citizens away from their anti-House sentiments to a more pro- Canopian goal. Since then, Canopus’ rise has been strong and steady; in 3137, Ilsa Centrella-Liao married Duke Ari Humphreys of Andurien, ruler of the Duchy of Andurien. This brought the two interstellar powers (historically both allies and enemies) closer than ever before. Starting in early 3145, MAF forces have been assisting Andurien in raids against Oriente and Regulus. Combined with the Canopian blood-ties to Sian, this has convinced many leaders across the Inner Sphere to treat the Magistracy as a power on par with any of the Great Houses.
Since the turn of the century, Canopian media has been more freely available throughout the Inner Sphere, significantly influencing the worlds nearest its borders—so much so, in fact, that two systems from the former Free Worlds League (Claybrooke and Thurrock) felt culturally and politically compatible enough with the Magistracy to join after a popular vote. Canopian industries, both civilian and military, have also greatly expanded, transforming the Magistracy into an economic powerhouse
of the Periphery.
MARIAN HEGEMONY
In the six decades since the end of the Jihad, the Marian
Hegemony led a tumultuous existence. The Lothian League
made its final bid for free- dom from Marian rule in
3087, prompting decades of conflict. The question of League independence was ultimately settled after the failed Hegemony invasion of Logan Prime in 3128, which saw the death of Caesar Lucian O’Reilly as he led the I Legio in battle. As Logan Prime was also the site of the Cassius O’Reilly’s demise at the head of the same Legion in 3106, the new Caesar must have seen this as a sign from above—or at least a good enough reason to withdraw his exhausted troops. Ignatius, Lucian’s son, began negotiations with the League that resulted in the Hegemony effec- tively recognizing (if not truly accepting) the Lothians’ freedom, with a promise to refrain from military action against Logan Prime for as long as Ignatius lives.
Since the end of the fighting, the Hegemony has enjoyed economic and military growth which hasn’t been seen since its
GENERAL REVIEW
The end of the Jihad, and the rise of the Republic of the Sphere failed to bring more in the way of peace or stability to the realms of the Periphery than had the generations before. Much like the days after the first Star League’s fall, the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere periodically attempted to use the Periphery states to their own advantage, but—between their own reduced strength and the internal crises—they often as not found that the Periphery nations could dictate terms as equals.
Each of the major powers on the outskirts of the Inner Sphere saw drastic shifts in their political borders and spheres of influence in the generations following the Jihad. For the Taurian Concordat and Filtvelt Coalition, this took the form of shrinking territories (albeit for different reasons), while the Calderon Protectorate and the Rim Collection experienced significant expansion through the discovery and settlement of new worlds. Meanwhile, the Magistracy
of Canopus has extended its influences into the politics of the Great Houses, and now stands as an equal partner in an axis that includes House Liao’s Capellan Confederation and House Humphries’ Duchy of Andurien.
MAGISTRACY OF
CANOPUS
Historically, the Magistracy of Canopus has maintained the strongest ties to the Inner Sphere, but this link was sorely tested during the Jihad with the Word of Blake’s brutal occupation of Canopus IV. With a vocal minor- ity of Canopian citizens agitating for a more aggressive stance to the other powers surrounding them, it was the knowledge that Capellan forces helped protect their realm from predation by the splintering Free Worlds League that stilled most of this rhetoric. The Magestrix ex- plained that the alliance with the Confederation helped
to ensure that the Magistracy could continue to enjoy its way of life, where it otherwise would have been destroyed by the same cha- otic elements that ravaged its neighbors.
The marriage of Magestrix Naomi Centrella to Chancellor Sun- Tzu Liao, of course, lay the core of this alliance, but as relations between the two states matured, Naomi—and, later, her daughter Ilsa Centrella-Liao—would focus the passions of the Magistracy’s
CALDERON PROTECTORATE
Since its inception, the history and politics of the Calderon Protectorate have been inextricably linked with those of the Taurian Concordat—often at the expense of its parent nation. Beginning in the 3090s, Protector Erik Martens-Calderon began an outreach program that included sending diplomatic teams to the Federated Suns, Raven Alliance, and the Republic of the Sphere, hoping to secure formal recognition for his government from each. Following the success of that mission, the Calderon Protectorate opened embassies in all three states, with the first appearing in the Raven Alliance in 3090, followed by the Republic of the Sphere in 3092, and the Federated Suns in 3096. Perhaps most surprising was Fist Prince Harrison Davion’s formal recognition of Protector Martens- Calderon’s government as the legitimate authority over the entire Taurian Concordat in 3100, a gesture that symbolically denounced the Concordat government under Protector Urratia.
In the years since, the Calderon Protectorate received military, industrial, and financial aid from both the Federated Suns and the Republic of the Sphere. Construction of small BattleMech production lines on Erod’s Escape and Tyrrhenia were supervised by technical advisors from the Republic, to ensure limited and responsible production of war material. Any need the Calderon Protectorate Military found beyond this production capability was met by supplemental trade with Clan Sea Fox and House Davion.
Sam Calderon, Martens-Calderon’s son, took the reins as Protector when his father retired in 3120. He began an expensive but lucrative program of exploration, colonization, and diplomacy to expand the Protectorate’s influence. Over the past twenty-five years, this investment has paid off with the establishment of several new colonies, the peaceful acquisition of other systems, and the cultivation of friendly relations with many of the independent worlds previously belonging to the Taurian Concordat.