Capellan Crusades

Capellan Crusades
Conflict details
Part of	Dark Age Era
Start Date	3111
End Date	3113
Attacking Forces
Affiliation	Capellan Confederation
Defending Forces
Affiliation	Republic of the Sphere
Other Forces

The Capellan Crusades were a major conflict in the Republic Age where the Capellan Confederation sought to reclaim historically Capellan worlds from the Republic of the Sphere. The conflict resulted in the death of many prominent figures including Kai Allard-Liao, Melissa Allard-Liao, Burton Davion and Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao.

Overview

The origin of the Capellan Crusades would stretch back to the Word of Blake Jihad. While Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao had great successes in his avowed goal of reclaiming the Capellan Confederation worlds lost to the Federated Suns during the Fourth Succession War via both Operation GUERRERO and the resulting Chaos March, much of this work would be undone when the Word of Blake absorbed a number of Chaos March and Liao Commonality worlds into its Protectorate. As the Capellan Confederation Armed Forces fought to eject the Blakists, they would effectively do so alone and often in direct conflict with Devlin Stone's multi-national coalition to defeat the Word.

With the fall of Terra and final defeat of the Blakists, Sun-Tzu demanded both the Capellan worlds taken by the Word as well as a number of the worlds lost to the Confederation in the Fourth Succession War, but both the government of the future Republic and the population of those worlds refused these demands in favor of Devlin Stone's vision for the future. Refusing to accept this answer, Sun-Tzu chose to bide his time and allow the hollowed-out CCAF to recoup enough strength to confidently invade and defeat the perceived upstart nation, while Maskirovka propaganda convinced the Capellan citizenry that the populations of these worlds were being kept against their will.

Taking advantage of the Republic's focus on the Free Worlds League border thanks to Operation GOLDEN DAWN, Sun-Tzu would launch Operation GOLDEN FORTRESS in late 3081 catching the tired Republic Armed Forces off guard, being pushed back as the Capellans advanced deep into the newly founded Republic. Convinced of success, Sun-Tzu and the CCAF were unprepared for the Republic's counterattack Operation VINDOLANDA in early 3083 which saw the capture of Tikonov and finally Liao in 3084, resulting in the signing of the Treaty of Tikonov in 3085 that saw the Confederation grudgingly forced to recognize the Republic and its territorial gains. Having squandered his military assets on a failed invasion that resulted in the Republic expanding its borders at the Confederation's expense, Sun-Tzu would spend decades rebuilding and planning for another attempt.

Preparations

The Chancellor never swayed from his desire to see former Capellan worlds again under the Confederation's banner and Sun-Tzu would spend the next twenty-one years rebuilding the Jihad-battered CCAF in preparation for the long-awaited invasion of the Republic's Prefectures V and VI, quietly relocating troops to the Republic's border over many years. A number of CCAF units were extensively reorganized to better operate in the military climate influenced by Devlin Stone's military reforms. For example the Fourth Tau Ceti Rangers were reduced to a battalion of 'Mechs, none heavier than medium class, with the balance made by fast combat vehicles and Aerospace fighters to become the Tau Ceti Lancers, a fast-strike force intended hit-and-run operations.

Unfortunately the Chancellor's preparations would be interrupted by a attack from an unexpected quarter in 3103: Amanda Hasek's Victoria War. Though considered a short brushfire conflict, the loss of Victoria and its vital factories made Sun-Tzu realize he needed the resources of Prefectures V and VI all the more, as well as compelling him more than ever to prove to Inner Sphere that the Victoria War had not grievously wounded the Confederation. Though he might have desired to spend a decade or a half rebuilding the newly battered CCAF, the Chancellor's failing health from a terminal "wasting disease" forced him to push forward his timetable dramatically.

As Sun-Tzu's health declined, so did his son and heir Daoshen Liao's ascendancy increase. His performance being considered on the few bright spots of the Victoria War, Daoshen started to take over more of the planning and operational preparation for the invasion of the Republic using large segments of the CCAF and Magistracy Armed Forces. Disconcerted by her son's usage of the MAF at times as canon fodder to preserve the CCAF during the Victoria War and the increasing concerns within the Magistracy of Canopus of its military being used for increasingly foreign campaigns, Magestrix Naomi Centrella-Liao ordered the MAF be withdrawn to the Magistracy. Though Sun-Tzu agreed with his wife's decision and was certain the CCAF alone could complete his planned invasion, Daoshen was livid and unsuccessfully tried to block the withdrawal before being forced to rework his planned offensive to be closer to what his father envisaged, increasing the tensions between father and son.

By 3110 the Confederation and CCAF as a whole started to divide between those still loyal to the Chancellor and those who favored his heir, Sun-Tzu's public appearances all but halted due to his illness while Daoshen was seemingly demanding his father turn over the Chancellorship to him while he was still alive, manifesting in civil unrest between those two viewpoints. While initially this was just small scale rioting that tied up planetary militia and Home Guard units, the Republic of the Sphere looked on with concern when intelligence showed that it was also occurring within frontline units along the Republic's border. Though evidence exists that the conflict was manufactured or even that Sun-Tzu manipulated his son into reacting in the manner he did, proven by the tensions evaporating when the invasion began, the RAF responded as Sang-jiang-jun Marko Sinković and the Strategios had anticipated, moving a handful of regiments closer to the border in case the warfare spilled it the Republic and pulled them away from numerous interior worlds including the tension point of Liao. With Sun-Tzu's blessing Operations CELESTIAL SPEAR and DIVINE RIGHT were set in motion.

Operation CELESTIAL SPEAR - The Night of Screams

Almost since the Republic's founding, a near-constant state of low-level terrorism existed on the Prefecture V capital of Liao, the population heavily divided between loyalty to the Republic and those who looked to the Confederation, the only thing both sides agreeing on was resisting the Republic's Resettlement Directives intended to try and mitigate the situation. While local law enforcement attempted to stop the attacks, the Maskirovka masterminded strikes by Capellan sympathizers simply proved too adaptive. The Republic Armed Forces could have taken a harsher stand and declared martial law, but only at the cost of resources needed elsewhere, with the RAF High Command ultimately opting to accept the situation on Liao for the greater good of the Republic, much to the dismay of the Standing Guard forces on Liao.

Thus when seeking a trigger event for the invasion of the Republic, Liao was considered the ideal site and the Maskirovka found an suitable and unwitting assistant to the Chancellor's efforts in Lieutenant David Peterson of the planet's Standing Guard. Tired of the RAF's hand-off stance, Peterson was convinced that if the CCAF launched a deep raid to take the planet that the RAF would be forced respond, the presence of RAF line units discouraging further terrorism and finally breaking the tensions between heritage and progress, choosing to engineer this attack by leaking to the Capellan's RAF transponder codes and landing permits for a single DropShip following word of the tensions within the Confederation along the border.

Unbeknownst to Peterson who expected a single battalion, the Overlord that landed on 11 October 3111 had been guttered and rebuilt to accommodate enough berths for an full BattleMech regiment, packed like sardines with just barely enough fuel tankage for a one-way trip. Within minutes of landing, two battalions of Holdfast Guards and a company of Death Commandos opened fire on the planetary capital of Chang-an, overwhelming the defending Standing Guard force before putting the city to the torch and slaughtering untold civilians in what the Republic called the "Massacre of Liao" but what the Capellan troops would call the "Night of Screams". Horrified, Peterson later to be dubbed the "Betrayer of Liao" fled as the Confederation troops set about systematically eliminating Republic loyalists while protecting Liao sympathizers as they dug in and awaited the arrival of three more DropShips bearing the the Dynasty Guard to resist the inevitable RAF counterattack.

While the civilian death toll would reach the hundred thousand mark, including David Peterson's parents, the death of one single person would have unforeseen ramifications on the outcome of the Capellan invasion - former Republic Senator Melissa Allard-Liao. Having retired to Liao to distance herself from her father Kai Allard-Liao, Melissa headed up humanitarian relief efforts in the immediate aftermath of the Massacre of Liao before she disappeared shortly after Dynasty Guard forces reached the civilian aid stations she had setup, the Capellans directly blamed for her disappearance.

Operation DIVINE RIGHT and Operation MAGNUS

The Capellan Confederation Armed Forces would launch the first wave of Operation DIVINE RIGHT 13 October 3111 two days after the Massacre of Liao, with Capellan troops landing on a total of seven Republic systems. While Tsitsang, Palos and St. Andre all fell quickly, considerable RAF resistance slowed but did not prevent the Capellan conquests of Foot Fall, Wei and Suzano, with Second Try only partially conquered by the end of the first wave in December 3111 after the attacking Sixth Confederation Reserve Cavalry lost of full third of its troops to a misjump, the defending Fifth Principes Guards now outnumbering the Sixth CRC.

The Strategios would credit much of the initial success of DIVINE RIGHT to CELESTIAL SPEAR, serving both as a potent symbol of House Liao as well as a vital distraction of the Republic forces. In all their planning however, nobody could see the consequences of the death of Melissa Allard-Liao when the news reached her father. On Terra for treatment of increasing mental impairments and dementia, Kai had retired from public view, spending time with his friends Victor Steiner-Davion and his son Burton Davion while he still recognized them. While they tried to shield Kai from the war, they refused to hide news of the death of his daughter. Flying into rage, Kai cursed the name of his cousin and vowed revenge on the Confederation, demanding to be included in the war effort on the frontlines. Though they refused, Kai's rage would not be sated and he and his legendary 'Mech Yen-Lo-Wang disappeared from Terra. Frightened what he would do, Victor sent his son and long term student of Kai Burton to try and bring him back.

Kai would unexpectedly resurface over a month later on Liao. With the RAF committed elsewhere to try and push back Operation DIVINE RIGHT, the sole unit able to respond to Operation CELESTIAL SPEAR was the Ningpo-based Fifth Hastati Sentinels who suffered numerous losses among its command staff and failed to make significant headway against the dug in CCAF troops after their arrival on Liao. Alone and without warning, Kai would approach the effectively leaderless Fifth and claim command of the regiment, his time as Lord Governor of Prefecture V and reputation meant no questioned him. Using hit-and-fade tactics similar to his successful "La Mancha" simulator victory at the New Avalon Institute of Science decades before and aided by the shock of Yen-Lo-Wang leading from the front, the Fifth Hastati would claim a number of notable victories against the initially frightened Dynasty Guard before the conflict settled into an uneasy stalemate.

Though slower than expected, launching in early 3112 wave two of Operation DIVINE RIGHT saw the Confederation strike five additional Republic systems: Hunan, New Aragon, Shensi and Asuncion and Styk. Only on Styk were issues encountered after Paget's Dragoons faced not only their expected opposition of Fifth Triarii Protectors but also the Stone's Liberators, succeeding only with the addition of Warrior House Tsang Xiao and the Liberators sudden withdrawal. Additional resources from Daoshen's base of operations on Sarna also finally allowed the Confederation to take the last wave one target of Second Try by June 3112.

The Republic would launch planned and unplanned counter-attacks during DIVINE RIGHT's second wave, with the Tenth Hastati striking Foot Fall and the Kai Allard-Liao led Fifth Hastati abandoning Liao to strike Gan Singh, Styk and Shensi in turn. On each world the Fifth struck, Kai personally led from the front, relentlessly and ruthlessly attacking those Capellan defenders who refused to flee and ejecting the CCAF from each. After a year of chasing him, Burton Davion would catch up with Kai during a strike against New Aragon. Unable to convince Kai to stop or return to Terra, Burton instead opted to remain and attempt to moderate his rage.

As news of Kai's rampage reached Daoshen, he moved several Warrior House Orders and other reserve assets to try and stop him. The focus on Kai however meant the Capellan high command was not prepared for the Republic's counterattack Operation MAGNUS, shocked by the arrival of Stone's Pride on the Confederation world of Phact in August 3112 nor the other Stone's Brigade regiments striking Corey, Ulan Bator and Quemoy. Initially attempting to dismiss the appearance of Devlin Stone's Phantom on Quemoy as a mere hoax, the arrival of Exarch Devlin Stone leading the entire Stone's Brigade to land on Sarna in October 3112 put them to rest.

Having not been able to evacuate before their arrival, only the reserve forces Daoshen had ordered forward to stop Kai prevented a total Capellan rout, the Prefectorate Guard and First Janissaries suffering heavy losses with his personal bodyguards Warrior House Lu Sann proving unable to stop Stone's Lament smashing through the defenders to surround him and demand his surrender within sight of his escape DropShip. Only a combat drop from Warrior House Imarra responding to Sun-Tzu Liao's personal order directly on top of the Lament would save the Confederation's heir, with the evacuated and enraged Daoshen ordering House Lu Sann be permanently stricken from the CCAF's rolls for its failure to protect him.

The Republic counterattack into the Confederation isolating the Capllean defenders on Liao, the seizure of Sarna and near loss of Daoshen himself shattered the morale of the CCAF. Daoshen focused yet again on stopping the berserker drive of Kai Allard-Liao, redeploying Warrior House Kamata, the Fifth and Sixth Confederation Reserve Cavalry and the Fourth McCarron's Armored Cavalry to his next anticipated target of Wei. Unfortunately while Kai and Fifth Hastati arrived right on schedule, the Capellan defenders could only watch with dismay when the Devlin Stone-led Stone's Lament did so too, trusting the rest of Stone's Brigade to hold Sarna against any Confederation reprisals.

Spooked by the tales of Kai's murderous rampage, the CCAF forces took increasing losses, withdrawing into Vadannis City to buy time and use the RAF's disdain for urban combat against them. As the Fifth Hastai weathered increasing Capellan airstrikes as they tried to flush out the Sixth CRC and the Fourth MAC, a Kamata headhunter lance attempted to take down Yen-Lo-Wang, but in what would be named "Burton's Last Stand" Burton Davion and his lance of Knight-Errants saved Kai only to be torn apart by artillery fire in the process. Enraged at Burton's death, Kai and Fifth Hastari hammered the remaining troops, uncaring at the damage caused to the city in the process, as Stone's Lament pushed the rest of the Capellans into retreat.

His sanity slipping away now that Burton's tempering influence was gone, the enraged Kai ignored Devlin Stone's plea to stop and led the last of his troops on a strike against the Capellan world of Sakhalin, unaware that Daoshen had already sent the Red Lancers and Death Commandos to the world with the sole order to stop him at all costs. On 14 January 3113, the two forces met at Bedlam's Barrow, the Red Lancers tried to screen the Fifth Hastai while the Death Commandos attempt to lure Kai in the open.

Refusing to stay back, Kai attacked the company of Death Commandos alone, singlehandedly laying waste to nearly a whole company of the Chancellor's most elite troops, defeating one after another in turn with the precision of a surgeon before a stray missile strike to Yen-Lo-Wang's cockpit laid him low. The shock death of the greatest MechWarrior in the entire galaxy spurned the Fifth Hastati into fury, but not even the far too late arrival of Devlin Stone himself at the head of the Lament could stop the withdraw of the Red Lancers and the Death Commandos now their mission was complete.

Operation GOLDEN DESTINY and Ascension to Godhood

Unfortunately despite the hope that the deaths of both Burton Davion and Kai Allard-Liao would boost the flagging morale of the CCAF, by the end of February 3113 Sun-Tzu realized that the war he had spent thirty years preparing for was on the verge of failure, that his nation needed a decisive victory to turn the tide. With his physicians informing him had only a few months left to live, he chose to personally lead a deep strike against the isolated Liao, fully prepared to sacrifice himself for the good of his nation.

To distract the Republic away from his father's movements toward Liao as well as ejecting all foreign forces from worlds the Confederation held before the war began, Daoshen launched Operation GOLDEN DESTINY. More informally called the "Warrior House Conflict", DESTINY's first wave was a risky but ultimately successful series of strikes lead by the remaining Warrior Houses that succeeded in recapturing Phact, Corey and Ulan Bator from their RAF garrisons as they clearly prepared toward reclaiming Sarna during the second wave.

Traveling via uninhabited systems, Chancellor Sun-Tzu accompanied by the Red Lancers and Death Commandos landed on Liao in early March 3113. After resupplying the faltering Dynasty Guard, the Red Lancers and Death Commandos launched a predawn assault against the Ninth Hastati's cantonment outside the capital of Chang-an, the unprepared Ninth almost folding until the elite Amaterasu arrived to bolster the RAF defenses. As thousands of onlookers gathered to witness the fighting as the battle moved to the Cavalry River, at dawn on 8 March 3113 Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao's electroplated gold Emperor unexpectedly performed a combat drop into the battlefield, the sunlight and weapons fire reflecting off the seemingly godlike 'Mech and shocking both sides into inaction.

The silence ended when the Emperor made a general broadcast across the battlefield: "This world belongs to the Capellan people, my people!" Chaos broke out as the Amaterasu realized who the pilot was while the Red Lancers abandoned their current fight to try and protect the Chancellor before he ordered them away. Wadding into the RAF line alone, though the firepower of his assault 'Mech allowed him to down a few careless light 'Mechs, the elite Amaterasu easily crippled Sun-Tzu's 'Mech, sending the Red Lancers into a rage, singlehandedly forcing the RAF forces into retreat. BattleROMs and news camera footage of Sun-Tzu's final moments from descent to defeat, along with rumors that his 'Mech's cockpit was empty once it was recovered from battle, was widely circulated on Liao and the Confederation in the months afterward, cementing the belief of his ascension to godhood, views that would be widely amplified by his son and heir Daoshen Liao.

Invigorated by his father's sacrifice, Daoshen launched the second phase of Operation GOLDEN DESTINY in April, focusing on pushing the Republic troops off Sarna. According to Maskirovka intelligence, only three Stone's Brigade regiments remained on world, with now-Chancellor Daoshen directing two partially repaired regiments and four Warrior House orders, traveling from Capella and arriving via pirate points in the Sarna system on 16 April 3113. With Devlin Stone and the Lament elsewhere, Stone's Liberators CO Colonel Jerome took up command of the defense, but while still weakened and battered the Capellan attackers were rejuvenated by Sun-Tzu's "divine sacrifice" on Liao and fought with a drive unseen previously in the entire Crusades. Caught off guard by their aggressiveness and put on the defensive, the RAF lost most of their command staff, with Brevet Colonel Damien Redburn the highest ranked officer left.

As Stone's Revenants and Stone's Liberators battled the bulk of the CCAF forces, Stone's Pride experienced early success against the Sixth Confederation Reserve Cavalry before they were trapped and assaulted by Warrior House Dai Da Chi. Though spending resources on flawed intelligence that Daoshen Liao was personally directing the CCAF on Sarna when he was actually on Sian, Redburn's Liberator had the greatest success against the Capellan attackers. The fighting for Sarna would ultimately devolve into a seesaw battle as the RAF and CCAF would gain and lose the advantage, but by late May 3113 Stone's Pride and Stone's Revenants had withdrawn to Republic space, leaving Stone's Liberators the last remaining RAF unit on Sarna. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, Damien Redburn recognized how close the overstretched Capllens were to folding and refused to give up, digging in. Though he planned a new offensive, the Council of Paladins ordered him and the Liberators to return to the Republic by late May 3113.

Concurrent to the offensive on Sarna, the Capellan forces on Liao continued to harry the RAF defenders, the Dynasty Guard and Red Lancers driven to ever more fanatical levels to avenge the death of Sun-Tzu Liao. Though pushing themselves and their machines to the limit, their dogged persistence paid off and inflicting heavy losses on the Ninth Hastati as they claimed ever larger sections of the planet. By early May 3113 the reason Stone's Lament was not on Sarna became apparent, unexpectedly landing on Liao. The combined might of the Lament, Amaterasu and the last surviving elements of the Ninth Hastati surged forward, dislodging the exhausted Dynasty Guard and Red Lancers as lack of ammo and equipment failures mounted, falling back to take refuge in the ruins of Chang-an. Without hope of reinforcement, the Capellan troops dug in for a final last stand. It would never occur, for on 2 June 3113 both sides received word that Devlin Stone and Daoshen Liao had signed the Sarna Armistice, ending the Capellan Crusades.

Aftermath

The Capellan Crusades were saw mistakes and miscalculations on both sides. Despite being considered by some observers as the victor for repulsing the Capellan invasion, the Crusades raised serious concerns over the modern RAF's lack of combat acumen.

Following the Crusades the Fifth Triarii Protectors were stationed on Liao to bolster its Standing Guard, but despite the misguided belief of the "Betrayer of Liao" David Peterson, not even the permanent deployment of a RAF line unit to the world would stop the terrorism as the bitter tensions between pro-Capellan and pro-Republic elements of the population only deepened and escalated in the decades prior to Operation GREAT FLOOD.

Victory for the Republic was only possible because they were fighting a single enemy on a single front. Even then it was a hard-fought victory. The fires of the war never extinguished totally: Daoshen Liao never disarmed all his armies, stockpiling weapons and BattleMechs in secret, waiting for his chance to strike again. The civilian unrest on Liao never ceased, with pro-Capellan cells on the planet conspiring and striking again. Still worse, Sun-Tzu's sacrifice birthed a cult who worship him as a god.

Barely twenty years later, after Black Monday, the Republic divided in factions, and the Clans and Inner Sphere states started to conquer planets of the republic, and the first one was, of course, the Capellan Confederation.

For his part Daoshen Liao was furious at the outcome, even seeking to keep fighting until the Strategios advised the new Chancellor that to do so would only bankrupt and ruin the Confederation's defensive capability. Convinced the failure to claim any Republican worlds made him look like a fool to the entire the Inner Sphere, an angry Daoshen blamed not the CCAF but his mother Naomi's refusal to commit the Magistracy Armed Forces to the offensive. Like his father before him, Daoshen would resolve to reclaim the lost worlds of the Confederations, spending the better part of two decades both rebuilding the CCAF and securing the MAF to ensure the third invasion of the Republic would ultimately be successful, convinced they were his greatest opponent.

One of the lessons learned by the CCAF during the Crusades was a weakness in flexibility in comparison to the RAF. Much of its hidden build-up had been focused on firepower ahead of any other consideration, its defeat in the Crusades resulted in a much greater appreciation of combined armed warfare and specialized units like Luduan Scout Vehicle during its rebuilding and preparations for Operation GREAT FLOOD.

The Crusades would serve as the swan song for variously pieces of older equipment as well as the conflict where newer equipment like the Zibler Fast Strike Tank would come to prominence and the Hanse MBT's crippling lack of turret against mobile foes like the Predator Tank Destroyer would be laid bare, while others like the flamer-equipped Zahn Heavy Transport would instead become infamous for its brutal role during the "Night of Screams". The massive Castrum-class "Pocket WarShips" of the Prefecture V and VI Border Fleets would prove their worth in acting as a deterrent for any use of the Feng Huang-class Aleisha Kris and Ilsa Hyung during Operation DIVINE RIGHT.

Bibliography

• BattleTech: Legends II
• Dark Age Turning Points: Liao
• Era Report: 3145
• Historical: Wars of the Republic Era
• Operational Turning Points: Capellan Crusades
• Shattered Fortress
• Technical Readout: 3145 Capellan Confederation
• Technical Readout: 3145 Federated Suns
• Technical Readout: 3150