Elias Liao

Elias Jung Liao
Personal
Born	2141
Died	2202
Affiliation	Terran Alliance; House Liao
Career
Position(s)	President of the Hong Kong Free State President of the Liao Republic Planetary Governor of Cynthiana
Profession	Politician
Family
Spouse	Cynthiana Liao
Children	Rufus (or possibly Victor), David Paul, Carmen, Margarette

Elias Jung Liao was an early twenty-second century Terran-born Chinese politician and founding father of the Liao Dynasty.

Character Description

Elias Liao was the founding patriarch of House Liao, having left Terra in 2188. Prior to the events of 2179, he was considered a conservative, eastern-educated politician. However, his personality radically changed over the course of his adult life, leading him to eventually become a Philosopher-extremist and leader of an international terrorist organization.

History

Early Years

Elias was born in the Hong Kong Free State on Terra, the son of an English Politician and a Nepalese woman. He attended Hong Kong University, where he majored in politics. He later attended Oxford University, in England, where he studied global economics.

Terran Politician & Terrorist

When Elias returned from England, he was elected as Assemblyman for Hong Kong's Free State government in 2176. Only two years later, he was elected and became the third President of the Hong Kong Free State. However, in 2179, the offshore China Republic invaded Hong Kong and Elias and his family were forced to flee to Nepal.

During his time in the Himalayas, his mentality underwent a transformation that left future researchers baffled in what could have happened. In 2182 Elias Liao emerged from exile from Tibet. He had had a revelation that led him to believe that the only way to save mankind was through global anarchy to return the human race to a "simpler time". His fanatical following of anarchists, the New World Disciples, went on an assassination spree, killing 149 bureaucrats, scientists and government leaders, including twenty-six heads of state of the Alliance World Parliament. Though only a few top leaders were aware at the time, Elias was a covert asset of Terra's Liberal Party, and his New World Disciples were targeting people loyal to the rival Expansionists.

Elias' followers were not the only religious terrorists on the planet, but they were the most notable and efficient, disrupting the lives of tens of thousands in their "Cleansing actions". However, in 2187 it was alleged that followers of Elias Liao triggered a multiple fusion explosion in Beijing. This was the final straw for the global community, the Alliance's Hemisphere Court ruling that Elias Liao and his followers were guilty in absentia. Within a year the Chinese Republic, with the aid of neighboring Indian and European allies, assaulted Elias's mountain stronghold in the Himalayas. The assault forced Elias to secretly evacuate his two surviving sons and several hundred survivors to a waiting JumpShip. Elias was smuggled off world by his Liberal allies through the Ryan Cartel.

Governor of Cynthiana

Under assumed names, Elias used his charisma to convince many of his fellow passengers to band together and settle on a colony world. He convinced the JumpShip's crew to take them to an unnamed backwater world near Aldebaran. This included some of the ship's crew, including its navigator, before leaving Elias's people and leaving for Terra in 2189.

Within a year of settling on what Elias named as Cynthiana (after his late wife), he arranges using nearly all the colony's funding to bring in a number of livestock to the placid grasslands like world. Among the livestock are Eridani horses, who were extremely well sought out and expensive. However, Elias's gamble paid off. During these earlier years, Elias's genius for administration paid off. Through selective breeding, his colony became a major supplier for livestock from sheep to thoroughbred horses for local star systems, beating Terran exporters.

Elias died at age 61, with his grandson, Victor, being selected as governor of Cynthiana.

Family & Legacies

Elias & his late wife Cynthiana had four children, Rufus, David Paul, Carmen & Margarette, and one grandchild, Victor Edward Liao, son of David Paul. Rufus himself died a year after Elias. Victor Liao would follow his grandfather Elias as President of the Liao Republic and then Governor of Liao under the Terran Alliance.

The Capellan Confederation Armed Forces would name the very first Feng Huang-class WarShip after the Elias, CCS Elias Jung.

Notes

In universe (and in some sourcebooks), there are two competing narratives as to Elias Liao's time on Terra. ComStar records are similar to the narrative presented in this article. Capellans, on the other hand, say that such a radical change of personality twice over and a poor Himalayan figure becoming one of the most powerful and feared men in the world is absurd and would rather believe he had made a fortune for his Nepalese family before he left Terra in 2188. However, both sides agree on the attack on his family that happened in 2188, which the Capellan side of the story cannot explain. An article in Shrapnel #15 confirms that the ComStar version of events is the correct one, but this article is not an in-universe document.

Handbook: House Liao states that the renaming of the planet Cynthiana to Liao was opposed by "Elias' sons, Victor and David Paul". It hasn't yet been clarified whether this is a mistake or a retcon.

Some Information on Elias's successor mistakenly lists his son instead of his grandson being his successor. Victor was listed as an older son in one version, while the family tree shows Victor as a grandson. In the following chapter of the House book, it shows Victor reflecting on his father's death. However, it is not clear if he referred to his father David or his grandfather Elias.

Quotes

“	You should never seek to hold any one thing, any one person, any one system, any one ideal above all others. For when you hold that single thing, that single person, that single government, that single value above all else, that thing, that individual, that order, that principle will come to control you and you will have forfeited your basic humanity.... Seek therefore to free yourself from unnecessary entanglements, and thereafter seek to free your neighbor, whether he would be free or no.	”
	— Elias Liao, leader of the New World Disciples, c. 2182

“	I learned in Hong Kong the danger of being a small state in the sea of larger nations. If we are to survive, we must move away from our regional differences. In space we can be free. Among the stars, we'll find room enough for all of us, and in that space we'll find safety.	”
	— Elias Liao, 2188

Bibliography

• Dark Age: Touring the Stars (3130)
• Handbook: House Liao
• House Liao (The Capellan Confederation)
• "Unit Digest: Outer Reaches Disciples" from Shrapnel