Devlin Stone

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Devlin Stone
Character Profile
Born 3043
Affiliation Republic of the Sphere
Profession Exarch

Much of his origins unknown, Devlin Stone (b . 3043 - d. 31??) came to prominence during the Word of Blake Jihad, forming the coalition that ultimately defeated the Blakists, going onto become the founding Exarch of the Republic of the Sphere.

Biography

Emergence

Little is known about the early life of Devlin Stone. ComStar had no records of his existence until the early 3070s, when he led an insurrection at a Word of Blake prison camp on the world of Kittery. It is in that prison camp that he came into contact with David Lear, son of Kai Allard-Liao. Through David, Devlin met many of the leaders of the Inner Sphere and some of the Clans. Stone prosecuted a hard-fought military campaign that culminated in the liberation of Terra in the 3080s. After the Word of Blake's Jihad was defeated, Stone struck a bargain with all of the Great Houses except the Capellan Confederation to cede control of some of their worlds nearest Terra so that Stone could create his own nation, the Republic of the Sphere. He proved that he had no problem using military force when he took the planets from the Capellans that they had refused to hand over.

A New Movement

In October of 3073, Stone met with ComStar Precentor Martial Victor Ian Steiner-Davion on Tukayyid, in a meeting arranged by David Lear. At that meeting, he and Lear laid out a philosophy which Victor would privately describe as "militant socialism keyed to altruism". Officials and authorities would have their assets placed in a blind trust. Public service would be rewarded. Greed and corruption would be punished. All weapons would be placed under the government control. They mutually agreed that the approach would be most effective on worlds liberated from the Blakists, where the pre-existing authority and structure had been all but completely eliminated, as was the case on the worlds of the Kittery Prefecture. Eventually, Victor agreed to help them by encouraging his allies - Peter Steiner-Davion, Yvonne Steiner-Davion and Hohiro Kurita among others - to flock to his banner.[1]

Later Years

Stone benevolently led the Republic of the Sphere as its Exarch until 3130, when he stepped down and handed rulership to Damien Redburn. He mysteriously disappeared soon after, promising to return again should he be needed. Shortly thereafter, the HPG network was knocked out, leading to Sphere-wide chaos.

Return

In fact, Stone's disappearance was a sleep in cryogenic suspension, in Terra, the 11 August 3130. A man named John, a friend which had been with him since the camp of Kittery, help him to get ready. Before to close his coffin, however, Stone killed his friend to make sure nobody knows his location.[2] Stone had expected to sleep during much more time, but that changed: Tucker Hartwell, after uncovering CLARION CALL, the plan to make fall the HPG. Assuming all the Blackout was the work of Stone, Hartwell search him and, the 1 April 3145, awakened him. Stone denied the responsibility of the Blackout, however, and managed to convince Tucker to work for him as his assistant, the place before filled by David Lear.[3] The space inside Fortress Republic was filled by unrest and protests, but Stone's return returned the calm to the people, with Stone's assuming the leadership of the Republic again.[4] In 3146 after hearing about the new Federated Sun's First Prince's Julian Davion,s return to federated space, Stone send him an invitation to get inside the Fortress, and Julian agreed. The 6 May of the same year, Stone met with Julian at Geneva, with Tucker at his side. Devlin made a deal with the Prince, giving him a full regiment of origin-Davion troops, the Dawn Guard and convincing him to distract Daoshen Liao with an attack, in exchange for the later promise of additional military help. Julian agreed to maintain Harrison Davion's previous pact of mutual defense with the Republic.[5]

In 3149 Stone made good of his promise with Julian, making fall The Walls around the Fortress and launching Operation ERUPTIO, sowing chaos in the Draconis Combine Space and helping the Suns to recover Robinson, the capital of the Draconis March. However, the same year, the Fortress space was invaded with overwhelming force by the Capellan Confederation, Draconis Combine and Clan Jade Falcon and Clan Wolf. By 3150 the Fortress was at the edge of collapse.[6]


Origins

There are many other theories concerning Stone's origin. Since he appears to have amnesia to his life prior to his actions on Kittery, and "Devlin Stone" is confirmed to be an alias he was using before his capture by the Blakists, it is possible even he does not know his own origins.

One theory advanced on the interweb on Robinson in 3071 was that Devlin Stone is actually Arthur Steiner-Davion, citing the circumstances of Arthur's alleged death, Devlin's abrupt resurfacing on Kittery without a known past, and the relative alacrity with which he was able to organize an anti-Jihad resistance and a post-Jihad Inner Sphere nation.[7]

Evidence gathered by Chandrasekhar Kurita's head of security Peter Abdulsattah suggested that his parents were likely Blakist technicians who defected from the Order at some point, so his distrust and hatred of the Word was likely family-rooted. He seemed to have been active in an anti-Blakist resistance movement called "Jerome's Truth" in 3067, and the few remaining members of that organization claimed he came to them soon after graduating from an unspecified military academy in the Federated Suns. It is likely that was when he started going by "Devlin Stone," though his reasons for doing so are unknown. [8]

Gordon Yang of SBC on Sian expounded the theory that Devlin Stone was a catspaw of the Word of Blake on his recurring show, Enemies of the State. Yang postulated that the Word of Blake was achieving what it wanted through Stone, namely domination over the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere. Yang also claimed to have evidence of a genetic link between Devlin Stone and Hanse Davion.[9] In contrast, the Victoria News Network issued a broadcast on the 14th of December 3077 arguing that the Jihad in its entirety was a Steiner-Davion plot, with Devlin Stone either a puppet intended to put Victor Steiner-Davion on a throne on Terra as a new First Lord, or to rule in Victor's name.[10]

StarCorps Industries' intelligence elements indicated that while the computer core of the RBMU 105 camp was destroyed during Stone's uprising, a sizable portion of the camp's personnel rosters had been recovered. Among them were at least four men that roughly matched Stone's vital statistics:

  • James Pervu - a construction foreman from Gei-Fu
  • Christopher Sheldon - a lance commander in the Kittery Planetary Militia
  • Saul Miller - an AFFS administrative assistant last stationed on Tikonov
  • Jahn Prowell - a shipping captain from Sian

But even StarCorps admitted it was just as likely he was yet another unknown, his identity among the records lost.[11]

BattleMechs

Devlin Stone's signature BattleMech was "Phantom", an Atlas II captured from the Blakist garrison on Kittery, featuring a highly distinctive black-and-white skeletal color scheme. [12]

Titles and Positions

Preceded by
None
Exarch of the Republic
3081-3130
Succeeded by

Gallery

References

  1. BattleTech: 25 Years of Art & Fiction, pp. 227 - 233
  2. Field manual: 3145 p. 7
  3. Field manual: 3145 p. 11
  4. Field manual: 3145 p. 136
  5. Field manual: 3145 p. 5
  6. Field manual: 3145 p. 79
  7. Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, p. 115 "Through the Looking Glass - Arthur Steiner-Davion: The Truth?"
  8. Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, p. 80 "Biographies - Devlin Stone"
  9. Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 41, "Stone: Another Word For "Blake""
  10. Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 43, "Public Enemy"
  11. Masters and Minions: The StarCorps Dossiers, pp. 227-228 "Other Realms and Powers - Key Personalities of 3076 - Devlin Stone"
  12. Techinical Readout: 3075, p. 184 "AS7-D-H Atlas II"

Bibliography