So when we last left off, the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth had signed a peace and alliance treaty in addition to a secret one that would marry the Lyran heir to the Davion prince and their children would rule their united realm. In response, ComStar, the Free Worlds League, the Draconis Combine, and the Capellan Confederation signed a mutual defense pact intending to check the power of the united Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth. It was around this time that they became known as the Federated Commonwealth, or FedCom, but this name was not official in 3024 and would not be official for quite some time.

On August 20, 3028, Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner held their wedding on Terra in the presence of their fellow Successor Lords. At the reception following the wedding, Hanse Davion offered a gift to his bride. As he fed Melissa a piece of wedding cake, Prince Hanse announced, "Wife, in honor of our marriage, in addition to this morsel I give you a vast prize. My love, I give you the Capellan Confederation!" and with these shit-eating words, Hanse Davion launched the Fourth Succession War. Asshole.

In a series of military exercises held between 3026 and 3028, Hanse Davion had discovered he could move vast numbers of troops swiftly to distant battlefields. He had also reorganized his army, regrouping battalions and regiments into Regimental Combat Teams consistent of one or more regiments of BattleMechs plus armor, infantry, and artillery support. THis organization gave Dvion troops overwhelming advantages in numbers. The RCTs poured into the Capellan Confederation in seven successive waves, cutting it in half.

True to form, ComStar had to be a killjoy and laid an interdiction on the HPGs in Federated territory so they could not be used for his war making. In addition, the vast demand for Jump- and DropShips to ferry troops across space put a tremendous strain on the Federated economy and sent the Suns into an economic recession that wasn't helped at all by the interdiction. So Hanse Davion sued for peace in 3029 because he figured he'd made his point and he was tired of not being able to booty call his wife in the Lyran Commonwealth. The Capellans were like "fine whatever take what you want. Fucker." and agreed to his terms, since the Free Worlds League had ended up going back on its word and attacked the Capellans for some reason. They're assholes. I guess. At the end of the war, the FedCom ended up ahead, as did the Free Worlds League. There's been a trend so far that you may have noticed, and it's that -the Free Worlds League doesn't lose.- More on that later.

Between 3029 and 3039, the Successor States jockeyed forp ower through covert dealings and small skirmishes in lieu of outright war. The Federated COmmonwealth completed the integration of its militaries, governments, economies, and conquered worlds, forming the largest and strongest nation in the Inner Sphere seen since the Star League fell. Meanwhile, the Draconis Combine took one lesson from the 4SW to heart and overhauled its military in response to Hanse Davion's gary stu-ness, I mean, his concept of lightning war. Future Coordinator and then-current Gunji-no-Kanrei of the Draconis Combine Theodore Kurita renovated the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery by loosening the command structure to encourage and award personal initiative and upgrading their training to FedCom standards. His most controversial reform was trading ComStar dozens of systems for a regiment of ComGuard BattleMechs, creating the Free Rasalhague Republic as a buffer state in between the Lyrans and the Draconis.

A minor rebellion ensued within the Combine as reactionary commanders refused to retreat from the new republic. Theodore declared them ronin and went to kick their asses with his blinged out new BattleMechs alongside the forces of Free Rasalhague and its mercenaries. They were successful in kicking the ronin out but the Republic fucked up most of its contract negotiations and ended up paying out the ass to most companies who didn't really do anything with it, so they came to hate mercenaries. This would totally not come back to bite them in the ass in about ten years. Totally.

To. Tal. Ly.

SO

UH

FOURTH SUCCESSION WAR II

In April of 3039, Hanse Davion invaded the Draconis Combine because he didn't just see them destroy a rebellion with blinged out Lostech BattleMechs and he got his ass handed to him. By 3039, Hanse decided he was finished being pounded in the ass by burly Japanese men and sued for peace. And aside from an assault in 3041 by the Lyrans on the Draconis where they took a planet called Skondia, there was pretty much international peace for ten more years. Somehow the Successor States had grown, you know, tired of war. Temporarily. They grew content to bitch at each other and build up their militaries, but there weren't any more military expeditions.

Until.

3049.