Jonathan Davion

Jon Davion.jpg
Jonathan Davion
Character Profile
Also known as Jon Davion
Born 3024[1]
Affiliation House Davion
Rank Marshal of the Armies[2]
Profession MechWarrior

Jonathan Davion was a House Davion nobleman, military officer, and Marshal of the Armies of the AFFS during the Jihad and early Dark Age.

History[edit]

Early Life and Career[edit]

Jon Davion was the younger cousin of Jackson Davion, and served as a military history instructor at the Sakhara Academy until the early 3050s. During or shortly after the Clan Invasion Jackson influenced him to return to front line service and leave his teaching career behind. After rejoining the AFFC Jon took command of the Davion Heavy Guards' armored forces and eventually the whole Heavy Guard RCT. As their CO Jon reorganized the Guards' Armored units to become a more effective fighting force.[3][4]

FedCom Civil War[edit]

In 3063, Jon's Heavy Guards were stranded on Galax by then-Archon-Princess Katherine Steiner-Davion at the beginning of the FedCom Civil War. It wasn't until the final phase of the conflict that Jon Davion's forces were able to obtain transportation resources to get off-world.

Now actively fighting with Victor Steiner-Davion's Allies, Jon Davion and his RCT used a dozen Conquistador class DropShips liberated from Galax's shipyards to join the invasion of New Avalon in June 3066. Teamed with Duke Tancred Sandoval and his Second Robinson Rangers, they landed in the Rostock continent where they disabled the planet's air and space traffic control system. They also helped local Allied rebels on the ground to take over Loyalist-controlled areas. On the Brunswick continent Jon led the Guards against a Loyalist armor brigade in what became a short and tough battle for control over the region.

In April 3067, Jon and his RCT participated in the invasion of Avalon City. Suffering crippling losses from the concentrated firepower of the Loyalist RCTs, the Heavy Guards virtually ceased to exist.[5][6]

Jihad and the Liberation of New Avalon[edit]

With the Davion Heavy Guards nearly destroyed by the civil war, Jon set about the task of rebuilding the RCT with salvage taken from the battle for Avalon City. The unit was assigned to garrison the world of Salem, where it concentrated on rebuilding itself.[6][7]

Following the outbreak of the Jihad and the Word of Blake's invasion of New Avalon, Jon moved his rebuilt command to assist the defense of his nation's capital. Jon's force arrived in January 3068 and, after an uncontested landfall, managed to fight through the Blakist lines to reach Avalon City and take up the defense there. Jon led the Heavy Guards along with remains of other allied forces to hit the 44th Shadow Division, pushing the Blakist force from Mount Davion. His force slowly succeeded, but not without heavy losses, with his cousin Jackson being killed in action and Avalon City firebombed by the departing Shadow Division in 3074.[8][9]

After his cousin's death, Jon was left in command of all AFFS units on New Avalon and continued to engage Blakist forces remaining on the planet.[10]

As a Marshal of the Armies of the AFFS[edit]

After New Avalon had finally been secured, Princess-Regent Yvonne Steiner-Davion elevated Jon to replace his late cousin as Marshal of the Armies by 3075. His priorities were to reorganize the AFFS and enable it to handle current and potential threats, including the Word of Blake, rebels in the FedSuns' Outback region, aggression from the Taurian Concordat, and Clan Snow Raven in the Outworlds Alliance.[1]

Commander of the Federated Suns Coalition Force[edit]

Davion would soon take over command of the Federated Suns' Allied Coalition Task Force, Group II from Marshal Katheryn Sandoval-Ito after her death. Jon would personally take direct command of the Federated Suns Group II to liberate Epsilon Eridani in February of 3078. His Coalition Group would be credited for easily taking command of the Sandoval-Ito's task force.[11][12]

In July, he and the rest of the Coalition forces assembled to invade Terra as part of Operation SCORCH. Jon was assigned to Task Force SICKLE to take the city of Rio de Janeiro, where it was believed an SDS Command Center was located. His Task Force was assigned the 5th Crucis Lancers, the Iron Guard and the 20th Marik Militia to take their objective.[13]

Jon's command made its landings in mid-August, where they would easily take the city with its manufacturing plant and the local TerraSec Supply Depot. However, forces garrisoned at the SDS Command Fortress on Governador Island stopped his operation in its tracks. For the next three weeks Jon lay siege to the complex using artillery fire and aerospace strikes. During this bombardment, Jon employed a local mining company's large tunnel boring machines to cut through the ground and breach the Complex's underground spaces. A battle armor force consisting of elite warriors used the tunnels to penetrate the underground facilities' spaces and managed to destroy the complex's massive fuel farm. The shutdown of the Rio SDS Command Center freed Coalition forces from the threat of SDS attack.[14]

Republic Era and Retirement[edit]

Following Terra's liberation, Jon Davion returned to New Avalon and set about reforming the AFFS to better deal with the challenges of the era. Dubbed the Reallocation, Organization and Rearmament program, Jon's reforms centered on two main areas. One was rebuilding units based upon their proximity to hostile borders and current unit strength, the other was reorganizing the AFFS around the new Light Combat Team formation. Despite his policies having detractors, the ROaR program continued to move forward with Princess-Regent Yvonne Steiner-Davion's support following the Camelot Summit of October 3079.[15][16]

By 3085, Davion had overseen a sizeable growth of the number of AFFS front-line commands, although the effective strength was still quite low compared to its pre-Jihad levels.[17] In addition, Marshal Davion devised the plan behind the swift and successful Operation MATADOR which reclaimed several Taurian-occupied worlds in 3080.[18]

Jon retired from active service in 3103.[2]

BattleMech[edit]

In the New Avalon campaign, Jonathan Davion would pilot a Marauder II.[19]

Notes[edit]

  • The character's original full name was listed as Jonathan Davion in Field Manual: Federated Suns, Field Manual: Updates and Jihad Turning Points: New Avalon.[20] His full name is not used in later publications.

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers, p. 36: Jon Davion's profile
  2. 2.0 2.1 Historical: Wars of the Republic Era, p. 42
  3. Field Manual: Federated Suns, p. 77
  4. Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers, pp. 36, 253
  5. FedCom Civil War, pp. 168–169, 181
  6. 6.0 6.1 Field Manual: Updates, p. 129: "Davion Heavy Guards"
  7. Field Manual: Updates, p. 137
  8. Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers, p. 36: "Jon Davion"
  9. Jihad Turning Points: New Avalon, pp. 6 & 10: "Davion Heavy Guards": "Davion Falling"
  10. Jihad Secrets: The Blake Document, pp. 34–35: "New Avalon: Torture, Lament and Freedom"
  11. Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 71: Epsilon Eridani Liberation - Jon's action as coalition commander of FedSuns group
  12. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 58: "The Jihad in Review"
  13. Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, pp. 91–93, 96: Gathering Might, Operation SCYTHE - Vid Conference with Devlin Stone and rest of Inner Sphere leaders and Jon's mission assignment for the Terran assault
  14. Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, pp. 105, 107–108: "Rio Goes Dark": "Rio Captured; Dallas Burns"
  15. Field Report: AFFS, p. 3: "Project ROaR"
  16. Field Manual: 3085, p. 52: "Camelot Summit"
  17. Field Manual: 3085, pp. 53, 55
  18. Field Manual: 3085, p. 54
  19. Isle of the Blessed, ch. 1
  20. Field Manual: Updates, p. 137: "AFFS Deployment Table as of 3067"

Bibliography[edit]