Volume XXVIII: The Mailed Fist—The Commonwealth Today

Fact Sheet: Lyran Commonwealth
Founding Year: 2341
Capital (City, World): Tharkad City, Tharkad
National Symbol: A brown leather-gloved fist set against a rectangular blue field
Location (Terra relative): Coreward and Anti-Spinward quadrant
Total (Inhabited) Systems: 319
Estimated Population (3130): 955,000,000,000
Government: Constitutional Monarchy (with German feudal stylings)
Ruler: Archon Melissa Steiner
Dominant Language(s): English and German (official), Scottish Gaelic, Italian, French
Dominant Religion(s): Christian (Protestant), Judaism, Muslim
Unit of Currency: Kroner (1 kroner = 2.13 C-Bills)

Lying beneath a pale yellow sun made hazy by the smog of heavy industry, New Marsdenville, the rebuilt capital city of Donegal and home to the Commonwealth Supreme Court, overlooks the northern seas off the coast of the Hinterlands continent. The original Marsdenville, home to the Marsden family that founded the Protectorate of Donegal, lies under tons of natural and man-made rubble some five hundred kilometers inland, another victim of the Word of Blake Jihad. Fortunately, however, the Blakists’ strikes on Donegal were only cursory, a smattering of low-yield tactical weapons aimed at the major on-planet industries and administrative centers to sow chaos and fear, but over half a billion Lyran citizens lost their lives on those fateful, dark days. And yet the people of this world, still known today as the “Trader’s World,” rallied and rebuilt, burying the dead and pledging their young survivors to the defense of the Lyran state. The businesses that conducted operations here grew back, like the limbs of the native unsterblich oaks that grow mostly on this planet’s Lockenar continent. Like Tharkad, no expense was spared in the recovery of this important world. Like Tharkad, here on Donegal the spirit of the Lyran people has again prevailed.

Amazingly enough, Donegal survived the wrath of the Amaris Crisis, all four Succession Wars, and even the FedCom Civil War with little more than the proverbial scratch. Indeed, in the final years of the Civil War, Donegal’s contribution was little more than the dispatching of its two ’Mech regiments to Tharkad. The war erupted inevitably, after years of tension between supporters of Victor Steiner-Davion and his sister, Katherine, finally spilled over into open hostilities. Its outcome in 3067 left both the Steiner and Davion realms in tatters, their military might decimated, their economies and industries exhausted, and untold tens of thousands (perhaps millions) dead—civilian and military alike. It ended the experiment begun in 3028 with the unification of the Lyran Commonwealth and the Federated Suns into the Federated Commonwealth, and left a shocked and war-weary people facing an uncertain future.

But the devastation of the Civil War miraculously spared some worlds, like Donegal, thanks in part to its location deep within the Commonwealth, its heavy protection by ’Mech forces, and the shadow cast by nearby Tharkad. Yet the Blakist zealots who launched their Jihad saw in their campaign of terror enough time to devote to an attack here. Even now, the cleanup of the original Marsdenville, Wellington, and Palar continues as tons of radioactive debris are gathered and loaded aboard star-barges for off-world disposal.

Yet even as the old wounds still heal, commerce and industry have returned in force. Donegal is once more a booming center of economic prosperity, a beacon of all that the Lyran Commonwealth (renamed from the Lyran Alliance in 3084) stands for today. The Donegal Stock Exchange is again the most active of the Commonwealth’s stock markets, and Lockheed/CBM Aerospace continues to produce aerospace craft for the Lyran navy and commercial interests. It is also one of many core worlds where the Commonwealth’s traditional free press gathers and disseminates the latest news from a realm that spans almost four hundred light-years in diameter.

The small town of East Harlow stands in the shadow of Media City, a suburb of one of the few urban sprawls spared the Blakist assault. From this town, Commonwealth Press maintains a satellite printing office, producing hardcopies of everything from fashion magazines to the latest copies of Bryn Charlotte’s sci-fi thriller, The Invincible. It is here that our author got his start, working in the editorial offices as war tore the Federated Commonwealth apart. The print editions told of a nation in the grip of fratricidal conflict. Steiner versus Davion. The riots that broke out on Solaris in 3062 paled in comparison to the stories of battle on Kentares, Coventry, Hesperus II, or the Flacon Incursion. The sales figures for the Battle of Tharkad went through the roof in 3067, as another phase in Lyran history came to an end. And it was here that a young Bertram Habeas felt the very earth shudder as a miniature sun rose on the eastern horizon—marking the death of the city of Chekswa, home of the Chekswa School of Literature, under a five-kiloton atomic blast.

Without a doubt, the Jihad was the worst single event in the history of the Inner Sphere. For the Lyran Alliance, barely coming to grips with the final, terrible costs of the FedCom Civil War, its impact was doubly felt for the sheer volume of economic and industrial devastation it wrought. The loss of Tharkad, the bombing of Donegal, the bombardment of Skye—all these events sent central authority spinning wildly out of control. With the loss of the HPG network, chaos reigned across the realm and the battered remains of the Lyran armed forces, stripped of their command structure, could barely coordinate even the simplest operations in opposition to the fanatics.

Interstellar trade, the backbone of Lyran economy and infrastructure, collapsed completely as fleets of JumpShips were attacked or pressed into military service. This sent whole worlds—even entire sectors—into an economic depression the likes of which had not been seen since the First Succession War or the early days of the nation’s formation. Meanwhile, the most industrial worlds of the Skye region, closest to Terra, faced the brunt of the Jihad, and—for the first time in history—Hesperus II actually fell to a foreign power. By the time interstellar communications came back on-line and the people could see what had become of their nation, the Lyran Alliance had been ravaged.

With the chaos of the Jihad raging, it’s almost a miracle that the Clans did not simply surge across the border to claim as much of the Lyran Commonwealth as they could, truth be told. Though many historians consider this no more than a stroke of dumb luck, the fact was that the sudden HPG blackout gave the Clans cause to pause, unaware of just what exactly was going on in the Inner Sphere. Adding to that was the arrival of more Clans from the homeworlds, keeping them distracted until a new picture of the situation unfolded. What’s truly a testament to the Lyran people, however, was the Steiner willingness to make a deal. With their military in disarray, it would be Archon Peter Steiner-Davion’s role—backed by Devlin Stone’s coalition, of course—to request aid from his realm’s Clan enemies and truly make it possible to turn the tide on the Lyran front. The real triumph, however, was convincing the historically separatist people of Skye that they needed help. —Rossel Schendt, Jihad: A Tale of Survival, Commonwealth Press, 3111

Ultimately, it took a coalition under the leadership of Devlin Stone to break the Jihad and bring the Steiner realm back from the brink, and it would be in gratitude for its survival that the Archon of the Alliance would grant much of the once-rebellious Skye province to Stone’s new Republic. Since that day, the Lyran Commonwealth has struggled hard to regain its place as the industrial and economic powerhouse of the Inner Sphere. With numerous trade deals between the Commonwealth and its neighbors in The Republic and the Draconis Combine, the economy ultimately recovered. Factories smashed during the war benefited from several initiatives launched by the Steiner leaders. JumpShips once more plied the space lanes. As a new age of peace finally took hold, hope—the real wellspring of Lyran prosperity—returned to this battered nation. Though it would take decades to come back fully from the abyss, the hope and the hearts of the Lyran people would one day restore this wonderful nation to prosperity and dignity.

In our next four-part series, our tour through the history and cultures of the Inner Sphere will take us to the gypsy merchants of the Clans. Won’t you join us for our next volume, as we look into the fascinating world of Clan Sea Fox? I’m Bertram Habeas.