FedCom Civil War

This article is about the fictional event. For the sourcebook on it, see FedCom Civil War (sourcebook).

The Federated Commonwealth Civil War (FedCom Civil War or simply FCCW for short) was one the most devastating wars to take place in the Inner Sphere. It lasted from 3062 until 3067 and destroyed hundreds of regiments from the former Federated Commonwealth states, the Federated Suns and Lyran Alliance. In addition, many mercenary units took part in the conflict, and even the Draconis Combine & Free Worlds League were dragged into it. Others like the Capellan Confederation and Clan Jade Falcon took advantage of their neighbors' distraction to gain territory.

The very nature and scope of this conflict make it very difficult to properly cover the war. This was not a traditional war with waves and fronts. Instead, fighting started up between units that were posted on the same world, often resulting in even engagements that produced no clear winner. In some cases, leaders sent reinforcements to aid in capturing important worlds (as with Tikonov, Kathil, and Dalkeith), only to find that the other side had done the same, creating "meat grinders," as neither side was able to secure an advantage for any length of time. In a few cases, military leaders (Victor Steiner-Davion, Maria Esteban, Tancred Sandoval) were able to form up task forces composed of multiple units, but these usually acted as one unit, rather than as a military front. Even in areas where there were no line units, fighting still took place between militia units, though those events often went undocumented.

History

Genesis

The genesis of the war lies in the peace proposal Archon Katrina Steiner circulated to her fellow House lords in the mid-3020s. Only Prince Hanse Davion showed any interest, resulting in the Federated-Commonwealth Alliance. That document came with a secret provision that betrothed Hanse to Archon-designate Melissa Steiner, a union that would eventually produce a united nation in the person of their child. That child, Victor Steiner-Davion, was born in 3030. The two nations informally merged after Katrina's abdication in 3039, and their armed forces became more unified after the aborted War of 3039.

Victor stood poised to take over both nations from his parents after their deaths, but his eldest sibling, Katherine, schemed to take control. She had their mother Melissa assassinated in 3055, three years after their father's death, making Victor Archon-Prince of the Federated Commonwealth. She further manipulated events by playing up her Lyran nationalism, often leaving the "Davion" off of her surname, and began to refer to herself as "Katrina," after her maternal grandmother. This paid off for her after the Second Skye Revolt, when Victor permanently moved his court to New Avalon and left Katherine as his regent on Tharkad. Katherine took advantage of the Liao-Marik Invasion of 3057 that sought to punish Victor for replacing Captain-General Marik's son with a double by invoking Emergency War Powers and seceding the Lyran half from her brother's realm and recalling all traditionally Lyran units to within traditional borders. In doing so, she gave Marik his objective, so he ceased offensive operations. This situation led to the creation of the Chaos March and forever sundered the Federated Commonwealth. Katherine called her new nation the Lyran Alliance, because she claimed her brother had sullied the term "Commonwealth."

Victor made no moves to reclaim his territory, so, when he prosecuted the reborn Star League's war against Clan Smoke Jaguar, he left his rump Commonwealth open to Katherine. She manipulated their little sister Yvonne into giving her the regency of the Commonwealth. When Victor returned from Clan space in 3060, he came back to the Inner Sphere a leader without a nation. Though Victor did not want to lead a civil war against his sister, events forced his hand. Fighting broke out on worlds like Kathil and Solaris VII, but it took the apparent assassination of Arthur Steiner-Davion for Victor to return. Laying aside his new post as ComStar's Precentor Martial, Victor blamed Katherine for Arthur's death and jumped into the fracas.

Early Stages: 3062-3063

Upon hearing of his brother's death, Prince Victor gathered his loyal forces on the world of Mogyorod and immediately drafted up a plan to take the key infrastructure of the Commonwealth intact. He jumped from Mogyorod to the planet Newtown Square, where he was almost killed by the Lyran troops until rogue ComGuard forces loyal to Prince Victor from his position of Precentor Martial landed on the planet and finished destroying the troops opposing Victor. With the new troops in hand, Prince Victor moved against the planet of Coventry, which was supplying the Lyran forces with 'Mechs and war material. In a few weeks of low-key fighting, Victor's forces captured the planet and its factories intact, which he used to refit his weary personal units. When news of the capture reached the Davion half of Katherine's realms, the leaders of the Capellan March and Draconis March immediately declared for Victor and formed open rebellion on their respective planets. This necessitated Katherine's move to New Avalon to quell any more potential rebels. In her stead, she left Nondi Steiner, her aunt and sister of the original Katrina Steiner, as ruler of the Alliance against Victor's troops.

Coinciding with Victor's march on Coventry was the breakout of major rebellion on the planets Muphrid and Thorin in the Lyran Alliance. Sparked by the accidental shooting of the sister of one Archer Christifori, the Thorin Militia revolted and began a guerrilla campaign to dislodge the garrisoning regiment (which proved to be eventually victorious). Prince Victor offered Christifori's troops status as regular troops, and refit many of Christifori's worn out 'Mechs. The newly-promoted General Christifori, his ranks swelled to two regiments, began a campaign of liberation against planetary rulers accused of cracking down on Davion supporters all across the Alliance. This was noticed by Lyran High Command, however, and a plan was drafted to destroy Christifori's unit.

On the planet of Odessa, the ruling Count was told to begin a program of cracking down on dissenters. It was hoped that Christfori would land on the planet and try to destroy the Lyran forces on-planet. Coinciding with the plan, the elite mercenary unit Snord's Irregulars was on-planet pending the signing of a new contract with the Lyran Alliance. A trap was planned to set the two sides against each other, which would fill the Lyran goals of destroying Christifori and shaming the Irregulars into signing a new contract. However, after discovering the trap, the Irregulars and Christifori joined forces to destroy the Lyran troops on planet and capture Odessa. The Irregulars signed a contract with Prince Victor's forces to serve them for the duration of the civil war.

Realizing that her public opinion was dropping even amongst her normally loyal Lyran subjects, Archon Katherine quietly ordered the elimination of one Reginald Starling. Starling was one of Ryan Steiner's top aides, and one of only two, (counting Katherine herself), people who knew that Katherine ordered the assassination of her mother, which, if the information was released, would completely destroy Katherine's realm. Her Loki agents took Starling out, but not before he had told his minders the truth about Katherine's role in the assassination and provided them with incontrovertible proof of her actions. Victor's agents waited with the information for the opportune moment.

Middle Stages: 3064-3065

By the time of the middle stages of the war, the sides had almost completely formed. On the side of Katherine were most of the Lyran Alliance and some elements of the Crucis March of the Federated Suns, while aligned with Victor were groups such as the Arc-Royal Defense Cordon, Clan Wolf-in-Exile, the rulers of the Capellan and Draconis Marches of the Federated Suns, as well as some of the Lyran worlds (largely through the path of Victor's armies and the actions of Archer Christifori).

The main theatres of the war were concentrated around the main manufacturing planets of both the Alliance and the Suns. The fighting on planets such as Kathil became veritable meat grinders for both sides, chewing up any units sent into the fray. Victor's conquering armies swept through the Lyran Alliance, taking many worlds from Katherine's followers. However, Victor's leadership was almost cut short by a near-defeat of his forces on Halfway which left his forces badly battered. Victor himself almost completely withdrew from the fighting once news of the death of his lover, Omi Kurita, reached him. An assassin hired by Katherine personally killed her in order to disrupt Victor's war planning, and, for a time, it worked. However, after a month or so off of duty, Victor returned to the front, and resumed the drive for the throne.

On the Suns front, Archon Katherine finally freed up enough forces from various conflicts to be able to send a unit of three regiments to the Capellan March capital of New Syrtis to end the threat that its ruler, a distant cousin of hers, posed to her realm. The leader of the March rallied his troops however, and, in months of bitter fighting, drove off the invading Lyran units from his capital world, and immediately stepped up his support of Prince Victor to that of full military support.

In addition to this, Katherine had to face an army revolt on the planet of New Avalon from one of the several regiments on-planet to defend against any possible attack from Victor's forces. The revolt was quickly crushed, and Katherine used the opportunity to station two more regiments on the planet.

The Jade Falcon Offensive

In 3064, the Jade Falcon clan struck across the border from their occupation zone to attack several Lyran worlds in full force; capturing most of them. The commander in charge of the Melissa Theater, (the Lyran term for an military district), was killed in the fighting for the planet Melissa, and her position was quickly taken over by her direct subordinate, Adam Steiner, who struck a tentative alliance with some of Victor's forces under General Archer Christifori, as well as one with Clan Wolf-in-Exile to take back some of the captured worlds, as well as to strike into the Jade Falcon Occupation Zone.

The plan was drawn up as follows: While the Clan Wolf would attack the Jade Falcon forces inside Lyran territory, Christifori and Steiner would attack the Jade Falcon Occupation Zone itself. The combined forces took several Jade Falcon worlds, including Black Earth and Twycross; the site of a humiliating (to the Clan) defeat. Because of their success, some elements of the Clan decided to wage their own personal Trial of Annihiliation against the combined forces. This continued for a few weeks until the Khan, Marthe Pryde called a ceasefire for both sides, in which all of the concerned forces would keep any worlds they had conquered.

As a result, the Jade Falcons controlled more worlds than they started out with; although they were in a strategically unsound position. As well, Adam Steiner declared his forces neutral in the conflict between Victor and Katherine, and sat out the rest of the war safeguarding the border and the Melissa Theatre.

See Also

• Federated Suns#The FedCom Civil War
• Lyran Alliance#FedCom Civil War