Federated Suns



In the fictional BattleTech Universe, the Federated Suns is the Successor State ruled by House Davion. The Federated Suns is considered the military powerhouse of the five Successor States. In fact, one of the requirements for the title of First Prince of the Federated Suns is at least five years of service in the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns. Territorially, the Federated Suns is bordered by the Capellan Confederation, the Draconis Combine, and the Taurian Concordat. Federated Suns spaces is divided into three 'Marches': the Capellan March, the Crucis March and the Draconis March. The capital world of the Federated Suns, New Avalon, is located in the Crucis March. The Federated Suns was formed in 2317, meaning it was the fourth of the Successor States to be formed after the withdrawal of the Terran Alliance from the colonies.

Politics of the Federated Suns
The Federated Suns could best be described as a monarchy, albeit one with constitutional limits placed on the monarch's powers. The First Prince is the leader of the Federated Suns and is the commander in chief of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns, or AFFS. Officially, until the formation of the Federated Commonwealth, the High Council, a group of both democratic, hereditary, and other officials chosen by the leadership of the member-worlds of the Federated Suns, had presided over the nation. Since the reign of Prince Alexander the High Council has become a glorified, "rubber stamp" organization. The Privy Council is a group of the highest advisors to the First Prince and is extremely important in the running of the day-to-day affairs of the state. The Nobility of the Federated Suns, created during the reign of Prince Simon Davion, also hold positions of authority, but The Federated Suns has a weaker nobility than some of the other Successor States. The citizens of the realm also have several basic rights protected by Federated Suns law, which include freedom of speech and freedom of religion, and the ability to appeal to the central government in order to have unpopular or destructive noblemen removed from office.

Federated Suns Military
In terms of strength of arms, the Federated Suns is one of the most powerful nations in the Inner Sphere. The First Princes of House Davion have always been committed to the military of their realm and every Davion is required to serve in the armed forces in order to claim the title of First Prince. The Armed Forces of the Federated Suns is a highly disciplined, professional force that benefits greatly from technological advances from the New Avalon Institute of Science as well as the high degree of training its members receive.

In the early 3060s, the Federated Commonwealth had one of the most powerful interstellar navies in the Inner Sphere, with the Avalon-class cruisers forming its backbone. This navy was ravaged during the Federated Commonwealth Civil War, though the toll the Word of Blake Jihad had on it is yet unknown.

Religion in the Federated Suns
The Federated Suns is committed to allowing freedom of religion to its citizenry. During the First Succession wars when the Draconis Combine and Capellan Confederation were bearing down against House Davion's forces there was a wave of hatred against Asian residents of the realm and many Buddhist institutions were destroyed. Today however Buddhism is practiced freely throughout Davion Space. Judaism maintains a small but active presence in the Federated Suns and is centered in and around the world of Robinson. The closest thing to a persecuted faith in the Federated Suns is the Azami branch of Islam, which is distrusted by the Davion government due to the large and important Azami population in the Draconis Combine. The larger Sunni branch of Islam is completely accepted by the Federated Suns population. Hinduism is important a region in the Southern portion of Davion Space called the United Hindu Collective. It was formerly a sovereign state but later joined the Federated Suns. Protestant Christianity is the largest of all of the religious faiths of the Federated Suns. The Catholic branch of Christianity is also important although it is divided between those who owe loyalty to Rome and a split-off known as the New Avalon Catholic Church which is based around a misinterpretation of a communique from the Pope to the Cardinal of New Avalon.

Rulers of the Federated Suns
(Note: Julian Davion a descendant of Jackson Davion was selected by Harrison Sandoval-Steiner-Davion to replace his son, Caleb Hasek-Sandoval-Davion, as heir but Harrison was murdered by his enraged son before the order became known to anyone besides Harrison and Caleb.)

Foundation
The Federated Suns was the brainchild of the Davion family, an influential noble family of the world of New Avalon. The father of the Federated Suns was Lucien Davion, a master politician and statesman. His brothers Louis, a scheming political genius, and Charles, a military man, assisted him in forming an alliance of several worlds in the area for the purpose of trade and common defense known as the Crucis Pact. Soon, the realm was growing exponentially and eventually stretched into most of what is now known as the Crucis March. The formation of the Crucis Pact was in direct response to James McKenna's founding of the Terran Hegemony.

Originally, the Federated Suns was a democracy led by the High Council-- a group of the leaders of all member-worlds-- led by a President who was charged with national defense. The Presidency gradually became a hereditary position of the Davion family and soon the Davion dynasty was born.

The Age of War
The Age of War came to the Federated Suns due to a crisis within the little known state of Muskegon. Muskegon was a world ruled by a tyrant that had built a small empire of five worlds. The Muskegon Supremacy, as this collection was known, had joined the Federated Suns. However, due to the horrific regime of the Muskegon dictatorship, two of its colony worlds seceded and turned to what would later emerge into the Capellan Confederation for help. The Federated Suns was forced to raise an army to combat the secession, as per its promise to provide for Muskegon's defense, and soon there was warfare all across the Capellan border. Meanwhile, things were not well in the Davion household. Two deranged twins, Edward and Edmund Davion, had assumed the leadership of the FedSuns and were running the nation into the ground with their extravagance and foolish decisions. A conspiracy of High Council members planned on assassinating Edward (the only remaining twin) and disbanding the office of President. This would have rendered the war against the Capellans as good as lost without centralized military leadership.

The potential crisis between the High Council and the First Prince was averted when Simon Davion, a cousin of the twins, assassinated Edward in the High Council building. Simon Davion, just days after the murder proposed a compromise whereby the Federated Suns was to be divided into five Marches (Crucis, Capellan, Terran, Draconis, and Outer, each supported by a nobility (both hereditary and elected). Surprisingly, after much debate, the High Council chose to accept Simon's proposal, thus making him the First Prince (amongst the four other Princes the Crucis March leader was known as the First Prince). For nearly a hundred years, Simon's compromise kept the peace in the Federated Suns until William Davion died, leaving behind his widow and infant son, Alexander.

Meanwhile, the Varnay family (the leaders of the Capellan March) had long harbored aspirations towards the office of First Prince and had married young Alexander's aunt Cassandra in their play for the leadership of the Federated Suns. It was eventually agreed that five regents would rule the Federated Suns. For ten years, the members of the Regency struggled amongst themselves, each in the end forgetting about Prince Alexander, whom, although the rightful heir to the First Princedom, was increasingly disregarded by the Regents, who each now looked towards the leadership of the Federated Suns for themselves. Meanwhile, Alexander had come of age and demanded that he be placed on what was rightfully his throne. For years afterwards, there was a passionate struggle between Prince Alexander and those who wanted to assume the throne for themselves. In the end, all were defeated and finally the Federated Suns was united under the rightful heir of House Davion.

The Star League Era
When the Cameron family began its attempt to unite humanity into a "Star League," the Federated Suns was very friendly towards the notion. Prince Alexander felt that his government, in the wake of a long Civil War, would do well to focus on domestic prosperity and not on warfare. Therefore it surprised no one when, in 2567, the Federated Suns joined the Star League, becoming the fourth Member State. The Star League Years were relatively quiet, with the Federated Suns working with the Star League to ensure a reign of peace and prosperity that lasted for hundreds of years. The sole exception in this reign of peace were the Reunification Wars, a series of conflicts fought between the Federated Suns and the Periphery state, which the Star League attempted to force into joining the League. Although the wars cost many lives, they were largely fought light years away from the average resident of the Federated Suns and had little effect on their day-to-day lives. Once the Star League achieved its inevitable victory there was a period of peace unknown in the history of Human affairs as mankind devoted itself to science and the colonization of new worlds.

In the end, treachery would cause the Star League to fall, but the Federated Suns persevered. Each Council Lord (the head of each of the five Great Houses) returned to his or her respective capital and declared him or herself the new First Lord of the Star League. No side seemed willing to give any ground, so each prepared for the inevitable: war.

The First and Second Succession Wars
The first two Succession Wars were some of the most destructive wars in the history of mankind. Each Successor State had no qualms about destroying cities, massacring civilians, and destroying JumpShips and other civilian infrastructure. They also used nuclear weapons to great effect. The overall effect of these two conflicts was to reduce the technological sophistication of the Successor States to a level approximately equivalent to that of the Industrial Revolution. While they still had automated factories, they lost the ability to produce any more. Indeed, engineers struggled to even maintain the automated factories.

During the First Succession War, the Federated Suns made steady gains against the Capellan Confederation, but were surprised when the Draconis Combine attacked. The Combine's assault pushed all the way through the Draconis March into the Crucis March until Combine troops actually landed on New Avalon and destroyed the palace. Fate would strike, however, when a resistance member killed Coordinator Minoru Kurita, who was overseeing the offensive from Kentares. His son, the mad Jinjiro, became Coordinator and order the Kentares civilians bathed in their own blood. The Combine samurai carried out their duty and savagely murdered over 3/4 of the population of Kentares, killing millions. These same samurai were horrified at what they had done, so they enacted ritual seppuku to atone and salvage their honor. As word of their actions spread, many other Combine warriors followed suit, greatly weakening their offensive. Many who did not kill themselves were still ashamed, damaging their will to fight. By contrast, this massacre galvanized the FedSuns troops, who rallied and forced the Combine back, almost to the pre-war border. Exhausted, both sides called a truce.

The Second Succession War saw more of the same, though memories of the Kentares Massacre were fresh in the minds of many. No such events took place, but the Suns made progress against both of its neighbors. As the war ground to a halt, it was clear that no Successor State military was the same. They were gutted organizations that were close to breaking down. In this, the Federated Suns was similar to their counterparts.

The Third Succession War and the Steiner-Davion Alliance
The Third Succession War saw a different type of warfare. In an unspoken agreement, the Successor States no longer fought using total warfare. Population centers were respected, JumpShips were off-limits, and military targets were fought over, not destroyed. Rather than destroying those targets, the losing side simply comforted themselves with the knowledge that they could reconquer it. With the loss of technology, BattleMech factories and water purification plants became prize targets. Overall, the days of full-scale invasions were gone, replaced by low-level raiding. This ritualization of warfare, however, led to the belief that war was an acceptable way of solving disagreements. As this constant, low-intensity warfare continued, whole generations grew up knowing nothing else.

The Federated Suns continued to make slow but steady gains against their two largest neighbors. More importantly, perhaps, Prince Melissa Davion streamlined the AFFS bureaucracy, a process she completed in 2890, allowing them to be more effective against their enemies.

In 3020, Archon Katrina Steiner of the Lyran Commonwealth extended a proposal of peace to the leaders of the other four Successor States. Only Prince Hanse Davion showed any interest. Their mutual discussion culminated in the signing of the Federated-Commonwealth Alliance Document in 3022 on Terra. The alliance also had a secret provision that called for the marriage of Hanse and Katrina's 16 year old daughter, Archon-designate Melissa Steiner.

The Fourth Succession War
The Fourth Succession War began immediately after the marriage of Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner. At the wedding reception on Terra, Hanse Davion announced that his wedding gift to his wife was, "the Capellan Confederation." What resulted was the largest offensive in recent memory as Davion troops poured across the border and assaulted world after world of the surprised and quickly demoralized Capellan Confederation. Hanse Davion claimed justification for the attack as revenge against the Capellan Chancellor Maximillian Liao, because Liao had attempted to replace Hanse with a double. This plot was only stopped because of Hanse's best friend and close advisor, Ardan Sortek.

On top of the outright military attack, the Federated Suns also attempted to subvert the Capellan Confederation from within by encouraging the rebellion of disaffected populations within the Confederation. Pavel Ridzik, the leader of the Capellan military and a native of the world of Tikonov, chose that time to betray his Capellan masters. He formed the Tikonov Free Republic, but was assassinated shortly thereafter. Under the direction of Ardan Sortek, the people of Tikonov voted to join the Federated Suns.

A more successful nation to secede from the Confederation was the St. Ives Compact. The Compact was formed when Duchess Candace Liao, heir to the Capellan throne, seceded the St. Ives Commonality from the Confederation amid a romance with Justin Xiang Allard, a FedSuns agent who had infiltrated the Maskirovka (the Capellan intelligence agency) at its highest level.

Hanse Davion also chose that time to deal with a traitor. Duke Michael Hasek-Davion, the minister of the Capellan March, married Marie Davion, Hanse's half-sister. After the death of Hanse's older brother, Prince Ian, Hanse defeated Michael in a simulated battle to succeed his brother. Though Hanse clearly had the stronger claim, especially since Marie was dead, Michael harbored a grudge and sought to become more powerful. He fed the Capellans information on the deployments of national troops, while intentionally understating the strength of his own. When Davion's Ministry of Information, Intelligence, and Operations (MIIO) found out, Hanse began to give Michael incorrect data, which was in turn fed to the Maskirovka. Thus, when AFFS troops attacked the Confederation, the CCAF was woefully out of position to deal with the invasion. Michael had thought to conquer the Capellans and create a new state out of the Confederation and his own March. When it became clear that Hanse knew of his plot, Michael fled into the Confederation, never to be heard from again.

On the Draconis Combine front, the Fourth Succession War was less successful, although the Draconis Combine failed to take any strategically significant planets from the Federated Suns. This was largely thanks to the efforts of Wolf's Dragoons, perhaps the most notable mercenary command of the early-mid 31st century. They goaded Coordinator Takashi Kurita into sending all the military he could spare at them in a personal vendetta, rather than taking advantage of the FedSuns' distraction. For their efforts, they were granted the conquered world of Outreach by a grateful Hanse Davion.

Though Davion had stated that his goal was to cripple Liao's ability to prosecute war by seizing the worlds that were important to the Confederation's military-industrial complex, he stopped short of this goal. During the offensive, ComStar manufactured an incident that made Davion responsible for the destruction of an HPG on the planet Sarna. This gave them an excuse to place the Suns under a communications interdiction, officially disabling all interplanetary communication, which naturally made it very difficult to coordinate troop movements. Unbeknownest to ComStar, however, the New Avalon Institute of Science had pioneered an alternate method of interplanetary communications. Known as "black boxes," House Davion's fax machines allowed Hanse to have some control over his military offensive, but the slower fax machines proved impractical as a long-term solution.

Also, the Free Worlds League had successfully crushed a revolt and, despite technically being Capellan allies under the Kapteyn Accords, was rattling sabres along its border with the Confederation. Rather than allow the League to snap up Capellan worlds, Hanse declared an end to the war and settled in for the task of integrating the newly-conquered worlds into his Suns.

The offensive itself was extremely successful and resulted in the total absorption of roughly half of the Confederation as the new Sarna March, though this area was technically a part of the Lyran state command since Hanse had presented it as his gift to Melissa Steiner. The conquered worlds included two commonality capitals, Tikonov and Sarna, as well as Liao, the ancestral landhold of the Capellan ruling family. The secession of St. Ives further deprived the Capellans of a third commonality capital and created a buffer state in between the Confederation and the Suns. More importantly, it created a bridge between the Suns and their new allies, the Lyran Commonwealth, that paved the way for the formal integration of the two nations as the Federated Commonwealth. It would be decades before the Capellan Confederation again threatened the Federated Suns.

The Federated Commonwealth
During the 3024-29 period, there was a secret pact formed between the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth in addition to the public alliance between Hanse Davion and Katrina Steiner. This secret provision called for Hanse Davion to marry Katrina Steiner's 16 year old daughter, Melissa Arthur Steiner. In 3056, the Federated Commonwealth was officially formed with Melissa's death, although it had been unofficially formed almost 30 years ago with the treaty that signed by Hanse and Katrina.

While Archon-Prince Victor Steiner-Davion ruled the united Federated Commonwealth for only a year, his sister's decision to secede the Lyran half of the nation in 3057 left Victor in control of a rump FedCom. In technicality, Victor never officially renamed his nation the Federated Suns, though many erroneously referred to it as such. The rump Federated Commonwealth was officially renamed the Federated Suns in 3067 by Regent Yvonne after the conclusion of the FedCom Civil War.

The FedCom Civil War
After the Invasion of the Clans from 3049 to 3052, things did not settle down for the Federated Commonwealth. Katherine "Katrina" Steiner-Davion, little sister of Prince Victor, had her mother secretly assassinated, which inaugurated Victor as Archon-Prince of the Federated Commonwealth. In 3057, Katherine seceded the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth, and formed the Lyran Alliance. Victor was otherwise occupied with the Clans and annihilation of Clan Smoke Jaguar. Katherine then stole the Davion half of the Commonwealth from her sister Yvonne, whom Victor had left in charge while he fought the Clans on their capital. Victor now returned from annihilating Clan Smoke Jaguar found himself an "outlaw" of sorts. Rather than fighting a civil war to oust his sister from power, Victor tried to retire to a life of defending the Inner Sphere from the Clans. Fate had other ideas in store.

Facing a rising tide of injustice and violation of their civil liberties, citizens of both halves of the sundered Federated Commonwealth rose up in rebellion against Katherine's increasingly despotic rule. Deciding to lead the rebellion, Victor cast off his titles and began a campaign to remove his sister from power. After the assassination of Omi Kurita, his lover, Victor finally took the battle to New Avalon and there, in 3067, he defeated Katherine's forces and proclaimed Yvonne First Prince-Regent of the newly renamed Federated Suns.

Shortly thereafter, the Taurian Concordat launched an invasion. The mercenary unit, The Fighting Urukhai, fleeing the civil war, attempted to land on the capital of Taurus and negotiate a contract with the Taurian Concordat. The Taurians, fearing an invasion, destroyed the mercenary unit, including all of their dependents (non-combatants, including children). The remaining forces executed a suicidal assault on the Taurian capital, damaging some of the world's civilian infrastructure. In retaliation, Taurian Protector Grover Shraplen authorized an assault against some worlds in the Capellan March. Duke George Hasek, now a war hero, sent a task force to deal with this invasion. The Taurian Pleiades Lancers, against orders, attacked their ancestral homeworld in the Pleiades Cluster, leaving their supply lines open and allowing the Capellan March troops to liberate those worlds easily. In 3067, only two systems were still contested by the Taurians.

Word of Blake Jihad
In December of 3067, the member-states of the Second Star League came together for the fourth Whitting Conference on Tharkad. At this fateful conference, the leaders of the Inner Sphere decided to disband the Star League. Regent Yvonne Steiner-Davion was partly responsible for this, because she decided that the Suns could not afford to remain a member-state as they needed the money to rebuild the shattered nation after the devastating civil war. Archon Peter Steiner-Davion made a similar claim, and Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao decided to pull his support from the Star League for his own reasons. First Lord Christian Mansdotter called for a vote of no-confidence in the Star League so that he could force the recalcitrant nations to stay, but the needed two-thirds majority was lacking. Thus, the Star League failed the vote of no-confidence and was disbanded.

The Word of Blake was set to become a full member-state at the end of that Whitting Conference, and were quite upset when the Star League disbanded, believing that their road to power was through the League. A defiant Word of Blake demanded that both of the former Federated Commonwealth states rejoin the League, curiosly omitting the Capellan Confederation (whose commentary was the most scathing) from their harangue. To enforce their claim, the Word of Blake attempted to cow the Federated Suns by sending WarShips, which just happened to be nearby, into orbit around New Avalon. When Regent Yvonne refused, the Word sent ground troops, though their effectivness was greatly limited by the defenders. In response, the Word of Blake used their WarShips to great effect. They used them to both bombard and blockade the FedSuns' capital. This created problems with command and control, forcing the regional leaders to take more responsibility for command. In 3073, Blakist troops scored a significant victory on New Avalon, with the death of Marshal of the Armies Jackson Davion.

Elsewhere, the Capellan March's duke, George Hasek, launched an invasion of the Capellan Confederation, ostensibly in support of the St. Ives Commonality. In the early 3060s, Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao had launched an invasion of the St. Ives Compact in an attempt to reclaim what had once been a Capellan commonality. When Katherine refused to help Duchess Candace, she had little choice but to negotiate for the wayward commonality's reintegration into the Capellan Confederation. Duke George Hasek decided to remedy that lapse after Duke Kai mysteriously appeared on New Syrtis-- the capital of the Capellan March. Caught unprepared, the Capellan troops suffered many reversals, especially since many St. Ives troops sided with their duke, even while his mother was essentially a prisoner on Sian. Capellan March forces were a mere one jump away from Sian when a WarShip appeared in orbit around Sian and fired on the planet, destroying the capital city, where the Chancellor and Duchess Candace were. Candace was killed in the attack, while Sun-Tzu Liao was initially among the missing, though he turned up soon thereafter. The Federated Suns was initially blamed by Military Regent Sang-jiang-jun Talon Zahn. That allegation galvanized the Capellan military and turned the St. Ives troops and people against the Federated Suns. Even Warner Doles and his Blackwind Lancers, who had become persona non grata in Capellan space due to his alignment with Free Capella, sided with the Confederation. All those forces (plus the occasional nuclear weapon) combined to push the Capellan March troops back to the border, and beyond-- to New Syrtis.

This all happened despite Regent Yvonne's repeated insistence to cease offensive operations, so that she could use some of those forces to liberate New Avalon. Hasek's motivation for ignoring her is unclear, but, around this time, Duke George Hasek was assassinated. His cousin, Nathaniel Hasek, took over command of the Capellan March, but he seemed equally unwilling to help New Avalon. The identity of Hasek's asassin remain unknown, but speculation points at the Word of Blake, Capellan Confederation, or from an agent dispatched by Regent Yvonne in an effort to rein in the Capellan March. Whoever killed him, his troops were able to rally after the Word of Blake launched an invasion of the Capellan Confederation. Capellan troops fought as hard to return home so they could defend against the sneak attack from their erstwhile allies as they had to invade the Capellan March.

The Draconis March also entered the fray. They sent troops into the Draconis Combine, ostensibly to look for POWs from the invasion during the FedCom Civil War. Whether they launched these attacked with or without the knowledge of Duke Tancred Sandoval is unknown. They found the Dragon unable to defend itself with their own three-way battle on Luthien, so they launched a full invasion. Draconis March troops were able to penetrate as far as the district capital of Galedon, but, faced with troops from both the Word of Blake and Clan Snow Raven in the area, had to withdraw to more manageable assaults.

The Word of Blake sought to expand their Blake Protectorate at the expense of the Federated Suns, as well. The Blakists took worlds near Terra like Acamar and Demeter. With their military distracted, the FedSuns could do little.

Eventually, Devlin Stone was able to forge an alliance against the Word of Blake, which culminated in the liberation of Terra in 3081. The Periphery March was also reconstituted to combat the Taurian Concordat.

Years of Peace
While the Inner Sphere embraced peace thanks to the actions of Devlin Stone and his reforms, the Federated Suns continued to find itself in conflicts. The Capellan Confederation continued its attempts to expand, so troops from the Capellan March seized the factory world and commonality capital of Victoria. In the meantime, the Draconis March was able to create a buffer state between it and the Draconis Combine. The Sandoval family continues to pump money into that area in the 3130s to fund a low-intensity war-by-proxy with the Draconis Combine.

Republic-era
Tancred and Yvonne's son Harrison Davion married Duchess Amanda Hasek's younger sister, Isabella. Their child Caleb Hasek-Sandoval-Davion was born with a psychosis that left him unable to pilot a 'Mech, so, in preparation for becoming Prince, he chose to become a tanker. When Paladin Victor Steiner-Davion died, Harrison decided to attend his state funeral in person. He brought along Caleb and his Prince's Champion, Julian Davion. While en route, the Capellan Confederation began a limited offensive against worlds in the Capellan March.

Republic of the Sphere Exarch Jonah Levin took the opportunity to arrange an alliance with the Federated Suns, since they had a common enemy in the Capellan Confederation. That alliance bore fruit immediately when Julian Davion led the Davion Guards against Senate loyalists, driving the rebels from Terra. Harrison had privately decided to make Julian his heir, but had not informed his nephew. While on Terra for Victor's funeral, he informed Caleb that he would not be succeeding him. In his shock, Caleb accidentally killed Harrison.

Since he did this before Harrison could make his wishes known, Caleb became First Prince. Knowing that Julian was Harrison's choice, Caleb stripped Julian of his office and named Erik Sandoval-Groel as his new champion. Julian stayed in Republic space to command the FedSuns troops there, indicating that Caleb seems content to honor his father's agreement with the Republic. For now.