Volume XXVI: People, Politics, and Profit—The Steiner Equation

The Triad, Tharkad City, and the neighboring city, Oympia, lie under a thin layer of springtime snow, reflecting sunlight as the world’s distant yellow G6-class star peeks out from a rolling gray cloud cover. On the outer limits of the twin metros, construction vehicles continue a decades-long effort to restore the original city limits. Their labors complete a campaign of demolition and reconstruction that began in 3068, when the survivors of the worst fusion plant meltdown in Inner Sphere history—a meltdown that occurred just as hordes of Blakist zealots dropped on Tharkad in a WarShip-supported blitzkrieg the likes of which has never been seen in the history of this proud realm—finally trickled back to their homelands. On that fateful day, when mankind’s darkest time was launched in a fury of nuclear bombs, BattleMech rampages, and WarShip bombardments, the mighty, city-sized fusion plant buried deep beneath the Lyran capital lost containment and spewed enough radiation into the surrounding lands to force the evacuation of every man, woman, and child not killed in the initial blasts for a distance of 150 –kilometers. Even as MechWarriors and foot soldiers fought and died on the streets, lethal radiation spewed from ruptured lines, forming a cloud of death that lingered and drifted over the countryside for years afterward. Though understandably attributed at the time to the Blakists, modern analysis shows that the Tharkad City disaster was actually a simple accident, a horrible fluke of coincidence, compounded by the chaos that accompanied the first volleys of the Jihad. Today, over sixty years and billions of kroner later, the last scars of the Jihad are only now being obliterated, save for the massive crater dug into the frozen, glassy earth to remove the remains of the ruined reactor. As if memorializing the most heroic phase of the reconstruction, the crater remains a testament to the brave DropShip crews who sacrificed themselves to pull the radioactive material from their beloved capital world and send it hurtling into space.

Nothing in Tharkad City, the new Triad, or Olympia, quite resembles the original capital city of the Lyran Commonwealth, built during the Age of War, when it seemed Kurita troops would overrun the original capital of Arcturus. No expense was spared in that original effort, and thus none was spared for the post-Jihad repair either. Of course, for a realm as wealthy as that ruled today by House Steiner, “no expense spared” takes on new meaning.

Founded by three mercantile alliances, the Lyran Commonwealth, unlike some of its fellow Successor States, has enjoyed the strongest and most stable economy in the Inner Sphere, eclipsed only briefly by the Free Worlds League during the invasion of the Clans and its aftermath. While some have claimed this comes naturally from possessing some of the richest and most industrialized planets in the Inner Sphere, what many people may fail to realize is that the Lyrans’ economic might actually stems from a much more basic relationship, an understanding between government and business born even before the leaders of Tamar, Skye, and Donegal joined forces to create the Commonwealth itself.

Free enterprise remains the cornerstone of Lyran identity, a capitalist mindset that has made empires of colonial nations even before man reached out to the stars. This system, made possible even after the Commonwealth discarded its nine-archon system in favor of a dynastic rule—thanks to Robert Marsden’s Articles of Acceptance—gave the people the right to pursue their own happiness and fortune. The rights applied not only to world governments, but also to common citizens. In the days before feudalism truly took hold in the Commonwealth, merchants and entrepreneurs had already begun staking their claims to a life of prosperity, unfettered by artificial government restrictions.

Openness and tolerance were encouraged as well, as any Lyran worth his salt knew that even a foreigner could be a customer or a business partner. Regardless of sexual persuasion, ethnic background, or even political views, the Lyran way is to keep an open mind to all people, everywhere. Even on the national level the governments of member-worlds vary wildly, reflecting this tolerance on the interplanetary level. This variety truly is the spice of life for the Commonwealth, allowing its people to sample a myriad of lifestyles, while also providing an endless series of internal markets based on the social, cultural, political, and even practical needs of the various member-worlds.

Interestingly, however, a few constants do permeate the Commonwealth. German and English are the languages of state, though most merchants and diplomats speak a host of others to facilitate trade. A strong work ethic, the offshoot of the free enterprise economics and the lack of restrictions on rising through the social classes, means that most Lyrans one might encounter are hard workers, constantly driven to improve the quality of their lives. The culture and the class structure, like those of all the Great Houses, have their roots in the spirit of the ruling family.

If there is a weakness in how the Steiner family rules, it is that they show too much intelligence and imagination. Let something happen to a Steiner Archon, whether it be an assassination or the most mild but incapacitating illness, and the entire realm comes to a screeching halt. The Steiners might be good at making others feel an important part of the government, but don’t be fooled. The Steiners rule with an iron hand. —Hervsas David, Political Advisor to Hanse Davion, c. 3024

After assuming the title of Archon Basileus and handily bringing all internal opposition under control with deft politics and personal charm, Katherine Steiner (the first) turned her own flair for business and government toward rebuilding the war-ravaged realm and cementing her dynasty. Offering no-interest loans for the reconstruction of damaged industries in exchange for a share of the afflicted company’s stocks, she opened the markets and gained access to amazing new sources of wealth at the same time. In addition, she funded planet-scouting programs to locate prime real estate throughout the Commonwealth, either for further colonization efforts or to bestow such lands on particularly loyal subjects.

These efforts not only accomplished the goals of rebuilding a realm ravaged by the Age of War and solidifying Steiner power, but also gave new life to the old institution of noble peerage. Over time, the social structure of an aristocracy would form alongside the common classes and their blue- and white-collar strata. Even more subtle was the gradual impression of the Steiner family’s native German heritage and cultural bent on the Commonwealth, a development that grew more from the people’s reverence toward Katherine and her successors than from any nationally instituted campaign.

Indeed, by the time of Katherine Steiner’s retirement in favor of her son, Alistair Steiner, in 2445, the Commonwealth had been forever changed from a mere alliance of merchants to a viable state with the beginnings of a unifying culture, values, and way of life.

One needs to know very little to get by in the Lyran Commonwealth: who to talk to, who not to talk to, and who to persuade with the appropriate number of C-bills. —Cyro Tslio, ex-ComStar Precentor of Donegal Station, 3025

Of course, an open mercantile society brings its share of problems and challenges as well. Though the Lyran Commonwealth can trace its prosperity to the industrious nature of its people, the laws of capitalism are not so far removed from the laws of Darwinism. Not without compassion—innumerable charity funds are still sponsored by all manner of corporate and government agencies—the affluence of the Commonwealth is nevertheless most available to those who work for it, or who are on good terms with those who do. And some have amassed such wealth and power that they have become political and social entities in their own right.

Advancing one’s fortune or prominence in the social strata is thus vastly improved as much by who one knows as much as it is by how hard one works. Even before the resurgence of the aristocratic and noble classes, the lines of ruling classes began to form among the corporate executives, the statesmen, and the master tradesmen. It’s thus little wonder that shrewd negotiation skills, political finesse, or the occasional ethical flexibility in business are cultivated as art forms by even the most common Lyran citizen, who has come to see all deals, prices, and conditions of service as open to haggling.

In our third installment on the Lyran Commonwealth, we’ll look at the rise, fall, and resurrection of House Steiner through the Succession Wars, and the subsequent years that changed this realm forever. Please join us as we continue our tour of the stars! I’m Bertram Habeas.