Calderon Protectorate

Overview
The Calderon Protectorate is a small Periphery state located spinward of the Taurian Concordat. The Protectorate began as a collection of small settlements newly-colonized by the Taurian Concordat, an effort which started with the Far Lookers movement and was backed by Concordat financial interests.

Formation
Though not interested in independence initially, the Protectorate declared itself a separate nation in the wake of recognition of the Fronc Reaches. The decision was based on several complaints:


 * The Taurian Concordat had invested (and lost) a significant amount of resources in order to colonize the newly-independent Fronc Reaches.
 * The Taurian people were upset with Grover Shraplen because of his entering the Trinity Alliance.
 * Many people were outraged with Grover Shraplen's refusal to recognize the illegitimate son of Jeffrey Calderon, Erik Martens-Calderon, or any other distantly-related Calderon as the new Protector.

Many citizens of the Concordat called for Shraplen's immediate resignation on the wake of the New Colony Region's bid for independence, but Shraplen showed no sign of being willing to resign. The primary political adversary to Grover Shraplen was Marshal Baron Cham Kithrong. Kithrong argued for Shraplen to step down in favor of a Regency Council that would rule until Erik reached his majority, but Shraplen refused to consider the idea. Shraplen's decision to order the destruction of two DropShips burning towards Taurus containing the Fighting Urukhai in the belief that the DropShips were a Federated Suns attack on the planet brought back echoes of the rule of Thomas Calderon and further alienated some segments of the population and drove Kithrong to act. Lacking the political power to oust Shraplen outright, Kithrong decided to take the Taurian VI Corps and secede from the Concordat in September 3066, vowing never to return unless a Calderon sat on the throne. The worlds garrisoned by VI Corps formed the basis of the new Calderon Protectorate.

Shraplen deployed (a relatively unmotivated) V Corps to quell the rebellion. When the Protectorate formed in late 3066 it initially consisted of just four worlds: Belle Isle, Erod's Escape, Marknick and Mirfak. By the end of October, the loyalist TDF forces had already pushed the First Taurian Pride off Belle Isle and Mirfak; this left the Taurian Pride digging in on Erod's Escape and Marknick, and fortunately for Baron Kithrong, his former colleagues in the TDF had no wish to turn the action into a full-fledged civil war and ignored orders from Shraplen to push onto the remaining two worlds. Kithrong's stance was in many ways a more extreme version of their own feelings, and Shraplen had already alienated a substantial part of the TDF.

The Taurian Pride used this breathing space to dig in on the two remaining Protectorate worlds, while Baron Kithrong conducted a media interview in December 3066 to explain his decision to call on the various worlds to secede. The interview highlighted the depth of secessionist feeling on the four worlds which had first formed the Protectorate, and the nearby worlds of Diik, Gaul, Lastpost and Oscar responded to the interview by taking Kithrong up on his offer to join the Protectorate. Kithrong offered to personally pay passage to Tyrrhenia or Colchis for any of the colonists on the various worlds who wished to remain in the Concordat; by 3067, surprisingly few people had accepted the offer, with the bulk of the population apparently content to remain within the Protectorate.

Both the Protectorate and the Concordat continued to contest ownership of Mirfak in 3067, but by dint of the number of troops on the world, Mirfak was effectively a Concordat holding. The Protectorate also found itself facing an uptick in pirate raids from the Tortuga Dominions, something likely to get worse if the Concordat launched another attack on the Protectorate.

Assisting the Protectorate's bid for independence were the many associates and friends of Baron Kithrong and his allies within the Taurian Defense Force; those contacts ran interference for the Protectorate, giving it time to gain official political recognition as a state while also blocking Sharplen's continued attempts to launch a full-scale invasion of the breakaway worlds. In doing so, those associates and friends effectively blocked a move that would have plunged the Concordat into a fully-fledged civil war. Rumors continued to circulate in the Concordat that the Protectorate was being armed for an invasion of the Concordat, with many of those rumors alleging that the Word of Blake was supplying equipment to the Protectorate - and with a fair number of those rumors also alleging that House Davion was aiding the Blakists in their smuggling operations.

Shraplen did embargo trade with the Protectorate, however; he authorized the Taurian Navy to interdict vessels attempting to travel to the Protectorate, but once again his efforts were circumvented by Kithrong's former associates, who turned a blind eye to the majority of vessels crossing the border. A small number of vessels were interdicted, but only enough to divert Shraplen from investigating further.

Nevertheless, military action against the Protectorate continued in 3068; the Third Taurian Lancers had been tasked with the conquest of the Protectorate world of Marknick. The mercenary Black Angus Boys had been contracted to support the offensive operations against the Protectorate, but refused to defend the Third Lancers' landing zone when the Lancers found themselves the target of a counterattack by the First Taurian Pride. The Black Angus Boys' refusal to support the Lancers effectively ended the entire campaign against the Protectorate. Shraplen himself lacked the political clout to force a concerted effort by the TDF to retake the Protectorate - an act that would (almost certainly) start the first Taurian Civil War.

In the wake of the Protectorate secession, the Taurian Concordat lost another two settlements who seceded, becoming independent worlds, and ended colonization efforts on another two worlds. Marshal Baron Cham Kithrong would serve as the Acting President of the Regency Council, the committee training Erik Martens-Calderon to lead the Protectorate, until Erik was declared Protector.

War With The Taurian Concordat
On the 14th of March 3070 Kithrong and the Calderon Protectorate declared war on the Taurian Concordat, citing Shraplen's obsession with the worlds of the Pleiades Cluster in defiance of the Word of Blake crusade against all humanity as evidence that Shraplen was unfit to rule the Concordat, and claimed that they were acting "in the name of all Taurian people."

The Calderon Protectorate initially loaned some of its armed forces to the Taurian Concordat during the Jihad in the face of the Federated Suns counteroffensive after the Taurian invasion of the Federated Suns. However, with the newly-acquired Quixote-class WarShip TCS Vendetta bombarding cities on worlds within the Federated Suns - including former Taurian worlds - in pursuit of the mercenary unit Hansen's Roughriders, Baron Kithrong recalled all Protectorate forces from the Concordat on the 30th of June 3076 citing moral conflicts.

Emissaries from the Protectorate arrived on both Taurus and New Avalon on the 15th of March 3080, appealing to both states for an end to the conflict between the Concordat and the Suns. The Protectorate successfully brokered a treaty between the two states on the 2nd of July, a week after Baron Kithrong stepped down as Regent-Protector so that Erik Martens-Calderon could assume the Protectorship. The treaty called for the Federated Suns to cede the Pleiades worlds to the Concordat, while the Concordat effectively surrendered the TCS Vendetta to the Calderon Protectorate, where it would be crewed by a crew of personnel from all three realms. While the treaty ended the war, the Vendetta would not be formally ceded to the Protectorate until the 19th of April 3081.

In the wake of the Jihad the presence of the Vendetta in the Calderon Protectorate made the Protectorate a major player in the Periphery; the Protector announced in 3081 that the Vendetta would be renamed the CPS Redemption, and that despite still needing extensive repairs the Redemption would be dedicated to deterring piracy throughout the region and as far afield as the border of the Filtvelt Coalition. In the intervening years prior to 3145, the Taurians and Federated Suns ceased manning the ship and is now run wholly (though sparsely) by the Protectorate.

The Calderon Protectorate benefited from the rampant Taurian Concordat aggression of the Jihad era; while the Taurian Defense Force was committing atrocities in the border regions of the Federated Suns, the Calderon Protectorate Military (CPM) held back from invading Taurian worlds. This demonstration of the Protectorate remaining true to the key tenets that had led to the creation of the Protectorate gained the diminutive nation a considerable amount of respect, and the determination shown by the government to protect the inhabitants of the Protectorate from pirate predation engendered great faith in the government amongst the local population.

Erik Martens-Calderon reached out to the Federated Suns, Raven Alliance, and the Republic of the Sphere for formal recognition of his Periphery state, opening embassies in each of those three in 3096, 3090, and 3092 respectively. In a surprise gesture, and as a backhanded slap at the Taurian Concordat, First Prince Harrison Davion recognized the Protector's government as the legitimate authority over the latter state in 3100. Since then, the Protectorate received limited military aid in the way of industrial construction from the Suns and the Republic, and access to military sales from Clan Sea Fox and the Suns.

Martens-Calderon retired in 3120, being succeeded by his son Sam Calderon. Under the new Protector's guidance, the nation focused on expanding programs of exploration and colonization, and expanded—via cooperative diplomacy—into neighboring independent systems. These efforts were seen as successful and peaceable, encouraging better relations with former Taurian Concordat worlds. A trade agreement with the Fiefdom of Randis benefited the Protectorate's terraforming projects.

The Dark Age
Untouched by attacks from the Word of Blake, the beginning of the Dark Age saw the Protectorate actively working to improve the fledgling nation's industrial base and then using the developing manufacturing resources to help boost the economy through exports. The improved manufacturing base also gave the CPM local sources of supply, and military recruitment picked up both as a result of the more enthusiastic amongst the energized citizens of the protectorate and the swarms of immigrants from the Concordat who fled to the Protectorate to escape the ruling military junta.

The Protectorate further improved its economic base by establishing trade ties with the nearby Filtvelt Coalition and Fronc Reaches, as well as the more distant Raven Alliance - and these ties also helped to secure the Protectorate's borders. The establishment of the New Hope Military University also saw the Calderon Guard mature into a respectable fighting force, although one marked initially by having more pride and ambition than ability.

The period between the Jihad and 3145 also saw continued expansion of the Protectorate via the founding of colonies on newly discovered planets.

The Taurian Concordat's Protector Kaff Doru opened discussions with Sam Calderon for war materials produced in the Protectorate in 3144, to protestations regarding sovereignty across the Concordat. In response, Doru's administration has indicated this as the intended beginning of tension-easing steps.

Government
Founded as a nation to be a reminder of all of the things that were considered to be finest about the Taurian Concordat, the government structure of the Protectorate is democratic in nature and modeled on that of the Concordat. Planetary and local governments are free to oversee their own affairs, all are considered equal under the law, civil liberties are cherished and the Protectorate has a strong justice system. The top levels of government are significantly different to that of the Concordat, however; with the foundation of the Protectorate in 3066, Kithrong refused suggestions that he take the title of Protector, and was resistant to taking any title at all beyond his existing military rank. Kithrong was eventually persuaded to take the title of Acting President of the Regency Council; the other members of the Regency Council included Captain Talia Martens, mother of Erik Martens-Calderon; Colonel Peter LaCasse, commanding officer of the 1st Taurian Pride; Colonel David Summerheim, commanding officer of the 2nd Taurian Pride, and one additional elected representative from each Protectorate planet. In 3067, this gave the Regency Council a total of 10 members, although there was some debate about a possible eleventh member being appointed to act as a tie-breaker.

In June 3080 Erik Martens-Calderon became the first Protector of the Calderon Protectorate, taking over from Baron Kithrong, who stepped down as Acting President of the Regency Council.

Military
As of 3145, the Calderon Protectorate was known to have The Battle Corps mercenary unit employed on Albaracht.

The Calderon Institute of Combat (CIC), founded in 3084, was eight times its original size by 3145 and developed MechWarriors, armored crewmen, and infantry. The quality of its education was considered to be the equivalent to that of the Taurian Concordat. The commandant of the institute, Colonel Maxwell Calderon-Anderson, was highly respected by the student body and his personal command, the First Taurian Pride. The CIC stands out as a military academy, in that it does not rely on the standard academic success model for graduates; when selected students are identified as having nontraditional skills, despite academic or operational weaknesses, they receive personal tutoring until graduation, and then often being assigned to the First Taurians.

3145
Commander: Protector Sam Calderon Strength: 6 BattleMech regiments
 * Taurian Pride
 * First Taurian Pride (Erod's Escape)
 * Second Taurian Pride (Mirfak)
 * Third Taurian Pride (Carvajal)
 * Fourth Taurian Pride (Diik/Gaul)
 * Calderon Guard
 * First Calderon Guard (Belle Isle)
 * Second Calderon Guard (Franmalin/Fylovar/Tyrrhenia)
 * Third Calderon Guard (Lastpost/Oscar)

Economic Base
The Calderon Protectorate of 3067 was struggling to deal with a moratorium on trade with the Concordat imposed by Protector Shraplen and enforced by the mercenary unit Gordon's Armored Cavalry. Much of the Protectorate's trade was driven by smugglers and free traders, who were a regular sight within the Protectorate and hailed from a wide range of origins including those operating on behalf of private concerns within the Concordat, all of the major Inner Sphere powers and almost every Periphery State. The goods imported into the Protectorate by these smugglers and free traders included almost everything imaginable, but the most common cargoes were foodstuffs, medical supplies and machine parts - particularly spare parts for the Protectorate's military equipment. Canopian smugglers had begun to bring medical supplies into the Protectorate, replacing the pipeline through the Concordat that had been cut off by the Concordat government. The first official trade partner for the Protectorate was the Fiefdom of Randis which was willing to trade food for industrial diamonds and heavy metals from Oscar.

Internally, the various worlds of the Protectorate were initially barely capable of producing enough food to sustain the population, and while the small military factories on Diik were still producing military hardware the output from the factories wasn't enough to re-supply both Taurian Pride regiments. The equatorial jungles around Lastpost were being investigated by the Concordat for possible pharmaceutical development, and the Protectorate continued these investigations.

In the wake of the Jihad the factories on Diik continued to produce RetroTech BattleMechs and AeroSpace Fighters at a respectable rate; the majority of this production went to the Protectorate's military forces, but the Protectorate also sold excess production to both the Fronc Reaches and the Filtvelt Coalition. In addition to the equipment sold to the two nearby Periphery realms, the Fiefdom of Randis also bought small quantities of the Star Dagger for their own local defense forces.

The Protectorate economy grew after the Jihad with the establishment of trading ties between the Protectorate and both the Fronc Reaches and the Filtvelt Coalition; the Protectorate also introduced trade ties with the Raven Alliance. The growth in the Protectorate's economy, particularly as a result of an expansion in manufacturing, encouraged the Protectorate government to look for parties willing to either upgrade the Protectorate Defense Conglomerate factory or to build a new factory within the Protectorate capable of producing standard or advanced technology items.

On Erod's Escape in 3145, Commandos, Locusts, and Legionnaires were being produced in limited numbers by Protectorate Military Industries (PMI), with other BattleMechs also being produced in even smaller runs, all-told providing about 25% of the state's requirements. The company opened a smaller facility in the Belle Isle system in 3142, manufacturing endosteel, ferro-fibrous armor plating, and (in 3144), extra-light fusion power plants. On Diik, the Protectorate Arms Conglomerate also provided a small stream of 'Mechs.

Culture
Culturally, the people of the Calderon Protectorate remained Taurian in character and outlook after the secession from the Concordat; the populace regarded themselves as true Taurian patriots, but there was a markedly lower level of paranoia or prejudice against the Federated Suns in the population, perhaps unsurprisingly given that this was a significant part of the differences that first led to the Protectorate splitting away.