Triumph of Republic – Lessons for a Wayward Generation 09/21/3133
By Amaris Anon, INN Special Political Commentator
My fellow citizens, we stand at the crossroads of an era, the true path before us, and
yet it is as if we lost our way. The Republic —our Republic— is in danger, darkened
by terrible menaces, from both within and without. During this time of strife, we have
all started to turn inward. We have all grown isolated. We have all come to know fear.
Have all of you forgotten how we came to be here? Or the triumphs of The Republic?
+ ++ALTERATION: This Anon speaks some truth, good people, but don’t be afraid
to think for yourselves. This is an opinion as much propaganda as fact. —
Archangel+++
Perhaps a reminder, then. Most of you were born to a nation of plenty. The Republic,
however, emerged from a war that may have been the worst ever seen by mankind.
Not since the Amaris Crisis that brought down the original Star League, not even
since the First Succession Wars, had weapons of mass destruction rained down on
worlds not just on state borders, but across the entire Inner Sphere. No Successor
State, no Clan in the Inner Sphere, great or small, was spared the horrors of the Word
of Blake Jihad. Their war of terror—a war whose purpose we may never
understand—swarmed across the Inner Sphere and spread even into the Periphery,
their nuclear bombs and chemical weapons struck even in the boondocks, without
rhyme or reason, for theirs was not a war of conquest, but of chaos, of fear.
Beginning in November 3067, a decade of horror reigned.
+ ++ALTERATION: Truth in glossover. The Jihad was probably THE worst war ever
fought. Had the new Star League not been disbanded at that time, maybe we would
have avoided Blake’s wrath. Some say the Blakists planned to merge their hidden
ships and troops in support of the League until that moment, a moment that was
prophesized to them as one of greatness, yet the politicians of the day instead robbed
them of this glory, and people who never knew the cruelty of nerve gas attacks and
orbital bombardments on their soil paid the ultimate price. In this, the Jihad cannot
be understated enough; nobody had seen the likes of this kind of war in ages!
However, though the true horror and scope of the war is evident, once again Anon
glosses over the most important part and one that makes this war like none ever
waged on an interstellar scene: it was not about territorial gain. They did not ‘swarm’
across planets like the Clans during their initial invasion of the Inner Sphere in 3050;
the exception being those worlds in the immediate vicinity of Terra, of course. Using
surprise and unprecedented mobility, the jihad forces struck surgically at both military
and political targets, stunning the Inner Sphere and Clans into temporary immobility.
ComStar was completely paralyzed, as a new mass wave of defections left them
reeling and extremely vulnerable. By eliminating the ability of anyone to effectively
use the HPG network, the Word of Blake further hamstrung any effort to deal with
the threat. With their foes thrown onto the defensive, further such surgical strikes
continued to sap strength and morale. To the Inner sphere leaders of the day— not to
mention many, like Anon, today who hide their heads in the sand and still wish to
think of the Word of Blake as mindless animals—the initial phases of the Jihad
looked completely chaotic; random attacks that no intelligence could unravel into a
pattern. However, the followers of Word of Blake were not animals (monsters, but not
animals) and the Jihad was executed with the skill of the finest surgeon,
accomplishing the exact goals they set out to. Just bad luck for them a hero came
along…
As for what those exact goals were meant to accomplish in the end, no one has ever
been able to determine to anyone’s satisfaction. The leadership of the Word of Blake
was simply too devastated—both from their own crazy attacks, the retribution strikes
against them by coalition forces and their own suicides in the end—and their
organization too dependent upon cells (which blocked critical information from
getting to too many individuals) for any coherent picture to emerge for those
captured, regardless of the means used to extract information. Perhaps a key will be
found a century from now to unlock the enigma, but for now, we can only speculate.
—Archangel+++
Worse still, the Blakists’ Holy War struck at a time when the nations of the Inner
Sphere were still recovering from a string of costly wars. The FedCom Civil War had
just ended, leaving central authority in the Steiner-Davion realms at their lowest ebb in
centuries. The Draconis Combine reeled from no less than three border conflicts.
Even the Clans were rebuilding strength lost in their own internecine fighting. The
heart of the Inner Sphere was a no-mans land, dubbed the Chaos March, where no
power held sway and laws and rulers changed in an eye blink, while people lived in
poverty and fear. When the new Star League disbanded, it brought down the wrath of
the Blakist zealots in a fire of pure rage that left few untouched.
+ ++ALTERATION: Truth again; Anon is batting 1.000 so far. The Lyran and
FedSuns states had problems reining as a number of local lordships took advantage
of the civil war to build a power base. In an even more unprecedented move, Dukes
Sandoval and Hasek, who each reigned over vast sections of House Davion’s
Federated Suns, defied Davion leadership during their civil war, with ol’ Hasek
practically taking the worlds he ruled on behalf of House Davion into autonomy there
at the end. The Free Worlds had similar problems with Alys Marik (cousin to whom
she thought was a ‘real’ Marik sitting on the throne of House Marik) calling for a
repeal of Resolution 288 to depose the man who would one day be known as “the
false Thomas Marik”. Only the Capellan Confederation really maintained a solid
command structure when the war started, and with so many people suggesting
Capellan Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao was in league with the Blakists—until they hit
Sian, that is—they had to fight the war alone. More conquer-and-divide strategy from
the masters of the day, as if an almost useless HPG grid didn’t do that already. —
Archangel+++
We survived that war, fortunately. But would we have done so nearly as well without
Devlin Stone? Had this man of vision not risen from the ashes of the worst war ever
to darken mankind’s history, where would we all be? Would we even here to talk
about it? Would we have seen a new age of peace? Would we have seen the
prosperity we have taken for granted all these many years?
+ ++ALTERATION: Ah, we come to Stone. Hard to be objective about the Chosen
One, I’m sure… —Archangel+++
Devlin Stone was a messiah for a new age, and even those among us whose business
is war—those who resent our Republic and its triumphs in peace, be they here or
abroad—recognize him for the hero he was. Without backing at first, he alone
managed to unify a resistance to stand up to the zealots from within, to wage a war in
the name of a lasting peace. It was Devlin Stone, not Victor Steiner-Davion or Hohiro
Kurita, or Sun-Tzu Liao, or any of the other “great leaders” of that time, who pulled
together the international coalition against the darkness. While other nations fought on
against a fanatic, implacable enemy, it was Stone who drove toward an even greater
unity of purpose.
+ ++ALTERATION: The real architect of Devlin Stone’s “vision” was Doctor David
Lear, son of the famous—infamous, if you’re among his detractors—Kai Allard-Liao.
Of course David is a whole other enigma with history more full of holes than answers,
but that’s for another day. Lear and Stone escaped a Blakist internment camp on
Kittery together and formed a resistance “Prefecture” in that area. Stone was simply
the charismatic leader who could sell this vision to the people, like a modern-day
Kerensky or—dare I say it?—Julius Caesar. What Anon also doesn’t add in here is
that the two came at a time when the Blakists and their allies and mercenaries (yes,
the Blakies had allies and mercenaries at their beck and call; you’d be surprised how
many like-minded monsters crawl out of the woodwork when real evil rears its ugly
head!) were stretched to their logistical limits. Even a total war of terror, made
possible by a rapidly shrinking stockpile of nukes, WarShips, and ComStar and Free
Worlds League defectors—not to mention the drying up of support from those aiding
the Jihad from within the Great Houses themselves; exactly who or what they were is
as much a mystery as the reasons for the Jihad itself, but there can be no doubt that
such aid existed—can tax the command capabilities of those who wage it. —
Archangel+++
When the Jihad finally ended, and the Blakist terrorists were finally driven from our
worlds, Stone again saw a vision of peace, a means to end the wars that had claimed
so many billions of lives. From the ashes of war, like a rising phoenix, he forged The
Republic—our Republic—starting with some of the worlds hardest hit during the
Jihad. His Republic, formed not by force of arms but under a mandate of peace,
would be a new society born of equality, where the people could decide their fates,
but without fear of imminent war. Our new Republic was to be a beacon to the other
realms, both the nations and Clans who fought alongside Stone, and those who
struggled alone. There could be another way.
+ ++ALTERATION: By war’s end, there weren’t many armies in any shape to stop
Stone, who by this point had tons of followers from across the Inner Sphere,
Periphery, and even the Clans. Like any cult of personality—don’t deny it; you all
thought the same thing!—it was only natural he use his influence to build his own
empire. Sure, some of the allied realms gave worlds up to Stone, the Lyrans to
surrender some of their most battered and rebellious worlds while saving the cost of
rebuilding, the Combine to satiate honor they felt owed to Stone, the League to spare
these worlds the effects of their own fragmentation. But others were forced to
relinquish worlds, pure and simple. House Liao, anyone?
Also, touting democracy when the dominant political leaders were still rooted in
hereditary nobility, and forging “equality” by using enforced relocations of entire
populations to break down cultural barriers (badly) is hardly an original concept.
Nicholas Kerensky did much the same when he built the Clans by proclaiming his 800
most loyal officers the core of the Bloodname (nobility) system, placing the warriors
in charge of a martial democracy, and deliberately scattering warriors of different
national backgrounds to form his new Clan society. Stone (and Lear, mustn’t forget
him!) applied the same principles in a more slapdash fashion, with which, after a
decade of horror—like the survivors of the Exodus Civil Wars leapt to the new Clan
mold—the shell-shocked peoples of the Inner Sphere (or more specifically those
worlds nearest Terra who had born the brunt of the Jihad more so than any other)
were only too eager to comply. —Archangel+++
Stone further blessed us with peace by decommissioning much of the military. The
private citizen armed with his own BattleMech would be a thing of the past. The
factories that once existed solely to build the tools of war could once more turn their
services and products toward those—the vast majority of us—who wanted to see an
end to war. Cities could now be rebuilt. Worlds nearly shattered could now be
restored. As the period of reconstruction ended, the people prospered as never before,
under a democracy, a free and peace-loving nation. Stone’s triumph became our
triumph as the swords became plowshares, and the rest of the Inner Sphere—even
those who stood alone, or who otherwise claimed not to share in his vision—followed
suit. All of you have benefited from this vision. All of us have reaped the fruits of
Stone’s Herculean labors, coming of age in a time when war is once more a blessedly
unknown thing. To remind us of what we left behind, the graveyards of broken ’
Mechs, the monuments to fallen regiments and obliterated cities, can be found
everywhere. Our tribute to the fallen heroes is to live on, and live well, above tyranny,
war, and death. The nations beyond our Republic learned these lessons slowly, some
of them still fighting from time to time, but even they came to know the prosperity of
peace and the improved standard of living that comes when nations turn their energies
away from raising mighty armies of conquest. They know the satisfaction of
rebuilding lives for a people long starved of hope and homes.
+ ++ALTERATION: Truth, with a twist of lemon. Stone’s Military Material
Redemption Program was a guns-for-money program, plain and simple, an effort
used (sometimes to good effect) to disarm an inherently criminal population. Here,
the added enticement of land and citizenship (hence voting rights) made it possible
for mercenaries to make out like bandits, creating a whole new breed of nobility and
supporters through bribery. It worked well enough to disarm the independents and
keep the heavy weapons in the hands of The Republic, and the implied criminalization
of weapons made The Republic a kind of police state. Still, the “peace dividend” did
pay off nicely; I’d attribute that to Stone and Lear again. Nothing sways folks to your
banner and makes them feel better about their nation than prosperity, and when the
government spends lots less on building its army and more on new schools, cleaner
water, and shining new cities, it’s a real winner of hearts and minds.
Now, what made the rest of the Inner Sphere and the Clans follow suit is the great
rub. Let’s just say that Republic propaganda machines went into overdrive there.
Most of these nations were decimated by the Jihad and struggling to rebuild their pre-
war militaries to even half-strength. Offering similar incentives to civilian ’Mech
owners allowed them to buy up a lot more guns than their blasted factories could
build. The Lyrans hardly needed a better incentive than money to downsize when the
“peace dividends” proved workable, and the FedSuns wasn’t far behind. The hostile
realms (former Free Worlds and Capellans) wound up doing the same only after a
media blitz that showed their people what they could have if their leaders weren’t
selfish pigs.
We also can’t forget that the Jihad, along with the antecedent wars, had not only
weakened central authority within each of the Successor States, but in many cases had
actually tarnished the noble Houses themselves. Between the squabbles of the Steiner-
Davion family that sent a thousand worlds into a five-year civil war, to the
knowledge of an imposter sitting on the throne of one of the Great Houses—not for
centuries had the House Leaders looked so bad. People will do anything for a leader
whom they admire and oft-times worship, but when they lose respect for not just the
person but for the very seat of power that person represents, they can turn against
them in the flash of a PPC. Needless to say, the propaganda blitz fit hand in glove
with this reduction of both respect for and the real power behind the leadership of the
Great Houses. As such the general populations were able to bring immense pressure to
bear to follow suit with The Republic. Though much has been done in the past
decades to repair the damage to the nobility of each House and tighten the reins of
power once more, they still have a ways to go.
The same worked against the Clans to an extent, but they also had to contend not only
with the fact that their own armies were savaged in the Jihad, but their own
homeworlds were in chaos. Cut off from supply lines to Clan space, with many
rebellious worlds in their occupation zones in the Inner Sphere, it became a matter of
adapt or be forced to fight again. Rather than fight a losing war to expand or crush
their demanding populations, they found a Clan-style compromise; they tightened
their warrior criteria, creating more Clan-born civilians and directing more resources
to developing infrastructure. Of course, the coupe-de-grace by Devlin in winning over
The Clans was a different kind of propaganda blitz that is rarely touched upon by The
Republic and even ignored by most of the other Great Houses. Devlin Stone
effectively told the Clans they were right. They had built a society where only the
crème-de-la-crème were allowed to pilot BattleMechs, and, in effect, Stone told the
Clans that not only were they right, but that he’d be following in their footsteps in
that respect. Considering what the Clans did to so many worlds, it’s no wonder people
try to forget he did that.
Finally, all has not been sweet in paradise. Even during the two centuries of the
original Star League and its ‘golden age,’ brush fire wars raged. Since the Jihad,
House Steiner continues to look at taking additional worlds from the Duchy of
Tamarind-Abbey in the former Free Worlds League; House Kurita had a second war
with the Ghost Bear Dominion only thirty years ago; a low level war between House
Kurita and the Draconis March of House Davion has existed for almost a half
century; a similar no-mans land exists between the Lyran Commonwealth and the Jade
Falcon Occupation Zone; how often has Liao come for its worlds The Republic stole?
Grand scale war may not have occurred in the last several decades, but any Republic
citizen who thinks war was completely eliminated is simply blind; why else are we able
to so easily slid back to old habits now that Stone isn’t here to watch over his
children? —Archangel+++
Yet now, less than five years after our savior has gone from us, we stand on the edge
of war again.
Those of us united under Stone’s vision, living as neighbors for nearly three
generations, once more fly banners in the name of foreign realms. Greedy men and
women, lusting for power and for glory—the same hubris that brought the Jihad upon
us all— have begun to build armies from the tools of honest, hard-working, peace-
loving citizens. The plowshares are becoming swords again. AgroMechs mount
machine guns, MiningMechs carry missiles, farmers have begun to exchange their
pitchforks for semi¬automatic rifles, and schools are becoming military command
centers. As time goes on, the rare BattleMechs that once marched in great and terrible
armies across hundreds of worlds, bringing nothing but terror and death, will rise
again in numbers. We have indeed entered a new Dark Age, an age of terrible crisis.
The men and women raising these armies are not patriots; their actions do not reflect
the political goals of those they presume to speak for. They are tyrants, petty lords
who are fueled by hate and fear, and who prey on the peace-loving masses.
+ ++ALTERATION: Truth in neon, but also a sad fact that we reap what we sow.
Our nation was built by guile and bribery. Wealth, power, and greed are a deadly
mixture, and unfortunately, The Republic has become a breeding ground for the
corrupt. Maybe most of our leaders still believe in the “vision”, but the men building
the weapons and slapping guns on IndustrialMechs aren’t about to listen to an
impassioned speech. —Archangel+++
Is this what we wanted? Is this how we show our respect for all we have built
together? Is this how we prove to ourselves we are really above the horrors unleashed
by the Word of Blake? Four months ago, a concerned citizen of The Republic came to
you all, to plead this case, yet we are still on this dangerous path. Like him, I say we
can still turn it back. We can say no to these petty would-be tyrants, denying them the
support for their personal crusades, denying them our blood and sacrifice for the sake
of fool’s errands. We can put a stop to all this madness before the armies of the
damned once more roam our worlds.
+ ++ALTERATION: Alas, dear Anon! At this point, it will take more than just saying
“no” to war. Due to the small size of every faction’s military (including the Great
Houses and Clans) IndustrialMechs are being pushed into service; everyone is all too
eager to live out the glorious stories they heard at their great-grandfather’s knee. I’ve
even heard that the Clans are making use of IndustrialMechs in their haste to go to
war (though from what I know I’m thinking a Bloodnamed warrior wouldn’t “soil”
himself with one). However, the use of jury-rigged ’Mechs can only last so long. It
will take a while to gear up an interstellar wartime economy and infrastructure,
especially with a population that is afraid, but still not quite ready to throw away the
peace and prosperity they’ve known, not to mention the lag in communications time
due to the fact that eighty percent of the HPG net is still down. However, gear up
eventually they will and if something isn’t done, I believe BattleMech armies will
march once more in the future.
All it takes for evil to triumph is that good men (and women) do nothing. The petty
armies need to be decisively dealt with, the HPG network restored, and the
Republican system needs an overhaul. Like it or not, now it’s time to put up or shut
up. — Archangel+++
This we must do, or it shall be the death of all we hold dear…. —Anon
Towne Log
+ Now, there’s the way to do an Op/Ed! Hack into the propaganda itself and insert
your own comments! Way to go whoever you are, Archangel! :- Teknofile
+ “This history lesson and party line brought to you by the Friends of Cicero
Foundation.” Why does INN let every crackpot spout this kind of drek? :- Synnik
+ None of this makes you think at all, Synnik? Of course it’s propaganda (and would
be more so had “Archangel” not stepped up to the plate and hacked it) but it’s mostly
on the money, too. Stone and Lear and countless others worked hard to make this the
best nation the Inner Sphere has ever seen, and the likes of Tormark, Kelswa-Steiner,
Sandoval, Bannson, and the rest are just turning it into a free-fire zone. Sure, the
history isn’t pure, but when is it ever? :- WetWillie
+ Ye gods! I’m agreeing with Willie! Heck, The Republic even taught the Clans a
thing or two about downsizing and the value of keeping their citizens happy. (I guess
imitation really is the best form of flattery!) As a result, we got a kinder, gentler Inner
Sphere to show for it, not just a Republic we all know and love. :- Draco041
+ A Republic that demands services in exchange for voting rights? A Republic that
forced people from other cultures—many at war with each other since time
immemorial—to coexist on nuke-blasted planets? A Republic that makes criminals of
the average person who wants to own a weapon? Speak for yourself about knowing
and loving it, Draco. :- XSOkay
+ Like Archangel said; nothing that Nicky Kerensky didn’t do when he made the
Clans. And we all see how that worked out. :- Synnik
+ Yeah, great! That’s MUCH better, Synnik! :- XSOkay
By Amaris Anon, INN Special Political Commentator
My fellow citizens, we stand at the crossroads of an era, the true path before us, and
yet it is as if we lost our way. The Republic —our Republic— is in danger, darkened
by terrible menaces, from both within and without. During this time of strife, we have
all started to turn inward. We have all grown isolated. We have all come to know fear.
Have all of you forgotten how we came to be here? Or the triumphs of The Republic?
+ ++ALTERATION: This Anon speaks some truth, good people, but don’t be afraid
to think for yourselves. This is an opinion as much propaganda as fact. —
Archangel+++
Perhaps a reminder, then. Most of you were born to a nation of plenty. The Republic,
however, emerged from a war that may have been the worst ever seen by mankind.
Not since the Amaris Crisis that brought down the original Star League, not even
since the First Succession Wars, had weapons of mass destruction rained down on
worlds not just on state borders, but across the entire Inner Sphere. No Successor
State, no Clan in the Inner Sphere, great or small, was spared the horrors of the Word
of Blake Jihad. Their war of terror—a war whose purpose we may never
understand—swarmed across the Inner Sphere and spread even into the Periphery,
their nuclear bombs and chemical weapons struck even in the boondocks, without
rhyme or reason, for theirs was not a war of conquest, but of chaos, of fear.
Beginning in November 3067, a decade of horror reigned.
+ ++ALTERATION: Truth in glossover. The Jihad was probably THE worst war ever
fought. Had the new Star League not been disbanded at that time, maybe we would
have avoided Blake’s wrath. Some say the Blakists planned to merge their hidden
ships and troops in support of the League until that moment, a moment that was
prophesized to them as one of greatness, yet the politicians of the day instead robbed
them of this glory, and people who never knew the cruelty of nerve gas attacks and
orbital bombardments on their soil paid the ultimate price. In this, the Jihad cannot
be understated enough; nobody had seen the likes of this kind of war in ages!
However, though the true horror and scope of the war is evident, once again Anon
glosses over the most important part and one that makes this war like none ever
waged on an interstellar scene: it was not about territorial gain. They did not ‘swarm’
across planets like the Clans during their initial invasion of the Inner Sphere in 3050;
the exception being those worlds in the immediate vicinity of Terra, of course. Using
surprise and unprecedented mobility, the jihad forces struck surgically at both military
and political targets, stunning the Inner Sphere and Clans into temporary immobility.
ComStar was completely paralyzed, as a new mass wave of defections left them
reeling and extremely vulnerable. By eliminating the ability of anyone to effectively
use the HPG network, the Word of Blake further hamstrung any effort to deal with
the threat. With their foes thrown onto the defensive, further such surgical strikes
continued to sap strength and morale. To the Inner sphere leaders of the day— not to
mention many, like Anon, today who hide their heads in the sand and still wish to
think of the Word of Blake as mindless animals—the initial phases of the Jihad
looked completely chaotic; random attacks that no intelligence could unravel into a
pattern. However, the followers of Word of Blake were not animals (monsters, but not
animals) and the Jihad was executed with the skill of the finest surgeon,
accomplishing the exact goals they set out to. Just bad luck for them a hero came
along…
As for what those exact goals were meant to accomplish in the end, no one has ever
been able to determine to anyone’s satisfaction. The leadership of the Word of Blake
was simply too devastated—both from their own crazy attacks, the retribution strikes
against them by coalition forces and their own suicides in the end—and their
organization too dependent upon cells (which blocked critical information from
getting to too many individuals) for any coherent picture to emerge for those
captured, regardless of the means used to extract information. Perhaps a key will be
found a century from now to unlock the enigma, but for now, we can only speculate.
—Archangel+++
Worse still, the Blakists’ Holy War struck at a time when the nations of the Inner
Sphere were still recovering from a string of costly wars. The FedCom Civil War had
just ended, leaving central authority in the Steiner-Davion realms at their lowest ebb in
centuries. The Draconis Combine reeled from no less than three border conflicts.
Even the Clans were rebuilding strength lost in their own internecine fighting. The
heart of the Inner Sphere was a no-mans land, dubbed the Chaos March, where no
power held sway and laws and rulers changed in an eye blink, while people lived in
poverty and fear. When the new Star League disbanded, it brought down the wrath of
the Blakist zealots in a fire of pure rage that left few untouched.
+ ++ALTERATION: Truth again; Anon is batting 1.000 so far. The Lyran and
FedSuns states had problems reining as a number of local lordships took advantage
of the civil war to build a power base. In an even more unprecedented move, Dukes
Sandoval and Hasek, who each reigned over vast sections of House Davion’s
Federated Suns, defied Davion leadership during their civil war, with ol’ Hasek
practically taking the worlds he ruled on behalf of House Davion into autonomy there
at the end. The Free Worlds had similar problems with Alys Marik (cousin to whom
she thought was a ‘real’ Marik sitting on the throne of House Marik) calling for a
repeal of Resolution 288 to depose the man who would one day be known as “the
false Thomas Marik”. Only the Capellan Confederation really maintained a solid
command structure when the war started, and with so many people suggesting
Capellan Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao was in league with the Blakists—until they hit
Sian, that is—they had to fight the war alone. More conquer-and-divide strategy from
the masters of the day, as if an almost useless HPG grid didn’t do that already. —
Archangel+++
We survived that war, fortunately. But would we have done so nearly as well without
Devlin Stone? Had this man of vision not risen from the ashes of the worst war ever
to darken mankind’s history, where would we all be? Would we even here to talk
about it? Would we have seen a new age of peace? Would we have seen the
prosperity we have taken for granted all these many years?
+ ++ALTERATION: Ah, we come to Stone. Hard to be objective about the Chosen
One, I’m sure… —Archangel+++
Devlin Stone was a messiah for a new age, and even those among us whose business
is war—those who resent our Republic and its triumphs in peace, be they here or
abroad—recognize him for the hero he was. Without backing at first, he alone
managed to unify a resistance to stand up to the zealots from within, to wage a war in
the name of a lasting peace. It was Devlin Stone, not Victor Steiner-Davion or Hohiro
Kurita, or Sun-Tzu Liao, or any of the other “great leaders” of that time, who pulled
together the international coalition against the darkness. While other nations fought on
against a fanatic, implacable enemy, it was Stone who drove toward an even greater
unity of purpose.
+ ++ALTERATION: The real architect of Devlin Stone’s “vision” was Doctor David
Lear, son of the famous—infamous, if you’re among his detractors—Kai Allard-Liao.
Of course David is a whole other enigma with history more full of holes than answers,
but that’s for another day. Lear and Stone escaped a Blakist internment camp on
Kittery together and formed a resistance “Prefecture” in that area. Stone was simply
the charismatic leader who could sell this vision to the people, like a modern-day
Kerensky or—dare I say it?—Julius Caesar. What Anon also doesn’t add in here is
that the two came at a time when the Blakists and their allies and mercenaries (yes,
the Blakies had allies and mercenaries at their beck and call; you’d be surprised how
many like-minded monsters crawl out of the woodwork when real evil rears its ugly
head!) were stretched to their logistical limits. Even a total war of terror, made
possible by a rapidly shrinking stockpile of nukes, WarShips, and ComStar and Free
Worlds League defectors—not to mention the drying up of support from those aiding
the Jihad from within the Great Houses themselves; exactly who or what they were is
as much a mystery as the reasons for the Jihad itself, but there can be no doubt that
such aid existed—can tax the command capabilities of those who wage it. —
Archangel+++
When the Jihad finally ended, and the Blakist terrorists were finally driven from our
worlds, Stone again saw a vision of peace, a means to end the wars that had claimed
so many billions of lives. From the ashes of war, like a rising phoenix, he forged The
Republic—our Republic—starting with some of the worlds hardest hit during the
Jihad. His Republic, formed not by force of arms but under a mandate of peace,
would be a new society born of equality, where the people could decide their fates,
but without fear of imminent war. Our new Republic was to be a beacon to the other
realms, both the nations and Clans who fought alongside Stone, and those who
struggled alone. There could be another way.
+ ++ALTERATION: By war’s end, there weren’t many armies in any shape to stop
Stone, who by this point had tons of followers from across the Inner Sphere,
Periphery, and even the Clans. Like any cult of personality—don’t deny it; you all
thought the same thing!—it was only natural he use his influence to build his own
empire. Sure, some of the allied realms gave worlds up to Stone, the Lyrans to
surrender some of their most battered and rebellious worlds while saving the cost of
rebuilding, the Combine to satiate honor they felt owed to Stone, the League to spare
these worlds the effects of their own fragmentation. But others were forced to
relinquish worlds, pure and simple. House Liao, anyone?
Also, touting democracy when the dominant political leaders were still rooted in
hereditary nobility, and forging “equality” by using enforced relocations of entire
populations to break down cultural barriers (badly) is hardly an original concept.
Nicholas Kerensky did much the same when he built the Clans by proclaiming his 800
most loyal officers the core of the Bloodname (nobility) system, placing the warriors
in charge of a martial democracy, and deliberately scattering warriors of different
national backgrounds to form his new Clan society. Stone (and Lear, mustn’t forget
him!) applied the same principles in a more slapdash fashion, with which, after a
decade of horror—like the survivors of the Exodus Civil Wars leapt to the new Clan
mold—the shell-shocked peoples of the Inner Sphere (or more specifically those
worlds nearest Terra who had born the brunt of the Jihad more so than any other)
were only too eager to comply. —Archangel+++
Stone further blessed us with peace by decommissioning much of the military. The
private citizen armed with his own BattleMech would be a thing of the past. The
factories that once existed solely to build the tools of war could once more turn their
services and products toward those—the vast majority of us—who wanted to see an
end to war. Cities could now be rebuilt. Worlds nearly shattered could now be
restored. As the period of reconstruction ended, the people prospered as never before,
under a democracy, a free and peace-loving nation. Stone’s triumph became our
triumph as the swords became plowshares, and the rest of the Inner Sphere—even
those who stood alone, or who otherwise claimed not to share in his vision—followed
suit. All of you have benefited from this vision. All of us have reaped the fruits of
Stone’s Herculean labors, coming of age in a time when war is once more a blessedly
unknown thing. To remind us of what we left behind, the graveyards of broken ’
Mechs, the monuments to fallen regiments and obliterated cities, can be found
everywhere. Our tribute to the fallen heroes is to live on, and live well, above tyranny,
war, and death. The nations beyond our Republic learned these lessons slowly, some
of them still fighting from time to time, but even they came to know the prosperity of
peace and the improved standard of living that comes when nations turn their energies
away from raising mighty armies of conquest. They know the satisfaction of
rebuilding lives for a people long starved of hope and homes.
+ ++ALTERATION: Truth, with a twist of lemon. Stone’s Military Material
Redemption Program was a guns-for-money program, plain and simple, an effort
used (sometimes to good effect) to disarm an inherently criminal population. Here,
the added enticement of land and citizenship (hence voting rights) made it possible
for mercenaries to make out like bandits, creating a whole new breed of nobility and
supporters through bribery. It worked well enough to disarm the independents and
keep the heavy weapons in the hands of The Republic, and the implied criminalization
of weapons made The Republic a kind of police state. Still, the “peace dividend” did
pay off nicely; I’d attribute that to Stone and Lear again. Nothing sways folks to your
banner and makes them feel better about their nation than prosperity, and when the
government spends lots less on building its army and more on new schools, cleaner
water, and shining new cities, it’s a real winner of hearts and minds.
Now, what made the rest of the Inner Sphere and the Clans follow suit is the great
rub. Let’s just say that Republic propaganda machines went into overdrive there.
Most of these nations were decimated by the Jihad and struggling to rebuild their pre-
war militaries to even half-strength. Offering similar incentives to civilian ’Mech
owners allowed them to buy up a lot more guns than their blasted factories could
build. The Lyrans hardly needed a better incentive than money to downsize when the
“peace dividends” proved workable, and the FedSuns wasn’t far behind. The hostile
realms (former Free Worlds and Capellans) wound up doing the same only after a
media blitz that showed their people what they could have if their leaders weren’t
selfish pigs.
We also can’t forget that the Jihad, along with the antecedent wars, had not only
weakened central authority within each of the Successor States, but in many cases had
actually tarnished the noble Houses themselves. Between the squabbles of the Steiner-
Davion family that sent a thousand worlds into a five-year civil war, to the
knowledge of an imposter sitting on the throne of one of the Great Houses—not for
centuries had the House Leaders looked so bad. People will do anything for a leader
whom they admire and oft-times worship, but when they lose respect for not just the
person but for the very seat of power that person represents, they can turn against
them in the flash of a PPC. Needless to say, the propaganda blitz fit hand in glove
with this reduction of both respect for and the real power behind the leadership of the
Great Houses. As such the general populations were able to bring immense pressure to
bear to follow suit with The Republic. Though much has been done in the past
decades to repair the damage to the nobility of each House and tighten the reins of
power once more, they still have a ways to go.
The same worked against the Clans to an extent, but they also had to contend not only
with the fact that their own armies were savaged in the Jihad, but their own
homeworlds were in chaos. Cut off from supply lines to Clan space, with many
rebellious worlds in their occupation zones in the Inner Sphere, it became a matter of
adapt or be forced to fight again. Rather than fight a losing war to expand or crush
their demanding populations, they found a Clan-style compromise; they tightened
their warrior criteria, creating more Clan-born civilians and directing more resources
to developing infrastructure. Of course, the coupe-de-grace by Devlin in winning over
The Clans was a different kind of propaganda blitz that is rarely touched upon by The
Republic and even ignored by most of the other Great Houses. Devlin Stone
effectively told the Clans they were right. They had built a society where only the
crème-de-la-crème were allowed to pilot BattleMechs, and, in effect, Stone told the
Clans that not only were they right, but that he’d be following in their footsteps in
that respect. Considering what the Clans did to so many worlds, it’s no wonder people
try to forget he did that.
Finally, all has not been sweet in paradise. Even during the two centuries of the
original Star League and its ‘golden age,’ brush fire wars raged. Since the Jihad,
House Steiner continues to look at taking additional worlds from the Duchy of
Tamarind-Abbey in the former Free Worlds League; House Kurita had a second war
with the Ghost Bear Dominion only thirty years ago; a low level war between House
Kurita and the Draconis March of House Davion has existed for almost a half
century; a similar no-mans land exists between the Lyran Commonwealth and the Jade
Falcon Occupation Zone; how often has Liao come for its worlds The Republic stole?
Grand scale war may not have occurred in the last several decades, but any Republic
citizen who thinks war was completely eliminated is simply blind; why else are we able
to so easily slid back to old habits now that Stone isn’t here to watch over his
children? —Archangel+++
Yet now, less than five years after our savior has gone from us, we stand on the edge
of war again.
Those of us united under Stone’s vision, living as neighbors for nearly three
generations, once more fly banners in the name of foreign realms. Greedy men and
women, lusting for power and for glory—the same hubris that brought the Jihad upon
us all— have begun to build armies from the tools of honest, hard-working, peace-
loving citizens. The plowshares are becoming swords again. AgroMechs mount
machine guns, MiningMechs carry missiles, farmers have begun to exchange their
pitchforks for semi¬automatic rifles, and schools are becoming military command
centers. As time goes on, the rare BattleMechs that once marched in great and terrible
armies across hundreds of worlds, bringing nothing but terror and death, will rise
again in numbers. We have indeed entered a new Dark Age, an age of terrible crisis.
The men and women raising these armies are not patriots; their actions do not reflect
the political goals of those they presume to speak for. They are tyrants, petty lords
who are fueled by hate and fear, and who prey on the peace-loving masses.
+ ++ALTERATION: Truth in neon, but also a sad fact that we reap what we sow.
Our nation was built by guile and bribery. Wealth, power, and greed are a deadly
mixture, and unfortunately, The Republic has become a breeding ground for the
corrupt. Maybe most of our leaders still believe in the “vision”, but the men building
the weapons and slapping guns on IndustrialMechs aren’t about to listen to an
impassioned speech. —Archangel+++
Is this what we wanted? Is this how we show our respect for all we have built
together? Is this how we prove to ourselves we are really above the horrors unleashed
by the Word of Blake? Four months ago, a concerned citizen of The Republic came to
you all, to plead this case, yet we are still on this dangerous path. Like him, I say we
can still turn it back. We can say no to these petty would-be tyrants, denying them the
support for their personal crusades, denying them our blood and sacrifice for the sake
of fool’s errands. We can put a stop to all this madness before the armies of the
damned once more roam our worlds.
+ ++ALTERATION: Alas, dear Anon! At this point, it will take more than just saying
“no” to war. Due to the small size of every faction’s military (including the Great
Houses and Clans) IndustrialMechs are being pushed into service; everyone is all too
eager to live out the glorious stories they heard at their great-grandfather’s knee. I’ve
even heard that the Clans are making use of IndustrialMechs in their haste to go to
war (though from what I know I’m thinking a Bloodnamed warrior wouldn’t “soil”
himself with one). However, the use of jury-rigged ’Mechs can only last so long. It
will take a while to gear up an interstellar wartime economy and infrastructure,
especially with a population that is afraid, but still not quite ready to throw away the
peace and prosperity they’ve known, not to mention the lag in communications time
due to the fact that eighty percent of the HPG net is still down. However, gear up
eventually they will and if something isn’t done, I believe BattleMech armies will
march once more in the future.
All it takes for evil to triumph is that good men (and women) do nothing. The petty
armies need to be decisively dealt with, the HPG network restored, and the
Republican system needs an overhaul. Like it or not, now it’s time to put up or shut
up. — Archangel+++
This we must do, or it shall be the death of all we hold dear…. —Anon
Towne Log
+ Now, there’s the way to do an Op/Ed! Hack into the propaganda itself and insert
your own comments! Way to go whoever you are, Archangel! :- Teknofile
+ “This history lesson and party line brought to you by the Friends of Cicero
Foundation.” Why does INN let every crackpot spout this kind of drek? :- Synnik
+ None of this makes you think at all, Synnik? Of course it’s propaganda (and would
be more so had “Archangel” not stepped up to the plate and hacked it) but it’s mostly
on the money, too. Stone and Lear and countless others worked hard to make this the
best nation the Inner Sphere has ever seen, and the likes of Tormark, Kelswa-Steiner,
Sandoval, Bannson, and the rest are just turning it into a free-fire zone. Sure, the
history isn’t pure, but when is it ever? :- WetWillie
+ Ye gods! I’m agreeing with Willie! Heck, The Republic even taught the Clans a
thing or two about downsizing and the value of keeping their citizens happy. (I guess
imitation really is the best form of flattery!) As a result, we got a kinder, gentler Inner
Sphere to show for it, not just a Republic we all know and love. :- Draco041
+ A Republic that demands services in exchange for voting rights? A Republic that
forced people from other cultures—many at war with each other since time
immemorial—to coexist on nuke-blasted planets? A Republic that makes criminals of
the average person who wants to own a weapon? Speak for yourself about knowing
and loving it, Draco. :- XSOkay
+ Like Archangel said; nothing that Nicky Kerensky didn’t do when he made the
Clans. And we all see how that worked out. :- Synnik
+ Yeah, great! That’s MUCH better, Synnik! :- XSOkay
| September 21, 3133 |