Volume XIX: Xin Sheng and Beyond

“ . . . In honor of our marriage, in addition to this morsel, I give you a vast prize. Here, my love, I give you the Capellan Confederation!” —First Prince Hanse Davion, to Archon-Designate Melissa Steiner on their wedding night, 20 August 3028, Hilton Head Island, Terra.

With those words, the now-united rulers of the Lyran Commonwealth and the Federated Suns began a war that would profoundly change the face of the Inner Sphere, dramatically shifting a balance between the five Successor States that had held through nearly three centuries of constant war. No single nation in the Inner Sphere would feel the impact of that union as terribly and as profoundly as House Liao’s Capellan Confederation, however.

In just two short years of fighting, the Steiner-Davion armies smashed through the Confederation with unprecedented efficiency, aided by spies insinuated at the very highest level of the small nation’s high command. The Tikonov and St. Ives Commonalities seceded with help from House Davion’s political machinations, with the former absorbed into the Commonwealth less than a year later as the latter formed its own independent state. At the same time, every other Capellan world within 175 light-years of Terra was simply absorbed into a region of space that would eventually become known as the Sarna March (and later, during the 3050s and 3060s, as the “Chaos March”). In all, over half the Confederation’s worlds were lost to defection or conquest, the most proportionally devastating losses ever suffered by any Great House during the Succession Wars.

For all his fabled strategic brilliance, the aftermath of the Fourth War was perhaps a key example of Hanse Davion’s greatest military blunders. In 3039, instead of targeting House Liao once again and completely removing a potential threat to his realm, he instead turned the might of the FedCom against House Kurita, leaving the Capellans to stagger on. Or was it a blunder? After the way the Confederation handily repelled the Anduriens and Canopians just a couple of years after having its realm torn in half, perhaps “the Fox” was thinking more of the old adage about trying to corner a wounded animal. . . . —Arthur Luvonne, The Long, Dirty History of the Federated Suns, Commonwealth Press, 3100

The determination to survive—already a mainstay of the Capellan peoples—only grew stronger in the shattered Confederation, even as the so-called “War of Davion Aggression” left the nation’s economy and infrastructure in ruin. Romano Liao, daughter of Maximilian Liao, who ruled during that war, instilled in her people a renewed devotion to the state. When the Magistracy of Canopus and the Free Worlds League’s Duchy of Andurien launched a war against the Capellans in 3031, they faced a fanatic army determined to die to defeat them, and eager to drag as many of their enemys as possible along for the ride. This fighting spirit, sacrificing all to save the state, became the hallmark of the Liao people, who would not rise again until the ascension of Romano’s son, Sun-Tzu Liao.

Though his Xin Sheng—literally, “Rebirth”—mandate did not officially begin until a few years after he assumed the mantle of Chancellor in 3052, Sun-Tzu Liao was intent on recovering all that had been lost in the Fourth Succession War. He backed the efforts of pro-Capellan guerillas in the Sarna March, allied his realm with the Magistracy of Canopus and the Taurian Concordat, the two nearest and most powerful Periphery realms. He even fostered an alliance with House Marik’s Free Worlds League to check the ambitions of the Federated Commonwealth, and built up his defense forces quietly, preparing for the inevitable invasion of the Sarna March, which came in 3057.

Ironically, the creation of the new Star League in 3059, as part of a final effort to end the Clan threat, gave Sun-Tzu the means to carry out his Xin Sheng and reclaim the St. Ives Compact. Having been denied the time to complete his reconquest of the Sarna March by the League’s declaration of an end to hostilities in 3058, Sun-Tzu instead used his elected position as First Lord to motivate his people and usher in a “brave new age” for the Confederation.

Opinions and theories vary wildly about what came next, but during Sun-Tzu’s tenure as First Lord he ordered the new SLDF’s peacekeeping troops into key parts of the Chaos March as well as the St. Ives border—the latter event after a strike by a pro-St. Ives mercenary command nearly killed Isis Marik, Sun-Tzu’s then-betrothed (and one-time heiress to the Free Worlds League). The conflict that arose afterward, however, had nothing to do with the SLDF and, indeed, even the apparent assassination attempt on Marik may have been a planned event, according to Sun-Tzu’s own words.

14 April 3062 She served her purpose, and today I have set her free. Though I should not care one iota for the naïve child, our conversation today still echoes in my head. She clearly did not understand what it would be like to truly be Capellan, to be downtrodden, to always have to capitulate or compromise. No. No more. We have given up enough. Now it is time for our rebirth. This is not my moment, as poor, short-sighted Isis [Marik] would have believed. This is our moment. This is the moment my people have waited for, like shadows in the darkness. No. There will be no compromise this time. The Confederation deserves better. - excerpted from The Words of Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao, by Talon Zahn, Celestial Press, 3125.

Xin Sheng was far more than a military campaign. In fact, the earliest stages of Sun-Tzu’s mandate were entirely cultural and political in nature. The return to their proud Chinese heritage gave the Capellan people a sense of identity and pride that had been stripped away in too many decades of mere survival. Meanwhile, new alliances with their Periphery neighbors (downplayed in today’s Capellan history texts, even when considering the state’s long-standing friendship with the Magistracy of Canopus, which remains evident even today) gave them the strength that comes from knowing they were not alone. New BattleMechs with Han names were developed. The ages-old standard and uniforms were given a makeover. Everything was reborn, fresh, new, and above all, Capellan. Some of the draconian measures enacted under Romano Liao’s reign were relaxed, including the bloody purges meant to ensure loyalty. In doing so, Sun-Tzu made his people feel freer while conveying a sense of belonging and strengthening their political might. Nationalism colored the survival-by-any-means doctrine, but more than simply maintaining the status quo, the Capellan people began to realize they didn’t have to just be survivors. They could, in fact, be winners—even leaders.

It took the Confederation three years to reabsorb the St. Ives Compact, a victory that effectively validated Sun-Tzu’s plans and clearly demonstrated the renewed strength of the Capellan people. Indeed, in his state address after the final truce in 3063, he even addressed the Compact citizens as fellow Capellans, at once declaring an end to the fighting and to decades of hatred.

“What we accomplished today has been bought at a high cost—paid by people of the Confederation and the St. Ives Compact, Capellans all. In paying this price, we find ourselves in unfamiliar territory. We can actually pity the Federated Suns.” —Sun-Tzu Liao, 3063, except from his statewide address from Sian.

Xin Sheng continued long after the recapture of the St. Ives Compact, not only cementing the hard-fought victories of its early years, but also bringing back hope and the strength of the Chinese culture to the Confederation. During the FedCom Civil War, efforts began to reclaim the Confederation’s next prize—the former Tikonov Commonality—but the Jihad would intervene. What followed would once more test the resolve, the unity, and the newfound national pride of a recovering people, in a ten-year crucible the Confederation faced all but alone.

Of all the states hit during the Jihad, I’d have to say the Capellans showed the most heart while defending their lands, and that’s only to be expected after centuries of being the smallest kid on the block and having nobody backing you up the whole time. I mean, think of it. After literally sneaking off with much of the Tikonov worlds during and after the FedCom Civil War, they stood accused of aiding the Word right alongside the [Free Worlds] League just because Sian was one of the last capitals hit. Nobody trusted Sun-Tzu but his people, and they fought—and died—for him and the nation he stood for. Leading people through that, no wonder they revere him as a god now. —Jaime Kalasko, Who Speaks for Liao? Underground Press Interstellar, 3112

In our final installment on the Confederation, we’ll examine House Liao and the children of Xin Sheng today. Please join us as we continue our tour of the stars! I’m Bertram Habeas.