Grover Shraplen

Grover Shraplen
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Personal
Born2985
Died1 May 3074[1][2]
AffiliationHouse Shraplen
Career
Position(s)Protector[3]
Governor of MacLeod's Land[3]
ProfessionNoble
Family
ChildrenMarilla Shraplen

Grover Shraplen was Protector of the Taurian Concordat and ruler of MacLeod's Land.

History[edit]

Succession Wars[edit]

Grover Shraplen had ruled MacLeod's Land since the time of Thomas Calderon, and shared his Protector's paranoia. During his tenure MacLeod's Land was one of the most successful colonies in the Concordat and Shraplen's deep concern with maintaining his people's way of life led him to be well respected by the Taurian people.[4]

After Thomas was deposed Shraplen became the leading voice among the opposition during the reign of Jeffrey Calderon, though in practice he didn't wield any real power in national affairs. Shraplen argued that the Federated Commonwealth would attempt to replace the worlds it had lost to the Lyran Alliance and Chaos March by conquering the Concordat, which won him some support on the border worlds.[5] Though bitterly opposed to most of Jeffrey's reforms[4], Shraplen was a notable supporter of efforts to settle the New Colony Region.[6]

Second Star League[edit]

After the heirless Jeffrey Calderon was killed during the abortive rebellion of the Colonial Marshals Shraplen was elevated to Protector, much to his dismay.[7] His elevation was supported by Janice Calderon, but also influential power brokers who hoped his notorious xenophobia would lead him to expand Taurian control in the New Colony Region.[6] Shraplen, believed that the Federated Suns were responsible for the death of Jeffrey Calderon, and his unhappiness with his new responsibilities made him determined to make House Davion suffer for his elevation.[7]

Shraplen's first moves were to reaffirm the Concordat's alliance with the Magistracy of Canopus (despite his mixed feelings) and dispatch troops to the New Colony Region to root out "Davion Agitators". Shraplen was less enthused with the Taurians' other ally, the Outworlds Alliance, which he believed was little more than a Davion puppet state. Shraplen's greatest fear was that with the Clans defeated in the Great Refusal, the Second Star League would invade the Periphery in a second Reunification War. This inclined him to seek an alliance with Sun Tzu Liao's Capellan Confederation and the Word of Blake instead.[7]

Joining the Trinity Alliance proved unpopular among the Taurian people, who blamed Shraplen for dragging the Concordat into the Capellan-St. Ives War. As the war dragged on a vocal minority began protesting his regime, while some soldiers refused deployment beyond the borders and entire planets refused to hand over their taxes.[8]. The war drained Taurian resources meant for the NCR during a time when the Canopians were increasing their colonial spending. This compounded with dissatisfaction with the martial law Shraplen imposed in the NCR to shift public opinion there in favor of independence. Shraplen's refusal to address the colonists concerns eventually led to the NCR to declare independence as the Fronc Reaches, losing the Concordat decades of investment. The Concordat gaining membership in the Star League in 3064 did little to win back support for Shraplen, as it was overshadowed Taurian Defense Force troops being deployed to the Chaos March on yet another Capellan adventure.[9]

By 3066 Shraplen had lost most of his support. Janice Calderon and others in the government asked him to step down, but citing the Concordat being "at war" (despite no such war existing), Shraplen refused. When Shraplen's paranoia about a Davion invasion led to him ordering the massacre of the Fighting Urukhai mercenary unit, resistance to Shraplen escalated to the point that a sizable number of worlds and soldiers seceded rather than remain under his rule. Shraplen ordered the Calderon Protectorate reconquered, but the TDF was by this point unwilling to follow his orders and quietly prevented him from escalating the situation into full scale civil war.[10]

In 3067 war with the Davions finally arrived. Instead of the long feared invasion though, the Taurians were the aggressors: Shraplen had ordered the reconquest of the Pleiades Cluster. The Taurian people rallied around the invasion, saving Shraplen from his domestic foes, but the invasion itself quickly stalled out and even threated to reverse.[11]

Jihad[edit]

Shraplen died in an asteroid strike that destroyed the Taurian capital city of Samantha on the 1st of May 3074.[1][2]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Jihad Hot Spots: 3076, p. 52, "Timeline of the Jihad"
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 52, "The Jihad In Review"
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 64
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Periphery, 2nd Edition, p. 27: "Lord Grover Shraplen"
  5. ↑ The Periphery, 2nd Edition, p. 18: "Relations with Successor States"
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 64: "Achilles Heel - Events in the Concordat"
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Shattered Sphere, p. 118-121: "The Taurian Concordat"
  8. ↑ Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 65: "With Friends Like These..."
  9. ↑ Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 65-66: "Rumblings of Rebellion: The Fronc Reaches"
  10. ↑ Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 66-67: "Restoration: The Calderon Protectorate"
  11. ↑ Handbook: Major Periphery States, p. 68-69: "The Pleiades Campaign"

Bibliography[edit]

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