The Marian Hegemony

While ostensibly a monarchist republic, the Marian Hegemony is in fact a kleptocratic pirate kingdom found by treasure hunters and mercenaries feeding on the leavings of the Star Leagues in the greater Periphery. Their habit of raiding into the Inner Sphere and their Periphery neighbors have made them few political allies, though they have been hired as auxiliaries during the 3rd Succession War to fourth cause problems for the Free World League and keep them as a predominately neutral party during the whole of that conflict.

History

The origins of the Marian Hegemony lie from the demise of the old Alphard Trading Corporation during the Succession Wars. A Periphery native and lostech prospector named Johann Sebastian O'Reilly was searching for reputed lost caches of Star League technology on the planet Alphard rumored to have been left behind by the defunct company when he instead found a treasure trove of germanium worth billions upon billions of C-Bills.
Johann O'Reilly immediately hired some small mercenary units to protect his newly found wealth and established a colony to serve both as a trading hub and a distraction, diverting those who would follow from the location of his find. Despite the financial reserves Johann could draw on his new Hegemony was simply too small, unable to attract the defenders it would need to defend itself against larger states but too small to attract the attention of those states. As such, the Hegemony spent almost a century as little more than a bandit kingdom fashioned anachronistically after a society that had been dead for millennia.
Gaius O'Reilly, the son of Johann Sebastian O'Reilly, left little impression on the history of the Marian Hegemony; he was primarily remembered for two things: being the father of Marius O'Reilly, and for dying an ignominious death in 3009 when his horse stumbled into a chuckhole, causing Gaius to break his neck.

Politics

The Marian Hegemony is an absolute monarchy, with absolute power vested in the Caesar, who can enforce his will by decree. The Hegemony also has a Senate, composed of patricians from every world of the nation (although the number of Senators sent varies by population). The Senate itself acts as a debate forum that rubber-stamps the Caesar's decrees, although the support of its members is one of the factors that let Julius become Caesar. Initially, the Senate was restricted to only full Hegemony Worlds, but Caesar Julius granted the worlds of the Lothian League and Illyrian Palatinate full status and gave them Senators. The Hegemony itself is divided into three classes of people: the Patricians, the Plebeians, and the various slaves. The Patricians are the self-perpetuating nobility of the Hegemony. Only they can serve in the Senate of the Hegemony, and they also make up the upper command structure of the Legions.
Directly below them are the plebs, who serve as the middle and lower-class of the Hegemony. They have little political power, and rarely advance in the ranks of the bureaucracy or the military. Before Caesar Julius' reforms, they had no voice in their leaders' selection, but Julius allowed them to vote for Planetary Tribunes (Governors) and for a special People's Tribune to be sent to the Senate.
The Hegemony is one of the largest Periphery nation to practice slavery, and openly condones it. Most slaves are prisoners of war, however, as it is forbidden to buy or sell a citizen of the Hegemony.

Time period: 2920 – present
Classification: Periphery

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Controlled systems: approx. 23
Capital world: Alphard
Ruler title: Imperator
Curren Imperator: Marius O'Reilly

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Military: Marian Hegemony Armed Forces
Secret Service: Ordo Vigilis