Marian Hegemony

Origins and History

The Marian Hegemony has its origins stemming from the demise of the old Alphard Trading Coalition during the First Succession War. A man named Johann Sebastian O'Reilly, who was a lostech prospector, was searching for reputed lost caches of Star League technology on the planet Alphard, but instead found a treasure trove of germanium worth billions upon billions of C-Bills.

Johann O'Reilly immediately hired some small mercenary companies with his newfound wealth. With them he built a colony on the planet of Alphard once more. This colony quickly grew with the addition of numerous refugees fleeing the strife in the Inner Sphere. As he considered himself somewhat of a historian, he organized his new society along the lines of the old Roman Republic, with himself as Imperator with three classes underneath (namely the upper-class patricians, the middle and lower-class plebians, and slaves.)

Marius O'Reilly

Although the Hegemony had well-established financial reserves on-hand due to Alphard's relatively rich germanium supply, the new nation was just too small to attract new military forces without attracting the attention of one of the greater powers of the Periphery. However, the Fourth Succession War brought the fledgling nation mew possibilities. With most of the various pirate bands concentrating on the Inner Sphere, the new Imperator, Marius O'Reilly, saw a good opportunity to expand his nation.

The Imperator, using newfound wealth gained from pirate raids and germanium supplies, embarked on an ambitious civic spending program designed to give the Hegemony better and more capable soldiers. O'Reilly built the Collegium Bellorum Imperium (the Imperial War College) to train Marian generals, which he hoped would eventually churn out top-quality soldiers capable of expanding the Hegemony. The Imperator proved to be popular with his citizens, and was widely considered to be a good ruler for the Hegemony.

However, Marius' son, Sean, was not as capable a leader. Using his parental connections to gain a position spearheading a wave of colonization across the Periphery, Sean instead skimmed money off of the project to fund his several mistresses and a serious gambling problem. With one of those mistresses, Sean had a son, whom he named Julius. When his father learned of Sean's embezzling, he threatened to remove his son from the line of succession to the throne, and instead name his grandson as his heir. Sean, sufficiently cowed, offered to pay off his debt to the nation, and immediately cut back on his gambling and mistresses. Mollified, Marius put Sean back in the line of succession.

However, Sean was fearful that his father would once more pass on the throne to his grandson. When Marius died in 3048, in what was officially labelled a "climbing accident", Sean became the new Imperator.

Sean O'Reilly

After a 10-day period of mourning for his late father, Sean proclaimed himself to be the new Caesar of the Hegemony. He immediately enacted new decrees based on the structure of the old Roman Empire (as opposed to the original laws of the Roman Republic). He enacted many oppressive laws designed to keep the plebs in their place. The military was expanded from one legion to three, which he used to help silence his critics within the Hegemony.

His domestic problems in a temporary lull, Sean commenced a massive military buildup aimed at expanding the Hegemony through conquest. To this effect, he invaded the Lothian League, a small nation of less than 10 planets, in 3054. The conflict was brief, and the Caesar's legions had conquered the nation within one year of the invasion. Sean garrisoned the League worlds with his Second Legion, and enacted several oppressive policies aimed at preventing rebellion. Instead, the Lothians started a rebellion on the worlds, which occupied the Second Legion with peacekeeping duties and gave Sean's government a reputation of ruthlessness.

Soon after the Lothian conquest, the Caesar was approached by the Word of Blake, who seeked to gain control over the few HPG stations located within the Hegemony's borders. In exchange for expelling all ComStar personnel, the Caesar would be given high-quality BattleMechs and weapons for his dreams of conquest. Sean accepted, and started a heavy conscription effort that expanded his military to five legions. He was now ready to begin his conquests.

In 3057, Sean O'Reilly invaded the world of Astrokazy. The site of one of his father's few defeats, he hoped to use the planet as a staging ground for later invasions. Although he exploited the constant infighting endemic to the planet, the sudden arrival of Magistracy of Canopus troops prevented the world from falling to the Hegemony. The Caesar returned to Alphard to find his Lothian subjects on the brink of open rebellion. Although the expansion of the military allowed Sean to post the Third Legion to the Lothian worlds to quash the rebellion, a second problem arose for him.

His son Julius, a recent graduate of the Collegium Bellorum Imperium, had been recently promoted to command a century in the First Legion. He quickly gained the attention of several powerful anti-Caesar military leaders and Senators, who built up a power base centered around the young heir. However, his father noticed, and transferred Julius to command of a cohort of the Second Legion on Lordinax. The unit was highly demoralized from Lothian raids, however, and Julius began to openly question his father's path of conquest.

Julius O'Reilly

Julius began to covertly build a power base within the Second Legion; to whom he promised an end to the Lothian troubles. The war was a cycle of death, as recruits poured into the Second Legion at a quick rate, and Lothian civilian casualities steadily mounted due to the Caesar's bloody reprisals.

Julius, however, sensed a quick opportunity in 3063 to end the long war. His forces had recently captured the leader of the Lothian resistance, Elena Logan. The daughter of the former leader of the Lothian League, she sat down with Julius and bargained a truce amongst the populace. In exchange for a cessation of reprisals, a position in the Hegemony government, and a position as an advisor on Julius' personal staff, she agreed to end the brutal guerilla war. Within a year of landing on Lordinax, Julius had ended the civil war, and was ready to make his next move.

Realizing that he could only govern the Hegemony as a respected conqueror, he departed Lordinax with the Fourth, Second, and elements of the Third Legion for the Illyrian Palatinate; leaving only one cohort of the Third and some auxiliaries in place on the planet. The conquest of the Palatinate lasted only a short while, as the small nation was only defended by two mercenary units, the Arms of Thor and Cavanaugh's Commandos. Although his forces were orignally stopped by the sheer power of the Arms and Commandos, Julius struck a deal with Cavanaugh's Commandos in which they would stand down in exchange for a payment and a place in the Hegemony Armed Forces. The Hegemony forces quickly overran the Arms of Thor in their bases, collecting much intact salvage for Julius. He left the Palatinate under the control of local citizens, guarded by the rest of the Third Legion, and returned to Alphard a conquering hero.

Julius' Return

Julius returned to the capital at the head of the Second and Fourth Legions. He was hailed as a great hero and conqueror by the citizens of the Hegemony. Julius, guarded by select members of the Second Legion, went into the Senate building and received the imperial crown of the Hegemony in a nationwide broadcast. Julius' father was nowhere in sight. In a second speech, Julius declared his father unfit to rule the Hegemony, and declared himself the new leader of the nation. The Senate confirmed his appointment by acclamation.

However, Sean O'Reilly still lived, having holed up in his Palace with the entire First Legion. He refuted his son's claim to the throne, and instructed his Legion to put down the, in his terms, rebellion that had sprung up. When the forces engaged, half of the First Legion surrendered instantly, while the others were destroyed by the Second Legion. Julius and his soldiers confronted the former Caesar in his throne room, and offered him the chance to gracefully resign. Sean refused, attacked his son, and was cut down quickly by the assembled Second Legionnaires. Julius was now the full leader of the Marian Hegemony.

Social Structure

The Hegemony itself is divided into three classes of people; the Patricians, the Plebeians, and the various slaves. The Patricians are the self-perpetuating nobility of the Hegemony. Only they can serve in the Senate of the Hegemony, and they also make up the upper command structure of the Legions.

Directly below them are the plebs, who serve as the middle and lower-class of the Hegemony. They have little political power, and raely advance in the ranks of the bureaucracy or the military. Before Caesar Julius' reforms, they had no voice in their leaders' selection, but Julius allowed them to vote for Planetary Tribunes (Governors) and for a special People's Tribune to be sent to the Senate.

The Hegemony is the largest Periphery nation to practice slavery, and openly condones it. Most slaves are prisoners of war, as it is forbidden to buy or sell a citizen of the Hegemony.

Military

The Marian military (as of 3063) consisted of five Legions, which were further subdivided into two or more Cohorts. This git further divided into Centuries and Maniples, which are the most basic unit of the Hegemony military. The Hegemony's forces themselves are very BattleMech-heavy, primarily due to Caesar Sean's deal with the Word of Blake. They also possess a few scattered infantry units. The Hegemony's largest weakness lies in its aerospace fighter wing, as they have a very small force and almost no pilots of notable skill.

Ranks

The Marian Hegemony military is notable in that they have no enlisted ranks within their command structure at all. All non-officer troops rank as Legionnaires, which encompasses many different branches of the military; from technical to 'Mech pilots and tank crews.

The ranks are:

Legionnaire: All enlisted troops receive the rank of legionnaire, though each one performs differing duties based on his station and seniority. Apart from the uniform appropriate to his position, a legionnaire wears no rank insignia.

Principes: Roughly equivalent to a lieutenant, a principes commands a single maniple.

Centurion: A centurion commands a century of BattleMechs, tanks, or infantry. In the Marian Navy, a Centurion commands a fighter wing or a DropShip.

Legatus: A Legatus commands an entire cohort. This position is also one of great political clout, as some Legati serve as Senators and have access to the inner halls of power in the Hegemony. In the Marian Navy, a Legatus commands a fighter squadron or a JumpShip.

General: Each General commands an entire Legion, with the execption of the First Marian Legion, which is under the personal command of the Caesar. Because the legions tend to operate at a cohort level of command, the generals do not spend as much time on the field, instead remaining on Alphard.

Caesar: There is only one Caesar, who commands the entire nation. In times of war, he can command the First Legion personally, and take command of the First Cohort of the First Legion.

Foreign Relations

Inner Sphere: The Free Worlds League and the Capellan Confederation are the only two Successor States that have any formal relations with the Marian Hegemony. In the past, Marian raids on Free Worlds League border planets kept relations between them chilly. The recent Taurian-Canopian alliance, however, has prompted Thomas Marik toward friendlier ties with the Hegemony as a possible counter to aggressive moves by the Magistracy of Canopus. Trade between the two states remains as healthy as it has always been; Marik merchants eagerly buy germanium from the Hegemony, and sell any number of League-made goods to Hegemony customers. It is frequently said in the Hegemony that Marik merchants own the bazaars on the world of Seutonius.

Following Thomas Marik's lead, the Capellan Confederation has also strengthened its ties to the Marian state. The Taurian-Canopian alliance represents a potential threat to Capellan as well as to League worlds; in addition, Chancellor Sun-Tzu may find the Marian Legions useful allies should he decide to strike at the Concordat or the Magistracy. With so many of his own troops bogged down in the Chaos March, the Marian Legions could prove necessary to any such scheme of conquest - provided Sun-Tzu can talk the Caesar out of trying to keep the captured worlds for his own realm.

Periphery: The Hegemony has almost no good relations with the other Periphery nations. Relations with the Magistracy of Canopus remain strained, due to a long history of raiding and looting brought on by Marian pirates. The Hegemony's war against the Lothian League angered the Protector of the Taurian Concordat, who then allied himself with the Magistrix against any potential Marian aggression.

The only Periphery nation to have any good relations with the Hegemony are the Circinus Federation, primarily due to their former mutual dislike of the Illyrian Palatinate. Although they had tried for a joint alliance to divide the Palatinate, that deal fell through, and relaions became strained as a result.