Touring the Stars with Bertram Habeas
Milky Way, touching worlds as far from our home as Clan space, more than two
relentless push outward and onward? I’m Bertram Habeas, and tonight we’ll
find the answers to these and many other fascinating questions together, as we tour the
stars!
Volume XI: The Fox and His Legacy
In 3013, Prince Ian Davion, ruler of the Federated Suns, died in battle with Draconis
Combine forces on Mallory’s World. Because he was a bachelor prince with no
wife or child to succeed him, it fell to his brother, Hanse Davion, “the Fox,� to
lead his nation out of a war that had already run for nearly a full century and a half.
Though he was never raised for statesmanship, Hanse Davion would nonetheless
become a pivotal leader in the history of the Federated Suns, both for his skill and
infamous luck on the battlefield, and for the political savvy that would soon change the
face of the Inner Sphere forever.
Though some have credited such wisdom to Jerome Blake, there is an old Terran
adage that says, “It is better to be lucky than good.� In the case of Hanse
Davion, that phrase perhaps rang truest. Though unquestionably brilliant in the
affairs of all things military, and a gifted diplomat even in his youth, no small
amount of pure, dumb luck characterized his entire career, often turning certain
defeat into total victory.
For example, no sooner did Hanse step off the DropShip on New Avalon after being
named First Prince, than an assassin (hired by his rival Michael Hasek-Davion) just
missed killing him, burning off a part of the bulkhead behind the new ruler of the
realm at the very second he stooped to adjust an errant boot spur.
That Hanse Davion was also a man of astute leadership and keen foresight is
undeniable, of course, but anyone who thinks he made his mark on the universe by
skill alone fails to give credit to the divine whims of Fate itself.
--Arthur Luvonne, The Long, Dirty History of the Federated Suns, Commonwealth
Press, 3100
Even before assuming responsibility for the Federated Suns, Hanse Davion took an
active interest in learning and refining House Davion’s military edge. He personally
spearheaded an initiative to reform the crumbling state of military competence on the
Capellan front during the closing years of the Third Succession War, an effort that
helped turn the tide of battle on that border.
He also led a daring assault on Halstead Station, an airless rock where House Kurita
forces were massing supplies in advance of a new invasion. While hardly
extraordinary events in and of themselves, these successes would set the Federated
Suns in good standing by the war’s end in 3025.
Of course, the most famous of Hanse’s decisions as ruler of the Suns was his
alliance with Katrina Steiner, Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth, after her Peace
Proposal of 3020. This momentous event forged the first true formal bond between
Successor States since the collapse of the Star League, an alliance that, upon its
consummation, would ignite the Inner Sphere in the shortest and most dramatic of the
Succession Wars.
“Husband, in honor of our marriage, in addition to this cake, I give to you a
regiment of BattleMechs and the means to support them in perpetuity.�
“I thank you for the gift, beloved. Wife, in honor of our marriage, in addition to
this morsel, I give you a vast prize. Here, my love, I give you the Capellan
Confederation!� --Archon-Designate Melissa Steiner and First Prince Hanse
Davion, upon their wedding night, 20 August 3028, Hilton Head Island, Terra
As any school child knows, the marriage of First Prince Hanse Davion to Melissa
Steiner, designated heir to the Steiner throne, heralded the start of the brutal, two-year
war between the united Steiner-Davion realms and the rest of the Great Houses.
Bearing the brunt of this invasion was the Capellan Confederation, which lost roughly
half its territory to the war machine of the Federated Suns, but both Houses Kurita and
Marik also suffered losses in the highly organized, lighting-fast blitzkrieg. Despite a
loose alliance of their own, the Draconis Combine, Free Worlds League, and Capellan
Confederation could not coordinate an effective defense against the Davions and
Steiners, who had spent the past six years preparing for the campaign.
When it was over, a bridge of worlds cut through the Confederation and League to
link the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth in a new entity known as the
Federated Commonwealth, and Lyran troops tore deep into the Combine’s
Rasalhague Prefecture. Even a ComStar interdiction failed to impede the victory that
Hanse Davion and Katrina Steiner declared in the final days of 3029.
In the two decades that followed that conflict, the Inner Sphere continued to reel from
the effects of Hanse Davion’s alliance, which produced the largest, most powerful
military and economic force since the Star League. Though efforts to finish the job
begun with the Fourth Succession War fizzled, such as the abortive War of 3039
against House Kurita’s Draconis Combine, and though internal unrest spiked from
the ongoing efforts to integrate the realms, the reality of the unified Steiner-Davion
realm became more and more a fact of life.
That was, at least, until 3049, when the luck of the Fox – and the Inner Sphere at
large – finally ran out.
Who knows what might have happened if the Clans had not shown up when they did?
Some have linked the FedCom Civil War to the strain of fighting the Clan invasion,
which bore down more heavily on the Lyran half of the Commonwealth than on the
Davion realm.
Others, however, believe that even without this impetus, the alliance would have
crumbled anyway. After all, the Commonwealth was in a state of simmering turmoil, a
hotbed of unrest from separatist groups, made louder and bolder as the economy
stumbled its way toward equilibrium. The Skye region even tried to secede during this
time, until Archon Melissa Steiner-Davion settled the matter with surprising level-
headedness.
But if the Clans had not come, what then would have been the straw to break the
proverbial camel’s back? What pretext of tension would lead Katherine Steiner-
Davion, sister of Hanse and Melissa’s heir Victor, to assassinate their mother and
launch a propaganda campaign to tear the realm in half and seize the two thrones for
herself?
--Dr. Lorenzo Torres, PhD., Professor of History, University of Thorin
Hanse Davion died of a heart attack shortly after the Battle of Tukayyid, leaving his
wife, Archon Melissa Steiner-Davion, and heir-apparent Victor Ian Steiner-Davion, to
guide the united realm through the turbulent times ahead. Unfortunately, Melissa’s
subsequent assassination in 3055 at once gave official birth to the Federated
Commonwealth and marked the beginning of its end.
Victor (unlike his father), trained for warfare and poorly skilled in the affairs of
diplomacy and politics, proved unable to stem the rising tide of chaos. Though he
would one day lead in the final campaign to defeat the Clans, and later on win back
both the Davion and Steiner realms from the rule of his treacherous sister, Katherine
Steiner-Davion, he destroyed the destiny to which he had been originally born and
bred. Victor Steiner-Davion would be a hero to his home realms and the Inner Sphere
at large once again, fighting alongside Devlin Stone to defeat the Word of Blake and
their brutal Jihad, but the dreams of a Star League under the Davion standard were
lost forever in the fires of the FedCom Civil War.
“We must never forget the awful price we have paid to finally win this peace. The
Commonwealth my parents once forged from both nations is lost forever, so I ask this
of the Lyran Alliance and the reborn Federated Suns: May we never turn down this
path again.�
--Public address by Victor Ian Steiner-Davion at the end of the FedCom Civil War, 24
April 3067
In our final installment on the Federated Suns, we’ll look at House Davion’s
Federated Suns as it stands today, after the triumphs – and the tragedies – of the
31st century. Please join us as we continue our tour of the stars! I’m Bertram
Habeas.
relentless push outward and onward? I’m Bertram Habeas, and tonight we’ll
find the answers to these and many other fascinating questions together, as we tour the
stars!
Volume XI: The Fox and His Legacy
In 3013, Prince Ian Davion, ruler of the Federated Suns, died in battle with Draconis
Combine forces on Mallory’s World. Because he was a bachelor prince with no
wife or child to succeed him, it fell to his brother, Hanse Davion, “the Fox,� to
lead his nation out of a war that had already run for nearly a full century and a half.
Though he was never raised for statesmanship, Hanse Davion would nonetheless
become a pivotal leader in the history of the Federated Suns, both for his skill and
infamous luck on the battlefield, and for the political savvy that would soon change the
face of the Inner Sphere forever.
Though some have credited such wisdom to Jerome Blake, there is an old Terran
adage that says, “It is better to be lucky than good.� In the case of Hanse
Davion, that phrase perhaps rang truest. Though unquestionably brilliant in the
affairs of all things military, and a gifted diplomat even in his youth, no small
amount of pure, dumb luck characterized his entire career, often turning certain
defeat into total victory.
For example, no sooner did Hanse step off the DropShip on New Avalon after being
named First Prince, than an assassin (hired by his rival Michael Hasek-Davion) just
missed killing him, burning off a part of the bulkhead behind the new ruler of the
realm at the very second he stooped to adjust an errant boot spur.
That Hanse Davion was also a man of astute leadership and keen foresight is
undeniable, of course, but anyone who thinks he made his mark on the universe by
skill alone fails to give credit to the divine whims of Fate itself.
--Arthur Luvonne, The Long, Dirty History of the Federated Suns, Commonwealth
Press, 3100
Even before assuming responsibility for the Federated Suns, Hanse Davion took an
active interest in learning and refining House Davion’s military edge. He personally
spearheaded an initiative to reform the crumbling state of military competence on the
Capellan front during the closing years of the Third Succession War, an effort that
helped turn the tide of battle on that border.
He also led a daring assault on Halstead Station, an airless rock where House Kurita
forces were massing supplies in advance of a new invasion. While hardly
extraordinary events in and of themselves, these successes would set the Federated
Suns in good standing by the war’s end in 3025.
Of course, the most famous of Hanse’s decisions as ruler of the Suns was his
alliance with Katrina Steiner, Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth, after her Peace
Proposal of 3020. This momentous event forged the first true formal bond between
Successor States since the collapse of the Star League, an alliance that, upon its
consummation, would ignite the Inner Sphere in the shortest and most dramatic of the
Succession Wars.
“Husband, in honor of our marriage, in addition to this cake, I give to you a
regiment of BattleMechs and the means to support them in perpetuity.�
“I thank you for the gift, beloved. Wife, in honor of our marriage, in addition to
this morsel, I give you a vast prize. Here, my love, I give you the Capellan
Confederation!� --Archon-Designate Melissa Steiner and First Prince Hanse
Davion, upon their wedding night, 20 August 3028, Hilton Head Island, Terra
As any school child knows, the marriage of First Prince Hanse Davion to Melissa
Steiner, designated heir to the Steiner throne, heralded the start of the brutal, two-year
war between the united Steiner-Davion realms and the rest of the Great Houses.
Bearing the brunt of this invasion was the Capellan Confederation, which lost roughly
half its territory to the war machine of the Federated Suns, but both Houses Kurita and
Marik also suffered losses in the highly organized, lighting-fast blitzkrieg. Despite a
loose alliance of their own, the Draconis Combine, Free Worlds League, and Capellan
Confederation could not coordinate an effective defense against the Davions and
Steiners, who had spent the past six years preparing for the campaign.
When it was over, a bridge of worlds cut through the Confederation and League to
link the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth in a new entity known as the
Federated Commonwealth, and Lyran troops tore deep into the Combine’s
Rasalhague Prefecture. Even a ComStar interdiction failed to impede the victory that
Hanse Davion and Katrina Steiner declared in the final days of 3029.
In the two decades that followed that conflict, the Inner Sphere continued to reel from
the effects of Hanse Davion’s alliance, which produced the largest, most powerful
military and economic force since the Star League. Though efforts to finish the job
begun with the Fourth Succession War fizzled, such as the abortive War of 3039
against House Kurita’s Draconis Combine, and though internal unrest spiked from
the ongoing efforts to integrate the realms, the reality of the unified Steiner-Davion
realm became more and more a fact of life.
That was, at least, until 3049, when the luck of the Fox – and the Inner Sphere at
large – finally ran out.
Who knows what might have happened if the Clans had not shown up when they did?
Some have linked the FedCom Civil War to the strain of fighting the Clan invasion,
which bore down more heavily on the Lyran half of the Commonwealth than on the
Davion realm.
Others, however, believe that even without this impetus, the alliance would have
crumbled anyway. After all, the Commonwealth was in a state of simmering turmoil, a
hotbed of unrest from separatist groups, made louder and bolder as the economy
stumbled its way toward equilibrium. The Skye region even tried to secede during this
time, until Archon Melissa Steiner-Davion settled the matter with surprising level-
headedness.
But if the Clans had not come, what then would have been the straw to break the
proverbial camel’s back? What pretext of tension would lead Katherine Steiner-
Davion, sister of Hanse and Melissa’s heir Victor, to assassinate their mother and
launch a propaganda campaign to tear the realm in half and seize the two thrones for
herself?
--Dr. Lorenzo Torres, PhD., Professor of History, University of Thorin
Hanse Davion died of a heart attack shortly after the Battle of Tukayyid, leaving his
wife, Archon Melissa Steiner-Davion, and heir-apparent Victor Ian Steiner-Davion, to
guide the united realm through the turbulent times ahead. Unfortunately, Melissa’s
subsequent assassination in 3055 at once gave official birth to the Federated
Commonwealth and marked the beginning of its end.
Victor (unlike his father), trained for warfare and poorly skilled in the affairs of
diplomacy and politics, proved unable to stem the rising tide of chaos. Though he
would one day lead in the final campaign to defeat the Clans, and later on win back
both the Davion and Steiner realms from the rule of his treacherous sister, Katherine
Steiner-Davion, he destroyed the destiny to which he had been originally born and
bred. Victor Steiner-Davion would be a hero to his home realms and the Inner Sphere
at large once again, fighting alongside Devlin Stone to defeat the Word of Blake and
their brutal Jihad, but the dreams of a Star League under the Davion standard were
lost forever in the fires of the FedCom Civil War.
“We must never forget the awful price we have paid to finally win this peace. The
Commonwealth my parents once forged from both nations is lost forever, so I ask this
of the Lyran Alliance and the reborn Federated Suns: May we never turn down this
path again.�
--Public address by Victor Ian Steiner-Davion at the end of the FedCom Civil War, 24
April 3067
In our final installment on the Federated Suns, we’ll look at House Davion’s
Federated Suns as it stands today, after the triumphs – and the tragedies – of the
31st century. Please join us as we continue our tour of the stars! I’m Bertram
Habeas.