Year of Peace

The so called Year of Peace was an unofficial truce between The Clans and Inner Sphere powers in the Clan Invasion.

History[edit]

The Year from peace extended since the October of 3050 to November 3051.[1] During the Clan Invasion, known as Operation REVIVAL to the Clans themselves, the Clans invaded the Inner Sphere states of the Federated Commonwealth, Free Rasalhague Republic and Draconis Combine, making rapid advances into their territory from the Coreward Periphery. Even the Clan defeats of the Battle of Twycross and Battle of Wolcott barely slowed the advance. However, during the Battle of Radstadt, a Shilone fighter piloted by a mortally wounded pilot, Tyra Miraborg, rammed the Wolf Clan WarShip Dire Wolf, breaching the bridge. The Clans military leader, ilKhan Leo Showers was sucked into space and killed.[2]

Their leader's death stunned the Clans, specially Showers' own Clan Smoke Jaguar. As the invasion required an ilKhan, which in turn required the participation of all Clans leaders, the invading Clans Grand Kurultai voted to return to their capital, Strana Mechty, taking all their Bloodnamed warriors with them to participate in the election. This stopped the invasion for more than a year, as the trip to the Clan Homeworlds took roughly six months.[3] Both sides spent the time in the unofficial truce preparing. The Inner Sphere leaders believed the Clan advance had been stopped by their two victories, but the Wolf's Dragoons, summoned the leaders of the Successor States to their home base of Outreach to inform them of the threat the Clans posed, of their nature as descendants of SLDF's army, and of the Dragoons' original identity as a Clan recon unit. Jaime Wolf hoped the gathering at Outreach would encourage the leaders of the Successor States to join in a coalition against their common enemy. They succeeded in that: only the Capellan Confederation refused to join the coalition. All the other leaders agreed to put a relative halt to their old conflicts and to share information, troops and resources.[4] Tentative truces were made between the powers of the Inner Sphere to combat the Clan menace. Hanse Davion pledged to Theodore Kurita that he would not send FedCom forces into Combine space for the duration of the invasion, allowing the Combine to draw more troops to the Clan front. Thomas Marik promised to supply a great number of refit kits to the AFFC in exchange for Joshua Marik being taken to the New Avalon Institute of Science for leukemia treatment. A secondary goal involved training the heirs of the Successor States in anti-Clan tactics, culminating in an ersatz Trial of Position in July where the two highest-scoring pilots were gifted a Daishi OmniMech. Hohiro Kurita placed second, with Victor Steiner-Davion finishing in third among the assembled heirs. Kai Allard-Liao took first place, but his refusal to accept Jaime's gift put Victor in possession of a Daishi.[5]

Meanwhile, the Crusader Clans initially attempted to blame Clan Wolf Khan Ulric Kerensky for Leo Showers' death. When that move failed, they chose him as the new ilKhan, expecting to force him to lead the invasion he never wanted and for the more Crusader-minded warrior Conal Ward to take his place as Khan. Instead Ulric nominated Natasha Kerensky as Khan, and brought Clan Nova Cat and Clan Steel Viper into the invasion.[3] The Inner Sphere leaders considered the idea of launching a counterattack against the Clan Occupation Zones, but eventually decided not to attack as these were heavily defended, even by second-class units. In November of 3051, the truce ended; the Clans had returned.[3]

Consequences[edit]

The truce was a badly-needed respite for the Inner Sphere, providing time to develop new strategies, build new and more advanced weapons, and process all what they know about the Clans. The Clans reassessed their attack and defense plans, but only Clan Ghost Bear made deep changes to avoid making the same mistakes.[6] After the truce, the Clans' advance was much more difficult, but their progress persisted. Even the Inner Sphere's best leaders, like Victor Steiner-Davion, and the elite units, like the Tenth Lyran Guards RCT, were crushed in combat, on Alyina.[7] It was only after the Com Guards defeated the Clans in the Battle of Tukayyid that the invasion was finally stopped.[8]

It was also here that Victor first met Omi Kurita, his first love. The relationship was initially tolerated because their families did not believe the pair could ever be more than pen pals due to distance and politics marred by centuries of distrust and war. Months of training exercises brought Victor closer to Hohiro and Kai but fostered further personal enmity between him and Sun-Tzu Liao. Ultimately, it was their simultaneous defense against a possibly threatening action by Sun-Tzu against Kai that pushed Victor and Hohiro to mutual respect if not outright friendship.[9]

References[edit]

  1. FedCom Civil War, pp. 12–13
  2. Jade Falcon Sourcebook, p. 29
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Invading Clans, p. 59
  4. FedCom Civil War, p. 13
  5. Blood Legacy, pp. 17–27, 49-50, 79–80, 98–106, 198, 221–224, 236–239, 313
  6. Invading Clans, p. 26
  7. Jade Falcon Sourcebook, p. 40
  8. Jade Falcon Sourcebook, p. 33
  9. Blood Legacy, pp. 141–150, 160–166, 198, 223–224, 236–239

Bibliography[edit]