Tracial Steiner

Tracial Regina Steiner
Character Profile
Born 2506[1]
Died 6 January 2570[2]
Affiliation House Steiner
Title(s) Archon
Position Chief Justice
Profession Noble
Parents Rutger Steiner (father)[1]
Siblings Elric Steiner
Children Viola Steiner[2]

Tracial Regina Steiner was the ninth Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth.[3]

History[edit]

Legal Career[edit]

Many Steiners choose to enter government or politics. Tracial, on the other hand, took up law. Her second cousin, Archon Craig Steiner, realized the interpretation of law in different regions of the Commonwealth had been drifting apart with no final arbiter, so in 2543, he tapped Tracial to head up the new Supreme Court of the Commonwealth, where she would preside as Chief Justice for the next 11 years.[4]

Tracial immediately established a principle of judiciary independence with one of her first acts. Archon Craig had personally penned a controversial new tariff act, which had worked its way to the Supreme Court. Tracial struck the law down in its entirety as unconstitutional, impressing many, including Archon Craig. The ruling stood, and precedent for the new court was set.[5]

Archon[edit]

In failing health and with no heir, Archon Craig refused to divorce his beloved wife and instead proclaimed Tracial as the Archon-Designate in 2554. Tracial immediately stepped down as Chief Justice to aid Craig in the negotiations with the Terran Hegemony.[5] The talks that had been ongoing since 2551, but had made little progress. Archon Craig had been fearful that the booming Lyran economy would lose its advantageous position if trade were fully opened, and was proceeding very carefully in talks, but Ian Cameron persisted, seeing the state's membership in his project of joint government as crucial.[6]

Craig's death in 2555, and Tracial's elevation to the Archonship, would change all that. Tracial herself did not see the same looming economic woes as Craig did, and publicly supported the Tharkan Accords, the treaty that brought the Commonwealth into the Star League.[2] Her enthusiastic support, though, may in part be due to the clandestine interference of Albert Marik, Captain-General of the Free Worlds League. Much as he would do with the Federated Suns, Marik enthusiastically meddled in the Commonwealth's internal affairs, perhaps seeing the crowning of a new Archon as the key time for a new push for Star League membership. League money backed pro–Star League candidates to the Estates General and isolated those opposed to unification while merchants spread rumors at the behest of Marik and Cameron. They even manipulated some of the new Archon's advisors.[7]

Tracial officially joined the Star League in 2558, marking a period of both excitement and trepidation. Debate over the coming changes would dominate the Estates General as the Archon lobbied hard for support from them and the nobility. She sought to allay fears of reduced autonomy and a flood of unskilled labor and low-quality goods disrupting the Lyran economy, while touting the scientific and military benefits of the alliance. The Accords included several concessions Tracial had extracted from Cameron, including reduced barriers to trade in new technologies and the SLDF's pledge to establish training academies within the Commonwealth.

The last immigration and trade barriers were rescinded in 2560, at the request of the Terran Hegemony government. The fears of the anti-League faction were proven true as a flood of new arrivals came to seek work in Lyran space, while foreign corporations pushed smaller local businesses from their established towards less developed regions, in search of cheaper labor and materials. The economic and social crisis may have been the most disruptive event in the history of the Commonwealth and the realm sealed its borders two years later. The Commonwealth spent the next two years in a comprehensive review of labor, tariff and immigration laws, returning to the collective Star League economic sphere in 2566.[2]

Death and Succession[edit]

On 6 January 2570, Tracial suffered a heart attack, leaving her daughter Viola to sit upon the throne.[8]

Legacy[edit]

Tracial established the principle of judicial review within the Commonwealth legal canon. Her entry of the realm into the Star League was momentous, but perhaps just as important were the promises she extracted from Ian Cameron in doing so. The promise to build Star League academies in the Commonwealth resulted in the construction of The Nagelring and Sanglamore, academies that would pass into LCAF control as the Star League fell.

Quotes[edit]

On this, the 29th day of May, in the year of our lord two thousand, five hundred, and fifty-eighth, I, Tracial Regina Steiner, the ninth Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth, signed the Tharkan Accords. With that, I announce the intention of our fair realm to become a member of the as yet unborn Star League. As a full and active partner in this grand design, I look forward to many long and fruitful years of peace and prosperity.
  — From My Time as Archon, Tracial Regina Steiner, Commonwealth Historical Press, 2570[9]
A closed mind never errs, nor learns.
  — Cited as a Tracial Steiner quote by Aleksandr Kerensky in 2721 in at least two instances[10]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), foldout: "The Lyran Commonwealth's Line of Succession and Partial Steiner Family Tree"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Handbook: House Steiner, p. 24
  3. Handbook: House Steiner, p. 95: "Lyran Leadership Profile"
  4. House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 92
  5. 5.0 5.1 House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 28: "Prelude"
  6. The Star League, p. 38
  7. House Marik (The Free Worlds League) p. 18
  8. House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 29: "Minor Adjustments"
  9. House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 27: "The Star League Era"
  10. Destiny's Call, part 2 and 4

Bibliography[edit]