Editing Victor Liao

{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = Victor Liao.jpg
| caption             = Victor Liao, after killing a Terran Alliance ambassador
| name                = Victor Edward Liao
| birthdate           = See notes
| died                = See notes
| othernames          = 
| affiliation         = [[Liao Republic]]<ref name="HB:HLp12">''Handbook: House Liao'', p. 12: "Cynthiana"</ref>
| rank                = 
| title               = 
| position            = [[President of the Liao Republic|President]]<ref name="HB:HLp12"/>
| profession          = Noble
| parents             = [[Elias Liao|Elias Jung Liao]] (father)<br/>[[Cynthiana Liao]] (mother)
| siblings            = [[David Paul Liao]]<br/>[[Carmen Liao]]<br/>[[Margarette Liao]]
| spouse              = 
| children            = [[Irenna Liao]]<ref name="HL(TCC)FT">''House Liao (The Capellan Confederation'', foldout (print edition): "The Capellan Confederation's Line of Succession and Partial Liao Family Tree"</ref><br>[[Julliette Liao]]<ref name="HL(TCC)FT"/>
}}
==Character Description==
Victor was a man of Asian descent, who stood five foot five.  Victor was known to sport a beret and Highlander kilt with an eastern blade.  He was also known for his ambitious traits<ref>''House Liao (The Capellan Confederation)'', p. 10: The Old Handicapper - Nathan Montmorency tells the tale of meeting Victor Liao</ref> and suspected to be slightly paranoid.<ref>''House Liao (The Capellan Confederation)'', p. 9: Changing Times - Note of possible paranoia led to his preparation for collapse of Terran Alliance</ref>

==History==
Vincent Edward Liao was the eldest son of Cynthiana and Elias Jung Liao, a controversial figure in Terran history. Elias Liao was of mixed English/Nepalese descent and a citizen of the Hong Kong Free State; Elias fled to Nepal with his children to shelter with his wife's family following the annexation of the Free State by the Republic of China. Elias was portrayed by Terran history as a terrorist responsible for a wave of bombings and atrocities, while [[Capellan Confederation]] historians portray him as a simple family man and businessman. What is clear is that in [[2188]] Elias and his family were attacked by government forces in the Himalayan village in which they were living, and Victor's mother and his two sisters<ref name="HB:HLp11"/> - [[Carmen Liao|Carmen]]<ref name="HL(TCC)FT"/> and [[Margarette Liao|Margarette]]<ref name="HL(TCC)FT"/> - were killed. Elias, Victor and Victor's younger brother David Paul<ref name="HB:HLp11">''Handbook: House Liao'', p. 11: "Elias Liao"</ref> (sometimes referred to as Paul David)<ref name="HL(TCC)FT"/> survived and fled in an attempt to escape the reach of the Terran governments.<ref name="HB:HLp11"/>

Elias settled a world that he named Cynthiana after his wife; Elias helped to open Cynthiana up for colonization and development before dying in [[2202]] at the age of sixty-one, exhausted from the combination of the hardship inflicted during his years of hiding in the Himalayas and the difficulties of opening up a new world. Having founded the Liao Republic - sometimes referred to as the [[Independent Republic of Liao]] - Elias was succeeded by Victor.<ref name="HB:HLp11"/>

===Governor of Cynthiana/Liao===
A decade after Elias's death, Victor began to institute a diplomatic dialog with Cynthiana's neighbors. He also renamed Cynthiana to Liao after his father<ref>''Field Manual: Capellan Confederation'', p. 7: House Liao - Victor Liao renames the planet for Elias</ref> following a citizen referendum calling for the change, which both Victor and David Paul had opposed.<ref name="HB:HLp11"/> As a component of his economic strategy, Elias had conducted trade without the use of Terran currency, instead creating an exchange.  Using this exchange, Victor was able to monitor fluctuations in the market in order to get the maximum return for Cynthiana.  As part of exchange, other planets used tracts of vacant land as payment for livestock and other goods received. In one case, a landowner from [[Genoa]], who, through betting on horses incurred a debt of land, was threatened with death for not paying up his lands to Victor.<ref>''House Liao (The Capellan Confederation)'', p. 10: The Old Handicapper - Nathan recalls his scary encounter with Victor Liao</ref>

Victor brought in immigration to Cynthiana, however he was known to raises prices of the land he sold to them.  Using this influx of cash, he was able to bring in needed technology to Cynthiana along with other resources such as [[iceship]]s and weaponry.

In [[2236]], the Terran Alliance ordered all colony worlds to provide a levy of troops for service in its army.  Victor, who felt that the order was unconstitutional, refused like most Alliance worlds.  After Victor refused to send troops, the Terran Ambassador met with Victor to press the issue.  However, once he was let into his office, Victor ignored the Ambassador for the entire appointment.  As his rage grew over this slight, he moved closer and closer to Victor to force him to acknowledge his presence, without success.  Eventually, the Ambassador's anger got the better of him and he drew a dagger to attack Victor.  Victor's daughter, who had been in the office for the entire encounter, watched as her father defended himself and quickly beheaded the Ambassador.  With this, Victor sent a message to Terra that they would not be supporting the Alliance call for armed forces to fight their wars.<ref>''House Liao (The Capellan Confederation)'', pp. 9–11: Victor Liao actions as governor and his daughter witness of his "message" to Terra</ref>  After sending the body of the Ambassador back to Terra, he was quoted as saying; {{quote|''Terra should never think to easily reclaim its abandoned colonies.''}}<ref>''Field Manual: Capellan Confederation'', p. 8: Volatile Foundations/House Liao - Quoted words of Victor Liao from field manual, regarding declaring Liao's independence</ref>

Four years after cutting ties with Terra, Victor died in [[2240]]. His eldest daughter Irenna succeeded him as the leader of Liao.<ref name="HB:HLp13">''Handbook: House Liao'', p. 13: "Liao and Capella"</ref>

==Family & Legacy==
Victor was credited for severing ties with Terra and with building Liao's fortunes and independence prior to the Terran Alliance's collapse.

He had two daughters: Julliette Liao, who died at age 5,<ref name="HL(TCC)FT"/> and Irenna<ref name="HL(TCC)FT"/> who went on to rule the Liao Republic after his death.<ref name="HB:HLp13"/>

==Character Notes==
* ''[[House Liao (The Capellan Confederation)]]'' mixes up Victor's heritage, referring to him intermittently as Elias's grandson rather than his son. This includes the House Liao family tree on page 163 of ''House Liao (The Capellan Confederation)'' which lists Victor as being the son of Paul David Liao and gives his date of birth as 2199 and date of death as 2240,<ref name="HL(TCC)FT"/> despite the text stating that he became ruler of Cynthiana in 2202 following the death of Elias Liao.
* ''House Liao (The Capellan Confederation)'' lists the four children of Elias Jung Liao as Rufus Liao (2163-2202), Paul David Liao (2170-2206), Carmen Liao (2178-2187) and Margarette Liao (2180-2187). No mention is made of Rufus Liao anywhere in the main text; ''[[Handbook: House Liao]]'' describes Victor and David Paul as the sons of Elias,<ref name="HB:HLp11"/> and it is therefore presumed that the existence of Rufus Liao has been retconned in order to clarify or correct mistakes relating to the time period and family. As ''Handbook: House Liao'' is the later source and states specifically that Victor was the eldest son of Elias and survived the attack that caused the Liao family to flee Terra, the detail in ''Handbook: House Liao'' has been used in this article when resolving inconsistencies.

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Field Manual: Capellan Confederation]]''
* ''[[Handbook: House Liao]]''
* ''[[House Liao (The Capellan Confederation)]]''


[[Category:Terran Alliance Characters|Liao, Victor]]
[[Category:Capellan Confederation Characters|Liao, Victor]]