Editing Alessandro Steiner

{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = 
| name                = Alessandro Steiner
| birthdate           = March [[2957]]<ref name=HBHSp98>''Handbook: House Steiner'', p. 98: "Lyran Leadership Profile"</ref>
| died                = [[3030]]<ref name=HHSp58>''Handbook: House Steiner'', p. 58</ref>
| othernames          = 
| affiliation         = [[House Steiner]]
| rank                = [[General of the Armies]]
| title               = [[Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth|Archon]]<br/>[[Landgrave of Kelestra Valley]]
| position            = 
| profession          = Noble
| parents             = [[Giovanni Steiner]] (father)<ref name=name=HSTLCpLOS&FT>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', foldout: "The Lyran Commonwealth's Line of Succession and Partial Steiner Family Tree"</ref>
| siblings            = [[Lisa Steiner (30th c.)|Lisa Steiner]]<ref name=name=HSTLCpLOS&FT/><br/>[[Sophia Steiner]]<ref name=name=HSTLCpLOS&FT/><br/>[[Hermann Steiner]]<ref name=name=HSTLCpLOS&FT/>
| spouse              = 
| children            = 
}}
'''Alessandro Steiner''' was the twenty-eighth [[Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth]].

==History==
===Early Life and Career===
Alessandro Steiner was born on [[Furillo]]<ref name="HBHSp78">''Handbook: House Steiner'', p. 78: "Furillo"</ref> and inherited the Archonship in [[2980]] after his father, [[Giovanni Steiner]], died in an equestrian accident.<ref name="HBHSp51">''Handbook: House Steiner'', p. 51: "Strategic Errors"</ref> Prior to his father's death he was a battalion commander in the [[Second Royal Guards]]. Upon becoming Archon, he immediately increased the amount of revenue that went to the military, which caused concern among the common folk.<ref name=HS-77/> Alessandro was a military man by nature, and his first priority was to build up the military in an effort to blunt the [[Draconis Combine]] offensives near [[Skye]] and [[Tamar]] and to rebuild the strength of the [[Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces]] on the [[Free Worlds League]] border.<ref name="HBHSp51"/> In [[2987]] he ordered the "[[Deep Raid of 2987|Deep Raid]]", which began with an attack on the [[Marik]] [['Mech]] factory on [[Ling]]. Though this mission was successful, the high command was furious because after the raid, the exhausted attacking force was sent to attack five more worlds before returning. Despite this they did nothing as the public considered the attack a success.<ref name=HS-77>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 77: "Alessandro Steiner"</ref><ref name=HM-46>''House Marik (The Free Worlds League)'', pp. 46–47: "Concession to Parliament"</ref><ref name=TRO3025-162>''Technical Readout: 3025'', p. 162</ref> The Deep Raid struck at worlds along the Capellan border of the League, with [[Ryerson]] being the farthest world from the Commonwealth border to be struck by the LCAF.<ref name="HBHSp51"/>

===Battles of Hesperus===
Between [[2990]] and [[2997]] Alessandro continued to push new troops into [[Operation FREEDOM]], the offensive against the Free Worlds League, with four more former Commonwealth worlds being recaptured by LCAF units by 2997 as a result of the increased resources. The LCAF was being stretched increasingly thinly, however; despite the additional resources, the Combine retained control of some sixteen worlds captured since the beginning of the [[Third Succession War]] and had heavily fortified all of them in anticipation of Lyran attacks and Lyran raids across the League border since the Deep Raid had failed to produce any tangible results. Ignoring or dismissing requests from the [[Estates General]] to stop the grinding counterattack against the Combine, Alessandro kept pushing forces forward even as Lyran worlds close to the border were desperately calling for relief ships.<ref name="HBHSp51"/>

In 2997 the Free Worlds League initiated the doomed [[Hesperus#Tenth battle|Tenth Battle of Hesperus II]]. The attack wasn't intended to capture the planet, but to instead raid the bunkers and warehouses furthest away from the main factories for supplies and matériel; what doomed the attack was the inbound force being detected by the early warning systems in the Hesperus system, giving the defending forces time to respond. The [[Tenth Lyran Guards]], commanded by [[Katrina Steiner]], Alessandro's niece, were able to make a suborbital hop to the League's landing zone and deploy via a low-altitude combat drop that brought the Tenth down on top of the League forces. The Free Worlds forces were weaker than the Tenth even before the combat drop, and in less than an hour Katrina's command had broken the League forces. The attack on Hesperus represented the largest League offensive action against the Commonwealth in a decade and its failure imbued Alessandro with a false sense of confidence.<ref name="HBHSp51A">''Handbook: House Steiner'', p. 51: "The Tenth Battle of Hesperus II"</ref>

Confident that the League's failed attack on Hesperus ensured that there wouldn't be another attack in the near future, Alessandro stripped away three of the five defending regiments so that he could launch an attack on the important industrial world of [[Kalidasa]]. Alessandro backfilled the Hesperus garrison by assigning forces from the [[Eridani Light Horse]] mercenary unit, but the mercenaries mustered less than two regiments in strength. Alessandro launched his offensive to try and capture Kalidasa in mid-2998, only to find his forces bogged down almost immediately. The attack on Kalidasa failed, but tied up the Lyran forces for two years - and during those two years, Hesperus was attacked twice. The first attack was launched by the Free Worlds League within months of the invasion of Kalidasa, and the second attack was launched by the Draconis Combine. Both attacks were eventually beaten off by the defending forces, but in each case the incompetence of the Hesperus garrison commander, [[Leutnant-General]] [[Wilhelm Mouttheim]], compounded the losses taken by the Lyran forces and antagonized the Eridani Light Horse, who he kept misdeploying or misdirecting.<ref name="HBHSp51A"/>

With three regiments of forces stuck in a losing battle on foreign soil, attacks on the prized world of Hesperus II and the departure of the Eridani Light Horse from Lyran employ in [[3000]] out of disgust at the manner in which they had been commanded, Alessandro's standing in the LCAF dropped quickly.<ref name="HBHSp51A"/>

===Operation: Concentrated Weakness===
Public confidence in the Lyran government plummeted after the defeat on Kalidasa and the near-defeats on Hesperus II; with morale dropping, Alessandro remained convinced that a significant military victory would restore faith in his rule, and he devised a plan to produce that victory, a military operation he dubbed [[Operation CONCENTRATED WEAKNESS]]. Ostensibly a variation on the defensive strategy employed by Archon [[Marcus Steiner]] decades before, CONCENTRATED WEAKNESS called for Lyran garrisons on interior worlds to be deployed to the Free Worlds League border to create an impenetrable wall of force that would first secure the border, and then later become an unstoppable invasion force for an offensive into Free Worlds space.<ref name="HBHSp52">''Handbook: House Steiner'', p. 52: "Concentrated Weakness"</ref>

Had it launched, CONCENTRATED WEAKNESS would have been the most ambitious military offensive in the history of the Commonwealth. As it was, the strategy appeared successful at first, with the increased border forces stopping a two-pronged League invasion aimed at the worlds of [[Loric]] and [[Solaris VII]]. Despite these successes the plan caused a wave of dissent within the Commonwealth, originating both from the military commanders of interior garrisons who were shocked to have so much of their garrisons redeployed elsewhere and from those interior worlds themselves, reeling under the disruption to trade already caused by the war effort. Riots on some of the poorer worlds to have lost garrison forces occurred over the next two years, and the LCAF remained sharply divided internally over criticism of Alessandro.<ref name="HBHSp52"/>

In [[3004]] Katrina Steiner vanished during a routine inspection on the border world of [[Poulsbo]], and her disappearance prompted a wave of speculation that Alessandro had removed Katrina in response to her increasing support within the LCAF as a potential alternative to himself. Katrina's disappearance coincided with an increase in pirate activity, and while Alessandro was ignorant of the dissent within the LCAF - or while he chose to ignore it - he continued to plan his major offensive into the League, only to have his plans disrupted in a shocking fashion by the [[Free Worlds League Military]]. Shortly after Katrina's surprise return to [[Tharkad]] in [[3006]] the FWLM launched their own version of Alessandro's Deep Raid; FWLM units struck at various interior Lyran worlds, including worlds as far from the League border as [[Coventry]]. Striking at important industrial and administration centers like [[Alarion]], [[Bolan]], Coventry and [[Pollux]], the League forces attacked key factories and targets, damaging many and nearly destroying a significant number while understrength garrison forces attempted to fight them off.<ref name=HHS-53/>

This loss convinced Alessandro's niece, General [[Katrina Steiner]], to openly declare her intention to become Archon. She had many supporters, who increased in number after the military reversals suffered due to Alessandro's policies. Before the Archon could do anything about his niece, he was summoned by the [[Estates General]] who after a ferocious debate unanimously voted for a petition of no confidence in Alessandro. Storming out of the Government House, he was then met by members of the high command. They attempted to reason with him, suggesting that he step down for the good of the Lyran Commonwealth. Surprised by this, he asked for a few days to think but in fact used that time to gather support. He found instead that no one was willing to back him.<ref name=HS-80>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 80: "Ouster"</ref><ref name="HHM-45">''Handbook: House Marik'', p. 45: "Accession"</ref><ref name=HHS-53>''Handbook: House Steiner'', p. 53: "Katrina's Coup"</ref>

===Retirement===
On July 22 [[3007]] Alessandro Steiner "retired" in favor of Katrina Steiner after losing the support of the Estates General, the Lyran public, and the high command.  Following that, he attempted multiple assassination attempts on Katrina.<ref name=HS-80/><ref name=HHS-53/> [[General]] [[Iris Steiner]], the [[Duchess of Furillo]], became a frequent visitor to his isolated estate, and while she first meant simply to contain any potential threats, an unlikely friendship sprung up between the two.<ref name=HSLCp161>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 161</ref> Though she never fully trusted Alessandro, as she saw the cunning politician hiding behind the façade of a tired veteran, the ties between the two would color the LIC's opinion of the [[Furillo BPM]] even after both Alessandro and Iris were dead.<ref name=FMLAp112>''Field Manual: Lyran Alliance'', p. 112: "Furillo BPM"</ref>

===Death===
Alessandro died of cancer in late 3030<ref name=HHSp58/>

==Family==
Alessandro has three known siblings, [[Hermann Steiner]],<ref>''Warrior: Riposte'', p. 46: "[[Dan Allard]] meets Brother Giles aka Hermann Steiner, remembers he retired from service to prevent members of the Second Royal Guard to support his brother, Alessandro"</ref> [[Sophia Steiner]]<ref>''Warrior: Riposte'', pp. 110–111: "Morgan Kell talks to [[Ryan Steiner]] about how he was in his mother's (Donna Steiner) wedding"</ref> and [[Lisa Steiner (30th c.)|Lisa Steiner]]<ref>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 76: "Hesperus Revisited" - [[2997]] Colonel Katrina Steiner, (Archon Alessandro Steiner's niece) leads the [[15th Lyran Guards]] to thwarted [[House Marik]] attack on Hesperus</ref>

==Notes==
[[House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)]] lists "General-of-the-Armies (retired)" as one of Alessandro's titles.<ref name=HS-163>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 163: "Personalities: Alessandro Steiner"</ref> Given that he was only a battalion commander (likely a Kommandant) when his father died, the details of his tenure at the post are unclear. He may have declined to appoint a General to the position and instead claimed it for himself.

==Quotes==
{{Quote|''In some ways, such an inviting target is an advantage. Whenever someone reaches out an arm to try and snatch it, we can come along to amputate it.''|From ''Radical Strategies: The Use of the Diminishing BattleMech Force on Today's Battlefield'', by Alessandro Steiner, [[Commonwealth Historical Press]], [[3005]]<ref name="HS(TLC)p76">''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', p. 76: "Hesperus Revisited"</ref>}}

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Handbook: House Marik]]''
* ''[[Handbook: House Steiner]]''
* ''[[House Marik (The Free Worlds League)]]''
* ''[[House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)]]''
* ''[[Technical Readout: 3025]]''
* ''[[Warrior: Coupé]]'' (novel)
* ''[[Warrior: Riposte]]'' (novel)


[[Category:Lyran Commonwealth Characters|Steiner, Alessandro]]
[[Category:Archons|Steiner, Alessandro]]