Terran Peace Summit

Intended to ensure a continued joint focus on defeating the Clan threat and an attempt for ComStar to play a more direct role in Inner Sphere politics, the Terran Peace Summit was an abject failure in both regards.

Overview[edit]

As the entire Inner Sphere breathed a sigh of relief after the Com Guards' defeat of the Clans during the climactic Battle of Tukayyid, while the fragile truce between the Successor States agreed to at Outreach Summit of 3051 nominally held, the reduction in the level of Clan threat meant the centuries-old tensions between the Houses flared up again. While not breaking out into outright warfare, much of the urgency of the unified all-out effort prior to Tukayyid waned as each side also returned to seeking advantage against their neighbors.[1]

With Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht dismayed that the precious respite of the fifteen-year Truce of Tukayyid was being wasted, Primus Sharilar Mori invited representatives of each of the ruling Houses to attend a peace summit to be held on Terra in April of 3053 to establish a more robust framework a combined response against the Clan Invaders. The summit was also intended to allow the newly secular organization to play a more direct role in the political landscape of the Inner Sphere as it attempted to recover from the disastrous losses and public revelation of the Blessed Order's centuries of duplicity in the wake of Myndo Waterly's Operation Scorpion.[2][3]

As an incentive to attend, Primus Mori offered extensive military combat data from the fighting on Tukayyid, a vital guide to a better understanding of the Clans fighting styles and tactics. But while all the Great Houses accepted the invitation, unlike the Outreach Summit, no House Lord appeared personally, all sending delegates in their names instead. The attending ambassadors all eagerly accepted ComStar's proffered Clan tactical data, but seemed more interested in gauging the organization's internal state of affairs in the wake of the Schism and the extent of the military power it still wielded in the wake of Tukayyid than reaching any agreement on how to deal with the Clans. Every effort to focus on this point was rebuffed as the attendees openly argued that ComStar's collusion with the invaders and attempted takeover of the Inner Sphere raised questions of the organization's past and future motivations.[2]

The sole achievement of the summit was when Tai-sho Henry Sobrioff cited the fact that the Draconis Combine no longer recognized ComStar's Mercenary Review Board as an impartial arbitrator, a declaration immediately backed by the House Liao and Federated Commonwealth delegates. Hoping to retrieve some good from the summit, Precentor Martial Focht proposed that ComStar abandon control of the board, which would then re-form as the Mercenary Review and Bonding Commission, a jointly administered committee made up of representatives from each government. Focht also convinced the ambassadors to allow ComStar to maintain an active seat on the board as a legitimate employer of mercenary troops.[2]

With this the only real concrete result, Precentor Martial Focht ended the summit with a moving closing plea. Apologizing for actions of the old Order, Focht cited that ComStar was actively changing to earn their trust and that the victory at Tukayyid was temporary, asking the delegates to carry to their leaders the need for a unified response and that ComStar was ready to aid them in their fight for mutual survival. Despite Focht's heartfelt appeal, all the delegates returned home still far more concerned about ComStar's military forces than those of the Clan invaders.[2]

Aftermath[edit]

Disappointed with the lack of result at the Summit, the Primus and Precentor Martial would redouble their efforts to try and convince the Houses of ComStar's new focus and good intentions. Primus Mori would focus on the public release of much of ComStar's previously jealously guarded knowledge, opening historical databases of the ComStar Archives and star charts of the Explorer Corps to all as well as setting up the University of Blake. As benefiting his position, the Precentor Martial focused on pulling back the veil of secrecy around the Com Guards, publicly announcing every re-formation or movement of any battalion-sized contingent of forces to try and allay the fears of the Great Houses. He also grudgingly acceded to House demands over Com Guard deployments within their realms.[2]

ComStar's efforts would ultimately bear fruit when the Precentor Martial staged multinational training exercises on Tukayyid in 3058 to combat the Clan threat, exercises which would be attended by Hohiro Kurita, Kai Allard-Liao and Archon-Prince Victor Steiner-Davion himself. With the Clan Jade Falcon drive towards Coventry occurring in the middle of the exercises, they would soon serve as a stepping stone towards the re-formation of the Star League to specifically defeat the Clan threat, with ComStar playing a large role in supporting the new body.

References[edit]

  1. Era Report: 3062, p. 12 "History and Review"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 ComStar, p. 78 "New ComStar - United We Stand"
  3. Era Report: 3062, p. 12 "History and Review - Timeline of Events: 3053-3062"

Bibliography[edit]