirovka special operations teams from zip lines. Whether this 
  is a personnel variant of the airframe or just a similar-looking he-
  licopter used for deployments remains to be seen. Whatever the 
  answer, Apple-Churchill continues to jealously guard its secrets.
  Type: Apple-Churchill Surveillance VTOL
  Chassis Type: VTOL, Medium
  Tonnage: 20 tons
  Equipment Rating: D/X-X-D/C
  Equipment 
   
  Mass
  Chassis/Controls: 
   
  4
  Engine/Trans: 
  ICE 
  5.5
   Cruise MP: 
  7 
   Flank MP: 
  11 
  Heat Sinks: 
  0 
  0 
  Fuel (1250 km): 
  Petrochemical 
  .5
  Armor Factor (BAR 5): 
  15 
  .5
   
   
  Internal 
  Armor
   
   
  Structure 
  Value
   Fore 
  2 
  4
   Left/Right 
  2 
  3/3
   Rear 
  2 
  3
    Rotor 
  2 
  2
  Weapons and Ammo 
  Location 
  Tonnage
  None 
  Crew: 3
  Cargo:  .5 tons standard 
  Notes: Hi-res imaging camera (2.5 tons, Front), infrared imager 
  camera (5 tons, Front), communications gear (1 ton), remote sensor 
  dispenser (60 sensors, Body, 1 ton)
  COST OF LIvINg 
  IN THE CApELLAN 
  CONFEDERATION
  The commonalities of the Capellan Confederation are a study in 
  contrasts—some nearly as prosperous as any other region of the 
  Inner Sphere, others hardscrabble places where barter is the order 
  of the day. Cost of living therefore can vary widely from region to 
  region and even from world to world within a commonality. On 
  planetary capitals and major business centers—worlds like Sian, 
  Capella, Grand Base, Ares, Liao and so on—wages and prices are 
  comparable to those on other Inner Sphere capitals. Less eco-
  nomically developed regions like the Victoria Commonality and 
  the Periphery border can boast modest prosperity on their capital 
  worlds, but living standards remain somewhat rougher elsewhere. 
  The Liao Commonality and the St. Ives Commonality are in a class 
  by themselves; both are newly reintegrated into the Confederation 
  and are still adapting to survival as part of the Capellan economy.
  In general, living standards are comparable to the rest Inner 
  Sphere in the wake of Xin Sheng—the resurgent Capellan economy 
  has made great strides in bringing the Confederation’s economic 
  power more in line with that of the other Successor States. The 
  Trinity Alliance has given new life to many Capellan manufacturers 
  and exporters—low-cost access to new markets in the Magistracy 
  and Concordat have done much to keep going the staggeringly 
  rapid production begun during Xin Sheng’s early months. 
  The Capella Commonality is finally reaching economic sta-
  bility following the madcap days of the Liao Commonality’s 
  incorporation. As the various trade factors and other economic 
  variables adjust to the high volume of traffic through the Capella 
  Commonality, the market has begun to stabilize, though many 
  worry that it may crash again if the Liao Commonality attempts to 
  wean itself from the high volume of imports it currently receives 
  from the Sian Commonality. This means costs for housing, food 
  and fuel are relatively stable but subject to rampant speculation 
  as news crosses the Capella Commonality. The Typical Salary and 
  Price Guide Table below gives rough guidelines for living expens-
  es, but the gamemaster can deviate from these at his discretion.
  The Liao Commonality is just entering its own renaissance of 
  sorts. As these formerly Capellan worlds adapt to once again being 
  part of the Confederation, they are finally adapting to the Capellan 
  economy and bringing renewed wealth to planetary coffers. 
  Though living standards remain generally lower than when these 
  worlds were part of the FedCom’s defunct Sarna March, they are 
  climbing quickly, and residents of the Liao Commonality already 
  out-earn much of the Victoria Commonality because of the robust 
  infrastructure left over from the Federated Commonwealth years. 
  The commonality capital of Liao, for example, has nearly finished 
  repairing the damage done during the world’s liberation in 3057. 
  Many Liao Commonality planets have easier access to some of the 
  essentials that longtime Capellans lack, especially weapons and 
  excess consumer goods, both left over from the region’s years as 
  part of the Sarna March and the more lax laws of the Federated 
  Suns. The Maskirovka has steadily worked to bring the level of 
  weaponry available to common citizens more in line with the rest 
  of the Confederation, but many Liao Commonality citizens are 
  unwilling to part with their weapons. The situation has raised ten-
  sions and led to a glut of weapons on the black market, but for 
  the most part the threat of rebellion seems minimal. Most of these 
  worlds were formerly at the mercy of petty warlords in the Chaos 
  March, and they do not wish to upset the Confederation to which 
  they have just returned.
  The St. Ives Commonality, by contrast, is slowly sliding down 
  the economic ladder. This commonality’s worlds enjoyed tremen-
  dous economic power during their independent years as the St. 
  Ives Compact, and the necessary adjustments to bring St. Ives’ in-
  dustrial base into the mainstream Capellan economy are adding 
  considerable strain. St. Ives manufacturers have had a generation 
  to embrace the freer economic model of the Federated Suns as 
  that nation’s ally and largest trading partner. Many of them are 
  working at reduced wages or well below capacity, either because 
  of sanctions by the Confederation government or as a form of 
  
  RULES ANNEx
  150
  TYpICAL SALARY AND pRICE gUIDE TABLE 
  (Prices and Salary Rates as of Fiscal Year 3067)
   
  Biweekly Salary 
  Sian 
  Capella 
  Liao 
  St. Ives 
  Victoria 
  Major 
  (in yuan) 
  Commonality 
  Commonality 
  Commonality 
  Commonality 
  Commonality 
  World 
  Backwater
  Servitor* 
  NA 
  NA 
  NA 
  NA 
  NA 
  NA 
  NA
  Minimum Wage 
  280.00 
  252.00 
  241.00 
  224.00 
  232.00 
  +5% 
  –10%
  Lower Class 
  907.00 
  816.00 
  780.00 
  726.00 
  752.00 
  +3% 
  –5%
  Middle Class 
  1318.00 
  1,186.00 
  1,133.00 
  1,054.00 
  1,094.00 
  +3% 
  –5%
  Upper Class 
  5,339.00 
  4,805.00 
  4,592.00 
  4,271.00 
  4,431.00 
  +5% 
  –10%
  Lord/Lady 
  7,507.00 
  6,756.00 
  6,456.00 
  6,006.00 
  6,231.00 
  +6% 
  –12%
  Mandrinn/Mandrissa 
  30,030.00 
  27,027.00 
  25,826.00 
  24,024.00 
  24,925.00 
  +8% 
  –15%
  Shonso/Shanna 
  120,118.00 
  108,106.00 
  103,301.00 
  96,094.00 
  99,698.00 
  +10% 
  –20%
  Lama/Lamia 
  1,251,225.00 
  1,126,103.00 
  1,076,054.00 
  1,000,980.00 
  1,038,517.00 
  +12% 
  –25%
  Duke/Duchess 
  10,426,875.00 
  9,384,188.00 
  8,967,113.00 
  8,341,500.00 
  8,654,306.00 
  +15% 
  –40%
   
   
  Cost Modifier (%)/Availability Modifier/Legality Modifier (by Region/World Type)
   
   
  Sian 
  Capella 
  Liao 
  St. Ives 
  Victoria 
   
  Item/Expense 
  Commonality 
  Commonality 
  Commonality 
  Commonality 
  Commonality Major World 
  Backwater
  Weapons
   
  Blades, unpowered 
  90/-1/+0 
  93/+0/+0 
  96/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  90/-1/+0 
  –5/+0/+0 
  +3/-1/+0
   
  Blades, powered 
  100/–0/–1 
  102/+0/+0 
  102/+0/+1 
  102/+1/+0 
  110/+1/–1 
  –3/–1/+1 
  +3/+1/+0
   
  Staffs 
  95/–1/–1 
  95/–1/–1 
  95/+0/+0 
  95/+0/+0 
  90/-1/–1 
  –5/–1/–1 
  –10/–1/–1
   
  Archery 
  95/–0/–1 
  96/+0/+0 
  99/–1/+0 
  98/+1/+0 
  90/+0/–1 
  –5/–1/+0 
  –8/–1/–1
   
  Pistols, ballistic‡ 
  110/+1/–1 
  112/+1/+0 
  108/–0/+1 
  112/+1/+0 
  108/+1/–1 
  –10/–1/+0 
  –8/–1/–1
   
  Pistols, energy 
  125/+2/+0 
  127/+2/+1 
  116/+1/+2 
  130/+2/+0 
  130/+2/–1 
  –3/–1/+1 
  +5/+2/+0
   
  Rifles, ballistic‡ 
  112/+1/+0 
  115/+1/+0 
  110/–0/+1 
  119/+1/+0 
  110/–1/–1 
  –8/–1/+0 
  –8/–1/–1
   
  Rifles, energy 
  130/+2/+0 
  135/+2/+1 
  125/+1/+2 
  140/+2/+0 
  145/+2/–1 
  –3/–1/+1 
  +3/+2/+0
   
  SMGs 
  115/+2/+1 
  118/+2/+1 
  115/+0/+2 
  119/+1/+0 
  112/+1/–1 
  –5/–1/+0 
  +5/–1/+0
   
  Shotguns 
  95/–0/+0 
  99/+0/+0 
  100/–1/+2 
  100/+1/+0 
  96/–1/–1 
  –5/–1/+0 
  –8/–1/–1
   
  Throwing weapons 
  100/-1/–1 
  100/-1/+0 
  100/+0/+1 
  100/+0/+0 
  98/+0/–1 
  +0/–1/+0 
  +5/+0/+0
   
  Support weapons 
  125/+1/+1 
  129/+1/+2 
  118/+1/+3 
  130/+2/+1 
  125/+1/+0 
  +5/–1/+1 
  +10/+1/+0
   
  Demolitions 
  145/+2/+2 
  148/+2/+2 
  135/+1/+3 
  160/+3/+2 
  130/+1/+0 
  +5/–1/+1 
  +8/–1/+0
  Weapon Accessories 
  100/–1/+1 
  100/+0/+0 
  99/+0/–1 
  105/+1/+1 
  110/+1/+1 
  –5/–1/+0 
  +5/+1/+1
  Power Pack/Rechargers
   
  Standard 
  102/–0/–1 
  104/–0/–1 
  102/+1/+0 
  102/+0/+0 
  110/+1/+0 
  +0/+0/+0 
  +8/+1/+0
   
  High-Capacity 
  110/–0/–1 
  112/+0/–1 
  110/+1/+0 
  105/+0/+0 
  115/+1/+0 
  +2/+0/+0 
  +10/+1/+0
   
  Quick-Charge 
  112/+0/–1 
  115/+0/–1 
  112/+1/+0 
  108/+0/+0 
  120/+1/+0 
  +5/+1/+0 
  +12/+1/+1
   
  Rechargers 
  95/–1/+0 
  98/–1/+0 
  99/+0/+0 
  105/+0/+1 
  110/+1/+0 
  –5/–1/–1 
  +5/+1/+0
  Armor/Combat Garb
   
  Flak 
  98/–1/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  95/+0/+0 
  100/–1/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  –2/–1/+0 
  +5/+0/–1
   
  Ablative 
  102/–1/+0 
  105/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/–1/+0 
  105/+0/+0 
  +0/–1/+0 
  +3/+0/–1
   
  Ablative/Flak 
  104/+0/+0 
  106/+0/+0 
  104/+1/+0 
  102/+0/+0 
  108/+1/+0 
  +0/–1/+0 
  +5/+1/–1
   
  Ballistic Plate 
  98/–1/+0 
  100/+1/+0 
  94/+0/+0 
  98/–1/+1 
  100/+0/+0 
  +0/–1/–1 
  +5/+1/–1
   
  Leather 
  90/+0/+0 
  91/–1/+0 
  94/+0/+0 
  98/+0/+0 
  85/–1/+0 
  –5/–1/–1 
  +0/–1/+0
   
  Miscellaneous 
  105/+1/+1 
  106/+1/+1 
  105/+1/+1 
  120/+1/+1 
  125/+1/+1 
  +0/+0/+0 
  +10/+1/+0
   
  Camo/Sneak Suits 
  120/+1/+2 
  125/+1/+1 
  120/+2/+2 
  135/+3/+1 
  140/+1/+2 
  –5/+0/+0 
  +15/+1/+0
   
  Battle Armor 
  130/+2/+2 
  135/+2/+2 
  140/+3/+2 
  160/+3/+3 
  200/+2/+4 
  –3/+0/–1 
  +20/+1/+1
  
  RULES ANNEx
  151
  Misc. Equipment
   
  Communicators 
  98/–1/+0 
  100/–1/–1 
  100/+0/+0 
  102/+0/+0 
  110/+1/+0 
  –5/–1/+0 
  +5/+1/+0
   
  Kits 
  90/+0/+0 
  94/–1/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  105/+1/+0 
  –5/–1/+0 
  +3/+1/+0
   
  Computers 
  102/+0/+0 
  103/+0/+0 
  100/+1/+0 
  102/+0/+0 
  115/+1/+0 
  –3/–1/+0 
  +10/+1/+0
   
  Music Sets/Musi-chips 101/+0/+0 
  101/–2/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  101/+0/+1 
  110/+1/+0 
  –3/–1/+0 
  +5/+1/+0
   
  Tri-vid Sets/Cameras 
  103/+0/+0 
  103/–1/+0 
  101/+1/+0 
  102/+0/+1 
  120/+2/+0 
  –5/–1/+0 
  +10/+1/+0
   
  Holovids 
  103/+0/+0 
  103/–2/+0 
  102/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+1 
  115/+2/+0 
  –5/–1/+0 
  +8/+1/+0
   
  Print Media 
  80/–1/+0 
  80/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  102/+0/+0 
  110/+0/+0 
  –5/–1/+0 
  –5/+1/+0
  Personal Gear/Expenses
   
  Clothing 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/–1/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  +3/–1/+0 
  +5/+0/+0
   
  Food 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/–1/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  102/+1/+0 
  +3/–1/+0 
  +0/+1/+0
   
  Housing, Rental 
  110/+0/+0 
  110/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  104/+0/+0 
  100/+1/+0 
  +5/–1/+0 
  +5/+0/+0
   
       Utilities 
  105/+0/+0 
  105/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  105/+0/+0 
  115/+2/+0 
  +5/–1/+0 
  +5/+1/+0
   
  Housing, Owned 
  105/+0/+0 
  105/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  106/+0/+0 
  102/+1/+0 
  +13/+0/+0 
  +10/+1/+0
   
       Utilities 
  105/+0/+0 
  106/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  107/+0/+0 
  115/+1/+0 
  +5/+0/+0 
  +5/+1/+0
   
  Hotel Rental/Expenses 100/+0/+0 
  102/–1/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  98/+1/+0 
  103/+1/+0 
  +10/+0/+0 
  +8/+0/+0
   
  Fuel 
  103/+0/+0 
  105/+0/+0 
  101/+0/+0 
  102/+0/+0 
  108/+1/+0 
  –5/–1/+0 
  +8/+1/+0
  Personal Vehicles
   
  Civilian, Ground 
  105/+0/+0 
  104/+0/+0 
  98/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  98/+0/+0 
  –5/–1/–1 
  +0/+1/–1
   
  Civilian, Air 
  113/+0/+0 
  113/+0/+0 
  100/–1/+0 
  110/+0/+1 
  110/+1/+0 
  –3/–1/–1 
  +3/+1/–1
   
  Civilian, Seagoing 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  103/+0/+0 
  124/+0/+0 
  –5/–1/–1 
  +5/+2/+0
   
  Civilian, Spacecraft 
  104/–1/+0 
  105/+1/+0 
  100/–1/+0 
  110/+1/+1 
  115/+2/+0 
  –2/–1/+0 
  +10/+2/+0
   
  Military, Unarmed 
  115/+0/+1 
  117/+1/+1 
  110/+1/+0 
  120/+1/+1 
  120/+0/+1 
  +0/–1/–1 
  +0/+0/+0
   
  Military, IS-Armed 
  135/+1/+1 
  140/+2/+1 
  125/+3/+1 
  120/+3/+2 
  125/+2/+1 
  +0/+0/+0 
  +5/+1/+0
   
  Military, Clan-Armed 
  195/+3/+1 
  205/+3/+1 
  200/+3/+1 
  185/+3/+2 
  220/+2/+1 
  +0/+0/+0 
  +15/+1/+0
   
  Fusion-Powered 
  +10/+0/+1 
  +11/+1/+0 
  +10/+1/+1 
  +10/+1/+1 
  +12/+1/+0 
  –3/–1/–1 
  +5/+1/+0
   
  ICE-Powered 
  –1/+0/+0 
  +0/–1/+0 
  -2/–1/+0 
  –5/–1/+0 
  –3/–1/+0 
  –5/–1/–1 
  +0/–2/–1
  Medical/Survival Gear
   
  Medical Kits 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/–1/–1 
  95/+0/+0 
  105/+1/+0 
  103/+1/+0 
  –5/–1/–1 
  +5/+1/+0
   
  Cybernetic Limbs 
  112/+1/+1 
  112/+1/+0 
  114/+2/+1 
  130/+2/+2 
  150/+2/+0 
  –5/–1/–1 
  +15/+2/+0
   
  Bionic Eyes/Ears 
  120/+2/+1 
  120/+1/+0 
  123/+2/+1 
  140/+3/+2 
  170/+3/+0 
  –5/–1/+0 
  +15/+2/+0
   
  Other Medical Gear 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/–1/–1 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  105/+1/+0 
  –5/+0/–1 
  +8/+0/+0
   
  Medical Services 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/–1/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  108/+0/+0 
  115/+1/+0 
  –3/–1/+0 
  +15/+1/+0
   
  Survival Kits 
  95/–1/+0 
  95/–1/+0 
  95/–1/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  102/+0/+0 
  –5/+0/–1 
  +10/+1/+0
   
  Other Survival Gear 
  95/–1/+0 
  95/–1/+0 
  94/–1/+0 
  103/–1/+0 
  100/–1/+0 
  –5/+0/–1 
  +8/+1/+0
  Travel/Entertainment
   
  Surface Travel 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  103/+0/+0 
  –5/–1/+0 
  +3/+0/+0
   
  Atmospheric Travel 
  98/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  90/–1/+0 
  105/+0/+0 
  105/+1/+0 
  –5/–1/+0 
  +8/+0/+0
   
  Oceanic Travel 
  102/+1/+0 
  103/–1/+0 
  100/+1/+0 
  108/+1/+0 
  103/+1/+0 
  –3/–1/+0 
  +5/+1/+0
   
  Space Travel, In-System 100/+0/+0 
  101/–1/+0 
  100/–1/+0 
  105/+0/+1 
  110/+1/+0 
  +0/–1/+0 
  +10/+1/+0
   
  Space Travel, Interstellar 110/+1/+1 
  111/+0/+0 
  102/+1/+0 
  115/+2/+1 
  120/+1/+0 
  +0/–1/+0 
  +10/+1/+0
   
  Concerts/Theaters 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/–1/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  115/+1/+0 
  105/+0/+0 
  +5/–1/+0 
  –3/–1/+0
   
  Sporting Events 
  100/–1/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  100/+0/+0 
  115/+1/+0 
  90/–1/+0 
  +10/–1/+0 
  –5/–1/+0
  *Wages paid to servitors in the Capellan Confederation prior to 3052 go to the servitor’s employer. After 3052, servitors are paid a minimum of 7 percent of the value of the service 
  they provide (so if they perform 1,000 yuan worth of cleaning in a two-week period, they earn 70 yuan).
  ‡ Ballistic weaponry includes all Gauss, gyrojet and needler weapons not classified as support weapons.
  
  RULES ANNEx
  152
  protest. The Maskirovka is observing, but not yet quelling, such 
  protests out of respect for Duchess Candace Liao. As with the Liao 
  Commonality, there is an abundance of weapons and consumer 
  frivolities, though the Maskirovka has taken much more draco-
  nian action in dealing with the weapons issue. Because many St. 
  Ives Commonality citizens actively resisted the Confederation’s 
  reclamation of their worlds, weapons are strictly forbidden, and of-
  fenses against these regulations are harshly punished.
  The Sian Commonality is doing reasonably well, slowly re-
  building its modest but solid economic base through trade and 
  ongoing planetary development. The sacrifice of half its worlds to 
  form the Victoria Commonality caused a severe disruption of the 
  Sian Commonality’s distribution system, and many of the smaller 
  industries are still feeling out the best alternate methods. Even 
  so, the status of the Sian Commonality as the Confederation’s 
  capital region ensures preeminence for its products, and exports 
  have been high, especially to Liao Commonality worlds. Many 
  of the latter, desperate to prove themselves “loyal” Capellan 
  planets, are buying  almost exclusively from Sian Commonality 
  manufacturers. Shipping firms and transportation interests in 
  both commonalities are doing gangbuster business, much of 
  that helping to build new interests to support industry. The pres-
  ence of the bulk of the directorship caste and not a few noble 
  scions in this commonality means that the standard living is the 
  best in the Confederation, at least for those with the means to 
  support themselves. 
  The Victoria Commonality is experiencing unprecedent-
  ed growth. The prestige of the new commonality capital has 
  drawn investors from across the Confederation, making the ex-
  pected Chancellory decrees unnecessary. As the gateway to the 
  Confederation’s Trinity allies, the worlds along trade routes to the 
  Concordat and the Magistracy are reporting double-digit growth 
  figures, and the nobles of that region are wallowing in tax reve-
  nues to rival those of the St. Ives and Capella commonalities. Of 
  course, such growth does not come without cost. The Victoria 
  Commonality is currently experiencing sharp price inflation of 
  consumer goods as the various local nobles and potentates try to 
  one-up each other in prestige. This infighting in high-end equip-
  ment has driven the value of low-end staples down somewhat, but 
  not enough to threaten the market.
  The table below shows average salaries for various economic 
  and social classes in the Capellan Confederaton by region, with 
  percentage modifiers based on the location and importance of a 
  given world, as well as the relative cost and availability of equip-
  ment in such regions. The equipment modifier tables allow players 
  to determine the cost, availability and legality of equipment and 
  services in each region as well, with the cost expressed as a per-
  centage of the item’s listed price and the availability modifiers 
  given in terms of rating levels. Positive modifiers increase the 
  percentage of the item’s cost or its equipment levels as indicated, 
  making items harder to acquire, while negative modifiers reduce 
  cost or levels. 
  In many cases, the gamemaster determines into which catego-
  ries a world may fall. Border worlds lie close enough to another 
  state to have either significant cross-border trade, or (in the case 
  of Capellan planets that border Davion space) beefier than usual 
  military defenses. Major worlds consist of national capitals or ma-
  jor industry or trade centers. Backwaters, by contrast, are sparsely 
  populated worlds largely lacking in major industries or even a na-
  tive military defense force. 
  There is no limit to how much modifiers may change the per-
  centage of an item’s final cost, but availability and legality levels 
  may not fall lower than A or rise higher than F.
  
  RULES ANNEx
  153
  THE BLACK MARKET
  Just as the location and relative industrial, economic or political 
  importance of a world influences its economy, these factors also 
  affect the local black market (if any). As always, the efforts of lo-
  cal law enforcement and the predominant needs of the planet’s 
  inhabitants can make the results vary wildly at the gamemaster’s 
  discretion, but in general, players can find the price for any piece 
  of hardware or service required by determining the item’s avail-
  ability and legality ratings, modified for the appropriate region (in 
  the Typical Salary and Price Guide Table) and then consulting the 
  Black Market Base Cost Table below. Additional modifiers to the 
  base costs are provided as well, based on the character’s location 
  in Capellan space. A character may negotiate these prices using 
  the Negotiation/Commercial Skill, but gamemasters should keep 
  in mind that black markets are typically illegal, fly-by-night opera-
  tions, and most who trade in illicit goods and services don’t have 
  the patience for a drawn-out bargaining process.
  As with the cost of living modifiers above, prices fluctuate 
  based on where a character is in the Confederation, with all ap-
  plicable modifiers multiplied together.
  ROLEpLAYINg IN 
  THE CApELLAN 
  CONFEDERATION
  The following information for gamemasters and players of A 
  Time of War: The BattleTech RPG campaigns covers other aspects of 
  Confederation characters and life in the Capellan Confederation, 
  and should be used to add local flavor to such campaigns and 
  characters.
  CONFEDERATION vALUES:  
  WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOgETHER
  At the core of every Capellan’s life is the state: it is the be-all and 
  end-all of their existence, or so the Capellan propaganda machine 
  would have people believe. Since the eruption of nationalistic 
  fervor through the Xin Sheng efforts of the early 3060s, however, 
  this statement has become more true for a larger segment of the 
  Capellan people. For the first time in decades, if not centuries, 
  many Capellans feel a fierce pride in their nation, and that pride 
  feeds into the notions of self-sacrifice and greater good that the 
  Confederation has always stood for.
  Life in the Confederation is surprisingly peaceful, given the cen-
  turies of warfare and want. Most citizens go about their daily lives 
  as best they can, attempting to provide for their families and serve 
  the state in whatever capacity it requires. The masses of Capellans 
  who live without citizenship attempt to do the same, all the while 
  seeking the one redeeming act that will grant them citizenship 
  and a chance to advance. Since the reforms of Xin Sheng and the 
  resultant period of growth and stability, most Capellans actually 
  have that chance.
  Centuries of being the underdog in the Succession Wars have 
  made the Capellans a hardy people, accustomed to hard work with 
  little reward. A laborer in a Capellan industrial facility goes to his 
  job each day with the knowledge that his task is vital to the state’s 
  welfare and success; otherwise, his labor would not be wasted on 
  it. From the most knowledgeable BattleMech designers to the low-
  liest refuse collectors, each member of Capellan society is a cog in 
  the machine that is the Confederation. Though the Capellan sys-
  tem may not offer the material rewards of other societies, Capellan 
  citizens receive less tangible but more important rewards: free 
  BLACK MARKET 
  BASE COST TABLE
   
  Availability
    
  A 
  B 
  C 
  D 
  E 
  F
  Legality
   A 
  0.5 
  1 
  1.25 
  1.5 
  2.5 
  5
   B 
  1 
  2 
  2.5 
  3 
  5 
  7
   C 
  2 
  2.5 
  4 
  6 
  9 
  12
   D 
  3 
  4 
  5 
  7 
  11 
  18
   E 
  6 
  7 
  9 
  12 
  19 
  25
   F 
  9 
  11 
  15 
  20 
  25 
  35
  Additional Modifiers
  Capellan Commonality 
  x0.99
  Liao Commonality 
  x0.95
  Sian Commonality 
  x1.02
  St. Ives Commonality 
  x1.03
  Victoria Commonality 
  x0.95
  Major World* 
  x0.98
  Hot Zone* 
  x1.20
  Hostile Border* 
  x1.10
  Periphery Border World* 
  x1.00
  Green Zone World* 
  x0.90
  Backwater 
  x1.05
  *Hot Zone, Hostile Border, Periphery Border Worlds and Green Zone Worlds are 
  described in the Confederation Border Crossing Results rules on p. XX. Major 
  worlds serve as commonality capitals, or as centers of major industry (such 
  as worlds that host the companies described in this book, or that can locally 
  manufacture items of Tech Level D or better). 
  ExCHANgE RATE TABLE
  Exchange Rates (as of 1 September 3067):
   
  L-bill (yuan) 
  1
   
  C-bill 
  2.01
   
  D-bill (pound) 
  1.66
   
  S-bill (kroner) 
  1.70
   
  K-bill (ryu) 
  1.53
   
  M-bill (eagle) 
  1.79
   
  TC-bill (bull) 
  .50
   
  MC-bill (dollar) 
  .50
  
  RULES ANNEx
  154
  health care and education for their families; protection by the 
  Capellan Confederation Armed Forces; and the benevolent leader-
  ship of the Celestial Wisdom, the Capellan Chancellor.
  Corruption exists, of course. Many Capellan nobles are greedy, 
  shallow specimens of humanity who use the power and authority 
  the state grants them to aggrandize themselves or abuse the citi-
  zens placed under their care. Even in a realm as restrictive by Inner 
  Sphere standards as the Confederation, those in authority (civil or 
  military) have a large amount of autonomy, and that autonomy is 
  easily exploited. When exposed, corruption is brutally purged, but 
  this process is marred by the fact that almost all Confederation bu-
  reaucrats—the directorship caste—have grown to accept graft as a 
  necessary part of the fabric of the state. Therefore, they punish one 
  instance of corruption to enhance two others. Even in cases when 
  a guilty party is made an example of, a legion of replacements is 
  waiting in the wings, already waging economic or political battles 
  to fill the newly created power vacuum.
  Given the recent acquisitions of new territories, the Chancellor 
  has decreed Xin Sheng as an ongoing process, designed to help 
  welcome (or coerce) the newly liberated worlds back into the 
  Confederation fold. The worlds of the Liao and St. Ives common-
  alities are the Confederation’s future, capable of adding their 
  impressive economic and military potential to the already power-
  ful core worlds of the Sian and Capella commonalities. The former 
  Sarna March remains a hotbed of pro- and anti-Liao sentiment, 
  and while popular opinion appears to be solidly pro-Liao for the 
  moment, one mistake by the Chancellor or his government could 
  turn many of those former March worlds against them.
  Most Capellans view the citizens of the nearby realms with a 
  mixture of irritation and outright hatred. Generations of enmity 
  between the Confederation and both the Federated Suns and the 
  Free Worlds League mean that people on the worlds that border 
  those realms have little respect for their fellow humans across the 
  border. The détente with the Free Worlds League for much of the 
  3050s cooled this ire somewhat on League border planets, but the 
  break between the Chancellor and his former fiancée, Isis Marik, 
  has brought some of those tensions rumbling back. Reaction 
  to the Trinity Alliance has been mostly favorable, though many 
  Capellans quietly laugh at the absurdity of upstart Periphery na-
  tions assuming any sort of equality with a realm as proud as the 
  Capellan Confederation.
  REgIONAL vIEWS
  Though most denizens of the Capellan Confederation share 
  a sense of Capellan identity, each of the five commonalities have 
  slightly different values, goals and outlooks on their place in the 
  greater Confederation. 
  Sian Commonality
  Most citizens of the Sian Commonality are so certain of their 
  place in Confederation society that other Capellans often see them 
  as haughty. Centuries of immigration by absentee nobles and the 
  most ambitious members of the directorship have brought a high-
  er percentage of Sheng to the Sian Commonality, and landholds 
  on commonality worlds are highly prized. The abuse of servitors is 
  highest in this commonality as well. Despite Chancellor Sun-Tzu’s 
  reforms, the elitism of most Sian Commonality citizens makes it 
  hard for them to be as “nice to the help” as other Capellans might.
  Most Sian Commonality residents enthusiastically embraced 
  Xin Sheng—especially its Han trappings—in order to curry favor 
  with the government. Of all the commonalities, the people of Sian 
  are least likely to sacrifice for the state; their ancestors did all the 
  sacrificing necessary centuries ago. Now it’s their turn to reap the 
  benefits of that loyalty.
  Capella Commonality
  The Capella Commonality in 3067 is seething with resentment. 
  For most of the Succession Wars, this commonality was an inter-
  nal one, far away from the violent borders of Tikonov or Andurien. 
  All that changed in 3029, when Hanse Davion drove to their door-
  step and turned them into an armed border commonality. Capella 
  Commonality citizens are proud of the strong defenses they so 
  swiftly built, and of the thirty years’ vigilant watch they kept un-
  til the Liberation of 3057 and the subsequent creation of the Liao 
  Commonality pushed the Confederation’s borders back.
  Suddenly, in the view of many Capella Commonality citizens, 
  their region went from a valuable border province to a step-
  ping stone, with barely a thank-you for their decades of service 
  and sacrifice. Traffic through the Capellan Commonality is nearly 
  non-stop as people and supplies travel back and forth from Liao 
  
  RULES ANNEx
  155
  Commonality worlds to core Sian Commonality planets. Even 
  famed Capella, the birthworld of the Confederation, sometimes 
  feels like a forgotten waypoint on the journey from Liao to Sian, 
  and many Capella Commonality citizens are getting vocal in their 
  dislike of this situation.
  Liao Commonality
  The Liao Commonality is the Confederation’s emerging fron-
  tier—not in unexplored territory, but in unexplored opportunities. 
  The worlds of this commonality spent the previous thirty years as 
  vassals of the Federated Commonwealth and only recently returned 
  to Confederation rule. What makes this region the new frontier is 
  closely tied to that period of time.
  The survivors of the Davion invasion had to adapt to being Davion 
  subjects, but their children were raised that way—they have no con-
  cept of what it means to be citizens of the Confederation, and many 
  are not adjusting well to the more ordered Capellan society. This 
  presents opportunities for savvy Capellans, who have flocked to the 
  new worlds anxious to help their new brethren adapt. Immigrants 
  from the Sian Commonality especially are renowned for their knowl-
  edge of true Capellan custom—not the debased version Davion 
  propaganda presented the locals with during their childhood.
  Though resistance elements exist, for the most part the worlds 
  of the Liao Commonality are diligently trying to reacclimatize them-
  selves to Capellan rule—though they find some of the more esoteric 
  aspects of Capellan society, such as the caste system, confusing and 
  often distasteful.
  St. Ives Commonality
  In 3063, the St. Ives Commonality (then known as the Xin Sheng 
  Commonality) was mostly occupied territory, though the stead-
  fast acceptance of the Allard-Liao family and massive educational 
  programs by the Capellan Ministerial have turned this hotbed of 
  anti-Confederation sentiment into a slightly paranoid but mostly 
  loyal region. In an effort to promote reintegration, the Chancellor 
  approved massive resettlement initiatives that transplanted thou-
  sands of Capellan citizens to the former Compact worlds, which 
  has leavened the number of radical elements.
  Though the Maskirovka maintains a large and active pres-
  ence in the St. Ives Commonality, Duchess Candace Liao’s policies 
  have somewhat minimized the impact. Most St. Ives natives have 
  accepted reintegration into the Confederation and are attempt-
  ing to become loyal Capellan citizens again, but outbreaks of 
  terrorist-style resistance acts still occur despite being vilified and 
  prosecuted by Duchess Candace’s government.
  Immigrants from other commonalities to St. Ives tend to re-
  ceive guarded acceptance. Many transplants report relatively easy 
  integration coupled with lingering hostility, but most analysts cite 
  memories of the bloody fighting of 3060-3062 rather than seces-
  sionist fever as the cause of that response.
  Victoria Commonality
  The Victoria Commonality is the odd duck among the 
  Confederation’s five major regions. Split off from the Sian 
  Commonality in 3062, Victoria citizens are proud of their new sta-
  tus but aware that the rest of the Confederation regards them as 
  a backwater. For the most part they accept this evaluation, happy 
  not to identify with the elitist snobs of the Sian Commonality or 
  the dangerous radicals of St. Ives or Liao. They prefer to forget the 
  Capella Commonality—another sign of marginalizing that enrages 
  citizens of the Capella Commonality when they hear of it.
  The Trinity Alliance, as well as the prominence of the Shengli 
  Arms factory on Victoria, is doing much to improve the Victoria 
  Commonality’s reputation, at least in the Sian Commonality (and 
  to a lesser extent in St. Ives). With major trade routes connecting 
  both Trinity allies passing through the Victoria Commonality, rev-
  enues are increasing every day. As imports from the Concordat 
  and the Magistracy reach the worlds of the other commonali-
  ties, some Capellans are taking note of how those goods got to 
  them, increasing the Victoria Commonality’s exposure among 
  core worlds. Most Victoria Commonality citizens, however, re-
  main placid about their place in the Confederation. They know 
  the value of the work they do, and if the rest of the Confederation 
  doesn’t, that’s their problem.
  The Disputed Territories and the Chaos March
  Though the worlds of the Disputed Territories and the 
  Chaos March are arguably not part of the Confederation, many 
  Confederation citizens look on them as rightful Capellan posses-
  sions, and fully support the CCAF’s mission of reclaiming them 
  all for the Capellan realm. This sentiment is strongest in the Liao 
  Commonality, as its worlds border both territories, but the same 
  fervor runs strongly in the Capella and Sian commonalities as well. 
  Depending on the prevailing attitude of the disputed world in ques-
  tion, its people may be vilified or supported in the Confederation. 
  Worlds whose inhabitants are actively trying to return to the 
  Confederation are welcomed, but those whose populations claim 
  independence or allegiance to the Davions are derided as deluded 
  at best, traitors at worst. 
  Many Capellans are activists in the region—civilian and para-
  military groups travel from world to world, attempting to convince 
  them to return to the Confederation. The Capellan government 
  and the Maskirovka are known to support both sorts of groups, 
  though funding the remaining Zhanzheng de Guang cells on 
  worlds in the Disputed Territories remains the Maskirovka’s prima-
  ry focus. The targeted planets occasionally lodge protests with the 
  Capellan government, but most are ignored or replied to with plat-
  itudes about allowing worlds to choose their own governments.
  CROSSINg BORDERS
  Travel by citizens within the Confederation is monitored, but 
  not restricted. All citizens may travel for recreation, and reloca-
  tion to another world is acceptable if ordered by the Ministry of 
  Development—or at will, if one is a member of the entitled caste. 
  Other Capellans must receive permission from their diem, though 
  permission is often denied to past offenders or those deemed vital 
  to the war effort. Mercenaries under contract to the Confederation 
  (whether chartered or not) are afforded the same movement privi-
  
  RULES ANNEx
  156
  leges as the entitled, and members of the CCAF in active service 
  are not restricted except by their assigned duty. Diem-designated 
  administrations handle travel visas; they exist as physical and digi-
  tal documents, and are checked at every landfall (except for the 
  few worlds in the Victoria Commonality that don’t bother).
  Worlds lying within one jump of uncharted space or Inner 
  Sphere borders traditionally maintain close aerospace patrols, sys-
  tem sensor satellites and similar measures to watch for pirate or 
  military incursions, or to check suspect freight vessels for contra-
  band. These security measures protect Confederation worlds with 
  a variety of responses, ranging from a casual inquiry on cargoes 
  and flight plans, to brief detention pending inspection, to inter-
  ception and possible seizure of the transport. Interdiction duties 
  are formally a Home Guard function, but in high-profile systems 
  like commonality capitals or important industrial worlds, front-
  line CCAF regiments perform these duties. On the few remaining 
  worlds without a Home Guard presence, these duties are per-
  formed by planetary militias.
  Any vessel that refuses to submit to a security search is regard-
  ed as hostile and may even be fired upon by local aerospace forces 
  (or, lacking a suitable security force, flagged as a suspicious craft 
  within the Confederation). Those who submit and have nothing to 
  hide generally find a Customs search little more than a nuisance. 
  Boarding parties in Capellan Confederation border systems are 
  more rigorous than in the core worlds, and often include overt and 
  covert Maskirovka operatives who search not just for contraband, 
  but for evidence of espionage.
  Vessels deemed uncooperative or hostile in Confederation sys-
  tems can expect to be pursued by any available forces. Though 
  Home Guard units often have scant aerospace resources, they can 
  call on front-line CCAF forces that may be nearby, and most regi-
  ments that share garrison duties with Home Guard troops assign 
  an alert-ready squadron for fast deployment. Most interdictions 
  are carried out in space, with space-borne fighters or marine as-
  sault forces at the system’s recharge stations. Where space assets 
  are not available, uncooperative vessels will often find ground 
  forces waiting for them when they land on a Confederation world. 
  These troops will be ready for a fight, whether or not the offending 
  vessel is looking for one.
   Magistracy and Taurian-flagged vessels are granted expanded 
  travel rights in the Confederation as part of the Trinity Alliance, and 
  both realms’ trading fleets are reaching deeper and deeper into 
  the Confederation’s interior as demand for their wares—mostly 
  consumer goods—increases. Some traders—those from consor-
  tiums powerful enough to negotiate such contracts—even travel 
  with Capellan Navy liaison officers or, in a few cases, a squadron of 
  Capellan aerospace fighters.
  The Victoria Commonality’s Periphery border is currently under-
  going a ragtag reinforcement as security and interdiction forces are 
  reassigned to handle the increased ship traffic from both Trinity al-
  lies. The increase in shipping has made it much simpler for pirates 
  and bandits to slip through Capellan border defenses, disguised as 
  Magistracy or Taurian shipping. JumpShips entering Capellan space 
  can expect slowed Customs checks as the border security forces 
  scramble to keep up with the higher volume of traffic.
  In game terms, a border crosser (the JumpShip captain or the 
  most prominent of the player characters aboard the border-cross-
  ing vessel) may determine the likelihood of an encounter during an 
  attempt to cross any of the Capellan Confederation’s many region-
  al boundaries by making a modified Reaction Check. Additional 
  modifiers may apply to this roll based on various circumstances, 
  including character traits belonging to the border crosser. Certain 
  Action Checks, made before the vessel hops the border or soon 
  after its arrival, may further modify the circumstances surrounding 
  such travel.
  This modified Reaction Check, generally made as soon as the 
  border crosser enters a new system and completes any related 
  Action Checks (unless otherwise noted), determines what kind 
  of response—if any—the border crosser and his vessel arouse 
  among local security forces. All modifiers made to the standard 
  numbers given in the Capellan Confederation Reaction Table dur-
  ing a border crossing appear in the Additional Reaction Modifiers 
  section of the table.
  To determine a specific encounter or reaction from local mili-
  tary or security forces, or even bandits present in the system, the 
  border-crossing player should roll 2D6 and then apply the appro-
  priate reaction result modifier and consult the appropriate column 
  of the Border Crossing Roll Results Table for the region into which 
  the vessel has just crossed. The encounter descriptions provide a 
  
  RULES ANNEx
  157
  more detailed explanation of each encoun-
  ter type, allowing gamemasters to further 
  develop whatever reaction the arriving ves-
  sel and its crew receive.
  Capellan Confederation 
  Border Crossing Roll Results Table
  The Border Crossing Roll Results Table 
  in this book works a little differently than 
  the standard version. Encounter types are 
  determined by regional border and the 
  type of region into which player characters 
  are moving: hot zones, hostile borders, no-
  man’s land or green zones. Gamemasters 
  should note that not all zones exist during 
  all eras. Green zone worlds, for example, do 
  not exist during the Succession Wars.
  A hot zone is an active war zone, like 
  the Federated Suns/Confederation border 
  during the Fourth Succession War or the 
  Liberation of 3057. It may also be an extreme-
  ly tense DMZ-type area such as the de facto 
  “border” between the Confederation and 
  the Disputed Territories (where recent hos-
  tilities have made a trigger-happy response 
  to unauthorized ship traffic highly likely).
  A hostile border is a notch down on 
  the danger scale from a hot zone, but still 
  tense enough to get interesting. There’s 
  no active warfare going on, nor is it on the 
  brink, but the region has enough history 
  of mutual hostilities between powers that 
  player characters are likely to get hassled 
  when they try to cross over. Good examples 
  include the Confederation/Free Worlds bor-
  der near Andurien, or the border along the 
  Federated Suns’ Capellan March (especially 
  for ships crossing into Liao space, which 
  might easily be taken for Davion invaders).
  Periphery border worlds lie on the edge 
  of the Victoria Commonality that borders 
  “uncivilized” space, and therefore are most 
  heavily frequented by pirates as well as in-
  coming traffic from the Trinity ally states. Any 
  world along this border qualifies as such.
  Finally, a green zone is any border region 
  where relations between powers are fairly 
  calm, such as the long border between the 
  Confederation and the Free Worlds League 
  during the period when Chancellor Sun-
  Tzu Liao was engaged to Duchess Isis Marik 
  (3052-3060). 
  CApELLAN CONFEDERATION BORDER 
  CROSSINg ROLL RESULTS TABLE 
   
   
         encounters (per region type entered by border crosser) 
   
  Modified 
  hot 
  hostile 
  periphery 
  green 
   
  2d6 result 
  Zone 
  border 
  border 
  Zone 
   
  0 or less 
  Attacked! 
  Attacked! 
  Pirates! 
  Pirates! 
   
  1 
  Attacked! 
  Raiders! 
  Pirates! 
  Pirates! 
   
  2 
  Raiders! 
  Raiders! 
  Pirates! 
  Attacked! 
   
  3 
  Raiders! 
  Pirates! 
  Pirates! 
  Bandits! 
   
  4 
  Pirates! 
  Pirates! 
  Bandits! 
  Interception 
   
  5 
  Pirates! 
  Bandits! 
  Inspection 
  Interception 
   
  6 
  Bandits! 
  Interception 
  Attacked! 
  Conscription! 
   
  7 
  Interception 
  Interception 
  Attacked! 
  Inspection 
   
  8 
  Interception 
  Conscription! 
  Raiders! 
  Inspection
   
  9 
  Conscription! 
  Inspection 
  Interception 
  Registered 
   
  10 
  Conscription! 
  Inspection 
  Interception 
  Ignored 
   
  11 
  Scrutiny 
  Scrutiny 
  Scout 
  Ignored 
   
  12 
  Scout 
  Registered 
  Ignored 
  Ignored 
   
  13 or more 
  Registered 
  Registered 
  Greetings! 
  Greetings!
   
  Encounter Types 
  type 
  description/effects
  pirates!  
  A veteran bandit force of equal or greater strength in aerospace and marine support attacks 
  the border crosser(s) with the intent to cripple and plunder the vessel(s) and enslave everyone 
  on board. Over major worlds, such as industrial centers or national capitals, treat this as an 
  Attacked! result.
  bandits!  
  A bandit force of equal aerospace strength and average skill attacks the border crosser(s) with 
  the intent to board and plunder the vessel(s). Over major worlds, such as industrial centers or 
  national capitals, treat this as a Raiders! result.
  raiders!  
  A small strike force of equal or lesser strength in aerospace and marine assets from the nearest 
  military power attacks the border crosser(s) with intent to disable or capture the vessel(s) and 
  prevent them from warning local/regional security.
  scout 
  An unregistered and unknown JumpShip is discovered nearby. It does not respond to hails, but 
  may attack or flee if provoked. 
  attacked!  
  A veteran local military/security force of equal or greater aerospace and marine strength at-
  tacks the border crosser(s) with the intent to capture, cripple or destroy the vessel(s), believing 
  them to be hostile invaders or dangerous criminals. 
  interception 
  A local military/security force of equal strength in aerospace and marine assets and average 
  combat skills orders the surrender of the border crosser(s) and attempts to detain and board 
  the vessel(s) on suspicion of subversive activities or the smuggling of contraband. Will attack 
  with intent to cripple or destroy if provoked or if the border crosser(s) resist.
  inspection 
  A random Customs inspection, backed up by minimal force, is requested of the border-cross-
  ing vessel(s). Any attempt to resist or stonewall the inspection may result in local security 
  scrambling an interception force from the nearby jump station or patrol vessels, if any (see 
  Interception).
  conscription!  
  A current military crisis or emergency prompts local military/civil authorities to demand that 
  the vessel(s) used by the border crosser(s) immediately surrender command to an appointed 
  officer for possible transport of refugees or materiel. Any resistance will result in the scram-
  bling of interceptors to take the vessel(s) by force (see Interception). If there is no military or 
  local crisis, treat this result as an Inspection.
  scrutiny 
  The vessel(s) used by the border crosser(s) are flagged by local security or military for further 
  observation by other regional forces. Roll for an encounter in the next system, regardless of 
  location and border status, with an additional –2 Reaction roll modifier.
  registered 
  Local sensor probes or solitary patrol craft query the vessel(s) used by the border crosser(s) 
  regarding their identification, nationality, destination and business, but otherwise leave the 
  ships alone unless they engage in overtly hostile action or their responses to any inquiries fail 
  to check out. In such cases, local authorities may call for an inspection (see Inspection).
  ignored 
  Aside from a casual scan by local sensor satellites or wandering patrol craft, the border-cross-
  ing vessel(s) are left alone and unacknowledged by local authorities and traffic.
  greetings!  
  Friendly vessels and/or patrols operating close by issue trusting hails to the border-crossing 
  vessel(s). Aside from a genuine eagerness for conversation, news from beyond the system or 
  trade, these greetings have no ulterior motive.
  
  RULES ANNEx
  158
  CApELLAN CONFEDERATION 
  ADvENTURE HOOKS
  The worlds of the Capellan Confederation run the gamut from 
  prosperous planets to tiny settlements to near-wilderness worlds. 
  Depending on local conditions, varying amounts of turmoil may 
  be brewing beneath even the most placid surface, offering plenty 
  of potential trouble in which player characters can become en-
  meshed. Below are some plot hooks for gamemasters and players 
  to consider when campaigning in the Capellan Confederation (or 
  with Capellan characters).
  All Politics Is Local
  Politics in the Confederation is full-time job, and a way of life for 
  the directorship caste. From petty office politics to industrial es-
  pionage to grand interstellar maneuvering, almost every Capellan 
  is in some way aware of the political environment around them, 
  and their culture reflects that. A state that sees the individual as 
  subordinate to it—but is still composed of human beings who 
  are by nature greedy, individualistic creatures—is almost custom-
  made for political intrigue. The ruthless reaction to military dissent 
  makes almost any dissent political as an act of pure survival (not 
  that political dissent always turns out that way).
  CApELLAN CONFEDERATION REACTION TABLE
   
  2D6 Roll 
  Reaction Type 
  Reaction Result Modifier
   
  0 or less 
  Extremely Negative 
  –3
   
  1–4 
  Negative 
  –1
   
  5–8 
  Neutral 
  0
   
  9–12 
  Positive 
  +1
   
  13 or more 
  Extremely Positive 
  +2
  reaction roll modifiers
   
  receiving character origin
  reacting character 
  capellan confederation 
  inner sphere 
  other
  origin 
  sc 
  ca 
  lc 
  st 
  vc 
  dp 
  la 
  dc 
  fw 
  cM 
  fs 
  frr 
  cl 
  cs 
  wb 
  Sian Commonality 
  +1 
  +0 
  +1 
  –1 
  –1 
  –2 
  –0 
  –0 
  –1 
  –1 
  –3 
  +0 
  –2 
  –2 
  +1 
  Capella Commonality 
  +0 
  +1 
  +0 
  –1 
  +0 
  –2 
  –0 
  –0 
  –1 
  –1 
  –3 
  +0 
  –2 
  –1 
  +0
  Liao Commonality 
  +2 
  +1 
  +1 
  –0 
  –0 
  –2 
  –1 
  –0 
  –0 
  +2 
  –1 
  +0 
  –2 
  –1 
  +1
  St. Ives Commonality 
  –1 
  –1 
  –0 
  +2 
  –0 
  –2 
  +1 
  –0 
  –0 
  –1 
  +1 
  +0 
  –2 
  +1 
  –1
  Victoria Commonality 
  –1 
  –1 
  –1 
  –1 
  +2 
  –1 
  –0 
  –0 
  –1 
  –0 
  –2 
  +0 
  –2 
  –1 
  +2
  Periphery Border 
  –1 
  –1 
  –1 
  –1 
  +1 
  –1 
  +0 
  –0 
  –1 
  –0 
  –2 
  +0 
  –2 
  –2 
  –1
  Davion Border  
  –1 
  –1 
  +0 
  –1 
  –1 
  –2 
  –0 
  –0 
  –0 
  –1 
  –2 
  +0 
  –2 
  +0 
  +1
  Marik Border 
  –1 
  +0 
  +0 
  –0 
  –1 
  –2 
  +0 
  –0 
  –1 
  –2 
  –1 
  +0 
  –2 
  +0 
  –1
  Disputed Territory Border 
  –1 
  –2 
  –1 
  –1 
  –1 
  –2 
  +1 
  –0 
  –1 
  +1 
  –2 
  +0 
  –2 
  –1 
  –1
  receiving character origin Key:
  SC = Sian Commonality 
  CL = Clan 
  CS = ComStar 
  CA = Capella Commonality 
  DP = Deep Periphery 
  WB = Word of Blake
  LC = Liao Commonality 
  DC = Draconis Combine 
  ST = St. Ives Commonality 
  FW = Free Worlds League 
  VC = Victoria Commonality 
  CM = Chaos March 
  FS = Federated Suns 
  LA = Lyran Alliance 
  FRR = Free Rasalhague Republic
  additional reaction modifiers (for Border Crossing)
  condition or circumstance 
  reaction roll Modifier
  Major military activity underway in region 
  –2
  Border crosser is Commercial/Government-Employed 
  +1
  Border crosser is Independent Vessel 
  –2
  Border crosser is Trinity Ally 
  +2
  Border crosser is Mercenary/Friendly Military 
  +2
  Border crosser vessel is Military Class 
  –1
  Border crosser Connection Trait used* 
  +1/level
  Border crosser has Enemy/Negative Reputation Trait 
  –1/level
  Border crosser has In for Life/Dark Secret Trait 
  –2
  Border crosser has Unlucky/Bloodmark Trait 
  –1/level
  Border crosser uses Protocol Skill† 
  +1/2 MoS
  Border crosser attempts pre-emptive bribery‡ 
  +1/2 MoS
  Border crosser attempts bribery at crossing‡ 
  +1/3 MoS
  Border crosser failed in bribery attempt‡ 
  –MoF
  Border crosser failed previous crossing§ 
  –3 (+1/month since failure, max 0)
  *To be relevant, the Connection Trait must be applicable to the Confederation and must be exten-
  sive enough to influence the locals. The border crosser must make a successful Protocol Action 
  Check, adding the value of the Trait to the roll result.
  †Skill Checks are required for these efforts at the time of the border crossing, reflecting advance 
  communications or responses to hails from local security agencies, with modifiers based on 
  the margin of success (MoS).
  ‡Bribery attempts require a successful Negotiation or Performance Action Check with a –2 roll 
  modifier (plus any reaction modifiers from the Capellan Confederation Reaction Table). This 
  Action Check roll is modified by +1 for every 500 C-bills or 5 percent value of any cargo being 
  smuggled (whichever is greater) by the border crosser(s), as well as by the relevant reaction 
  roll modifiers from the Capellan Confederation Reaction Table. Double this monetary cost if 
  the bribe is attempted at the time of crossing, rather than having been arranged ahead of 
  time. A failed Action Check during a bribery attempt automatically applies the margin of fail-
  ure (MoF) to the border-crossing check roll.
  §Repeat the reaction roll for every world visited after the initial failure, regardless of location 
  or border status. This modifier increases over time by 1 point per month (based on the time 
  elapsed since the last failure) to a maximum of 0.
  
  RULES ANNEx
  159
  In any era, the obvious political move is to find some way to 
  profit from the current Chancellor’s policies, a practice that such 
  policies may either aid or impede. During the reign of Dainmar 
  Liao, for example, nearly every member of the Sheng and not a 
  few common citizens managed to manipulate the weak-willed 
  Chancellor and his equally inept government into letting them 
  make fortunes for themselves. During the reigns of the more 
  competent Chancellors, such as Aleisha or Sun-Tzu Liao, political 
  maneuvering takes a more devious route, but a canny character 
  can still manipulate the system to enrich himself—or destroy his 
  enemies, as the case may be.
  The Confederation is run mainly by the massive Ministerial, 
  which gives player characters access to nearly every level of the 
  Capellan government. Campaigns run on economic bases or caste 
  disputes, or involving nearly any facet of government, can be set 
  on almost any world. In addition, the reintegration of the St. Ives 
  and Liao worlds is causing any number of disputes that player 
  characters can take advantage of, and the influx of Taurian and 
  Magistracy goods and peoples makes for even more hooks.
  Big Brother Is Watching
   The Maskirovka is a constant companion in the Confederation, 
  and will most likely influence almost any player campaign. Despite 
  its fearsome reputation, it is for the most part a competent organi-
  zation devoted to the Confederation’s defense—at least according 
  to official policy. The danger is that the Maskirovka offers its agents 
  wide operational latitude, and some agents are more zealous than 
  others.
  If the players are Capellan or Capellan-oriented, the Maskirovka 
  may be watching them for signs of disloyalty. The secession of the 
  St. Ives Commonality in the Fourth Succession War and the infiltra-
  tion of Justin Xiang-Allard are still fresh in the Mask’s operational 
  memory, and they take betrayal seriously. Conversely, if the players 
  can convince the Mask that they are working in the Confederation’s 
  best interests, they may gain allies, contacts or help if they need it. 
  If they are working against the Confederation, they may find the 
  Maskirovka a maniacal enemy that will go to almost any lengths 
  to stop them. Maskirovka executives are far more forgiving of mis-
  takes that result in success—and the Confederation comes before 
  any one citizen. Or ten.
  Cutthroat Advancement
  For a realm that claims to put the needs of the state ahead of 
  the individual, Capellans are just as individualistic and greedy as 
  any other people. The hereditary Sheng nobility, for example, are 
  always on the lookout for ways to enrich themselves, either with 
  more valuable titles or greater lands. Sun-Tzu Liao’s revocation 
  of his mother’s seizure of all personal property only made things 
  worse, as the nobles (and no few rich commoners) scrambled to 
  acquire as much of the “seized and abandoned” property now 
  available.
  Player characters may easily get involved in schemes to under-
  mine a fellow nobleman or caste member even while fulfilling an 
  entirely different mission. Capellans are nothing if not opportunis-
  tic, and if they can sense a way to profit from a situation, they will. 
  Missions of this type offer rich gaming environments, as they can 
  easily involve any number of hooks: Maskirovka agents curious 
  about the goings-on in which the characters are involved, com-
  peting interests, official notice from a diem or refrector looking to 
  reinforce his or her own power, or even enemy action.
  Jolly Rogers
  Pirates are a nasty fact of life in the Inner Sphere, offering plenty 
  of opportunity for pirate-themed adventures. Player characters 
  may be hired to protect just about any Capellan Confederation 
  planet from bandit raids, particularly outlying worlds like 
  Repulse (Victoria Commonality), Brighton (St. Ives Commonality), 
  Aldebaran (Liao Commonality) or any of the planets that border 
  other Successor States. 
  The worlds of the Disputed Territories and the Chaos March are 
  rife with pirate activity. The lack of centralized authority in those 
  regions has drawn a massive influx of buccaneers and bandits anx-
  ious to profit from the subpar defenses and hiding in the confusion 
  of the ever-changing matrices of loyalty. Most of these bands strike 
  any target within range, be they other independent worlds or 
  worlds reclaimed by the Capellan Confederation or the Federated 
  Suns. The massive migrations of populations seeking to escape 
  the carnage make for easy sources of information and ready-made 
  cover for scouting missions, and player characters might be hired 
  to escort or infiltrate such migratory convoys to deal with the pi-
  rates. Alternatively, many sponsored mercenary campaigns hide in 
  these population movements or use them as cover to move from 
  world to world. The Maskirovka is always present as well, support-
  ing the remnants of the Zhanzheng de Guang that still operate on 
  many worlds.
  The Victoria Commonality has always been a target for pirate 
  raids, and the establishment of trade routes has done little to 
  discourage these attacks. If anything, they have increased as the 
  added traffic through commonality worlds has overworked the 
  understaffed Customs departments in those systems, making it 
  easier for pirates to slip through. Player characters may be tasked 
  to assist such Customs units, or perhaps to test Capellan defenses 
  by infiltrating the realm through the Periphery borders. Also, each 
  of the Trinity Alliance signatory states must be kept under constant 
  low-level observation to make certain they are upholding their 
  sides of the treaty agreements. During peak trading seasons, this 
  can be a labor-intensive job that attracts its fair share of pirates. 
  Attacked!
  The Capellan Confederation has always been the smallest—and 
  consequently, viewed as the weakest—of the five Successor States. 
  Because of that, any realm within reach has consistently attacked 
  it, including Periphery realms like the Magistracy of Canopus and 
  breakaway states like the Duchy of Andurien. Perennial enemies 
  like House Davion’s Federated Suns subject the worlds of the 
  Confederation to near-constant raids and assaults, and player char-
  acters operating on worlds within reach of Davion space can easily 
  be caught in such an attack and have to choose sides—sometimes 
  
  RULES ANNEx
  160
  even when working for Capellan interests. After all, if the estate of 
  your employer’s rival is under attack, do you rush to his defense or 
  allow the Davions to do your work for you?
  BATTLETECH RULES
  The following rules supplement those in Total Warfare (TW), 
  TechManual (TM) and Tactical Operations (TO), and cover combat in 
  various terrain and environmental conditions that players may en-
  counter in the BattleTech universe. All players should read through 
  these rules and agree to their use before beginning play.
  NEW UNIT TYpES
  The following are new battlefield unit types available in the 
  Confederation. Unless otherwise stated, they follow the rules laid out 
  in Total Warfare (TW), TechManual (TM) and Tactical Operations (TO).
  MINELAYER INFANTRY
  Though the Confederation’s battle armor corps has become 
  synonymous with minefields thanks to the integral mine-laying 
  equipment built into Fa Shih powered armor, the idea did not 
  come from nowhere. Specialist infantrymen have been trained to 
  lay minefields for centuries, but not until the tribulations of elastic 
  defense was the doctrine solidified in modern times. The minelay-
  er units of the Capellan Confederation are the most well known of 
  these troop types. Though many squads of these troops appear in 
  front-line formations, the bulk of these specialists serve in Home 
  Guard garrisons.
  Game Rules
  Minelayer squads and platoons follow the rules for Combat 
  Engineers (pp. 340-341, TO) for maximum size and construction. 
  They may be armed only with small/standard weapons such as 
  rifles because of their bulky mine-laying equipment. Mine-laying 
  platoons may be of any motive type except Mechanized: VTOL, 
  but suffer a –1 MP modifier (to a minimum of 1 MP) before they 
  have placed their mines. (After deploying mines, the unit may 
  move normally.)
  Minelayer infantry operates in a fashion similar to Demolitions 
  Engineers. When deploying a minefield, the mine-laying squad or 
  platoon may not engage in any other movement or combat ac-
  tions for two turns. If the unit is forced to move or is successfully 
  attacked while laying mines, the unit’s controlling player must roll 
  2D6. On a result of 2 or 12, the undeployed mines will explode, 
  causing 1D6 casualties to the mine-laying unit. On any other result, 
  the minefield is considered deployed and is activated during the 
  End Phase of the turn. Mine-laying platoons can lay any type of 
  minefield except EMP mines or space mines, but each platoon’s 
  minefield has a maximum damage potential of 6 points (half as 
  much, rounded up, if the unit is forced to move or is otherwise in-
  terrupted before finishing its task). The full amount of minefield 
  damage possible (based on platoon size) is shown in the Mine-
  laying Infantry Damage Table.
  Mine-laying platoons may combine their minefields (see 
  Combining Minefields, p. 210, TO).
  Minelayer infantry units successfully attacked before they have 
  deployed any mines must also roll 2D6 to see if their mines explode 
  prematurely. Once again, if the roll results are 2 or 12, the mines 
  detonate and cause 1D6 casualties. If this occurs before laying any 
  mines, the minelayer infantry may not deploy its minefields and 
  functions as if it has already deployed its mines. Each soldier in 
  these troops typically carries an Imperator AX-22 assault rifle and a 
  special man-portable mine dispenser, in addition to Capellan stan-
  dard armor and gear. These troops are most commonly fielded as 
  motorized infantry.
  CApELLAN MINE-LAYINg 
  INFANTRY RANgE MODIFIERS
  range 
  0 
  1 
  2 
  3 
  4 
  5 
  6
  To-Hit Modifier (Imperator AX-22) 
  –2 
  0 
  +2 
  +4 
  — 
  — —
  Capellan Mine-laying Infantry Damage Table 
  number of                      Maximum weapon damage*
  troopers 
  aX-22 
  Mines
  1 
  1 
  0
  2 
  1 
  1
  3 
  2 
  1
  4 
  2 
  1
  5 
  3 
  2
  6 
  3 
  2
  7 
  4 
  2
  8 
  4 
  2
  9 
  5 
  3
  10 
  5 
  3
  11 
  6 
  3
  12 
  6 
  4
  13 
  7 
  4
  14 
  7 
  4
  15 
  8 
  5
  16 
  8 
  5
  17 
  9 
  5
  18 
  9 
  5
  19 
  10 
  6
  20 
  10 
  6 
  *Infantry damage is always applied in 2-point damage value groupings.
  Mine-laying infantry weight, cost and bv table
   
   
  Tech Base
  Equipment Construction Data 
  (Availability) Weight* 
  Cost* 
  BV*
  Infantry Mine-laying Equipment 
  C/E-D-B/D 
   +0.1 
  +200 
  +0.375 
  (Offensive)
  *per trooper
   
  Tons per 
  Cost per
  Platoon Type 
  Platoon 
  Platoon (C-bills)* 
  BV*
  Capellan Mine-laying Platoon (Motorized) 
  6.5 
  1,865,904/9,329,523 
  47/65
  *Number to the left of the slash indicates Cost and BV without Anti-’Mech Training. The number to the 
  right of the slash indicates Anti-’Mech Training.
  
  RULES ANNEx
  161
  C-904 KATYA  
  gROUND ASSAULT CRAFT
  Mass: 30 tons
  Chassis: Mujika Aerospace Type 4.1
  Power Plant: Rawlings 210 Air Turbine
   
  Cruising Speed: 76 kph
   
  Flanking Speed: 119 kph 
  Armor: Mujika AeroShell Light
  Armament:
   
  2 GM MiniStorm Light Machine Guns
   
  4 Ceres Cr-15 Rocket Pods
  Manufacturer: Ceres Metals Industries
   
  Primary Factory: Tikonov, Capella
  Communications System: Duoteck 20
  Targeting and Tracking System: Radcom T5
  Overview
  The reintegration of the St. Ives Commonality returned aero-
  space manufacturer Mujika Aerospace to the Confederation. 
  Mujika, which had long produced the Guardian fighter-bomber, 
  was on the brink of selling the molds and manufactories for the 
  airframe in 3063 as unprofitable. The St. Ives Military Command 
  had never accepted the Guardian’s worthiness as a combat unit 
  on the modern battlefield, but sales to planetary militias, Home 
  Guard formations and mercenary units kept the production line 
  operating at half-schedule for a number of years. In the wake of 
  St. Ives’ return, representatives from Ceres Metals’ Confederation 
  division approached Mujika with a request to license much of 
  the Guardian’s airframe. Eager to appease the Confederation’s 
  Ministry of the Military, Mujika sold Ceres an inexpensive license 
  agreement and began dismantling the Guardian production lines. 
  With Ceres producing the airframe, there was little chance Mujika 
  could remain competitive.
  Ceres had little interest in the Guardian, however—only in its 
  components. In 3064, the first airframe took flight in an air show 
  on Capella, showcasing the new Katya ground assault craft, a strike 
  fighter designed for defensive missions against invading armies.
  Capabilities
  The Katya shares many components with the Guardian, which 
  was Ceres’ intent from the start. Despite its weaknesses, a large 
  logistical network already existed to support the Mujika airframe. 
  By using many of the same components, Ceres could guarantee 
  logistical support to all buyers simply by adding volume to the 
  existing network. The Strategios immediately saw the value of 
  this and ordered several hundred airframes to spread around the 
  Confederation in test packets.
  At thirty tons, the Katya is a medium-weight conventional fighter, 
  but it matches the Guardian in speed and exceeds it in first-strike 
  firepower. A Rawlins air turbine—the same brand as the Guardian’s—
  powers the Katya. The aircraft’s limited armor, frame and electronics 
  also match the Guardian, though the Katya’s electronics make train-
  ing pilots much easier. Software upgrades bring Guardian simulators 
  in line with the Katya’s performance characteristics
  Ceres engineers designed the Katya as a ground-strike fighter, 
  intended to make a single bombardment pass and return to rearm 
  and refuel. Centuries of data from the Succession Wars prove that 
  lightly armored aircraft that loiter around the battlefield tend to 
  be destroyed, so Ceres removed the temptation to loiter. With only 
  two tons of fuel, the Katya has short legs—but she also packs a 
  powerful punch.
  Four bundles of Cr-15 rockets are mounted beneath the wings. 
  This tremendous rocket volley is normally directed at a single tar-
  get during a strafing run, though several pilots have been known 
  to launch only half their volleys and then turn and attacking again 
  from the opposite direction before returning to base. For defen-
  sive firepower, the Katya sports a dual-mount light machine gun 
  bundle in the nose, useful for distracting enemies or scaring off 
  sappers trying to infiltrate Capellan airfields.
  Deployment
  Ceres has enough confidence in the Katya to have begun stan-
  dard production at Tikonov and Capella. The Tikonov production 
  lines are dedicated to fulfilling the Strategios’ test program, but 
  Capella’s airframes are being marketed to the Confederation’s 
  Trinity allies and Confederation-affiliated mercenary commands. 
  The Concordat and the Magistracy have expressed guarded inter-
  est in the Katya, though both realms currently deploy home-grown 
  aircraft to compete.
  In the Confederation, an entire wing has been sent to the 
  planet Liao for evaluation flights with the Hell’s Black Aces, the 
  acknowledged experts in all things aeronautical. The remaining 
  evaluation squadrons have been distributed to every Home Guard 
  unit in Confederation space. The Ministry of the Military’s standing 
  orders regarding the Katya have been to “…break in the aircraft, 
  including breaking the aircraft…” to test its hardiness. So far, the 
  Katya is standing up to the tests.
  Variants
  The Capella Home Guard is currently testing a pair of alternate 
  configurations for the Katya—one mounting two Cr-20 pods in 
  place of the four Cr-15s, and a second with 8 Cr-10s. Though the 
  design team felt the Cr-15 offered the best compromise of firepow-
  er and flexibility, the Home Guard on Capella is shaking out both 
  variants. Ceres Metals’ third-quarter report mentioned preliminary 
  design work on a long-range strike fighter, which is rumored to re-
  
  RULES ANNEx
  162
  move the paired MiniStorms in favor of greater fuel space, but that 
  variant has not progressed past initial design and feasibility stages.
  C-904 Katya Ground Assault Craft
  Type: Military Aerodyne
  Technology Base: Inner Sphere (Conventional)
  Tonnage: 30
  Equipment 
   
  Mass
  Engine: 
  210 Turbine 
  18
   Safe Thrust: 
  7
   Max Thrust: 
  11
  Structural Integrity: 
  7
  Heat Sinks: 
  0 
  0
  Fuel: 
  320 
  2
  Controls: 
   
  3 
  Power Amplifiers: 
   
  0
  Armor Factor: 
  24 
  1.5
   Armor
   
  Value
   Nose 
  10
   Wings 
  5/5
   Aft 
  4
  Weapons and Ammo 
  Location Tonnage Heat SRV MRV LRV ERV
  2 Light Machine Guns 
  N 
  1 
  0 
  1 
  — 
  — 
  —
  Ammo (MG) 100 
  — 
  0.5
  2 RL/15 
  RW 
  2 
  0 
  9 
  9 
  — 
  —
  2 RL/15 
  LW 
  2 
  0 
  9 
  9 
  — 
  —
  MóWáNg-CLASS COURIER
  One mark of prestige among Inner Sphere nobility is the owner-
  ship of personal space vessels. Powerful lords and dukes often vie 
  for the most prestigious vessels—lavish Monarch-class DropShips, 
  custom-appointed Scout-class JumpShips, even military craft. 
  Duke Hassid Ricol of the Draconis Combine was famous for being 
  the only man to own a Behemoth-class DropShip. The nobility of 
  the Confederation are no less petty in their games of one-upman-
  ship, but the Confederation often lacked the resources to provide 
  them with access to the largest spacefaring vessels. Instead, many 
  turned to personally commissioned intra-system craft that could 
  move them from planet surface to jump point (or between plan-
  ets). As the power of the diems increased during the Succession 
  Wars, many of these non-noble but still high-ranking individuals 
  appropriated the same practices.
  The Mówáng is a personal courier vessel most commonly used 
  by diems with multi-planetary systems to travel between worlds in 
  comfort and privacy. A small craft of a hundred tons, it carries the 
  diem and two favored assistants in extreme comfort, each with pri-
  vate accommodations and enough cargo capacity to move nearly 
  any personal goods (or contraband) the diem wishes. The vessel’s 
  three-man crew is always selected for their discretion and loyalty 
  to the diem.
  Mówángs are found in almost every duchy and warren in the 
  Confederation. The vessel has no specific manufacturer—the 
  House of Scions deemed the design an open license in 2835 and 
  encouraged worlds to begin constructing their own. The craft 
  itself is relatively simple and well within the wherewithal of any 
  sufficiently technological world to produce, though poorer worlds 
  often choose to import them. With a price tag barely exceeding 
  3.5 million C-bills (just over 7 million yuan), this type of ship is not 
  particularly expensive.
  Mówáng-class Courier
  Type: Civilian Aerodyne Small Craft
  Technology Base: Inner Sphere 
  Introduced: 2835
  Mass: 100 tons
  Dimensions
   
  Length: 22 meters
   
  Width: 18 meters
  Armor
   
  Nose: 16
   
  Wings: 16
   
  Aft: 16
  Cargo
   
  Bay 1: Cargo (5.5 tons) 
  1 Door
  Fuel: 21 tons (1,680 points/11.41 burn days)
  Heat Sinks: 0
  Safe Thrust: 4
  Max Thrust: 6
  Structural Integrity: 6 
  Crew and Passengers:  
   
   
  3 crew
   
  1 first-class passenger, 2 steerage passengers
  Weapons and Ammo 
  Location Tonnage Heat SRV MRV LRV ERV
  None 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  —
  Notes: Equipped with 2.5 tons of standard armor.
  
  RULES ANNEx
  163
  CRUCIBLE STATION
  The Maskirovka has perhaps the most ruthless reputation of 
  all the Inner Sphere intelligence agencies, and none of their di-
  visions are more feared than their interrogators. Because of this 
  reputation, enemy intelligence agencies have spent considerable 
  effort over the years locating and scouting the Maskirovka’s inter-
  rogation centers with an eye toward rescuing captured agents or 
  simply destroying the facility. Often, this task is aided by nearby 
  civilians or by escaped prisoners. In 3060, the Maskirovka decided 
  it needed a more secure facility, and chose the deadly vacuum of 
  space as its best defense.
  Dubbed Crucible Station at its activation in 3065, this 6,000-ton 
  station near Sian is the Maskirovka’s most modern interrogation 
  facility. It hangs in an isolated orbit around Nuwa, one of Sian’s 
  moons, and is defended by a dedicated (and well hidden) squadron 
  of moon-based interceptors. The Maskirovka counts on distance as 
  its main defense—Sian is rarely attacked, and any infiltrator vessels 
  are unlikely to penetrate the jump point’s defenses. The station’s 
  integral defenses are minimal but effective against light craft.
  Almost a half-kilometer long, Crucible maintains six grave 
  decks, each 185 meters in diameter, that house all the interroga-
  tion rooms and administrative areas. Berthing is included for six 
  small craft—normally intra-system craft like the Mówáng courier 
  or ST-46-style shuttles. To reduce the risk of escape, no craft are 
  permanently assigned. In addition, Crucible carries a massive 500-
  ton fuel bunker, making re-supply rare and helping to keep the 
  station’s location hidden.
  The station’s normal Maskirovka complement is a dozen senior 
  analysts and forty interrogators. Security is maintained by a full 
  battalion of CCAF marines, who are responsible for the rare move-
  ment of all 300 prisoners. Each prisoner is held in a solitary cell with 
  interrogation facilities built in, making it unnecessary to move the 
  prisoners from cell to interrogation room. Instead, interrogators 
  move from cell to cell as needed.
  Though only in operation for a little more than eighteen months, 
  Crucible has already become home to some of the highest-profile 
  prisoners in the Confederation, individuals deemed too dangerous 
  to be put in the general population of Brazen Heart or one of the 
  other penal colonies. A number of dissidents from the St. Ives and 
  Liao commonalities are also rumored to be aboard, though that 
  cannot be confirmed. No prisoner has ever returned from Crucible 
  Station—once assigned there, they simply disappear.
  Crucible Station
  Type: Space Station
  Technology Base: Inner Sphere
  Introduced: 3065
  Mass: 6,000 tons
  Dimensions
   
  Length: 400 meters
   
  Width: 450 meters
  Fuel: 100 tons (1,000)
  Tons/Burn-day: 0.282
  Heat Sinks: 150 Double
  Structural Integrity: 1
  Armor
   
  Nose: 20
   
  Fore-sides: 20
   
  Aft-sides: 20
   
  Aft: 20
  Cargo
    
  Bay 1: Small Craft (6) 
  2 Doors
   
  Bay 2: Infantry (foot) Platoons (9) 
   
  Bay 3: Cargo (550 tons) 2 Doors
  Grav Decks: 2 (450-meter)
  DropShip Capacity: 0
  Life Boats: 6
  Escape Pods: 40
  Crew: 9 officers, 39 enlisted/non-rated, 8 gunners, 12 first-class pas-
  sengers, 40 second-class passengers, 300 steerage passengers, 282 
  bay personnel
  Ammunition: 8 tons SRM-6 (120 rounds)
  Notes: Carries 75 tons of standard armor.
  weapons: 
  capital attack values (standard)
  arc (heat) type 
  short 
  Medium 
  long 
  extreme 
  class
  nose (94 heat)
   
  3 ER Large Lasers 
  2 (24) 
  2 (24) 
  2 (24) 
  — 
  Laser
   
  3 Small Pulse Lasers  
  1 (9) 
  — 
  —  
  —  
  Point Defense
   
  2 SRM-6 
  2 (16)  
  — 
  — 
  — 
  Missile
  fl/fr (94 heat)
   
  3 ER Large Lasers 
  2 (24) 
  2 (24) 
  2 (24) 
  — 
  Laser
   
  3 Small Pulse Lasers  
  1 (9) 
  — 
  —  
  —  
  Point Defense
   
  2 SRM-6 
  2 (16)  
  — 
  — 
  — 
  Missile
  al/ar (94 heat)
   
  3 ER Large Lasers 
  2 (24) 
  2 (24) 
  2 (24) 
  — 
  Laser
   
  3 Small Pulse Lasers  
  1 (9) 
  — 
  —  
  —  
  Point Defense
   
  2 SRM-6 
  2 (16)  
  — 
  — 
  — 
  Missile
  aft (94 heat)
   
  3 ER Large Lasers 
  2 (24) 
  2 (24) 
  2 (24) 
  — 
  Laser
   
  3 Small Pulse Lasers  
  1 (9) 
  — 
  —  
  —  
  Point Defense
   
  2 SRM-6 
  2 (16)  
  — 
  — 
  — 
  Missile
  
  RULES ANNEx
  164
  ANDRYUSHA-CLASS 
  BOMBARDMENT FRIgATE
   During the Liberation of 3057, a number of worlds in the Liao 
  Commonality were freed from the Federated Suns. Though held 
  under the thumb of Hanse Davion and his heirs for a generation, 
  a number of loyal Capellans had joined the various militias and 
  planetary militaries of the former Tikonov Commonality worlds, 
  and when the rightful rulers of those worlds returned, they gladly 
  turned over their equipment.
  On Liao, this included three Rapier-class patrol destroyers re-
  cently arrived in the Cyntheryen Sea. All three captains decided to 
  dock their destroyers and surrender to the Warrior House troops 
  liberating the world rather than see the ships sunk, and the Ministry 
  of the Military appropriated the hulls. In 3065, Liao’s Home Guard 
  acquired them and began an ambitious refit program, designed 
  to provide coastal areas (including several homes of prominent 
  members of the House of Scions) with extra support in the event 
  of a Davion counterattack. Designated Andryusha bombardment 
  frigates, the three hulls were dry-docked near the Kurnath Liao 
  Memorial Naval Base for eighteen months.
  Shipfitters at Kurnath removed the Rapiers’ turrets and gutted 
  much of the interior, removing the infantry bays and doubling the 
  berthing to accommodate a full squadron of VTOLs. Each of the 
  Rapiers’ three turrets was replaced with a paired Long Tom bar-
  bette, which gives the Andryusha a fearsome six-barrel broadside. 
  The rear-facing laser positions were upgraded to extended-range 
  PPC emplacements. The missile and torpedo armament was left 
  intact, and the first vessel—LNS Nikita—left dry dock in mid-3067 
  for her shakedown cruise.
  In exercises, the Andryusha has proven a fearsome opponent. 
  Her extensive communications facilities allow her to accept target-
  ing data from units on land or from any of her six integral spotter 
  VTOLs. Exercises with the Dynasty Guard have shown her to be 
  susceptible to air attack, and though Nikita is barely two months 
  from leaving dock, the Liao navy design bureau is contemplating 
  attempting a carrier conversion on the third Rapier hull—the for-
  mer FSS Duladier—or simply purchasing a dedicated carrier hull to 
  support the three-ship Andryusha division.
   
  andryusha-class Bombardment Frigate
  Chassis Type: Naval Vessel (Large, Template C)
  Mass: 8,500 tons
  Equipment Rating: E/X-X-F/E
  Equipment 
   
  Mass
  Chassis/Controls: 
  Standard 
  1,843
  Engine/Trans: 
  Electric (Fuel Cell) 
  1,997
   Cruising MP: 
  5
   Flanking MP: 
  8
  Heat Sinks: 
  52 
  52
  Fuel: 
  8,347 km 
  2,500
  Turrets (3): 
   
  6
  Armor Factor (BAR 10): 
  514 
  29
   
   
  Internal  
  Armor
   
   
  Structure 
  Value
   Front 
  35 
  60
   Front R/L Side 
  35 
  55/55
   Rear R/L Side 
  35 
  53/53
   Rear 
  35 
  53
   Turret (x3) 
  35 
  55
  Weapons and Ammo 
  Location 
  Tonnage
  1 Long Tom 
  Turret (1) 
  30
  1 Long Tom 
  Turret (2) 
  30
  2 LRM-20 
  Front 
  20
  1 LRM-20 (Torpedo) 
  Front Left (2) 
  10
  1 LRM-20 (Torpedo) 
  Front Right (2) 
  10
  1 ER PPC 
  Rear Left (4) 
  7
  1 ER PPC 
  Rear Right (4) 
  7
  Ammo (Long Tom) 150 
  Body 
  30
  Ammo (LRM) 36 
  Body 
  6
  Ammo (LRT) 24 
  Body 
  4
  Advanced Fire Control 
  Body 
  15
  Crew: 22 officers, 48 enlisted/non-rated, 58 gunners, 15 bay per-
  sonnel
  Cargo
   1,052 tons Standard (Body)              2 Doors (Rear Left, Rear Right)
   6 Light Vehicle Bays (300 tons) (Body) 
   
  Notes: Features Armored Chassis and Controls modification, 
  30 Life Boats (30 tons), 1 Helipad (500 tons), Communications 
  Equipment (10 tons), 1 field kitchen (3 tons), 1 MASH unit with 5 op-
  erating theaters (7.5 tons), CASE (3.5 tons)
  
  RULES ANNEx
  165
  HONg LUNg  
  INTERDICTION STATION
  The penal moon of Brazen Heart was one of Maximilian Liao’s 
  favorite destinations for the criminals (some guilty, some not) who 
  displeased him. He ordered the moon’s defenses strengthened 
  after almost every visit, fearing a prisoner might overpower one 
  of the few supply ships that touched down on the surface and es-
  cape. His paranoia came to a head in 3022, when he ordered the 
  construction of eight interdiction stations around the moon. The 
  Capellan Science Foundation responded with the Hong Lung in-
  terdiction station.
  Based on outdated capital system defense stations from the 
  Star League era, CSF designers based the Hong Lung’s armament 
  on disablement and capture. A full company of marines is sta-
  tioned on each Hong Lung, with a pair of assault shuttles to move 
  them toward an escaping ship, while each facing of the cramped, 
  sixty-meter spherical station carries an identical anti-shipping bat-
  tery: a quad-mount PPC battery for smashing hulls, supported by 
  a bank of long-range missiles for interdiction, and a battery of me-
  dium lasers for close-in defense. The CSF engineers planned for 
  a Hong Lung to hold its own against any DropShip up to a Union-
  class military transport.
  The prototype Hong Lung was declared operational above 
  Brazen Heart’s northern polar cap in 3024, with follow-on construc-
  tion to commence immediately. By the time of the Davion invasion 
  that launched the Fourth Succession War, three additional Hong 
  Lungs had been built, but the war effort and the secession of the St. 
  Ives Commonality ended further construction. The St. Ives military 
  mothballed the stations when they closed the Brazen Heart penal 
  facility in the 3030s. Three of the stations survived until the recla-
  mation, and the Maskirovka has reactivated all of them.
  Though further construction has not yet been funded, a feasi-
  bility team of inspectors recently arrived from Sian to determine 
  the usefulness of the Hong Lungs as close-orbit planetary de-
  fense platforms. Research requests have been circulating, slated 
  for increasing the defenses at the Aris Yards above Necromo; the 
  Strategios appears likely to consider building upgraded Hong 
  Lungs as a Xin Sheng effort before long.
  Hong lung-class Interdiction Station
  Type: Space Station
  Technology Base: Inner Sphere
  Introduced: 3024
  Mass: 2,000 tons
  Dimensions
   
  Length: 60 meters
   
  Width: 60 meters
  Fuel: 54 tons (540)
  Tons/Burn-day: 0.282
  Heat Sinks: 79
  Structural Integrity: 1
  Armor
   
  Nose: 16
   
  Fore-Sides: 16
   
  Aft-Sides: 16
   
  Aft: 16
  Cargo
    
  Bay 1: Small Craft (2) 
  1 Door
   
  Bay 2: Cargo (152 tons) 
  1 Door
   
  Bay 3: Infantry (foot) Platoons (3)
  Grav Decks: 1 (60-meter)
  DropShip Capacity: 0
  Life Boats: 2
  Escape Pods: 8
  Crew: 9 officers, 36 enlisted/non-rated, 12 gunners, 10 bay personnel
  Ammunition: 16 tons LRM-20 (96 rounds)
  Notes: Carries 60 tons of standard armor.
  weapons: 
   capital attack values (standard)
  arc (heat) type 
  short 
  Medium 
  long 
  extreme 
  class
  nose (94 heat)
   
  4 PPCs 
  4 (40) 
  4 (40) 
  — 
  — 
  PPC
   
  2 LRM-20 (24 rounds)  
  2 (24) 
  2 (24) 
  2 (24)  
  —  
  Missile
   
  6 Medium Lasers 
  3 (30)  
  — 
  — 
  — 
  Laser
  fl/fr (94 heat)
   
  4 PPCs 
  4 (40) 
  4 (40) 
  — 
  — 
  PPC
   
  2 LRM-20 (24 rounds)  
  2 (24) 
  2 (24) 
  2 (24)  
  —  
  Missile
   
  6 Medium Lasers 
  3 (30)  
  — 
  — 
  — 
  Laser
  al/ar (94 heat)
   
  4 PPCs 
  4 (40) 
  4 (40) 
  — 
  — 
  PPC
   
  2 LRM-20 (24 rounds)  
  2 (24) 
  2 (24) 
  2 (24)  
  —  
  Missile
   
  6 Medium Lasers 
  3 (30)  
  — 
  — 
  — 
  Laser
  aft (94 heat)
   
  4 PPCs 
  4 (40) 
  4 (40) 
  — 
  — 
  PPC
   
  2 LRM-20 (24 rounds)  
  2 (24) 
  2 (24) 
  2 (24)  
  —  
  Missile
   
  6 Medium Lasers 
  3 (30)  
  — 
  — 
  — 
  Laser
  
  INDEx
  166
  • A •
  Acquisitions and Training, 102
  Administration and Finance, 102
  adventure hooks, 158-60
  Age of War, 18
   
  timeline, 24
  agricultural dependence, 70
  Aldis Industries, 132
  Allard, Justin Xiang, 42-46, 48, 50-52,
   
  77, 81, 95, 159
  Allard, Quintus, 43
  Allard-Liao, Kai, 65, 81, 95
  Amaris, Stefan, 23, 26
  Andryusha, 164
  Andurien, 47-48
  Anton’s Revolt, 37
  Apple-Churchill brand 
   
  personal mine detector, 145
   
  personal surveillance kit, 145
   
  VTOL, 148-49
  Ares, 72
  Ares Conference, 19
  Ares Conventions, 18, 66
  Ariana Fusiliers, 29
  Aris, Jurdan, 13, 14
  Aris, Normann, 21
  Aris, Warren, 14-15, 16
  Armed Forces, 22
  artists, 115
  arts, 119
  Asuncion escape suit, 144
  Asuncion Industries, 130
  attacks, 159-60
  Avalon Hussars, 29, 30
  • B •
  Bannson, Xavier, 137
  Barduc, 94
  Baton of Illustrious Service, 110
  BattleMech, 19, 21, 22, 133
  BattleTech, 139
   
  rules, 160-65
  Baxter, Marcus, 96
  Bergan Industries, 133
  biological weapons, 18
  Bithinian Ballistics, 133
  Bithinian dirt grinder, 139
  black market, 153
  Blackwind Lancers, 64, 79
  bombardment frigate, 164
  border crossing roll results, 157
  border crossings, 155-57
  Borlenko, Edgar, 22
  Brazen Heart, 125-26, 165
  Brighton, 82
  • C •
  Cameron, Richard, 22-23
  Capella, 71
  Capella Commonality Bank, 131
  Capella Commonality, 71-73, 154-55
  Capella Commonality Bank, 131
  Capella Prime, 16-17
  Capella War College, 104-5
  Capellan Brigade, 104
  Capellan Broadcast Service, 118-19
  Capellan Commonality, 13, 14
  Capellan Concordat, 115
  Capellan Confederation
   
  formation of, 15-20
   
  founding map, 17
   
  genesis of, 13-16, 18-20
   
  history of, 9, 11-12
   
  map of 2571, 25
   
  maturity, 20-24
  Capellan Confederation Armed Forces 
  (CCAF), 103, 135
   
  high command of, 101-2
   
  regional commands of, 102-4
   
  structure of, 101
   
  training centers, 104-6
   
  uniforms and insignia, 107-10
   
  unit types, 106-7
  Capellan Hegemony, 13
  Capellan Holdfast, 13, 14
  Capellan Hussars, 102
  Capellan March, 37, 42, 44, 45, 86
  Capellan Republic, 13
  Capellan Science Foundation, 118
  Capellan Zone, 11, 13, 14 
   
  timeline, 12, 13
  captain, 109
  carbine, 146
  Carinus, Anton, 14
  caste system, 115-16
  Centrella, Emma, 63
  Centrella, Kyalia, 47
  Ceres Arms 
   
  Slasher combat knife, 146
   
  Stalker sniper rifle, 146
   
  Striker carbine, 146
  Ceres Metals Industries, 135
  Ceres-85 delivery vehicle, 147-48
  Chancellor, 90-91 
   
  people who served as, 91-92
  Chancellor’s Colors, 110
  Chancellor’s Cunning, 99
  Chancellor’s Ear, 99
  Chancellor’s Eyes, 99
  Chancellor’s Hand, 98-99
  Chancellor’s Shield, 99
  Chancellor’s Sword, 99
  Chancellor’s Voice, 99
  Chancellor’s Will, 99
  chancellory decree, 129
  Chang-Cheng, 103
  Chaos March, 58, 63, 66, 103, 131,
   
  155, 159
  chemical weapons, 18
  Chesterton debacle, 28-29
  Chesterton Decree, 90
  Chesterton Liberation Battalion, 22
  Chinn, Diana, 14
  Citation for Meritorious House 
  Service, 111
  Citizen’s Honored, 104
  citizenship, 114-15
  Civil Seal of Valor and Sacrifice, 110
  Clan invasion, 15, 23, 50-51,
   
  54, 133, 134 
   
  timeline, 53
  Cluster of Conspicuous Heroism, 110
  colonel, 109
  combat knife, 146
  combat officer uniforms, 107-8
  commonalities, 97, 116
  commonality loans, 129
  ComStar, 9, 11, 34, 44, 54, 55, 82, 86
   
  Com Guards, 51, 54, 55
  Concord of Kapteyn, 38, 43
  Confederation Master
   
  at Arms, 110-12
  Confederation on New Avalon, 16
  consumer research, 120-21
  corporal, 110
  corruption, 154
  cost of living, 149-50
  courts, 125
  creatures, 139-44
  crime/punishment, 125-26
  Crucible Station, 163
  Crucis Lancers, 28-29
  Crucis March, 37, 42, 43
  currency, 129, 129
  Cynthiana, 11, 12
  • D •
  Dan, Lao-Tzu, 97, 136
  Davion Assault Guards, 32
  Davion fleet, 16, 18
  Davion, Hanse
   
  Capellan realm impact of, 75
   
  game rules and, 153
   
  historical impact of, 36-37, 41-46,
   
   
  50, 57, 63
  Davion, Melissa, 32
  Davion, Paul, 28
  Davion, Reynard, 15, 18
  Death Commandos, 36, 45, 77-78, 99,
   
  101, 103, 140
  death penalty, 125
  delivery vehicle, 146-47
  demesnes, 98
  Denbar, 82-83
  Deneb Light Cavalry, 30
  Devlin, Colonel, 27-28
  Diana’s War, 13-14
  directorship, 115
  Disputed Territories, 57, 63, 66,
   
  155, 159
  Draconis Combine
   
  game rules and, 145
   
  historical impact of, 26, 38, 42-
  43, 48, 50, 54, 59, 61
  Drozan, 86
   
  whitefish, 139-40
  duchies, 97-98
  Duchy Citation, 112
  Duchy of Andurien, 46, 47
  Dux, Julian, 14
  Dynasty Guard, 102, 146
  • E •
  Earthwerks, Limited, 134
  economy, 55
   
  growth in, 62-63
   
  national, 128-29
  Edicts of St. Ives, 125
  education, 116-18
  elastic defense, 33, 34, 36
  elementary education, 116-17
  emergency funding, 129
  encounter types, 157
  entitled, 115-16
  equipment table, RPG statistics, 147
  escape suit, 144
  • F •
  Federated Commonwealth, 48,
   
  50-51, 54, 59, 75-77, 134
  Federated Suns
   
  Capellan realm impact on, 75, 86
   
  economics and, 129, 134, 136
   
  games rules and, 154
   
  historical impact of, 14-16, 18,
   
   
  23, 28-30, 32-34, 37-38,
   
   
  41-45, 51, 57, 64 
  Firmir Commercial, 131
  Focht, Anastasius, 59
  Free Rasalhague Republic, 50, 54
  Free Worlds League
   
  game rules and, 154
   
  historical impact of, 14-15, 18,
   
   
  21, 29-30, 33, 35-36, 38,
   
   
  45-46, 48, 54-56, 64-66
  Freebooter’s War, 21
  Freebooters, 20
  freedom fighters, 56
  Fronc Reaches, 86
  • G •
  Gan Singh, 75
  Geifer Pachy, 72, 134
  general, 109
  government sale of
   
  landed property, 129
  Grand Base, 78-79
   
  great crocodile, 140-41
  Grand Cordon of Merit, 112
  green zone, 157
  ground assault craft, 161-62
  • H •
  Harloc Warriors, 59
  Hasek-Davion, Michael, 37-38,
   
  42-44, 45
  Hasek-Davion, Morgan, 45
  Hellespont Industrials, 134
  Highspire, 75-76
  Hildco Interplanetary, 134
  Holdfast Guard, 102
  Hollis Incorporated, 135
  Home Guard, 106
  Hong Lung, 165
  honors, 110-12
  hostile border, 157
  hot zone, 157
  House Cameron, 23
  House Davion, 13-14, 18, 22, 28-30,
   
  33-37, 42-43, 56, 74, 101, 119
  House Hiritsu, 79
  House Imarra, 32
  House Kurita, 28, 50
  House Liao, 9, 34, 38, 44, 48, 77,
   
  95-96, 129
  House Marik, 26-28, 30, 33-35, 38, 52
  House of Scions, 18-20, 33,
   
  65, 93, 125
  Hustaing, 79
  • I •
  Imarra, Kamachi, 32
  immigration, 114
  industry, 129-32
   
  development of, 70
   
  output of, 70
  infantry platoon
   
  construction data, 147
  Ingersoll, 73
  Inner Sphere, 9, 16, 20, 23, 32, 41-42
  insignia, 108
  intelligentsia, 115
  interstellar trade, 128-29
  Iveco Corporation, 130
  • J •
  Jade Falcon Clan, 57, 59
  janshi, 116
  • K •
  Kaifend tree sloth, 141
  Kathil, 44-45
  Kerensky, 27
  Kerensky, Aleksandr, 22, 23, 27, 50
  Korvin DeVall, Alana, 120-21, 124
  Korvin Doctrine, 121-22, 124
  Kurita, Hohiro, 50
  Kurita, Minoru, 26
  • L •
  Lebedev Nautical Enterprises, 131
  Lee, Nancy Bao, 97, 98
  Liao (planet), 11, 12-13, 74
   
  buffalo, 141-42
   
  as Commonality, 74-77, 149, 155
   
  Conservatory of Military Arts, 105
   
  Sunburst of Gallantry, 112
  Liao, Aleisha, 18-19, 66, 72
  Liao, Androsar, 21-22
  Liao, Barbara, 23, 26-28
  Liao, Candace
   
  economics impact of, 128
   
  game rules and, 155
   
  historical impact of, 45-46,
   
   
  48, 50-52, 64-66
   
  realm impact of, 81, 83, 91, 95
  Liao, Caroline Tucas, 14, 15-16, 18
  Liao, Dainmar, 32
  Liao, David Paul, 11
  Liao, Duke Gregory, 95-96
  Liao, Duncan, 19
  Liao, Elias Jung, 11-12, 13
  Liao, Franco
   
  governmental impact of, 90, 95
   
  historical impact of, 11-12, 14-16, 
  18, 20, 57
   
  societal/cultural impact of, 123
  Liao, Gregory, 131
  Liao, Hendrik, 19, 20
  Liao, Ilsa, 28-29
  Liao, Ingrid, 34
  Liao, Jasmine, 19, 102
  Liao, Kali, 65, 66, 75, 95
  Liao, Kalvin the Mad, 19-20, 22,
   
  90-91, 95
  Liao, Kurnath, 18
  Liao, Laurelli, 29, 30, 32
  Liao, Maximilian
   
  Capellan realm impact of, 80, 90, 
  91, 98
   
  economics impact of, 128, 129
   
  game rules and, 165
   
  historical impact of, 9, 35-37, 
  42-45, 48, 54, 65
   
  societal/cultural impact of, 122, 
  123, 125 
  Liao, Merlin, 33-34
  Liao, Otto, 32-33
  Liao, Romano, 131
   
  historical impact of, 45-48,
   
   
  50-52, 54
   
  realm impact of, 75, 78, 90,
   
   
  93-95, 98
   
  societal/cultural impact of,
   
   
  119, 120, 125
  Liao, Stephen, 19
  
  INDEx
  167
  Liao, Sun-Tzu
   
  economics impact of, 130
   
  governmental impact of, 85, 90, 
  93-96, 98
   
  historical impact of, 9, 20, 33, 46, 
  50-52, 54-59, 61-66
   
  military impact of, 103
   
  realm impact of, 72, 77, 80, 85, 
  90, 93-96, 98, 103
   
  societal/cultural impact of,
   
   
  119-21, 124
  Liao, Sundermann, 21
  Liao, Tormano, 48, 65
  Liao, Tormax, 34-36, 121, 125
  Liao, Ursula, 20-21
  Liao, Victor, 11, 13
  Liao, Warex, 22
  Liaoist Doctrine, 127
  lieutenant, 109
  lieutenant colonel, 109
  Ling, Helen, 97, 134
  literature, 119
  Lorix Creed, 19
  Lorix Order, 123
  Lustrix Commodities, 132
  Lyran Alliance, 57, 64
  Lyran Commonwealth,
   
  33, 38, 41-43, 57, 66
  • M •
  Magistracy of Canopus, 78
   
  Capellan economics and, 124
   
  Capellan government and, 95
   
  game rules and, 145, 154, 156
   
  historical interactions with 
  Capellan, 21, 46, 47-48, 58-59, 63, 
  64, 66
  major, 109
  Malenkov, Alexi, 48
  Marik, Anton, 36
  Marik, Charles, 30
  Marik, Isis, 54, 55, 64, 79, 155
  Marik, Janos, 43
  Marik, Thomas, 48, 50, 54, 57-58
  Marlette Association, 13-14
  martial academies, 117
  Maskirovka
   
  in Capellan government, 97-99
   
  in Capellan realm, 76, 77, 78, 88
   
  in Capellan society/culture, 126
   
  Directorate of, 98
   
  economic impact of, 133, 137
   
  game rules impact of, 145,
   
   
  148-50, 155, 159, 163
   
  historically, 18-19, 22, 27-29,
   
   
  36-37, 41-44, 46, 48,
   
   
  51-52, 56, 58, 66
  master sergeant, 109
  McCarron, Archibald, 36-37, 96, 135
  McCarron, Thomas, 97, 135, 136
  McCarron’s Armored Cavalry, 36-37,
   
  64, 75, 79-80, 82, 104, 135
  medals, 110-13
  media, 118-19
  Medical Corps, 102
  Menke, 79-80
  Menke Armor and Armament, 135
  mercenaries, 33, 37, 47, 64,
   
  106-7, 130
  merchant marine ships, 15
  merchants, 130
  Merik’s Grenadiers, 19
  military-industry, 132-37
  minelater infantry, 160
  Ministry 
   
  of Allied Relations, 94
   
  of Development, 94
   
  of Information Standards, 93-94
   
  of the Military, 94, 102
   
  of Resources, 93
   
  of Social Education, 94
   
  of Trade and Exchange, 94
  Morgaine, Alana, 97
  Mótuö Chë Shang, 132
  Mówáng, 162
  Mujika Aerospace, 135
  • N •
  Native Capellan Art Fair, 120
  naval vessel, 164
  Navy, 102
  Necromo, 73
  New Delos, 26-28
  nobility, 94-97
   
  schools for, 117-18
   
  titles of, 94
  Noton, Gray, 42
  nuclear arms, 18
  • O •
  Operation 
   
  Doppelganger, 38
   
  Galahad, 41, 42
   
  Gemini, 57
   
  Guerrero, 57-58, 60
   
  Intruder’s Communion, 44
   
  Rat, 42-43, 74
   
  Riposte, 43
   
  Scorpion, 54
   
  Thor, 41, 42
  orbital bombardment, 18
  Order of the Legion of Liao, 112
  Outreach Conference, 50, 57, 59
  • P •
  parade dress, 107
  penal colonies, 124
  Periphery, 9, 58-59, 86, 88
  personal courier vessels, 162
  personal equipment, 144-47
  personal mine detector, 145
  personal sacrifice, 123-24
  personal surveillance kit, 145
  philosophy, 121-23
  philotechnique institutes, 118
  pirates, 55, 159
  player advancement, 159
  politics, 122-24, 158-59
  Prefectorate, 91, 93
   
  current prefects in, 91 
   
  Guard, 29, 102
   
  Special Commission, 120
  price guide, 151-52
  Procurement Division, 102
  propaganda, 119
  punishment, 126
  • Q •
  Quikscell Company, 135
  Quinn, Sandol, 28
  • R •
  ranks, 108
  Rao, Alicia, 137
  Rashpur-Owens, Incorporated, 135
  raw material dependence, 70
  Reaction Check, 156
  Reaction table, 158
  recruit, 110
  Red Lancers, 19-20, 29, 35, 61, 102
  refrector position, 22
  regional commands, 102-4
  regional training centers, 104
  rehabilitation, 126
  religion, 122-24
  Repulse lynx, 143
  Research and Development, 102
  Reserve Cavalry, 103
  Reunification War, 21
  Rim Worlds League/Republic, 23, 26
  Rivoli, Evadne, 96, 134
  roleplaying, 154-60
  Rollis, 86-87
  Rush, Ion, 96
  • S •
  safe passage, 18
  salary guide, 151-52
  Sarmaxan squirrel, 142-43
  Sarna, 15-16, 76 
   
  as Commonality, 21, 32, 44-45
   
  Mandate, 121
   
  March, 50, 56-58, 75-76
   
  March Militia, 74
   
  Martial Academcy, 105
   
  as Supremacy, 13, 14, 20, 58
  Saroyan Special Production, 136
  science, 119-21
  Second Andurien War, 20
  secondary education, 116-17
  senior general, 108-9
  sergeant, 109-10
  servitors, 116
  Shang, Tsen, 42-43, 46-48,
   
  51-52, 78, 95, 98
  Sheng, 19, 37, 47, 94, 97, 101
  Shengli Arms, 136
  Shraplan, Grover, 65
  Sian, 15-16, 18, 36, 44-45, 77-78 
   
  Center for Martial Disciplines, 105
   
  as Commonality, 77-80, 149, 154
   
  University, 105, 118
  Smoke Jaguar Clan, 59, 61, 63, 95
  sniper rifle, 146
  socio-industrial level reference, 70
  Solaris VII, 41, 42
  space station, 163, 165
  special schools, 117
  St. Ives, 15, 16, 32, 36, 81
   
  Academy of Martial
   
   
  Sciences, 105-6
   
  Armored Cavalry, 104
   
  Association, 14
   
  Book Expo, 120
   
  as Commonality, 45, 66, 81-84, 
  95, 125, 135-37, 149-50, 155
   
  as Compact, 45-46, 51, 59,
   
   
  64-65, 83, 134
   
  conflict, 78-79
   
  Janissaries, 104
   
  Legion of Honor, 112
   
  Sentinels, 104 
  Star League, 9, 15, 20,
   
  22-23, 26, 33, 61-62
   
  Defense Force, 26, 63
   
  rebirth of, 59
   
  timeline, 24
  StarCorps Industries, 136
  Statement of Pan-Capellan
   
  Unification, 11, 15
  Steel Vipers, 57
  Steiner, Melissa, 75
  Steiner-Davion,
   
  Katherine (Katrina), 57, 58, 59
  Steiner-Davion, Melissa, 41, 42, 50
  Steiner-Davion, Victor, 50, 57
  Strategic Military Director, 101
  Succession Wars, 23
   
  dawn of, 26-30
   
  First, 27, 32, 135 
   
   
  map, 31
   
   
  timeline, 30
   
  Fourth, 41-48, 56-57, 63, 66, 
  75-76, 78, 87, 93, 130, 134
   
   
  map, 49
   
   
  timeline, 38, 41, 53
   
  Second, 29, 30, 32
   
   
  map, 39
   
   
  timeline, 38, 41
   
  Third, 32-38, 42
   
   
  map, 40
   
   
  timeline,. 38, 41
  Successors States, 9, 26
  support vehicles, 147-49
  supporters, 115
  surrender, 18
  surveillance VTOL, 148-49
  • T •
  Tau Ceti, 33
  Taurian Concordat
   
  game rules and, 146, 155, 156
   
  Capellan government and, 95
   
  Capellan history with, 21, 65, 66
   
  in Capellan realm, 78, 86
   
  in Capellan society/culture, 124
  taxation, 129
  technological sophistication, 70
  technology, 119-21
  Teng, General, 14
  Tengo Aerospace, 136
  Terran Hegemony, 19, 21, 26, 27
  Texlos, 83
  Texlos Miltronics, 137
  Tikonov, 15, 16
   
  Commonality, 22, 28
   
  Free Republic, 44
   
  Grand Union, 13-14, 20
   
  Universal Exhibition, 120
  Time of Tribulation, 19
  trade, 56
  travel, 155-57
  Trellis Electronics, 137
  Trinity Alliance, 59, 65-66,
   
  124, 128-29, 155, 159
  Truce of Tukayyid, 54
  Tucas, Seluk, 14, 18
  Tukayyid battle, 51
  Turin, 87
   
  beefbull (bull), 143
  • U •
  uniforms, 107-10
  Universal Socio-Industrial Index 
  Rating, 70
  urban warfare restrictions, 18
  • V •
  value system, 153-54
  Victoria Academy of Arms and 
  Technology, 106
  Victoria Commonality, 85-88, 150, 
  155, 156, 157, 159 
   
  Rangers, 103
  Victoria, 85
  VTOL, 148-49
  • W •
  Ward, 88
  Warlock, 83-84
   
  warbird, 144
  warrens, 98
  warrior caste, 116
  Warrior House(s)
   
  Dai Da Chi, 47, 123
   
  Fujita, 78
   
  in government, 96
   
  Hiritsu, 58, 64, 123
   
  in history, 32, 36, 42-43, 51, 64
   
  imarra, 45, 46, 123
   
  in military, 101, 108
   
  Orders, 103, 106, 123
   
  in realm, 74, 82
  WarShips, 15
  watchdogs, 126
  Waterly, Myndo, 54
  Wei, 76-77
  Westerhand, 80
  Whitting Conference, 59, 66
  Wolf, Jaime, 50
  Wolf’s Dragoons, 36, 50, 59
  Word of Blake,
   
  54-56, 58, 85, 120, 132, 136
  • X •
  Xin Sheng
   
  economics and, 128, 132, 136
   
  in government, 93, 95, 98
   
  historical perspective
   
   
  of,  33, 61-67
   
  in military, 102, 108
   
  in realm, 72, 85
   
  rules and, 154, 165
   
  in society/culture, 119, 121, 124
   
  timeline for, 67 
  • Z •
  Zahn, Talon, 96, 103, 132
  Zhansheng de Guang,
   
  56, 57, 99, 155, 159
  
  V.T.O.L. SUPPORT VEHICLE RECORD SHEET
  VEHICLE DATA
  CREW DATA
  CRITICAL DAMAGE
  ARMOR DIAGRAM
  VTOL ELEVATION TRACK
  TM
  © 2011 The Topps Company, Inc. Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, ’Mech and BattleMech are trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Catalyst Game Labs and the 
  Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Production, LLC. Permission to photocopy for personal use. 
  Crew:
  Gunnery Skill:
  Driving Skill:
  Type:
  Movement Points:
  Tech Base:
  Weapons & Equipment Inventory
  (hexes)
  Qty Type
  Loc
  Dmg
  Min Sht Med Lng
  Tonnage:
  Movement Type:
  Engine Type: 
  Cruising: 
  Flank: 
  Pilot Hit
  Co-Pilot Hit
  Modiﬁer to Driving 
  Skill rolls
  Modiﬁer to all Skill rolls
  +1
  +2
  Stabilizers
  Front
  Left
  Right
  Rear
  Flight Stabilizer*
  *Move at Cruising speed only
  +3
  Engine Hit
  Sensor Hits
  +1 +2 +3
  D
  Turn
  1
  2
  5
  3
  4
  6
  7
  8
  9 10
  Elevation
  11 12
  15 16 17 18 19 20
  13 14
  Rotor
  Armor
  (2) 
  Rear Armor
  (3) 
   Left Side Armor (3) 
   Right Side Armor (3) 
   Front Armor
  (4) 
  Inner Sphere
  CIvil War
  1 Hi-res Imaging  
  FR 
  [E] 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  —
   
  Camera
  1 IR Imager Camera 
  FR 
  [E] 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  —
  1 Communications  
  BD 
  [E] 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  —
   
  Gear
  1 Remote Sensor 
  BD 
  [E] 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  —
   
  Dispenser
  1 Cargo (.5 tons) 
  BD 
  [E] 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  —
  Ammo: (Sensors) 60
  20
  VTOL
  ICE
  7
  11
  Apple-Churchill Surveillance VTOL
  BAR: 5
  WHEELED SUPPORT VEHICLE RECORD SHEET
  VEHICLE DATA
  CREW DATA
  CRITICAL DAMAGE
  ARMOR DIAGRAM
  TM
  © 2011 The Topps Company, Inc. Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, ’Mech and BattleMech are trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Catalyst Game Labs and the 
  Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Production, LLC. Permission to photocopy for personal use. 
  Crew:
  Gunnery Skill:
  Driving Skill:
  Type:
  Movement Points:
  Tech Base:
  Weapons & Equipment Inventory
  (hexes)
  Qty Type
  Loc
  Dmg
  Min Sht Med Lng
  Tonnage:
  Movement Type:
  Engine Type: 
  Cruising: 
  Flank: 
  Engine Hit
  Stabilizers
  Front
  Left
  Right
  Motive System Hits
  +1 +2 +3
  Sensor Hits
  +1 +2 +3
  D
  Rear
  Driver Hit
  Commander Hit
  Modiﬁer to Driving 
  Skill rolls
  Modiﬁer to all Skill rolls
  +1
  +2
  Rear Armor
  (2)
   Left Side Armor (2) 
   Right Side Armor (2)
   Front Armor
  (2) 
  Inner Sphere
  Civil War
  1 Cargo (810 kg) 
  BD 
  [E] 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  —
  2,500 kg
  Wheeled
  Electric (Battery)
  11
  17
  C-85 Sprinter Delivery Vehicle
  BAR: 4
  
  © 2011 The Topps Company, Inc. Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, ’Mech and BattleMech are trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Catalyst Game Labs and the 
  Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Production, LLC. Permission to photocopy for personal use. 
  Notes:
  Max Weapon Damage*
  Movement MP: 
  BV: 
  Transport Wt: 
  Type: 
  Movement MP: 
  Type: 
  Gunnery Skill:
  Experience:
  Armor Type: 
  Divisor: 
  Anti-’Mech Skill:
  1
  2
  3
  4
  5
  6
  7
  8
  9
  10
  11
  12
  13
  14
  15
  16
  17
  18
  19
  20
  21
  22
  23
  24
  25
  26
  27
  28
  29
  30
  *Damage is always applied in 2-point Damage Value groupings
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   RANGE IN HEXES (TO-HIT MODIFIER)
  Range 
  0 
  1 
  2 
  3 
  4 
  5 
  6 
  7 
  8 
  9 
  10 
  11 
  12 
  13 
  14 
  15 
  16 
  17 
  18 
  19 
  20 
  21 
  Range Modiﬁer
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Field Gun Type: 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Ammo:
  Disposable Weapon: 
   
   
   
   
   
   Ammo:
  Disposable Weapon: 
   
   
   
   
   
   Ammo:
  Disposable Weapon: 
   
   
   
   
   
   Ammo:
  Notes:
  Max Weapon Damage*
  Movement MP: 
  BV: 
  Transport Wt: 
  Type: 
  Movement MP: 
  Type: 
  Gunnery Skill:
  Experience:
  Armor Type: 
  Divisor: 
  Anti-’Mech Skill:
  1
  2
  3
  4
  5
  6
  7
  8
  9
  10
  11
  12
  13
  14
  15
  16
  17
  18
  19
  20
  21
  22
  23
  24
  25
  26
  27
  28
  29
  30
  *Damage is always applied in 2-point Damage Value groupings
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   RANGE IN HEXES (TO-HIT MODIFIER)
  Range 
  0 
  1 
  2 
  3 
  4 
  5 
  6 
  7 
  8 
  9 
  10 
  11 
  12 
  13 
  14 
  15 
  16 
  17 
  18 
  19 
  20 
  21 
  Range Modiﬁer
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Field Gun Type: 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Ammo:
  Disposable Weapon: 
   
   
   
   
   
   Ammo:
  Disposable Weapon: 
   
   
   
   
   
   Ammo:
  Disposable Weapon: 
   
   
   
   
   
   Ammo:
  Notes:
  Max Weapon Damage*
  Movement MP: 
  BV: 
  Transport Wt: 
  Type: 
  Movement MP: 
  Type: 
  Gunnery Skill:
  Experience:
  Armor Type: 
  Divisor: 
  Anti-’Mech Skill:
  1
  2
  3
  4
  5
  6
  7
  8
  9
  10
  11
  12
  13
  14
  15
  16
  17
  18
  19
  20
  21
  22
  23
  24
  25
  26
  27
  28
  29
  30
  *Damage is always applied in 2-point Damage Value groupings
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   RANGE IN HEXES (TO-HIT MODIFIER)
  Range 
  0 
  1 
  2 
  3 
  4 
  5 
  6 
  7 
  8 
  9 
  10 
  11 
  12 
  13 
  14 
  15 
  16 
  17 
  18 
  19 
  20 
  21 
  Range Modiﬁer
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Field Gun Type: 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Ammo:
  Disposable Weapon: 
   
   
   
   
   
   Ammo:
  Disposable Weapon: 
   
   
   
   
   
   Ammo:
  Disposable Weapon: 
   
   
   
   
   
   Ammo:
  Notes:
  Max Weapon Damage*
  Movement MP: 
  BV: 
  Transport Wt: 
  Type: 
  Movement MP: 
  Type: 
  Gunnery Skill:
  Experience:
  Armor Type: 
  Divisor: 
  Anti-’Mech Skill:
  1
  2
  3
  4
  5
  6
  7
  8
  9
  10
  11
  12
  13
  14
  15
  16
  17
  18
  19
  20
  21
  22
  23
  24
  25
  26
  27
  28
  29
  30
  *Damage is always applied in 2-point Damage Value groupings
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   RANGE IN HEXES (TO-HIT MODIFIER)
  Range 
  0 
  1 
  2 
  3 
  4 
  5 
  6 
  7 
  8 
  9 
  10 
  11 
  12 
  13 
  14 
  15 
  16 
  17 
  18 
  19 
  20 
  21 
  Range Modiﬁer
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Field Gun Type: 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Ammo:
  Disposable Weapon: 
   
   
   
   
   
   Ammo:
  Disposable Weapon: 
   
   
   
   
   
   Ammo:
  Disposable Weapon: 
   
   
   
   
   
   Ammo:
  CAPELLAN MINE-LAYING INFANTRY: PLATOON 4
  Flak Vest
  1
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  2
  Motorized
  3
  Motorized (Mines deployed)
   
  -2 
  0 
  +2 
  +4 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  CAPELLAN MINE-LAYING
  INFANTRY RECORD
  SHEET
  1
  1
  2
  2
  3
  3
  4
  4
  5
  5
  6
  6
  7
  7
  8
  8
  9
  9
  10
  10
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  Mine-laying equipment.
  47
  6.5 tons
  CAPELLAN MINE-LAYING INFANTRY: PLATOON 3
  Flak Vest
  1
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  2
  Motorized
  3
  Motorized (Mines deployed)
   
  -2 
  0 
  +2 
  +4 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  1
  1
  2
  2
  3
  3
  4
  4
  5
  5
  6
  6
  7
  7
  8
  8
  9
  9
  10
  10
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  Mine-laying equipment.
  47
  6.5 tons
  CAPELLAN MINE-LAYING INFANTRY: PLATOON 2
  Flak Vest
  1
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  2
  Motorized
  3
  Motorized (Mines deployed)
   
  -2 
  0 
  +2 
  +4 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  1
  1
  2
  2
  3
  3
  4
  4
  5
  5
  6
  6
  7
  7
  8
  8
  9
  9
  10
  10
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  Mine-laying equipment.
  47
  6.5 tons
  CAPELLAN MINE-LAYING INFANTRY: PLATOON 1
  Flak Vest
  1
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  N/A
  2
  Motorized
  3
  Motorized (Mines deployed)
   
  -2 
  0 
  +2 
  +4 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  1
  1
  2
  2
  3
  3
  4
  4
  5
  5
  6
  6
  7
  7
  8
  8
  9
  9
  10
  10
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  —
  Mine-laying equipment.
  47
  6.5 tons
  
  CONVENTIONAL FIGHTER RECORD SHEET
  TM
  © 2011 The Topps Company, Inc. Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, ’Mech and BattleMech are trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Catalyst Game Labs and the 
  Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Production, LLC. Permission to photocopy for personal use. 
  FIGHTER DATA
  CRITICAL DAMAGE
  VELOCITY RECORD
  ARMOR DIAGRAM
  EXTERNAL STORES/BOMBS
  PILOT DATA
  FIGHTER RETURN TABLE
  GROUND MAP STRAIGHT MOVEMENT
  Name:
  Gunnery Skill:
  Piloting Skill:
   1 
   3 
   +1 
   2 
   5 
   +2 
   3 
   7 
   +3 
   4 
   10 
   +4 
   5 
   11 
   +5 
   6 
  Dead
  Consciousness #
  Hits Taken
  Modiﬁer
  Type:
  Thrust:
  Tech Base:
  Weapons & Equipment Inventory
  Tonnage:  
  Safe Thrust: 
  Maximum Thrust: 
  Turn #
  Thrust
  Velocity
  Effective Velocity 
  Altitude
  1
  2
  3
  4
  5
  6
  7
  8
  9
  10
  Turn #
  Thrust
  Velocity
  Effective Velocity 
  Altitude
  11
  12
  13
  14
  15
  16
  17
  18
  19
  20
  Key:-
  HE - High Explosive
  LG - Laser Guided
  C - Cluster
  RL - Rocket Launcher
  MINIMUM STRAIGHT MOVEMENT
  (IN HEXES)
   SAFE THRUST  
  TURNS BEFORE RETURN
   
  1–4 
  3
   
  5–8 
  2
   
  9–12 
  1
   
  13+ 
  0
   
   
   
  SMALL CRAFT AND FIXED 
  VELOCITY 
  FIGHTER 
  WING SUPPORT VEHICLES
   
  1 
  8 
  8
   
  2 
  12 
  14
   
  3 
  16 
  20
   
  4 
  20 
  26
   
  5 
  24 
  32
   
  6 
  28 
  38
   
  7 
  32 
  44
   
  8 
  36 
  50
   
  9 
  40 
  56
   
  10 
  44 
  62
   
  11 
  48 
  68
   
  12 
  52 
  74
  Velocity above 12 is not possible on ground maps.
  FCS
  +2
  +4
  D
  Gear
  +5
  Avionics
  +1
  +2
  +5
  Engine
  2
  4
  D
  Life
  Support
  +2
  Sensors
  +1
  +2
  +5
  Structural
  Integrity:
  (Total Armor)
  1 (4)
  Aft Damage
   Threshold
  Right Wing
  Damage Threshold
  (Total Armor)
  Left Wing
  Damage Threshold
  (Total Armor)
  1 (5)
  1 (5)
  Nose Damage 
  Threshold (Total Armor)
  1 (10)
  7
  C-904 Katya Ground Assault Craft
   
  Inner Sphere
  Civil War
   
  30
  7
  11
  Fuel: 320 Points
  Ammo: (LMG) 100
  Standard Scale 
   
   
  (1–6) (7–12) (13–20) (21–25) 
   Qty Type 
  Loc Ht SRV MRV LRV ERV
   2 Light Machine Gun 
  N 
  0 
  1 
  — 
  — 
  —
   2 Rocket Launcher 15 
  RW 0 
  9 
  9 
  — 
  —
   2 Rocket Launcher 15 
  LW 0 
  9 
  9 
  — 
  —
  
  CONVENTIONAL FIGHTER RECORD SHEET
  TM
  © 2011 The Topps Company, Inc. Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, ’Mech and BattleMech are trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Catalyst Game Labs and the 
  Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Production, LLC. Permission to photocopy for personal use. 
  FIGHTER DATA
  CRITICAL DAMAGE
  VELOCITY RECORD
  ARMOR DIAGRAM
  EXTERNAL STORES/BOMBS
  PILOT DATA
  FIGHTER RETURN TABLE
  GROUND MAP STRAIGHT MOVEMENT
  Name:
  Gunnery Skill:
  Piloting Skill:
   1 
   3 
   +1 
   2 
   5 
   +2 
   3 
   7 
   +3 
   4 
   10 
   +4 
   5 
   11 
   +5 
   6 
  Dead
  Consciousness #
  Hits Taken
  Modiﬁer
  Type:
  Thrust:
  Tech Base:
  Weapons & Equipment Inventory
  Tonnage:  
  Safe Thrust: 
  Maximum Thrust: 
  Turn #
  Thrust
  Velocity
  Effective Velocity 
  Altitude
  1
  2
  3
  4
  5
  6
  7
  8
  9
  10
  Turn #
  Thrust
  Velocity
  Effective Velocity 
  Altitude
  11
  12
  13
  14
  15
  16
  17
  18
  19
  20
  Key:-
  HE - High Explosive
  LG - Laser Guided
  C - Cluster
  RL - Rocket Launcher
  MINIMUM STRAIGHT MOVEMENT
  (IN HEXES)
   SAFE THRUST  
  TURNS BEFORE RETURN
   
  1–4 
  3
   
  5–8 
  2
   
  9–12 
  1
   
  13+ 
  0
   
   
   
  SMALL CRAFT AND FIXED 
  VELOCITY 
  FIGHTER 
  WING SUPPORT VEHICLES
   
  1 
  8 
  8
   
  2 
  12 
  14
   
  3 
  16 
  20
   
  4 
  20 
  26
   
  5 
  24 
  32
   
  6 
  28 
  38
   
  7 
  32 
  44
   
  8 
  36 
  50
   
  9 
  40 
  56
   
  10 
  44 
  62
   
  11 
  48 
  68
   
  12 
  52 
  74
  Velocity above 12 is not possible on ground maps.
  FCS
  +2
  +4
  D
  Gear
  +5
  Avionics
  +1
  +2
  +5
  Engine
  2
  4
  D
  Life
  Support
  +2
  Sensors
  +1
  +2
  +5
  Structural
  Integrity:
  (Total Armor)
  1 (4)
  Aft Damage
   Threshold
  Right Wing
  Damage Threshold
  (Total Armor)
  Left Wing
  Damage Threshold
  (Total Armor)
  1 (5)
  1 (5)
  Nose Damage 
  Threshold (Total Armor)
  1 (10)
  7
  C-905 Katya Ground Assault Craft
   
  Inner Sphere
  Civil War
   
  30
  7
  11
  Standard Scale 
   
   
  (1–6) (7–12) (13–20) (21–25) 
   Qty Type 
  Loc Ht SRV MRV LRV ERV
   2 Light Machine Gun 
  N 
  0 
  1 
  — 
  — 
  —
   2 Rocket Launcher 10 
  N 
  0 
  6 
  6 
  — 
  —
   2 Rocket Launcher 20 
  RW 0 
  12 
  12 
  — 
  —
   2 Rocket Launcher 20 
  LW 0 
  12 
  12 
  — 
  —
  Fuel: 320 Points
  Ammo: (LMG) 100
  
  CONVENTIONAL FIGHTER RECORD SHEET
  TM
  © 2011 The Topps Company, Inc. Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, ’Mech and BattleMech are trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Catalyst Game Labs and the 
  Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Production, LLC. Permission to photocopy for personal use. 
  FIGHTER DATA
  CRITICAL DAMAGE
  VELOCITY RECORD
  ARMOR DIAGRAM
  EXTERNAL STORES/BOMBS
  PILOT DATA
  FIGHTER RETURN TABLE
  GROUND MAP STRAIGHT MOVEMENT
  Name:
  Gunnery Skill:
  Piloting Skill:
   1 
   3 
   +1 
   2 
   5 
   +2 
   3 
   7 
   +3 
   4 
   10 
   +4 
   5 
   11 
   +5 
   6 
  Dead
  Consciousness #
  Hits Taken
  Modiﬁer
  Type:
  Thrust:
  Tech Base:
  Weapons & Equipment Inventory
  Tonnage:  
  Safe Thrust: 
  Maximum Thrust: 
  Turn #
  Thrust
  Velocity
  Effective Velocity 
  Altitude
  1
  2
  3
  4
  5
  6
  7
  8
  9
  10
  Turn #
  Thrust
  Velocity
  Effective Velocity 
  Altitude
  11
  12
  13
  14
  15
  16
  17
  18
  19
  20
  Key:-
  HE - High Explosive
  LG - Laser Guided
  C - Cluster
  RL - Rocket Launcher
  MINIMUM STRAIGHT MOVEMENT
  (IN HEXES)
   SAFE THRUST  
  TURNS BEFORE RETURN
   
  1–4 
  3
   
  5–8 
  2
   
  9–12 
  1
   
  13+ 
  0
   
   
   
  SMALL CRAFT AND FIXED 
  VELOCITY 
  FIGHTER 
  WING SUPPORT VEHICLES
   
  1 
  8 
  8
   
  2 
  12 
  14
   
  3 
  16 
  20
   
  4 
  20 
  26
   
  5 
  24 
  32
   
  6 
  28 
  38
   
  7 
  32 
  44
   
  8 
  36 
  50
   
  9 
  40 
  56
   
  10 
  44 
  62
   
  11 
  48 
  68
   
  12 
  52 
  74
  Velocity above 12 is not possible on ground maps.
  FCS
  +2
  +4
  D
  Gear
  +5
  Avionics
  +1
  +2
  +5
  Engine
  2
  4
  D
  Life
  Support
  +2
  Sensors
  +1
  +2
  +5
  Structural
  Integrity:
  (Total Armor)
  1 (4)
  Aft Damage
   Threshold
  Right Wing
  Damage Threshold
  (Total Armor)
  Left Wing
  Damage Threshold
  (Total Armor)
  1 (5)
  1 (5)
  Nose Damage 
  Threshold (Total Armor)
  1 (10)
  7
  C-906 Katya Ground Assault Craft
   
  Inner Sphere
  Civil War
   
  30
  7
  11
  Standard Scale 
   
   
  (1–6) (7–12) (13–20) (21–25) 
   Qty Type 
  Loc Ht SRV MRV LRV ERV
   2 Light Machine Gun 
  N 
  0 
  1 
  — 
  — 
  —
   4 Rocket Launcher 10 
  RW 0 
  6 
  6 
  — 
  —
   4 Rocket Launcher 10 
  LW 0 
  6 
  6 
  — 
  —
  Fuel: 320 Points
  Ammo: (LMG) 100
  
  AERODYNE SMALL CRAFT RECORD SHEET
  TM
  © 2011 The Topps Company, Inc. Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, ’Mech and BattleMech are trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Catalyst Game Labs and the 
  Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Production, LLC. Permission to photocopy for personal use. 
  CRAFT DATA
  CRITICAL DAMAGE
  VELOCITY RECORD
  HEAT DATA
  PILOT DATA
  ARMOR DIAGRAM
  Standard Scale
  Name:
  Gunnery Skill:
  Piloting Skill:
   1 
   3 
   +1 
   2 
   5 
   +2 
   3 
   7 
   +3 
   4 
   10 
   +4 
   5 
   11 
   +5 
   6 
  Dead
  Consciousness #
  Hits Taken
  Modiﬁer
  Type:
  Thrust:
  Tech Base:
  Weapons & Equipment Inventory
  Tonnage:  
  Safe Thrust: 
  Maximum Thrust: 
  Turn #
  Thrust
  Velocity
  Effective Velocity 
  Altitude
  1
  2
  3
  4
  5
  6
  7
  8
  9
  10
  Turn #
  Thrust
  Velocity
  Effective Velocity 
  Altitude
  11
  12
  13
  14
  15
  16
  17
  18
  19
  20
  FCS
  +2
  +4
  D
  Gear
  +5
  Avionics
  +1
  +2
  +5
  Engine
  2
  4
  D
  Life
  Support
  +2
  Sensors
  +1
  +2
  +5
  30
  Shutdown
  Heat
  Level*
  Effects
  28
  Ammo Exp. avoid on 8+
  26
  Shutdown, avoid on 10+
  25
  Random Movement,
   avoid on 10+
  24
  +4 Modiﬁer to Fire
  23
  Ammo Exp. avoid on 6+
  21
  Pilot Damage, avoid
   on 6+
  27
  Pilot Damage, avoid
   on 9+
  22
  Shutdown, avoid on 8+
  20
  Random Movement,
   avoid on 8+
  19
  Ammo Exp. avoid on 4+
  18
  Shutdown, avoid on 6+
  17
  +3 Modiﬁer to Fire
  15
  Random Movement,
   avoid on 7+
  14
  Shutdown, avoid on 4+
  13
  +2 Modiﬁer to Fire
  10
  Random Movement,
   avoid on 6+
   8
  +1 Modiﬁer to Fire
   5
  Random Movement,
   avoid on 5+
  Heat
  Scale
  Overﬂow
   0
   1
   2
   3
   4
   5 *
   *
   *
   *
   *
   *
   *
   *
   *
   *
   *
   *
   *
   *
   *
   *
   *
   *
   *
  19
  20
  21
  22
  23
  24
  25
  26
  27
  28
  29
  30
   6
   7
   8
   9
  10
  11
  12
  13
  14
  15
  17
  18
  16
  Structural
  Integrity:
  Aft Damage
   Threshold
  (Total Armor)
   2 (16)
  Right Wing
  Damage
  Threshold
  (Total Armor)
     2 (16)
  Left Wing
  Damage
  Threshold
  (Total Armor)
   2 (16)
  Nose
  Damage Threshold 
  (Total Armor)
   2 (16)
  6
  Fuel: 1,680 Points
  Mówáng-class Courier
  Inner Sphere
  Succession
  Wars
  100
  4
  6
  Standard Scale 
   
   
  (1–6) (7–12) (13–20) (21–25) 
   Qty Type 
  Loc Ht SRV MRV LRV ERV
   1 Cargo (5.5 tons) 
  BD — 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  —
  
  SPACE STATION RECORD SHEET
  TM
  © 2011 The Topps Company, Inc. Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, ’Mech and BattleMech are trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Catalyst Game Labs and the 
  Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Production, LLC. Permission to photocopy for personal use. 
  HEAT DATA
  ARMOR DIAGRAM
  SPACE STATION DATA
  CREW DATA
  CRITICAL DAMAGE
  Capital Scale
  Gunnery Skill:
  Crew:
  Passengers:
  Other:
  Life Boats/Escape Pods: 
  Marines:
  Elementals:
  Battle Armor:
  Piloting Skill:
   1 
   +1 
   2 
   +2 
   3 
   +3 
   4 
   +4 
   5 
   +5 
   6 
  Incp.
  Hits Taken
  Modiﬁer
  Type:
  DropShip Capacity:
  Thrust:
  Tech Base:
  Ammo:
  Name:
  Tonnage:  
  Fighters/Small Craft:
  /
  Launch Rate:
  Station Keeping Only
  Heat Sinks:
  Heat Generation Per Arc
  /
  Weapons & Equipment Inventory
  Nose:
  Aft:
  Left/Right Fore:
  /
  /
  Left/Right Aft:
  Avionics
  +1
  +2
  +5
  Right
  +1
  +2
  +3
  D
  Left
  +1
  +2
  +3
  D
  Thrusters
  CIC
  +2
  +4
  D
  Life
  Support
  +2
  Sensors
  +1
  +2
  +5
  Structural
  Integrity:
  1
  Sail Integrity:
  0
  CRUCIBLE STATION
  6,000
  /
  4/turn
  6
  0
  0
  Inner Sphere
  Civil War
  Standard Scale 
   
   
  (1–6) (7–12) (13–20) (21–25) 
  Bay 
  Loc 
  Ht SRV MRV LRV ERV
  3 ER Large Laser 
  N 
  36 2 (24) 2 (24) 2 (24) 
  —
  3 Small Pulse Laser 
  N 
  6 
  1 (9) 
   Point Defense
  2 SRM 6 (30 rounds) 
  N 
  8 2 (16) 
  — 
  — 
  —
  3 ER Large Laser 
  FL/FR 36 2 (24) 2 (24) 2 (24) 
  —
  3 Small Pulse Laser 
  FL/FR 
  6 
  1 (9) 
   Point Defense
  2 SRM 6 (30 rounds) 
  FL/FR 
  8 2 (16) 
  — 
  — 
  —
  3 ER Large Laser 
  AL/AR 36 2 (24) 2 (24) 2 (24) 
  —
  3 Small Pulse Laser 
  AL/AR 
  6 
  1 (9) 
   Point Defense
  2 SRM 6 (30 rounds) 
  AL/AR 
  8 2 (16) 
  — 
  — 
  —
  3 ER Large Laser 
  A 
  36 2 (24) 2 (24) 2 (24) 
  —
  3 Small Pulse Laser 
  A 
  6 
  1 (9) 
   Point Defense
  2 SRM 6 (30 rounds) 
  A 
  8 2 (16) 
  — 
  — 
  —
  Grav Decks: Grav Deck #1: 450-meter
   
  Grav Deck #2: 450-meter
  Cargo: Bay 1: Small Craft (6) (2 doors)
   
  Bay 2: Infantry (foot) Platoons (9)
   
  Bay 3: Cargo (550 tons) (2 doors)
  282
  0
  6 40
  352
  0
  56
  0
  150
  Double
  50
  50
  50
  50
  50
  50
  (SRM 6) 120
   
  Aft Damage Threshold
  (Total Armor)
  2 (20)
  Nose Damage Threshold
  (Total Armor)
  2 (20)
  Aft-Right Damage
  Threshold (Total Armor)
  2 (20)
  Aft-Left Damage
  Threshold (Total Armor)
  2 (20)
  Fore-Right Damage
  Threshold (Total Armor)
  2 (20)
  Fore-Left Damage
  Threshold (Total Armor)
  2 (20)
  
  LARGE NAVAL VESSEL RECORD SHEET
  VEHICLE DATA
  CREW DATA
  CRITICAL DAMAGE
  ARMOR DIAGRAM
  Type:
  Movement Points:
  Tech Base:
  Template:
  Weapons & Equipment Inventory
  (hexes)
  Qty Type
  Loc
  Dmg
  Min Sht Med Lng
  Tonnage:  
  Movement Type:
  Engine Type:
  Cruising: 
  Flank: 
  Engine Hit
  Turret 1 Locked
  Turret 2 Locked
  Turret 3 Locked
  Turret 4 Locked
  Turret 5 Locked
  Turret 6 Locked
  Turret 7 Locked
  Turret 8 Locked
  Stabilizers
  Front
  Left
  Right
  Turret 1
  Turret 2
  Sensor Hits
  +1 +2 +3
  D
  Rear
  Turret 4
  Turret 5
  Turret 3
  Turret 7
  Turret 8
  Turret 6
  Crew:
  Gunnery Skill:
  Driving Skill:
  Life Boats:
   1 
   +1 
   2 
   +2 
   3 
   +3 
   4 
   +4 
   5 
   +5 
   6 
  Incp.
  Hits Taken
  Modiﬁer
  BAR: 10
  Rear Armor
  (56) 
   Front Armor
  (60) 
  Left Rear Armor (55)  
  Right Rear Armor (55)  
  Left Front Armor (60)  
  Right Front Armor (60)  
  Turret 1 Armor
  (56) 
  Turret 2 Armor
  (56) 
  Turret 3 Armor
  (56) 
  © 2011 The Topps Company, Inc. Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, ’Mech and BattleMech are trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Catalyst Game Labs and the 
  Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Production, LLC. Permission to photocopy for personal use. 
  TM
  DEPTH TRACK
  Turn
  Depth
  1
  2
  5
  3
  4
  6
  7
  8
  9
  10
  Turn
  Depth
  11 12
  15
  13 14
  16 17 18 19 20
  Turret 5 Armor
  (0) 
  Turret 6 Armor
  (0) 
  Turret 7 Armor
  (0) 
  Turret 8 Armor
  (0) 
  Turret 4 Armor
  (0) 
  C
  Inner Sphere
  Civil War
  4 
  ER PPC 
  T 
  10 
  — 
  7 
  14 23
   
   
  (1) 
  (DE)
  1 
  Long Tom Artillery 
  T (2) 20 
  — 
  1 
  2 
  30
   
   
   [DB,AE,S]
  1 
  Long Tom Artillery 
  T (4) 20 
  — 
  1 
  2 
  30
   
   
   [DB,AE,S]
  2 
  LRM 20 
  F 1/Msl 6 
  7 
  14 21
   
   
  (1) [M,C,S]
  1 
  LRM 20 (Torpedo) 
  FL 1/Msl 6 
  7 
  14 21
   
   
  (2) [M,C,S]
  1 
  LRM 20 (Torpedo) 
  FR 1/Msl 6 
  7 
  14 21
   
   
  (2) [M,C,S]
  1 
  ER PPC 
  RL 
  10 
  — 
  7 
  14 23
   
   
  (4) 
  [DE]
  1 
  ER PPC 
  RR 
  10 
  — 
  7 
  14 23
   
   
  (4) 
  [DE]
  1 
  Advanced Fire Control  
  BD 
  [E] 
  — 
  — 
  — 
  —
  Ammo: (Long Tom Artillery) 150, (LRM 20) 36, (LRT 20) 24
  8,500
  Naval
  Electric (Fuel Cell)
  5
  8
  Andryusha-class Bombardment Frigate
  
  SPACE STATION RECORD SHEET
  TM
  © 2011 The Topps Company, Inc. Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, ’Mech and BattleMech are trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Catalyst Game Labs and the 
  Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Production, LLC. Permission to photocopy for personal use. 
  HEAT DATA
  ARMOR DIAGRAM
  SPACE STATION DATA
  CREW DATA
  CRITICAL DAMAGE
  Capital Scale
  Gunnery Skill:
  Crew:
  Passengers:
  Other:
  Life Boats/Escape Pods: 
  Marines:
  Elementals:
  Battle Armor:
  Piloting Skill:
   1 
   +1 
   2 
   +2 
   3 
   +3 
   4 
   +4 
   5 
   +5 
   6 
  Incp.
  Hits Taken
  Modiﬁer
  Type:
  DropShip Capacity:
  Thrust:
  Tech Base:
  Ammo:
  Name:
  Tonnage:  
  Fighters/Small Craft:
  /
  Launch Rate:
  Station Keeping Only
  Heat Sinks:
  Heat Generation Per Arc
  /
  Weapons & Equipment Inventory
  Nose:
  Aft:
  Left/Right Fore:
  /
  /
  Left/Right Aft:
  Avionics
  +1
  +2
  +5
  Right
  +1
  +2
  +3
  D
  Left
  +1
  +2
  +3
  D
  Thrusters
  CIC
  +2
  +4
  D
  Life
  Support
  +2
  Sensors
  +1
  +2
  +5
  Structural
  Integrity:
  1
  Sail Integrity:
  0
  HONG LUNG INTERDICTION STATION
  2,000
  /
  2/turn
  2
  0
  0
  Inner Sphere
  Succesion Wars
  Standard Scale 
   
   
  (1–6) (7–12) (13–20) (21–25) 
  Bay 
  Loc 
  Ht SRV MRV LRV ERV
  4 PPC 
  N 
  40 4 (40) 4 (40) 
  — 
  —
  2 LRM 20 (24 rounds) 
  N 
  12 2 (24) 2 (24) 2 (24) 
  —
  6 Medium Laser 
  N 
  18 3 (30) 
  — 
  — 
  —
  4 PPC 
  FL/FR 40 4 (40) 4 (40) 
  — 
  —
  2 LRM 20 (24 rounds) 
  FL/FR 12 2 (24) 2 (24) 2 (24) 
  —
  6 Medium Laser 
  FL/FR 18 3 (30) 
  — 
  — 
  —
  4 PPC 
  AL/AR 40 4 (40) 4 (40) 
  — 
  —
  2 LRM 20 (24 rounds) 
  AL/AR 12 2 (24) 2 (24) 2 (24) 
  —
  6 Medium Laser 
  AL/AR 18 3 (30) 
  — 
  — 
  —
  4 PPC 
  A 
  40 4 (40) 4 (40) 
  — 
  —
  2 LRM 20 (24 rounds) 
  A 
  12 2 (24) 2 (24) 2 (24) 
  —
  6 Medium Laser 
  A 
  18 3 (30) 
  — 
  — 
  —
  Grav Decks: Grav Deck #1: 160-meter
  Cargo: Bay 1: Small Craft (2) (1 door)
   
  Bay 2: Cargo (152 tons) (1 door)
   
  Bay 3: Infantry (foot) Platoons (3)
  10
  0
  2 8
  0
  0
  57
  0
  79
  Single
  70
  70
  70
  70
  70
  70
  (LRM 20) 96
   
  Aft Damage Threshold
  (Total Armor)
  2 (16)
  Nose Damage Threshold
  (Total Armor)
  2 (16)
  Aft-Right Damage
  Threshold (Total Armor)
  2 (16)
  Aft-Left Damage
  Threshold (Total Armor)
  2 (16)
  Fore-Right Damage
  Threshold (Total Armor)
  2 (16)
  Fore-Left Damage
  Threshold (Total Armor)
  2 (16)
  
  HOUSE LIAO
  
  HOUSE LIAO
  Chancellor
  Sun-Tzu Liao
  Naomi Centrella-
  Liao, Magestrix of the 
  Magistracy of Canopus
  
  HOUSE LIAO
  More so than any other organization, the Capellan Confederation Maskirovka intelligence agency is 
  well known and feared throughout human-occupied space. That ef ectiveness, however, is bought at the 
  price of brutality often directed at its own people.
  Ma Si Jia
  Ruo Na Dong Shi Bu
  (Maskirovka Directorate
  Huang Di Shi Zhe
  (Chancellor’s Hand)
  Huang Di Yi Zhi
  (Chancellor’s Will)
  Si Wang Te Gong Dui
  (The Death Commandos)
  
  HOUSE LIAO
  Capellan Confederation 
  Currency — Coins
  Capella Commonality Bank
  A state-sponsored institution, 
  historically run by a member 
  of the Liao family, the Capella 
  Commonality Bank gives 
  House Liao unparalleled power 
  to maintain control over the 
  Confederation.
  
  HOUSE LIAO
  Capellan Confederation 
  Currency — Notes
  Despite its relatively small military-industrial 
  complex, the Confederation has maintained 
  technological development parity with 
  other Houses through the hard work of such 
  companies as Ceres Metals, here assembling 
  a MAD-5L Marauder utilizing stealth armor.
  
  HOUSE LIAO
  Ion Rush
  Master of Warrior 
  House Imarra,
  Grand Master of 
  the Blessed Order
  Sian Flag
  
  HOUSE LIAO
  A 12-year-old Warrior House aspirant trains 
  with his sifu in swordplay as part of his path 
  towards hopeful acceptance into House Hiritsu.
  StarCorps 
  Industries
  Hellespont 
  Industrials
  
  HOUSE LIAO
  Kali Liao, Lady of 
  Highspire, is also the 
  leader of the outlawed 
  Thuggee Cult, and is 
  infamous across the 
  Inner Sphere for her 
  connection to the 
  “Black May” atrocities 
  during the St. Ives-
  Confederation War.
  Liao Flag
  
  HOUSE LIAO
  On September 23, 3028, nearly a hundred Federated Suns JumpShips arrived in the
  Tikonov system and launched more than three hundred DropShips, which carried all eight 
  Cruicis Lancers Regimental Combat Teams.
  Earthwerks 
  Limited
  Hollis 
  Incorporated
  
  HOUSE LIAO
  At only 26, Lady Evadne 
  Rivoli is the president of 
  Ceres Metals, making her 
  one of the most powerful 
  individuals within the Capellan 
  Confederation. Only her father’s, 
  the venerable and dynamic 
  Patrick Rivoli, grooming from 
  a young age has allowed her 
  to navigate the shark-infested 
  waters of high f nance.
  Capella Flag
  
  HOUSE LIAO
  Capella 
  Commonality 
  Bank
  Ceres Metals 
  Industries
  The Hall of Celestial Wisdom in the Confederation Museum on Capella houses the
  hundreds-years-old tapestry commissioned by Duchess Caroline Liao, depicting the
  turning point for the ratif cation of the Articles of Confederation.
  
  HOUSE LIAO
  The backwater world of Ward has become a thriving and rambunctious crossroads
  for travel and trade since the signing of the Trinity Alliance between the Capellan 
  Confederation, Magistracy of Canopus and Taurian Concordat.
  Shengli Arms
  Trellis 
  Electronics
  
  HOUSE LIAO
  Victoria Flag
  Duchess Abigail O’Hanlon, 
  member of the Prefectorate, has 
  spent a long, hard life climbing 
  to the top within the Victoria 
  Commonality in a culture and 
  empire where being female and 
  non-Asian is a liability.
  
  HOUSE LIAO
  The Confederation Peace Park on St. Ives was built at the direction of
  Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao in memory of the terrible “Black May” attacks during the
  St. Ives-Confederation War as a way of healing the rift between the two peoples.
  Hildco 
  Interplanetary
  Tengo 
  Aerospace
  
  HOUSE LIAO
  St. Ives Flag
  Duchess Candace Liao led 
  the St. Ives Commonality in 
  rebellion against the Capellan 
  Confederation following the 
  Fourth Succession War, creating 
  the St. Ives Compact. She 
  remained in power as part of 
  the peace accords following the 
  Compact’s re-absorption into 
  the Confederation.
  
  HOUSE LIAO
  A group of elementary school children undergo
  their weekly political indoctrination.
  Shia-ben-bing (Recruit)
  San-ben-bing (Corporal)
  Si-ben-bing (Sergeant)
  Yi-si-ben-bing
  (Master Sergeant)
  Sao-wei (Lieutenant)
  Sang-wei (Captain)
  Sao-shao (Major)
  Zhong-shao
  (Lieutenant Colonel)
  Sang-shao (Colonel)
  Sang-jiang-jun 
  (Senior General)
  Jiang-jun (General)
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/BattleTech [multi]/Sourcebooks/Handbooks & Manuals/BattleTech - Handbook - House Liao.pdf