Duchy of Andurien

Crest of Duchy of Andurien
Duchy of Andurien
State Profile
Founding Year Age of War[1]
Capital world: Andurien
Controlled system(s): 34 (as of 3151)
Government
Head of State Duke of Andurien
Military
Army Andurien Defense Force (ADF)


The Duchy of Andurien was a member province of House Marik's Free Worlds League throughout most of its history before becoming an independent nation in 3079. The water-rich Andurien worlds were disputed between the Free Worlds League and House Liao's Capellan Confederation from early in the Age of War until the First Succession War when the region was finally secured by the League.

Under House Humphreys Andurien was a restive province with a strong anti-Marik bias, which led it to secede from the Free Worlds League in 3030 and attempt an invasion of the weakened Capellan Confederation in alliance with the Magistracy of Canopus. Defeated by 3039 and reintegrated back into the League, Andurien gained its independence with the dissolution of the League during the Jihad.

During the mid-thirty-second century the Duchy strengthened its ties with the Canopians and Capellan Confederation while staunchly refusing to join the resurrected Free Worlds League.

Fact Sheet[edit]

  • Founding Year: Age of War[1]
  • Capital (City, World): Jojoken, Andurien
  • National Symbol: a silver eagle, perched atop a purple castle, set against a black field
  • Location (Terra relative): rimward of Terra, anti-spinward of Capellan Confederation, exterior
  • Total (Inhabited) Systems: 25
  • Estimated Population (3130): 71,200,000,000
  • Government: Hereditary Oligarchy
  • Ruler: House Humphreys
  • Dominant Language(s): English (official), Italian, Mandarin
  • Dominant Religion(s): Catholicism, Confucianism, Agnostic
  • Unit of Currency: Andurien dollar (1 dollar = 0.47 C-bills)[2]

History[edit]

From 2366 to 2369, the Free Worlds League captured several worlds from the fledgling Capellan Confederation, including Andurien. A decade of fierce fighting failed to reverse the losses.

Andurien Wars[edit]

In 2398, Kurnath Liao began the First Andurien War to reclaim the Andurien systems.

In 2528, the depraved Chancellor Kalvin Liao, obsessed with the daughter of Andurien's duke, launched the Second Andurien War. Following his assassination in 2530, his successor ended the war the next year.

Star League[edit]

Terrence Liao invaded Andurien again in 2551. Although militarily unsuccessful, Albert Marik conceded the Andurien worlds in exchange for Terrence's agreement to join the Star League. Despite this, Capellan fears that the Andurien worlds would be returned to Marik control persisted, manifesting in the Freebooter's War during the final years of the Reunification War.[3][4]

Succession Wars[edit]

In the First Succession War, the Free Worlds League recaptured the Andurien systems in a 2789 campaign. However, Andurien fared well in the Succession Wars: Capellan reverses, forcing them on the defensive and giving them fresher irredentist grievances, prevented another massive invasion.

Andurien's ruler, Dame Catherine Humphreys, forged a covert alliance with Magestrix Kyalla Centrella of the Magistracy of Canopus. The conclusion of the Fourth Succession War in 3030, which saw the routed Capellans lose half their territory to the Federated Suns, emboldened them. Andurien declared independence in September, and began a joint invasion with Canopus of the Capellan Confederation, hoping to seize enough planets to make their alliance a significant power. But the Capellans rallied and drove out the invaders. Meanwhile, Andurien's secession had created a backlash in the rest of the League in favor of the Marik rulers, who now moved against Andurien. Centrella cut Humphreys lose to fend for herself, and the Duchy was overrun by 3040.

The Jihad[edit]

On the 25th of April 3075 Naomi Centrella-Liao visited Andurien as an envoy of both the Magistracy of Canopus and the Capellan Confederation. The tense visit involved both reminders of the shared history between Canopus, Andurien and House Liao, but also some pointed warnings against the Duchy of Andurien pursuing "ambitions of the past." The visit was ultimately successful, with Naomi leaving Andurien on the 1st of May with a signed nonaggression pact covering all three states.[5][6]

The Duchy of Andurien soon found itself defending Magestrix Centrella-Liao; on the 7th of February 3076 a Word of Blake force struck at Naomi's JumpShip in the Furud system as she traveled back to Sian after the liberation of Canopus. The Blakist attack was thwarted by aerospace forces from the Duchy.[7][8]

The Duchy of Andurien signed another treaty on the 10th of March 3076, this time with the tiny three-world state known as the Mosiro Archipelago. The mutual defense pact between the two states saw the Third Andurien Rangers take up garrison positions on the three worlds of the Archipelago.[8][9] Then, on the 13th of December 3080, the Duchy of Andurien expanded on the nonaggression treaty held with the Magistracy and the Confederation by signing a trade pact with both, a move the three realms intended to normalize relations between them.[10] The trade pact signed by the three nations was significant for the Duchy of Andurien in that the Magistracy and the Confederation effectively acknowledged the Duchy to be a sovereign state in its own right, distinct from the dissolved Free Worlds League. This was significant for the Magistracy and particularly the Confederation as well, given the strained relations between the Confederation and both the Principality of Regulus and Duchy of Oriente, other powerful former provinces of the League that viewed the Confederation with suspicion.[11]

By the closing stages of the Jihad in 3079 the armed forces of the Duchy of Andurien had expanded to four brigades of Andurien Rangers, the First through Fourth. Three of these brigades were built around units defected in part or en masse from the FWLM, with the First through Third Andurien Rangers forming from the former First Free Worlds Legionnaires, Fifth Free Worlds Legionnaires and Ninth Free Worlds Legionnaires respectively. The newest of the Rangers brigades had formed from the graduating classes drawn from the Humphreys Training Academy,[12] the Duchy having reclaimed the Legionary Training Academy and returned it to its former name.[13]

The rapid expansion of the Andurien Rangers was due in large part to the revelation that Captain-General Thomas Marik was a doppelgänger, although whereas the Fifth Free Worlds Legionnaires had found this cause enough to defect as a regiment and pledge personal loyalty to Dame Dalma Humphreys, it had taken the personal intervention of Dame Humphreys in 3076 to persuade most of the Ninth Free Worlds Legionnaires to defect to the Duchy rather than imploding as a result of internal conflict and factionalization.[12]

The Andurien Rangers had adopted a combined arms approach, making use of the excellent conventional assets and often mixing BattleMechs, armor and infantry at a company level; this was in part to make use of the conventional assets available to the Duchy, which were close to the top of the line, but also a reflection of the difficulty the Duchy faced in obtaining advanced BattleMechs. The Rangers were relying heavily on the production of RetroTech 'Mechs from Lopez to replace equipment losses, but had managed to secure the borders of the Duchy and repel attacks from various directions.[12] Replacement equipment issues were not only limited to problems replacing advanced BattleMechs, however; the Duchy was also lacked significant battle armor and aerospace production, relying on trade to acquire enough new equipment to replace losses. The lack of production facilities for these capabilities wasn't preventing the Duchy from seriously considering expanding the training program offered by the Humphreys Training Academy to include training in these areas, however.[13]

By 3079 the Duchy was looking to take advantage of opportunities to expand into the core-ward regions of the former League, having secured borders with the Magistracy and the Capellan Confederation as a result of the nonaggression pacts signed previously; the mutual defense pact reached with the Mosiro Archipelago led to speculation that the Archipelago would soon be annexed by the Duchy.[12] The Duchy of Andurien was maintaining its independence at this point, refusing to align with any of the other major regional factions such as the Duchy of Oriente, the Marik Commonwealth, the Principality of Regulus or with the remaining Blakists, and was likely hoping that the reclamation of the Word of Blake Protectorate by coalition forces would distract the attention of the Capellan Confederation in the near future.[14]

In the early 3080s the Duchy of Andurien was operating some of the loosest export restrictions on military technology of any state, hoping to turn a profit by selling the output from military industries within the Duchy. As a result the products of the Andurien AeroTech facilities that survived the Jihad were soon being exported well beyond the boundaries of the former Free Worlds League.[15]

Dark Age[edit]

Andurien was focused on retaining its independence after the breakup of the League. They accomplished this through a combination of alliances of convenience and military buildup, but Andurien felt its alliance with the Regulan Fiefs was no longer sufficient to resist the military, economic and political pressure on them to rejoin. In a surprise to the rest of the former League, Duke Ari Humphreys married Magestrix Ilsa Centrella-Liao in 3137. In 3141, Andurien, the Capellans and Canopians began joint military strikes against the League during a summit between Andurien and the Free Worlds League.[16][17]

In 3146, Regulus proposed that Andurien and its allies coordinate a series of strikes against League targets. The plan, called Operation TRIUMVIR, called for Regulus and Canopus to strike first and for Andurien's forces to take advantage in the shift of defensive footing. Andurien's first strikes on Kwamashu, El Giza and Mosiro were successful, and Andurien chose to hold those worlds and watch for a response. The League later forced the ADF off Kwashamu, but Andurien held the others. As the offensive sputtered out, Lester Cameron-Jones blamed Andurien for its failure to draw a larger FWLM response, souring relationships between the two ex-League states.[18]

The next offensive move from the ADF came in 3148, and against a new adversary: Regulus. In Operation REBOUND the ADF moved to seize eleven unaligned worlds between their border and the Regulan Fiefs, unintentionally aiding a plan from the FWLM to invade and annex the Regulan Fiefs to avenge the murder of Captain-General Jessica Marik. Seeing the force brought to bear against their former ally, Andurien chose not to continue with their annexation campaign.[19][20]

Notes[edit]

Its people resent being treated as a prize by these larger powers and would prefer independence. The slogan, "Andurien for Anduriens," expressed this sentiment.

Historical Duchy of Andurien Maps (Gallery)[edit]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Handbook: House Marik, p. 66
  2. Touring the Stars, p. 74
  3. Handbook: House Liao, p. 24: "Timeline: The Age of War and Star League"
  4. Historical: Reunification War, pp. 103–105: "The War At Home: The Freebooter's War"
  5. Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 16: "Timeline of the Jihad"
  6. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 54: "The Jihad In Review"
  7. Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 20: "Timeline of the Jihad"
  8. 8.0 8.1 Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 55: "The Jihad In Review"
  9. Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 21: "Timeline of the Jihad"
  10. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 61: "The Jihad In Review"
  11. Jihad: Final Reckoning, pp. 25–26: "Historic Trade Pact Normalizes Relations for Andurien, Canopus, Sian"
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Field Report: FWLM, p. 12: "Duchy of Andurien"
  13. 13.0 13.1 Field Report: FWLM, p. 5: "Academies and Command Centers"
  14. Field Report: FWLM, p. 4: "Goals of the State(s)"
  15. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 93: "Duchy of Andurien"
  16. Field Manual: 3145, p. 112: "Andurien Defense Force"
  17. Field Manual: 3145, p. 98: "Black Sheep"
  18. Shattered Fortress, pp. 21–22: "Tragedy and Triumph"
  19. Shattered Fortress, p. 53: "A Campaign of Vengeance"
  20. Shrapnel #8: "SAFE Quarterly Threat Assessment"

Bibliography[edit]