Ludwig Steiner

Ludwig Steiner
Personal
Affiliation	House Steiner
Profile
Rank	General
Title(s)	Grand Duke of Furillo
Position(s)	Margrave of Florida Theater
Profession	MechWarrior

Ludwig Steiner was the commanding officer of the Lyran Irregulars and Grand Duke of Furillo during the late Dark Age. He became the Margrave of Florida Theater in 3151.

History

Early Life

When he was a child, Ludwig's grandmother Claudia brought him with her to Kandersteg in 3128, where she participated in a ceremony marking the 1,000th anniversary of the Second Donegal Guards' founding.

Buena Collective

In July 3147, Kommandant Ludwig Steiner led a mixed force of LCAF soldiers comprising the Irregulars and elements of the Second Buena Guards and Carlisle Buena Province Militia to capture Valloire as part of the campaign to end the revolt of rogue Margrave Diego Widmer. The LCAF force force initially claimed a reservoir outside Valloire's Sisku City, but were dislodged after the Collective Guards brought double their number to bear. After a failed attempt to take the starport, launched relying on out-of-date force information from the LIC, Steiner led his troops in a retreat, circling around and capturing Sisku City. Valloire was back in Lyran hands as the Irregulars' raiding campaign drove the Collective forces offworld with a little over a lance of working 'Mechs. Following this campaign, Ludwig was regarded as a national hero. He and the Lyran Irregulars spent the next several years working in support of the Lyran government.

The League Front

Ludwig's cousin, Archon Trillian Steiner, had left the position of Margrave of Timbuktu Theater vacant since the defeat of Widmer in 3148. But on 27 March, 3151, Trillian reversed the policy and promoted Ludwig to the post, relocating the theater headquarters to Florida following Timbuktu's secession. Despite the numerous promotions it would entail, Ludwig was a popular choice for the post. While Trillian's political opponents also applauded the promotion, they were quick to suggest that the posting might be a poisoned chalice. Ludwig set to work reorganizing theater borders, working with the Margrave of York Province to place all worlds along the Free Worlds League border under his command. Leaders within the Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey were put on edge by the appointment of new commander on their border, especially one in the line of succession. Ludwig also relocated his theater headquarters from Florida to Buena.

One of Ludwig's first moves was to send the Eighth Lyran Regulars towards the League border. SAFE reported them on Finsterwalde in late April of 3151, leaving the League anticipating an invasion with few forces to offer timely relief.

On 15 May, 3151, the Regulars crossed the border into League space, aiming to retake Bolan after it had fallen back into Marik hands five years prior. Despite the Marik forces initially believing the attack to be an objective raid, Ludwig had tasked the Regulars with taking the world back. To help achieve that goal, the Regulars had come bearing gifts of potable water and purification systems to demonstrate their goodwill to the locals of the arid planet. Much of the local population sided with the Lyrans, aiding their operations or even actively interfering with League operations. After a month of cat-and-mouse fighting and with no reinforcements coming, the Eighth Free Worlds Guards departed Bolan on 16 June, returning it to Lyran control.

Ludwig's next target was the world of Dixie, another former regional headquarters — this time in the Wolf Empire. In January 3152, FWLM forces discovered the Eighth Lyran Regulars had sent a battalion there to probe its defenses and attempted to beat the Commonwealth to the punch by hiring a mercenary unit named Hooke's Billmen to take the planet. They never reported back and were considered lost until March, when a SAFE agent on Dixie said that the Billmen had cited a contract loophole that allowed them to claim the world for the Lyran Commonwealth instead. They were replaced on Dixie by a battalion of the First Buena Jaegers before the League could mobilize to hunt them down.

BattleMech

Steiner piloted a Banshee. As it was noted to have a Heavy PPC and a Gauss rifle, it was most likely a model 9S or 9S2.

Bibliography

• Empire Alone
• ilClan
• One Thousand (short story)
• Shattered Fortress