Capellan Confederation Armed Forces

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The Capellan Confederation Armed Forces (CCAF) is the military of the Capellan Confederation.

Like in all Successor States, there also exist further forces in the form of police, civilian guards, armed nobles and private or corporate security forces, all of which can take the form of veritable armies.

Besides these, the Capellan Confederation also maintains Warrior Houses, a unique feature of the Capellan state. These semi-religious monastic orders, usually a combined arms regiment including one or two bataillons of BattleMechs, exist entirely separate from the CCAF, and answer directly to the Chancellor whom they swear personal loyalty. They are not covered in this article.

Main article: Warrior Houses

Command Structure

Chancellor

The Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation is also the titular head of the CCAF.

Sang-jiang-jun

A position created by Sun-Tzu Liao, the Sang-jiang-jun is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the CCAF.

Strategios

The Strategios is the council that oversees the military bureaucracy that runs the CCAF. It is composed of the two jiang-juns from each Commonality. After the Capellan-St. Ives War, the St. Ives Commonality was granted three seats on the Strategios as part of the treaty that ended that war.

Regional

Each Commonality within the Capellan Confederation is commanded by two individuals. One is responsible for the line units, while the other commands the reserve forces.

Organization

The CCAF has traditionally employed a strong aerospace fighter contingent, hoping to stop invasions before they can get on the ground.

During the Third Succession War, the CCAF largely went on the defensive due to its smaller size compared to the other Successor States. They created a sort of elastic defense, with battalions holding down border worlds. Each battalion was only supposed to hold out until help could arrive from strategically located reserve forces. This worked very well for the small-scale raids that were the late 3rd War, but did not hold up well against a full-scale invasion. Prince Hanse Davion took advantage of this during the Fourth Succession War by using massed forces against multiple planets, overloading the CCAF's ability to respond.

Even in more recent times, Capellan units are often smaller than their counterparts in other nations.

Despite the overall bad reputation of the CCAF and their poor performance in the Fourth Succession War, it should be noted that the Liao army is easily underestimated. They were overrun by vastly superior number and at the same time hampered by no less than two enemy double-agents and two other traitors in their highest command positions, and a ruler drifting off into madness. No army could shine under such circumstances, and remaining in existence is probably no small feat. The CCAF (and the Warrior Houses) recuperated from the devastating war in a surprisingly short time. Immediately following the Fourth Succession War and still severely weakened, they were capable of beating back the Duchy of Andurien and the Magistracy of Canopus at the same time.

As a matter of fact, the average Liao MechWarriors tends to be slightly more skilled than his counterparts from other Houses, and the CCAF in general has a practical skill to make the best of their situation.

All Liao-designed 'Mechs (especially their early designs, Vindicator, Raven and Cataphract) have proven over and over again to be thoroughly well-designed and capable, as well as cheap and easy to build.

Units of the Capellan Confederation Armed Forces

Capellan Hussars

Insignia of the Capellan Hussars

The most prestigious brigade, the Capellan Hussars guard the capital and nobility.

Citizens' Honored

This brigade was created by Sun-Tzu Liao and encompasses former mercenary units that became regular Capellan units.

Death Commandos

The hyper-elite of the CCAF, the Death Commandos are perhaps the most feared unit in the Inner Sphere. All Commandos are trained both as MechWarriors and in black ops. Each Commando has access to two different 'Mechs.

Liao Chen-Chang

The provincial force of the Liao Commonality.

McCarron's Armored Cavalry

Once a mercenary unit that spent a large portion of its history in Capellan employ, McCarron's Armored Cavalry joined the CCAF around 3060. In return, the commander received a noble title and each member was granted citizenship.

St. Ives Armored Cavalry

Insignia of the St. Ives Armored Cavalry

The provincial forces of the St. Ives Commonality.

St. Ives Janissaries

An experiment created by Candace Liao, the Janissaries are modeled after the AFFS' Ceti Hussars.

St. Ives Lancers

The elite of what was once the St. Ives Military Command, the Lancers have fused Capellan and FedCom tactics to create a highly competent force.

Victoria Commonality Rangers

The provincial force of the Victoria Commonality.

Military Academies

Capella War College

The CWC is the most prestigious, and most rigorous, military academy of the CCAF.

Liao Conservatory of Military Arts

LCMA promotes a meditative approach to combat training.

LCMA was at the center of the battle for Liao when the Confederation invaded the Republic of the Sphere

Sarna Martial Academy

SMA is the military academy of the Sarna Supremacy. It is looked down upon by graduates of other academies as the Supremacy did not wish to rejoin the Confederation.

Sian Center for Martial Disciplines

SCMD cadets must be outwardly perfect. All cadets are very closely scrutinized during their training on the capital world of the Confederation.

Sian University

Officers receive their training at Sian University.

St. Ives Academy of Martial Sciences

SIAMS was the principal academy for the St. Ives Compact during that nation's brief life span. Attached to the St. Ives Institute of Science, SIAMS has its own officer training program. Following its reintegration into the Confederation, SIAMS once more began political indoctrination classes.

Victoria Academy of Arms and Technology

The AAT traditionally catered to and technicians, but it was upgraded in 3061 to help train the Confederation's Periphery allies.