Taurian Concordat

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Taurian Concordat 1.jpg
Taurian Concordat
Faction Profile
Time period: 2335 - present
Classification: Periphery State
Controlled systems: 56+
Capital world: Taurus
Ruler title: Protector of the Realm
Military: Taurian Defense Force (TDF)
Secret Service: Taurian Ministry of Intelligence

The Taurian Concordat is a interstellar nation located in the Periphery.

Fact Sheet[1]

  • Founding Year: 2335 (2253 as Taurian Homeworlds, Concordat); 3066 (Protectorate)
  • Capital (City, World): New Samantha, Taurus (Concordat); New Taurus, Erod's Escape (Protectorate)
  • National Symbol (Both): A bull’s head with exaggerated horns that curl downward and encompass three gold five-pointed stars (Calderon Protectorate uses black stars.)
  • Location (Terra relative): Rimward, beyond Capellan Confederation and Federated Suns
  • Total (Inhabited) Systems: 22 (Concordat); 13 (Protectorate)
  • Estimated Population (3130): 33,031,000,000 (Concordat);15,310,000,000 (Protectorate)
  • Government: Democracy (currently under military rule, Concordat); Democracy (Protectorate)
  • Ruler: Protector Kaff Doru (Concordat); Protector Sam Calderon (Protectorate)
  • Dominant Language(s): English, Spanish, French
  • Dominant Religion(s): Deism (official), Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism
  • Unit of Currency: Bull (1 bull = 0.12 C-Bills)

History

Origins

In 2331, Taurian explorers discovered the first of 18 neighboring refugee settlements. For example, the worlds Deifenbaker was settled by refugees of the war between the Sarna Supremacy and the Capellan Hegemony. Expecting hostilities from larger Inner Sphere aggressors, Richard Calderon negotiated a new government in the first year of his reign, 2335; Richard became the first Protector of the Realm of the Taurian Concordat - Concordat military would be centrally governed, but planetary affairs would be completely autonomous. The nascent Concordat consisted of 17 refugee settlements and all 12 colonized Taurian worlds. Only Mandarce declined the invitation to join the Concordat.

Inner Sphere Hostilities

The Taurians began preparations for war when an exploration and survey mission led by Tracy Ashton Pendelton discovered and freed 15,000 slave laborers from the Federated Suns world of Tentativa in 2360. The prisoners had been taken captive during a Federated Suns assault on the Sarna Supremacy world Bell in 2355. Convinced of the barbarism of the Inner Sphere, by 2368, the Taurian Concordat was prepared when it was inadvertently discovered by "Freicorps" retainers of the Tikonov Union noble Lord Tormassov fleeing the Capellan Confederation. Pursuing Capellan forces commanded by Anthony LeBlanc discovered the "Freicorps" in Taurian space, forcing the Tikonov troops to commandeer Taurian vessels and flee - into a Federated Suns flotilla stationed at Sanurcha. Though the Tikonov "Freicorps" were able to escape (and were never heard from again), the Capellan pursuit also encountered the flotilla and was destroyed. The Federated Suns navy began probing its periphery border expecting to find Capellan colonies - and discovered the Concordat. The Taurians were forced to fight off the Davion invasion through 2371, and have since been extremely paranoid of the Federated Suns.

The Concordat maintained a tense state of armed neutrality in the Age of War but, unlike its Inner Sphere counterparts, it also devoted a major portion of its resources toward improving life for its citizens. On occasion, the success of the Taurian way of life benefited the Inner Sphere as well. Economically, the Capellan Confederation, the Federated Suns and the Taurian Concordat all prospered by trading together during the late 25th and early 26th centuries. Jasmine Liao improved the Capellan education system by modeling it on that of the Concord in the 25th century, and the Federated Suns revamped its educational system along Taurian lines in the first decade of the new millennium.

At the birth of the Star League, the Concord posed something of a problem. The Taurians, unlike every other major Periphery realm, boasted a better economy, a superb education system, and finer artistic achievements than some of the Great Houses. Further, the TDF posed an actual threat, being well-equipped, well-trained, and fiercely patriotic. Starting in 2573, the Taurians were forced to fight for more than two decades against Inner Sphere forces under the banner of the Star League. Hostilities began when a Taurian fleet accidentally entered the neutral Malagrotta system. Negotiated in 2511, the Omsol Accord stipulated the titanium rich moon of Fontana was jointly mined by Federated Suns and Taurian mining operations. A Davion armada entered the system in response, destroying two ships and capturing a third. Months later, Caterina Calderon offered an apology, but too late.

Though the Taurian Concordat fought a long, bitter struggle with the SLDF, the inevitable outcome of the Reunification War left the Concord in ruin. The Taurian Concordat was left with planets either spared war by the surrender of Protector Marantha Calderon in 2596, or were left with ravaged populations, industries and environments by the scorched-earth military campaign of General Amos Forlough. Choice worlds conquered but not destroyed by the SLDF were annexed by the neighboring Federated Suns, leaving the Concordat a specter of its former glory. Even battered into submission, and stripped of most of its territory, the Taurians never renounced their dream of a free and independent state.

Territorial Period

Marantha's distant nephew Henry Calderon became the next Protector of the Realm in 2596, but Marantha Calderon's suicide made his position difficult. Though he did not want the position, Henry realized that without a Protector the Taurian people would face extreme hardship as a Star League Territorial State. Henry cemented his people's love through two actions:

  • Henry negotiated the removal of Star League garrison forces by 2605. Henry argued that the SLDF was required elsewhere, and that the presence of foreign garrisons provoked further panic among the Taurian people.
  • During a heated trade debate in the Star League High Council between the Lyran Commonwealth and the Terran Hegemony, Henry offered the views of the Taurian people. When Henry was reproached for his actions, he replied, "You fought to force my people to be represented here. You will not keep my voice from representing them."

33 years into his reign, Henry decided that he wanted an unambiguous and legitimate succession. A vote was held, each citizen of the Concord given a single vote. The Taurian people overwhelmingly endorsed Henry to choose his own successor. Henry chose his four-year old niece Consuelo, and her uncle, Carlos Calderon, as "Protector, to the Protector". Consuelo would assume full Protectorship in 2650, at which time Carlos became her representative to the Star League High Council, the only member that did not rule a realm. Consuelo was a great stateswoman. After the death of Carlos, Consuelo represented herself on the High Council, and in 2667 became the first Periphery sovereign to preside over the Star League High Council during the a First Lord's absence.

Through the Territorial Period, the Concord was able to maintain its identity through two ways. During the beginning of Henry Calderon's reign, Taurian nationalism was under fire. Taurian nationalism was initially maintained through the reemergence of wandering Taurian troubadours. Though outlaws, troubadours would travel from world to world, invading (disinterested) local authorities, and singing ballads about Taurian history. Even after Henry's reign, Star League propaganda throughout the Periphery tended to encourage loyalty among Periphery denizens not to one's nation, but to the Star League itself. The second factor in maintaining Taurian national identity was the educational reforms of Reginald Calderon in his Education Reform Act of 2678. The Act helped in two ways

  • The educational system within the Concord has maintained the highest literacy rates in the Human Sphere since Reginald Calderon.
  • Star League sponsored education through the Periphery, though ubiquitous, really was an instrument of indoctrination.

As a result of increasingly harsh rule under the Star League, tensions with the Star League began to grow increasingly strained. After the death of Simon Cameron, the situation escalated. With the ascension of Richard Cameron in 2762, Territorial States (indeed all States within the Human Sphere) were unilaterally subjected to steep tax hikes. Suspecting another invasion was imminent, Protector Nicoletta Calderon diverted her economy to arms production. In the midst of a Sphere-wide arms build-up, the New Vandenburg Crisis began in early 2765. Protector Nicoletta Calderon gave 18 Taurian worlds her blessing to secede from the Star League. Because the Taurian Concordat at least nominally remained a "loyal" Territorial State, the SLDF, dispatched by First Lord Richard, could not simply invade. The standoff drew Aleksandr Kerensky's attention, and required the redeployment of enough troops that, in December, the Rim Worlds Republic garrisoned the entire Terran Hegemony, and Stefan Amaris assassinated the First Lord.

In the wake of the Amaris Civil War, Nicoletta left perhaps her most important legacy, when during the final session of the Star League High Council, she proposed the formation of Comstar under the leadership of Jerome Blake. Her reasoning was sound - without a neutral, central body to maintain communication and technology, it was debatable if Humanity would ever re-achieve the pinnacle from which it was in clear decline. The communications, so crucial for diplomacy and central government, remained free, despite the horrors of the Succession Wars yet to come.

With the fall of the League and the start of the Succession Wars, the Taurians became free of interference from the House Lords of the Inner Sphere, and their independence has grown stronger.

Periphery Politics

In the last two centuries, the Taurians have not participated in the Succession Wars. However, immunity from the Succession Wars has not resulted to peace and unlimited expansion.

The Taurians began a conflict with the Magistracy of Canopus, a land-grab to oust the Canopians from jointly colonized Capellan March settlements. Semyon Calderon began the operation to annex Rockwellawan and Detroit, in order to bolster the Concord in the event of another Inner Sphere invasion. The invasion was terribly unsuccessful, leading the Magistracy to counter-invade Portan[2] (probably a misspelling of Portland) and Spencer. Also horribly executed, both invasion forces were severely bloodied and forced to return home.

As a result, the Taurians have faced raids (and have conducted raids) on their anti-spinward border (with the Magistracy of Canopus) and their spinward border (pirates). Therefore, the Concord has been obliged to maintain a large and efficient military. This, combined with the Concord's forced dependence on the Star League, and the economic backlash of the Reunification War, has stalled Taurian expansion efforts. The Taurian Concordat has required two centuries of relative peace to recover to the point of renewed expansion, a point of development they had reached centuries earlier.

Ignatius Calderon also had to deal with the ultimate Taurian civic dilemma, the balance between a centralized government guaranteeing freedoms, and anarchy. During the "Constitutional Crisis" of the 2850s, crime, corruption, anarchy and other civic problems began to intensify. The situation became almost untenable, as Loyal Oppositionists rallied to suspend civil liberties while militant libertarians protested (violently), and targeted public Oppositionist figureheads. The situation became a vicious cycle as public opinion swayed toward the Oppositionist camp. Ignatius settled the debate in 2860, when he pledged to increase funding to enhance civil protection to the fullest extent allowed by Taurian law without suspending any liberties. Ignatius fulfilled his pledge, which pacified the libertarians, drained the Loyal Oppositionist's support, and improved Taurian quality of life.

The Pleiades Campaign

In the April of 3066 two dropships of the Fighting Urukhai arrived over Taurus. Because of the fact that they were Overlords of a Davion employed mercenary unit, and had reached the capital of the Concordat without a guide leading them through the Hyades, and that they were approaching fast burning from a Pirate Jump Point led the TDF to destroy both ships without asking questions. The Urukhai claimed that the mercenarys just wanted to bargain for a contract and in August DeMaestri's Sluggers the second regiment of the Urukhai assaulted Taurus out of revenge. They caused great damage on the capital and its defending units before being destroyed completely by the combined Taurian Guards.

Protector Grover Shraplen saw this incident as a Davion attack to weaken the Concordat's defenses and ordered more units to the Federated Suns' border. Shraplens rule was not very stable but because the only alternative was young Erik Martens-Calderon his opponents, in particular Marshal Baron Cham Kithrong, could not muster enough popular support to unseat him. So Kithrong and his followers declared the independence of the Calderon Protectorate and Shraplen was not able to convince the military to attack the rebels for most Taurians sympathized with Kithrongs intentions and wanted no outright civil war.

So Shraplen refocused his attention on the Davions again. In the January of 3067 he ordered preemptive strikes into the Federated Sun's territory that initially made remarkable progress and exploited the weakness of the Suns in the wake of the FedCom Civil War by conquering the worlds of Hyalite, Lothair, Midale, Brockway and Lindsay until March. The successes of the campaign and the proximity to their ancient homeworlds led the Pleiades Hussars and the Pleiades Lancers to proceed without orders into the Pleiades Cluster. In the meantime Duke George Hasek could assemble a mercenary force large enough to take on the invaders. The counter assault hit the Taurian Force hard and by March the Federated Suns had retaken every world except the Cluster worlds. The Pleiades Hussars' passionate defense of their former homeworlds increased the popular support for the campaign and for Shraplen himself. He planed now to occupy the Cluster until the Fourth Whitting Conference in November where he wanted to point out the legitimate claim of the Taurian Concordat to the worlds lost to the SLDF during the Reunification War and to regain them on the formal way. Although his plans were thwarted by the disbanding of the Star League, the chaos of the following Jihad gained the Concordat the control over the Pleiades and of a few other worlds.

Dark Age

A map of the Inner Sphere of 3130 indicates that while the Concordat still exists, most of its worlds have become independent. It is much smaller and consists only of the worlds around the Pleiades Cluster and Hyades Cluster. As of yet, it is unknown how this came about.[3]

Military

The Taurian Defense Force is a well-organized, well-trained and highly motivated army, especially by Periphery standards. The military-industrial capacity of the Taurian Concordat, combined with the Taurian pride shown in the TDF, ensures that the TDF is also the largest (by number of soldiers) and best-equipped army in the Periphery.

The arrangement of TDF is modeled after that of the Napoleonic armies, with a 31st century feel: BattleMech, Infantry, and Armor assets are divided into corps. Infantry and Armor assets are able to act seamlessly. Because of the paucity of BattleMechs spread through a realm reaching more than 250 light years in diameter, BattleMech assets deploy and act on their own. Naval elements, primarily utilized for transportation and defense, are attached directly to Corps Commanders. The Concord also maintains the Constabulary, a paramilitary force used for intelligence gathering, defense, peace-keeping and maintaining the law, but which can be mobilized.

The Taurian Defense Force has not maintained a fleet of Warships since the Reunification War, only possessing a single surviving (barely-functional) Warship, the Vincent Mk 39 TCV New Vandenberg, which only survived hidden in the Hyades asteroid field.


Manufacturing Center

A detailed list of some Taurian Concordat manufacturing centers.

Major Defense Industries

====3067====[5]

Rulers

Name Reign Descent
Protector 2253 - 2335
Samantha Calderon 2253 - 2268
Timothy Calderon 2268 - 2330 Son of Samantha
Sandra Calderon 2330 - 2335 Daughter of Timothy
Protector of the Realm 2335 - present
Richard Calderon 2335 - 2387 Son of Sandra
Daniel Calderon 2387 - 2390 Son of Richard
Sigur Fonn 2390 - **** Regent for Amanda
Amanda Calderon **** - **** Daughter of Daniel
**** **** - ****
Amalthia Calderon *** - *** rule includes year 2528
**** **** - ****
Caterina Calderon **** - c. 2575 Protector durring the Malagrotta Affair
Mitchell Calderon c. 2575 - 2588 Protector prior to and durring the Reunification War
Marantha Calderon 2588 - 2596 Daughter of Mitchell, Protector until the end of the Reunification War
Henry Calderon 2596 - 2629 Nephew of Marantha
"Protector, to the Protector" (Regent) Carlos Calderon 2629 - 2650 Cousin of Henry
Consuelo Calderon 2650 - 2671 Niece of Henry
Reginald Calderon 2671 - 2687 Great Grandson of Marantha
Jentarra Calderon 2687 - 2694 Daughter of Reginald
Brandon Calderon 2694 - 2725 Brother of Jentarra
Hampton Calderon 2725 - 2726 Son of Brandon
Nicoletta Calderon 2726 - c. 2800 Daughter of ****, Protector during the Amaris Crisis
**** **** - ****
Semyon Calderon **** - **** Son of ****, Protector during the 1st Succession War
**** **** - ****
Ignatius Calderon 2842 - 2884
**** **** - ****
Zarantha Calderon **** - 3017 Mother of Thomas Calderon
Thomas Calderon 3017 - 3055 Protector during the 3rd Succession War and 4th Succession War
Jeffrey Calderon 3055 - 3061 Son of Thomas - Assasinated on Detroit
Grover Shraplen 3061 - 3071
Boris Tharn 3074 - ****
Kaff Doru[6] **** - **** Dark Age era Leader

Era Maps

References

  1. Touring the Stars, p. 91
  2. The Periphery (sourcebook), pg. 62
  3. BattleTech: 25 Years of Art & Fiction, p. 239
  4. Objective Raids, p.161
  5. Tactical Operations, p. 17
  6. Touring the Stars, p. 91 - Taurian Concordat/Calderon Protectorate section

Bibliography