Editing History of the Taurian Concordat

{{Update Needed|[[First Succession War (sourcebook)]]|[[Second Succession War (sourcebook)]]|[[Dominions Divided]]}}

:''This article details the history of the '''''Taurian Concordat'''''. For more information, see [[Taurian Concordat]].''

==Origins==
In [[2236]] on [[Aix-la-Chapelle]], [[Samantha Calderon]]'s first husband and two daughters were executed by a [[Terran Alliance]] firing squad, victims of the ongoing [[Outer Reaches Rebellion]].  She also inherited his vast terraforming concern and used the money to try and rebuild her devastated world.  Between the political collapse of the Terran Alliance, denuding the Outer Reach colonies of protection and support, and the depredations of [[House Marik]] privateers, Samantha found the task nearly impossible, and by [[2245]] had already lost half of her wealth.  Using her remaining money, she secured sufficient financial support to create the Calderon Expedition, a fleet of 25 ships carrying 2,300 volunteers on a deep-space exploration mission.  The Expedition left in [[2250]], setting off for worlds unknown.<ref name=TP15>''The Periphery'', p. 15</ref>

Nearly two years later, the fleet discovered the [[Hyades Cluster]], a group of nebula-and-asteroid shrouded star systems linked together in gravitational balance.  Of the nearly forty worlds hidden within the Cluster, ten were inhabitable to human life, and on 23 January [[2503]] Samantha Calderon took the first step on [[Taurus]].  For the next several decades Samantha's dreams became reality as the colony, isolated from government and social oppressors, quickly doubled in size.  Upon her death in [[2268]], her only son [[Timothy Calderon]] was selected Protector of the Taurian Homeworlds.<ref name=TP15/>

Timothy Calderon was responsible for making the position of Protector hereditary and shaping Taurian society around a simple egalitarian notion: no work, no food.  Under his leadership, the Taurians colonized the remainder of the Hyades Cluster, with the population booming to 4.5 million by the time of his death in [[2330]].  [[Sandra Calderon]] expanded beyond the borders of the Hyades Cluster, colonizing many resource-rich worlds including [[Pinard]] and [[New Vandenberg]].  These efforts also ran into other colonies set up by refugees fleeing the [[Inner Sphere]], the first taking place in [[2331]] on [[Deifenbaker]] which was settled by refugees of the war between the [[Sarna Supremacy]] and the [[Capellan Hegemony]].<ref name=TP17>''The Periphery'', p. 17</ref>

Upon succeeding his mother in [[2335]], [[Richard Calderon (24th c.)|Richard Calderon]] negotiated the creation of a new government, the [[Taurian Concordat]], and became its first [[Protector of the Realm]].  To the original six Hyades worlds and twelve Taurian colonizes created, he sent offers to each of the surrounding refugee colonies the chance to join.  In exchange for aiding the common defense of all, planetary affairs would be completely autonomous.  Seventeen worlds agreed to join, with only [[Mandaree]] declining due to fears of the nearby [[Federated Suns]], with a population well over one billion.<ref name=TP17/>

==Inner Sphere Hostilities==
The Taurians began preparations for war when an exploration and survey mission led by [[Tracy Ashton Pendelton]] discovered and freed 15,000 slave laborers from the [[Federated Suns]] world of [[Tentativa]] in [[2360]].  The prisoners had been taken captive during a Federated Suns assault on the [[Sarna Supremacy]] world [[Bell]] in [[2355]].  Convinced of the barbarism of the Inner Sphere, by [[2368]], the Taurian Concordat was prepared when it was inadvertently discovered by "Freicorps" retainers of the [[Tikonov Union]] noble Lord [[Tormassov]] fleeing the [[Capellan Confederation]].  Pursuing Capellan forces commanded by [[Anthony LeBlanc]] discovered the "Freicorps" in Taurian space, forcing the Tikonov troops to commandeer Taurian vessels and flee - into a [[Federated Suns]] flotilla stationed at [[Sanurcha (FS)|Sanurcha]].  Though the Tikonov "Freicorps" were able to escape (and were never heard from again), the Capellan pursuit also encountered the flotilla and was destroyed.  The [[Federated Suns]] navy began probing its periphery border expecting to find Capellan colonies - and discovered the Concordat.  The Taurians were forced to fight off the [[Federated Suns|Davion]] invasion through [[2371]], and have since been extremely paranoid of the Federated Suns.

The Concordat maintained a tense state of armed neutrality in the [[Age of War]] but, unlike its [[Inner Sphere]] counterparts, it also devoted a major portion of its resources toward improving life for its citizens. On occasion, the success of the Taurian way of life benefited the [[Inner Sphere]] as well.  Economically, the [[Capellan Confederation]], the [[Federated Suns]] and the Taurian Concordat all prospered by trading together during the late [[twenty-fifth century|twenty-fifth]] and early [[twenty-sixth century|twenty-sixth centuries]].  [[Jasmine Liao]] improved the Capellan education system by modeling it on that of the Concordat in the twenty-fifth century, and the Federated Suns revamped its educational system along Taurian lines in the first decade of the new millennium.

At the birth of the Star League, the Concordat posed something of a problem.  The Taurians, unlike every other major Periphery realm, boasted a better economy, a superb education system, and finer artistic achievements than some of the Great Houses.  Further, the TDF posed an actual threat, being well-equipped, well-trained, and fiercely patriotic.  Starting in [[2573]], the Taurians were forced to fight for more than two decades against Inner Sphere forces under the banner of the [[Star League]].  Hostilities began when a Taurian fleet accidentally entered the neutral [[Malagrotta]] system.  Negotiated in [[2511]], the [[Omsol Accord]] stipulated the titanium rich moon of Fontana was jointly mined by Federated Suns and Taurian mining operations.  A Davion armada entered the system in response, destroying two ships and capturing a third.  Months later, [[Caterina Calderon]] offered an apology, but too late.

==Reunification War==

{{Main|Reunification War}}

Though the Taurian Concordat fought a long, bitter struggle with the SLDF, the inevitable outcome of the Reunification War left the Concordat in ruin.  The Taurian Concordat was left with planets either spared war by the surrender of Protector [[Marantha Calderon]] in [[2596]], or were left with ravaged populations, industries and environments by the scorched-earth military campaign of General [[Amos Forlough]].  Choice worlds conquered but not destroyed by the SLDF were annexed by the neighboring [[Federated Suns]], leaving the Concordat a specter of its former glory.  Even battered into submission, and stripped of most of its territory, the Taurians never renounced their dream of a free and independent state.

==Territorial Period==
Marantha's distant nephew [[Henry Calderon]] became the next Protector of the Realm in [[2596]], but [[Marantha Calderon|Marantha Calderon's]] suicide made his position difficult.  Though he did not want the position, Henry realized that without a Protector the Taurian people would face extreme hardship as a Star League [[Territorial State]].  Henry cemented his people's love through two actions:

* Henry negotiated the removal of Star League garrison forces by [[2605]].  Henry argued that the SLDF was required elsewhere, and that the presence of foreign garrisons provoked further panic among the Taurian people.
* During a heated trade debate in the [[Star League High Council]] between the [[Lyran Commonwealth]] and the [[Terran Hegemony]], Henry offered the views of the Taurian people.  When Henry was reproached for his actions, he replied, "You fought to force my people to be represented here.  You will not keep my voice from representing them."

Thirty-three years into his reign, Henry decided that he wanted an unambiguous and legitimate succession.  A vote was held, each citizen of the Concordat being given a single vote.  The Taurian people overwhelmingly endorsed Henry to choose his own successor.  Henry chose his four-year-old niece [[Consuelo Calderon|Consuelo]] as heir, and her uncle, [[Carlos Calderon]], as "Protector, to the Protector".  Consuelo would assume full Protectorship in [[2650]], at which time Carlos became her representative to the Star League High Council, the only member that did not rule a realm.  Consuelo was a great stateswoman.  After the death of Carlos, Consuelo represented herself on the High Council, and in [[2667]] became the first Periphery sovereign to preside over the Star League High Council during a First Lord's absence.

Through the Territorial Period, the Concordat was able to maintain its identity through two ways.  During the beginning of Henry Calderon's reign, Taurian nationalism was under fire.  Taurian nationalism was initially maintained through the reemergence of wandering Taurian troubadours.  Though outlaws, troubadours would travel from world to world, invading (disinterested) local authorities, and singing ballads about Taurian history.  Even after Henry's reign, Star League propaganda throughout the Periphery tended to encourage loyalty among Periphery denizens not to one's nation, but to the Star League itself.  The second factor in maintaining Taurian national identity was the educational reforms of [[Reginald Calderon]] in his [[Education Reform Act]] of [[2678]].  The Act helped in two ways:

* The educational system within the Concordat has maintained the highest literacy rates in the [[Human Sphere]] since Reginald Calderon.
* Star League sponsored education through the Periphery, though ubiquitous, really was an instrument of indoctrination.

As a result of increasingly harsh rule under the Star League, tensions with the Star League began to grow increasingly strained.  After the death of [[Simon Cameron]], the situation escalated.  With the ascension of [[Richard Cameron II|Richard Cameron]] in [[2762]], Territorial States (indeed all States within the Human Sphere) were unilaterally subjected to steep tax hikes.  Suspecting another invasion was imminent, Protector [[Nicoletta Calderon]] diverted her economy to arms production.  In the midst of a Sphere-wide arms buildup, the [[New Vandenberg Crisis]] began in early [[2765]].  Protector [[Nicoletta Calderon]] gave 18 Taurian worlds her blessing to secede from the Star League.  Because the [[Taurian Concordat]] at least nominally remained a "loyal" Territorial State, the [[Star League Defense Force]], dispatched by [[Richard Cameron II|First Lord Richard]], could not simply invade.  The standoff drew [[Aleksandr Kerensky|Aleksandr Kerensky's]] attention, and required the redeployment of enough troops that, in December, the [[Rim Worlds Republic]] garrisoned the entire [[Terran Hegemony]], and [[Stefan Amaris]] assassinated the First Lord.

{{Main|Amaris Civil War}}

In the wake of the [[Amaris Civil War]], Nicoletta left perhaps her most important legacy, when during the final session of the Star League High Council, she proposed the formation of [[ComStar]] under the leadership of [[Jerome Blake]].  Her reasoning was sound - without a neutral, central body to maintain communication and technology, it was debatable if Humanity would ever again achieve the pinnacle from which it was in clear decline.  The communications, so crucial for diplomacy and central government, remained free, despite the horrors of the [[Succession Wars (History)|Succession Wars]] yet to come.

With the fall of the League and the beginning of the Succession Wars, the Taurians became free of interference from the House Lords of the [[Inner Sphere]], and their independence has grown stronger.

==Succession Wars Era==
In the last two centuries, the Taurians have not participated in the Succession Wars.  However, immunity from the Succession Wars has not resulted to peace and unlimited expansion.

===Taurian-Canopian War===
The Taurians began a conflict with the [[Magistracy of Canopus]], a land grab to oust the Canopians from jointly colonized [[Capellan March]] settlements.  [[Semyon Calderon]] began the operation to annex [[Rockwellawan]] and [[Detroit]], in order to bolster the Concordat in the event of another Inner Sphere invasion.  The invasion was terribly unsuccessful, leading the Magistracy to counterinvade Portan<ref>''The Periphery, First Edition'', p. 62</ref> (probably a misspelling of [[Portland]]) and [[Spencer]].  Also horribly executed, both invasion forces were severely bloodied and forced to return home.

As a result, the Taurians have faced raids (and have conducted raids) on their Anti-spinward border (with the Magistracy of Canopus) and their Spinward border (pirates). Therefore, the Concordat has been obliged to maintain a large and efficient military.  This, combined with the Concordat's forced dependence on the [[Star League]], and the economic backlash of the [[Reunification War]], has stalled Taurian expansion efforts.  The Taurian Concordat has required two centuries of relative peace to recover to the point of renewed expansion, a point of development they had reached centuries earlier.

===Constitutional Crisis===
[[Ignatius Calderon]] also had to deal with the ultimate Taurian civic dilemma, the balance between a centralized government guaranteeing freedoms, and anarchy.  During the "[[Constitutional Crisis]]" of the 2850s, crime, corruption, anarchy and other civic problems began to intensify.  The situation became almost untenable, as [[Loyal Oppositionists]] rallied to suspend civil liberties while militant libertarians protested (violently), and targeted public Oppositionist figureheads.  The situation became a vicious cycle as public opinion swayed toward the Oppositionist camp.  Ignatius settled the debate in [[2860]], when he pledged to increase funding to enhance civil protection to the fullest extent allowed by Taurian law ''without'' suspending any liberties.  Ignatius fulfilled his pledge, which pacified the libertarians, drained the Loyal Oppositionists' support, and improved Taurian quality of life.

==The Pleiades Campaign==
In the April of [[3066]] two DropShips of the [[Fighting Urukhai]] arrived over [[Taurus]]. Because they were ''[[Overlord]]''s of a Davion employed mercenary unit, had reached the capital of the Concordat without a guide leading them through the [[Hyades]], and were approaching fast from a [[Pirate Jump Point]] the [[TDF]] destroyed both ships without asking questions.

The Urukhai claimed that the mercenaries just wanted to bargain for a contract. In August DeMaestri's Sluggers, the second regiment of the Urukhai, assaulted Taurus out of revenge. They caused great damage on the capital and its defending units before being destroyed completely by the combined [[Taurian Guards]].

[[Protector of the Realm|Protector]] [[Grover Shraplen]] saw this incident as a Davion attack to weaken the Concordat's defenses and ordered more units to the [[Federated Suns]]' border. Shraplen's rule was not very stable. Because the only alternative was young [[Erik Martens-Calderon]], Shraplen's opponents, in particular [[Marshal (rank)|Marshal]] [[Baron (noble title)|Baron]] [[Cham Kithrong]], could not muster enough popular support to unseat him. So Kithrong and his followers declared the independence of the [[Calderon Protectorate]] and Shraplen was not able to convince the military to attack the rebels as most Taurians sympathized with Kithrong's intentions and wanted no outright civil war.

So Shraplen focused his attention on the Davionists again. In the January of [[3067]] he ordered preemptive strikes into the Federated Suns' that initially made remarkable progress and exploited the weakness of the Suns in the wake of the [[FedCom Civil War]] by conquering the worlds of [[Hyalite]], [[Lothair]], [[Midale]], [[Brockway]] and [[Lindsay]] until March. The successes of the campaign and the proximity to their ancient homeworlds led the [[Pleiades Hussars]] and the [[Pleiades Lancers]] to proceed without orders into the [[Pleiades Cluster]]. In the meantime, [[Duke]] [[George Hasek II]] assembled a mercenary force large enough to take on the invaders. The counterassault hit the Taurian force hard and by March the Federated Suns had retaken every world except the Cluster worlds. The Pleiades Hussars' passionate defense of their former homeworlds increased the popular support for the campaign and for Shraplen himself. He planned now to occupy the Cluster until the Fourth [[Whitting Conference]] in November where he wanted to point out the legitimate claim of the Taurian Concordat to the worlds lost to the [[SLDF]] during the [[Reunification War]] and to regain them through formal process. Although his plans were thwarted by the disbanding of the second [[Star League]], the chaos of the following [[Jihad]] gained the Concordat the control over the Pleiades and of a few other worlds.

==The Jihad==
In [[3068]] the [[Taurian Concordat]] had initiated combat actions against the breakaway [[Calderon Protectorate]] and 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.<ref name="MSUp31">''Mercenaries Supplemental Update'', p. 31: "Black Angus Boys"</ref>

In March [[3069]] the [[AFFS]] forces in the [[Capellan March]] had spent more than a year fighting as a part of Duke [[George Hasek II|George Hasek's]] [[Operation SOVEREIGN JUSTICE]], an offensive against the Capellan Confederation. The [[CCAF]] counteroffensive, [[Operation THUNDERSTRIKE]], forced Hasek to recall his forces from Capellan space to reinforce Capellan March worlds as the CCAF struck against numerous worlds in quick secession; as the AFFS troops withdrew, the Concordat used the opportunity to send reinforcements into the Pleiades Cluster between the 21st and 28th of March.<ref name="J:FRp46">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 46: "The Jihad in Review"</ref>

On the 1st of May [[3074]] Protector Shraplen was killed in an asteroid strike that destroyed the capital city Samantha on Taurus. Evidence discovered in the asteroid field and on the remains of the asteroids on Taurus implicated the Federated Suns, a conclusion that [[House Davion]] denied vehemently.<ref name="JHS3076p52">''Jihad Hot Spots: 3076'', p. 52: "Timeline of the Jihad"</ref><ref name="J:FRp52">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 52: "The Jihad in Review"</ref> The Concordat responded by relocating its Rimward forces to the Federated Suns border - forces which included a newly unveiled ''[[Quixote]]''-class [[WarShip]], the [[TCS Vendetta|TCS ''Vendetta'']].<ref name="JHS3076p52">''Jihad Hot Spots: 3076'', p. 52: "Timeline of the Jihad"</ref><ref name="J:FRp53">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 53: "The Jihad in Review"</ref>

At the end of May 3074 the Taurian Concordat launched a second invasion of the Federated Suns; by the end of June, the first wave had captured the worlds of [[Brockway]], [[Bromhead]], [[Hyalite]], [[Lothair]] and [[Midale]]. During the capture of three of these worlds - Brockway, Bromhead and Midale - the Taurian invasions were supported with nuclear weapons, destroying various AFFS pickets; as a result, by the end of June more than ten million Federated Suns civilians and military personnel had been killed.<ref name="JHS3076p52"/><ref name="J:FRp53"/>

During July 3074 the Taurian Concordat second wave of the invasion created another pincer directed towards the Pleiades Cluster, capturing the worlds of [[Carmichael]], [[Diefenbaker]], [[Lindsay]], Lothair and [[Warren]].<ref name="JHS3076p52"/><ref name="J:FRp53"/> A third wave of attacks launched in January and February [[3075]] captured the worlds of [[Horsham]], [[Mendham]] and [[Robsart]], but the Taurian forces sent to capture [[Brusett]] were shattered by the defending [[Hansen's Roughriders]], and the Federated Suns launched a counteroffensive in February using a mix of AFFS troops, militia forces and mercenaries. The Federated Suns troops quickly recaptured Hyalite and turned the battle for Warren into a stalemate, although the attack on Lothair was successfully repelled.<ref name="J:FRp53"/><ref name="JHS:Tp14">''Jihad Hot Spots: Terra'', p. 14: "Timeline of the Jihad"</ref> Despite the Federated Suns counterattack, the Concordat seized Wrentham in April, capitalizing on the damage inflicted by the Word of Blake raid on the world in February.<ref name="J:FRp53"/><ref name="JHS:Tp15">''Jihad Hot Spots: Terra'', p. 15: "Timeline of the Jihad"</ref>

The [[Word of Blake]]'s [[22nd Division (Word of Blake)|Twenty-second Militia]] struck at the Capellan March world of Brusett on the 30th of May [[3075]]. The Federated Suns responded by mustering and deploying a small flotilla of ships including the [[WarShip]] [[Kathil (Individual Fox-class WarShip)|FCS ''Kathil'']] to the system to stave off an anticipated attack by the Concordat; Taurian forces arrived in the Brusett system in late June, and on the 30th of June the TCS ''Vendetta'' and the FCS ''Kathil'' battled over Brusett. The TCS ''Vendetta'' was forced to retreat, but the FCS ''Kathil'' was lost in the battle, and several major cities on the planet suffered horrendous collateral damage due to the nuclear weapons both sides used in orbit and within the planetary atmosphere.<ref name="JHS:Tp16">''Jihad Hot Spots: Terra'', p. 16: "Timeline of the Jihad"</ref><ref name="J:FRp54">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 54: "The Jihad in Review"</ref>

A part of the Federated Suns counteroffensive against the Concordat involved using Hansen's Roughriders to strike at worlds within the Taurian Concordat. The Roughriders used a mix of nuclear and conventional weapons captured on [[Hyalite]] to attack [[Amber Grove]] on the 15th of April 3075, destroying the local militia, the spaceport and the central military headquarters before spending several weeks destroying any target of significant military or industrial value on the planet. The Roughriders then subverted the mercenary unit on [[Perdition]], [[Longwood's Bluecoats]], before striking at the world in late July, destroying the Perdition factory complexes. The Roughriders attacked [[Grossbach]] in early September,<ref name="J:FRp54">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 54: "The Jihad in Review"</ref> and then [[Sterope]] on the 21st of November. In contrast to earlier attacks, the attack on Sterope was the first where the Roughriders didn't raze the local factory complexes, although they did plunder the [[Sterope Defense Industries]] plant before leaving. In turn, a Taurian raid in February [[3076]] inflicted critical damage on the [[Jalastar Aerospace]] [[BattleMech]] plant on [[Panpour]].<ref name="JHS:Tp20">''Jihad Hot Spots: Terra'', p. 20: "Timeline of the Jihad"</ref><ref name="J:FRp55">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 55: "The Jihad in Review"</ref>

The Roughriders returned to Federated Suns space after the Sterope raid, landing on Warren on the 5th of April 3076 to resupply.<ref name="J:FRp55"/><ref name="JHS:Tp21">''Jihad Hot Spots: Terra'', p. 21: "Timeline of the Jihad"</ref> The Taurians pursued the Roughriders, with a task force led by the TCS ''Vendetta'' arriving in the Warren system on the 13th of June; the Roughriders retreated to [[Keuterville]], but their retreat didn't stop the ''Vendetta'' from bombarding the planetary capital and spaceports on Warren. The Taurians then bombarded Keuterville on the 7th of July, with the Roughriders retreating again, this time to [[Firgrove]]. In the Firgrove system a Federated Suns task force led by the ''[[Fox (WarShip class)|Fox]]''-class ''[[Fox (WarShip class)#Named Vessels|New Syrtis]]'' managed to intercept the ''Vendetta'' before the planet could be attacked, forcing the Taurian vessel to retreat. On the 30th of June, Baron Cham Kithrong of the [[Calderon Protectorate]] recalled all of those Protectorate troops which had been deployed into the Concordat to assist the population after the asteroid strike on Taurus and the Federated Suns counteroffensive; Kithrong cited "moral conflicts" as the reason for the recall.<ref name="JHS:Tp22">''Jihad Hot Spots: Terra'', p. 22: "Timeline of the Jihad"</ref><ref name="J:FRp56">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 56: "The Jihad in Review"</ref>

Having been forced to retreat from Firgrove, the ''Vendetta'' returned to the [[Brusett]] system in mid-September 3076. The ''Vendetta'' and her task force put Brusett under siege, but the siege would only last until the 2nd of October; the arrival of the FSS ''New Syrtis'' and resulting naval battle saw the Federated Suns WarShip suffering crippling damage, but not before enough critical damage was inflicted on the ''Vendetta'' by the ''New Syrtis'' and her escorts to force the ''Vendetta'' to retreat. Despite the naval siege of Brusett being broken, a Taurian task force raided [[New Syrtis]] on the 12th of October 3076; using a combination of bombing runs, random orbital bombardment and nuclear strikes the task force not only crippled the [[New Syrtis Shipyards]] facilities but also to inflict devastating damage on large swaths of the equatorial regions of the world.<ref name="JHS:Tp22"/><ref name="J:FRp56"/>

As the end of 3076 approached and the Taurian forces on Brusett were faced with imminent defeat, they resorted to using scorched earth tactics to destroy as many of the Federated Suns ground forces on the planet as possible. These scorched earth tactics often involved the use of nuclear devices, causing carnage; this damage was exacerbated by the Federated Suns [[Pocket WarShip]]s which shelled the Taurian positions repeatedly.<ref name="J:FRp56"/><ref name="JHS:Tp23">''Jihad Hot Spots: Terra'', p. 23: "Timeline of the Jihad"</ref>

==Post-Jihad==
Emissaries from the [[Calderon 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 Cham 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'' wouldn't be officially transferred to the Protectorate until the 19th of April [[3081]].<ref name="J:FRp61">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 61: "The Jihad in Review"</ref>

Between the arrival of the envoys from the Calderon Protectorate and the formal declaration of a peace treaty, the Federated Suns launched [[Operation MATADOR]], a military campaign to recapture the planets the Taurians had conquered since their initial invasion. Commanded by [[Field Marshal]] [[Nathaniel Hasek]], MATADOR began on the 5th of May, but Field Marshal Hasek would be killed in an ambush on the world of [[Ridgebrook]] on the 14th of June.<ref name="J:FRp61"/>

The cost of the war to both the Federated Suns and the Taurian Concordat was extremely high. By mid-3080 the Taurian GDP was down 30% on where it had been twenty years before, a result of the combination of pirate activity, Blakist subversion and production capacity lost as a consequence of the worlds and industry lost during the war. The brutal nature of the war had inflicted damage on the worlds directly involved in the combat was bordering on levels unseen since the [[Second Succession War]]. Despite Operation MATADOR and the limited combat operations conducted in 3080, both nations were rapidly approaching the point where the war would become unsustainable for either; the Federated Suns was close to exhausting its ability to conduct combat operations and logistics operations simultaneously while also protecting its own supply lines, whereas the ravaged Taurian industrial base and the plunging economy placed the Taurian Defense Force in similar straits.<ref name="J:FRp28">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 28: "Piracy, Economics Complicate FedSuns-Taurus War"</ref>

The Taurian industrial base was devastated by the Roughriders, and the Concordat lost yet more industrial production when the Federated Suns conquered a number of Taurian worlds. While the Concordat gained control over the worlds of the [[Pleiades]] Cluster, the military industry on [[Perdition]] and [[Taurus]] was effectively destroyed, while production facilities on Sterope, MacLeod's Land and Celano would take years to recover. The Concordat also lost worlds such as Perdition and [[Organo]] to the Federated Suns, losing more industry - and in the case of Organo, the Organo Flight Academy. The Concordat was forced to increase the production of [[RetroTech]] equipment in an era when the [[Inner Sphere]] nations were shutting down their own RetroTech production lines; the Taurian Defense Force had been so badly damaged that it was predicted that the enlarged production of RetroTech equipment would continue until at least [[3086]] as a part of the rebuilding effort.<ref name="J:FRp117">''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 117: "Taurian Concordat"</ref>

==Dark Age==
During the early [[thirty-second century]], the Concordat suffered significant territorial losses. Partially, this was due to the expansionist policies of the resurgent Capellan Confederation, which captured several Taurian worlds in an area centered on [[Laconis]] that would become known as the "[[Laconis Front]]." The largest losses came, however, from the Concordat's own leadership. Protector [[James Urratia]] was so paranoid about a perceived threat from the Federated Suns that he stripped garrisons from many of the Concordat's spinward worlds to pursue raids against Davion and Liao holdings. When he reassigned [[MacLeod's Regiment]] away from the world of [[Charleston]] to bolster the forces in the [[Pleiades Cluster]] in [[3119]], he caused a crisis. This abandonment of a Taurian world triggered a domino effect, with first Charleston and eventually most of the spinward reaches declaring independence in protest of the Protector's defense policies. Urratia did not accept their secession, and in [[3127]] tried to use the threat of nuclear bombardment to bring the worlds back into the fold. This proved a step too far, and Marshal [[Kaff Doru]] led a coup that deposed and executed Urratia. The spinward worlds maintained their independence, with the Concordat and Calderon Protectorate using economic aid to vie for influence in the region.<ref name=fm3145-185>''Field Manual: 3145'', p. 185</ref>

After this crisis, the Concordat government focused on rebuilding the trust of its people. After twenty years of responsible government which built up the trust of the Concordat's neighbors, a diplomatic settlement was finally reached with the Calderon Protectorate on August 29th, [[3147]]. It took the form of an arranged betrothal between Protector Doru's daughter Reva and Bryant Calderon, the son of the Calderon Protectorate's head of state, [[Sam Calderon]]. When the eight-year-old Bryant reached adulthood in a decade's time, the marriage would take place and the two realms would be joined. The decade interval allowed for plenty of time to work out the details of reintegration, and in the meantime the two nations pledged mutual defense and trade. It remains unclear how many of the lost spinward worlds would join this new union, with at least the government of [[Grossbach]] expressing distrust of both sides.<ref name=sf-45>''Shattered Fortress'', p. 45</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* ''[[BattleTech: 25 Years of Art & Fiction]]''
* ''[[Field Manual: 3145]]''
* ''[[Jihad: Final Reckoning]]''
* ''[[Jihad Hot Spots: Terra]]''
* ''[[Mercenaries Supplemental Update]]''
* ''[[The Periphery (sourcebook)|The Periphery, First Edition]]''
* ''[[Shattered Fortress]]''

[[Category:History|Taurian Concordat, History of]]