Adam Steiner

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File:Adam Steiner - Mike Jackson.jpg

Adam Steiner Portrait

A member of a cadet line of House Steiner, Adam Steiner (b. 3024—died 3121) first rose to prominence in a daring reconnaissance mission during the Clan Invasion, eventually becoming Archon of the Lyran Alliance/Lyran Commonwealth during the final years of the Word of Blake Jihad.

Character History

Early Life

A member of the cadet line descended from Simon Borge-Steiner, who refused the Archonship in 2914 in favor of his more capable sister Tatyana Steiner, Adam was born on Somerset. He attended the Military Academy of Somerset as a MechWarrior. Graduating with honors, while many attributed it to his famous last name, the untried Adam quickly secured the rank of Major and a position as instructor at the famed Nagelring on the basis of his tactical and strategic acumen in 3049.

Clan Invasion

Appalled upon learning of the fall of his homeworld to Clan Jade Falcon during the opening waves of the Clan Invasion, Adam successfully convinced the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth to be allowed to launch a reconnaissance mission behind enemy lines to gain valuable intelligence on the invaders. Leading an ad-hoc multi-national unit dubbed the 1st Somerset Strikers, Adam's unconventional unit took an indirect route to Somerset and against all odds succeeded in capturing the world for the Federated Commonwealth in November 3050. Unfortunately, with Somerset now so far behind the Clan line of advance, the AFFC refused Adam's pleas for reinforcements to hold the world, so he ordered the Strikers to retreat back to Commonwealth space; Adam bitterly watched as the Falcons swiftly recaptured his undefended homeworld during their fifth invasion wave.

“

Information is ammunition.

”

--Credo of Major Adam Steiner, 1st Somerset Strikers

Unbowed, in early 3052 Adam was able to successfully convince the AFFC High Command to let him lead another behind-the-lines raid, this time aimed at Barcelona. Leading a larger body of troops based around his original Somerset Strikers, Adam built upon the lessons of his previous success, finally silencing his critics. Shortly after the Battle of Tukayyid, the Tharkad Broadcast Company released a semi-fictionalized holoseries based on Adam's exploits during the invasion, mixing in the battles on Barecelona into his initial raid and recapture of Somerset. Intended as a morale-boosting exercise, the poorly-reviewed series successfully helped to instill national pride in the Lyran youth, selling trillions of S-Bills of merchandise in the process.

With the Strikers disbanded after the initial Clan Invasion, Adam remained in the Lyran Alliance Armed Forces when Katrina Steiner seceded from the Federated Commonwealth, eventually reaching the rank of Lieutenant-General. Katherine retained Adam's loyalty by convincing him that Victor Steiner-Davion was responsible for the assassination of Archon Melissa Steiner.

FedCom Civil War

At the beginning of the FedCom Civil War in 3063, Adam commanded the Fourteenth Donegal Guards RCT. Alerted to fighting on Newtown Square, Steiner secretly led his command to the world from their base on Barcelona. The Guards waited for the task force led by Victor Steiner-Davion to arrive on-world, which they did on 2 April, before making his presence known. The defending Thirty-ninth Avalon Hussars were spread across the planet hunting down the remnants of the Deep Hunters mercenary unit. The bulk of the Guards assaulted the capital city Market, where Victor had located his headquarters, while token forces kept the Hussars engaged and unable to reinforce their commanders. Faced with overwhelming force, Victor was forced to quit the capital, abandoning his DropShips in the process. Adam's Guards chased Victor's troops across the Plains of Culd. On 20 April, a portion of the Guards combat vehicle contingent raided the Hussars aerospace fighters, catching them on the ground, giving the Guards air superiority. Only the timely reinforcement of Victor's forces by the AWOL 244th Com Guard Division allowed the deposed Prince another chance. Sensing that he had lost his advantage, Adam ordered his forces to press the attack. The Guards shattered the Prince's command company and took down his Daishi. Victor survived, but was wounded. Adam surrendered the Guards shortly after. After Victor had two weeks to recover, Adam confronted his cousin. During the hostile discussion, Adam began to doubt the veracity of Katherine's claims regarding who assassinated Melissa Steiner, though he remained unconvinced due to Victor's failure to produce incontrovertible proof. Victor informed Adam that he was taking enough to resupply and repair his forces and leaving enough for the Guards to do the same. Though he took some of the Guards' transportation, he left Adam enough to move half of his RCT, enough to defend nearby worlds against Clan Jade Falcon, but not enough to pursue Victor.

Seeking to take advantage of a Lyran Alliance distracted by civil war, the Jade Falcons launched an invasion in May 3064. One the first worlds the Clan hit was Newtown Square. The Pryde Eyrie, Omega Solahma, and Seventh Provisional Garrison Clusters landed on 16 May. Already seriously damaged after four days of fighting, Adam ordered the Fourteenth Donegal Guards off the unimportant world. The Guards completed their pull-out on 23 May, heading for the theater headquarters on Melissia.

On 13 August, the expected Clan assaulted jumped in-system. Khan Marthe Pryde led a force seven clusters strong and soundly drubbed the defending Lyran forces under General Sharon Bryan. On the 16th, a battle armor force dropped directly onto the margrave's base and killed her, crippling command and control. Adam took command and ordered the remaining LAAF forces to retreat that day.

Steiner pulled the LAAF forces, some three brigades strong, back to Chapultepec, landing on 25 August. Commander of Omega Galaxy, Jared von Jankmon led much of his galaxy there in pursuit. The unexpected arrival of Major General Archer Christifori at the head of Archer's Avengers spoiled von Jankmon's flanking maneuver, allowing Adam to pull off-world on the 29th with Christifori.

Proxies for their respective sides of the civil war, Generals Steiner and Christifori took joint command of the forces along the Jade Falcon border, enacting a counter-assault plan codenamed Operation Audacity. Steiner led the Fourteenth Donegal to Black Earth along with the Fifteenth Arcturan Guards and Ninth Lyran Regulars, landing on 3 October. The defending Third Talon Cluster fought a defensive action that bogged down the LAAF invasion force. Two weeks later, the Clan Wolf-in-Exile First Wolf Strike Grenadiers arrived and broke the stalemate, allowing the Lyrans to liberate the system. A week later, Steiner left Black Earth.

On 26 October, Adam jumped into the Malibu system, using the recharge station in orbit. Though the world was under Jade Falcon control, the civilians were content with remaining that way. Adam was forbade to invade by the civilian leaders, so he moved on rather than deal with a potentially hostile populace.

Adam's task force hit Hot Springs on 21 November, but the defending Fifth Battle Cluster used Inner Sphere tactics against him. They fought a hit-and-run campaign, refusing to engage the LAAF forces in a stand-up fight. After being tied up for weeks, Adam left on 12 December, allowing the Falcons the retain possession of the world.

Adam and his forces landed on Blackjack on 21 December, reinforcing Christifori's troops who had been there just over a week. Steiner quickly led a surprise strike, knocking the Falcons on their heels. Soon after that, Falcon saKhan Samantha Clees jupmed in-system. Instead of jumping into the fight, she invited the Lyran generals to Blair Atholl and took the defending clusters with her, leaving the Lyrans in control of the world. Steiner and Christifori took Clees up on her offer, leaving Blackjack soon afterward.

Adam landed on Blair Atholl on 27 February 3065 with Christifori, joining Clan Wolf-in-Exile Khan Phelan Kell and both Falcon khans. There, Steiner negotiated the Blair Atholl Agreement, a cease-fire with Khan Pryde that called for keeping the borders as they were and established Blair Atholl as a jointly-held world where the Falcons could blood their young warriors against Lyran troops.

Jihad and Archonship

After the civil war ended, Adam was named General of the Armies. Despite admonishing both Duke Robert Kelswa-Steiner and Duke Alder Umayr for their actions in declaring a state of war between the Free Worlds League and the Skye and Bolan Provinces of the Alliance following the raid on Skye by renegade League forces in February 3068, Adam redeployed LAAF units in an effort to shore up the border with the League in March. On the 27th of February 3070 the Word of Blake attempted to assassinate Adam on Atocongo using a suicide bomber, although the attempt was narrowly avoided.

Adam briefly succeeded Peter Steiner-Davion to the Archonship of the Lyran Alliance in late 3071 when Peter handed the title to him in the face of continued Word of Blake occupation of Tharkad. Adam then promptly invaded Tharkad and freed both the capital and Peter from Blakist forces. As a show of Lyran solidarity, he handed the Archonship back over to Peter in early 3072.

Peter was assassinated by a Blakist operative after leaving a multi-national meeting with Devlin Stone on Tukayyid in late 3073. On his deathbed, Peter named Adam his successor, his last words speaking of the absolute trust he held for his cousin:

“

I know no one better to usher the greatness of House Steiner through the darkness, ahead into the light.

”

Ratified by the reformed Estates General on Tharkad, among Adam's first acts was to uphold Peter's promise of support for Devlin Stone's Coalition. On the 14th of May 3074 Adam announced his engagement to Baroness Heather Fyhne, daughter of Arielle Fyhne, ruling Duchess of Arcturus.

Adam's support of the allied coalition was not universally popular within the Lyran Alliance; this was highlighted on the 13th of December 3077 when an angry mob attacked Heather on Enkoping. While Heather was unharmed, twenty-nine civilians were killed and almost a hundred more were killed when guards attempted to disperse the crowd by firing weapons; this resulted in a bloody stampede.

On the 15th of January 3078 Duchess Therese Brett-Marik of the Duchy of Tamarind, demanded that he prevent the Buena Archonette from continuing its attacks on the Duchy and various independent Free Worlds League worlds nearby. Duchess Brett-Marik emphasized that the ongoing attacks on the Duchy and neighboring worlds were the reason the Duchy had not provided any forces to the allied coalition and Operation SCOUR.

Actions were taken by Adam in response to Duchess Brett-Marik's demand, and following the dissolution of the Free Worlds League in January 3079, elements of the Lyran Alliance moved to annex a number of Free Worlds League systems between August and September of that year. Adam halted offensive operations by declaring that any further incidents of what he termed "unauthorized adventurism" would be considered an act of treason. Seven worlds had been conquered by the Alliance, including several planets from the Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey.

Republic Era and the Lyran Commonwealth

Following the completion of Operation SCOUR, Adam requested the Archonettes return their powers to Tharkad, however most were reluctant to give up their new authority. When Duchess Tamari LaRue boldly refused to ever give up her powers on June 23rd 3083, Adam sent the 1st Royal Guards RCT and 2nd Bolan Guards LCT supported by the Yggdrasil, which, easily defeated the defending Blackstone Highlanders and captured the Duchess. The other Archonettes quickly ceded their powers back to the Archon when Adam placed her on trial for treason. She was found guilty and executed by lethal injection.

One of the most important changes made by Adam in the post-Jihad era was the announcement during his Independence Day speech on January 5th, 3084 that the Lyran realm would once again be known as the Lyran Commonwealth. This change was almost overshadowed by the revelation that Adam had reconstituted the long-destroyed Fourth Royal Guards, proclaiming the reborn Fourth as the renewed symbol of the unity of the Commonwealth new and old.

Despite having originally held similar opinions regarding the nature of the Lyran armed forces and the notorious Social Generals, he clashed with the General of the Armies, Rebecca Simons, between new and old values within the armed forces. Simons' outspoken views about the "spoiled elite" of the LAAF clashed with the more inclusive path Adam tried to tread as the Lyran nation rebuilt itself.

While some questioned whether Simons' dedication to reforms would continue under pressure from the established old guard within the political structure of the Alliance, Simons continued to tread a moderate line with the Archon's support, reshaping the renamed LCAF as she wished, and put Social Generals in positions of little responsibility. Ultimately, the Archon had favored Simons over other appointees not only for the high level of support she had shown for him, but also her strength of will to openly speak out about some of his poorer decisions. Adam continued to support Simons despite many clashes between them.

Following the accidental death of his second son's wife in 3116, the estranged Frederick asked his father and his brother Andrew to assist in the raising of Roderick Steiner; as a result, Adam shared a special bond with his grandson.

Death and Legacy

Adam died in 3121 and was succeeded by his first son Andrew.

BattleMechs

During his service at Nagelring, Adam piloted an LRM-equipped AXM-2N Axman which he would use during his early missions with the 1st Sommerset Strikers. He later received a customized Command Console-equipped AWS-9Ma Awesome, which he piloted during the liberation of Somerset. By the FedCom Civil War, Adam was piloting a Thunder Hawk.

Family & Marriage

While often linked with Rachel Spector, a former Nagelring cadet who accompanied him on the Somerset Striker mission, with increasing political pressure to strengthen his realm and the line of succession, Adam married Heather Fyhne, the heir to Arcturus Archonette. The wedding, which was (by Lyran standards) relatively tiny, occurred on 11 December 3074. Though it was viewed by many as a purely political arrangement, a few days after the wedding the couple announced they were expecting a son, who would be named Andrew Steiner after Adam's deceased older brother. Andrew was later born in 3075.

Adam had only a distant relationship with his second son Frederick Steiner, who chose to combat the nepotism that came with his parentage by relinquishing the Steiner name. Frederick had an exemplary career in the LCAF by his own efforts under the name Frederick Frost.

Notes

• Dark Ages sources indicate that rather than the Blakists that Peter was overthrown by the Brotherhood of Cincinnatus who then brought Adam back into the Archonship as part of a plan to install a "pure" Steiner into the seat of power, the plan backfiring when Adam discovered their meddling and he destroyed the brotherhood on the planet Gacrux.

Portrait Gallery

• Adam Steiner 2.jpg

  Portrait from 3050

• Adam Steiner.jpg

  Adam Steiner at Age of 52 in 3076

Bibliography

• Battletech: The Animated Series
• Era Report: 3052
• Era Report: 3145
• FedCom Civil War
• Field Manual: 3085
• Jihad: Final Reckoning
• Jihad Hot Spots: 3072
• Jihad Hot Spots: 3076
• Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers
• MechWarrior: Technology of Destruction
• Operation Audacity
• Patriots and Tyrants