View source for History of the Inner Sphere

==The [[Fourth Succession War]]==
Near the end of the Third War, the Lyran Archon, [[Katrina Steiner]], sent out a proposal for peace and alliance to the other Houses, who until then had been fighting on all fronts for essentially the entirety of their post–[[Star League]] history. Three Houses reacted suspiciously, but the First Prince of the [[Federated Suns]], [[Hanse Davion]], agreed to an alliance. Within a few years, the terms had been set - Hanse would marry Katrina's daughter [[Melissa Steiner (31st c.)|Melissa]], and their two nations would merge into the [[Federated Commonwealth]] when one of Hanse's and Melissa's children took the throne - until then, they would merely be allies.

In [[3028]], all five Successor Lords met on [[Terra]] for the first time since the fall of the [[Star League]], at the marriage of Hanse and Melissa. However, they were in for a surprise - after the ceremony was performed, while bride and groom were exchanging gifts, Hanse gave his immortal line "Dear, I give you the Capellan Confederation!", stupefying the head of the Confederation, [[Maximilian Liao]], who was one of the Successor Lords present. Thus began the [[Fourth Succession War]]. [[Federated Suns|FedSuns]] units began to systematically dismantle the [[Capellan Confederation]], as Lyran forces and a few elite mercenary regiments held off the other two prongs of the Marik-Kurita-Liao alliance that had been formed in the wake of the Steiner-Davion marriage. However, [[ComStar]], alarmed at the course of events, faked a FedSuns attack on one of its HPGs, and placed the FedSuns under Interdiction, cutting off all communications services. At this point, the attack began to falter, as long-range communications and attack coordination became nearly impossible, though the Capellans could not force the FedSuns back either. After a few more months of war, the two sides agreed to an uneasy truce, and the Interdiction was lifted. Another attack would be made by the (unofficially merged) [[Federated Commonwealth]] in [[3039]], but the other three Houses were prepared this time, and the war stalemated almost instantly and ended quickly.

Between these two wars, a momentous discovery was made. The mercenary [[Gray Death Legion]] discovered a functional Star League-era memory core on the planet Helm in the [[Free Worlds League]] in [[3028]], sparking a technological renaissance. After a few decades, Star League weaponry and systems started to become available again, and 'Mech technology eventually advanced back to near the point it had been at three hundred years earlier. And it was just in time.