Oriento-Capellan Empire
Ruling House: House Halas-Liao
Capitals: Sian and Oriente (traditional investiture on Harsefeld)
Ruler: Emperor Robert Halas-Liao
Worlds: 277
BattleMech Regiments: 230
Warships: 138
Of all the states to exist in the Glass, the Oriento-Capellan Empire stands out as one of the most unbelievable. Oriente has traditionally been one of the most anti-Capellan of the Free Worlds League states in our history. I would as soon accept the idea of a Confederated Suns and House Liao-Davion as I have imagined House Halas-Liao being in any way stable. Yet, even with the similarities in our histories up to the Succession Wars, the other side's Oriente remains joined at the hip with the reborn Capellan State, and while not a smooth union, it has survived war, invasion, and dissension for the past century.
The key to the Empire's survival, its very existence, is arguably found in the third family name that is rightfully born by the ruler, if largely unused. House Allison, the original rulers of Oriente, survived on the captured world Harsefeld and in seeking to rule conquered Capellan worlds ultimately chose to assimilate into the Capellan nation. They waged war after war to get to their current position, and to secure it, forged a marriage alliance with their successors on Oriente, House Halas. These changed circumstances do much to explain this unlikely pairing. The rebirth of House Liao by two of her former foes has done much to shape the current Empire, for better and for worse.
The Empire is a dual state, not dissimilar to the Austrian-Hungarian state of Terra's Industrial Revolution era in that the two halves are governed by separate laws but have a common government for defense, foreign exchange, and diplomacy. The Grand Duchy of Oriente is governed by a confederal system, with planets maintaining a degree of local autonomy and self-rule much like they enjoyed in the Free Worlds League, with regional economic interests and trade regulated at the province level. The now-larger section, the Imperial Capellan State, operates under a reformed version of the Capellan ideology we are more familiar with. Before the formation of the Empire, King Alexander Allison of Harsefeld and his half-brother and co-ruler — the future Emperor Jonah Allison-Liao — decided to govern their reclaimed Capellan worlds by the old system, with modifications to undermine rebellions from those worlds that had ended the caste system. The servitor caste was done away with. Those without citizenship are now considered casteless, an unenviable position compared to the others but lacking the status of state property that so many find detestable in the Capellan system on our side. Citizenship in the Imperial Capellan State is more easily attained as well and on many worlds the casteless are a minority, not the plurality or outright majority their servitor counterparts often are in the Capellan Confederation. To ease awkwardness between the two halves, a citizen of the Grand Duchy dwelling in the Imperial State is given an honorary rank of associated citizen; they do not enjoy the full range of citizenship benefits, but they are not considered casteless. They must go through a naturalization process if they decide to emigrate permanently.
As one can imagine, these two systems do not dwell in perfect harmony. Among the people of the Grand Duchy any hint of encroachment by the Capellan State is vigorously, even violently resisted. Maskirovka has little sway in the Duchy for enforcing any sort of loyalty to the Empire, their role is strictly counter-intelligence against enemy action in association with the IOCF's Military Intelligence Command. Instead national loyalty is encouraged by internal propaganda and popular broadcasts, lionizing House Halas and especially the Knightly Orders of Oriente. Founded during the later Renaissance period to live up to ideals of chivalric behavior and honor so as to limit the Succession Wars' devastation, the Knightly Orders are widely respected among the Duchy's population for their courage, tenacity, and skill. They have often fought in the most desperate and most savage battles to preserve the Grand Duchy from her external foes and, while tied to IOCF command structure, maintain an independence that makes them the core of the Grand Duchy's personal troops. Legally they are under Emperor Robert's command, in his capacity as Grand Duke of Oriente, but unofficially many still hew to the desires and orders of their old liege lady, the one hundred and twenty-eight year old Dowager Empress Eris Halas, who despite her abdication in 3103 still wields significant soft power across Oriente and the Empire as a whole.
This has not gone unnoticed on Sian and among the
sheng and directorship of the Imperial Capellan State. Many among the Empire's leadership are said to be jealous and fearful of the Dowager's lingering grasp, especially as she has opposed the Liaoist Restorationist movement and its goals of reclaiming the Confederation's old borders, preferring instead to focus on her own bitter foes, House Proctor of Arcadia, and her ambitions to seize the rest of the former Marik Commonwealth from them. For the Capellans this is an unwanted distraction and part of a larger problem with what many quietly feel is an unequal partnership. A common joke among Capellans is that they labor "for the greater good of the Capellan State… oh, yes, and for those lazy Orienters too". The Grand Duchy is seen as not pulling its own weight, with its spoiled citizenry lazy and aloof of the needs of the Empire while Capellans labor vigorously and honestly for the greater good of all.
It is important to note that the lack of a servitor caste, and the (relatively) easier life of the casteless, does not diminish the strength of the Capellan State over their lives. A Capellan citizen earns their place, joins a caste as best fits their talents, and is reminded at all times of their duties to the Greater Good of Humanity as laid out in the Korvin Doctrine and of the need to obey their superiors as the Sarna Mandate decrees. Any worlds captured and folded into the Imperial State are subject to a Maskirovka-observed process to incorporate their populations into the caste system. This process proved particularly dangerous during both the integration of captured Terran worlds in the 3060s and the worlds seized from the Federated Suns in 3118 and 3119. While some of the more ardent Liaoists wished to further impress the Capellan system on these worlds, the Emperors have been more lenient, to the point that the Sirian Commonality is observed to have almost no casteless and an abnormally smooth process for caste assignments, and the Victoria Commonality (based on Bellatrix, though the name makes very clear the aspirations of the Empire in that direction) has run along similar lines. This has born fruit in that both are integrating very smoothly compared to the retaken worlds attached to the Sarna Commonality, where local directorship and
sheng have proven more stringent in allowing citizenship. Make no mistake, though, that the Capellan State is not as domineering as the Confederation is. The Maskirovka has full authority to investigate and detain and the Emperor wields power close to that of the Chancellors of the Confederation. Loyalty to the State is enforced on the populations of every world.
If one wonders how these two systems can survive under the same government, one answer is found in the Imperial Oriento-Capellan Forces. The IOCF are the largest and most prominent institution of the Empire in the everyday life of citizens of the Grand Duchy and the Imperial State. They recruit from both halves and while local units do exist, by practice Ducal soldiers are assigned to Capellan units and vice versa, and a number of corps and brigades such as the Harsefeld Lancers and the Allison Heavy Guards intentionally maintain as much equality as possible when it comes to staffing from both halves of the Empire. While it is not immune to the occasional demonstration of bias by either side against the other, the officer corps and NCOs work to clamp down on this so that the units of the IOCF, wherever their origin, can function together on the battlefield. Overall the IOCF's culture is one of teamwork and a feeling of Imperial citizenship, whether a soldier is from the Oriente Fusiliers or the Sian Dragoons. "Two Nations, One Cause" is their most common slogan, and they do generally try to live up to it even if, on occasion, the nationalist sides do make themselves known. The most obvious example of this was the Liaoist strike against the Federated Suns in 3118, betraying an ally they despised to reclaim worlds they believed rightfully Capellan.
The IOCF's prominence comes in part from size. The Empire boasts one of the larger remaining navies from the Fourth Succession War and over two hundred regiments of BattleMechs. It is one of the more heavily garrisoned Successor States, and for good reason. While for much of the 31st Century it was an active member in the St. Ives Compact, the Liaoist betrayal of the Federated Suns ended that forever. Now the Empire remains isolated and surrounded by active and potential enemies, with only the Azami having any real warmth for their state. Their ancient foes in House Davion and the Dowager's hated enemies in House Proctor include factions openly eager for the suspension of the Peace of Dieron to strike at the lonely Empire, and the legions of the Flavian Principate burn with fury to avenge their humiliation at Kearny in 3118. To protect against this multitude of threats, the Empire has been transformed into a garrison state in many respects.
In light of their strategic isolation Emperor Robert is reputed to have opened talks with Yorinaga Kurita for closer ties to the Draconis Combine, the other pariah of the Inner Sphere, while simultaneously seeking an understanding with the Kilbourne Concord, a dicey prospect at best. He has also, since his rise to the throne, agreed to an increase of peacetime naval spending not seen in a century, with a crash naval construction program rivaling the Empire's efforts during the Fourth Succession War. Over the next several years the Empire is building enough ships that it will be able to challenge the Federated Suns directly, wielding a fleet that could overpower the Royal Federation and the Flavian Principate combined. This bold move, proclaimed as necessary to secure the Empire from attack, is the proximate cause of the growing naval arms race that threatens the Peace of Dieron. A bitter irony indeed given Robert's father caused the Fourth Succession War for similar motivations.
(And as a failed attempt to placate the rabid Capellan nationalists, the ones who later caused this very isolation through their attack on their own ally. Whatever the reality, Capellans love to dig knives into the backs of their neighbors. — Paladin Max Ergen)
For those accusing Emperor Robert of plotting aggression, it is worth noting that after High King Nathaniel rose to the Liberator's Throne on Arcadia, he openly welcomed Nathaniel's peace overtures and has agreed to mutual force drawdowns across the Arcadian-Imperial border. This may simply be a maneuver to placate one foe so he can improve his position against the Principate and Federated Suns, of course, but it may also indicate a genuine desire to avoid a repeat of his father's actions and to preserve the Peace of Dieron. Of greater relevance to us, while little is said from news sources of the Imperial reaction to the Glass
(An ominous silence if you ask me! — Paladin-Exemplar David MacKinnon), Emperor Robert's official response to Nathaniel's coronation address was "The Empire applauds the High King for his commitment to fighting such debased savagery, we wish him good fortune in battle against these Clans", and further IOCF announcements of drawdowns on the Arcadian border systems. Again, it is impossible to tell the motivation here. The Emperor may be genuinely sympathetic to Nathaniel's crusade to stop the aggressive Clans, or he may be cynically promoting Nathaniel's war efforts in order to weaken the Arcadians' position against the Empire in the short term. Ultimately, the only person who knows for sure is Emperor Robert Halas-Liao himself.
Death Commandos
The refounding of the Death Commandos came with the return of former Capellan leading families to the Harsefeld state in 3035, eager to join in rebuilding the Capellan nation as they believed it should be. They have been the bodyguard regiment of the Emperor since 3040, participating in the Terran War from the siege of Oriente to the conquest of Terra and on through the remaining Second Age of War.
Wherever an enemy of House Liao goes, the Death Commandos are ready to slay them if given the order. During the fighting in the 3060s they came within moments of killing Archduke Joshua Marik in the Imperial invasion of Atreus and briefly conquered and held Atreus City itself before relieved. They head-hunted and killed Aaron Winston, the Commanding General of the KSDF, on Robinson even while the planet fell in 3073, and added Defiance President Jacqueline Brewer and Legate Siobhan O'Reilly-Proctor to their kill list during a Lyran-Principate defense of New Earth in 3082. During the Fourth Succession War they would claim half of the Regency Council of the Peoples' State of Andurien before being brought to ground and nearly destroyed by the elite mercenary force of Arano's Marauders. As always they were rebuilt, though their bodyguard duties to the Emperor demanded no more use as a killing force for the remainder of the war.
As always, they are a combined arms regiment of BattleMechs and battle armor infantry with some vehicular and aerospace support. Their training is legendary and their loyalty to the Capellan cause without equal. Bodyguard units for state leaders across the Inner Sphere train exhaustively simply to have a hope of stopping the Commandos should they ever come for their charges. They remain on Sian at this time, protecting Emperor Robert, and no one knows when or if he will send them forth to strike at an enemy.
The Order of the Red Sword
One of the Knightly Orders of Oriente, the Order of the Red Sword can trace their history back to Rico Halas' initial formation of the Knightly Orders. A half dozen Dispossessed families of nobility provided some of the initial recruits for the Red Sword and the Grandmaster has often come from these families, especially the Hawkwoods of Fletcher. They are steadfastly loyal to the Grand Duchy, more so than to the Empire, it has long been said and suspected. Their battle histories are a long and bloody road of the greatest victories and most bitter defeats in service to House Halas.
Yet the Red Sword, like their peers, regret their greatest disappointment keenly. Throughout the decades the Order has always come close, sometimes extremely close, to seizing the former League capital of Atreus from their liege lady's hated enemies of House Proctor. In 3041-42, 3065, 3097-98, 3113-15, and 3118-19, the Red Swords fought valiantly to capture House Marik's glittering prize and finally punish the Arcadian rulers for the perceived vile insult they had offered to Eris Halas in 3037. In 3119 they came extremely close to this victory, with most of the world having fallen and Atreus City itself on the verge of defeat. Yet for all the sacrifices the victory was again denied by enemy reinforcements and the Orders were forced to pick up their wounded and dying to live on for greater service.
The Peace of Dieron has left the Red Sword to fulfill the other obligations of their service while rebuilding from the terrible losses endured on Atreus. The Orders have since started to face other foes as well, with their growing rivalry with the Capellan Warrior Houses and the manner in which Capellan units fight that does not fit the honor code of the Knightly Orders. The Red Swords have become leaders in trying to keep these relations smooth, including sending their former Grand Master, Ser Jonathan Hawkwood, to represent the Orders and Dowager Empress Eris at the Celestial Court on Sian. While he will serve his liege lady as well as he can, his known desire to try for Atreus again and avenge the century-old insult against Eris may or may not make him foes among the Liaoists of the Celestial Court.
Warrior House Aquila
The Warrior Houses were refounded by Harsefeld during the early Second Age of War, combining some of the traditional Capellan units with new Warrior Houses, mostly formed from foreign troops who pledged permanent loyalty to House Allison-Liao. One of the newest such Houses, House Aquila are renegades and refugees from the Principate, the survivors of Imperator Scipio's most devoted and ardent followers. After the other legates murdered Scipio on Tamarind and the First Proctor Guards drove his legion from Loric, Legate Horatius Humphreys of IV Legio decided not to return to Alphard with his peers. Having lost his brother to an Arcadian head-hunter team during the battle for Arcadia and believing (accurately) that the Dominate would be pulled down by Flavius O'Reilly, Humphreys made contact with Maskirovka and asked for asylum in the Empire in exchange for service. Gathering other broken cohorts and maniples fleeing the vengeful Arcadian advance to Tamarind and Bolan, Humphreys brought them with him to New Olympia where they became the founders of Warrior House Aquila.
While many of the Warrior Houses have fought in the Grand Duchy before, Aquila has become the only one permanently assigned to Oriente's half of the Empire, and through the Fourth Succession War they served as defense for New Olympia as well as providing troops to invade the hated Arcadians. They fought a number of battles with the First Proctor Guards and would participate in the 3113-15 invasion of Atreus and the 3118 attack on Bainsville. Though neither of those worlds fell and Humphreys himself would die battling the 5th Royal BattleMech Regiment in the 3118 campaign, House Aquila acquitted itself well and won numerous engagements through ferocity and discipline.
The Peace of Dieron has seen Aquila's assignment to New Olympia remain constant. By special Imperial charter they are permitted to raise families and have dependents, and their settlement of Nova Islington on New Olympia has become a land holding for the entire unit. A trickle of patrician dissenters has bolstered the House's depleted ranks since the war, though they remain at eighty percent strength compared to their preferred size. There are rumors that House Master John Finney may accept offers from non-descendants of Alphardians to join the House so long as they adopt the neo-Roman customs that still guide the unit, if the Emperor approves of the change to their charter.
First Sian Dragoons
The First Sian Dragoons are a legacy unit from the times of House Allison's Harsefeld, despite their name. The first Capellan nationalist unit recruited for the armies of Harsefeld, the First Dragoons were one of the trouble-shooter units of the realm, fighting in invasions from the First Andurien War on through the Terran War.
The First Sian Dragoons were one of the first units to hit dirt on Andurien at the start of what became the Fourth Succession War. For seven long years they fought bitterly to reclaim the planet for the Capellan State, being replenished in the field from the battered remnants of their fellow Sian Dragoon formations and other broken units. They alone remained on the front of the entire invasion, not being rotated on and off world as other units were whenever the naval standoff over Andurien allowed. They captured the planetary capital of Jojoken in 3112, overcoming the First Defenders of Andurien, lost it to a counterattack four months later, reclaimed it in 3113, and lost it once more in 3114. In 3115 they held half of Baroda before the Canopian Highlanders and the Arano Royal Guards pushed them out. On every front on the planet the battalions and companies of the First fought, and it was bitter indeed when Emperor Gregory abandoned the invasion in 3117. This bitterness goes far to explain the unit's willing mutiny in 3118 when they joined Strategos Lu Sen's plot to seize the traditional Capellan worlds held by the Federated Suns. On Grand Base they destroyed the battered Eighth Crucis Lancers RCT, forcing the entire unit's surrender before they could even flee off-world, but were nearly destroyed themselves trying to capture Menke from the Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers RCT when the First Taurian Volunteers arrived to reinforce the broken Davion formation. When the Peace of Dieron came, the First was nearly a spent force rebuilding back on Grand Base.
Since the war, the First continues to enjoy pride of place with the IOCF, though there are many indications that Maskirovka are paying far closer attention to its command staff since their mutinous invasion of what had, at the time, been an ally. The unit has notably been moved well out of the new Victoria Commonality, and even saw combat as part of the defense of Procyon against the Arcadians' Operation MORNING STAR in 3123. Today they are assigned to Sian itself and are part of the defense units assigned around the Imperial City. They have been granted a further honor, as upon her graduation from the Sian University's
Hen gao Xiao-Iu courses, Princess-Imperial Xiaoli Halas-Liao was assigned to the First Dragoons as a MechWarrior. Being the chosen unit for the future Celestial Wisdom has brought yet more Mask scrutiny upon the First Sian Dragoons, but also signals that Emperor Robert has forgiven the unit for its mutiny, and its pride of place in the IOCF will only increase.
