Lyran Commonwealth

Lyran Commonwealth
Capital	Tharkad
Official Languages	German
Size	Roughly 300 worlds
Head of State	Archon
Governmental Structure	Constitutional Monarchy
Military Force	Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces

"One need 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."

– Cyril Tslio, ex-Precentor of Donegal Station

In the Battletech universe, the Lyran Commonwealth is one of the five successor states of the Inner Sphere ruled by House Steiner. It is typically influenced by Imperial Germany and is also notable for being stupidly rich and often richly stupid.

History

The Commonwealth came into being through three trade empires coming together: the Protectorate of Donegal, The Federation of Skye, and the Tamar Pact. The initial charter asked for the Commonwealth to have nine Archons to rule, but the impracticality of it made it that a coup otherwise ensured that one Archon would have complete control.

House Steiner

House Steiner is the traditional noble house that has held a deathgrip on the head of state position in the Lyran Commonwealth; the Archon. While the original Archon seat was held by House Marsden after the coup offed the other eight dysfunctional archons, House Marsden was replaced by House Steiner via marriage once the former’s last male died in combat with the Draconis Combine. The Commonwealth nominally is a constitutional monarchy, with The Archon and Estates General (parliament) sharing equal power, with the Archon only able to ascend with the Estates' permission, though in reality the Archon is the one in charge. The Steiners themselves are pretty chill, thankfully; only ever suspending rights or privileges in the most dire of circumstances and making sure their heirs are properly educated.

But as a very large noble house among many in the Commonwealth; they are prone to inviting other more aggressive or crazy houses into their midst or one Steiner becoming more popular than another, leading to several Steiner Civil Wars throughout the centuries.

Almost all of them will have been in a 'Mech by the time they hit the throne, as is tradition for the Commonwealth.

Society

The Lyran Commonwealth fucking loves Germany. House Steiner loves Germany so much they decided that Space Germany needed to be as German as humanly fucking possible; the state language is German, the nobility is set up like Imperial Germany's, the army's entire nomenclature comes from German, and at every available opportunity, the classical German society is attempted to be followed.

Sounds impossible? It mostly is! As opposed to the platonic ideal of everybody in the Commonwealth being a native German displaced from earth, the reality is that the Commonwealth takes and has taken people from all ethnic backgrounds to be part of their iron fisted grasp. While you'd think they'd be at each other's throats, the Lyran's take a different approach; giving the subtle hint to all that it was the descendants of Germany that managed to lift them up from the chaos of the Star League, and bring them to the prosperity they live in now, as well as a dedicated language that they can use for trade, politics, and for leisure, uniting them all under one banner. As a result, discrimination based on race or background is basically unheard of; freedom of expression is allowed "more or less", and for now only classism reigns as the supreme form of prejudice, and that is quite a potent form of societal control within their borders.

For you see, the Lyran Commonwealth is the single richest overall state in the entire Inner Sphere, boasting moneyed nobles out the ass and even the average commoner boasts a quality of life far and away better than that of the rest of the Inner Sphere thanks to the generous amounts of money being thrown around. Due to the sort of lassaiz-faire way in which the Steiners dictate on how member worlds govern themselves, many have a deep independent streak to the point that some consider themselves members of their homeworld first, and a Lyran second, which doesn't always end well for everybody, and occasional mini-wars are fought to put their member worlds back into line.

The Commonwealth can be summarized as a totalitarian state with the illusion of freedom to keep commoners in line an iron fist covered in a velvet glove. Dance, drink and dice is their policy for civil society as a well entertained population will not think about revolution.

Also, Lyran women have a tradition for having glam-rocker "Jem"-style makeup for whatever reason.

Foreign Relations

• Draconis Combine: Historically Bad. Were bullied constantly by the Kuritans (who also killed the last member of House Marsden in combat in the Age of War). But not as bad due to the Clans forming a buffer.
• Capellan Confederation: Neutral to Bad from the Federated Commonwealth.
• The Clans: Very Bad. Due to the Clan Occupation Zones to the north. Though they did have friendly relationships with the Exiled Wolves.
• Federated Suns: Neutral to Historically Good due to the Federated Commonwealth. The Fed-Com Civil War put a damper on things.
• Free Worlds League: Very Bad. Tried to use Clan Wolf’s migration to keep the broken League from reforming but wound up backfiring.
• The Periphery: Ambivalent. Has a bad relationship with the Marian Hegemony and their slave raids but less hostile relationships with those afar.

Military

"Oh don't mind the Griffins"

The Lyran Commonwealth is all about living large and swinging their big, turgid moneydick around, and their warfare is no different. Their most basic and common battle tactic is to swarm the field with enormous Assault or Heavy-class Mechs and simply pound a target into dust with the combined fire of their massive death machines, to the point that any 'Mech under 50 tons is described by commanders as "obnoxious" at best and "useless" at worst. The common in-universe joke of a scout lance for the Commonwealth being a herd of Atlases is only somewhat an exaggeration. So obsessed with their big stompy boys that the Lyran Commonwealth parks a pair of fucking Griffin BattleMechs in the throne room to guard the Archon. Each 'Mech regiment is supported by three regiments of armor, artillery, and infantry in what is known as a Combat team, with the 'Mech unit's commander being in charge of everything.

Which is where the problems start to appear, because the Lyrans have a bad habit of promoting unqualified people into the MechWarrior ranks on the basis of wealth, connections, or bloodline. These failson noblemen have no tactical expertise beyond thinking that bigger 'Mechs are better and bigger armies are better. They can't be bothered to deal with the details of how to effectively use the forces they're given, since the Commonwealth's economy can shit out tanks and 'Mechs like candy.

As a result, it is the Lyran Armor that usually end up winning the day. Left to their own devices with general orders to "attack", and realizing that their incompetent commanders in the 'Mech ranks don't care about whether they actually live or not, the regular officers take it on their own initiative to save their own asses and their men by filling in the details their gloryhounding superiors can't be bothered with.

Nepotism isn't at all unique to the Lyrans (you can straight up buy your way into the officer corps in Canopus), but the consequences are particularly acute here. There are many battle situations the Lyrans simply have no effective response to, especially against 'Mech forces that run lighter, faster lances. But they generally fare much better in defensive fights, where the initiative of their supporting forces on home turf with good supply lines can compensate for the lack of coherent strategy from the top.

Notable BattleMechs

• Alfar - A properly Lyran version of a Medium BattleMech, meaning it's on the heavier scale and packed to the gills with specialty weapons. While it was very good for it's time, all of the special equipment used in it's construction meant that it ultimately became too costly to repair, and the design went extinct just after the First Succession War, replaced by the designs it was intended to replace.
• Barghest - A heavy, hunched over quadruped 'Mech that was designed to strike fear in the same way the Atlas is intended to. To do that, the weight-savings gained from it's Extralight Fusion Engine is poured into it's weapon systems, a pair of ER-Large Lasers that can hit from half a horizon away and an LB-X Autocannon/20 for anything that gets up close. While simple, if it's autocannon ever jams, almost half of it's destructive power will go with it.
• Berserker - A truly Lyran Assault 'Mech, in that it's as unga-bunga brain as possible; Having a hatchet, a pair of large pulse lasers, and a Flamer on it, just to make sure. It's also got an ER PPC, but that's mostly used to force opponents into running or fooling them into getting them into closer range.
• Commando - The smallest 'Mech the Lyrans will ever tolerate using, an honor born from centuries of reliable service in combat and the fact that it lives up to the phrase "punches above it's weight", using two separate SRM systems and a medium laser to give even certain heavy 'Mechs trouble. It's pretty easy to pick off, but it's primarily a hit-and-run specialist that the Lyrans use to either open holes for the Assault 'Mechs to widen, or land the killing blow from all the holes opened by said Assault 'Mechs.
• Fafnir - An Assault 'Mech, in that it is 100 tons and has legs. In practice, the Fafnir is mostly just a platform for a pair of ridiculously large Heavy Gauss rifles, which dominate the front of the 'Mech, and can put a pair of large projectiles straight through a 'Mech at close-range. It has as much armor as some of the lighter 'Mechs in the universe weigh, and really can't be too far from the supply lines, for while it's enormous guns are prodigious, it's only got a pair of medium lasers and a pulse laser for when it's Gauss rifles run out of ammo.
• Griffin - A medium 'Mech that's been around since the Star League. Sporting a PPC and LRM-10, the 'Mech excels as a long-range sniper 'Mech, hitting targets from afar and avoiding close range combat. These 'Mech have been a favorite of the Lyrans, and at least two of them stand guard in the Archon's throne room to emphasis on the Lyrans "bigger is better" mindset.
• Thunder Hawk - Your typical Lyran Assault 'Mech, in that it could flatten a city on it's own, is almost as armored as an Atlas but moves slower than most other 'Mechs. It packs three Gauss rifles and four medium lasers as it's armament, of which the Gauss rifles are it's main threat.
• Wolfhound - A light 'Mech which was designed to counter the Draconis Combines Panther 'Mech. Armed with Large Laser and four medium laser the 'Mech was prone to overheating when it fired its weapons repeatedly. The re-introduction of Star League tech help alleviate some of this problems though.
• Zeus - Because the rest of the Inner Sphere wasn't indulging the Lyran military in glorious 'Mech close-combat, the armed forces requested a design that would play down to their standards, and what they got was a rugged, 80-ton hit-and-run 'Mech, truly showing just where the priorities for the Commonwealth really are. It's able to keep up with 'Mechs lighter than itself, and carries an AC/5, an LRM-15 for long-range, and it's signature design strengths; a Large Laser/Two Small Laser combo that was made smaller than normal to save on weight. Got upgraded to the Zeus X during the Clan invasion with more armor, guns, and internal power.
• Hollander - A lightweight 'Mech designed to be an artillery unit, it basically took a small 'Mech and mated it with a Gauss rifle to serve as a portable fire support unit. Naturally, the Lyrans weren't too fond of the design.
• Hatchetman - A product of the Davion-Steiner alliance, designed by New Avalon as a successor to the UrbanMech. It's a full weight class heavier, retains the Urban's AC/10 but upgrades the laser to a pair of mediums, and carries a giant fuckoff axe. If you've been paying attention, it should come as no surprise: the Lyrans adored it and replaced many of their angry eggs with it.