History of the Magistracy of Canopus

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File:Magistracy of Canopus.jpg
Crest of the Magistracy of Canopus
This article details the history of the Magistracy of Canopus. For more information, see Magistracy of Canopus.

Founding

In the closing years of the Age of War, Captain Kossandra Centrella was a MechWarrior with the Defenders of Andurien when her unit was part of an attack against the Capellan Confederation world of Highspire. However, when the order to withdraw from the world was given, a combination of poor communications and ineptitude by her senior commanders resulted in Captain Centrella and her unit of two BattleMech lances being left behind while the rest of the Free Worlds League forces escaped. Centrella was able to save her unit from total destruction and, disguising themselves as merchants, hijack a Capellan JumpShip to return to Free Worlds territory. The captain's unexpected return and daring escape from Highspire made her a state hero within the Free Worlds, bestowing upon her great honor and promotions.[1]

Kossandra Centrella could not forget or forgive that it was her superior's fault that she had been put in that position to begin with, nor the fact that they had avoided any disciplinary action for their incompetence.[1] She also had little tolerance for the male-dominated societies which had taken hold in the Inner Sphere.[2] In the years after her return, Centrella began to gather a group of like-minded people until the so-called "Black Brotherhood" exceeded a hundred people, upon which they stole several House Davion transports and made their escape. With no real goal beyond getting as far away from the Free Worlds as possible, they headed into the Periphery, eventually settling in the Canopus star system in 2530 and founding the Magistracy.[1][3][4]

While distrustful of the Inner Sphere, Magestrix Kossandra Centrella recognized the importance of maintaining some ties with them, especially as a means of expanding the Magistracy. Kossandra began a series of negotiations with planetary and regional leaders in both the Free Worlds and Capellan states who had become disenchanted with their policy makers and entered into secret pacts with them for mutual aid and security. Eventually these worlds would break off from the central authority and join in the new Canopian union, until by 2550 the Magistracy had grown to 36 star system.[1][3]

While the Magistracy owes much to its founding Magestrix, it wasn't until her granddaughter Floral Centrella took power that the realm took on many of the characteristics that would define it. Floral sought to make the Magistracy a target too valuable to be conquered by having it offer something sorely lacking in the Inner Sphere. Thanks to the reforms and legislation Floral enacted, social freedoms were vastly expanded in the Magistracy, allowing people to engage in activities considered immoral or illegal in other realms. So long as all involved were consenting adults and no one suffered permanent injury (a rule of which there were workarounds), anything went in the Magistracy, such as gambling, prostitution, recreational drug use and hunting (whether the prey ran on four legs or two).[5] Floral also increased the political freedoms of the Magistracy's male population, which had been barred from holding any political office since the state's founding. As part of a gradual plan to ensure men could responsibly hold higher offices and not attempt to take control, Floral opened up local and then planetary political offices to men, and allowed men to vote in local elections.[2]

Star League Era

Like the rest of the Periphery powers, the Magistracy was invaded in 2577 during the Reunification War by the newly-created Star League; while defeat was inevitable it was not as easy as the Star League hoped, with the war lasting twenty years and costing millions of lives. Luckily for the Canopians, Military Governor Melissa Humphreys was earnest in her stated goal of rebuilding the Magistracy. The realm was made whole and allowed limited home rule as a Territorial State in the Star League, and for the next century enjoyed a golden age of wealth and prosperity. That began to change starting in 2722 as the Council Lords enacted legislation which opened the Periphery up to burdensome taxation and exploitation by deceitful business interests. Events came to a head in 2765 when the Magistracy joined the other Periphery powers in the New Vandenberg Uprising, a rebellion which ultimately would lead to the Star League Civil War and the destruction of the League itself.

Succession Wars Era

Magistracy-Concordat Conflict

The resulting Succession Wars did not directly touch the Magistracy, but the realm felt the effects all the same: trade and tourism plummeted, to be replaced by refugees and pirates. There were occasional incursions into its territory, including a brief conflict with the Taurian Concordat in 2813 that ended inconclusively.

Arano Restoration

Between 3022 and 3026, the Magistracy became involved in a civil war in the Aurigan Reach, an area of space to the Magistracy’s spinward border home to the Aurigan Coalition, a minor periphery state. A coup removed High Lady Kamea Arano from power and replaced the Coalition with the totalitarian Aurigan Directorate under Director Santiago Espinosa.[6] In order to establish border security, the Directorate allied itself with the Taurian Concordat - meanwhile Arano and a small group of her supporters fled the Reach and found asylum in the Magistracy of Canopus, where she spent three years gathering support before returning to the Reach at the head of the Arano Restoration. The Restoration ultimately overthrew the Directorate, restoring House Arano to power.[7]

The Magistracy, through liaison Ana Maria Centrella, bankrolled the Arano Restoration in order to use the Restoration as a deniable asset to pacify the volatile Aurigan Directorate, and reestablish the Aurigan Coalition as a trade partner and buffer state between the Magistracy and its Taurian and Capellan neighbours.[8]

Andurien Secession

Apart from the business of the Aurigan Reach, for the most part the Magistracy stayed out of interstellar affairs until 3030, when it allied with the rebellious Duchy of Andurien. Andurien seceded from its former sovereign state, the Free Worlds League, and entered into an alliance with the Magistracy.[9] Seeking to exercise its newfound strength, the Andurien-Canopian alliance targeted the Capellan Confederation. Sensing weakness in the Confederation after their significant territorial losses to the Federated Commonwealth during the Fourth Succession War, the Andurien-Canopian alliance invaded Capellan space in 3030. Despite the alliance’s wild initial success (as the Capellan high command was not expecting an attack from the spinward Periphery), the CCAF rallied in 3032 and pushed back the invaders - by 3035 the progress of the invasion had been almost entirely undone and the Confederation’s borders as of 3030 were effectively restored.[10]

The Andurien Crisis, as it would come to be known, ended badly for the Magistracy and particularly for Magestrix Kyalla Centrella, who was frustrated and embittered by the seeming futility of the failed campaign. A further issue facing the Magestrix was the political presence of her daughter, Emma Centrella, who had been vehemently opposed to the campaign against the Capellan Confederation.[11] A veteran of the MAF, Emma had made several public criticisms of her mother’s policies, each time receiving a furious response which turned public opinion further against the Magestrix and in support of Emma.[12] Matters finally came to a head when, in 3039, the Magestrix sent an assassin to kill her daughter - the assassin failed to claim Emma’s life, and forced her to launch a coup against her mother. The coup was successful, and Magestrix Kyalla was deposed in 3040 in favour of Emma. [13] In the immediate aftermath of the coup, Magestrix Emma Centrella focused strongly on rebuilding the damaged Canopian economy after the fallout of the Andurien Crisis.[14]


Clan Invasion Era


References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Periphery, p. 22
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 77
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Field Manual: Periphery, p. 20
  4. ↑ Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 15
  5. ↑ The Periphery, p. 39
  6. ↑ House Arano (The Aurigan Coalition), p.12
  7. ↑ House Arano (The Aurigan Coalition) p.13
  8. ↑ House Arano (The Aurigan Coalition) p.5
  9. ↑ Era Report: 3052, p.35
  10. ↑ Era Report: 3052, p.37
  11. ↑ The Periphery, p.20
  12. ↑ Era Report: 3062, p.82
  13. ↑ The Periphery, p.21
  14. ↑ Era Report: 3062, p.62

Bibliography

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