Archon's Order 5730023

Archon's Order 5730023 (Reorganization of the Lyran Armed Forces) was a declaration by Archon Katherine Steiner-Davion in the wake of her secession from the Federated Commonwealth to create the Lyran Alliance. Reorganizing the military took much of the nascent Alliance's attention from its announcement in 3057, and the process had still not been completed by 3062.

Objectives

AO-5730023 was primarily a means to consolidate power. Archon Katherine, worried about a potential insurgency from troops loyal to her brother, set out to distance her new realm from the Federated Suns and ensure the loyalty of her military. Katherine and those loyal to her used the order to take control of all AFFC assets in Lyran space, as well as emphasize Lyran identity in the new LAAF.

Results

With the bulk of the FedCom JumpShip fleet in Lyran space, Katherine seized all craft within her realm, giving the Lyrans a glut of transportation assets. Many were later sold back to the FedCom rump state, funneling additional money to Lyran R&D programs. Likewise, a great deal of cutting-edge equipment manufactured in the Federated Suns was also left in Lyran hands, though that was mostly sidelined in favor of locally manufactured equipment for logistical reasons. Additionally, the LAAF took great effort to limit pro-Davion sympathy in key brigades. In this, they were largely successful, with the Arcturan Guards being the only large brigade sharply divided between Katherine and her brother.

While framed as a reorganization and modernization, the order also gave many Lyran officers who had advanced through social means the opportunity to kickstart their stalled careers. Officers such as Isadora Agravaine, Clifton Schroeder and Richard Steiner gained high rank despite a lack of military skill by trading on their social connections.

Others suffered in this reorganization. The Skye Rangers and two regiments of the Alliance Guards (newly reorganized from the Federated Commonwealth Corps units in Steiner space) were designated as sink units, with pro-Davion officers funneled into these units for easier monitoring. The 1st and 2nd Alliance Guards were later disbanded to provide materiel to form the Alliance Jaegers, which further angered the Skye Rangers, who had repeatedly requested the 10th Skye Rangers be rebuilt after their heroism on Coventry.

AO-5730023 also sought to remove a long-standing rule dictating that a quarter of the Arcturan Guards would be drawn from Arcturus. In one of the few defeats for Katherine's campaign to reorganize her military, even the troops not from Arcturus roundly rejected this change, leading the Archon to retract her order. This did cost the brigade its commander, however, and few in the unit looked kindly on his replacement. During the civil war, the regiments of the Arcturan Guard were evenly split between supporting Katherine or Victor, rather than sharing the broadly pro-Katherine support found in the Donegal, Lyran or Royal Guards.

While created with political goals foremost in mind, AO-5730023 was not without military benefits. Rather than return to the system of the old LCAF with each front divided up among three independent theaters, each with their own Margrave, the Lyran Alliance divided the realm into provinces and designating border worlds as the province's theater, providing a more streamlined command structure with a single General responsible for a border. The formation of the Alliance Jaegers, while possessing a large element of political theater, also represented an experiment with a new style of combined arms warfare.

Bibliography

• FedCom Civil War (sourcebook)
• Field Manual: Lyran Alliance
• Handbook: House Steiner
• Shattered Sphere