Marik-Stewart Commonwealth

Fact Sheet
Source
 * Founding Year: 3082 (2238 as Republic of Marik)
 * Capital (City, World): Dormuth, Marik
 * National Symbol: a black eagle and banner before a golden disc and purple rectangle
 * Location (Terra relative): Rimward-antispinward of Terra, interior
 * Total (Inhabited) Systems: 31
 * Estimated Population (3130): 91,200,000,000
 * Government: Parliamentary Democracy (operating under military rule)
 * Ruler: Captain-General Anson Marik
 * Dominant Language(s): English (official), Slovak, Czech, Romanian
 * Dominant Religion(s): Judaism, Islam, Christianity (Orthodox)
 * Unit of Currency: Eagle (1 eagle = 0.52 C-Bills)

Overview
The Marik-Stewart Commonwealth was one of the successor states to the late Free Worlds League. The nation constitutes the core of what was once the League, including the capital of Atreus. Ironically, Stewart became a part of the Republic of the Sphere. Though the League finally collapsed in 3078, Corinne Marik did not take upon herself the mantle of the Captain-General until 3082. The Marik-Stewart Commonwealth was essentially a fusion of the Marik Commonwealth, Duchy of Graham-Marik, and the Stewart Commonality, though it also included some portions of the Silver Hawks Coalition.

The Commonwealth and its rulers viewed themselves as the true heir to the sundered League, engaging in a decades-long rivalry with the Regulan Fiefs and Oriente Protectorate over the issue. During the post-Blackout years the Commonwealth began expanding into former Republic of the Sphere territory, but a surprise invasion in 3137 by the Lyran Commonwealth and Clan Wolf resulted in the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth's dissolution a year later.

History
The Republic of the Sphere viewed the nascent Marik-Stewart Commonwealth as the greatest threat to the Republic within the boundaries of the former Free Worlds League, as the Army of the Marik Commonwealth (later the Army of the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth) was rebuilding quickly with combat-experienced troops while Corinne Marik pressed her claim to such worlds as Kalidasa and Stewart, one occupied by the Gryphons and the other the Stewart Dragoons with each proving distinctly unwilling to relinquish them to the Republic.

In late March 3081, ten days after the Republic Formation Treaty was signed, formally establishing the Republic of the Sphere, forces from the Silver Hawks Coalition seized the planet New Hope. The Republic's response was swift; Paladin Alys Rousset-Marik, a strong ally of Exarch Devlin Stone and the Republic's chief advisor on League affairs, had already established and maintained a number of contingency plans prepared specifically to deal with aggression from the former Free Worlds League region, and on the 3rd of April a number of those plans were activated under the name Operation GOLDEN DAWN.

Operation GOLDEN DAWN saw the Republic launch a substantial counter-attack in three waves, deploying the newly formed regiments of the Republic Auxiliaries—the predecessors to the later Hastati Sentinels and Principes Guards formations—as well as a number of other units. The number of Republic units deployed was substantially greater than the strength of the entire Army of the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth; the Republican units crushed the Silver Hawk Coalition forces already occupying Republic worlds and went on to attack roughly twenty worlds, including worlds from the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth, the Silver Hawks Coalition, the Ohrenson-Zion Province and a number of independent worlds. The campaign was an almost complete success for the Republic, with the Republic seizing Stewart itself after a two-month campaign launched in June 3081. The Silver Hawks Coalition refused to make peace with the Republic, but the Hawks military forces had been comprehensively crushed and the Coalition was served due warning that any attempt to rearm would prompt retaliation from the Republic; the Marik Commonwealth and Stewart Commonality signed peace treaties on the 7th of September, confirming the new Republic border, and began rebuilding.

Corrine's grandson, Anson Marik, attempted to take Stewart from the Republic in 3134, but his invasion failed. He moved the capital from Marik to Atreus in 3136 under threat of invasion from the Lyran Commonwealth. This move proved fortuitous when the Oriente Protectorate launched an invasion of its own soon after that led to the seizure of Marik. Anson also resurrected the Silver Hawk Irregulars, a military force that had been shattered during the Jihad to combat the Lyran invasion when it finally materialized. Coupled with a high-ranking spy, the Commonwealth has so far been able to survive against its larger neighbor.

In August 3134, Prefecture IX Governor Duke Gregory Kelswa-Steiner discovered that Augustus Solvaig, Chief Minister of Skye, was a Marik-Stewart SAFE operative working to further destabilize the Republic.

In August 3137, the Lyran Commonwealth and Clan Wolf invaded the Commonwealth. The Silver Hawk Irregulars began a guerilla warfare campaign against the Lyran incursion which lasted until the Irregulars were effectively wiped-out by the combined Lyran and Clan Wolf forces on Helm. Only 50 to 100 members survived what became known as the Helm Massacre.

On 5 June 3138, the Lyran and Clan Wolf expedition invaded Stewart. Anson Marik ordered the remaining members of the Silver Hawk Irregulars off-planet to prevent their destruction. Anson was later killed in a running gun battle with Lyran forces in his stronghold.

With no heir to be found and no contingency plans, the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth was decapitated and de facto destroyed by the invasion. It's highly likely that most of its worlds and surviving military units joined the resurrected Free Worlds League pledging their allegiance to Jessica Marik.

Politics
Like its larger predecessor, the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth's government was a de jure democracy operating under a 'temporary' military dictatorship. Democratic opposition to the government was, however, based less upon a desire for a more liberal regime than the belief that more effort needed to be made to reclaim ancestral worlds held by House Steiner and the Republic of the Sphere, or that Regulus and Oriente needed to be coerced by force into supporting Marik-Stewart efforts to rebuild the Free Worlds League under its rule. The result was that the Commonwealth was plagued by factional strife within and frosty diplomatic relations with neighboring states, although the central government remained strong.

Society and Culture
In contrast to its fractious government and ambitious rulers, the general society of the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth was noted as possessing a cosmopolitan outlook and openness towards outsiders at odds with the negative portrayal often painted in neighboring states. Many of the former League's greatest patrons of the arts resided in the Commonwealth, and the state's historical lack of damage from various wars allowed it to bloom as a cultural power.