FedCom Civil War

This article is about the fictional event. For the sourcebook on it, see FedCom Civil War (sourcebook).

The Federated Commonwealth Civil War (FedCom Civil War or simply FCCW for short) was one the most devastating wars to take place in the Inner Sphere. It lasted from 3062 until 3067 and destroyed hundreds of regiments from the former Federated Commonwealth states, the Federated Suns and Lyran Alliance. In addition, many mercenary units took part in the conflict, and even the Draconis Combine & Free Worlds League were dragged into it. Others like the Capellan Confederation and Clan Jade Falcon took advantage of their neighbors' distraction to gain territory.

The very nature and scope of this conflict make it very difficult to properly cover the war. This was not a traditional war with waves and fronts. Instead, fighting started up between units that were posted on the same world, often resulting in even engagements that produced no clear winner. In some cases, leaders sent reinforcements to aid in capturing important worlds (as with Tikonov, Kathil, and Dalkeith), only to find that the other side had done the same, creating "meat grinders," as neither side was able to secure an advantage for any length of time. In a few cases, military leaders (Victor Steiner-Davion, Maria Esteban, Tancred Sandoval) were able to form up task forces composed of multiple units, but these usually acted as one unit, rather than as a military front. Even in areas where there were no line units, fighting still took place between militia units, though those events often went undocumented.

History

Genesis

The genesis of the war lies in the peace proposal Archon Katrina Steiner circulated to her fellow House lords in the mid-3020s. Only Prince Hanse Davion showed any interest, resulting in the Federated-Commonwealth Alliance. That document came with a secret provision that betrothed Hanse to Archon-designate Melissa Steiner, a union that would eventually produce a united nation in the person of their child. That child, Victor Steiner-Davion, was born in 3030. The two nations informally merged after Katrina's abdication in 3039, and their armed forces became more unified after the aborted War of 3039.

Victor stood poised to take over both nations from his parents after their deaths, but his eldest sibling, Katherine, schemed to take control. She had their mother Melissa assassinated in 3055, three years after their father's death, making Victor Archon-Prince of the Federated Commonwealth. She further manipulated events by playing up her Lyran nationalism, often leaving the "Davion" off of her surname, and began to refer to herself as "Katrina," after her maternal grandmother. This paid off for her after the Second Skye Revolt, when Victor permanently moved his court to New Avalon and left Katherine as his regent on Tharkad. Katherine took advantage of the Liao-Marik Invasion of 3057 that sought to punish Victor for replacing Captain-General Marik's son with a double by invoking Emergency War Powers and seceding the Lyran half from her brother's realm and recalling all traditionally Lyran units to within traditional borders. In doing so, she gave Marik his objective, so he ceased offensive operations. This situation led to the creation of the Chaos March and forever sundered the Federated Commonwealth. Katherine called her new nation the Lyran Alliance, because she claimed her brother had sullied the term "Commonwealth."

Victor made no moves to reclaim his territory, so, when he prosecuted the reborn Star League's war against Clan Smoke Jaguar, he left his rump Commonwealth open to Katherine. She manipulated their little sister Yvonne into giving her the regency of the Commonwealth. When Victor returned from Clan space in 3060, he came back to the Inner Sphere a leader without a nation. Though Victor did not want to lead a civil war against his sister, events forced his hand.

Ignition

Katherine had an unscrupulous style of government. This led to small battles on various worlds for three main reasons:

When a local political leader was deemed dissenting or illoyal, Katherine punished his whole planet with economic problems, arranged by herself or by the national intelligence services. This led to civil unrest, sometimes against the political leaders of the respective planets and sometimes against inner or outer enemies, or even herself.

Katherine also regularly bypassed the military chain of command and gave direct orders to units, creating confusion and encouraging cronyism. Additionally her orders were often so vague, that the commanding officers knew what she wanted, but all the blame would be put on them if anything went wrong. These units were used to restore order on the aforementioned rebellious planets and to secure planets with important installations. One such planet was Kathil with it's shipyards. Two chains of command collided: Sharp words were traded and each side considered the other as traitors. In the end, open warfare was inevitable.

The third reason was her favoring of Lyran interests. Although Katherine was head of both houses and states, she was supposed to be neutral between the cultures and populations. However she openly favored Lyran interests and military units. This led to a silent dissatisfaction and sometimes demonstrations. When local police and military units tried to contain the problem, it went worse. One such example is Thorin, where Archer Christiforis sister wrote newspaper articles about this unfair behaviour. She was accidentally shot and when her killer used his political connections to the Lyran military to avoid prison, Archer started his rebellion.

All these were isolated events, but like an avalanche, the battles infested other planets and other minds.

Victor Steiner-Davion lived an isolated life, untouched by this war. He heard of it, by he didn't follow it too closely. He saw the battles as a direct result of his sister's lies and manipulations and was confident, she would be dethroned one day. But then Word of Blake (apparently) assassinated Arthur Steiner-Davion. As Arthur was about to give his political debut, Victor openly blamed Katherine for his death. Laying aside his new post as ComStar's Precentor Martial, Victor jumped into the fracas. The leaders of the various rebellions immediately accepted him as an ally or even as their commander.

Early Stages: 3062-3063

Upon hearing of his brother's death, Prince Victor gathered his loyal forces on the world of Mogyorod and immediately drafted up a plan to take the key infrastructure of the Commonwealth intact. He jumped from Mogyorod to the planet Newtown Square, where he was almost killed by the Lyran troops until rogue ComGuard forces loyal to Prince Victor from his position of Precentor Martial landed on the planet. Victor allowed the Lyran forces (commanded by his cousin Adam Steiner) to retreat. With the new troops in hand, Prince Victor moved against the planet of Coventry, which was one of the greatest production sites for military supplies and Mechs in the whole Lyran Alliance. Additionaly the baron of Coventry was a critic of Katherine and had to go underground to evade prison. In a few weeks of low-key fighting, Victor's forces captured the planet and its factories intact, which he used to refit his weary personal units. When news of the capture reached the Davion half of Katherine's realms, the leaders of the Capellan March and Draconis March immediately declared for Victor and formed open rebellion on their respective planets. This necessitated Katherine's move to New Avalon to quell any more potential rebels. In her stead, she left Nondi Steiner, her aunt and sister of the original Katrina Steiner, as ruler of the Alliance against Victor's troops.

Coinciding with Victor's march on Coventry was the breakout of major rebellion on the planets Muphrid and Thorin in the Lyran Alliance. Sparked by the accidental shooting of the sister of one Archer Christifori, the Thorin Militia revolted and began a guerrilla campaign to dislodge the garrisoning regiment (which proved to be eventually victorious). Prince Victor offered Christifori's troops status as regular troops, and refit many of Christifori's worn out 'Mechs. The newly-promoted General Christifori, his ranks swelled to two regiments, began a campaign of liberation against planetary rulers accused of cracking down on Davion supporters all across the Alliance. This was noticed by Lyran High Command, however, and a plan was drafted to destroy Christifori's unit.

On the planet of Odessa, the ruling Count was told to begin a program of cracking down on dissenters. It was hoped that Christfori would land on the planet and try to destroy the Lyran forces on-planet. Coinciding with the plan, the elite mercenary unit Snord's Irregulars was on-planet pending the signing of a new contract with the Lyran Alliance. A trap was planned to set the two sides against each other, which would fill the Lyran goals of destroying Christifori and shaming the Irregulars into signing a new contract. Both units fought hard and suffered heavy losses, until evidence of the plan came up. The Irregulars and Christifori joined forces and destroyed the Lyran troops (another mercenary unit) on planet and captured Odessa. But the Irregulars still declined to sign a contract with Prince Victor. But Christifori came up with another idea, to keep Snord's Irregulars from rejoining the Alliance: He offered them a contract with Comstar, guarding a planet right next to the border against Clan Jade Falcon.

Realizing that her public opinion was dropping even amongst her normally loyal Lyran subjects, Archon Katherine quietly ordered the elimination of the popular, bizzare and extremely critical artist Reginald Starling. Reginald Starling was the artist-identity of Sven Newmark. Newmark was one of Ryan Steiner's top aides and (except Katherine herself) the only living person who knew that Katherine ordered the assassination of her mother. Her Loki agents took Starling out, but he left traces for his lover (a secret agent working for Victor) that led her ulimately to proofs of Katherine's vile actions. But these proofs were not enough and so the agent, who really had loved Sven/Reginald, came up with a plan to pretend, that Reginald Starling was still alive, just underground. Victor hoped, this would make Katherine so nervous, that she would try to destroy further evidence, leading Victor's agents to it.

Middle Stages: 3064-3065

By the time of the middle stages of the war, the sides had almost completely formed. On the side of Katherine were most of the Lyran Alliance and some elements of the Crucis March of the Federated Suns, while aligned with Victor were groups such as the Arc-Royal Defense Cordon, Clan Wolf-in-Exile, elements of the Capellan and Draconis Marches of the Federated Suns, as well as some of the Lyran worlds (largely through the path of Victor's armies and the actions of Archer Christifori).

The main theatres of the war were concentrated around the main manufacturing planets of both the Alliance and the Suns. The fighting on planets such as Kathil became veritable meat grinders for both sides, chewing up any units sent into the fray. Victor's conquering armies swept through the Lyran Alliance, taking many worlds from Katherine's followers. However, Victor's leadership was almost cut short by a near-defeat of his forces on Halfway which left his forces badly battered. General Maria Esteban's combat force (formed by regular units and militias) had set up a trap.

Victor stepped back from the fighting, to join the next Whitting-conference on Atreus. He succesfully persuaded Thomas Marik, head of the Free Worlds League, that Katherine was a very dangerous person. Thomas allowed Victor's participation under one condition: That he would only speak out, if Katherine herself brought up the topic of the FedCom Civil War. Sun-Tzu Liao followed his agreement with Katherine and nominated her for the next Lord of the Star League. She indeed brought up the FedCom Civil War and tried to present herself as willing to negotiate with Victor, thus branding herself as a caring goodhearted diplomat and Victor as warhungry. At this point Victor demanded to be heard and Thomas Marik granted his wish. Victor stated that Katherine had killed their mother, but that he had no hard evidence, just like Katherine had no hard evidence for her misrepresentations of Victor. Eventually Katherine was not elected but she had her revenge as well: She had hired an assassin who killed Omi Kurita, the love of Victor, to break him. Upon hearing this news, Victor had a nervous breakdown and suffered depressions for several weeks.

The offense of Victor's combat group (which had conquered the heavy industrialized planet Tikonov in a surprise attack) came to a stillstand and they returned to Thorin and Murphrid. Only with the help of Kai Allard-Liao and Isis Marik Victor was forced to refocus on the present. His combat group finally returned to Tikonov, reinforcing his garrison troops.

On the Suns front, Archon Katherine was wary that Duke George Hasek-Davion, son of the late Marshall of the Armies Morgan Hasek-Davion, would someday challenge her rule. He tried to stay neutral between Victor and Katherine, but that was not enough for her. She finally freed up enough forces from various conflicts to be able to send three regiments to the Capellan March capital of New Syrtis. The leader of the March rallied his troops however, and, in months of bitter fighting, drove off the invading units from his capital world. Reinforcements loyal to Victor arrived, but the enemy was already beaten. Ardan Sortek tried to persuade George Hasek-Davion to support Victor, but he declined. George said, he would not support Victor in his assault as long as worlds of the Capellan March suffered under Katherine's rule.

In addition to this, the First Davion Guards revolted on New Avalon against Katherine. The were wipped out and destroyed completely, but it was hard work to spin this revolt and to brand such a steadfast regiment as traitors. Katherine used the opportunity to station two more regiments, loyal to her, on the planet.

The Jade Falcon Offensive

In 3064, Khan Marthe Pryde wanted to test the newest generation of Clan Jade Falcon's warriors against Lyran forces. So she started a full-scale invasion with several galaxies against heavily guarded planets along the whole border. Later it turned out, that she also had wanted to open a new route to Terra, unguarded by ComGuards, by conquering the planet Rasalgethi.

Katherine Steiner didn't want to send extra troops against Jade Falcons, as this would lift pressure from the rebells and especially Victor's forces. But Victor did send troops. After the offensive was stopped, this showed to be a grave mistake by Katherine.

Sharon Byran, the commander of the Melissa Theater, had a plan to lure the Clan forces into attacking Melissa, where they should break on the fortress and the defending regiments >>like a wave breaks on a shore<<. General Adam Steiner knew, that this strategy has long been proved fatal against the clans and hassled Sharon Byran until she allowed him to draw up a reserve plan. Khan Marthe Pryde attacked personally with the Turkina Keshik, Delta Galaxy and Omega Galaxy. She crushed the defenders which only narrowly escaped from the planet. After this, major resistance in the Melissa Theater was broken. Archon Katherine Steiner-Davion sent a letter, promoting Adam Steiner to the commander of the Melissa Theater, but still sent no reinforcements.

Archer Christifori united his forces with a reluctant Adam Steiner, who finally agreed to Operation Audacity: Rather then defending Alliance-planets, they would attack Jade Falcon-planets, forcing the Clan forces to retreat. The coup-de-gras would be, if they could defeat the Jade Falcons in an especially humiliating way. Meanwhile Khan Phelan Kell and his Exile-Wolves would keep the Jade Falcons in Lyran territory busy.

Christifori and Steiner conquered several planets in the Jade Falcon Occupation Zone, though they suffered heavy losses. On Twycross, a planet which has seen a historic defeat and a historic win of Clan Jade Falcon, Christifori challenged the Falcon Guards, the prestige unit of Clan Jade Falcon. He wanted to humiliate them by beating them in honorable combat. However a lazy Tech wreaked doom on Clan Jade Falcon: A technical flaw caused Star Colonel Ravill Pryde to accidently break Zellbrigen, leaving the Falcon Guards victim to the superior firepower of Christiforis troops.

In the meantime, Clan Wolf-in-Exile kept reconquering worlds the Jade Falcons had deemed save. They defeated the Jade Falcons in every instance, taking warriors and Mechs as Isorla. They even reconquered Melissa.

Several Jade Falcon units started their own Trial of Annihiliation, without approval by Khan Marthe Pryde, against Christiforis forces to wipe out this shame. This fighting waged for a few weeks until Marthe Pryde called a ceasefire. Both sides met on Blair Atholl, where no clear victor was in sight. Adam Steiner (the only official representant of the Lyran Alliance available) negotiated an agreement with Marthe Pryde, in which both sides got what they wanted. Each side kept the planets it had conquered (including Rasalgethi for the Jade Falcons). As a result, the Jade Falcons controlled more worlds than they started out with; although they were in a strategically unsound position. Blair Atholl would remain contended. As long as Adam Steiner would send troops to Blair Atholl as sparring-partners for the Jade Falcons, there would be no need for them to attack Lyran worlds.

Adam, now not only administrator of the Melissa Theater, but also a popular hero among it's soldiers and populations, sent a strongly worded letter to Katherine Steiner-Davion. He declared that he was heavily disappointed, that it took rebels and outlaws to save her nation, because she didn't sent reinforcements. Due to her incompetence, he declared the Melissa Theater neutral in the conflict between her and her brother. For the rest of the civil war, units of neither side were allowed to stay in the Melissa Theater.

Late Stages: 3066-3067

By 3066, the war had become more of a battle of attrition across both of the afflicted realms, as Prince Victor's forces advanced against Archon Katherine's Lyran troops, and began to plan attacks on the respective capitals of both of the realms. It was decided that Victor himself would lead the attack on the Davion capital world of New Avalon, where Katherine and seven regiments of elite loyalist troops awaited the inevitable assault on the capital world. While Victor was tempted to just go for the kill with all of his available forces, he and his advisors realized that, if Victor's aunt Nondi Steiner was left in command of the planet Tharkad, the conflict would be elevated to the level of a 5th Succession War.

To ensure that this did not happen, Victor and his top aides set to work finding a second commander that could lead the attack on Tharkad and become the new leader of the Alliance. Victor sent out his ally, Morgan Kell, in early 3067 to find his brother, Prince Peter Steiner-Davion to lead the assault. Kell found Peter, and eventually convinced him to lead the assault on Tharkad, for the good of the Lyran Alliance.

In early 3067, the attack on New Avalon commenced, with Prince Victor leading a gigantic assault force to the planet. After a long and costly WarShip battle above the skies of New Avalon, Victor's forces emerged triumphant and landed on the planet. Immediately upon landing, the fighting commenced, and went on for several gureling months against Katherine's elite troops. Victor's forces, although nearly losing at one point, were bolstered by veteran troops (Davion Light Guards and others) brought to New Avalon by Galen Cox, Victor's close companion and the former lover of Katherine. Those reinforcements pushed back Katherine's forces until they finally reached the Davion Palace. Katherine waited to long to flee and in the end Victor's forces blocked all escape routes. Confident that she would find a way to talk herself out of this situation in any court, Katherine ordered the surrender of her forces.

Simultaneously, Prince Peter arrived on Tharkad along with troops representing the whole spectre of the Lyran Alliance: Regular units, Skye-loyalists, the Kell Hounds (a mercenary unit) and forces of Clan Wolf in Exile. Peter not only battled for a planet. He tried to truly represent the Lyran Alliance to the population of Tharkad. Accordingly, the Avalon Hussar-regiment in his combat group never saw battle. They successfully pushed back Nondi Steiner's forces until they reached the Tharkad palace. There, in an urban area, Peter and Nondi Steiner happened to end up in a direct fight, where he killed her with a shot to the cockpit. The FedCom Civil War was over.

Aftermath

It was expected that Prince Victor would take over both of the realms again to rule as the Archon-Prince of the reunited Federated Commonwealth. Subsequently, it came as a great shock when Prince Victor abdicated the thrones of both of those realms, instead giving them to his siblings Peter and Yvonne to rule in his place.

Peace and order were restored. Only minor battles remained, with commanders loyal to Katherine unwilling to give up. But one problem remained: What would happen to Katherine? She knew, she could turn every court case into a media spectacle. And after all, only few perpetrations could be traced to her and she was widely known to the people as a philantropist. So Victor decided to destroy her in the only way, that fit to her: She would be sent into exile in the Arc-Royal-Defense-cordon, under the wary eyes of Exile-Wolfes. And after she's out of the sight of the public, Victor would publish evidence of her atrocities slowly and bit by bit. Her reputation would fall apart and she would be remembered as a murderous tyrant.

But then Khan Vlad Ward of Clan Wolf showed up on the planet, where Katherine was supposed to end up. He was secretly in love with Katherine, only disturbed by her quick lies and her lack of honor. He demanded the extradition of Katherine to Clan Wolf, knowing that re-educating her into a Clan Warrior was the only way, she would finally understand his motivations. He threatened the assembled leaders with a renewed offensive (the Truce of Tukayyid having expired one month prior to the conference) unless he got his way. Victor complied, and handed over Katherine to Clan Wolf.

Victor was allowed to resume his role as the Precentor Martial of ComStar under the condition, that he would never again interfere with political decisions of the Inner Sphere.

See Also

• Federated Suns#The FedCom Civil War
• Lyran Alliance#FedCom Civil War