Part 819: The Real Timeline by Demi-Precentor of the Archives, Agent Interrobang - Part 2

Sound the alarm! You're going to be UNCOMFORTABLY CANONICAL!

An Abridged History of the Inner Sphere

Part 2 - Paradise Lost

With the Camerons at the helm, using the Terran Hegemony as a force for peace, the Star League prospered like no alliance before it. For over two hundred years, the shared wealth and resources of Star League member states propelled forward a golden age in human civilization. Though not even the Star League could ENTIRELY end the wars and grudges of those under its stewardship, the independent and impartial Star League Defense Force, or more precisely the threat of its deployment, kept conflicts from spreading too far.

When the widely-loved Simon Cameron died in 2751, the rulers of the Star League states became regents for the young and inexperienced successor, Richard Cameron. A melancholic and lonely boy, eager for approval, he allowed his regents to use their positions to gain economic and military advantages for themselves. The SLDF, organized as it was as an independent force, could do little about the situation. Desperate for friendship, Richard allowed Stefan Amaris, ruler of the Rim Worlds Republic from far out in the Periphery, into his court.

Amaris despised the influence and wealth of the Camerons like few others, resenting his minor title and rulership of a weak and unimportant state. Amaris quickly insinuated himself as Richard's chief advisor, currying power among the Hegemony's military, sowing discord and fanning the flames among the states of the Star League. All were caught unawares when he murdered Richard two days after Christmas in 2766, and took control of the Hegemony, and thus the Star League, for himself. As one of his first acts as Lord of the Star League, Amaris attempted to woo the SLDF Supreme Commander, General Aleksandr Kerensky, into serving as his mailed right fist, in order to crush the dissenting regents.

To say this was a fatal mistake would be to severely understate matters.

An unrelentingly honorable man, Kerensky saw Amaris and his traitorous ways as nothing less than an incarnation of the purest evil imaginable. For thirteen long years, Kerensky and the SLDF, backed by the Great Houses of the Star League, waged war upon Amaris, breaking the once-proud Hegemony apart piece-by-piece, systematically annihilating their military. On the 29th of September, 2779, Kerensky and the SLDF assaulted Amaris' stronghold on Terra. Faced with the proposition of being slain in battle, Amaris surrendered, hoping his noble rank would grant him some dignity in the eyes of his enemy. Kerensky, however, had other ideas, and Amaris, along with his closest aides, were summarily executed for crimes against humanity by the vengeful SLDF.

With the Hegemony divided up piecemeal by the Great Houses, and the Star League itself without any clear heir or line of succession, the Council Lords, realizing quickly that Kerensky was far too charismatic to leave in place, stripped him of his position as Protector of the Realm, and all SLDF forces were ordered to stand down. In 2781, the Star League High Council was disbanded, every Great House leader sure that they were the best choice to lead the League, and they retreated back to their territory to build their power base for the coming war.

When the Great Houses attempted to woo SLDF units within their territories to their side, Kerensky finally had enough. In 2784, he put forth a propostion to his men: they would leave the Inner Sphere for unknown space, to found a more perfect society beyond the influence of the ceaseless feudal infighting. To his surprise, over 80% of the SLDF consented, and in late November, they began their mass migration, which would come to be known as the Exodus, with the promise that one day they would return, to forge a new Star League.

But even as the citizens of the Inner Sphere wept for the loss of their greatest hero, the lords of the Great Houses plotted war.