Volume XII: The Banner Yet Waves
Fact Sheet: The Federated Suns
Founding Year: 2317
Capital (City, World): New Avalon City, New Avalon
National Symbol: A silver sword, blade upturned, against a golden sunburst on a red disc.
Location (Terra relative): Outward-Spinward quadrant
Total (Inhabited) Systems: 434
Estimated Population (3130): 1,302,000,000,000
Government: Constitutional Aristocracy (Western European feudal stylings)
Ruler: Prince Harrison Davion
Dominant Language(s): English (official), French, German
Dominant Religion(s): Christianity (Interfaith Church), Buddhism, Judaism
Unit of Currency: Pound (1 pound = 0.97 C-Bills)

Orbiting fourth from a cool, orange, K-class star, New Syrtis, capital of the Capellan March (the stretch of worlds along the Davion-Liao border) is a world most hospitable in the tropical equatorial reaches. There, the island continent of Copplin is the only one of the planet’s landmasses not reached by the ice sheets that cover most of the planet. Yet despite the presence of this lush paradise, it is the harsh climate of the northern Mawreddog continent that is home to Saso, the ancestral heart of the Hasek family and capital of this world.

Saso is a city built with the same grandeur found in New Avalon City today, complete with the towering palace of the Hasek family at its heart. It is said that anything a person could want on New Avalon may also be found on New Syrtis, and that is true – right down to the BattleMechs and armored vehicles that patrol the streets, sharing the road with midday commuters who pass by as if nothing were amiss.

Despite decades of relative peace, the Davion military remains on alert throughout the Federated Suns. In cities such as Saso, New Syrtis, and New Avalon City, troops are a regular sight, their presence not only accepted, but also expected. Security, ever of paramount importance to the people of the Federated Suns, has been a national obsession for centuries.

It is this obsession, the people of the Federated Suns believe, that has preserved their freedoms throughout the history of their nation. Contrary to casual appearances in the major industrial centers and border worlds, the Davion realm is far from a police state. Tyrants have come and gone, but the Davion people have always enjoyed their freedoms under the Six Liberties of the Crucis Pact. A free press reports the news – both good and ill – of wars, politics, and celebrity lifestyles. Holovids and holotheaters tirelessly entertain billions of House Davion citizens with improbable plots, special effects, or enchanting tales of love and honor. Political action groups champion their causes to their hometown representatives. There is even the fundamental right to worship as one pleases, with no official state faith declared or imposed.

All of these freedoms have bred a wonderfully diverse people, united only by common freedoms and their love of the same. Though their rulers may not always be so enlightened, the structure of the Federated Suns government--and the lessons of its history--have given these people every right to be proud of their diversity, and they are willing to sacrifice anything to preserve that way of life.

Diversity in the Federated Suns, of course, comes in all forms. For every major industrial center, rich in the conveniences of modern life, for instance, are a hundred small towns on worlds that the average Davion noble has likely never heard of, where the ground is worked by hand, and muscles are forged from blood, sweat, and tears rather than the local gymnasium. On these worlds, education is not always a public privilege, but a luxury done without, save for the visits of a traveling vagabond school. Faith in a god, practiced however and whenever one’s traditions dictate, precede the patriotism and pride of state, though one rarely eclipses the other. The people of the Federated Suns thus run the gamut from the rich nobility to the poor ne’er-do-well. Always, however, there is a chance for hope, and the freedom to pursue a better life is always there for those who are strong enough to earn it for themselves. This, more than anything else, perhaps exemplifies the spirit of the Federated Suns.

Paul Alison was a 32-year-old farmer on Bonneau--a backwater world he describes as “pleasant, but routinely wet”--before moving with his family to New Syrtis five years ago. The move was expensive, costing the family the combined savings of three generations, but they left in search of a better life. His arrival, he said, was a classic case of culture shock. “I never saw BattleMechs in person before, except on the HV, but I gotta admit it sure was an impressive sight, especially stomping down downtown Leesburg. I turned to my wife when I saw it and said, ‘Why, that’s a curiously useless-looking AgroMech.’ Imagine my shock when she turned back to me and said, ‘Paul, there ain’t no farms ’round here that use a ’Mech like that. That’s a BattleMech!’” For Paul, a dedicated Catholic and father of seven, the urban world of New Syrtis, even in a suburban city like Leesburg, located over a hundred kilometers south of Saso, was a major adjustment, not just for the ’Mechs and soldiers in the street, but everything from the way people spoke to the ways they worshipped. “Back home, we went to church every Sunday morning, already dog tired from five hours of morning chores, and listened to the pastor’s sermon on the glories of Heaven and the fires of Hell in a small, one-room, one-story building where the heat never worked and the roof always leaked. Here, it took us a while before we even found a church that carried our faith, and when we did, we still thought it was the wrong one. A pastor half the age of our Father Mackie spoke of the Golden Rule from a pulpit of crystal, under the glow of lights so bright and so warm you’d have thought God himself had shined a light down upon us all. Of course, it took us a good month and a half just to get over his accent. “And chores? Hell, before too long the kids and my wife managed to find enough modern conveniences that it seemed the machines did all the work around the house – all while I was still going to school and learning the things they say every Avalon lad knows by age 9.” Today, Paul Alison still lives in the suburban township of Leesburg with his wife, Marie, and three of their seven children. Their Bonneau accents have all but faded, though they still attend services at the Presbyterian church. Paul is a professional landscaper, while Marie works as a secretary in a Leesburg law office. Their two oldest children, Daniel and Marko, now serve with the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns, and their holographic pictures rest on a hutch beside flat pictures of the family they left behind on Bonneau. This winter, Paul said, he and Marie plan to travel back home for a visit, amazed that they can afford in just a few short years what their parents and grandparents spent years only dreaming of. And while their thanks go mostly to God and their own perseverance, both of them also give their heartfelt thanks to a nation where such things are possible to those who dare to dream. “Only in the Federated Suns,” said Paul, “can a man strive to be something other than he was born with, and rise up to be something more without having to ask someone for their permission to do so. To live in a land so blessed and so free surely is the greatest gift of all. We may not be the richest, and we may never live in a palace, but we’ve never been slaves, and we never had to compromise the way we lived or who we worshipped for anyone, anywhere. That’s freedom.”

In our next four-part series, we’ll return to the Clan occupations zones for a look at Clan Jade Falcon, the Followers of Turkina. Please join us as we continue our tour of the stars! I’m Bertram Habeas.