The Inner Sphere is the major setting of Battletech, and the first to be explored in the original 3025 timeline. The Inner Sphere is dominated by the five Successor States, stellar feudal states ruled by a major noble house (as indicated in parentheses). Over the roughly sixty years that make up the 'main' Battletech timeline the Inner Sphere has endured at least four major stellar wars plus an invasion from the outside, leaving it significantly changed from its beginnings following the Third Succession War to the post-Jihad.

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Star League (House Cameron/House Amaris)

In General

The Cameron Star, symbol of House Cameron and the Star League

The leading force of mankind's last golden age, the First Star League was a unifying political body lead by House Cameron, and managed to keep the constant infighting of the Successor States to their absolute lowest. Though leading the expansion of mankind's technology and being held up as a model of how the Inner Sphere should be unified by both the Successor States and Clans, the residents of the Periphery consider the First Star League to be one of the worst authoritarian and expansionist governments of human history.

Badass Army: The Star League Defense Force (SLDF) was the largest, most technologically advanced military of its time. This was very much by design, it needed to be to keep the competing Great Houses in line. Even after the bloody Amaris Civil War, the SLDF could easily outmatch any of the standing House militaries in a one-on-one war.
Dead Man's Switch: A partially inadvertent one. Star League used a wide array of manufacturers all over known space (including inside rival Great Houses' territories) to produce parts, creating interstellar supply lines for their high technologies. After conquering the Periphery realms in the Reunification War, the Star League also spent decades reworking the economies and infrastructure of the conquered worlds to become dependent on the Star League's economy and technology to function, so if any of them tried to rebel or secede, they would be unable to support a war effort or even a functioning society without Star League assistance. This meant that when Star League collapsed, said supply chains collapsed and led to a lot of equipment becoming Lost Technology without the neccessary parts, and the Periphery suffered economic collapse and famines.
Elite Mooks: The Star League Defense Force gets superior training and equipment to that available to House armies, making them Elite compared House troops (a necessity, since part of the point of the SLDF is to "correct" the Great Houses if they start getting out of line). SLDF Royal Regiments are Elite compared to regular SLDF formations (there are a number of "Royal" variants of common 'Mechs, AeroSpace fighers, and vehicles that are usually much more capable compared to standard variants). Ironically, the SLDF weren't nearly this at the beginning, as the aftermath of the First Hidden War had former Draconis Combine Mechwarriors casually defeating SLDF troops in Mech duels. This was due to the superior training Combine MechWarriors had at one-on-one duels, in unit-level engagement the Star League could still best them. This led to the development of the Gunslinger Program, designed to teach SLDF MechWarriors how to duel one-on-one to a level matching or surpassing the samurai MechWarriors of the Combine.
The Empire: Under the rule of Stefan Amaris, though an argument can be made that this was also the case under the rule of House Cameron, especially considering the Reunification War.
Enforced Cold War: While the rule of the Star League is presented as an unprecedented era of peace and was indeed able to prevent open war among the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere, it couldn't make generations-old rivalries and tensions just disappear. Member states fought low-intensity "hidden wars" with one another that included such measures as spying on one another, covertly arming secessionist groups and other rebels in each others' territories, engaging in Proxy Wars using deniable assets, and in one notable instance even blatantly (if indirectly) attempting to undermine the SLDF's credibility as a fighting force.
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Of The Roman Empire, in terms of role. Star League represented the one time humanity was all united under one banner, and its destruction led to the Feudal Future of the Battletech setting in the same way as the fall of Rome led to the Frankish, Lombard, Germanic, Vandal and Visigoth kingdoms that set up shop in its former territory, with ComStar filling the role of The Catholic Church as the line of legitimacy reaching back to the Roman state apparatus. Similarly to how many European nations sought to make themselves the successors of the Roman state, the Successor States in Battletech all wished to resurrect Star League with themselves as First Lord and fought four gigantic Succession Wars over it.
The Federation: The First Star League was, on paper, a federation of the Inner Sphere states with the Terran Hegemony and House Cameron taking a position as "first among equals." The reality, of course, was that the House Lords were subordinate to the First Lord whether they realised it or not. The Second Star League more closely resembles the federation it was supposed to be, but it was woefully inadequate compared to its predecessor and it was dissolved almost as quickly as it was formed.
Fictional Currency: The Star League Dollar, backed by the Terran Hegemony's stores of germanium (a critical element in the Faster-Than-Light Travel drives that make interstellar travel feasible). While this allowed for untold amounts of wealth expansion under a unified currency, it also died when the Star League did.
Galactic Superpower: The Star League was the most powerful and stable state in the entire history of the Inner Sphere until its collapse. The only other entities to even come close are the Federated Commonwealth in the 31st century, and the Republic of the Sphere in the 32nd.
Gone Horribly Right:
- Under First Lord Jonathan Cameron, the SLDF pioneered the SDS (Space Defense System), massive networks of drone warships, armed defense satellites, and surface-to-orbit guns meant to keep the worlds of the Terran Hegemony safe from invasion. Unfortunately, he never counted on one of his descendants, Richard Cameron, literally handing the keys over to foreign troops (Stefan Amaris and his Rim Worlds Republic army), who proceeded to hijack the SDS systems of almost all of the Hegemony worlds and turn them against the SLDF during his coup.
- House Cameron's Propaganda Machine spent centuries legitimizing the idea of one human race united under one government and ruler being necessary to ensure progress and prosperity. Things ran fine enough as long as the Camerons themselves were around to keep a firm grip, but once they were removed from the board, that very same rhetoric combined with the lack of a clear successor resulted in centuries of all-out war among the Inner Sphere states, billions of deaths, and untold levels of catastrophic destruction and technological regression, all in the name of deciding who got to sit in the First Lord's fancy chair.
Gunboat Diplomacy: The SLDF at its height was the biggest military in the known galaxy and explicitly not loyal to any one House, but to Star League above all, which kept any particular faction from getting ideas and also allowed the Great Houses to draw down their defense spending. While the threat was far more implied than explicit with the Inner Sphere powers, the Periphery found out the hard way that the Star League was very willing to flatten them to get their way. The lack of the enormously powerful, ostensibly neutral military force keeping the various member states in line was one of the things that doomed the Second Star League - with the First Lord position an elected spot every three years, none of the Successor Lords wanted to hand over large portions of their military to someone who might very well have a centuries-old grudge against them. As a result, when two states announced their intention to withdraw from the League, there was nothing preventing them from doing so, and the League crumbled, kicking off the Jihad.
The High King: The First Lord was essentially this, serving as the "first among equals" who ruled with the input of the Great Houses. To the Periphery, the Camerons were more The Emperor since none of them had joined Star League willingly.
Irony: The Star League was created to unite the whole of human inhabited space into a peaceful federation that settled its disputes through diplomacy, not warfare. One of their first acts was to launch the largest interstellar war in human history in order to bring the Periphery nations into the League by force.
Mighty Glacier: The SLDF was the largest single military in history and had enough firepower to match, overwhelm, and annihilate anything that stood in their way in open warfare. But when the Periphery suddenly developed a bad case of insurrectionist movements that were suspiciously well-supplied and hiding in and quietly supported by the local civilian populace, the SLDF was spread thin and couldn't gain ground.
Praetorian Guard: The Royal Black Watch Regiment, which eventually became the mercenary command Northwind Highlanders. They nearly stopped Amaris' coup dead in its tracks on the first day; Amaris had to resort to nuking them (twice!) to get them off his back, and there were still Black Watch members on Terra ready to assist Kerensky in his final assault on Amaris.
Propaganda Machine: Prior to the official start of the Reunification Wars, there were numerous smear campaigns aimed at making the Periphery powers look like backwards yokels (at best) or barbarians at the gate (at worst). After the Reunification Wars, the Star League propoganda extended into the Periphery as well, with pledges of allegiance to the Star League and House Cameron among other heavy-handed measures to make the Periphery like the Star League. Shockingly, this only made the Periphery like the Star League even less.
The Remnant: After the fall of the Star League, what was left of the SLDF split into two main groups. The largest, over 80% of their surviving army and navy, followed General Kerensky into exile away from the Inner Sphere, settling worlds far beyond the Periphery and eventually becoming the Clans. The rest stayed behind, most of them joined with Minister of Communications Jerome Blake and became the core of the newly formed Church Militant ComStar and their military force, the ComGuards. A third, much smaller fraction started up mercenary commands (the most famous of these being the Northwind Highlanders and Eridani Light Horse) or defected to the Great House armies when the First Succession War kicked off.
Resurgent Empire: Not counting the various claims the Inner Sphere lords that led to the Succession Wars, there have been two attempts to resurrect the Star League that gained any sort of real traction:
- The first attempt, founded in 3058, brought the Inner Sphere states together to bring a definite end to the Clan Invasion, which they accomplished in a counterattack that effectively Annihilated Clan Smoke Jaguar. After this, though, without a common enemy to unite against, the member states fell back into infighting and disbanded the League again after less than a decade.
- The second attempt, founded by the victorious Alaric Ward of Clan Wolf after his conquest of Terra in 3151, seems to have had more staying power, as it still exists in some form as of the latest date mentioned thus far in canon (3250).
Rose-Tinted Narrative: To the post-Succession Wars Inner Sphere, the Star League represents the high point of human civilization, an unparalleled golden age of technological development, culture, and peace where the entirety of humanity lived together in harmony. While the Star League was indeed a noble undertaking, and accomplished many wondrous things during its three centuries of existence, it was far from the ideal utopia the in-universe history books make it out to be. Despite being dedicated to galactic peace, much blood was shed to build, expand, and maintain the Star League.
Ruling Family Massacre: The fact that the entire main line of House Cameron was wiped out in Stefan Amaris's coup was one of the factors that doomed the Star League to collapse even after Amaris himself was defeated. Technically, some distantly-related collateral branches of the family did survive in the Successor States, but the heads of said states weren't interested in pressing anyone's claims to the First Lordship but their own.
Succession Crisis: The succession crisis of the BattleTech universe. With the extinction of House Cameron, and Aleksandr Kerensky's refusal to take their throne as First Lord, the rulers of the Inner Sphere Houses kicked off the Succession Wars that devastated the Inner Sphere for over 300 years. The Clan Invasion occurred because of their desire to rebuild the Star League (in the image of Clan society, of course). ComStar's more underhanded shenanigans were out of their desire to recreate the Star League in their image, and the Word of Blake got nuke happy because the Second Star League failed. Pretty much every single reason for armed conflict to break out between any two factions can be traced back to "Star League" in some way.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The Great Houses didn't like each other to start with, but they all bought in on the Star League for one reason or another. The House Lords still kept jockeying for land and position and several "Hidden Wars" were fought, but the balance of power was maintained.
The War of Earthly Aggression: The Terra-centric Star League launched the bloody Reunification Wars to bring all of the far-flung, independent Periphery kingdoms into their alliance by force.
Trading Bars for Stripes: Toyed with. Executive Order 34 made it possible for the SLDF to recruit from any member state without interference from its government, intended to make sure that the SLDF could keep its numbers up in the face of wartime losses, and as soon as someone entered an SLDF recruiting office, they were governed solely by the laws of the Star League. In effect, most of the member states were particularly upset to have criminals and political dissidents escaping their laws by requesting to join the SLDF. The order was amended to give the member states the right to petition the League to locate and try SLDF personnel accused of crimes...under Star League law. While the League did vigorously prosecute crimes like murder or theft, they didn't care about political crimes that the Draconis Combine or the Capellan Confederation wanted them to punish like "public speaking" or "failure to obey a moral superior."
We ARE Struggling Together: On the surface, the League was a unified alliance of nations working together in harmony. In actuality, there was constant politicking and bickering between Lords and Houses, and more than a few secret wars fought between the major powers during this era of "galactic peace".
Written by the Winners: Centuries of rule made it possible for the Star League to influence how the Successor States view it as a pinnacle of human achievement and advancement. Compare this to most of the Periphery States, where the Star League is at best seen as harsh and expansionist, at worst The Empire.

Ian Cameron

The First First Lord

Era(s): Star League

Director-General of the Terran Hegemony and founder of the Star League.

The Emperor: After all of humanity was under the aegis of the Star League (and some would argue before even then) Ian became this, although his official title was simply "First Lord".
Founder of the Kingdom: Of the Star League.
Hobbes Was Right: A firm believer in the idea that humanity's future progress and prosperity could only be secured under a single, firm guiding hand (his own, of course). He justified the Reunification War against the Periphery states, the bloodiest war in human history up to that point, as an enlightened crusade against "a minority of radical isolationists."
Jerkass: He considered the people who lived in the Periphery "barbarians," and he was perfectly willing to launch a smear campaign against them. That said, it was not an unusual attitude as far as the Inner Sphere was concernred nor really controversial.
Let No Crisis Go to Waste: The Malagrotta Affair, a small skirmish between Taurian and Davion navy ships in a jointly-owned star system(which to be fair, was intentionaly provoked by the Taurians who later only half-heartdly apologized for it), gave him the perfect excuse to launch the Reunification Wars against the whole Periphery.
This Means War!: His famous Pollux Proclamation was this to the Periphery powers. Underneath the flowery talk of universal goodwill and unity for all human beings, the message was clear: you will all join us in the Star League, whether you like it or not.
Villain with Good Publicity: Depending on what kind of view you have of history. By the 31st century, many even in newer Periphery states, like Kamea Arano, see Ian as an almost messianic figure, a legendary lord robed in white who united humanity and brought forth an age of unparalleled happiness. Periphery-dwellers of the Taurian, Canopian or other older persuasions, though, are much more likely to remember him as a brutal tyrant who made their stars run red with blood and in some cases almost snuffed out their states entirely.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Ian wanted to unite all of humanity and guide it into an era of peace and progress, but where negotiation and diplomacy did not work he turned to economic sanctions and even war. Mind you, he was not exactly happy it actually got to this and was furious when some of the more brutal SLDF commanders committed atrocities to make it happen, but most of the "punishments" they got were little more than token slaps on the wrist compared to the magnitude of their own crimes, and Ian was still willing to make use of their brutality as part of his carrot-and-stick negotiation tactics.

Amos Forlough

The "Baby Killer".

Era(s): Star League

(In)famous Field Marshal of the Star League armies during the Reunification Wars, known for his brutal tactics in subduing the Outworlds Alliance and the Taurian Concordat.

Attack! Attack! Attack!: Worked to keep his armies on the move constantly, and was understandably frustrated when logistics, politics, or enemy resistance slowed his advance down.
Arch-Enemy: Colonel Elias Pitcairn and the Pitcairn Legion were his most persistent foes during the Outworlds campaign. In fact, the "rogue" Davion unit was actually part of a secret agreement between Alexander Davion and the Outworlds Alliance to slow down the Star League's advance and put choice Alliance worlds under Davion protection during the SLDF invasion.
Berserk Button: He absolutely lost it when he discovered that his badly needed Davion reinforcements at New Vandenberg were none other than the reinstated Colonel Pitcairn and the Pitcairn Legion, his personal Arch-Enemy during the Outworlds invasion. An aide reported he was literally hopping mad on the bridge of his flagship, and Forlough nearly triggered a shooting battle beween SLDF and Davion forces when he ordered the immediate arrest and execution of Pitcairn and his men. When Pitcairn left the system under a hasty flag of truce, Forlough immediately contacted his superiors and even First Lord Ian Cameron himself and demanded that Pitcairn and First Prince Alexander Davion be arrested for treason.
The Butcher: His other well-known nickname. He earned it, too: Forlough ordered his troops to practice literal decimation on conquered Periphery worlds, executing 10% of a planet's population, including women and children, for daring to resist the will of the Star League.
Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: His portrait in the Reunification War sourcebook (seen above) resembles actor Michael Ironside.
Death from Above: His preferred tactic when dealing with resisting worlds in both the Outworlds and the Concordat was to give them a 30 day time limit to surrender, then have his WarShips level any cities or military installations from orbit if they refused. He famously ordered a 40 day non-stop orbital bombardment of the Taurian world of New Vandenberg, simply as a "hello" to the Taurian defenders.
Expy: He's pretty much WWII General George S. Patton taken to the Nth Degree, and with far less scruples.
Insane Admiral: One of the most bloodthirsty in Battletech history. It can be argued that his brutal "pacification" efforts in fact extended the Reunification Wars far longer than they needed to be by hardening resistance against the SLDF.
Karma Houdini: His "punishment" for ordering the deaths of millions of civilians throughout the Periphery was an early retirement. Post-war he was awarded the Medal of Valor and the Order of the Star, eventually dying of old age after outliving most of his contemporaries.
Kicked Upstairs: First Lord Cameron ordered him to return to Terra and assigned him to a desk job after news of his atrocities became too hard to ignore and after SLDF casualties under his command rose too high for the government to tolerate. He ultimately chose early retirement instead. He was also essentially kicked sideways from the Outworlds Alliance to the Taurian Concordat, as his tactics were causing increasing in-fighting between the SLDF, Federated Suns, and Draconis Combine forces involved in the invasion.
Medal of Dishonor: After his retirement, Forlough would initially be awarded with membership in the Star League's Order of the Sword for his achievements in the Reunification War — one of the League's lesser awards. Whether or not the insult was intentional, he certainly took it as such, spending years using his clout and reputation as a "war hero" to campaign for greater recognition until he received the much more prestigious Medal of Valor and Order of the Star.
Never My Fault: Besides casually using tactics that would qualify as war crimes under the (suspended) Ares Conventions, Furlough neglected to mention razing two massive industrial complexes to the ground, committing mass murder of civilians, and enemy POWs escaping, because it would make him look bad.
Properly Paranoid: He was absolutely right that Alexander Davion and the Pitcairn Legion were covertly (and overtly) supporting the Outworlds Alliance and sabotaging his invasion plans in order to grab land and resources for the benefit of the Federated Suns, not the Star League. But Forlough could never prove it, and most of his critics assumed he was trying to shift blame on his allies for his own setbacks.
Pyrrhic Victory: While he succeeded in conquering both the Outworlds Alliance and the Taurian Concordat, it took many years of brutal fighting and atrocities and thousands of deaths on both sides to accomplish. Importantly, Forlough forgot the whole point of the Star League's invasion was to add the Periphery populations and industry to their sphere of influence, both of which were left completely ruined after Forlough was done with them. It would take many decades for the Star League to rebuild the shattered worlds of both conquered territories, and resentment against the Star League persisted for centuries because of the actions of Forlough and his troops.
Salt the Earth: Engaged in scorched earth tactics on worlds he was conquering. Eventually this saw him replaced.
The Unfettered: Thanks to the suspension of the Ares Conventions during the war, he used every weapon at his command to bring first the Outworlds Alliance, then the Taurian Concordat to heel, killing countless civilians and ravaging whole planets in the process.
Forlough: Genghis Khan slaughtered millions of women and children, but history only remembers him for founding a great empire. Why should I care what weak-willed politicians, safe in their beds on Terra, say about my methods?
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He personifies the cause of resentment that the Periphery has towards the Star League due to his brutality in war; a resentment that eventually was personified in kind by one Stefan Amaris. He himself was enabled by one - in the middle of the Outworlds Alliance invasion, SLDF High Command pulled a third of his naval assets to the Taurian front, which left him obsessed with ending things as quickly as possible by any means necessary and deciding to strike at the people of the Outworlds Alliance instead of its military.
Written by the Winners: The Star League went to great lengths to make him a hero in the decades following the war, though he's remembered as a brutal war criminal throughout the Periphery, especially in the Taurian Concordat.
You Have Failed Me: The longer the Reunification War went on, the more brutal he acted not only to his enemies, but to his own troops. Entire command staffs would be sacked or executed if they failed to meet his high standards and battlefield objectives, and heaven help any SLDF soldier caught trying to desert or defect.
- He eventually ended up on the receiving end of the trope when Ian Cameron had him removed from his position after Forlough destroyed practically all of the Taurian heavy industry in the process of capturing their worlds (thus rendering them useless to the Star League).

Aleksandr Kerensky

General Aleksandr Sergeyevich Kerensky

"To all citizens of the Inner Sphere do I, Aleksandr Kerensky, send greetings."

"Know that I have taken the remnant of the Star League Defense Force which has remained true to its purpose beyond the boundaries of the Inner Sphere, beyond the Periphery. I have done this, neither out of disappointment with those whom we leave behind, nor out of spite or disdain, as some will say. No, we have left the Inner Sphere because we love it too much to see it destroyed. In the wake of the Usurper's coup, and the long, bitter fighting that came with it, I fear that my forces would do incalculable, possibly irreparable, harm to our society. We are sworn to ward the Star League and its subjects, not destroy it. Thus, we have left the only homes we have ever known to place the destructive capability of this armada beyond the reach of those who would use it, not for defense, but for conquest. Perhaps, with the might of our 'Mechs and ships out of reach, the leaders who now grapple with one another will relinquish their dreams of subjugating their neighbors and learn to live in peace with them. Perhaps, one day, should mankind step back from the brink of the abyss, we, our children, or our children's children will return, to once more serve and protect and guide the Star League in mankind's quest for the stars."

—The Voice of Kerensky. His final message to the Inner Sphere

Era(s): Star League

The most well-known figure throughout the Inner Sphere and beyond. Aleksandr Kerensky was the greatest General of the Star League Defense Forces, he is best remembered for liberating Terra from Stefan Amaris. But when the Star League begins to crumble from infighting among the great houses, Kerensky chooses not to get involved in the middle of it all, and took all those who are loyal to him and led the Exodus to escape the Succession Wars. The forces who followed him soon became the Clans under his son Nicholas Kerensky.

Ace Custom: His Orion was constantly being modified from the base ON1-K version, including advanced or even experimental systems and equipment. While making it extremely effective in combat, they couldn't sustain some of the more advanced strategic command systems, and the 'Mech itself was stripped of equipment, left behind in the Inner Sphere, and later recovered by Draconis Combine forces.
Bald of Authority: The bald Aleksandr Kerensky was the greatest general of the Star League Defense Forces and remains one of the most beloved figures in the entire universe, whose Undying Loyalty to the Star League led him to buck the rules if it meant doing what he believed was just and right.
Big Good: Kerensky is the most beloved man in the known universe.
Dead Guy on Display:
- After Amaris was executed for his crimes against humanity, questions arose as to what to do with his remains. Disposing of them ignominiously out of sight would engender doubts that he was truly dead. Burying him would result in his grave being a martyr shrine. A nameless SLDF officer suggested donating his body to science. Kerensky went with that, and the Usurper's mortal remains suffered the indignity of being a medical curio, and could be brought out for whenever doubts were raised about his fate.
- Kerensky himself was interred in a crystal coffin aboard his flagship, the McKenna's Pride, where he became a symbol of why Nicholas' new society was necessary and the sacrifices made to bring it about. House Wolf would later transfer his body to Terra after conquering the world and claiming the mantles of both the ilClan and the resurrected Star League.
Defector from Decadence: Aleksandr saw that the Successor States were eyeing the seat of First Lord hungrily, and decided to take his most loyal subordinates and get the hell out before the fighting started.
The Fettered: He was a career soldier who followed orders and the rules of warfare to the letter.
- This actually bit him hard during the Periphery Uprising, as while he was heavy-handed in fighting the insurrection, when things escalated into open war, his refusal to go all-out against those who he saw as misguided Star League citizens only encouraged the uprising, as it presented the view that the Star League had gone soft.
- During the conquest of the Rim Worlds Republic, he could have let his soldiers engage in a total war to make things quick, but he limited the use of weapons of mass destruction to hardened military targets and made sure his men weren't indiscriminate in completing their objectives.
- Despite everything Amaris had done - staging a coup, seizing control of the Hegemony, starting an interstellar war, glassing, nuking, or poisoning planets that opposed him or simply couldn't be defended to his satisfaction anymore, using civilians as human shields and slaves - when Kerensky finally had him at his mercy, he could have simply blown him away with the weapons on his Mech. Kerensky didn't. He had Amaris and his family put up in a hotel as he would the captured leader of any other nation...until he found out what had really happened to the Cameron family. Then he had Amaris and his entire family executed by firing squad.
- Even after defeating Stefan Amaris, he refused to oppose the House Lords or seize control of the Star League by force, viewing it as an act of treason. This integrity made him widely respected, though it ultimately doomed the Star League.
Fling a Light into the Future: The famous Voice of Kerensky, as quoted above. It was a message of peace transmitted via standard radio from the newly settled Pentagon Worlds by Kerensky himself, and it wouldn't reach the borders of the Inner Sphere for almost a thousand years (1500 years until it reached Terra itself). Ironically, the first people from the Inner Sphere to hear it were the members of Task Force Serpent in 3060, on their way to attack Clan Smoke Jaguar in retaliation for the Clan Invasion.
Frontline General: Downplayed. Most of the time, it's not indicated that he took to the field himself, but when the SLDF troops finally made planetfall on Earth he helped liberate Moscow in his custom Orion and famously kicked open the doors to Amaris's palace in America with his 'Mech. He also took part in the fighting on New Vandenburg Uprising, but that was more of a case of the frontline coming to him.
Four-Star Badass: Kerensky is considered the best military mind in history. As the Commanding General of the Star League Defense Force at the height of its power, Kerensky was swinging the biggest stick in the galaxy.
Good Is Not Soft: Kerensky is regarded as one of the biggest goods in the Inner Sphere, but he was a soldier, and when it came to dealing with problems he didn't mess around. He followed the rules of war to the letter, but he did what was necessary within those rules to put down the Periphery Uprising. Every planet he conquered during the Amaris Civil War, he took down corrupt or collaborating governments, punished the administrators who had helped Amaris or abused their citizens, and left functioning infrastructure in his wake.
Named After Someone Famous / Does This Remind You of Anything?: Aleksandr Kerensky the SLDF General was most likely named after Aleksandr Kerensky, the leader of the February Revolution in Russia that toppled the Czar. In fluff, after his death, the Clans took his body and placed it in a crystal coffin on a battleship in geosynchronous orbit over Strana Mechty's largest city, with floodlights illuminating it and a rotating patrol of guards from all the Clans standing watch over it. The historical Kerensky's main rival was Vladimir Lenin who after he died was placed in a crystal coffin...
Loophole Abuse: The Crusader Clans took a passage from Kerensky's General Order 137, and turned it into the "Hidden Hope Doctrine", citing it as proof that the general wanted his followers to one day return to the Inner Sphere and restore the Star League by force.
Kerensky: We shall live apart, conserving all the good of the Star League and ridding ourselves of the bad, so that when we return — and return we shall — our shining moral character will be as much our shield as our BattleMechs and fighters.
Morton's Fork: After the civil war he was faced with two choices to decide the fate of what was left of the Star League: use his loyal SLDF army to take control of the council and declare himself the new First Lord, or sit back and let the rival House Lords fight each other for the title (or throw the weight of the SLDF behind one of them and engage in a war of conquest against the others). Either option would trigger a massive war that would devastate the Inner Sphere, especially with the massive might of the SLDF in play. A conversation with a subordinate gave him a third option: Operation EXODUS.
No Man Should Have This Power: Downplayed. Despite the truly horrific losses the SLDF had taken during the Amaris Civil War, they were still the most powerful military in existence when the Star League crumbled. Hundreds of divisions' worth of troops and WarShips rampaging would have truly ruined the Inner Sphere, and Kerensky saw his only option to be physically removing them from the situation.
Old Soldier: The last (known) time he was in the cockpit was in October of 2079 at the final assault on Amaris's palace, which would have made him 78 years old.
"Open!" Says Me: One of the most famous images of the Amaris Civil War was Kerensky's 75-ton Orion 'Mech kicking down the gates of Unity Palace on Terra to arrest Amaris at mech gun-point.
Our Founder: The Clans call Kerensky the Great Father.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Almost singlehandedly kept the SLDF from running wild during their campaigns against the Rim Worlds Republic and the Terran Hegemony. He even treated the defeated Stefan Amaris and his family with due respect as prisoners of war, until he ordered their deaths by firing squad after seeing what they did to the Camerons.
Rebel Leader: Kerensky led the liberation of Terra from Amaris. His wife and children also fought as rebels on Terra, having been there the entire time.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!:
- After he went public with what Amaris was doing to the Hegemony and had done to the Periphery, enormous amounts of volunteer troops - soldiers, sailors, Mech pilots, aerojocks, all essentially went AWOL from House militaries and pledged themselves (and their equipment, often technically stolen) to help Kerensky set things right because their own lords had refused to help openly and earnestly. Kerensky organized them into a volunteers corps and wound up with thirty-six regiments of them by the time the invasion began.
- After the House Lords proved themselves unable to work together and began building up their own militaries for what would become the First Succesion War, Kerensky planned to leave the Inner Sphere forever and take as much of the SLDF with him as he could. While this was technically desertion and treason against the Star League (or whatever was left of it), it was what he saw as his only remaining good option.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Kerensky left the Inner Sphere, taking the bulk of the Star League's army and navy with him into exile, as he didn't want to get involved in the power struggle between the Great Houses. Ironically, the SLDF leaving meant that there was really no major force left to stop the House Lords from each declaring themselves First Lord and starting the First Succession War.
"Shaggy Dog" Story: After leading the SLDF in a brutal 14-year struggle to liberate the Terran Hegemony from Amaris and his Rim Worlds Republic armies, Kerensky was forced to watch as the Council Lords immediately began arguing and plotting to make themselves the new First Lord of the Star League. When he tried to mediate a compromise, they stripped him of his position as Protector of the Star League, dissolved the High Council, and tried to recruit the surviving SLDF troops into their own armies in preparation for the First Succession War.
- Then, after leading his loyal SLDF troops out of the madness that would seize the Inner Sphere to prevent the devastation their skills and equipment would bring, his people too would soon fracture along cultural lines and start an internecine war. Then Kerensky died before he could reunite his mutinous troops. Furthermore, his son Nicholas would start his father's last loyal followers down a path that would result in their descendants returning to the Inner Sphere as conquerors rather than protectors and saviours.
Take a Third Option:
- After the Amaris Coup, Kerensky was essentially marooned with the SLDF in the Periphery. They were fighting a rebellion that had been started as a distraction, had no place to return to so they could regroup, and no help was coming. Kerensky could side with Amaris and support the usurper, or take his already-battered troops and try to besiege the heaviest-defended area of space in the Inner Sphere. So he declares a truce with the Periphery powers, takes over the now lightly defended Rim Worlds Republic, Amaris's home nation, and uses it as a base to regroup and rearm before invading the Hegemony to take down Amaris.
- During the liberation of the Terran Hegemony, the other Great Houses began annexing systems he had just freed from Amaris's control. He didn't have the troops to fight both Amaris and them, and didn't have the resources to support the populations of the planets devastated by Amaris's scorched earth strategy. So he let the Great Houses take the systems, thus making the support of the populations and the reconstruction their problem.
- After Terra was liberated, Amaris was dead but war again loomed as each head of the remaining five Great Houses started sizing up the throne of the First Lord. Kerensky could either support one of them or declare himself First Lord. He chose exile instead.
Tragic Dream: Kerensky envisioned recreating the Star League that would lead mankind into a new age of peace. He died on the eve of a war that would finish off what was left of the Star League. The Clans then later used his own words to justify invasion of the Inner Sphere.
Undying Loyalty:
- To the Star League. Kerensky refused point-blank to declare himself First Lord and overthrow the other House Lords, and spent two full years shuttling between various worlds trying to get the House Lords to reconcile their differences after they dissolved the Star League. Whether or not he entirely agreed with the Inner Sphere view of the Periphery as barely civilized fools and renegades is unclear, but he followed orders to put down the Periphery Uprising and did everything he could to make sure that something of the Star League survived.
- Kerensky got this from his men as well - when he gave every member of the SLDF a choice to leave with him, over eighty percent opted to go with him, some 113 divisions. Many of those that stayed behind still stuck together, joining the newly-formed ComStar with Kerensky's unofficial consent. His second-in-command had put forth the idea of seizing control of the Star League, and even after over a decade of brutal campaigning and him being removed from command by the House Lords, the SLDF most likely still would have followed him into war again if he had decided to do it.
Unwanted False Faith: After his death and the formation of the Clans, Aleksandr was virtually deified, with subsequent generations revering him. Additionally, the "Hidden Hope" doctrine, derived from a portion of one of his General Orders^note would form the basis for the Clans' core belief that they must one day return to the Inner Sphere. Disagreements over exactly what this return was supposed to entail would also result in the same sort of infighting and factions that Kerensky sought to protect his followers from.
We Can Rule Together: Stefan Amaris offered General Kerensky the chance to become his dragon, with power second only to his own, if he would "become [his] sword arm and help [him] impress [his] word and wisdom upon the other realms." Suffice to say, the good general was having none of it, and did not even dignify it with a message in response.
Weapon Specialization: Piloted an Orion for most of his career. This led to the 'mech gaining a near-venerated reputation amongst the Clans, who would keep up symbolic production of Orions (including a Clan Wolf-exclusive IIC variant) even after the creation of the OmniMech.

Richard Cameron

Richard Cameron, the last First Lord

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/battletech_intro_cinematic_720pmp4_snapshot_0124_20210113_191658.jpg

Richard Cameron, as seen in the 2018 Battletech introduction cinematic

The erstwhile final First Lord of the Star League. He took the throne as a child, with Stefan Amaris as his Regent. Unfortunately for everyone, Amaris was a terrible advisor, manipulating Richard into becoming a brutal oppressor of the Periphery and directing him to weaken the Star League so that it would be easier to take over. Richard's legacy is one of brutality (in the Periphery worlds) and innocence (in the Core Worlds), with his memory polarized by those who forgive him for being manipulated by Amaris and those who curse him for the same.

A Child Shall Lead Them: He became First Lord at six years old. He might have grown up to be a worthy leader if anybody besides Amaris tried to be a positive influence in his life. Unfortunately, while Kerensky (in his position as regent) did his best, his duties as commander of the entire SLDF made it impossible do so on a consistent basis; nobody else even tried, instead attempting to manipulate him for their own ends.
Berserk Button: Anyone standing up to him or telling him he couldn't do something. While Aleksandr Kerensky and the Great Houses forced him to back down on his attempts to disarm them, he never forgave them for it.
Brother–Sister Incest: According to rumours started by Stefan Amaris, Richard engaged in this with two of his sisters. Whether or not there were any truth to the charges is unknown, but Amaris, naturally, was hardly an unbiased storyteller on the subject.
Boom, Headshot!: Died by being shot in the head by Stefan Amaris point-blank.
The Caligula: Between being all but raised by Stefan Amaris and the already almost unlimited power given to him as First Lord, it's unsurprising Richard didn't turn out well. His major 'accomplishments' before Amaris took over was to institute even heavier taxes on the Periphery and attempting to disarm the Great Houses. He was so unpopular that the Great Houses remained neutral even after Amaris publically declared he'd taken over Star League.
El Cid Ploy: After killing Richard, Stefan Amaris claimed Richard had turned ill and had been hospitalized for his own good. It wasn't until after the Civil War was over that the truth came out.
End of an Era: While Richard's death marked the start of the Amaris Civil War that would rip the Inner Sphere apart, Richard's rise to the throne ultimately marked the end of the Star League and the Golden Age that is represented (for most worlds).
Entitled Bastard: Believed that as First Lord of Star League he could do whatever he liked. Naturally, he couldn't, and Kerensky pointing this out to him put him in Richard's bad graces.
Hair-Trigger Temper: He was known to have screaming temper tantrums whenever someone opposed him at anything. Neeldess to say, this didn't make for a good ruler.
Puppet King: He was this for Stefan Amaris, who manipulated him from his childhood.
Royal Brat: He spent far more time on debauchery, alcoholism and violence than he did actually trying to rule the Star League. When he did try to rule, he destroyed almost everything he touched.
Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: This was his attitude towards everything in life. He nursed a lifelong hatred for anyone who opposed him or even tried to tell him "no."
Sheltered Aristocrat: Almost no one bothered to even try being a positive influence in his life except for Stefan Amaris. That made him incredibly easy to corrupt and manipulate.
Sketchy Successor: Simon Cameron wasn't exactly loved by the Periphery, but he made attempts to at least reach out to them (which resulted in his death and Richard being elevated to First Lord far earlier than anyone would have expected). Richard, however, was poorly regarded by everyone, the Periphery thinking him an idiot and the Inner Sphere lords thinking him a tyrant who would try to rule alone.
Tyrant Takes the Helm: To the rest of the Great Houses, at least. To the Periphery it was a case of Meet the New Boss, but in between Richard's technical ascension to First Lordship and him actually taking power, the House Lords were more or less left to their own devices. As a result, they had over a decade to build up their forces, which led to Richard attempting to disarm them when he took power, which led to Richard dissolving the High Council and declaring his intent to rule the Star League by decree. This only got worse when he decided to build up the SLDF further in response, and tried to finance it with a tax increase.
Unwitting Pawn: He took the throne of the Star League at the tender age of six, and grew up with Amaris guiding him. He trusted Amaris completely. This ended poorly for everyone.
Weak-Willed: His spoiled upbringing and naivete made him a useful puppet for Amaris. It also made him easily give in when enough pressure was applied to him by Kerensky and the Great Houses.
Your Head Asplode: Based on a grisly piece of artwork in the Historical: Liberation of Terra Vol. II sourcebook, when Stefan Amaris shot him, there was nothing remaining of his head.
0% Approval Rating: Nobody grieved for him when they learned he was dead. At best, they see him as a naive fool, at worst they see him as a bloodthirsty tyrant.

Stefan Amaris

Amaris the Usurper

"You will fight to the last soldier, and when you die, I will call upon your damned souls to rise and speak horrible curses at the enemy."

—Emperor Amaris' Rousing Speech to the defenders of Terra.

Era(s): Star League

The man responsible for ending the Star League Golden Era and setting up the Inner Sphere's state of collapse during the Succession Wars Era. Hailing from the periphery Nation of the Rim Worlds Republic he set himself up has the best friend of the young, naive First Lord Richard Cameron and manipulated him into giving him and his followers power. Once all was set, he killed Richard and the rest of the Cameron family and took over the Terran Hegemony resulting in a brutal 13-year long struggle by Aleksandr Kerensky and the Star League Defense Force to oust the Usurper. During the war, he and his forces committed many atrocities against both Aleksandr Kerensky's forces and civilians.

At the end of the conflict, he was captured and executed, and his home nation and family were wiped out but the damage he caused to the Inner Sphere by his actions forever changes the inner sphere.

Bad Boss: Ordered a team of engineers to design and build a superheavy 'Mech capable of holding off an entire company on its own. When the resulting BattleMech's leg actuators proved incapable of moving the thing, he had them executed for "treasonous incompetence".
- On a larger scale, he stripped his own Rim Worlds Republic of troops and ships, which he used in his overthrow of the Camerons and the Terran Hegemony worlds while the Star League Defense Force was busy in the Periphery, leaving his home kingdom nearly defenceless while he consolidated his hold on Terra. When the SLDF invaded the Rim Worlds in retaliation, only the most die-hard loyalists rose to resist them, as the bulk of the population realized their leader had essentially abandoned them.
Boom, Headshot!: Killed Richard Cameron with a golden laser pistol that he used to blow the First Lord's head off.
The Caligula: To the point he made Hitler look like a schoolboy.
Can't Take Criticism: For Amaris, even the slightest suggestion that things weren't going to plan was an attack on his competence or legitimacy. This reached such dysfunctional proportions that even with untold millions of citizens starving or working themselves to death building Amaris's defenses, many planetary governors simply kept their heads down because Amaris would Make an Example of Them and their people for speaking out.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Befriended Richard Cameron and then betrayed him to become First Lord. Allied with Nicoletta Calderon to plan the New Vandenburg Uprising, and then sold out the other conspirators to Kerensky.
Control Freak: Amaris was already used to ruling as a virtual absolute dictator in the Rim Worlds Republic. He tried imposing this same style on the Terran Hegemony after his coup, with disastrous results.
Dead Guy on Display:
- Villainous aversion: He had all of House Cameron shot and piled their corpses in the First Lord's throne room together with Richard's headless body, then locked up the throne room and left them to rot (this allowed him, for a time, to assure everyone that Richard and his family were fine, and if everyone got with the Amaris program, they'd stay that way). Years later, after Kerensky's successful campaign against Amaris, the throne room was finally reopened by SLDF soldiers, who were horrified at the sight. Kerensky had prior been treating Amaris with some degree of magnamity in his victory over the usurper, but ceased altogether with such regard after he learned of the fate of the Camerons' remains.
- Once General Kerensky and the SLDF finally had Amaris dead, questions arose as to what to do with the body. Do they dispose of it into space to never be seen again? That would engender doubts that he was dead. Do they bury it? The gravesite would become a martyr shrine to his followers and elicit defacement by his far more numerous enemies. So what does Kerensky do? On the suggestion of one of his subordinates, he donates it to science. There, Amaris's remains can suffer the indignity of being a curio of the medically inquisitive, and the evidence that Amaris is well and truly dead is locked away in a freezer to be brought out if anyone doubts. 64 years later, when the Lost Technology freezers fail, the medical school that owns the body dumps it in an unmarked grave in their cemetery, putting a final coda on the life of the most hated man in the universe.
The Dog Was the Mastermind: Regarded as a Category Traitor sucking up to the First Lord in the Periphery (except his own nation) and a fool from the back-country in the Inner Sphere, virtually nobody suspected Amaris was planning anything, let alone something on the scale of taking over the Star League. The Periphery states he helped arm figured he was trying to free the Periphery from the League's control, and until Amaris announced his control of the Terran Hegemony, the Inner Sphere barely regarded him as worth noticing.
The Emperor: Or so he claimed after his takeover, though such a claim wasn't recognised by the rest of the Star League, except in the Rim Worlds Republic. As far as his right of rulership went, Stefan was legally the President of the Rim Worlds and the Director-General of the Terran Hegemony, but that was about it.
Evil Chancellor / Treacherous Advisor / Big Bad Friend : He was all of these Tropes to Richard Cameron, all to help get him into the right position for his takeover of the Terran Hegemony.
Fat Bastard: Turned notably overweight in his later years.
Godwin's Law: As a consequence for his utter depravity, numerous atrocities, and killing the Star League, his name alone amounts the same level as Hitler himself. He's actually consider a bigger villain in the setting that both Adolf Hitler and Judas Escariot.
Good Hair, Evil Hair / Obviously Evil : Has a Fu Manchu mustache in all depictions of him and isn't really good looking in general.
Hate Sink: For all its flaws in practice, the Star League represented the dream of a future where humanity could finally put violence behind them and work together as a species for the betterment of all, rather than embroiling itself in an endless cycle of self-destruction. Amaris and his mad power grab killed that future stone dead, earning him a place as the setting's single most hated character in-universe and out.
Horrible Judge of Character: He assumed that General Kerensky was more loyal to the Star League itself than the Cameron family, and would simply fall in line and follow orders once Amaris' takeover of the government was complete. When Kerensky refused to answer his calls and started moving his armies toward the undefended Rim Worlds Republic, Amaris realized he'd made a big mistake in not having him killed.
Hypocrite: Admonished someone for failing to refer to General Kerensky by his proper rank, even though he called him 'Aleks' more than once. One someone(specifically the imaginary ghost of First Lord Richard Cameron, as he was stark raving mad by that point) called him out on it he denied being hypocritical, as 'Aleks' was his subordinate, or rather should have been.
Make It Look Like an Accident: Heavily implied by a formerly sealed SLDF internal intelligence report that was later revealed by Clan Ghost Bear that he had a hand in the death of Richard Cameron's father Simon Cameron to make him take the duty of leading the Terran Hegemony before he was ready to lead it to make it more easy to manipulate Richard because of that.
Nuke 'em: Had various places nuked because of their resistance to him and his rule. Later on, he started having places nuked as his troops pulled back as a scorched earth policy, simply to deny Kerensky a place to stage from.
Obfuscating Stupidity: During his time in the Terran royal court, he deliberately played up the image of a country bumpkin from a backwater Periphery kingdom, who was simply trying to suck up and curry favour with the future First Lord Richard. It worked so well, many of the other House Lords were actually grateful to have him around, as he kept "the brat Richard" entertained and distracted while they ran the Star League according to their own whims. By the time they realized there was more to Amaris than they had suspected, he'd become Richard's sole friend and confidante, so removing him from the court was all but impossible.
The Paranoiac: After killing Richard Cameron and taking his place, Amaris went to extreme lengths to make sure the same couldn't happen to himself. He massively fortified the Terran Hegemony's already-formidable planetary defenses, and he made extensive use of Secret Police to weed out the slightest hint of dissent. His efforts to protect himself grew more and more extreme as the Civil War ground on.
Pay Evil unto Evil: About the only people who give Amaris the slightest bit of respect are the denizens of the old Periphery realms. They still acknowledge and despise him as an utterly loathsome, conniving, backstabbing mass-murderer, but given their own history with the Inner Sphere, they tend to see his murder of the Camerons and the resulting devastation of the Civil War as the Star League's chickens coming home to roost after generations of systematic oppression and exploitation of their own homelands. That, and the weapons he helped them get their hands on were genuine enough, while the Civil War itself gave them the opportunity to reclaim their own independence relatively painlessly.
Playing Both Sides: While supposedly supporting the Star League during the Periphery Uprising, tracking down and executing anti-League spies and resistance groups in the Rim Worlds, he also did everything he could to secretly arm the Periphery states and even got Richard Cameron to give him untold amounts of government grants from the League's coffers with basically no strings attached under the guise of "development funds" that he doled out to the Periphery states, basically having the League arm the people they were about to have to fight. He helped the Periphery arm themselves to the teeth, all the while appearing perfectly loyal and even helping reinforce the Hegemony with Rim Worlds Republic forces while the SLDF had to deploy in increasing numbers to the Periphery. Then he seized the Hegemony and abandoned the other Periphery nations.
The Purge: Had the rest of House Cameron executed following Richard's death to prevent any Cameron heirs. He later expanded this to include anyone with even a drop of Cameron blood to make absolutely sure the family would never return.
Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Another villain trope the Rim Worlds Republic's armed forces ticked off. His forces looted Terran Hegmony worlds and worked the civillian population to death in a vain effort to stop the SLDF. On the way out, many Republic units would wreak havoc. One infamous unit was the Greenhaven Gestapo that Amaris tasked with occuping Europe. They lived up to their name by sacking Rome For the Evulz.
Salt the Earth: Besides literally doing this on a planetary scale when his forces fell back during the Amaris Civil War, he managed to do this with the Star League itself on a metaphorical level. Exterminating the Cameron family, destabilizing the Star League government during the coup, and the horrific damage inflicted on Hegemony worlds and the SLDF meant that when his forces finally surrendered, Star League couldn't be rebuilt. Without a successor for First Lord, the other Houses began grabbing which bits they could of the Hegemony and claiming the post of First Lord for themselves. Without the economy and government of the Star League to unite them, the Inner Sphere would revert to the method of diplomacy common during the Age of War. And without the SLDF able to keep the Houses in line (which they couldn't without material support from the Star League itself and especially the Hegemony), there was nothing to stop them from nuking each other into oblivion.
Sanity Slippage: His mental state deteriorated the closer the SLDF armies got to Terra. By the time of the liberation, it was said he couldn't even look up at the stars anymore, because all he could see was General Kerensky's face staring down at him.
Satanic Archetype: To the Clans and ComStar, who hold an almost or actually religious devotion to the Star League, Amaris is basically Satan. During the Clan Invasion, both Clan Steel Viper and Jade Falcon would devote resources to hunt down and sterilize anyone they encountered during the Invasion related in any way to House Amaris. Even the Successor State citizens hold a historical revulsion for him; not to the degree of him being Satanic, but akin to a more recent Hitler-like figure.
Small Role, Big Impact: While his role in the events immediately preceding the fall of the Star League is not small, the event is so distant by the time most BattleTech fiction and games are set that he becomes this. The man is, basically, singlehandedly responsible for the entirety of the setting. Except for the 'Mechs themselves, but he supplies all the reasons for them to fight starting at the First Succession War. In short, the Star League may not have been perfect, but it gave humanity as close to a golden age and relative peace as it had ever gotten. Amaris broke it.
Superweapon Surprise: When he seized the Hegemony, he brought out absurd amounts of forces for a Periphery state, outnumbering a Great House's military, with WarShips that out-massed and out-classed even some of the SLDF line vessels. This wound up helping keep the Great Houses out of the fight until it was obvious Kerensky was winning, as the House Lords had very real concerns that Amaris may have had something even worse up his sleeve. Subverted later during the war, where most of his bonkers ideas for uber-weapons to stop the SLDF wound up being massive money-sinks that either didn't accomplish anything or were barely functional and impractical when used.
The Usurper: The most infamous example inverse. In fact, he's commonly known as "Amaris the Usurper."
We Can Rule Together: After seizing Terra, he sent a message to Aleksandr Kerensky offering him a place as his number two man in the Amaris Empire and complete control over the unified Rim Worlds-SLDF army, if he swore fealty to Amaris. Kerensky didn't even bother to respond.
We Need a Distraction: In the lead-up to his takeover of the Terran Hegemony, he covertly funded and equipped insurgent groups throughout the Periphery, forcing the SLDF to deploy more and more of their forces to put down rebellions far from home, leaving the heart of the Star League easy pickings.

Terran Hegemony (House Cameron)

In General

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/terran_hegemony.jpg

Emblem of the Terran Hegemony (distinct from the Star League)

Ruled by House Cameron, the Terran Hegemony was an interstellar state located at the center of the Inner Sphere. Established after a military coup led by James McKenna overthrew the vestiges of the Terran Alliance, the Hegemony quickly rose to dominate positions in the realms of technology, military innovations, and diplomacy. The Hegemony's era of aggressive diplomacy eventually led to the creation of the Star League, and its destruction (as well as that of the Hegemony itself) in the Amaris Civil War that led to the Succession Wars. The Hegemony ceased to exist in 2767. However, the Republic of the Sphere that was founded in the wake of the Jihad in 3081 is considered by most to be the Hegemony's successor.

Hegemonic Empire: While Hegemony is in the name, the Terran Hegemony wasn't really this within its own territory — the majority of the Hegemony's territory was either directly inherited from the Terran Alliance or conquered by force — but the Star League was effectively the Terran Hegemony's Hegemonic Empire over the Inner Sphere. Recognizing that they'd never be able to take on the rest of the Great Powers in a straight fight, the Hegemony focused on turning itself into an economic and technological powerhouse, then used its advantages to broker agreements that put them on top while still benefiting everyone as a whole.
Hereditary Republic: The Hegemony was not a monarchy, as the position of Director-General was (technically) passed down through a limited form of democratic means. However, the vast majority of the Hegemony's rulers have been members of House Cameron. Michael Cameron, the first Cameron Director-General and the second ruler of the Hegemony, was the founder's cousin.
The Missing Faction: The Terran Hegemony formed both the literal and the metaphorical heart of the Star League, providing House Cameron and the Star League Defense Force with their foundational support. The Hegemony's utter collapse as a result of the Amaris Civil War led directly to the Succession Wars, as the other Inner Sphere states fought one another to fill the power vacuum.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: With roughly only ninety-five star systems under its control the Hegemony was the smallest interstellar state of its era. It was also the most powerful and technologically advanced nation in the Inner Sphere, as well as the inventor of the Battlemech.
Vestigial Empire: The Hegemony was technically this to the Terran Alliance, as it controlled only a small fraction of its original territory.

James McKenna

Era(s): Age of War

The founder of the Terran Hegemony and its first Director-General.

The Big Guy: He was described as a tall, muscular man, and even in the one image of him he appears to be a large fellow.
The Dreaded Dreadnought: He was the push behind creating the first true WarShip, the TAS Dreadnought, which fit the trope at the time due to being the only WarShip in existence. While future vessels were more powerful, they all owe their existence to this class. A later class of SLDF dreadnought bearing a frightening array of naval PPCs would bear his family's name as well.
Famous-Named Foreigner: Shares his surname with famous Canadian comedic actor Patrick McKenna, best known as Harold on The Red Green Show.
Founder of the Kingdom: He is this for the Terran Hegemony.
Military Coup: Fed up with the increasingly unstable Alliance regime, McKenna brought his ship into orbit of Terra, where he had his ship's gunner target and destroy two uninhabited islands using the ship's weaponry. These orbital strikes were the prelude to the ultimatum he made to the warring Alliance government to stand down.
Never Learned to Read: He was not formally schooled until he was twelve years old. However, despite his late education, McKenna possessed a passion for learning, and hidden underneath his brusque exterior laid an intelligent man.
Rags to Royalty: From a simple boy living in the Yukon to an Admiral to the founding father of the Terran Hegemony.
Space Navy: McKenna was an Admiral in the Terran Alliance's navy, and he was also responsible for the development of the Alliance's first true WarShip, the TAS Dreadnought, and its six sister ships. He also used the Dreadnought to initiate his coup of the Alliance.
The Purge: After he took power, one of his first acts was to hunt down and destroy all members of the renegade political parties on Terra and other worlds and wrote in the Hegemony Charter that all political parties would be abolished.

Jacob Cameron

Go on, find a more The '80s-looking man. We'll wait.

Era(s): Age of War

Eighth Director-General of the Hegemony, Jacob Cameron was responsible for the current state of Battletech warfare by spearheading use of the Battlemech as a weapon of war and sinking most of the Hegemony's military budget into the new weapon.

'80s Hair: As can be seen above, his mullet was rather prominent.
General Failure: Decided to start his tenure by declaring a war of territorial expansion against both the Capellans and the FedSuns at the same time. The result was a lot of lives and treasure spent for absolutely no gains, and Jacob nearly losing his position to an angry populace and his life to a poisoner.
My God, What Have I Done?: A very downplayed example, but after being poisoned (and surviving) he mellowed out considerably and began spending more of the Hegemony's budget on charity and welfare programmes. He still almost sunk the Hegemony's entire military budget into battlemech development, leaving the other branches (especially the navy) to rot.
Sketchy Successor: He was the first Director-General who got the position through direct appointment by the last one (his father), and outside funding the creation of the Mackie he wasn't particularly successful at much of anything during his tenure.
Small Role, Big Impact: Despite an otherwise unexceptional tenure, his role in creating the Battlemech and being tangentially involved in the exodus and ascendance of House Amaris to rulers of the Rim Worlds Republic would have, uh, shall we say, 'long term effects'.

Federated Suns (House Davion)

In General

Emblem of the Federated Suns

The Federated Suns was formed from a handful of Terran Alliance worlds in 2317 after the Alliance withdrew its border and abandoned all the worlds beyond to their fates. Envisioned as a constitutional monarchy nearly from the beginning, recognizing the difficulties of interstellar democracy, the Suns would grow to become the largest interstellar nation and the most powerful after the Terran Hegemony itself.

Though the government like to boast its cherished civil liberties, the fact is that the Federated Suns' power rises from its military, boasting an unmatched combination of skill, strategy, resources, and initiative. Under the leadership of First Prince Hanse Davion, the Suns and their new Lyran Commonwealth allies devoured half the Capellan Confederation and threatened the Draconis Combine on all fronts. Only the Clan invasion could cause the Suns to yield ground to their traditional enemies as their new Archon Prince, Victor Steiner-Davion, set off to fight new ones.

A Lighter Shade of Grey: The Federated Suns are a progressive, forward thinking, semi-democratic (at least in name) Federation with aspirations to be a beacon of liberty and tolerance for humanity. Unfortunately, their Constitution doesn't really hold any weight with nobles effectively holding all of the real power, and their leadership are full of hypocritical jackasses with fatal flaws, especially pride and arrogance, and many tragic heroes. However, they are surrounded by other factions that are unabashed, brutal expansionist police states with Chronic Backstabbing Disorder in a crapsack world where humanity has warred so much that progress has stagnated. It gets worse when you discover that the leadership of these other aggressive factions tend to lose their sanity due to the pressures of ruling.
Arch-Enemy: Though the Suns sees its Inner Sphere neighbors as oppressed people in need of a healthy dose of freedom, existing in a near-constant state of war with both, historically only the Draconis Combine has been able to give back as good as it gets. As of the 3140s, however, the resurgent Capellan Confederation has also become this.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: By law, one cannot be the First Prince of the Federated Suns without having served five years in a frontline military unit. Most First Princes have been highly skilled MechWarriors.
- Enemy Mine: The only time there was any relative peace or cooperation with the Federated Suns/Commonwealth was in the face of the Clan invasion. It also helped that Theodore Kurita and Hanse Davion were both exceptionally reasonable people, and their sons Victor Steiner-Davion and Hohiro Kurita (after putting aside blood rivalries) became exceptionally good friends. But the real kicker in warming Combine-FedSuns relations was Victor and Omi Kurita falling for each other. (Hanse and Theodore actually joke about a hypothetical wedding, which includes assassins for all involved and at least one attempted mass secession.)
Black-and-Gray Morality: Though the Federated Suns preach freedom and liberty, they are not without their flaws, and are an aggressive military power. But then again, on one border they have the Draconis, who are crazed Space Samurai hellbent on universal domination, who are just as happy to slaughter their own civilians as their enemies and who committed the worst warcrime in Battletech history. On the other border, you have an authoritarian police state whose greatest claim to fame are their secret police, ran by scheming sociopathic nobles with Chronic Backstabbing Disorder and it's a roll of the dice on just how sane they are.
Blood Knight: The Suns are considered to generally have some of the best skilled military generals and captains in the universe, more on the side of Cultured Warrior than anything else - that is until the Clans show up. And since Battletech is a Crapsack World where humanity has spent years upon years warring with each other, this culture has only been reinforced, especially when dealing with the Draconis Combine.
Church of Saint Genericus: Toyed with. During the Amaris Coup, the Catholic Pope realized (correctly) that he wasn't going to survive the occupation and granted the cardinals the temporary power necessary to run the church in their respective domains. The Federated Suns cardinal received a garbled message and after the dust had settled, the New Avalon Catholic Church had come into being. It's essentially just a FedSuns-only spinoff of the Catholic Church. The current New Avalon Pope is Pope Leo XXI, a skilled MechWarrior.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Marked either yellow or orange on maps. Their signature units use either blue with red and white stripes (The Davion Brigade of Guards) or olive drab (the Crucis Lancers) in their livery.
Eagle Land: Despite its feudal political system, the Suns definitely think of themselves as a beautiful bastion of liberty. This is not without warrant, as Federated Suns citizens are granted human rights that are denied to Capellan or Combine citizens such as freedom of speech, the press, etc. The culture and governmental system are inspired by Western nations, especially the United States, United Kingdom and France.
The Federation: Generally depicted as such, even if it's a federation run by noble autocrats and showing a distinct preference for military aggression. But they do have a point considering their neighbors are full expansionist dictatorships bent on universal domination.
Fictional Currency: The D-Bill is also called the Pound.
He Who Fights Monsters: There are definitely shades of this. The FedSuns want to be the good guys in a universe where that might not be possible, where War Is Hell and humanity has started to degenerate due to how much fighting there has been.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: In 3025, the year the BattleTech game first begins, the FedSuns were the strongest of the Successor States, and only got stronger once Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner married to form the Federated Commonwealth. Since their deaths and the break-up of the union, it's been nothing more than a slow and steady decline for the Davions, culminating in the fact that as of the Shattered Fortress sourcebook (ending in 3151), the Draconis Combine has taken New Avalon from them.
Hypocrite: The FedSuns preach liberty, equality, and tolerance, but their nation is unabashedly a feudal monarchy with hereditary lords holding all constitutional power and only the right to elect representatives to your planetary government- who is still technically subordinate to the nobles- enshrined in the constitution; and there's no national elected assembly AT ALL. When a ruler like Hanse Davion is at the helm, the system works. When some of his less able descendants take over, the veneer starts to come off and things start going very, very poorly.
Jack of All Trades: The AFFS is the most professional and well balanced military in the Inner Sphere, practicing true strategy of combined arms, with skilled and professional leadership to boot.
Knight Templar: There's a dark undercurrent to the Fed Suns' belief in themselves as "the freest of the free" among the Inner Sphere powers, and it most often manifests as a tendency towards self-righteous arrogance. House Davion and its followers are just as capable of being ruthless and conniving as any of the other Great Houses, but if they reflect on it at all, they tend to justify it with thoughts like "It's for a noble cause" or "We're just giving the bad guys a taste of their own medicine" even if their victims have their own justifiable grievances — witness pretty much their entire history with the Taurian Concordat.
Light Is Good: As per the trope, the Fed Suns literally have a sun as part of their title and emblem, and style themselves as the good guys. How actually good they are is up for debate.
Moral Myopia: They don't "conquer." They "liberate." The difference between the two from the perspective of those "liberated" is often academic.
More Dakka: The Davions love their autocannons. Every class, every category, if it spits bullets at the enemy they love it and the machines that carry it. They invented the Rotary Autocannon, as well as being the first nation to see past the bad reputation and get good use out of the Blackjack.
Pragmatic Hero: Particularly with the nobles along the Draconis and Capellan borders. They often raid across the borders while pitching the propaganda of liberation, when they often just want to expand their personal dominion and prestige.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: When the Federated Suns merged with the Lyran Commonwealth to form the Federated Commonwealth there was a culture clash, especially with the incompetence of Steiner "social generals" standing out compared to the FedSuns' military professionalism. This didn't bode well for the future of the Federated Commonwealth.
The Protagonist: Unofficially in Battletech's earlier years (1980s-1990s). For the Battletech universe and the literature surrounding it, much of the writing is from a Federated Suns' point of view. They are the closest thing the universe has to heroic protagonists for the audience to root for, with some of the most developed characters in the franchise.
Reasonable Authority Figure: One of the secrets to the Federated Suns' general success. The Davion family shows a distinct lack of incompetence and megalomania compared to the other ruling houses. The fact that the Davions were the only Great House to accept House Steiner's peace proposal after the Third Succession War speaks to this as well.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: As befitting such a militarized nation with vestiges of noblesse oblige, the title of First Prince can only be inherited after serving five years with a front-line combat unit.
She Is the King: The rulers of the Federated Suns are titled First Prince and are addressed as such, regardless of their gender. The sole exception would be Katherine Steiner-Davion, who titled herself First Princess, but she was never a legitimate ruler of the FedSuns anyway.
Shining City: New Avalon, the Capital of the Federated Suns. Its the most developed and cosmopolitan world in the Battletech universe, with the most advanced scientific and academic institutions.
Soldier Versus Warrior: The Soldiers to the Draconis Combine's (and later the Clans') Warriors.
Unscrupulous Hero: This trope fits the Suns to a T. The Suns hold up such ideals like liberty, equality, tolerance, many willingly fight for these ideals and believe in them, and FedSuns citizens are given basic human rights that are mostly denied to them by most other factions. Relatively speaking, it's probably better being under the rulership of the FedSuns than other factions. Unfortunately, the Suns live in a Crapsack World where humanity has fought so many wars that they actually search for lost technology, and their neighbors are mostly ruthless expansionist dictatorships, some with leaders that are madmen with Chronic Backstabbing Disorder. Thus the Suns have no problem starting wars and taking territory, all in the name of their values, which leads them down the moral slippery slope and into Knight Templar territory.
War Is Glorious: The Suns have a very active and strong soldier culture. They are not as open and over-the-top about it as the Draconis Combine, but they come pretty close.
Warrior Prince: By law, anyone with a claim to the throne of the Federated Suns has to complete five years of active-duty miliary service in a frontline unit before they are eligible to actually take the title of First Prince.
White Man's Burden: A cultural rather than a racial version. The prevailing attitude among the Suns and its overall Western European-style society (and their ruling family) is that their conquests bring a higher standard of living to the oppressed masses in neighboring totalitarian realms. There is truth to this but it comes with a hefty dose of Suns arrogance.

Hanse Davion

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/487px_1ua7ikmptqbumvq9m4m8xgbflyaqmxw.jpg

The Fox and his wife\Without any strife\Cut the goose with a fork and a knife\And they never had such a supper in their life\And the little ones chewed on the bones-O.\Bones-O, bones-O\They never had such a supper in in their life and the little ones chewed on the bones.

Era(s): Succession Wars, Clan Invasion,

Arguably, the most legendary ruler of the Federated Suns. Inarguably, the ruler who had amassed the most territory under one banner since the days of the Star League.

Born in 2983, Hanse Davion was never expected to claim the position of First Prince (given that he was Spare to the Throne, being the younger sibling of Ian Davion, whom everyone expected to have a long and fruitful reign...nobody expected that as a Frontline General, Ian would be killed in a You Shall Not Pass! against the Second Sword of Light on Mallory's World), and soon made his own name as a leader and warrior. Shortly after taking the throne, Hanse won the grueling battle of Halstead Station, though losing the love of his life in the process.

Soon after, he became famed and feared for his unorthodox approach to statecraft. A practitioner of the long game, he was the only Successor Lord to respond positively to Katrina Steiner's Peace Proposal, an acceptance that saw the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth enter into an alliance, one that would in the end create the Federated Commonwealth, a hyper-state that briefly dominated the Inner Sphere territorially. Hanse used deception to keep his enemies off-balance. For instance, he spread false rumors of a Star League cache on Galtor to lure the Draconis Combine into what would be one of the largest battles of the Third Succession War. Although the planet was almost lost (and in the course of fighting, a genuine Star League cache was discovered and fought over), Hanse's gamble paid off, as he tied up a considerable portion of the DCMS in essentially pointless fighting.

His masterstroke came at the conclusion of the war. Starting in 3026, Hanse initiated a series of wargames, aimed at both the Combine and Capellans, known as the GALAHAD Exercises. After each annual exercise, it would appear that the AFFS had returned to their usual postings. In reality, Hanse had engineered the exercises as a means to subtly reshuffle postings on the borders, both to prepare for a future conflict as much as to keep an eye on his suspect relative, Duke Michael Hasek-Davion of Syrtis. In the end, Hanse would gloat that he "secretly massed troops on the Capellan border by parading them up and down in front of hundreds of holocams". GALAHAD would pay off on August 20, 3028. As part of the Suns/Commonwealth alliance, Hanse Davion was betrothed to Katrina Steiner's daughter, Melissa, the marraige to occure once Melissa came of age. On August 20, Hanse, Melissa, and an array of dignitaries, including all the Successor Lords, arrived at ComStar's headquarters compound to celebrate the nuptials. At the same time, carefully-timed JumpShips were arriving in a number of Capellan systems to launch an invasion. At the wedding reception, Hanse had the cake served on china dishes, each embossed with one of the worlds of the Capellan Confederation. Then, the coup de grace. As he served his new bride her slice of cake, he uttered the words "My dear, with this morsel, I also give you the Capellan Confederation!" With those words, the Fourth Succession War had started. Within three years, a wide corridor had been carved out of the Confederation and the Free Worlds League, connecting the Suns and Commonwealth into one contiguous whole. It would only be ComStar interference that kept the Confederation from being totally swallowed by the Federated Suns. He even had a personal moment of awesome, pulling a one-man You Shall Not Pass! against Capellan Death Commandos ^note bent on assaulting the newly-founded New Avalon Institute of Science, defeating the commandos decisively even before reinforcements from Team Banzai arrived.

At the same time, Hanse had also waged a secret war in revenge for Maximilian Liao kidnapping him and putting a doppleganger on the throne briefly. He engineered the faked cashiering of Justin Xiang Allard to insert him as a deep mole in Liao's inner circle. The dual shocks of definitively losing half of his territory to Davion and finding that Allard was a spy who had betrayed him broke Liao's mind to pieces.

Hanse would continue to rule over the Federated Suns portion of the Commonwealth^note up to the early days of the Clan Invasion, when the stresses of decades of war and high-stakes statecraft finally exacted their toll and he died of a heart attack on June 17, 3052. He died after watching a message from Sun Tzu Liao, who had appropriated Hanse's magnificent bastardry and threw Hanse's nuptial taunts at Sun Tzu's grandfather Maximilian back in Hanse's face, by announcing his marriage of Isis Marik and the simultaneous alliance of the Capellan Confederation and the Free Worlds League.

Badass Boast: Delivers an internal one as he mounts his BattleMaster to defend the NAIS;
They've brought the war to me because they've forgotten. They've forgotten that before I became Prince of the Federated Suns, a command couch was my throne, a neurohelmet was my crown, and the battlefield my domain. After tonight, no one will ever forget that again.
- Also, his statement under Chewing the Scenery below. He promised his wife the Capellan Confederation, and delivered over half of it!
Batman Gambit: One particular example from the Fourth Succession War. The New Avalon Institute of Science had developed the first iteration of Triple Strength Myomer, which didn't require the extreme heat buildup the later version would, but did have another significant flaw: it disolved completely in the presence of a certain kind of gas. Hanse arranged for the formula for this new myomer to be leaked to the Capellans, knowing that Maximillian Liao would immediately pounce on any percieved advantage he might be able to gain. When FedCom troops met Capellan 'Mechs in the field, they had all been refitted with the new myomer. . . but the FedCom artillery assets had shells loaded with TSM dissolving gas. One good artillery barrage later, all the Capellan 'Mechs were rendered completely immobile as soon as their armor was breached by weapons fire.
Blood Knight: Has shades of this, as he was always happiest leading troops in the field and comes off as overjoyed at getting to actually fight when charging to the rescue of NAIS (in marked contrast to his older brother Ian, who has much more of a reputation as a Warrior Prince, but acutely loathed war).
Chewing the Scenery: Started the Fourth Succession War during his own wedding with a bombastic speech: "Wife, in addition to this morsel, I give you an even greater gift. I present to you the Capellan Confederation!!"
Crazy-Prepared: He was super ready to face any tricks his foes he was up against, including ComStar. He had secretly commissioned development and made use of a previous Subspace Ansible technology abandoned by the Star League that was independent of ComStars HPG stations when they cut him off from the HPG network during the Fourth Succession War.
Died in Your Arms Tonight: Victor and Galen come upon him having nodded off in his office while watching a trideo missive from the newly minted Chancellor Sun Tzu Liao declaring his intent... except they notice his head is at a funny angle. Victor's alarm is raised, he rushes in, and realized his father had a heart attack. Hanse's last moments of life were smiling at his son holding him and saying his son's name.
Exact Words: During the Outreach summit, he makes an informal but honorable non-aggression pact with Theodore Kurita, stating that, as long as the Clans remain a threat, Hanse will not send his troops into Combine space. Then he hears word that the Smoke Jaguars and Nova Cats are going to land a massive assault force on Luthien, the Combine capitol. If Luthien should fall, the Combine will likely follow, and Hanse will have to invade to meet the Clan onslaught before it reaches FedCom worlds. So, Hanse signs off on what may be the biggest single mercenary contract in the history of the Inner Sphere, among the contractors being the entire force of the Wolf's Dragoons and the Kell Hounds, to aid in the defense of Luthein. Because he promised he wouldn't send FedCom troops into the Combine.^note
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Hanse wears a prominent one on his face, a souvenir of a battle he was involved in.
Grievous Harm with a Body: While defending the NAIS, his Mech's PPC gets destroyed, so he rips the arm off of a fallen Marauder and uses it as a weapon instead. The image is the cover for one of the boxsets.
Guile Hero: One of the setting's textbook examples.
Hollywood Heart Attack: Subverted hard. Victor walks in on him dying at his desk and thinks he's simply fallen asleep until he looks closely and sees his father breathing his last.
Life Will Kill You: Fought in countless battles, ruled an interstellar nation, and guided billions through multiple wars. Goes down to a stress-induced heart attack.
The Lost Lenore: In 3013, on the eve of a major battle, Hanse proposed to Major Dana Stephenson. She accepted, but was killed in combat. Grieving, Hanse had a part of her mech's cockpit canopy fashioned into a likeness of the two of them, with the engagement ring forming the base, that he kept as a momento of her. He also changed the name of his BattleMaster from "Cadmus" to "Dana" in her honor.
Marriage Before Romance: His marriage to Melissa Steiner was totally political in its reasons, but they did make it work and they did love each other.
May–December Romance: At the time of their wedding, Melissa was barely of legal age while Hanse was in his mid 40s.
Red Baron: He is well known among allies and enemies alike as "The Fox."
Spotting the Thread: Twice during the Fourth Succession War, both related to the same incident. First, he realizes what appears to be a normal DropShip landing on New Avalon is actually a surprise attack, because he knows that specific DropShip is secretly light-years away, carrying with wife. After the battle is over, he realizes it was a False Flag Attack because the entire unit that allegedly attacked was being destroyed on a completely different planet. This ignites a decades-long shadow war between the FedCom and ComStar.
The Strategist: One of the best operational thinkers and politicians in the Inner Sphere in his day, Hanse played Maximillian Liao like a fiddle with his left hand while deftly keeping the Combine occupied with his right.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In hindsight, Hanse comes across as almost Too Clever by Half with many of his actions. While the Federated Suns reached new heights under his reign, he also set the stage for its long, slow and painful decline. The Federated Commonwealth was a ticking time bomb that exploded into a ruinous civil war that might have happened even sooner if it weren't for the Clan invasions; His creation of Operation Gemini led to it being implemented by his inexperienced successor Victor, which pissed off the Free Worlds League enough to unite with the Capellan Confederation and avenge almost everything they lost in the Fourth Succession War; his giving the Capellan Confederation sabotaged "triple strength myomers" gave them a powerful defensive weapon when the Confederation's scientists figured out how to correct their weaknesses; the War of 3039 pushed the Draconis Combine to become more flexible and united and restored the pride it lost in the Fourth Succession War.
Warrior Prince: He wouldn't be the First Prince of the Federated Suns if he weren't this. Best exemplified when upon deducing that a DropShip that's about to land is a Trojan Horse filled with enemy 'Mechs that's going after the New Avalon Institute of Science, he immediately saddles up in his own Assault Mech and defends the NAIS alone until reinforcements show up.
Worthy Opponent: Like his country, generally considered House Kurita to be this. Takashi Kurita considered Hanse to be one, but Hanse knew that Takashi's son, heir, and de facto regent Theodore was his. Maximilian Liao earned his attention by attempting a Grand Theft Me with a Body Double on him, but all that had really accomplished was making it personal between them, switching the main target of the 4th Succession War to the Capellans rather than the Combine.

Julian Davion

Era(s): Dark Age, ilClan

The Prince's Champion under Prince Harrison Davion's rule, Julian is a noted Mechwarrior and also steadfastly loyal to the throne. As of 3145, Julian is now the First Prince of the Federated Suns.

An Arm and a Leg: Loses a leg in 3147 during Operation: CERBERUS, where he fought to reclaim New Syrtis from the Capellan Confederation.
Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Has this kind of relationship with Callandre Kell. It's a rather...''energetic'' relationship.
Julian Davion: And do you know what I'd really like to do?
Callandre Kell: Bust a chair over my head?
Julian Davion: After that.
Callandre Kell: Ain't love grand. (Callandre punches Julian in the face)
Back from the Brink: He became First Prince at a very bad time for the Federated Suns. The staggering losses the AFFS suffered due to Caleb's idiocy meant the Federated Suns couldn't defend itself well when the Draconis Combine and Capellan Confederation invaded. The Suns lost two of their capital worlds in New Syrtis and New Avalon. The Suns managed to reconquer them, but suffered heavy losses. The Suns have started regaining strength under Julian's rule, but they're still far from the mighty power they once were.
Bash Brothers: Brother and sister in this case, as whenever they're on the same battlefield, Julian rapidly falls into this dynamic with Callandre.
Better as Friends: Julian and Callandre actually tried dating for a week early in his time at the Nagelring, and rapidly concluded that they were this.
The Champion: A Prince's Champion serves basically as the First Prince's second-in-command in the AFFS. Julian is the youngest Champion in the history of the Federated Suns.
Four-Star Badass: As the Prince's Champion he is for all intents and purposes one step down from being the AFFS's supreme commander. He gets relegated to Colonel Badass after he is stripped of the position, however.
Frontline General: He insists on being in the front lines during the liberation of New Avalon for a number of reasons; First as First Prince, he feels that he is obligated to go, second because he has always led from the front and finally because as this will be the fiercest battle AFFS forces have had to undergo in a long time, he refuses to send his troops into a potential meatgrinder and not take on his fair share of the risk. His advisers beg him not to go as he has no heirs and his death would provoke a Succession Crisis at the exact time the Federated Suns could least afford one. He is resolute on going no matter what.
Kicked Upstairs: What his original assignment to the 1st Davion Guards was supposed to be, as he was in his uncle and then-First Prince Harrison's bad books due to getting declared persona non grata in the Lyran Commonwealth, and the 1st Guards were considered the poor relation of the Guards Brigade at the time; Julian turned it into Reassignment Backfire by treating it as a real job rather than just a sinecure posting for the First Prince's no-good nephew.
Lantern Jaw of Justice: It needs to be seen to be believed◊.
Noodle Incident: Much of Julian's time at the Nagelring qualifies, since Callandre references a number of incidents of misbehaviour there, including a time that they hijacked a Zeus Assault 'Mech for unspecified reasons (an incident that Julian had actually forgotten, showing how wild his and Callandre's time at the Nagelring was).
Offered the Crown: Or he would have been, had not his cousin dropped the First Prince off a balcony. Then he was offered the throne for real after the death of Caleb, which he was reluctant to take.
Reassigned to Antarctica: After his cousin was sworn in as the First Prince, Caleb stripped Julian of his position as the Prince's Champion and placed him in command of the 1st Davion Guards on Terra...where Caleb was quick to abandon them.
Rightful King Returns: First Prince Harrison originally planned to make Julian his heir, but Caleb murdered him before he could make it official. Later, when Caleb was killed in battle, Julian finally ascended the throne that should've been his to begin with.
Unexpected Successor: It was expected that his cousin Caleb would succeed his father as First Prince. The Prince, however, had other ideas.
Wacky Fratboy Hijinx: An extreme example of this was what got Julian expelled from the Nagelring (and the entire Lyran Commonwealth). During a heavy blizzard on Tharkad, he and Callandre Kell hijacked a Marauder II and Zeus respectively and went on a joyride through Tharkad City before, using Callandre's knowledge of the Triad's security, getting their 'Mechs into the Archon's throneroom. They then knocked over the two Griffin 'Mechs that traditionally guard the Archon's throne, and positioned their own in what the court proceedings called "compromising positions of a vulgar nature", doing roughly half a million Lyran kroner in property damage in the process. Archon Melissa Steiner II, absolutely livid, threw Julian out of the Commonwealth and halted the cadet exchange program with the Federated Suns for three years.
Warrior Prince: He wouldn't be the First Prince, otherwise.
Worthy Opponent: Yori Kurita, whom he fought to a stalemate in their duel.

Caleb Davion

Era(s): Dark Age

First Prince of the Federated Suns during the Dark Age era, and a noted tank commander. Caleb ruled the Federated Suns until his death in 3144.

Affably Evil: While he can be friendly and a bit of a playboy, Caleb is a murdering rapist.
Always Someone Better: He sees his cousin Julian Davion as this. Julian, after all, was literally everything that he wasn't. He was a Mechwarrior, a brave leader whom people loved and also (in a sudden decision from Harrison Davion) the First Prince's heir.
The Caligula: Caleb was a demented rapist and murderer with an imaginary Poisonous Friend. He was also an incompetent buffoon when it came to ruling the Federated Suns, leading it to some of the worst defeats in its entire history. This character profile from the Battletech fan forums offers a good summary of just how bad he was as a person and as a ruler.
Dirty Coward: He prefers to have other people fight his battles. Case in point, he once goaded Yori Kurita into a duel for honour, only to have his cousin Julian fight said duel for him.
Expy: A cowardly ruler who killed his father after he was passed over as heir in favour of someone better suited for the job, an argument could be made that Caleb Davion is this for Commodus.
Insistent Terminology: It's Caleb Hasek-Sandoval-Davion, thank you very much.
General Failure: Most of the First Princes have been at least decent strategists. Caleb ignored the threat on his coreward border and drew massive amounts of troops from everywhere in the Suns to plan an invasion of the Capellan Confederation, clearly trying to imitate his great-grandfather Hanse and finish the Confederation off once and for all. The result? The Draconis Combine invaded the Suns and takes a large swath of relatively undefended territory. Caleb tries to launch a counter-attack to stop their advance, massing enormous amounts of forces on Palmyra and counting on assistance from the Raven Alliance Khan that he's allegedly close with, but a surprise attack from the Combine^note kills or captures twenty percent of the entire Federated Suns military in a single battle, including killing Caleb. Thirteen entire combat commands (thirteen 'Mech regiments that totaled to over 1400 'Mechs, along with thirty regiments of armor and infantry, as well as entire aerospace wings) were killed or captured, along with virtually everyone in the AFFS High Command and their support staff.
Hearing Voices: Caleb developed paranoid schizophrenia at a young age which caused him to hallucinate a best friend, Mason Lambert, who acts as an impulse for all of Caleb's baser instincts.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: He's a cowardly schizophrenic, but he does manage to kill his own father and rape Danai Liao-Centrella.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: To House Davion as a whole. The Davions are, for the most part, generally portrayed as good, strong and (to varying degrees) ethical leaders of the Federated Suns. Caleb Davion is none of those things.
The Scapegoat: To a certain extent. While Caleb was by no means a good ruler, most of his mistakes were set up by his predecessors (in Harrison and Yvonne) or came from following their example, and he did a lot of things (like starting to rebuild the AFFS) that they should have done long before he did.
Self-Made Orphan: He kills his father, Prince Harrison after he had informed Caleb that Julian would be his heir instead of him.
Squashed Flat: What finally killed him. His tank was accidentally kicked by a Combine mech, crushing its turret with him inside.
Stalker with a Crush: He holds an obsession with Danai Liao-Centrella, with tragic consequences.
Throwing Down the Gauntlet: Threw one down to Yori Kurita. Then he made Julian fight in his stead.
The Usurper: Technically. Caleb was the First Prince's son but after the Prince declared for his cousin Caleb was no longer his heir.
Warrior Prince: Traditionally, Davion Princes served in the AFFS as Mechwarriors, but Caleb failed to become one. In order to fulfil his military role to gain the future title of First Prince, he was accepted into combat vehicle training and became a tank commander instead.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: Downplayed, in that Harrison truly did care for his son. However, he was a little disappointed that Caleb wasn't suitable for Mechwarrior training, and he also chose Julian as his heir instead of Caleb, a decision which ultimately led to his death.
Wham Line: Just before he kills his father, Caleb speaks with Mason and enters into a diatribe that he was the heir because he was Harrison's son, not Julian. After he is done Harrison delivers this line and thus revealing that Mason existed only in Caleb's head:
Harrison Davion: "Caleb, who are you talking to?"

Justin Xiang Allard

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/justinallard_portrait.png

Justin Xiang Allard

Era(s): Succession Wars, Clan Invasion

Son of Quintus Allard, to his first wife, a Capellan woman. One of the major characters of the Warrior Trilogy of novels, detailing his defection to the Capellan Confederation, his efforts as a spy (allegedly) against the Federated Suns. Later returns, succeeds his father as head of MIIO, and sits in that role during the Blood of Kerensky Trilogy, detailing the Clan Invasion. Husband to Candace Liao, and father to four children with her, most notably Kai Allard-Liao.

Ace Custom: He picks up an old Centurion Mech and crams a AC-20 into it, then names it Yen-Lo-Wang. That same Mech would be handed down to his son Kai, upgraded repeatedly, and still active over a century later.
Ace Pilot: He ran a 30-ton Valkyrie against a 60-ton Rifleman and held his own. It was only a tricky move from the Rifleman's pilot that wound up in his losing. After he went to Solaris, he went from a total unknown to Grand Champion within a year of his arrival.
Anti-Villain: Despite him throwing in with House Liao against the (mostly) good guys in House Davion, it's hard, given the horrific racism he endured at his trial, not to sympathize with him. Except at the end, it's revealed he was never a villain at all.
Arm Cannon: His artificial arm contains a laser weapon, which can be a nasty surprise for anyone who thinks he's unarmed.
Artificial Limbs: He picks up a prosthetic arm early in his career. He can use it to pilot a Mech, which is impressive on its own, but it also has a laser built into it.
Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Subverted in that he was never a bad guy. During his meteoric rise in the Solaris games, he takes out multiple Federated Suns-affiliated fighters that were regarded as troublemakers and problem cases by the Suns, but were too popular in the ring to get rid of. He's also the one to execute Michael Hasek-Davion on Sian.
The Cameo: Appears in the Harebrained Schemes video game BattleTech, hiring you in one of the flashpoints added in the Flashpoint DLC to deal with some mercs who are making his life more difficult. In the finale, he mentions he's being stationed to Kittery to help bridge relations between the Capellan natives and their new FedSuns overlords. The Warrior Trilogy of novels shows what chain of events that sets off for Justin.
Career-Ending Injury: Subverted. He loses an arm on Kittery, which would normally spell the end of a Mechwarrior's career, but he's given an advanced prosthetic that he learns to use to pilot a Mech.
Cruel Mercy: Subverted. After he calls out the sham trial and Hanse Davion himself to his face, Hanse calmly tells the court to hand down whatever sentence they will against him, because he'll commute it to exile. It's all part of the plan to place him as a spy in the Maskirovka.
Disney Death: Falls victim, along with his wife, to an assassin sent by his sister-in-law, Romano Liao, though not before killing the assassin in turn. Only for a mysterious figure to appear that was strongly hinted to be Justin, pledging vengeance against Romano for killing their spouse. It wasn't him; it was his wife, Candace.
Fake Defector: One of the most infamous cases in the storyline. He was the lynchpin of the heapload of gambits that Hanse Davion played on the Liaos in retaliation for their attempt to replace him with a puppet body double and in preparation for the Fourth Succession War. And Justin went above and beyond.
Foreshadowing:
- If one pays close enough attention, there's some foreshadowing of Justin's Fake Defector status. Only three people know about it: Justin himself, his father, and Hanse Davion. Hanse and Quintus are never shown discussing it alone, and every time they're demonizing how terrible Justin is, it's always in the presence of other people- usually, a servant of Duke Michael Hasek-Davion, Hanse's primary challenge to the throne and a (rightfully) suspected Liao collaborator. That said, the trilogy ALSO establishes that Justin's chief aide is ALSO a Davion spy (Justin knows, but Alex/Alexi doesn't know Justin is), so most of the foreshadowing could also apply to Alex as well. Also, Justin pointedly spares Kym Sorenson, who had been spying on him for the Suns - if he was really on the Capellans' side, he would have had her shipped back to New Avalon in a box.
- At the Steiner-Davion wedding, Justin remarks to Maximillian Liao that Hanse and Melissa having multiple children could be to the Confederation's advantage, as it could lead to a Succession Crisis. Some thirty years later, that's exactly what happens.
Gone Horribly Right: Justin was not supposed to be ambushed, nearly die, and lose his hand, and the investigation into the attack uncovers all the proof that he was in direct contact with known Liao operatives before he can "defect" from the FedSuns. Instead, Justin, Quintus, and Hanse all work it into their plans; let Michael Hasek-Davion run his racist Kangaroo Court, have Justin point out how horrible his treatment is, send him to Solaris VII, and fight his way into House Liao's admiration until they scoop him up as a spy.
Good Is Not Nice: As Gray Noton, Philip Capet, and Michael Hasek-Davion discover the hard way, screw with Justin Xiang Allard, and he will have no qualms about killing you.
Kangaroo Court: There's ample proof of Justin actually being a Capellan spy, but it's pretty obvious that the trial to determine that is in no way fair (the prosecutor literally goes on a racist rant towards him, calling him the "lying son of a Capellan slut") and only Hanse Davion himself showing up to call them on this puts an end to it. But by that point, Justin's had enough with so-called Federated Suns "justice", and when informed Hanse would not stop them from stripping him of his command, goes on a rant of his own that leads to Hanse exiling him. All part of the Plan...
Love Across Battlelines: Toyed with. It doesn't initially seem as such, but while with the Capellans, he falls in love with Candice Liao, and she willingly goes with him when his spy mission ends and he returns to the Federated Suns. Bonus points for the two having actually fought each other while on opposite sides over a decade before having properly met. He's actually the result of a technical one himself, as his father was serving as an ambassador on Sian and had a brief marriage with a Liao noblewoman.
Right for the Wrong Reasons: Is accused of being a Capellan spy working to sabotage the defenses of Kittery to hand it back over to House Liao. Though there is proof of that, the accusations are based more on the horrifically racist assumptions that he's half-Capellan so therefore MUST be a spy. That said... Justin really WAS setting up to defect to House Liao. Sort of.
Something Only They Would Say: He figures out that Gray Noton is the one who crippled him on Kittery when he watches an old video of him in the ring and sees him flip his Rifleman's arms over backwards.
The Spymaster: Becomes this to the Federated Commonwealth after the War of 3039.
Too Dumb to Live: Though the driving force behind the trial is racism against Justin being half-Capellan, they have a mountain of evidence indicating that Justin actually was a spy, from a codename being very close to his middle name, from his 'Mech activation phrase being Liao-loyalist criminal Tong catchphrase, to detailed records of his numerous forbidden meetings with Tong leaders. The prosecution even manages to get Justin's own father to admit that he can't say for sure his son isn't a spy and Quintus Allard is the FedSuns head of espionage.
We Used to Be Friends: With Andrew Redburn, who served with him on Kittery and never believed that Justin was truly guilty of the charges against him, until they faced off against each other on Bethel. Justin wrecked Redburn's Mech but spared him, and Redburn was ready to kill him when they met on Sian. Redburn was thrilled to find out that Justin was a spy for the Suns.

Draconis Combine (House Kurita)

In General

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/draccombine.gif

Emblem of the Draconis Combine

The Draconis Combine stands in stark contrast to the other great interstellar nations: from its inception in 2319, it expanded almost entirely through intimidation and conquest, enforced cultural conformity, and served as the personal domain of a dynastic family. While much of the same can be said of the other Great Houses at varying times, these are founding principles of the Draconis Combine, with only brief periods of variation.

Through most of its history, the Draconis Combine would be an antagonist to almost every other faction within reach, employing the most skilled fighting force of the Inner Sphere to seize power from its rivals. It was the last of the Inner Sphere nations to join the Star League and the first to attempt taking its place, launching three of the four Succession Wars. This aggression would soften somewhat in the wake of the Clan invasion and the ascension of the moderate Coordinator Theodore Kurita, but by the 32nd century, the Combine would largely resume its old ways of unity through domination.

Arch-Enemy: Though both its neighboring Successor States have done well to repel its advances, the Combine sees the Federated Suns and (to a lesser extent) Lyran Commonwealth as their chief rivals for conquest of the Inner Sphere. This becomes more true when both neighbors unite to form the Federated Commonwealth, combining Steiner industry with Davion military skill.
- Enemy Mine: The only time there was any relative peace or cooperation with the Federated Suns/Commonwealth was in the face of the Clan invasion. It also helped that Theodore Kurita and Hanse Davion were both exceptionally reasonable people, and their sons Victor Steiner-Davion and Hohiro Kurita (after putting aside blood rivalries) became exceptionally good friends. But the real kicker in warming Combine-FedSuns relations was Victor and Omi Kurita falling for each other. (Hanse and Theodore actually joke about a hypothetical wedding, which includes assassins for all involved and at least one attempted mass secession.)
Arc Number: The number 5 shows up a lot in Combine political divisions and structure, by design. It's become prevalent enough that 5 is often regarded as a lucky number throughout the Combine.
At Least I Admit It: Like pretty much every other major power in the post-Star League Inner Sphere, the Draconis Combine is a de-facto militaristic autocracy ruled by an aristocratic group of nobles and has ambitions to conquer all of humanity. Unlike every other major power in the Inner Sphere, the Draconis Combine is a de-jure autocracy; it has no constitution, makes no pretenses of being a democracy, and its ambitions are naked.
Blind Obedience: Often considered a virtue in the Combine. The Second Sword of Light regiment paints the flag of Kentares IV on their mechs in remembrance of their participation in the Kentares Massacre - not out of regret, but out of pride that they were willing to carry out such horrid commands.
Culture Police: More than any other realm, the societies of the Combine are relatively homogeneous, and the Order of the Five Pillars serves to heavily reinforce its cultural doctrine. This extends to religion, where the higher classes are encouraged to follow Zen Buddhism, the lower classes are taught Shintoism, and other faiths are technically outlawed (though tolerated as long as they don't cause trouble).
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Primarily red (especially The Sword Of Light regiments), but also light grey is in common use in 'mech and vehicle livery. Always coded red on maps.
Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: With events like the Kentares Massacre as perhaps the most dramatic example, the Draconis Combine is often its own worst enemy, going out of their way to commit attrocities in wars they were winning that only galvanize their enemies and demoralize their own forces, or in lesser cases, waste time and effort that could have been spent actually prosecuting the war.
Elite Army: The Draconis Elite Strike Teams are the single most formidable special forces unit throughout the Inner Sphere.
The Empire: A case can be made that every Successor State aspires to rule humanity as a whole, but the Draconis Combine has historically been the most openly ambitious and militaristic, both before and after the era of the Star League.
Everyone Has Standards: Outside of some of the most fanatically loyal units, such as the Second Sword of Light, most of the DCMS on Kentares IV had to be actively bullied and threatened into committing the Kentares Massacre. Some DCMS troops committed suicide from guilt, while a handful even risked execution to shield civilians from death.
Evil Reactionary: The Black Dragon Society is highly conservative and want the Draconis Combine to remain 'pure' and stick to Honor Before Reason and its warrior culture. Theodore Kurita and his family quickly finds himself on their bad side, to say nothing of his illegitimate grandson with Davion blood.
Fantastic Caste System: A five-tiered system that naturally puts the nobles and warriors at the top with the laborers and "unproductives" on the bottom, with little or no opportunity to move between them.
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Invoked early in the Combine's history, when early Coordinators saw the value of shared cultural norms in holding a realm together and chose Shogunate-era Japan. It's worth noting that there are still pockets of distinctly different cultures throughout the Combine that only pay lip service to Japanese trappings, including the Scandinavian worlds of the Rasalhague District (before becoming an independent republic), and the Muslims of the Azami worlds.
- Politically, however, the Combine seems to be a Fantasy Counterpart Culture version not so much of Tokugawa-era Japan as it is of Imperial Japan of the 1930s-40s, given the pervasive State Sec, fanboy version of Bushido, and militarism/expansionism, including its own Once Done, Never Forgotten massacre, not to mention their emphasis on speed and close-in firepower.
Fictional Currency: K-Bills, technically named Ryu and divided into Yen, are different from the modern Japanese Yen.
Foreign Ruling Class: Draconis Combine sets itself apart from the Successor States by its emphasis on their version of Japanese culture, which the largely Japanese upper classes—though Africans, Indians, and other non-Japanese are included among them—tend to rule over the multi-ethnic populace with many policies on Japanization being implemented as well.
Fragile Speedster: Kuritan doctrine places a high value on speed, and typically much less on armor, leading to their typical emphasis on light mechs, and many of their largers mechs mount over-sized engines to try and keep up, such as the Dragon and the infamously undergunned Charger.
Galactic Conqueror: A stated goal of the Combine since its inception was to unite all of human-inhabited space under a single rule.
Golden Mean Fallacy: Defied. Combine military doctrine tends to regard medium 'Mechs as a poor compromise and instead concentrates on either light or heavy 'Mechs... but in practice, this means some of their light 'Mechs are nearly as heavy as a medium 'Mech to fit the same combat role.
The Heavy: Prior to the Clan Invasion era, the Combine's massive resource base, aggressive militarism, expansionistic jingoism, and virulent xenophobia made them the eight-hundred pound gorilla in the room that the rest of the Inner Sphere (particularly the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth) always had to keep an eye on, as they were the most likely to start a conflict over the slightest pretext. This is amplified in earlier lore, where the FedSuns' de facto protagonist status meant that we constantly saw them reacting to the Dragon's latest gambit, as the Combine was by far the greater threat of their two neighbors.
Hero with Bad Publicity: Well, "hero" is a bit strong, but they caught some flak during the Amaris Civil War and ever since for being the Great House to most visibly remain on the fence and were suspected of being in league with Amaris, which resulted in Kerensky attacking a few Combine worlds to access SLDF bases. Considering Amaris had taken members of the Kurita family hostage (albeit he'd secretly killed them soon after), Coordinator Minoru Kurita had a decent reason to remain neutral.
Honor Before Reason: One of their most consistent Achilles Heels, and one frequently exploited by their enemies to orchestrate their downfall. Notably, the Clans exploited this without even trying. Since the Clans hold honorable combat in similarly high regard, they had no problems answering formal challenges for single combat by Combine Warriors, where the Combine would be slaughtered by the Clans' technological superiority.
Just Following Orders: The Combine places extreme emphasis on discipline, honor, and respect, especially of superiors. One does what one is told, no questions asked or objections raised. Thus, it's a sign of how bad things are getting when Combine forces object or flat-out refuse to follow orders. Some units had to be threatened into carrying out the Kentares Massacre, but others went through it simply because they had been ordered to. The Second Battalion of the Second Sword of Light regiment painted the flag of Kentares IV on their 'Mechs after the massacre. . . not as a reminder of their dark deeds on that world, but a sign of pride that they had followed their orders.
Just the First Citizen: Despite blatantly ruling as The Emperor the rulers of the Combine label themselves Coordinators.
Lightning Gun: The Combine loves its PPCs. Several of its signature 'mechs carry one and most Inner Sphere PPC developments (re-introducing the ERPPC, the light PPC, the heavy PPC and PPC capacitators) were developed in the Combine's labs. They famously pulled out the missiles on a Catapult, a 'Mech built around being a missile boat, to replace them with PPCs
Medal of Dishonor: The only Inner Sphere nation to have one - the "Honor of Wakazashi" is "awarded" to those who place their personal or family honor above that of House Kurita or the Combine. Normally the penalty for that is death, but for higher-ranked persons, it was a polite method of suggesting a solution to the issue.
My God, What Have I Done?: Probably the only reason the Combine failed to win the First Succession War. Its enacting of the Kentares Massacre not only galvanized Davion resistance but was such a crushing shame to the warriors of the Combine that many of them simply lost the will to prosecute the war.
National Weapon: Not actually the katana, although they did come up with 'Mech-sized katanas as soon as they saw the Lyrans mounting mech-sized battleaxes. Rather, the Combine famously concentrates very heavily on Energy Weapons, since their economy is so poor and their logistics so week that they can't really afford to mount lots of ammo-dependent weapons, and the higher up-front payment for a single laser or PPC will pay for itself compared to an autocannon, missile system, or, after their rediscovery, Gauss rifle.
Obstructive Bureaucrat: The Combine's government is made up of a dizzying array of individual bureaus, ministries, committees, and other agencies. Many of them have names that intentionally obfuscate their actual purpose, some are placed under ministries that govern some greatly different part of Combine society, and getting even simple requests often requires the authorization of multiple different agencies.
Proud Warrior Race: Tied for the Clans as the proudest in the setting.
Recruiting the Criminal: One of Theodore Kurita's more notable ideas was to employ "unproductives," including Yakuza, as irregular soldiers to test his new theories on leadership and military strategy. The Ghost Regiments formed from this process would go on to serve with great heroism and dedication to the Coordinator throughout the war with the Clans. He even employed a particularly apt Yakuza (one that still had all his fingers in fact) to be his son Hohiro's Hypercompetent Sidekick; Shin Yodama.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: While they're not all bad, especially thanks to Theodore Kurita's reforms, they're the most sterotypically villainous of the Successor States, a brutal, expansionist, and highly socially conservative totalitarian empire, and their colours are red and black.
The Remnant: The Black Dragon Society, a group of disaffected nobles and warriors who resent the sweeping political reforms of Theodore Kurita and seek to put a "true" Heir to the Dragon on the throne.
- Does This Remind You of Anything? — At least out of universe, both the Black Dragon Society and the Genyosha were named after ultra-rightist groups that were active in Imperial Japan, attempted to overthrow more moderate Japanese governments and informed many of the figures who were involved in waging The Pacific War and the Sino-Japanese War.
Royally Screwed Up: While not to the extent of, say, House Liao, House Kurita has had a number of less than well-adjusted individuals seated as Coordinators, Jinjiro Kurita (who ordered the aforementioned Kentares Massacre) foremost of all. The militaristic culture of the Combine selects for at least a certain degree of ruthlessness, with The Coup being a frequent fate of Coordinators perceived as 'weak'.
Samurai: They trade their horses, bows, and armor for giant war robots, but Combine mechwarriors otherwise deliberately invoke this trope nearly in full - bushido, katanas on their uniforms, writing poetry on the eve of battle, ritual suicide as atonement for failure, etc. Kurita MechWarriors will frequently issue one-on-one challenges on the battlefield, singling out an enemy MechWarrior and requesting an honorable one-on-one duel. This bit them in the ass hard during the Clan invasion, when the old hardliners refused to alter this way of thinking and issued formal challenges for one-on-one combat to Clan warriors...whose 'Mechs are, on average, half again as powerful as a comparable Inner Sphere 'Mech, and the Clans being just about the only faction who takes such duels as Serious Business as much as the Combine, so they're quite practiced at it.
Secret Police: Police? No, those heavily-armed men in their bright candy-striped uniforms are just the Friendly Persuaders of the Civilian Guidance Corps, a branch of the Ministry of Peaceful Order and Honor. Only a society of lawless degenerates needs police.
- Played straight with the Internal Security Force, tied with the Capellan Maskirovska as the most dreaded and ruthless intelligence service of the Great Houses when it comes to domestic control.
Soldier Versus Warrior: The Warriors to the Federated Suns' Soldiers. A major conflict within the Combine around the time of the Clan Invasion was Theodore Kurita trying to push the Combine into being more Soldiers than Warriors, and resistance from the old-guard Warriors for whom "pragmatism" was a synonym for "dishonor."
Stay in the Kitchen: Depends largely on the current rulership, but women serving in positions of power throughout the Combine ranges from "somewhat uncommon" to "unheard of." Despite this, there had been three women have served as Coordinator in the past, and two of them^NoteThe first being Siriwan McAllister-Kurita, who is one of the Combine's longest-serving (de-facto) Coordinators. The second, Yori Kurita, who by 3145 has conquered a huge chunk of the Federated Suns (including Robinson, the capital of the Draconis March) and cemented herself as the Combine's strongest Coordinator in decades. She even goes as far as conquering New Avalon itself by 3150. had exemplary reigns.
- Also rather all over the place in the larger meta, and with a heaping dose of Depending on the Writer. Some books state that the DCMS is (or was at one point) a male-only institution, while others state it has a more balanced mix of males and females in its roster (the default assumption in more current books). In fact, one of the earliest books for the game, "Sorenson's Sabres", included two female members in the titular unit who would have put up with exactly zero of any sort of "stay in the kitchen" shit — Sharron Burgoz, a borderline Sociopathic Soldier who once killed a fellow DCMS Mechwarrior for jokingly calling her "the company mistress" and Eleanor Ruchbach, a grizzled warrior who is not known for tolerating crap from anyone.
War Is Glorious: Nothing more glorious, in fact, to the point that it's a part of their national character.
Yellow Peril: One of the main villainous factions of the Inner Sphere is Imperial Japan Recycled In Space. Theodore's reforms pull the Combine away from this trope, but don't detach it from it completely.
- Partly averted in a racial sense, as many Combine generals and other leaders hail from all manner of ethnic backgrounds. The Japan-centric dominance is cultural rather than racial.

Shiro Kurita

"I have chosen the dragon as our standard and our symbol, reflecting many facets of our existence. We must never forget the ancient Terran heritage of our line, with its samurai greatness. I remind you, too, that in many mythologies, the dragon is feared and respected for its strength, cunning, and willingness to destroy for the sake of its own power. Always keep the virtues of the dragon in mind, and use them to defeat your opponents."

"Always preserve the dragon, and its magic will keep you strong."

—Shiro Kurita

Era(s): Age of War

The founder of the Draconis Combine and its ruling House Kurita.

An Offer You Can't Refuse: When convincing a planet's leadership to join him, his MO was basically: "Join me or die." Very few chose not to take him up on that offer.
Assassination Attempt: According to Kuritan legend, Shiro spotted a particularly fine shoot of bamboo that he really wanted to make into a tea ladle while driving, and pulled over to get it. As he was doing so, his car exploded, a bomb having gone off while he was very luckily away. Shiro took it as a sign from god, that something as simply Japanese as getting nice bamboo for a tea ladle had saved him, and began the process of Japan-ifying the Draconis Combine.
Bad Boss: Shiro didn't worry so much about how much his people were suffering under his rule. As far as he was concerned, his cause was just and was far greater than their petty pain.
Shiro Kurita: (in a letter to his brother) "I see you have found that the whip and the electronic bullhorn, when combined, make effective weapons of motivation."
Blackmail: When he's not intimidating the natives with his army or straight-up conquering them, he's blackmailing their leaders into submission. Indeed, Shiro used blackmail and assassination just as much as he used armed force, perhaps even more so.
The Emperor: The first one the Combine has seen, though he and his descendants are emperors in all but name.
Founder of the Kingdom: Of three kingdoms, in fact. Shiro was responsible for uniting his homeworld of New Samarkand, then he was responsible for founding the Alliance of Galedon, and then much later the Draconis Combine that came after it.
Honor-Related Abuse: Killed his youngest daughter for having a child with a commoner.
Just the First Citizen: When he took over New Samarkand, Shiro labelled himself simply, the "First Citizen." When the Alliance of Galedon was founded, he became its "Director." Also technically true after he reorganized the Alliance into the Draconis Combine and chose the term "Coordinator," despite being an emperor in all but name by that point.
Kick the Dog: Shiro enjoyed holding "audiences," in which he visited the natives of a world he'd vanquished so he can gloat and claim to have as many more soldiers available for each world that defied him.
Samurai: Shiro's father was a strict disciplinarian and devout follower of the 17th-century Japanese samurai culture, and as such, much of Shiro's upbringing reflected this structured spartan existence.
The Rival: Though he never admitted it, Shiro considered James McKenna and his Terran Hegemony to be this. Except for one brief exchange of messages, Shiro never recognized the authority of the Hegemony and refused to communicate with it or McKenna any further.
The Unfettered: Hoo, boy...
We Have Reserves: Averted. Shiro gave the appearance that he had a vast army but the truth was he had 50,000 men, at most, and regularly selected planets with no military force to speak of to conquer.
With Us or Against Us: As he famously screamed at the people of Sverdlovsk at one of his audiences: "Any government that does not side with me is against me! Any man who does not help me, hurts me! Anything that does not provide aid is in my way and must be destroyed! How many of you imbeciles must I kill before you begin to understand this?"
Young Conqueror: He conquered his homeworld of New Samarkand when he was only twenty-six, and he didn't stop there.

Takashi Kurita

Takashi Kurita, Coordinator of the Draconis Combine

Era(s): Succession Wars, Clan Invasion

Coordinator of the Draconis Combine during the Third and Fourth Succession Wars as well as during the Clan Invasion, Takeshi Kurita was an unyielding traditionalist whose devotion to the old ways lead him to repeatedly clash with his son and heir Theodore.

Abdicate the Throne: While still Coordinator, Takashi more or less abdicated day-to-day rulership of the Draconis Combine to Theodore after the War of 3039.
Assassin Outclassin': He dealt with ten assassination attempts, and personally fought off several of them.
Honor Before Reason: Encouraged adherence to bushido in his troops and despised mercenaries. He was partially behind the actions that led to permanent bad blood between Wolf's Dragoons and House Kurita. He then doubled down by throwing unit after unit against the Dragoons in a meat grinder and instituting a "death to mercenaries" order that was only revoked when the Dragoons and the Kell Hounds landed on Luthien to defend it against the Clans on Hanse Davion's bill. He later would understand the importance of his son's strategic pragmatism against the clans and would later compel two old guard commanders to commit seppuku when their own traditionalist obstinacy lost them a world to the Smoke Jaguars and quite possibly his own grandson, Hohiro Kurita, stranded behind enemy lines.
Inadequate Inheritor: Initially saw his son Theodore as this for much of his career, but was only too happy to eat his words in the end when he realized he had been in the wrong.
Last Stand: Attempted to do this during the Battle of Luthien, but found himself frustrated by his own son who locked his Battlemechs until he could be deployed to an actually useful position.
- When Subhash Indrahar brings a squad of agents to assassinate him and prevent the duel against Jaime Wolf, Takashi proceeds to kill four of them and wound a fifth before Theodore and his guards arrive. He then admits in private that Subhash was correct and makes preparations for his suicide... there was just no way in hell he was going down on anybody else's terms.
  A blade is too good for dogs such as you, but the curs are many and I but one. Come and die.
Old Soldier: Fought his last battle at the age of eighty-two ^note and would have fought a final Duel to the Death if he hadn't been persuaded otherwise.
Praetorian Guard: The Izanagi Warriors, AKA "The Dragon's Claws," loyal to him personally rather than the Combine as a whole, and formed as a safeguard against a potential betrayal from his son Theodore.
The Purge: Started his career with a purge of his father Hohiro Kurita's Praetorian Guard, as a Bodyguard Betrayal had led to the latter's assassination.
Seppuku: Killed himself rather than go through a rashly proclaimed Duel to the Death against Jaime Wolf that would initiate a Cycle of Revenge no matter who won, putting the Combine's welfare over his personal honour.
So Proud of You: To Theodore after the Battle of Luthien.
Worthy Opponent: To Hanse Davion. The two corresponded regularly with well-wishes for their personal health, even as their realms remained at war.

Theodore Kurita

Theodore Kurita, gunji-no-kanrei of the Draconis Combine

Era(s): Succession Wars, Clan Invasion, Jihad

Son of Takashi Kurita, the much more progressive Theodore spent much of his life battling his father over the future direction of the Combine. Theodore would lead the Combine to recovery after the disaster of the Fourth Succession War while still the Dragon's Heir, and in ensuring its survival during the Clan Invasion would become known as one of the Combine's greatest Coordinators.

Born in 2997, Theodore spent his childhood torn between two forces. As his mother's pregnancy was exceptionally difficult and left her unable to have any other children, she was shamelessly affectionate toward what would always be her only child, in stark contrast to Takashi's strict emotional discipline. Compounding this was his tutelage under Minoru Tetsuhara, widely considered to be the greatest Kuritan samurai of his age, who taught Theodore about the many nuances and complex obligations of bushido. Altogether, Theodore developed the opinion that tradition could be as much of a hindrance as an asset, and after one too many arguments with his father over such matters, he was "banished" to the Legion of Vega, the absolute worst of the Combine military.

Theodore initially resented this assignment, but quickly saw the Legion as an opportunity to test new tactical doctrine - after all, nobody associated the Legion with "honor" anyway, so nobody would object to dishonorable ideas like "avoid the enemy's strongest point," "fight as a team, not as duelists," and "learn from your mistakes instead of killing yourself." Under his leadership in the Fourth Succession War, the Legion would not only fend off a Lyran assault, but pushed back hard enough into enemy space that Katrina Steiner was forced to commit elite forces against them.

After the war, Coordinator Takashi promoted Theodore to Gunji-no-Kanrei, effectively giving him supreme authority over military affairs. The intent was to keep Theodore closer to home and more restrained, but Theodore instead simply seized the role as another opportunity, which he used to bargain for the independence of the Rasalhague District. This reduced most of the pressure along the Lyran border, relieved the Combine of the hassle of dealing with a bunch of rebellious worlds, and netted the military a supply of ComStar-provided LosTech mechs. When Hanse Davion tried another push against the Combine in 3039, these new mechs and Theodore's bold gambit of counterattacking deep into FedSuns space forced Hanse to consider that the Combine might have been much stronger than initially estimated, calling off the war.

The Clan Invasion helped Theodore reconcile with his father, as the peculiar honor-bound nature of Clan warfare allowed both the traditional and progressive tactics to prove their worth (albeit with a much higher attrition rate among the old-school warriors). After becoming Coordinator following his father's death (and despite being voted as First Lord of the second Star League in 3061), Theodore generally stayed out of international politics, concentrating on defending the Combine against Clan threats, instituting internal reforms, and contending with traditionalist hardliners. He would die of a stroke in 3070 while planning to liberate the capital of Luthien from the Blakists in the early years of the Jihad.

Batman Gambit:
- By recognizing the Free Rasalhague Republic as a legitimate state, he screwed the Lyrans out of all their territorial gains during the Fourth Succession War, gained a buffer state between him and the Lyran border, and scored high-end Mechs from ComStar as part of the deal. The only loss to the Combine was a handful of planets that (being on the border) were at risk anyway, and had long-standing secessionist malcontentment besides.
- Pulls a multi-leveled one on his father during the Battle of Luthien. He has his father and his bodyguard unit held as a final reserve while the main Combine units take the front line, while the Kell Hounds and Wolf's Dragoons act as a main reserve. He knows Takashi will take his unit into the fray at the first opportunity, so he programs their Mechs with a lockdown code so they'll stay put. He also knows that Takashi could order any member of the DCMS to just hand over the code, so he assigns his son's Yakuza Hypercompetent Sidekick Shin Yodama as the liaison, since Yodama's the only man on the planet who wouldn't obey Takashi. He also knows Takashi's technicians could figure out or bypass the code given time, so he provides a second code to Yodama that would self-destruct all of their Mechs and leave the capital open to attack if Takashi didn't sit tight. Takashi only cools off when Yodama reveals that Takashi's granddaughter Omi refused to evacuate the city, and they're the only thing standing between her and the Clans.
Brandishment Bluff: The War of 3039. Hanse Davion tried the same blitzkrieg tactics against the Combine that served him so well against the Capellan Confedation in the Fourth Succession War. But the forces he fought didn't behave like the Combine troops of days past; Hanse's offensive ground to a halt and suddenly, Kurita units were dropping on Davion worlds in a counter-offensive. Shocked at this reversal, Hanse called a withdrawl, and the War of 3039 ended briefly with no real gains for either side. The units Theodore sent against Hanse were his new Ghost Regiments, trained to consider honor a wider concept applied to the whole unit, DCMS, or Combine as a whole, instead of a personal thing. But those forces were the only ones Theodore had under his command at the time: Hanse Davion could have thrown a few more Regimental Combat Teams at the Combine border, crushed Theodore's new guard, then walked straight to Luthien. But Hanse was convinced he was facing down a far larger and more formidable force under the exceptionally competent command of a new leader about whom he know not nearly enough.
Combat Pragmatist: He was one of the first to realize the weakness of the Clans in focusing on open, honourable combat, which he exploited during the Battle of Wolcott by bidding units of 'New Meat' against Clan Smoke Jaguar that in reality were elite Genyosha formations with the insignia painted over. The Jaguars, taking the bait, were pinned down in a swamp and destroyed.
Deadpan Snarker: Towards his father when Takashi finds out that two mercenary units, including one that has a blood feud with Takashi, are on Luthien to assist them in the defense of the planet (despite Takashi's standing "Death To Mercenaries" order), Takashi remarks that at least Romano Liao had the courtesy to assassinate her father before destroying his nation.
Theodore: If that is truly your mind, shall I get a gun and shoot you?
Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Downplayed. He allowed Omiko to contact Victor and ask for help in rescuing Hohiro when he got trapped behind enemy lines on the condition that the two never speak again. Luckily, Takashi (having recently had an epiphany about old ways in the face of new threats) overruled him and allowed the two to keep in contact.
Friendly Enemy: Going beyond his father, Theodore Kurita and Hanse Davion were practically friends.
Internal Reformist: For the Combine's military at a whole, modernizing their doctrines and opening up positions to non-traditional warriors. Some of those reforms would be undone by his successors, to the Combine's detriment.
The Needs of the Many:
In matters of personal honor and duty, the needs of the nation must always take precedence over the needs of the individual. Even if that individual is the Coordinator.
Reassigned to Antarctica: Early on in his career, he got shunted into command of the Legion of Vega, a unit that was used as a dumping ground for malcontents, misfits, and troublemakers. Turns into a Reassignment Backfire when he uses the Legion to experiment with "dishonorable" tactics that happen to be very effective and turns them into an effective force despite their getting consistently screwed over on parts and pay.
The Strategist: He was able to cushion a very bad situation in the War of 3039 with a number of aggressive bluffs on the Combine-FedSun front, successfully fooling Hanse Davion into backing down. He later became a linchpin in the Combine's defensive strategy against The Clans, as the traditionalist ways proved inadequate against them.
Worthy Opponent: Considered Hanse Davion this for his early life, and later transferred it to his son Victor.

Omi Kurita

"The strength of the Dragon flows as deeply in her veins as in any warrior's."

—Narimasa Asano, in regards to Omi Kurita

Era(s): Clan Invasion

Omiko Kurita, also known as Omi Kurita, was the daughter of Theodore Kurita and Tomoe Sakade and the secret lover of Prince Victor Steiner-Davion.

Assassin Outclassin': When Victor visited Luthien in preparation for Operation BULLDOG a number of assassins attempted to kill them during a private rendezvous. Omi managed to kill at least one of the assassins by decapitating him with a katana, although Victor was severely wounded. The next attempt on her life, however, was sadly successful.
Death by Childbirth: She was assassinated by the same man who killed Melissa Steiner on Katherine Steiner-Davion's orders, actually, but because she died shortly after giving birth to her son this still applies.
Driven to Suicide: Because of the assassination attempt on herself and Victor, Omi attempted public suicide in shame that her feelings for Victor had led to such opposition. Ultimately averted, as public support for her and her father's reforms made it unnecessary for Omi to proceed. Although the attempt was staged, had support not emerged she would have followed through.
Morality Pet: To her grandfather, Takashi. Though initially furious that Theodore had married and started a family behind his back, Takashi developed a soft spot for Omi, to the point that when Luthien was invaded by Clans Smoke Jaguar and Nova Cat during Operation DRAGONSLAYER, the prospect of his beloved granddaughter falling into their hands was what ultimately convinced him to set aside his Glory Seeker tendencies and work in tandem with Theodore's strategies.
Silk Hiding Steel: Being unfailingly polite and loyal to her father's vision of the Draconis Combine didn't keep Omi from standing up for herself and those she cared for, nor from taking off a man's head with a katana when pressed
Smear Campaign: A posthumous victim of one. After Kitsune Kurita revealed himself as Victor Steiner-Davion's son with her, Federated Suns propagandists wasted no time turning Omi into a succubus who seduced Victor for nefarious reasons.
Star-Crossed Lovers: With Victor Steiner-Davion, who was a part of both of House Kurita's mortal enemies. They were both aware that a marriage between them would be politically impossible, but nonetheless their relationship gradually became widely known and was somewhat accepted.
Yamato Nadeshiko: This is basically Omi's job description, as she's intended to be Keeper of the House Honour. She fits the role to perfection and then some. That didn't stop her from casually walking in on Victor in the sauna (admittedly she was wearing a bathing suit, although he had nothing but a Modesty Towel on) and having a conversation with him about how much they wanted each other.

Kitsune Kurita

Meaningful Name: "Kitsune" are supernatural fox-spirits in Japanese mythology. He's also the grandson of Hanse Davion, nicknamed "The Fox".
Someone To Remember Her By: Kitsune is Omi Kurita's son with Victor, whom Victor was not even aware of until their son had grown to adulthood and was already making a name for himself.

Franklin Sakamoto

Era(s): Clan Invasion

The illegitimate son of Coordinator Theodore Kurita. When Sakamoto was arrested and his jumpship was impounded by FedCom security agents for smuggling weapons, Major Adam Steiner commandeered the impounded vessels and offered their crews amnesty and the eventual return of the vessels in exchange for providing transport for an intelligence-gathering mission behind Clan lines.

Arms Dealer: He was arrested by FedCom security for smuggling weapons into the Draconis Combine.
Canon Immigrant: Like Adam Steiner, Franklin is originally from the short-lived BattleTech Animated Series.
Heroic Bastard: He is Theodore Kurita's illegitimate son.
Offered the Crown: Dissatisfied with Theodore Kurita's rulership, the Black Dragon Society attempted to place Franklin, then part of the Strikers, on the throne. The resulting three-way conflict between the Black Dragons, the Combine and the Strikers ended when he renounced his claim to the throne. Almost a hundred years later his descendant, Yori, would take the throne after the rest of House Kurita is either killed or gone missing.
Royal Bastard: Franklin Sakamoto is the bastard son of Theodore Kurita, who was heir to the Draconis Combine at the time he had an affair with Franklin's mother, an Internal Security Force agent. The head of the ISF ordered mother and child assassinated to prevent any potential messy situations from arising, but Franklin's mother had already sent him into hiding by that point. In 3050, Franklin was arrested for smuggling by the Federated Commonwealth and wound up being recruited by Adam Steiner to help with an intelligence-gathering operation against the invading Clans, and shortly thereafter the Black Dragon Society attempted to use Franklin as a pawn in their scheme to overthrow House Kurita. Franklin renounced all claims to the Dracois Combine's throne at that point, then largely dropped off the radar. However, in the Dark Age his great-granddaughter Yori wound up being installed as Coordinator of the Draconis Combine after all legitimate members of the Kurita bloodline were assassinated or had gone into hiding.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He didn't trust Adam Steiner or any of the FedCom members of the Somerset Strikers at first, though he eventually overcame his distrust of them to become one of the most valuable members of the team.
Trading Bars for Stripes: After his jumpship was impounded and he and his crew were arrested, Adam Steiner gave them a choice to join the 1st Somerset Strikers (and be returned to the Combine as soon as their mission was completed) or be sent to a FedCom prison for smuggling. Franklin reluctantly chose the former, though after the Clans attacked the Draconis Combine the Coordinator made him and his crew an official part of the Strikers.

Yori Kurita

Era(s): Dark Age, ilClan

The current (as of 3151) Coordinator of the Draconis Combine. Yori (born Yori Sakamoto) is the great-granddaughter of Theodore Kurita's illegitimate son Franklin Sakamoto, yet at the time of her ascension to the throne of the Draconis Combine Yori is the only heir despite her "illegitimate" status upon the assassination of Coordinator Vincent Kurita.

Bastard Bastard: Technically, Yori is only the descendant of a Kurita bastard, but she is still seen as illegitimate by many of the traditionalists within the Combine. Clan Nova Cat certainly saw her as one of these.
Big Bad: Yori is certainly this for the Federated Suns, Clan Nova Cat and the Republic of the Sphere, and she is also arguably this for the Dark Age era as a whole.
Heroic Bastard: Considering everything she has done since taking the throne everyone who isn't Clan Nova Cat or a critic of hers don't mind her "illegitimacy" so much.
Last of Her Kind: After the Nova Cat rebellion and the deaths of Emi Kurita (the sister of the previous Coordinator) and her son, Daisuke, Yori is now the last remaining member of House Kurita.
Puppet Coordinator: In addition to her being illegitimate (heroic or otherwise), Yori's critics also see her as merely a pawn of her mentor, Matsuhari Toranaga, and see his hand behind some of her decisions. Their belief is justified, however, as Toranaga groomed Yori for her position at a young age as soon as he learned of her lineage, and used his influence with her to promote himself.
- However, Yori herself is well aware of this perception and has been actively taking steps to avert this trope. Notably, she raised an entire elite unit in secret and presented it to Toranaga as a surprise gift.
Secret Legacy: Raised on a humble estate, Yori Sakamoto never dreamed to amounting to much in her life. She had no idea that she possessed Kurita blood until after her eleventh birthday when agents of Matsuhari Toranaga revealed that she was Theodore Kurita's great-great-granddaughter through his illegitimate son. Because of this, Toranaga began grooming her for many years; which all of his plans came to fruition when the ruling Coordinator and the rest of his family (with the exception of Emi) were killed off in various methods. That allowed Yori to take the surname of Kurita and sit upon the throne.
The Usurper: Clan Nova Cat saw Yori as a pretender to the throne and out of loyalty to Coordinator Theodore Kurita (the one who reigned during the Clan Invasion) they rebelled against the Draconis Combine in favor of placing Emi Kurita and her son on the throne, both of whom had a stronger claim than Yori anyway. Their rebellion was quickly quelled, however, and afterwards, Emi took her own life as well as her son's.
Worthy Opponent: Julian Davion, both during their youth (when she fought him to a stalemate in a duel) and to some extent in the present day, as Julian, despite his nation's losses to Yori's military, refuses to quit fighting.
Young Conqueror: Is thirty-seven years old (as of 3150) and ascended to the throne when she was twenty-four. Whether or not she is merely Toranaga's puppet Coordinator or truly her own person, in the thirteen years since, Yori has reclaimed the Republic of the Sphere worlds that originally belonged to the Combine, conquered a massive chunk of the Federated Suns (including taking New Avalon itself in 3146) and quelled a rebellion by Clan Nova Cat. Puppet or not, Yori is the strongest Coordinator the Combine has seen in decades.

Katana Tormark

Era(s): Dark Age

The former Prefect of The Republic of the Sphere's Prefecture III and Duchess of Proserpina. Katana became the leader of the splinter faction known as the Dragon's Fury and, after her defection to the Draconis Combine, Warlord of the Dieron Military District. After Yori Kurita became Coordinator, she supported Emi Kurita and Clan Nova Cat's failed bid to unseat Yori and thereafter vanished into a dungeon.

Death Seeker: An interesting variation. An entry in her journal points out that if the Coordinator wanted her to take her own life then she would happily do so, because that would mean that she finally belonged.
Defector from Decadence: After the Blackout and the resulting chaos, Katana saw the Republic of the Sphere as weak and, correctly, believed it was only a matter of time before it collapsed. She began to think of the long-established Draconis Combine as a guarantor of stability, and she founded a splinter faction by secretly recruiting like-minded individuals and military units loyal to her command with the eventual goal of returning traditionally Draconian worlds to the Combine.
Fighting for a Homeland: She formed the Dragon's Fury and defected to the Draconis Combine because she desperately wanted to belong to something greater than herself. It became a point of contention between herself and her mentor, who rightly pointed out that she already was a part of something: the Republic.
Mildly Military: Sort of justified, considering the nature of the Dragon's Fury as a splinter faction made up from units from different regiments and pro-Combine militants.
Military Maverick: She was known for her "non-standard training techniques."
Renegade Splinter Faction: The Dragon's Fury.
Samurai: Katana represents the idea of the perfect samurai. She is a woman who eats, drinks, thinks and lives in the manner of the samurai. Emi Kurita compared her once to a religious convert in her zeal for the Combine.
Straight Gay: Was in a relationship with Antonia Chinn, one of her Mechwarriors.
Undying Loyalty: Her most defining trait is her absolute loyalty to House Kurita, even when the Draconis Combine wanted nothing to do with her. This led her to declare her support for Emi Kurita and the Nova Cats during the rebellion.
Welcome Back, Traitor: Certain elements within the Combine saw her as a traitor because her father defected to the Republic. This didn't stop her from reclaiming worlds in the Coordinator's name, nor did it stop Vincent Kurita from eventually taking her back and naming her the Warlord of Dieron.
What Happened to the Mouse?: After backing the failed Nova Cat rebellion, she was taken to Luthien and disappeared into a dungeon. Whether she is still alive or was executed at some point is unknown.

Capellan Confederation (House Liao)

In General

Emblem of the Capellan Confederation

The Capellan Confederation is the weakest of the Successor States, founded in 2367 as a loose alliance of worlds seeking mutual protection. Always struggling to survive, the Confederation's desperate need for stability and security saw it gradually evolve into a communist police state, with a centralized government owning all the property and dictating the lives of the people. At the head of state is a ruling family proven to be highly unpredictable, sometimes dangerously so.

The Confederation was a constant loser in the Succession Wars, lacking the resources of its aggressive neighbors and forced to adopt unconventional tactics to maintain what little it owned. After the Fourth Succession War and the secession of the St. Ives Commonality, the Confederation appeared to be on the brink of a final collapse. The Clan Invasion gave the ingenious Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao the opening he needed to reverse the Confederation's fortunes, and enabled it to survive the Jihad. In the years since the Blackout of 3132 his son Daoshen has not only reclaimed all of the Confederation's lost territory but actually made futher gains. As of the present day (3151) the Confederation is perhaps the single strongest Successor State in the Inner Sphere.

Arch-Enemy: While the Confederation certainly had plenty of conflict with the Free Worlds League, it has a serious hate-on for the Federated Suns, which never passes up an opportunity to shave off more Capellan territory every chance it gets.
Band of Brothers: The Warrior Houses are elite battalions of special forces infantry and mechwarriors, recruited as children from aspiring volunteers, then living and training together through monastic traditions as vast extended families. They stand apart from the regular armed forces and answer only to the Chancellor.
Born into Slavery: By default, commoners aren't citizens, and are required to earn citizenship through some form of civil service or contribution immediately after completing their childhood educations. Those incapable of doing so, or unwilling, are relegated to the Servitor caste, basically treated as indentured servants throughout their lives.
Bullying a Dragon: The Capellans are the weakest of the Successor States, but they still shouldn't be taken lightly. Hanse Davion ravaged them in the Fourth Succession War because he'd made a lot of careful preparations, managed to turn one of Maximillian Liao's main schemes to undermine the Federated Suns against him and had one of the most powerful military machines of his time. The Duchy of Andurien and Magistracy of Canopus weren't Crazy-Prepared like Hanse was, and their only "accomplishment" in invading the Confederation was helping the CCAF get its pride back by kicking their asses.
Butt-Monkey: The Capellans have been the punching bag of both the Free Worlds League and the Federated Suns for most of its existence, and was almost destroyed wholesale during the Fourth Succession War after having been bled dry over the course of the first three. This tendency was reversed under Sun-Tzu Liao, and by the middle of the thirty-second century they're the most powerful Successor State.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: If you want to place a bet on who is gonna be the next person to betray who, your money is best spent putting it on House Liao. Liao is notorious for backstabbing and breaking trust whenever they can.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Always marked green on maps. Usually uses predominant green or red livery (excepting the Death Commandos, who are painted black).
Combat Pragmatist: Despite lacking the resources to fend off a military machine like the Federated Suns, or an arms factory like the Free Worlds League, the Confederation survived the Succession Wars by taking unconventional approaches to strategic doctrine and battlefield technology. A common thread in the Capellan variants of many 'mech designs is "lack of resources forced substitutions in weaponry," some of which worked better than others or even eliminated the defects of certain designs.
Fantastic Caste System: Though in fairness, the Confederation does permit people to attain a higher caste level through excellence and service, and actively encourages its citizens to advance themselves. On the other hand, the adult populations of newly conquered worlds are immediately relegated to the Servitor caste, being treated as indentured servents if they are lucky or slaves if they are not.
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Initially, the realm was flavored by Soviet-era communist states like the USSR and Red China, but still featured a range of local cultures. In the later 31st century, however, Chancellor Sun-Tzu launches the Xin Sheng reformation to help foster unity, including "encouraging" the adoption of Chinese culture, no matter where your world's founders came from. In short, they tend to waffle between Dynastic Imperial China (how they like to be perceived) and modern Communist China (how they actually are).
- In turn, this makes the St. Ives Compact, a short-lived breakaway province that was eventually reabsorbed by force, analogous to Taiwan or Hong Kong.
Fictional Currency: L-Bills or Yuan, subdivided into Jiao and Fen.
Hated by All: No one really likes the Capellans due to their sociopathy, backstabbing and general insanity. It doesn't help that their worlds are ran as authoritarian as possible.
People's Republic of Tyranny: As the name implies, the Confederation was initially an alliance formed for mutual defense against the Free Worlds League and Federated Suns. Over time, it all became the personal domain of whichever member of the Liao family sat on the throne (though the "tyranny" part comes and goes, depending on who's in charge).
Police State: Even at its most benevolent, the Confederation wants to make sure its citizens have "correct thoughts."
Proud Warrior Race Guy: Has their own tangos with this trope, specifically in the form of the socially-oppressive Lorix Order, which places the Mechwarrior at the peak of society, with everyone else existing to support or enable them, as well as their Warrior Houses.
Praetorian Guard: The Death Commandos, granted the honor of guarding the Chancellor as the Confederation's most prestigious black ops and mechwarrior unit.
Royally Screwed Up: On and off throughout Capellan history, though the last four Chancellors all qualify to varying degrees. These members of the Liao family tend to swerve between the cruelly insane to cunningly brilliant, with Daoshen Liao, the incumbant Chancellor, seemingly settling into a middle ground: the cunningly insane.
State Sec: The Maskirovka are the most feared Secret Police and intelligence service of the Inner Sphere. Which still gets infiltrated by double agents who walk in like its a revolving door.
Stealth Expert: The Confederation's technological specialty by the end of the 31st century, as it developed the Inner Sphere's most sophisticated tactical sensor packages, electronic countermeasures, and battlemech stealth armor.
The Caligula: House Liao are full of madmen and sociopaths. Ruling just gets to their heads, and they go crazy as a result, much to the chagrin of the Federated Suns and FWL.
Training from Hell: Decades of fighting as underdogs has honed the Capellan Confederation Armed Forces' tactical doctrine to a razor edge. The Confederation's growing economic power has allowed it to equip its troops with much more powerful Mechs and other arms, making the CCAF one of the most powerful armies in the whole Inner Sphere.
Welcome Back, Traitor: The Confederation's attitude toward the St. Ives Commonality after it briefly enjoyed independence as the St. Ives Compact. Though there was a great deal of suspicion toward St. Ives, Chancellor Sun-Tzu was determined to look as magnanimous as possible in embracing and forgiving his "temporarily misguided citizens." Having known his aunt Candace Liao's true motives as explained to him after she assassinated Sunny's mother was a likely factor in his magnamity towards the Compact.
Xanatos Speed Chess: A recurring skill among the saner Liaos, and perhaps exemplified by Chancellor Otto Liao in the Third Succession War. His "elastic defense" doctrine concentrated power on a few key worlds and depended on rapid responses to enemy advances - a terrible strain on personnel and resources, but it did allow the Confederation to survive long enough to recover.
Yellow Peril: Comes in varying degrees throughout the ruling Liao family, who have a knack for being shady and sinister. Even Sun-Tzu Liao, a generally benevolent leader and dedicated servant of his people, was deeply deceptive and manipulative to the point where many of his citizens believe he ascended to godhood upon his death.

Maximilian Liao

Mad Max

Era(s): Succession Wars

Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation from the last years of the Third Succession War until his death following the Fourth Succession War.

Altar Diplomacy: Used a promise of marriage to his oldest daughter Candace as a means to prod Anton Marik into his doomed rebellion.
Body Double / Grand Theft Me: Tried this gambit to remove Hanse Davion from power. It didn't work.
Evil Prince: He assassinated his father to gain control of House Liao.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: Some of the artwork of old Mad Max here bears an uncanny resemblence to Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa, specifically in his role as Shang Tsung.
Overshadowed by Awesome: He was completely and utterly outfoxed by Hanse Davion at every turn, but he was a surprisingly effective domestic ruler. During his reign, the Confederation started to recover from the heavy losses it suffered under his predecessors. He also made several successful military reforms that strengthened the CCAF. Unfortunately, he squandered almost everything he accomplished when he overreached against Hanse and provoked the Fourth Succession War.
Red Baron: He was know as the Diablo. For his cunning political machinations in pitting his foes against each other, and his sinister plan in replacing Hanse Davion with a body double.
Smug Snake: He constantly tried to outplay House Davion during his life as Chancellor, and practically all those schemes backfired. He was moderately more successful against House Marik by playing Anton Marik against his brother, but all he really managed was to leave the FWL more unified than it had been in centuries and set the stage for Thomas Marik's accession to the throne.
Villainous Breakdown: Twice — after Hanse declared war on the Confederation during his marriage to Melissa Steiner, Max went berserk and started to gather up the wedding china service^note and hurl it in all directions. Later, once he realized he had not only been the victim of a brutal Curb-Stomp Battle in the form of the Fourth Succession War but had also been the victim of an intricate plot by Hanse Davion to hobble his war effort, he went irrevocably insane and was sent to the loony bin.

Romano Liao

Romano Liao. You can smell crazy on her.

Era(s): Succession Wars, Clan Invasion

Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation between the Fourth Succession War until the early Clan Invasion. Even more bonkers than her father Maximilian.

Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She had enough loose screws to open her own hardware store, but the Battletech Wiki notes that she refused to let the Confederation die. Under her leadership, the Capellan military regained its confidence from the humiliation of the Fourth Succession War by fighting off a joint invasion from the Duchy of Andurien and Magistracy of Canopus. She also stopped the bleeding the Confederation had suffered under her predecessors, paving the way for Sun-Tzu's dramatic turnaround.
Comically Missing the Point: In the Blood of Kerensky trilogy, when most of the other Successor State leaders attending Jaime Wolf's great summit on Outreach had already picked up on the truth, Romano stated that the Clans were no threat because the long-lost SLDF would return and protect the Inner Sphere. Wolf had to tell her, specifically, to her face, that the Clans are the descendants the SLDF.
The Cuckoolander Was Right: At the same time, her assertion that the SLDF would return and defend the Inner Sphere in its Darkest Hour is pretty much exactly the Warden philosophy. Given that at the same moment she was saying this, back in Clan space Ulric Kerensky (a staunch Warden) was being maneuvered into the position of ilKhan, which he would shamelessly abuse to try and derail the entire Clan invasion. . . she wasn't entirely wrong.
Daddy's Little Villain: As evil and insane as Max was, she was in many ways a fitting successor to her dad.
Let's Get Dangerous!: As nutty as she is, she successfully fought off an invasion by the Duchy of Andurien and the Magistracy of Canopus, who tried to exploit the Confederation's devastation in the Fourth Succession War. They thought the Confederation would be a pushover, but the Capellans fought fiercely and eventually won.
Sibling Rivalry: If Romano wasn't a homicidal maniac, it would merely be a casual rivalry, but Romano and Candace were jockeying for position under Maximilian Liao. Candace works closely with and eventually starts a relationship with Justin Xiang, so Romano takes Tsen Shang as her "pet analyst."
Too Dumb to Live: Multiple times during the Warrior trilogy she attempts to have someone assassinated. Each time, it dramatically hurts the Capellan Confederation. First, she tries to have Quintus Allard assassinated while attending the wedding of Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner. While normally the head of the enemy's intelligence services would be an excellent target, they were all on Terra under ComStar's protection, and she very nearly got the CC placed under an Interdiction for violating the neutrality pact. Second, she tried to have Colonel Pavel Ridzik, leader of the Tikonov Commonality, killed, only for Davion agents to save his life and inform him of the perpetrator. He immediately secedes his territory from the Confederation and becomes an (unwilling) Davion puppet ruler. The third attempt succeeds in killing Justin Xiang Allard, but it results in her sister Candice returning to Sian and murdering her and her consort in cold blood.
We ARE Struggling Together: During the year of peace while the Successor State heirs are training on Outreach, she continues to be a hindrance even as most of the other House Lords (and more importantly, their heirs) learn to cooperate and even get along in some cases. It culminates in her storming out and promising that no Capellan forces will fight the Clans until they reach Capellan space. While hers is one of the few realms that hasn't been actively invaded by the Clans yet, she's the only one who consistently refuses to deal with the situation out of spite.
Xanatos Gambit: Downplayed. As part of her I Reject Your Reality insanity, she's adept at twisting any situation around to try and make her and the Capellan Confederation look good (this usually fails because, as mentioned, she's crazy). For instance, during the Outreach Summit, twice she grills Kai Allard-Liao in front of an assemblage of the other important leaders, once about the Battle of Twycross and again about his performance in a Dragoon's training exercise (see Sun-Tzu's folder below for the details). No matter what Kai says about what he did, she twists it around. Either he's a damn fool incompetent who will get her Capellan troops killed in stupid hopeless battles, or he's an invincible badass and so overconfident he'll get her Capellan troops killed in glorious hopeless battles. Either way, Romano can legitimately (in her mind) refuse to send Capellan military support to the Clan front.
You Have Failed Me: Romano was so infamous for this that it caused an actual named medical condition among the Capellan officer corps - Hopeless Battle Syndrome, which caused soldiers and others to prefer suicidal last stands rather than facing the risk of extreme punishment which she commonly imposed not only for defeat, but insufficiently decisive victories. Even a narrow victory could and would be punished.

Candace Liao

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/189px_ql009l05cvel8u70eu2ptudqpc4bewx.jpg

"All the Liao cunning and sane, too. Pity, really; otherwise she might have murdered Romano as a child and saved us all a lot of trouble."

Era(s): 4th Succession War, Clan Invasion

The only sane member of House Liao between her, her father, and her sister, Candace Liao was infamous for her turning coat and seceding the St. Ives Compact and allying with the Federated Suns during the Fourth Succession War, and for marrying the infamous double-agent Justin Xiang Allard.

Action Girl: She was a skilled MechWarrior in her youth. Subverted, as a botched ejection from a lost 'mech duel (against her later husband, ironically enough) ruined one of her legs and destroyed her later career.
Altar Diplomacy: Toyed with. During the Whitting Conference to create the second Star League, her nephew Sun-Tzu objects to Morgan Kell's presence, as he's technically not the leader of any nation. Exasperated, Candace grants him a world and proposes marriage, and Morgan accepts (despite his still mourning his late wife Salome and Candace still mourning Justin) to gain legitimacy. They never actually get married, but it gets Sun-Tzu to shut up long enough for proceedings to get under way, and she only proposed after he refused to allow her to hire the Kell Hounds and have him serve as her advisor.
Crusading Widow: Following the death of Justin Xiang, her response was to make her way into the Capellan palace and kill her sister and her sister's lover in revenge.
Defecting for Love: She fled Sian with Justin Allard when his mission ended, and took the St. Ives Commonality with her to form the independent St. Ives Compact. She never stopped being loyal to the Confederation, but the Compact was close with the Federated Commonwealth and her defection was more from her loony family than the Confederation itself.
Disability Superpower: Surgery to cure her of breast cancer resulted in much of her chest being rebuilt with medical-grade myomer^note. Since even medical-grade myomer is a lot tougher than organic tissue, this lets her survive an assassin's laser shot.
Only Sane Man: The most sensible member of House Liao, which arguably didn't take much.
The Quisling: Subverted. Both Romano Liao and Hanse Davion thought she was going to be this for the Federated Commonwealth and ensure the final destruction of the Capellans. Instead, she firmly sided with her family even as she remained independent of them.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: She pulled her entire duchy out of the Capellan Confederation rather than subject herself to her sister's rule.
Token Good Teammate: Alongside being saner than the average Liao, she escaped some of the family's tendency for needless dickery and cruelty.
Undying Loyalty: Her loyalty was always, first and foremost, to the Capellan Confederation. She so starkly disagreed with the insanity of her father and sister that she could not stand idly by and let them rule, however, and took extreme measures to see to it that she could one day reclaim the Confederation from their misrule. After a (partly successful) attempt on her and her husband's life, she finally has enough and kills her sister in kind, and sets up her more grounded nephew Sun-Tzu to lead the beleaguered successor state back to greatness as the realm's next Chancellor.
Worthy Opponent: She was probably the only Liao to earn even a modicum of respect from Hanse Davion, even before she married one of his top operatives.

Sun-Tzu Liao

Sun-Tzu Liao, Professional Smarmy Bastard

Era(s): Clan Invasion, Jihad

Son of Romano and Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation from the latter half of the Clan Invasion onwards. Completely lucid in contrast to his mother, grandfather, and sister, Sun-Tzu had an excellent mind for politics (or was just insanely lucky) and reversed many of the losses under his predecessors and became the first First Lord of the second Star League.

Recognizing his mother's dangerous mental state early in life, he spent much of his youth pretending to be (mostly) harmlessly crazy in the hopes that she would overlook any potential threat he might represent. Fortunately, someone else takes the responsibility of removing Romano from power and clearing the path to his ascension, after which he drops the act and commits himself to undoing all the damage Hanse Davion had done to his realm, reclaiming every "true" Capellan world for a reborn Confederation.

He would achieve most of goals before he was 31, goading the secessionist St. Ives Compact into a war of reunification and reclaiming many of the independent worlds of the Chaos March, then forming the Trinity Alliance with the Magistracy of Canopus and the Taurian Concordat, two oft-overlooked but strong and prosperous Periphery nations. He would eventually marry Naomi Centrella, heir to the Canopian throne, further cementing the ties between their realms. He spent most of his remaining years looking to the Confederation's domestic development, laying the foundation for the unprecedented power it would hold by the mid-32nd century.

In the early 3100s, Sun-Tzu had begun hatching plans for an invasion of the Republic of the Sphere, once again to reclaim worlds that he was compelled to cede in the Republic's creation decades earlier. Before he could set his plans in motion, ambitious nobles from his borders with the Federated Suns and the former Free Worlds League launched their own invasions into his space. Though the Confederation managed to fend off these assaults (and even expand slightly by counter-invasion), Sun-Tzu had made the uncharacteristic decision to join the war front personally and apparently died in action. It soon became common belief among the citizenry that he had ascended to godhood.

But no, Sun-Tzu had tricked everybody again. By this time, it was apparent that he suffered from a degenerative disease that caused his nervous and muscular systems to atrophy far more rapidly than aging normally allowed. Possibly in response to this rapid decline, he faked his death as one final act to intensify Capellan unity, then was suspended in cryogenic stasis under the care of a local resistance organization. A few eventually learned of this secret, leading to a struggle between one of his loyal Warrior Houses and the newborn Cult of Liao for possession of his body. As of 3151, the status and whereabouts of Sun-Tzu remain unknown.

Accidental Truth: Sun-Tzu manipulated Thomas Marik into thinking that Victor Steiner-Davion had replaced his son with a Body Double in order to drive a wedge between the League and the Commonwealth. Sun-Tzu was as shocked as anyone else to find out that Victor had actually done it, albeit not for the reasons that Sun-Tzu thought it would be.
Back from the Brink: The Capellan Confederation was in shambles when he took the throne. By the end of his reign, it was a force to be reckoned with.
The Chessmaster: He was a political prodigy who not only recovered the territories the Capellan Confederation previously lost, but also dramatically improved everything from the Confederation's economy to its social cohesion and pride.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Takes this to its conclusion. In the tests for the young royals on Outreach, specifically modeled on Clan Trials Of Position, Sun-Tzu is paired with his rival, Kai Allard-Liao. Sun-Tzu fires on one of Kai's targets, opening the Trial up into massive free-for-all, then ejects from his 'Mech, leaving Kai to face six Mechs piloted by some of the best veteran MechWarriors in the Inner Sphere. Sun-Tzu did this just in an attempt to make Kai look bad, as unlike real Clan Trials, the Outreach tests weren't full-on live fire exercises. Kai wiped the floor with most of his opponents.
Dreaming the Truth: While Sun-Tzu scoffs at his crazy sister's insistence on the mystical import of dreams, he has one that leaves him with a very good idea when he wakes up. Seeing people he knows as he last met them, then as he perceives them to be now, the "now" picture comes up blank when it gets to Joshua Marik. This makes sense to Sun-Tzu, as he hasn't seen Joshua since the boy left Outreach for New Avalon for leukemia treatment during the Clan Invasion. But this give Sun-Tzu the idea to accuse Victor of having replaced Joshua with a body double, even though he knows Victor would never do such a thing... Except Victor did do such a thing, out of fear that the boy's death despite NAIS doctors' best efforts would cause the League to stop producing arms for the Clan Invasion.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Much like Katherine, Sun-Tzu can't understand that Victor remains focused on the Clans because they're an existential threat to the Inner Sphere. Sun-Tzu notes Victor is preoccupied with the Clans, but still considers war with the Federated Commonwealth inevitable, as Victor is a Davion, and Davions will always declare war on Capellans.
Famous-Named Foreigner: He's named after Sun Tzu even though "Tzu" is actually an honorific similar to "Master", not an actual name.
Meaningful Name: Named after one of history's greatest military strategists, which is appropriate for the Battletech universe. Despite not being a great military strategist himself, he was absolutely brilliant at politics and wisely delegated military command to people who were actually good at it (just as his namesake says a good political leader should do).
Nonindicative Name: At the same time he's barely competent as a MechWarrior and lacks any real tactical or strategic military skills. He is, however, an exceptionally dangerous opponent in the realms of politics and intrigue.
Obfuscating Insanity: In his youth, he pretends to be just as off his rocker as his mother, but is actually completely lucid and extremely cunning. His aunt wasn't fooled, which was probably the only reason she didn't waste him too when she killed Romano Liao and her lover.
Pragmatic Villainy: When he finds out his sister Kali is about to use a nerve agent on St. Ives civilians, he immediately informs Candace even though they are on opposing sides. He realizes that what Kali is doing is a war crime and will only strengthen St. Ives resistance. Which it does.
You Are in Command Now: After having discovered that his aunt Candace had murdered his parents in the sealed-off office of her husband in reprisal for his death, Candace basically hands the Commonwealth's reins to him, having seen through his charade of madness and seeing him for the cunning politician he could be and knowing he could restore the realm.
You Have Failed Me: Explicitly refuses to follow this trope, but he's a Liao and even his closest advisors seem to expect this of him. One of his spymasters, after several crucial failures, is so fearful of execution that she defects to the St. Ives Compact... which made her a top-level security risk and prompted Sun-Tzu to have her assassinated.
Visionary Villain: On becoming Chancellor, his chief aim was to make his realm whole after it's near-collapse in the Fourth Succession War, then to restore the pride and prosperity of his people. If it means activating a deep-cover Maskirovka agent to provoke a war, framing a benign nation as the aggressor, arranging the "tragic" death of his fiancée, abusing his authority as First Lord of the second Star League, and pulling every psychological trick to manipulate everyone around him into doing exactly what he wants, then so be it.
- He breaks his engagement to Isis Marik when he finally realizes that she doesn't understand the "visionary" part of his apparent villainy, and he does so in an exceptionally rare moment of unfeigned emotion. Even after living with him and his people for five years, she still doesn't understand that what Sun-Tzu does is for the betterment of all Capellans instead of his own personal gain, and it frustrates him terribly.

Daoshen Liao

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Daoshen Liao, proof that Capellan Crazy isn't going away any time soon

Era(s): Dark Age, ilClan

Daoshen Liao, or Daoshen Liao-Centrella, is son of Sun-Tzu Liao and Naomi Centrella, and the current (as of 3151) Chancellor of the Capellan Confederation.

A God Am I: Thanks to his aunt Kali, Daoshen saw himself as divine, and he also considered himself the Condeferation made flesh. Even members of his own family had to deal with him as the "God Incarnate."
Brother–Sister Incest: Was so convinced of his divinity, and that of his Liao ancestors, that conceiving an heir with someone not of "divine blood" was seen as diluting the Liao bloodline. In his mind, the only suitable vessel for producing said heir was his sister, Ilsa. Danai, their daughter, was raised as their younger sister. Unlike some examples of this trope, however, Ilsa was actually a willing participant, in order to secure her smaller and weaker realm.
Empty Shell: Has been described as one of these by several people, including his own family.
Four-Star Badass: While his father handled the political side of things, Daoshen was the one who actually came up with the military strategies that led to the Confederation's amazing victories.
Frontline General: Besides being one of the finest military minds in Capellan history, Daoshen was also an expert Mechwarrior who often led his troops from his Yu Huang mech. He later realized that his getting killed could seriously harm the Confederation, so he sometimes had one of his Death Commandos, the Capellan Chancellors' fanatically loyal personal guards, pilot it in his stead.
I Am the Noun: In the minds of both himself and many of his people, he is the Capellan Confederation and the Capellan Confederation is him.
Like Father, Like Son: Zigzagged. Like Sun-Tzu, Daoshen is a political mastermind who's increased the Capellan Confederation's economic, political and military power. Unlike Sun-Tzu, Daoshen is also a military genius and the guy who Sun-Tzu trusted with actually designing the strategies that led the Capellans to victory.
Meaningful Name: Daoshen's favorite mech is his Yu Huang, which translates to "Jade Emperor", after the ruler of the heavens in Chinese legend. It's a fitting name both for one of the most powerful designs the Capellans have ever fielded, and for the man who pilots it.
Sink or Swim Mentor: Used these methods in order to see if Danai was worthy as his heir.
The Royal We: He is prone to using this, most likely because he sees himself as the Capallan Confederation and not an individual, though he has on occasion slipped up and referred to himself in the singular.
The Strategist: He's a brilliant general whose strategies were a key part of the Confederation's success in avenging its losses in the Fourth Succession War.
Succession Crisis: Subverted. Daoshen's military victories were so impressive that some Capellan citizens actually wanted him to take the throne from Sun-Tzu. Heated arguments ensued between Daoshen's and Sun-Tzu's supporters over who should be Chancellor. The debate could've caused a succession crisis, but it resolved itself when Sun-Tzu died and Daoshen automatically became Chancellor.
"Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: Expected Danai to succeed both as a warrior and as a diplomat despite whatever disadvantages he had placed on her. For example, he tasked her to retake Aldebaran from the Republic of the Sphere with her regiment—and only her regiment—and wrote her efforts off as a failure the moment she asked for reinforcements.
The Wonka: His sanity might be hit and miss, but his reign has seen the Confederation continue growing in power and become one of the mightiest states in the Inner Sphere.

Danai Liao-Centrella

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Danai Liao-Centrella

Era(s): Dark Age, ilClan

Daughter of Chancellor Daoshen Liao and Canopian Magestrix Ilsa Centrella^NoteWho are brother and sister, by the way..

Ace Custom: She pilots the infamous Yen-Lo-Wang, the customized Centurion once piloted by Kai Allard-Liao and his father Justin Xiang Allard before him.
Ace Pilot: Made a name for herself on Solaris VII, just like Kai Allard-Liao.
Ambiguously Bi: Danai has slept with one of her male subordinates and once flirted with Caleb Davion (with tragic consequences), and it has been said that her friendship with Nikol Marik is a little too close for them simply to be just best friends, especially considering that Houses Marik and Liao are traditionally enemies.
Brother–Sister Incest: Danai is the daughter of Daoshen Liao and his sister Ilsa Centrella. This information was kept from her until she was in her late twenties. Until that time, she believed she was the third child of Sun-Tzu Liao and Naomi Centrella.
Child by Rape: Is led to believe that her father had raped her mother by her great-aunt. The reality, as it turned out, was that Ilsa had seduced her brother, playing on his need for a "divine" heir.
Does Not Like Men: Which comes from her Canopian upbringing, and it comes out a little clearer after her rape.
Family Relationship Switcheroo: Danai was raised with the belief that her grandparents were actually her parents, and that her true parents were her siblings. Which they are, but still.
Hypocrite: Oh my, yes. Is a willing participant in - and usually the instigator of - numerous war crimes (murdering prisoners of war or people trying to surrender, and massacring civilians pretty much For the Evulz), and then has the nerve to call Julian Davion a "warmonger" (for "breaking a truce" he never offered or agreed to) for fighting to stop her.
Legacy Character: A case could be made that Danai is this for Kai Allard-Liao.
Majorly Awesome: She is a Mechwarrior who holds the rank of Sao-Shao in the 2nd McCarron's Armored Cavalry. Sao-Shao roughly corresponds to the rank of Major.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Saved Caleb Davion from the battlefield during a three-way fight between the Capellan Confederation, Republic of the Sphere and the Federated Suns. Caleb then repaid Danai's heroism by raping her.
Passing the Torch: From Kai Allard-Liao, after a fashion. He met the young Danai when she was only three years old but despite that he sensed a form of kinship with her, so much so that he left his Battlemech, the legendary Yen-Lo-Wang, to her in his will. Danai would follow in Kai's footsteps as a Mechwarrior on Solaris VII, before being recalled back to Sian to join the CCAF.
Raised by Grandparents: Well, by her grandmother's sister, anyway. Though at the time she believed that she was Naomi's daughter, rather than her granddaughter.

Free Worlds League (House Marik)

In General

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Emblem of the Free Worlds League

The Free Worlds League, the oldest of the Successor States and the first large interstellar nation to rise among the colony worlds, was formed between three smaller realms with the signing of the Treaty of Marik in 2271. As one of the earliest such powers, forged from very disparate members, the League maintains strong democratic and representative principles, and a broad spectrum of cultural diversity, despite being ruled by a single family wielding extraordinary executive powers.

Despite its potential, the League dwindled in significance by the end of the Succession Wars, plagued by internal disputes, civil wars, weak leadership, and a lack of direction. Shortly after the Fourth Succession War, Captain-General Thomas Marik broke tradition by stripping power from member states and consolidating it on himself. Though his detractors saw him as a power-mad autocrat, the League prospered under his focused effort, but it wasn't enough to stop the League from dissolving in the wake of the Blakist Jihad, and becoming a region of chaos until it was reestablished a half-century later.

Arms Dealer: Particularly during the Clan invasion, when its chief mercantile rivals in House Steiner were busy fighting to defend their worlds.
Balkanize Me: Formed from a rag-tag coalition of smaller nations and many, MANY independent worlds, the League was prone to internecine conflicts and secession right up until it finally collapsed in the late 31st century.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Always marked purple on maps. Their signature units use either a mix of purple and white (The Free Worlds Guards) or an allover purple (The Marik Militia).
Democracy Is Flawed: While most other states generally abandoned democracy on an interstellar scale, the League desperately holds on to a parliamentary system (though it's only when a strong-willed Captain-General takes the reins that anything actually gets done). The Succession Wars and centuries of "emergency powers" concentrated a great deal of authority in the Captain-General post, and although the Free Worlds League is still overall a democracy, each individual planet's government may be very different - a theocracy, plutocracy, dictatorship, or democracy of its own. The League also has the unfortunate position of being the only democracy in an Inner Sphere full of states that are some degree of autocracy, which leaves them relatively ineffectual and prone to infighting while other states generally move at their sole leader's discretion.
Divided We Fall: By far the most fractious of the Successor States, and the first to fall - not by conquest, but under the weight of mounting internal disputes.
Fantastic Racism: Ethnically and culturally, the League is the most diverse of the Successor States, but if you have any bionic prosthetics, you'd best keep that to yourself.
Fictional Currency: The M-Bill is also known as the Eagle, and was originally backed by germanium until the massive economic disruption of the Succession Wars.
Knight in Shining Armor: Deliberately invoked by Thomas Marik when he created the Knights of the Inner Sphere, elite regiments of mechwarriors that would fight with the strictest adherence to classical European chivalry, nobility, and honor. The horrors of the Jihad cut them down before they could make much of an impression, however, though Devlin Stone's later Knights of the Sphere would attempt to carry on their ideals.
Hereditary Republic: On paper, the League is governed by a parliament, but a certain emergency powers clause puts near-dictatorial power in the hands of the Captain-General... who has (with two minor exceptions) always been a member of the Marik family... in a "state of emergency" that's lasted about three centuries.
Hufflepuff House: The League was easily the most ignored of the Successor States during Battle Tech's early years, partly from suffering under weak leadership, partly because it's too busy fighting amongst itself to cause much drama with its neighbors, and partly from not being in the path of the Clan invasion. This changed drastically by the late 1990s, however, when the Word of Blake accepts Thomas Marik's offer of sanctuary in the League, and since the 2000s it has been given equal screentime with the other factions.
Loophole Abuse: The resolution that gave the Captain-General dictatorial powers was intended to be "for the duration of the crisis". However, the law didn't have an in-built expiry date, and so until the League's collapse three centuries later each new Captain General would assert that the "crisis" was still ongoing.
Proud Merchant Race: While traditionally unable to compete with the other Successor States in heavy industry, the FWL was a powerful trading nation with a strong belief in Laissez-faire capitalism and heavily involved in foreign trade. The Clan Invasion and FedCom Civil War, which put undue burdens on the Federated Commonwealth and the Combine, made the FWL the pre-eminent industrial and mercantile power of the Inner Sphere.
Putting the Band Back Together: At the climax of the Jihad, a number of internal and external pressures caused the League to completely dissolve in 3079, becoming a hodgepodge collection of independent worlds and multi-planet minor states that would war amongst each other but band together temporarily to fight off bigger threats. This status quo remained for sixty years, until in the late 3130s Jessica Marik was able to begin the long task of reassembling the League. Most of these former member states and worlds reunited in 3139 but Regulus continued to spar with the League until subdued in 3148, and as of June 3152 Andurien is still fiercely independent and shows no inclination to rejoin the League.
Right Hand Versus Left Hand: Almost all of the League's military answers to regional powers, causing a great deal of distrust as units may find themselves working together toward conflicting goals. A few elite units are sworn to the Captain-General personally on behalf of the entire League, which makes them distrusted by everybody else.
Royally Screwed Up: At times Marik family members will happily kill each other to take the Captain-General seat, only to be completely ineffectual while awaiting their own assassination. It's worth noting that the most capable leader among them in centuries was an impostor, and the one to reunite it after it collapsed was the daughter of said imposter who had the Marik name only through a political marriage.
We ARE Struggling Together: Both the league itself, and its ruling house, is infamous for its infighting. In-universe a popular saying about House Marik is "The greatest threat to a Marik, is a Marik, glory to Marik!"

Janos Marik

Era(s): Succession Wars

Captain-General of the Free Worlds League for the Third and Fourth Succession War. His reign was mainly defined by his rivalry with his brother Anton, and his inability to effectively lead the FWL to greatness. Janos was assassinated alongside his heir by a car bomb following the Fourth Succession War, with his younger son Thomas barely escaping to lead the League.

Cain and Abel: Much of the FWL's involvement in the Third Succession War was overshadowed by Anton Marik's unsuccessful rebellion against Janos. While Janos was hardly a saint, Anton was a backstabbing weasel and an ally of Maximillian Liao.
Despair Event Horizon: The double blows of losing two wives he loved very much, followed shortly after by his brother Anton's revolt and its immediate aftermath abjectly broke Janos. People who knew him said he was a shadow of the man he was before from that time hence.
Empty Shell: This is how many people described Janos' state after the above-mentioned crossing of the Despair Event Horizon. After his second wife died, he did little more than sit in a darkened room surrounded by mementos of her, only paying attention to statecraft when actively badgered to. During those occasions, he would appear out of the gloom like a ghost, unsettling his visitors.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Noted for his short temper, and did not take his brother's betrayal well at all.
Overshadowed by Awesome: His greatest fault was simply to competently lead a Succession State in an era where the other four all had more dynamic leaders, and whose realms were not embroiled in endemic civil wars, or in Hanse Davion's case, being able to play his potential adversaries in civil wars like a fiddle and keep them off guard. Neither of these were attributes Janos had in his favor.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Downplayed; he fought as a commander in the FWL military before becoming Captain-General, but was noted as an average commander and MechWarrior at best.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He was forced into a pact of cooperation with Maximillian Liao — you know, the guy who'd supported his brother in a coup against him — in order to check the power of the FedSun-Lyran alliance. When Maximillian demanded military aid from the FWL during the Fourth Succession War by invoking the pact, Janos sent "military supplies" he'd "found" on his brother's former throne world, all of it being either useless ^note, a calculated insult to Maximillian ^note, or useless and a calculated insult to Maximilian^note.

Thomas Marik

Thomas Marik as he's most often seen. . . keeping his right side away from whoever's looking at him.

Era(s): Clan Invasion, Jihad

Captain-General of the League from 3036-3069, which prospered under his reign. Early on, Thomas nearly died in the car bomb that killed his father and left crippled without the use of cybernetics. ComStar had him replaced on the throne by a body double who would go on to lead the League in his absence.

Altar Diplomacy: Subverted. Sun-Tzu Liao and Thomas set up an Arranged Marriage with Thomas's daughter Isis for political reasons, but after ten years of waiting for permission to marry, Sun-Tzu gave up and called off the engagement, presumably because he figured Thomas was never going to let them marry, as that would give Sun-Tzu an opening to take over the League by simply having Thomas assassinated.
Beware the Honest Ones: By far, one of his most effective strategies is to do exactly what he says he's going to do, no more or less. He does this repeatedly, yet nobody ever sees it coming.
Character Tic: The way he holds his head. Most often, he'll keep his badly-scarred right side away from whoever he's talking to. But sometimes, if he really wants to make a point, he'll face them straight or present his right side, showing the scars, in a subtle display of "this is what I've survived, what makes you think I'm scared of you?"
Facial Horror: The entire right side of his face is a mass of scar tissue.
The Good King: Though he wasn't the real Marik, he was one of the best leaders the League ever had.
Decoy Leader: He was actually body double that has taken the place of the real Thomas Marik, who had become a cyborg which the League is prejudiced against.
Gentleman and a Scholar: His passion for history has given him a rare perspective among his peers - having studied humanity at its best has fueled his idealism, while studying politics at its worst has made him shrewd and cautious. He's also fond of correcting ComStar precentors who frequently misattribute famous quotations to Jerome Blake.
Guile Hero: His actions between the Clan invasion and the Jihad speak very much to this, as his political moves seem intended for the benefit of not only his own League, but for the Inner Sphere at large.
Meaningful Rename: Took the name Thomas Halas after the truth about his identity was revealed.
Puppet King: Installed by ComStar. It's questionable how much of the ruling of the Free Worlds League was him, and how much was The Master.
Spare to the Throne: Thomas Marik was actually way down the line of succession, such that he became a ComStar acolyte.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: A somewhat misguided one. After finding out Victor Steiner-Davion substituted a double for his late son Joshua (in order to keep war supplies flowing from the League's factories to Federated Commonwealth troops), Thomas launched Operation GUERRERO along with the Capellan Confederation, which reversed most of the League and the Confederation's losses during the Fourth Succession War, under the reasonable assumption that Victor was trying to plant a puppet king on the throne of the Free Worlds League. Victor later went out of his way to apologize to Thomas in person and assure him that his only intention was to keep the supplies coming.
Underestimating Badassery: No one in the Inner Sphere has a proper read on Thomas Marik. They either assume that because he's so peaceful, approachable, and idealistic, he's weak, naieve, and easily manipulated. He is not. Or they assume that his idealistic persona is a front for someone just a cynical, calculating, and prepared to backstab as they are. It is not. Everyone is consistently shocked when Thomas upholds his honorable agreements in good faith, or exacts swift justice when given righteous cause.
We ARE Struggling Together: He very much grasps the severity of the situation during the Clan invasion, as opposed to Romano Liao, despite the fact that none of his forces have seen combat against the Clans yet. His only hesitation is due to very real political concerns, as putting out the upgrade and refit kits that the other Houses need to achieve some level of parity with the Clans in the required numbers could bankrupt his entire nation. It isn't until Hanse Davion offers to have the NAIS treat his son's leukemia that he relents, although he outright states that he considers Hanse "the devil incarnate" for forcing him into that decision.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: Subverts this in-universe. At varying points in time, Victor, Katrina, and Sun-Tzu all woefully underestimate Thomas because they either think he's oblivious to their schemes (or lacks the will to confront them even if he is aware), or wrongly assume ulterior motives on his part.

Jessica Marik

Jessica Halas, a.k.a. Jessica Marik

Era(s): Dark Age, ilClan

Daughter of the false Thomas Marik, Jessica has dedicated her life to rebuilding the Free Worlds League in the aftermath of its shattering by the Word of Blake Jihad.

Altar Diplomacy:
- Subverted by her first marriage. Everyone speculated that her marriage to Phillip Hughes was meant to get her close ties to the management of a powerful Inner Sphere industrial conglomerate, but the two seem to genuinely love one another.
- Her second marriage to Thaddeus Marik, however, is a purely political affair, meant to ensure that her children are adopted into a "proper" Marik line to legitimize their inheritance.
Determinator: She'll stop at nothing to rebuild the Free Worlds League, "false" Marik or no. It takes her almost four decades, but she eventually succeeds.
Meaningful Rename: Born as Jessica Halas after her father's nature as a body double was exposed, she changed her last name back to Marik after succeeding him as ruler of the Oriente Protectorate.

Lyran Commonwealth/Alliance (House Steiner)

In General

Emblem of the Lyran Commonwealth

Emblem of the Lyran Alliance

The Lyran Commonwealth was the last of the great interstellar nations to form, as a merger of three large merchant-states in 2341. As a nation run by habitual deal-makers, the Commonwealth has ample wealth and resources, and excels at political maneuvering and bargaining, but lacks decisive and civic-minded leadership. Much of the reason it survives intact is due to the sheer firepower at its disposal, making the negotiation table a more attractive option.

Appropriately enough, it would be deal-making on the part of the Commonwealth that nearly toppled the balance of power across the Inner Sphere. After the Third Succession War, Archon Katrina Steiner extended a peace proposal to the other house lords, answered only by House Davion. The secret arrangements that followed eventually merged their realms into the Federated Commonwealth, a superstate powerful enough to establish a new Star League under its own aegis - at least until the invasion of the Clans, with consequences that would break the two nations apart once more.

For a brief period, the Commonwealth would rename itself the Lyran Alliance after the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth broke away.

Bigger Is Better: Though the "Steiner Scout Lance" of four Atlases is a bit of an exaggeration, it is true that Commonwealth commanders prefer to employ a slow-moving avalanche of the heaviest machines available. The Commonwealth (and later Lyran Alliance) is also the state that saw the debut of some of the biggest guns around - the Autocannon/20 and Heavy Gauss Rifle.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: The Federation of Skye, one of the three founding states of the Commonwealth, always seemed to be at opposition to the central government, and made multiple attempts at secession throughout the 31st century.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Always marked blue on maps. Their signature unit (the Lyran Guards) use blue and white livery. There's even a specific shade, "Steiner Blue," associated with them.
Decadent Court: With more emphasis on "decadent" than the others.
Fictional Currency: The Lyran Kroner are commonly referred to as S-Bills. A variation was used for the Federated Commonwealth, which ceased to be of value when that nation dissolved.
General Failure: The Commonwealth's senior officers are easily the least respected anywhere in the Inner Sphere, as many of them gain their positions by maneuvering through politics and bureaucracy rather than battlefields. Referred to as "social generals," they are at best tactically unimaginative but talented with logistics and administration, and at worst a bunch of oblivious screw-ups with endless excuses. The union of the Federated Commonwealth did reverse this trend somewhat, favoring more capable field officers and NCOs.
- The most legendary of these may be Thomas Hogarth, an officer more interested in organizing celebratory balls instead of defensive operations, and who kept getting promoted by a combination of fortune and charisma. Deployed to join the liberation of Terra from the Word of Blake, his tactics at the battle of Singapore were so reckless and indiscriminate that the Blakists tried to surrender in order to spare the city's civilians and historical heritage. (Yes, the insane religious genocidal zealots were horrified by this man's incompetence.) He retired afterwards to host an education vid on military affairs called "The Armchair General," apparently unaware of the irony.
Germanic Efficiency: House Steiner, and much of the Commonwealth with it, has a very Germanic culture, and correspondingly large and industrious economy.
Kicked Upstairs: "Social General" was originally an actual title in the Lyran Commonwealth, though a purely ceremonial one, handed out to influential members of Lyran society to showcase their importance while keeping them well away from the day-to-day running of the actual military. Unfortunately, these individuals often used their very real unofficial clout to exert influence over important policy decisions, while actual serving LCAF officers felt pressured to "play the game" to keep their own standing from slipping, distracting them from their actual military obligations. The title would eventually be abolished, but its corrosive legacy lives on as an insult levelled at poorly-performing commanders and a perennial scapegoat for the LCAF's deficiencies as a whole.
Let's Get Dangerous!:
- For all the flak the Lyrans get for their "social generals," it shouldn't be forgotten that the Lyran Commonwealth has not only survived for centuries next door to the Draconis Combine, the single most overtly militaristic and expansionistic Successor State in the Inner Sphere, but frequently gave as much as they got in their incessant wars. When led by competent commanders who know how to play to their strengths, LCAF's mechwarriors can be downright brutal, especially when up against an enemy expecting them to be just another group of Cannon Fodder led by lackluster twits.
- The Lyran propensity for intrigue and social games shouldn't be underestimated, either. The Commonwealth was the first other power to get its hands on BattleMech technology after its invention by the Terran Hegemony thanks to carefully-prepared covert ops, and it was a Steiner peace overture that laid the groundwork for the game-changing juggernaut that would become the Federated Commonwealth.
Mighty Glacier: The Commonwealth armed forces as a whole are often stereotyped as this. They favour heavy 'mechs and overwhelming firepower, but due to its size it's often slow to respond strategically.
MegaCorp: The leadership of which comprises much of the Commonwealth aristocracy, and frequently has deep connections with its military.
Proud Merchant Race: With the most resource-rich worlds of the Inner Sphere and the most manufacturing infrastructure to survive the Succession Wars, business is the primary means of exerting power throughout the Commonwealth.
Reluctant Warrior: Throughout the Inner Sphere, the Commonwealth's citizenry and enlisted military are among the least interested in the "glory" of warfare, seeing it purely as a means of self-defense and the practical enforcement of policy and property. Only the nobles and high officers show much favor for war, and for them, it's usually more about prestige or plunder than any kind of idealism.
Socialite: Both the government and military are positively swimming in them.
Tall Poppy Syndrome: While the "social general" phenomenon is sometimes overstated, the LCAF officer corps' reputation isn't at all helped by the fact that competent commanders sometimes deliberately underperform to avoid drawing the ire of less competent but more influential peers and seniors. Those who don't play the political game with equal acumen to their tactical skill often find themselves either stuck in dead-end postings, sent on Suicide Missions, or leaving the LCAF entirely (sometimes striking out on their own as mercenaries). The reforms of the FedCom era have gone some way to reversing this trend.
We Have Reserves: Granted, the "reserves" refer more to materiel than personnel, but the Commonwealths's abundance still encourages lazy, simplistic strategies, successful only through sheer firepower. House Davion's efforts at shaking Steiner out of its complacency was one of the greatest threats the Federated Commonwealth presented to the other Successor States.
Tex: "Losing entire armies for no gain would be catastrophic in modern military terms. To the Lyran Commonwealth's general staff, that catastrophic loss scenario is called 'Tuesday.'"

Katrina Steiner

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Katrina Steiner, circa 3039

Era(s): Succession Wars

Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth from 3007 to 3039, she forged an alliance with First Prince Hanse Davion of the Federated Suns, ending the Third Succession War (and indirectly starting the Fourth). She later saw the full integration of her state with the Suns to form the super-state known as the Federated Commonwealth in the fires of the Fourth Succession War.

Abdicate the Throne: Upon being diagnosed with terminal cancer and given less than a year to live in 3037, she stepped down and handed the throne off to her daughter Melissa.
Exact Words: After summoning and admonishing her cousin Frederick, commander of the 10th Lyran Guards (a unit Katrina herself commanded before she became Archon), for his involvement with those who tried to kill her and Melissa, Katrina offered a quick way out for Frederick to make up for it: leading a suicide mission against the advancing Draconis Combine forces using the planet of Dromini VI as a forward operating base as they were taking advantage of the assassination attempt. Frederick accepted this last order but asked that jumpships be ready to pick up dropships crewed by his surviving troops once the 10th Lyran Guards took casualties, adding he will not be among those fleeing the battle. Katrina accepts but she didn't mention that she prepared agents of Loki, a sub-branch of the Lyran Intelligence Corps, to sabotage Combine jumpships while the jumpships they rode on picked up Frederick's surviving subordinates. Once this operation was underway, Frederick had surrendered to Theodore Kurita to allow his surviving troops to flee and while the sabotage was successful, Frederick lost his eye and he would go on to rot in a Combine prison cell until he was given to ComStar, where he would rename himself as Anastasius Focht. See Unwitting Instigator of Doom below for more consequences of this.
Iron Lady: She'd have to be to make the likes of Hanse Davion consider her a peer.
Only Sane Man: Katrina was the only one of the five House Lords to seriously put forward a peace proposal that wasn't "you all surrender and acknowledge me as First Lord". Janos Marik, Takashi Kurita and Maximilian Liao dismissed it out of hand^note, while Hanse Davion acknowledged it as unrealistic, but made a peace treaty of his own with the Commonwealth.
Red Baron: During a period of exile, she took on the moniker "Red Corsair".
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The way she handled her cousin Frederick's involvement with those who tried to have her killed would doom the Inner Sphere long after she passed on. To sum it up, after taking the name Anastasius Focht and joining ComStar, Frederick would go on to help reshape ComStar away from acting as a Cargo Cult but this ran afoul of the ones who wanted ComStar to remain as such and when Frederick eliminated Primus Myndo Waterly over Operation SCORPION and appointed Sharilar Mori (who opted to also secularize ComStar) as Primus, those who opposed this created the Word of Blake and started the Jihad.
Universally Beloved Leader: By the time of the Clan Invasion, is fondly remembered as the greatest Archon the Lyran Commonwealth ever had. Downplayed in that she had both enemies and rivals who have plans now that she's gone, but to the average Lyran citizen, Katrina is practically a saint. Katherine Steiner-Davion styles herself "Katrina Steiner" specifically to reap that goodwill.

Melissa Steiner

Archon-Regent Melissa Steiner-Davion, c. 3052

Era(s): Succession Wars, Clan Invasion

Sole daughter and heir of Katrina Steiner, Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth from 3039 to 3055 and regent of the Federated Suns from 3052 to 3055. The wife of Hanse Davion and co- (later sole) ruler of the nascent Federated Commonwealth, her death inevitably set the stage for the formal unification of the two realms and the subsequent civil war between her children.

Abdicate the Throne: Offered to do this after her husband's death so that her son Victor could take the throne of the united Federated Commonwealth, but he refused. This not being public knowledge was part of what turned public opinion against Victor after her assassination, and convinced those in the know that he didn't do it.
Age-Gap Romance: Hanse was 27 years her senior, but their marriage was genuinely happy.
Arranged Marriage: As part of the Lyran-FedSun peace treaty, she would marry Hanse Davion (which she consented to before the agreement was finalized).
The Maiden Name Debate: She officially added her husband's name to her own, though she was mostly known as 'Melissa Steiner'. Their children fully committed to the 'Steiner-Davion' surname.
Marriage Before Romance: She put a lot of work into making her marriage to the much older Hanse function, and it paid off as the pair adored each other.
Puppet King: Many assumed Hanse would be ruling the Lyran Commonwealth through her, but it became clear quickly that that wasn't the case. She even took over as regent of the Federated Suns after his death.
Silk Hiding Steel: Her youth, academic inclinations and lack of MechWarrior experience made many underestimate her, but she was equal to her husband in their marriage and well capable of standing up to him.
Universally Beloved Leader: Similar to her mother, Melissa enjoyed an almost universally good reputation, with even her house's traditional enemies in House Marik and House Kurita respecting her rule. Her regency of the Federated Commonwealth also went off without a hitch, at least if you discount her death by assassination.
World's Most Beautiful Woman: She was considered at least in the running for this in her youth.

Adam Steiner

"Information Is Ammunition"

Era(s): Clan Invasion, Fed Com Civil War

Cousin of Katrina Steiner-Davion and Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth twice. He is best remembered in the animated series of Battle Tech. He also played a pivotal role near the end of the Federated Commonwealth Civil War.

Authority Equals Asskicking: Unlike most of the Lyran Social Generals, Adam is a highly competent strategic leader and a real badass mechwarrior.
Canon Immigrant: Like Franklin Sakamoto, Adam was originally from the short-lived BattleTech Animated Series. While the series itself isn't canon outside of existing as a propaganda-holovid in canon, Adam and a few other characters from the show became canon after the show finished airing. Adam is probably the most visible of them, not because of his jump to becoming the Archon of the Lyran Alliance, but because he survived to die of old age after the Jihad.
Doomed Home Planet: The planet he was born and raised on (Somerset) was taken over by the Jade Falcons although he did win the planet from them in a trial of possession. However, the fifth wave of the Clan invasion was underway, leaving Somerset deep enough in the occupation zone that the Federated Commonwealth couldn't get a garrison there to protect it. Adam was forced to abandon the planet, which was promptly re-conquered by the Jade Falcon. The cartoon adds the insult of the Falcons making off with the entire planetary population as a result of the villain's Loophole Abuse. (Actual canon, however, notes that the Falcons ignored the population.)
Four-Star Badass: As commanding general of the 14th Donegal Guards, was the only one of Katherine Steiner-Davion's generals to even draw even with Victor during the Fed-Com Civil War; and nearly managed to kill Victor when they clashed in the battle for Newtown Square.
Guile Hero: Adam considers accurate intel to be the most powerful weapon around and isn't above manipulating rival clans into fighting each other while his crew quietly escape.
Adam Steiner: "Information is ammunition."
Horrible Judge of Character: It took way more time and effort than it should have for Victor to convince someone as smart as Adam that Katherine Steiner-Davion couldn't be trusted.
- To clarify: Victor sent one of his best generals (and requested the aid of another ally) to assist Adam in taking back Lyran Alliance worlds from the Jade Falcons, who used the chaos of the civil war to expand their invasion corridor. And this was while Victor was on the losing end of the war. Katherine didn't even consider the Jade Falcons to be a problem and pretty much told Adam that he was on his own.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Usually; his support of Katherine Steiner-Davion for most of the Fed-Com Civil War being a rare exception.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: He actively serves as an Academy instructor and actively participates in the defense of the Inner Sphere during the Clan Invasion.

Federated Commonwealth (House Steiner-Davion)

In General

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Emblem of the Federated Commonwealth

A state formed from the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth after the marriage of First Prince Hanse Davion and Archon-Designate Melissa Steiner as well as several conquered Capellan Confederation and Draconis Combine worlds. The state eventually collapsed in the FedCom Civil War between siblings Victor Steiner-Davion and his sister Katherine Steiner-Davion.

Altar Diplomacy: The nation is created through a marriage between House Davion and House Steiner, which was a logical progression of the alliance they formed that effectively squelched the Third Succession War.
Cain and Abel: The new nation falls apart in a war between brother and sister.
Divided We Fall: Even Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner, both very skilled, talented, and popular rulers, were having severe difficulty keeping the FedCom together until The Clans appeared. Paired with this and Victor's missteps after taking the thrones when both die mean that his sister is almost effortlessly able to seize half the realm, setting the stage for the FedCom Civil War that resulted in the final breakup of the union.
Fictional Currency: They used the Lyran Kroner, presumably due to the Lyran Commonwealth's relative economic strength.
Leonine Contract: Most of the folks on either side of this union though that this arrangement heavily favored the other side over them, and it is said that if the Clans didn't appear and became their common enemy when they did, the FedCom would have collapsed much earlier.
Slobs Versus Snobs: Zig-Zagged. Militarily, the Lyran Commonwealth are slobs to the Federated Suns' snobs. Economically, the Suns are the slobs and Commonwealth the snobs.
Subspace Ansible: Prior to the Fourth Succession War, Archon Katrina Steiner and the Kell Hounds recovered an old Star League-era back burner project for a hyperspace radio different than the Hyper-Pulse Generator, the K-Series Transmitter (or Black Box), which the New Avalon Institue of Science was able to engineer into field-deployable units. It has a flaw in that, unlike an HPG, which sends its hyperspace transmission from point-to-point, the Black Box sends it in all directions like a traditional radio does in normal space, meaning anyone with another Black Box can pick it up (thus, standing orders were for military commanders to destroy their Black Boxes if they even thought they might fall into enemy hands). This allowed Hanse Davion to continue the Fourth Succession War in the face of ComStar communications interdiction, something that until then had been considered impossible. The Draconis Combine managed to capture a few (partly responsible for their success in the War of 3039), and Theodore Kurita sent a message to Hanse Davion via Black Box during the Clan Invasion, both revealing he had them and impressing upon Hanse the urgency and secrecy of his message.

Victor Steiner-Davion

Prince Victor Ian Steiner-Davion

Era(s): Clan Invasion, Civil War, Jihad, Dark Age

The firstborn of Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner and the symbol of FedSun/Lyran union, Victor is a main hero of the Clan Invasion and Civil War eras.

Authority Equals Asskicking: He has been the leader of the Star League forces against the Clan Invasion, the Archon-Prince of the Federated Commonwealth, and the Precentor Martial of ComStar.
Bash Brothers: With Galen Cox, his aide and later best friend. Galen would have been his brother-in-law if Katherine hadn't turned out to be a murderous sociopath who was willing to let Galen walk into a bomb blast. Galen survives and takes up a new identity as Jerrard Cranston. Taken literally when Galen has to knock Victor out to get him off of Trellwan ahead of the advancing Clans.
Big Good: Of the Clan Invasion and Civil War eras, as he is one of the few Inner Sphere leaders to consistently work for the good of the Inner Sphere as a whole, instead of just the Fed-Com's benefit. While this saves the Inner Sphere from the Clans, it also repeatedly bites him because he has a bad tendency of assuming everyone else understands how great a threat the Clans are.
Broken Pedestal: This probably started during the Civil War, but during the Jihad people stopped blindly idolizing him.
The Exile: There isn't an official sentence of exile handed down, but after he costs her the seat of First Lord for the second time, Katherine tells him to leave her realm within a month and not to come back without an invitation.
Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Has a genuinely hard time comprehending just how utterly malignant a person Katherine is. He also gets repeatedly blindsided by the political machinations of other Great House leaders because he doesn't understand that they're perfectly willing to screw him over while the Clans are still a problem.
He Knows Too Much: Victor winds up being assassinated at the age of 104 after discovering a plot to overthrow the government of the Republic of the Sphere.
Hero with Bad Publicity: Frequently, considering how ham-handed he was at political leadership. While he did improve, it came too late to do him or the Fed-Com much good.
Katanas Are Just Better: He receives one as a gift from Theodore Kurita, which he later uses to kill Lincoln Osis.
Luke, You Are My Father: Was on the receiving end of this. When Kitsune Kurita revealed his parentage to the Inner Sphere, a conspiracy of reactionary Draconis hardliners called the Black Dragon Society who intended to make him a Puppet King were reviled to learn that he was "tainted" with Davion blood, resulting in a number of them committing Seppuku. Conversely, several FedSun traditionalists painted Kitsune's mother Omiko Kurita as a harlot who tried to corrupt gallant Victor. Vic himself? He was just glad that there was some tangible legacy of his romance with Omi.
Made of Iron: He survives taking a shot to the cockpit from a Gauss rifle, which is typically an instant-kill, although he was badly wounded. He also survived getting impaled by a katana so deeply it pinned him to the floor on Luthien and managed to unpin himself, get back up, and continue fighting.
The Napoleon: Toyed with. He's not sensitive about his height (5'3"), although his detractors regularly accuse him of this. But he is short, and he doesn't suffer fools gladly.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- After his mother is assassinated on his sister's orders, Victor manages to have the assassin apprehended. Rather than simply have the man executed, Victor has him rehabilitated and used to assassinate a political rival he believes was involved in his mother's murder, offering him the opportunity to escape. That same assassin later kills Omi Kurita, Victor's love interest.
- Victor's father Hanse had taken Thomas Marik's son, Joshua, to the New Avalon Institute of Science (the single best research and development institute in the Inner Sphere) to treat his leukemia, in order to secure the Free Worlds League's industrial base making upgrade kits for Inner Sphere forces fighting the Clans. Hanse also instituted Project Gemini, a plan to replace Joshua with a Body Double should he die to keep those upgrade kits coming. Despite his misgivings, Victor approved Project Gemini when Joshua did eventually die, mostly to keep Sun-Tzu Liao from marrying Isis Marik a little while longer and thus being a heartbeat away from the throne of the Free Worlds League in addition to his own Capellan Confederation. When Thomas found out he was understandably furious, and together with Sun-Tzu, launched an assault that undid nearly all the gains the Federated Commonwealth had made in the Fourth Succession War. Katherine Steiner-Davion, feigning shock that Victor would do such a thing, took the Lyran half of Commonwealth independent under her rule, setting the stage for the FedCom Civil War.
- Operation Bulldog pushed Clan Smoke Jaguar out of the Inner Sphere, but sent the remaining Jaguar forces running back to Clan space, where Task Force Serpent was busily destroying Clan Smoke Jaguar's homeworld. Rather than leaving one of his numerous highly-skilled generals in command while he tackles the growing political problems at home, Victor goes running off to deep space with the rest of Task Force Bulldog. The reinforcements save Task Force Serpent and the Great Refusal ends up ending the Clan invasion, but his time away gives his sister over a year to scheme without anyone to stop her. When he gets back, Katherine's taken over the entire Federated Commonwealth and he's a ruler without a realm, which sets the stage for the FedCom Civil War.
- Case White, where he sent a massive force to retake Terra (a planet he knows is highly-defended) from the Word of Blake with decade-old intelligence, which results in virtually the entire force being wiped out.
Second Love: Victor has a habit of becoming romantically entwined with daughters of both his parentage's ancestral enemies. In this case, it was for his maternal Steiner heritage: Isis Marik, truly of the Marik line (since she's the illegitimate daughter of the "Real" Thomas Marik), pulled him out of despair after his first love, Omiko Kurita, was assassinated. The two eventually married and had several children.
Spanner in the Works: Repeatedly to Katherine. Letting the Jade Falcons withdraw with honor from Coventry prevents his being conveniently killed in the fighting and inspires the founding the Second Star League. Katherine tries to manipulate her way into First Lordship by nominating Sun-Tzu Liao, expecting Victor to rail against him and inadvertently set her up as a compromise candidate, but Victor figures her gambit out and casts the deciding vote for Sun-Tzu. She thinks she's rendered him irrelevant when he returns from Clan space to find she's taken over both halves of the Federated Commonwealth and the post of First Lord comes up again, but he takes up the position of Precentor Martial and casts the deciding vote against her. Then he does it again when the post comes up a third time, and he shows up (allowed to be there on the condition he only speak on affairs involving Katherine) and accuses her of having their mother assassinated, which costs her the vote again.
Star-Crossed Lovers: And for his paternal Davion heritage, he had a clandestine affair with Omiko Kurita, daughter of Coordinator Theodore Kurita. The affair bore a son, Kitsune, whom Victor was not even aware of until the boy had become a man and was already making a name for himself.
Tangled Family Tree: Victor, with his parentage and progeny, is a particularly ironic knot in the family trees of four of the five Great Houses that lead the Successor State superpowers. His parents are Hanse Davion, Prince of the Federated Suns in the former half of the 31st century, and Melissa Steiner, daughter and heir of Archon Katrina Steiner of the Lyran Commonwealth in roughly the same time period. His first (technically illegitimate) child is with Omiko Kurita, daughter of Coordinator Theodore Kurita of the Draconis Combine, an ancestral enemy of his father's family and realm. His second love and wife, Isis Marik, is the sole surviving child of the infamous "Real" Thomas Marik who is of the ruling house of the Free Worlds League (making her a true Marik in blood unlike the doppelganger that Thomas installed), making his wife by law and his legitimate children members of the ancestral arch-enemy house of his mother's side.
Warrior Prince: A bit of a deconstruction: While he is an eminent leader of armies, he is rather lacking in political savvy. His treacherous sister exploits this for all it's worth to arrogate power from him. He figures it out after the FedCom Civil War, where one of his first acts is to resign and passes the two thrones off to two of his siblings.
The Wise Prince: Very much so. Victor is well aware of the responsibilities he'll have to live up to, and takes them all very seriously. He can be a bit hotheaded and favors bold, risky strategies that will pay off big if they pay off (and may be one slip-up away from disaster), but he's not reckless. He's also charismatic and personable, and knows how to treat people. A great example of this is at his graduation party at the Nagelring. He spends most of it hanging with his roommate, Renny Harlin, and Renny's poor quillar-farmer parents. He dismisses a "proper" young noble who approaches as swiftly (and rudely) as protocol will allow to get back to Renny and his parents, and when Victor's parents turn up, he insists on introducing Renny's folks to them (remember, his parents are Hanse Davion, First Prince of the Federated Suns and Melissa Steiner, Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth, together the most powerful political leaders in the Inner Sphere). And you can immediately see where Victor gets it from: Hanse thanks Renny's father for the assistance in difficult classes Renny gave Victor, and Melissa compliments Renny's mother's dress.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: Downplayed. Hanse was always proud of him, but after taking the throne of the Federated Commonwealth Victor learned the hard way that he has to think like Victor-Steiner Davion, not like Hanse Davion.
Won the War, Lost the Peace: He leads the force that expels the Smoke Jaguars from the Inner Sphere, then takes off to deep space to give Task Force Serpent support against the fleeing Jaguars that are about to return to the Clan Homeworlds. By the time he gets back, he's ended the Clan invasion and destroyed an entire Clan. Unfortunately, he comes back to find that his sister has managed to usurp both halves of his realm, setting the stage for the next interstellar conflict.

Katherine/"Katrina" Steiner-Davion

Katherine Steiner-Davion

I would not like destroying you. It would be too easy, and therefore, no fun at all.

Era(s): Clan Invasion, Civil War, Jihad, Dark Age

The main antagonist of the FedCom Civil War. Not content to live her life as a second fiddle to Victor, she manipulated the Federated Commonwealth to remove her brother from the throne and take it for herself, sparking the Civil War that she would lose.

Was last seen as a "guest" of the Crusader Faction Clan Wolf.

Abusive Parents: In as much as she could be within Clan society, but she was this to her son, Alaric, who was tormented by the constant meddling in his life and her grooming of him to be her weapon of vengeance against the Inner Sphere.
The Bad Guy Wins: Kind of. She intended to use her son Alaric as her weapon of vengeance against the Inner Sphere, and from a certain point of view that was what she got in the end. Unfortunately for her, she did not live to see him conquer half of the Lyran Commonwealth and Free Worlds League and later reform the Star League under Clan rule, with him as its new First Lord.
The Caligula: She proved to be less-than-ideal an Archon for the Lyran Alliance, basically requiring Morgan Kell and the Arc-Royal Cordon to keep the Jade Falcons from tearing through her realm and appointing incompetents to her closest positions.
Color-Coded Characters: Favors white clothes and decorating her spaces in bright, white colors. When she picks up Tormano Liao as an advisor, he notes that while she probably intends it to reflect purity and goodness, in Tormano's Chinese-influenced culture, white is the color of death.
Entitled Bitch: Full stop. As becomes increasingly clear during the Civil War, she expects her whims to have the force of natural law. She also expects all her citizens, both Lyran and Davion, to adore her despite her actions, and is genuinely (and angrily) surprised when little things like her machinations killing their loved ones disrupt that.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: She genuinely can't seem to understand that Victor (among many, many others) doesn't do things because he thinks they'll make him look good, he does them because he believes they're the right thing to do.
I Have Many Names: Katherine Steiner-Davion, Katrina Steiner and, later, Katherine Wolf.
Informed Ability: Never actually shows her supposed political and PR skills, with every action she takes on-screen being injurious to what she claims to want (like her refusal to honour the Federated Commonwealth's mutual defence treaty with the St. Ives Compact, which arguably started and certainly made sure she lost the FedCom Civil War).
It's All About Me: Very self-serving in her actions. She even fancies herself equal to her illustrious maternal grandmother, as evidenced by evoking her name in being nicknamed "Katrina".
Karma Houdini: For all the trouble she caused her only punishment is pretty much being exiled to a Gilded Cage, at first. Then Vlad Ward comes around threatening invasion with his Crusader Clan Wolf if she's not given to him, his demands are met and she gets to start a new life with the Clans. She outlives her brother Victor and even has a son...although said son was conceived using the Clans Super Breeding Program tech using Katherine and Victor's genes, and she intended to groom him for her revenge on the Inner Sphere.
Karma Houdini Warranty: Her recombinant-genome son eventually realized how dangerous she was to everyone around her and personally killed her, putting a swift and deserved stop to her ambitions.
Light Is Not Good: Blonde hair, blue eyes, pale skin, white clothes, black heart. She's fully aware of the trope, and deliberately cultivates her bright image to invoke Light Is Good and, to some extent, Beauty Equals Goodness.
Manipulative Bitch: Not nearly as good as the thinks she is...but still really damn good. She has her mother assassinated, implicates her brother, and when Victor's Body Double ploy comes to light, she secedes the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth and leaves him in the lurch by commandeering all the JumpShips available and ordering all Lyran forces to abandon Federated Suns space. She starts a secret alliance with Clan Wolf that ties into her later Karma Houdini escape to the Clans. Then, while he's off fighting the Clans during Operation BULLDOG and the Great Refusal, she cons her other sibling Yvonne into handing over the Federated Suns, letting her reunite the two realms without firing a shot.
Matricide: Conspires with Ryan Steiner to have her own mother Melissa Steiner assassinated, and sets up evidence to make it look like her brother did it. When certain parties (such as the Kell Hounds) friendly to Melissa find out, they are horrified and immediately begin opposing her. She herself would fall victim to this once her son concluded she was a rabid dog that needed putting down and took matters into his own hands.
Meaningful Rename: Signifying her rapidly inflating ego, Katherine took up the name of her illustrious maternal grandmother "Katrina". She uses it as a simple loyalty test: call her "Katrina," you're loyal to her. Call her "Katherine," you're loyal to Victor.
- Also done for merely political reasons; her brother Victor (the rightful Archon) is not popular (mostly thanks to her propaganda), her mother Melissa was popular but was dragged down by her support for the FedCom, but everyone still remembers and loves Katrina Steiner, and she does this to practically weaponize the nostalgia.
Murder Is the Best Solution: Pretty much the only person she doesn't immediately resort to assassinating is Victor. Ironically, if she had simply had him killed instead of trying to put him in situations where he could simply get killed by coincidence, it probably would have solved a lot of her problems.
Psychopathic Manchild: Well, Womanchild. Manipulates those around her with the skill of a true sociopath...and throws a temper tantrum when she meets someone who resists her charm. Of course, her tantrums have the power to shatter realms.
The Purge: Orders a non-lethal variation on all Lyran units after she secedes the Lyran Alliance from the Federated Commonwealth. Any officers with "Davion sympathies" are either cashiered or Reassigned to Antarctica. Unfortunately for her, most of her best officers had Davion sympathies, meaning she wound up with a load of officers who took General Failure to new levels while she still had the Jade Falcons trying to take Lyran territory.
Spare to the Throne: And she didn't like it. Interestingly, she wasn't even being groomed as heir: under the laws of the Federated Suns, one has to serve a minimum of five years in the military before they are eligible to take the throne (See Warrior Prince, below). The most Katherine was ever going to be was a regent or advisor to one of her siblings who had completed the requisite military service.
The Starscream: Her entire character arc (from the second she actually gets one) is all about taking everything Victor has for herself.
Too Dumb to Live: Non-lethal example. Several of her actions could have easily caused more harm to her nation than good if not for other things going on at the time that made them work to her favor. For example, sending an assassin after her brother Victor's girlfriend Omiko Kurita. Said girlfriend is a princess of sorts for long-time Lyran enemy/rival the Draconis Combine. If it weren't for troubles going on that required more attention elsewhere, the death of such a figure would had been a major event; chances are she wouldn't had just had Victor coming down on her. Even earlier, she had withdrawn Lyran units from planets whose leaders opposed her, leaving them vulnerable to invasion by Jade Falcon forces. Had it not been for some units defying her orders and joining with the Kell Hounds and Clan Wolf-in-Exile to form the Arc-Royal Defense Cordon, the Lyran people would have been left unprotected after being abandoned by their own Archon. The abovementioned purge left her military with incompetent commanders like Sharon Byran, who stubbornly stuck to tactics that had repeatedly failed against the Clans until the moment they killed her. For every Adam Steiner who was loyal to her, she had a dozen other high-ranking officers who couldn't find the enemy without assistance.
- One that could have very easily proved fatal: deciding that, since "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," she should make an alliance with the Smoke Jaguars. Best case, they have a good laugh before telling her to get lost. Worst case, they decided to be sufficiently offended by her trying barter with them like mercenaries they kill her.
Uriah Gambit: When Victor goes to Coventry with a large multinational force to stop the Jade Falcon incursion, she deliberately supplies bad intel saying the force is half the size it actually is so he'll get killed in the fighting. Lucky for him, he not only finds out the truth, but offers the Falcons an honorable withdrawal so nobody else gets hurt.
Warrior Prince: Her NOT being this was used by Victor as a legal reason to go against her.

Kai Allard-Liao

Kai Allard-Liao, circa 3052

Era(s): Clan Invasion, Civil War, Jihad, Dark Age

The son of the infamous Justin Xiang Allard and Candace Liao (the only sane one between herself, her father, and her sister), Kai is arguably one of the most skilled and deadly MechWarriors ever. Despite his name, he was a loyal officer in the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth, and of Prince Victor in particular.

The Ace: He doesn't fully realize it until Star Captain Taman Malthus, a Jade Falcon elem ental infantry garrison commander on planet Alynia, in all seriousness talks about the extreme means he would have enacted if he knew who Kai really was at the time (and if they weren't both ensnared by ComStar treachery). See Worthy Opponent for the details.
Ace Custom: Pilots Yen-Lo-Wang, a Centurion formerly used by his father that has seen extensive modifications over the years. Ironically, the combat action he's most famous for, the Battle of Twycross, had him using a random Hatchetman because he and his Mech got shipped separately.
Break Her Heart to Save Her: After finally getting ready to leave Alyina after everything they've gone through, Kai becomes convinced that he and Deirdre are too different to make a relationship work, and so plans to do this to dump her so she can find her true happiness. Seeing her, he decides he can't go through with it and is willing to gamble that, if he's done all the other amazing things he's done, maybe he can do this, too. Unfortunately, she had the exact same thought, and uses this trope on him, which he instantly recognizes.
Combat Pragmatist: He uses a disabled Mech as a makeshift bomb during his ersatz Trial of Position on Outreach, and taps into a geological survey satellite feed at the same time to get position data on his opponents.
Defector from Decadence: He's regarded as the son of one, his mother being a contender for the Capellan throne who seceded her realm from the Confederation during the Fourth Succession War. When the St. Ives Compact is reintegrated with the Confederation, he served for a time until the Confederation ordered his unit to attack a world under the control of the Republic of the Sphere. He refused the order and defected to the Republic, even fighting against the Confederation after the Blackout.
Failure Hero: Firmly believes himself to be this. At the start of the Clan invasion, he's crippled by self-doubt, the weight of all the responsibilities he has to live up to, and the belief that anything he accomplishes is due to dumb luck, is bound to be undone, and he's going to fail so badly he'll take everyone else down with him. It isn't until the very end of the invasion that he realizes he's not only genuinely as good as everyone says he is, he's actually even better. Even among Clan Jade Falcon, the most zealous of Crusaders who hold the Inner Sphere and freeborns in utter contempt, Kai's skill and tenacity earns him genuine and sincere respect, even admiration, nothing "grudging" about it.
Heroic Sacrifice: Repeatedly subverted. The Spheroid troops aren't sure he survived his epic You Shall Not Pass! moment on Twycross at first. Then, on Alyina, he takes out an entire Star of Clan Mechs to rescue Victor, which results in his Mech appearing to sink into deep water with him in it. Luckily it gets caught on an underwater shelf and is retrievable.
Hidden Backup Prince: Subverted - he's not hidden and he doesn't want to be a backup, but he technically has a claim to the throne of the Capellan Confederation. He displays no interest in taking power and his mother technically defected from the Confederation, but Sun-Tzu still sees him as a possible threat to his taking power when they meet on Outreach.
I Have Your Wife: His uncle Tormano Liao sets this up with his former lover Deirdre, who unbeknownst to him was also the mother of his child, to keep him from intervening in Tormano's plot to start a war between the Federated Commonwealth and the Capellan Confederation. Luckily, Kai had arranged to get several Jade Falcon Elementals on the planet...
I Shall Taunt You: During the Great Refusal, he pilots a salvaged Clan Stormcrow rather than his usual Mech and has it painted in his Solaris stable's colors as a calculated and deliberate insult to the Clanners he's going to be fighting. He also deliberately taunts the Falcon Guards on Twycross so they'll get closer instead of just blowing him away.
Unwinnable Training Simulation: His performance isn't shown, but he's said to have eked out a draw if not a technical win on one in his first appearance. He faces another on Outreach after Sun-Tzu Liao turns a double one-on-three into a one-on-six against some of the finest living Mechwarriors in the Inner Sphere - including his own father, Hanse Davion, and Jaime Wolf - in a version of the Clan Trial of Position. Kai takes out five of them. By Clan rules, that would make him a Galaxy Commander, and Jaime Wolf (who was in the sixth Mech) admits that if the battle had gone on any longer, Kai might have taken him down too, and confesses he might have turned the Dragoons over to Kai in such an instance. ^Context
Weapon Specialization: He's best known for piloting his Ace Custom Centurion to a Solaris championship, but he actually subverts this in many cases - Kai is willing to use whatever Mech is best-suited for the situation. While he refuses a Daishi from the Wolf's Dragoons after his Trial of Position with them in favor of retaining Yen-Lo-Wang, he uses a Penetrator in another Solaris duel and a salvaged Clan Stormcrow during the Great Refusal for specific reasons.
Weak, but Skilled: The greatest Mechwarrior in history generally preferred to use medium mechs, as opposed to the heavies and assaults used by most other famous pilots. In particular, his signature Ace Custom was a Centurion, a design which was rather elderly and unimpressive by the time he took to the field, and his most famous battle was in a damaged Hatchetman missing its main ranged weapon.
Why Won't You Die?: He just refuses to die during his time on the planet Alyina.
World's Best Warrior: More like galaxy's best. It's widely believed that Kai Allard-Liao is the greatest mechwarrior who has ever lived, period.
Worthy Opponent: Taman Malthus considered him one, detailing that if he truly knew who Kai was (instead of by the pseudonym he was using before that point), he would have bid an entire Star of fully-armed Elementals to go after him. That's twenty five musclebound Super Soldiers clad in Powered Armor specifically designed to kill 'Mechs. After Kai expresses incredulity at that claim, Taman amends it to two Stars (and one of his warriors dejectedly amends it to all three Stars of the garrison trinary as another of Kai's impressive deeds comes out). Since they were both beset by ComStar's "Operation Scorpion", this made Taman amenable to a temporary alliance with Kai to oust the ComStar usurpers in exchange for Safcon^note off of the planet. They become fairly good friends later on, to the point that Malthus and a handful of his fellow Elementals were willing to risk re-starting a war to rescue Kai's lover and child. He also considers Kai such a worthy warrior that when a Clan Wolf-Kell Hounds force that has his uncle Daniel Allard in charge starts trying to bargain with him for a ship recharge, he's willing to give them the charges if they go away peacefully, just in case Kai learned how to fight from Dan.
You Shall Not Pass!: The epic battle of Twycross. A plan to trap an entire cluster of Jade Falcon forces in a narrow pass and bury them under explosion-induced rockslides goes awry. With a Hatchetman mech with a busted laser and an empty autocannon (so pretty much down to two lasers and the axe), he goads the cluster into the pass, dances a bit with the cluster's commander (the predecessor in the subsequently stigmatized bloodname seat of the aforementioned Taman Malthus)... and then blows his mech up, escaping in a full-head ejection system with Lear, and detonating the explosives and burying the Jade Falcon cluster, leaving few survivors.

Dr. Deirdre Lear

Era(s): Clan Invasion, Civil War, Jihad, Dark Age

The daughter of Solaris MechWarrior Peter Armstrong, she uses her stepfather's surname. Peter Armstrong was killed in a Solaris match by Justin Allard. She's a medical doctor serving in the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth.

Break His Heart to Save Him: After wrapping up Operation Scorpion on Alyina and preparing to leave, Kai is prepared to do this with Deirdre, before deciding to take a chance on them. Turns out Deirdre had the same line of thought, and proceeds to explain to Kai that she was using him for protection and while the sex wasn't bad, it was just a means to keep him close and invested in her safety. Kai sees right through it, because he was planning a male-centric version of the same speech, but goes along with it.
Hospital Hottie: She is quite a lovely woman, getting almost a Love at First Sight reaction from Kai (which she shares until she learns who he is), and a somewhat more base reaction from a ComStar Precentor on Alyina, which she does not.
Tsundere: Towards Kai. She was the daughter of a Solaris VII combatant who was killed by Kai's father, and held a long grudge against him, but eventually warmed up to him. Before Deirdre learns who he is, they share an attraction that's not quite Love at First Sight. Once she does know who he is, she's torn between her initial attraction, hating him because his father "murdered" her father (and the bullying she got once it came out that Justin wasn't the typical treacherous Capellan, but loyal to the Federated Commonwealth and linchpin in Hanse Davion's plans for the Fourth Succession War), and being even more attracted to Kai as she gets to know him as a person.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Though the tone is closer to a "The Reason You Suck" Speech. When Taman Malthus and his Elementals start explaining to Kai why they think he's such a Worthy Opponent, Kai again tries to say they're making it all sound more impressive than it really is. Deirdre cuts through it by asking Kai if, had Victor or Hohiro done the things he has, would Kai say it was only dumb luck or a stupid risk that happened to pay off? When Kai says no, of course not, she asks why he can't accept that he's done amazing things, and have the confidence to believe he can keep doing them. (Basically, Deirdre insists Kai sucks because he is better than he thinks he is.)
You Killed My Father: Well, technically, "your father killed my father." If it had just been that Peter Armstrong happened to die while fighting Justin, she probably would have gotten over it. But for a long time, Justin was cast as the treacherous Capellan fighter who ambushed and murdered the noble FedSuns warrior (essentially, Justin playing the Heel), and Deirde was given a lot of sympathy from her peers. Then Justin's true role came to light, and that sympathy turned to blatant bullying, her father was no-good scum for trying to beat a loyal Suns citizen going above and beyond the call, and maybe Justin was going to track her down someday and finish the job. This left Deirdre with a lot of hate and no real target for it other than Justin Allard, and by extension his son, Kai.

Free Rasalhague Republic (House Magnusson)

In General

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/552px_3lr21sk0vp3if02ldylatktcichkzhg.jpg

Emblem of the Free Rasalhague Republic

The Free Rasalhague Republic was made up of the former Rasalhague Military District of the Draconis Combine, a collection of heavily Scandinavian-dominated planets originally conquered by the Combine during the early 24th century. Granted independence in 3034, the FRR functioned as a neutral buffer state between the Combine's anti-spinward (western) flank and the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth. Then the Clan Invasion happened and the Republic was nearly devoured whole by Clans Wolf and Ghost Bear.

The remaining seven worlds of the FRR spent the next two decades as essentially a ComStar protectorate. By the Jihad mounting anti-ComStar pressure and increasingly favorable sentiment towards the Ghost Bears - who had taken genuine steps to integrate with their native Rasalhagian population - led to the Republic's remnant merging with the Ghost Bear Dominion. From there the Rasalhagians gained more power until the Rasalhague Dominion was established in 3103, becoming a successful fusion of Clan and Inner Sphere cultures.

Curb-Stomp Battle: Suffered the worst at the hands of the Clans by far. Because of its size and its nature as a Truce Zone, the Republic's military had no realistic chance of defending it from an Inner Sphere invasion, nevermind an Outside-Context Villain like the Clans. They also had the great bad luck to be directly in the invasion path, getting their territory whittled away by Clan Wolf and Clan Ghost Bear.
Culture Chop Suey: While pure Swedish is the official language, the realm's most common street language is Swedenese, a combination of Swedish and Japanese resulting from the Draconis Combine's aggressive "Japanization" policies.
Elective Monarchy: The head of the Republic's executive branch was known as an Elected Prince, though in practice it was not so much a royal title as simply a way of saying 'president' that sounded better to the Republic's feudal neighbours.
Feudal Future: Averted. The Rasalhague Republic was Exactly What It Says on the Tin and functioned more like The Federation than a feudal nation, though it took on some trappings in order to avoid upsetting the neighbours.
Fictional Currency: Several. Initially the R-Bill was known as the Krona, not to be confused with the Lyran Kroner, but after the merger with the Ghost Bear Dominion, it was renamed to the Bear-Krona.
Foreign Ruling Class: Both as the Rasalhague Military District (the Combine) and under Clan Wolf and Clan Ghost Bear.
- Going Native: Ultimately Clan Ghost Bear would be integrated into their subjects rather than the other way around.
Team Switzerland: Kept their neutrality fastidiously and refused to directly ally with any of the Great Houses. This also meant no-one came to aid them against the Clans (though in fairness its neighbors had enough trouble defending their own worlds, let alone aiding others).
Norse by Norsewest: Generally Scandinavian in character, with Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish ^note being spoken within its borders. One of its few indigenous BattleMech designs is named the Viking, another the Beowulf.
Occupiers Out of Our Country: The Tyr Resistance Movement spent 700 years battling Combine occupation of the Rasalhague worlds, and the Motstånd movement became its spiritual successor under Clan Ghost Bear^note. The main difference is that while the Tyr movement was popular and ultimately successful, Motstånd swam against the pro-Ghost Bear tide and ended up being crushed into irrelevance by both native and Clan forces.
Patriotic Fervour: The Rasalhague worlds kept a national identity going for almost a millennium under the Combine, and were able to unify under a single political banner remarkably painlessly once the Republic was declared.
The Remnant: From what was previously easily a sixth of all of the Draconis Combine's territory to a mere handful of planets before the Clans were halted at their world of Tukayyid. Eventually reversed: most of the Republic's pre-invasion territory is now controlled by the Rasalhague Dominion, a succesful fusion of Rasalhague and Clan Ghost Bear cultures.
Spanner in the Works: For the Crusader Clans. The conquest of Rasalhague indirectly lead to the death of ilKhan Leo Showers, which lead to a temporary stop in the invasion and the election of Warden Ulric Kerensky as the new ilKhan. Later, the Rasalhague government agreed to host on Tukayyid the famous battle that ended the Clan Invasion.
Truce Zone: Made as a buffer state to keep the Draconis Combine from sharing two fronts with the Federated Commonwealth super-state.

Haakon Magnusson

Era(s): Succession Wars, Clan Invasion

First elected prince of the Free Rasalhague Republic, Magnusson was a former resistance fighter before the Combine and ComStar blinked him out as an ideal candidate to sell the idea of the FRR to its population. Father of Ragnar Magnusson, who would later integrate the Republic with Clan Ghost Bear. His princeship would be defined by the Clan Invasion, which all but destroyed the Republic.

Good Scars, Evil Scars: Had a clean scar over his right eye, caused by a Kuritan laser.
Non-Action Guy: More of a politician than a soldier, Magnusson kept the Republic relatively disarmed and allowed his chief-of-staff to deal with the Republic's military.

Christian Månsdottir

Era(s): Clan Invasion, Jihad

Regent for the second elected prince of the Free Rasalhague Republic and third (and last) Lord of the Second Star League, Månsdottir was a former soldier of the Tyr Resistance Movement.

Batman Gambit: Called for a vote of no confidence in his own leadership in an attempt to keep the Second Star League together. The gambit failed as the measure passed, forcing Månsdottir to dissolve the Second Star League and directly setting off the Jihad.
Dark Horse Victory: Like Sun-Tzu Liao and Theodore Kurita before him, he ended up ruining Katherine Steiner-Davion's attempt at becoming First Lord and was elected to the position instead as a compromise candidate.
Gender-Blender Name: His surname 'Månsdottir' is Patronymic, and means 'daughter of Mån' in the same way that 'Magnusson' means 'son of Magnus'. Explainable by the Republic likely having abandoned actual patronyms centuries ago^note and the surviving ones were converted into 'regular' family names.
Inspirational Martyr: Was assassinated by the Motstånd movement in a car bomb alongside hundreds of other citizens during the Jihad. The death of someone so well-loved by the Rasalhague citizenry, combined with evidence surfacing that they were aided by the Word of Blake, all but destroyed any public support for the resistance movement overnight and ended up aiding Clan Ghost Bear's rulership more than anything.
Rebel Leader: Was a commander in the Resistance Movement prior to the formation of the Republic, and continued his guerrilla warfare against the Clans.
We Can Rule Together: Ulric Kerensky offered him the post of governor of the Republic worlds Clan Wolf had conquered if he could make the resistance movement stand down. Månsdottir refused.

Tyra Miraborg

For though an enemy, her courage none can deny. — Clan Remembrance

A Rasalhagian AeroSpace fighter pilot who basically singlehandedly turned the tide of the Clan Invasion.

Heroic Sacrifice: Via 65-ton fighter smashing into WarShip at ludicrous relative velocity.
Irony: A major factor in Heroic Sacrifice, see Star-Crossed Lovers and Together in Death. Most especially, not only did her act stall the invasion for a year, giving the Inner Sphere time to regroup, rearm, and redeploy, but it wound up putting Ulric Kerensky in the role of ilKhan, which is what ultimately saved the Inner Sphere from the Clans.
Ramming Always Works: With her crippled Shilone fighter, rammed the bridge of the Clan Wolf flagship Dire Wolf, killing ilKhan Leo Showers and bringing the invasion to a complete halt for nearly a full year.
Small Role, Big Impact: Only appears in the first book of the Blood of Kerensky trilogy, and her only real action of note is the aforementioned ramming. But that removes Smoke Jaguar ilKhan Leo Showers from power, which paves the way for Ulric Kerensky to be nominated ilKhan (in a blatant power play to minimize his ability to spread his Warden philosophy), and that allows basically the entirety of BattleTech history after that to happen. Because of Ulric becoming ilKhan, we get the Battle and Truce of Tukayyid (which leads to the Word of Blake and thus, the Jihad), the Refusal War, Clan Wolf-In-Exile, the Great Refusal, and so on.
Star-Crossed Lovers: Downplayed with Phelan Kell. They had a brief but intense romance when the Kell Hounds were stuck on Gunzburg, to the point that Phelan offered to get her a spot in the Hounds, but her father's prejudice against mercenaries resulted in her turning him down (although it did cause her to request and get a transfer to the unit that wound up facing the Clan Wolf flagship that she wound up ramming and stalling the entire invasion). Ironically, her above-mentioned Heroic Sacrifice nearly killed Phelan, as he was on the way to the bridge of the WarShip she rammed her fighter into.
Together in Death: Her last thought before her Heroic Sacrifice is that soon, she and Phelan will see each other again. She doesn't know Phelan is alive and well, adjacent to the Dire Wolf's bridge, and about to play a key role in saving Ulric Kerensky's life after Tyra's ramming.
Worthy Opponent: The Clans added a whole verse to The Remembrance honoring Tyra's Heroic Sacrifice, and Clan Smoke Jaguar (the Clan of the ilKhan her action directly killed) named a DropShip class after her. Her Remembrance verse specifically calls out that, while an enemy, the Clans still respect her courage and will.

Ragnar Magnusson

Era(s): Clan Invasion, Jihad

Son of Haakon Magnusson, second elected Prince of the Rasalhague Republic (in absentia) and [saKhan] of Clan Ghost Bear after having been taken as a bondsman by Clan Wolf (and later Ghost Bear) during the Clan Invasion. His dual nature as both a Clan Warrior and a Rasalhague noble allowed him to peacefully integrate the remaining Rasalhague worlds into the Ghost Bear Dominion, and founding the Magnusson bloodname.

Child of Two Worlds: Served as a bridge between the Rasalhagues and Clan Ghost Bear, having been born in the former and spent most of his career in the latter.
Going Native: Going both ways. Like Phelan Kell he became deeply enmeshed in Clan society and rose to the rank of Star Colonel (and later saKhan) on his own merits despite being an Inner Sphere Freeborn, but he was also instrumental in turning Clan Ghost Bear from a Foreign Ruling Class into a synthesis of the Clanners and the Rasalhagues. As a reward for his efforts, the Inner Sphere House Magnusson was reborn as a Bloodname house of Clan Ghost Bear, with him as the progenitor.

The Hinterlands

In General

The Hinterlands is a region of space created in 3151, after Clan Jade Falcon vacated its occupation zone during the ilClan Trial on Terra against Clan Wolf, which consequently created a large power vacuum in the region. The region is sandwiched between the Lyran Commonwealth and the Clan Hells Horses occupation, and also shares a border with the Rasalhague Dominion. The Hinterlands are made up primarily of unclaimed planets, with a handful of nascent multi-system powers rising to power in the chaos.

Major factions within the region include the Vesper Marches and a resurgent Tamar Pact, under the rulership of a disloyal Lyran nobleman and former Lyran general, respectively. Other factions include the criminal organisation known as the Malthus Confederation and the remnant of Clan Jade Falcon that remained within the occupation zone, rallying under the banner of Khan Jiyi Chistu.

The Alliance: The Tamar Pact has a secret one with the Malthus Confederation against the neighbouring Jade Falcons, although General Regis isn't as enamoured with the alliance as her criminal partners, and views the Alyina Mercantile League as a potential alternative.
Human Traffickers: One of the Malthus Confederation's primary trades.
Irony: Not only does the Tamar Pact not have Tamar as one of its member-worlds, the planet is nowhere near its territory. That said, it does have several former Tamar Pact worlds within its borders, including the Pact's former capital, Arcturus.
Merchant City: The Alyina Mercantile League is a nation of these, setting itself up as a mercantile power in the Hinterlands under the leadership of the former Factor of Clan Jade Falcon's Merchant Caste, Syndic Marena.
Renegade Splinter Faction: At least three of them currently operate in the Hinterlands. Both the Vesper Marches and Tamar Pact were established by generals who have broken away from the Lyran Commonwealth, and while Clan Jade Falcon has been reorganised into a bodyguard clan under Khan Stephanie Chistu, a remnant of the clan that remained in the occupation zone has instead rallied under the banner of Khan Jiyi Chistu.
The Syndicate: The Malthus Confederation is a criminal organisation that became an informal power in the Hinterlands following the Jade Falcons' mass migration from its occupation zone.
Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Malthus-controlled Free Guilds exploit the power vacuum by offering 'protection' to defenseless worlds in exchange for resources and slave labour. Due to the deal they have with General Regis, the Confederation continue to exploit and enslave the peoples of these worlds, albeit discretly.
Vestigial Empire: Both the resurgent Tamar Pact and the small handful of worlds still occupied by Khan Jiyi Chistu's faction of Clan Jade Falcon are this. Interestlingly, the former hadn't existed since the formation of the Lyran Commonwealth over seven hundred years ago

Vedet Brewer

Era(s): Dark Age, ilClan

The Duke of Hesperus II and former Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth. Brewer is a notoriously disloyal Lyran nobleman with powerful ambitions and a willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals. After Clan Wolf invaded the Commonwealth, Brewer deposed the then-Archon Melissa Steiner II in a military-backed coup and was himself deposed just a couple of years later.

Exiling himself to the Hinterlands, Vedet Brewer continues to assert his claim to the Archonship from the nascent Vesper Marches, which is nothing more than his personal fiefdom.

The Coup: Twice! First, with the support of the LCAF, Brewer deposed Melissa Steiner II and assumed the Archonship. The second time is when he deposed the government of newly established Melissia Republic and formed the Vesper Marches with Melissia as its capital.
Opportunistic Bastard: This appears to be his modus operandi. First, he used Clan Wolf's invasion of the Commonwealth as his opportunity to depose Melissa Steiner II. Then, after arriving in the Melissia Republic, Brewer and his forces allowed the violence between the Republic and pro-Lyran noble factions to escalate before swooping in.
Irony: He deposed Melissa Steiner II mostly because he felt that he could do a better job at handling the Clan Wolf invasion. He turned out to be even more ineffectual than the Archon he removed from power, and a coward to boot.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In the final days of his brief Archonship, Brewer fled Tharkad in fear of Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon, leaving the planet to its fate. Following his self-imposed exile, Brewer continues to assert that he is the legitimate Archon and calls on all Lyran citizens to join him instead of remaining loyal to what he calls "Steiner negligence."
Ungrateful Bastard: Was granted asylum by the ruler of Alekseyevka. After said ruler seceeded from the Commonwealth, how did Brewer repay this kindness when the LCAF came knocking on his door? He simply responded to the ruler's plea for aid with a message, saying: "I hope you have an exit strategy."

Sarah Regis

Era(s): ilClan

The Governor-General of the restored Tamar Pact. Following the mass migration of Clan Jade Falcon from its occupation zone, Hauptmann-General Sarah Regis, commander of the 26th Arcturan Guards went rogue and moved to liberate the world of Arcturus, a decision that would later serve as the catalyst for the rise of a renewed Tamar Pact.

Reasonable Authority Figure: After hearing of a crop failure on Arcturus, General Regis made her regiment's supplies available to the public, buying them time as she tried to solve the food problem. After she broke away from the Commonwealth and reformed the Tamar Pact, the General allowed any of her soldiers who did not wish to be labelled as traitors to leave and return to the Commonwealth — including the Mechwarriors Isobel and Ronan Carlyle, who would eventually reform the Gray Death Legion. Although the loss of manpower greatly hurt her efforts, she felt that the threat of dissent within her ranks was worse.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: In a secret deal between herself and the criminal Malthus Confederation, General Regis turns a blind eye to their operations (including drug and human trafficking) in exchange for access to their intelligence network and information on the neighbouring Jade Falcons. Despite their deal, Regis remains open to alternative allies and considers the Alyina Mercantile League as a potential (and more palatable) replacement for the Confederation.

Isobel Carlyle

Era(s): ilClan

A Mechwarrior formerly of Sarah Regis' 26th Arcturan Guards and great-granddaughter of the legendary mercenary Grayson Death Carlyle.

For tropes related to this character, see Battle Tech NG Os And Others.

Ronan Carlyle

Era(s): ilClan

A Mechwarrior formerly of Sarah Regis' 26th Arcturan Guards and great-grandson of the legendary mercenary Grayson Death Carlyle.

Lightning Bruiser: Pilots a Gargoyle, an extremely fast assault OmniMech, following the resurrection of the Gray Death Legion.
Meaningful Name: Becomes this after becoming a mercenary. Ronan is just one letter away from Ronin, a masterless samurai.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: His loyalty to the Lyran Commonwealth forced Ronan and his sister to leave the 26th Arcturan Guards and return to the Commonwealth. Unfortunately, they were both cashiered out of the LCAF anyway, a decision that eventually lead to the siblings to resurrect the Gray Death Legion using salvaged LCAF mechs and equipment.

Characters / Battletech Inner Sphere

Star League (House Cameron/House Amaris)

Terran Hegemony (House Cameron)

Federated Suns (House Davion)

Draconis Combine (House Kurita)

Capellan Confederation (House Liao)

Free Worlds League (House Marik)

Lyran Commonwealth/Alliance (House Steiner)

Federated Commonwealth (House Steiner-Davion)

Free Rasalhague Republic (House Magnusson)

The Hinterlands

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Characters / Battletech Inner Sphere

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Star League (House Cameron/House Amaris)

Terran Hegemony (House Cameron)

Federated Suns (House Davion)

Draconis Combine (House Kurita)

Capellan Confederation (House Liao)

Free Worlds League (House Marik)

Lyran Commonwealth/Alliance (House Steiner)

Federated Commonwealth (House Steiner-Davion)

Free Rasalhague Republic (House Magnusson)

The Hinterlands

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