Stefan Amaris
Sarna News
 | This article needs to be updated with material from Handbook: Major Periphery States. Once these titles clear the Moratorium period, or if they already have, please consider revisiting this article and updating it with the new material. |
 | This Article looks to be a Stub This article is a stub (i.e., in need of additional material). You can help us by expanding it. Please remove this tag when that effort is complete. |
Stefan Ukris Amaris (born 2717 – died 2779, aged 62 years) befriended and masterfully manipulated Richard Cameron, the young and vunerable First Lord of the Star League. Betraying Richard, Stefan assassinated him and usurped his throne. Stefan was later defeated and executed by Aleksandr Kerensky.
History
Stefan Amaris was born in the Periphery and would become ruler of the Rim Worlds Republic. He realized that the minor-aged Richard Cameron was isolated, starving for friendship and attention, and therefore extremely vunerable.
Stefan began to cultivate Richard's trust by sending him gifts and through simple flattery; he even renamed the capital of the Rim Worlds Republic, Apollo as Terra Prime to "honor Richard".
Through these means and by ostensibly supporting Richard's naïve political initiatives like Executive Order 156 Stefan became his closest friend and confidant.
He persuaded Richard to remove all SLDF forces and to turn their bases and fortresses to the Rim Worlds Republic. While some bases were striped down, most were handed over undamaged.
As the Houses started skirmishing on the verge of Richard's majority Stefan Amaris continued to expand his influence over Richard. In an act of revenge for slights cooked up by Amaris, Richard ordered all House armed forces to be disbanded. Angered by this, the Lords protested, and even Kerensky, commander of the Star League Defense Force, stated that the order was illegal.
Furious, and convinced by Amaris that Kerensky and the House Lords were against him, Richard rescinded his order, becoming increasingly embittered.
His Taxation Edict of 2763 further increased the financial burden of the Periphery, and caused great civil unrest. Faced with popular refusal, Richard ordered General Kerensky to the Periphery, which quickly erupted in open rebellion. Unknown to all Amaris was behind everthing.
As more and more of the SLDF forces were required to fight the war in the Periphery, Stefan offered the service of his Rim Worlds forces. Despite the objections of (?), Richard accepted. A secret agreement between Richard Cameron and Stefan Amaris was signed in 2764; Stefan agreeing to lend his own troops to garrison the bases of the SLDF and to defend the Terran Hegemony if needed.
Following the secession of New Vandenberg and 17 other Periphery worlds in April 2765 an ever-increasing number of SLDF units, including Cameron household units, were deployed to the Periphery and by 2766, three-quarters of the Regular Army was deployed along the Periphery.
On Terra, a suspiciously large number of troops from Stefan's household guard replaced the SLDF units sent to New Vandenberg, eventually outnumbering the remaining SLDF units. All was set and ready for the impending coup d'etat.
Coup d'etat
In late December of that year, Amaris seized his chance. He presented Richard Cameron with a ceremonial, jewel-encrusted laser pistol in the Star League High Council chamber, Unity City, Terra, and then shot him through the head.
At the same time Stefan's troops moved against Terra and the other worlds of the Terran Hegemony. On the first day, 95 of the 103 planets fell to the surprise attack.
Besides ordering the execution of every man, woman, and child with a drop of Cameron blood, Stefan also imprisoned Drago Kurita, the ambassador of the Draconis Combine [1].
The ambassador was a grand-nephew of Takiro Kurita, Coordinator of the Draconis Combine and therefore he and his family became valuable hostages; a means to pressure House Kurita.
In January 2767, Amaris proclaimed himself emperor. News of the coup did not reach general Aleksandr Kerensky until May of 2767 when Amaris reestablished communications and tried to gain the general's loyalty.
| “ | General:
I, with my infinite skills and aided by my loyal subjects, have struck, with a swiftness given only to the righteous, a blow that has corrected decades of injuries and slights to my family. I rule where the Camerons once called home. I control the Cradle of Humanity. All within the Hegemony have bowed before me; those who didn’t are dead. Join me, General Kerensky. Become my sword arm and help me impress my word and wisdom upon the other realms. I’ve no reason to hate you; I wish only peace between us. Join me and convince your men and women to follow you, and I will give you power second only to mine. But should you dare turn a blind eye to the wisdom of my offer and decide not to join, then heed my warning: I control everything the Hegemony has. All its defenses, all of its fortifications, are now manned by people loyal to me. Should you try to attack, every inch of Hegemony soil will be stained with the blood of the fallen, and every drop will be a burden upon your soul, which must already be heavy with guilt for allowing me to accomplish the complete control of your homelands. Communiqué to General Alexandr Kerensky from "Emperor" Stefan Ukris Amaris, 16 May 2767 |
” |
However general Kerensky was neither foolish, greedy, or afraid; he refused the bribe and declared a cease-fire with all other Periphery realms. He declared Stefan Amaris an ursuper, starting the 13-year Amaris Civil War.
Under Kerensky's command the Star League Defense Force overran the Stefan's native Rim Worlds Republic in August 2767 and regrouped. Both Amaris and Kerensky asked the Council Lords for support. While none would officialy commit to either side most of the lords tacitly supported Kerensky while giving no support whatsoever to Amaris.
Takiro Kurita died and his son Minoru became Coordinator. Fearful to act against Amaris, Minori denied Kerensky passage trough the Combine.
The civil war finally climaxed with the liberation of Terra on September 3, 2779. Drago Kurita and his family were killed around this time [2].
On September 30, Kerensky captured Amaris, who ordered the surrender of all his remaining troops. The civil war was finaly over and Kerensky ordered the execution of Stefan Amaris by firing squad in November 2779.
After the execution of Stefan, a long campaign was conducted, both officially and through vigilanteism, to end the Amaris/Wong/Siever lines - anyone with a claim to the Amaris' throne was either executed or lynched.
However a concubine, pregnant with Stefan's child, had fled sometime before. A descendant of Amaris, Amaris VII, would plague the Inner Sphere.