Marian Hegemony
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| Crest of the Marian Hegemony | |
| Marian Hegemony | |
|---|---|
| Faction Profile | |
| Time period: | 2920 – present |
| Classification: | Periphery |
| Controlled systems: | approx. 12 |
| Capital world: | Alphard |
| Ruler title: | Imperator (later Caesar) |
| Military: | Marian Hegemony Armed Forces |
| Secret Service: | Ordo Vigilis |
Contents
Fact Sheet
- Founding Year: 2920
- Capital (City, World): Nova Roma, Alphard
- National Symbol: The bust of an armored Roman warrior against a tan banner that bears the name "Marian Hegemony" in English at its center and the Latin words "Pax" (Peace) and "Mortis" (of Death) on its opposite ends.
- Location (Terra relative): Coreward and anti-spinward, beyond Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey and Rim Commonality
- Government: Monarchist Republic
- Dominant Language(s): English and Latin (official), German, Spanish, Greek
- Dominant Religion(s): Christianity (Lutheran), Judaism, Islam, Agnostic
- Unit of Currency: Talent
Era Specific Data
2930
- Ruler: Imperator Johann Sebastian O'Reilly
- Total (Inhabited) Systems: 9[1]
3025
- Ruler: Imperator Marius O'Reilly
- Total (Inhabited) Systems: 12
3055
- Ruler: Caesar Sean O'Reilly
- Total (Inhabited) Systems: 19
3063
- Total (Inhabited) Systems: 23
3067
- Ruler: Caesar Julius O'Reilly
- Total (Inhabited) Systems: 25
3130
- Ruler: Caesar Ignatius O’Reilly[2]
- Total (Inhabited) Systems: 22
- Estimated Population (3130): 28,605,000,000
- Unit of Currency: Talent (1 talent = 0.22 C-Bills) (3130)
Origins and History
Founding
The origins of the Marian Hegemony stem from the demise of the old Alphard Trading Coalition during the First Succession War. A man named Johann Sebastian O'Reilly, who was a lostech prospector, was searching for reputed lost caches of Star League technology on the planet Alphard, but instead found a treasure trove of germanium worth billions upon billions of C-Bills.
Johann O'Reilly immediately hired some small mercenary companies with his newly found wealth, and colonized Alphard. This colony grew quickly with the addition of numerous refugees were fleeing the strife in the Inner Sphere. As he fancied himself something of a historian, he organized his new society along the lines of the old Roman Republic. Johann styled himself as Imperator and organized three classes: the upper-class patricians, the middle and lower-class plebeians, and the slaves.
Marius O'Reilly
Although the Hegemony had well-established financial reserves on-hand due to Alphard's relatively rich germanium supply, the new nation was too small to attract new military forces without attracting the attention of one of the larger powers in the Periphery. Nevertheless, the Fourth Succession War brought the fledgling nation new possibilities. With most of the various pirate bands concentrating on the Inner Sphere, the new Imperator, Marius O'Reilly, saw a good opportunity to expand his nation.
The Imperator, using wealth gained from pirate raids and germanium supplies, embarked on an ambitious civic spending program designed to give the Hegemony better and more capable soldiers. O'Reilly built the Collegium Bellorum Imperium (the Imperial War College) to train Marian generals, which he hoped would eventually churn out top-quality soldiers capable of expanding the Hegemony. The Imperator proved to be popular with his citizens, and was widely considered to be a good ruler for the Hegemony.
Upon the death of Marius, he was replaced by his son Sean O'Reilly. A much less capable ruler than his father, he used his parental connections to gain a position spearheading a wave of colonization across the Periphery. Sean skimmed money off of the project to fund his mistresses, and a serious gambling problem. With one of those mistresses Sean had a son, whom he named Julius. When Marius learned of his son's embezzling, he threatened to remove his son from the line of succession and name his grandson Julius as his heir. Sean, sufficiently cowed, offered to pay off his debt to the nation, and immediately cut back on his gambling and mistresses. Mollified, Marius put Sean back in the line of succession. Nevertheless, Sean continued to fear being removed from the line of succession.
When Marius died in 3048, in what was officially labeled a "climbing accident", Sean became the new Imperator.
Sean O'Reilly
After a 10-day period of mourning for his late father, Sean proclaimed himself to be the new Caesar of the Hegemony. He immediately enacted new decrees based on the structure of the old Roman Empire (as opposed to the original laws of the Roman Republic). He enacted many oppressive laws designed to keep the plebs in their place. The military was expanded from one legion to three, which he used to help silence his critics within the Hegemony.
His domestic problems in a temporary lull, Sean commenced a massive military buildup aimed at expanding the Hegemony through conquest. To this effect, he invaded the Lothian League, a small nation of less than 10 planets, in 3054. The conflict was brief, and the Caesar's legions had conquered the nation within one year of the invasion. Sean garrisoned the League worlds with his Second Legion and enacted several oppressive policies aimed at preventing rebellion. Instead, the Lothians started a rebellion on the worlds, which occupied the Second Legion with peacekeeping duties and gave Sean's government a reputation for ruthlessness.
Soon after the Lothian conquest, the Caesar was approached by the Word of Blake, who sought to gain control over the few HPG stations located within the Hegemony's borders. In exchange for expelling all ComStar personnel, the Caesar would be given high-quality BattleMechs and weapons for his dreams of conquest. Sean accepted, and started a heavy conscription effort that expanded his military to five legions. He was now ready to begin his conquests.
In 3057, Sean O'Reilly invaded the world of Astrokaszy. The site of one of his father's few defeats, he hoped to use the planet as a staging ground for later invasions. Although he exploited the constant infighting endemic to the planet, the sudden arrival of Magistracy of Canopus troops prevented the world from falling to the Hegemony. The Caesar returned to Alphard to find his Lothian subjects on the brink of open rebellion. Although the expansion of the military allowed Sean to post the Third Legion to the Lothian worlds to quash the rebellion, a second problem arose for him.
His son Julius, a recent graduate of the Collegium Bellorum Imperium, had been recently promoted to command a century in the First Legion. He quickly gained the attention of several powerful anti-Caesar military leaders and Senators, who built up a power base centered around the young heir. However, his father noticed, and transferred Julius to command of a cohort of the Second Legion on Lordinax. The unit was highly demoralized from Lothian raids, however, and Julius began to openly question his father's path of conquest.
Julius O'Reilly
Julius began to covertly build a power base within the Second Legion, to whom he promised an end to the Lothian troubles. The war was a cycle of death, as recruits poured into the Second Legion at a quick rate and Lothian civilian casualties steadily mounted due to the Caesar's bloody reprisals.
Julius, however, sensed a quick opportunity in 3063 to end the long war. His forces had recently captured the leader of the Lothian resistance, Elena Logan. The daughter of the former leader of the Lothian League, she sat down with Julius and bargained a truce amongst the populace. In exchange for a cessation of reprisals, a position in the Hegemony government, and a position as an adviser on Julius' personal staff, she agreed to end the brutal guerrilla war. Within a year of landing on Lordinax, Julius had ended the resistance, and was ready to make his next move.
Realizing that he could only govern the Hegemony as a respected conqueror, he departed Lordinax with the Fourth, Second, and elements of the Third Legion for the Illyrian Palatinate, leaving only one cohort of the Third and some auxiliaries in place on the planet. The conquest of the Palatinate lasted only a short while, as the small nation was only defended by two mercenary units, the Arms of Thor and Cavanaugh's Commandos. Although his forces were originally stopped by the sheer power of the Arms and Commandos, Julius struck a deal with Cavanaugh's Commandos in which they would stand down in exchange for a payment and a place in the Hegemony Armed Forces. The Hegemony forces quickly overran the Arms of Thor in their bases, collecting much intact salvage for Julius. He left the Palatinate under the control of local citizens, guarded by the rest of the Third Legion, and returned to Alphard a conquering hero.
Julius returned to the capital at the head of the Second and Fourth Legions, where he was hailed as a great hero and conqueror by the citizens of the Hegemony. Julius, guarded by select members of the Second Legion, went into the Senate building and received the imperial crown of the Hegemony in a nationwide broadcast. Julius' father was nowhere in sight. In a second speech, Julius declared his father unfit to rule the Hegemony, and declared himself the new leader of the nation. The Senate confirmed his appointment by acclamation.
However, Sean O'Reilly still lived, having holed up in his Palace with the entire First Legion. He refuted his son's claim to the throne, and instructed his Legion to put down the, in his terms, rebellion that had sprung up. When the forces engaged, half of the First Legion surrendered instantly, while the others were destroyed by the Second Legion. Julius and his soldiers confronted the former Caesar in his throne room, and offered him the chance to gracefully resign. Sean refused, attacked his son, and was cut down quickly by the assembled Second Legionnaires. Julius was now the full leader of the Marian Hegemony.
Jihad
During the Word of Blake Jihad, the Marian Hegemony fought the Blakists' proxies, the Circinus Federation, in a bloody conflict that saw the small Periphery holding vanquished and partially occupied by the victorious Marian troops. The Marian Hegemony also at some time gave the Lothian League back its freedom (as shown on maps dating from the 3120s), although the reasons are as yet unclear.
Political and Social Structure
The Marian Hegemony is an absolute monarchy, with absolute power vested in the Caesar, who can enforce his will by decree. The Hegemony also has a Senate, composed of patricians from every world of the nation (although the number of Senators sent vary by population). The Senate itself acts as a debate forum that rubber-stamps the Caesar's decrees, although the support of its members is one of the factors that let Julius become Caesar. Initially, the Senate was restricted to only full Hegemony Worlds, but Caesar Julius granted the worlds of the Lothian League and Illyrian Palatinate full status and gave them Senators.
The Hegemony itself is divided into three classes of people: the Patricians, the Plebeians, and the various slaves. The Patricians are the self-perpetuating nobility of the Hegemony. Only they can serve in the Senate of the Hegemony, and they also make up the upper command structure of the Legions.
Directly below them are the plebs, who serve as the middle and lower-class of the Hegemony. They have little political power, and rarely advance in the ranks of the bureaucracy or the military. Before Caesar Julius' reforms, they had no voice in their leaders' selection, but Julius allowed them to vote for Planetary Tribunes (Governors) and for a special People's Tribune to be sent to the Senate.
The Hegemony is the largest Periphery nation to practice slavery, and openly condones it. Most slaves are prisoners of war, however, as it is forbidden to buy or sell a citizen of the Hegemony.
Manufacturing Center
A detailed list of some Marian Hegemony manufacturers centers.
Major Defense Industries
3067
Foreign Relations
Inner Sphere: The Free Worlds League and the Capellan Confederation are the only two Successor States that have any formal relations with the Marian Hegemony. In the past, Marian raids on Free Worlds League border planets kept relations between them chilly. The recent Taurian-Canopian alliance, however, has prompted Thomas Marik toward friendlier ties with the Hegemony as a possible counter to aggressive moves by the Magistracy of Canopus. Trade between the two states remains as healthy as it has always been; Marik merchants eagerly buy germanium from the Hegemony, and sell any number of League-made goods to Hegemony customers. It is frequently said in the Hegemony that Marik merchants own the bazaars on the world of Seutonius. Following Thomas Marik's lead, the Capellan Confederation has also strengthened its ties to the Marian state.
Periphery: The Hegemony has almost no good relations with the other Periphery nations. Relations with the Magistracy of Canopus remain strained, due to a long history of raiding and looting brought on by Marian pirates. The Hegemony's war against the Lothian League angered the Protector of the Taurian Concordat, who then allied himself with the Magistrix against any potential Marian aggression.
The only Periphery nation to have any good relations with the Hegemony was the Circinus Federation, primarily due to their former mutual dislike of the Illyrian Palatinate. Although they had tried for a joint alliance to divide the Palatinate, that deal fell through, and relations became strained as a result.
Historical Maps Gallery
Marian Hegemony at Founding in 2930
Marian Hegemony after the 3rd Succession War 3025
Marian Hegemony in 3050
Marian Hegemony post-Lothian Invasion in 3055
Marian Hegemony at post-Illyrian Invasion in 3063
Marian Hegemony in 3067
Marian Hegemony post-Jihad in 3079
Marian Hegemony at the beginning of the Dark Age 3130
