(15 March 3049)

I love and commend our brothers in blue. While First Prince Hanse Davion held the vision for an empire unlike any since the fall of the Star League, it was Archon Katrina Steiner of the Lyran Commonwealth whose passion for peace made her contact the other House leaders…a call the First Prince answered. This ultimately led to the signing of the Federated Commonwealth Alliance Document in 3022. While its nascent form provided for the sharing of military, scientific and intelligence information, it also laid the groundwork for the eventual merging of our two Houses into the super-state we currently enjoy.

Furthermore, this has by no means been a one-sided endeavor. Each successor to the long-lost throne of the Star League—House Davion and House Steiner—has brought invaluable resources to the table that have heralded the forging of this thousand-light-year-spanning empire. While our Lyran brothers may not always have possessed the military acumen of the Federated Suns, these merchant princes have maintained an economy that is the envy of the Inner Sphere. A power station that has fueled the emergence of our great State, from civilian industry, to long-lost military technologies, to the mighty growth of the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth that protect hundreds of worlds across our vast borders.

Despite this common ground and my own admiration, I must take exception to House Steiner’s recent envoy to the Marian Hegemony. While no official press release from House Davion has denounced this action, inside sources have divulged extreme displeasure.

The Marian Hegemony clothes itself in the finest silks and its speakers offer to the public discourse the most stirring orations concerning government, freedoms and the needs of their people. Yet scratch the surface even slightly and you’ll find their pirate roots festering beneath.

Despite their growing influence in the Periphery regions near Steiner and Marik space, they are no better than the Oberon Confederation to our coreward borders…thieves, scoundrels and pirates, the lot of them. Despite his self-styling as Caesar ever since his ascendancy in 3048 following the death of his father, Marian leader Sean O’Reilly has done nothing but expand his military and attempt to procure legitimacy through aping the emperor’s clothes of the Roman Empire of ancient Terra. Sean is now and forever will be a pirate...and I caution House Steiner against treating with such devils.

After all, we are one House and must ensure that everyone agrees before inviting such undesirables into the parlor.

—Olivia Daver, Commonwealth Press