Editing Caesar Steiner

{{Update Needed|[[Shrapnel Issue 12]]}}
{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = Caesar Steiner.jpg
| caption             = 
| name                = Caesar Steiner
| birthdate           = [[3003]]<ref name=name=HSTLCpLOS&FT>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)'', foldout: "The Lyran Commonwealth's Line of Succession and Partial Steiner Family Tree"</ref>
| died                = 27 February [[3068]]<ref name=J:FRp45>''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 45: "The Jihad in Review"</ref>
| othernames          = 
| affiliation         = [[House Steiner]]
| rank                = [[General]]
| title               = [[Duke of Furillo]]<br>[[Margrave of Cavanaugh Theater]]
| position            = 
| profession          = Noble
| parents             = [[Iris Steiner]] (mother)<ref name=name=HSTLCpLOS&FT/>
| siblings            = 
| spouse              = 
| children            = [[Reinhardt Steiner]]<ref name=FCCWp177>''FedCom Civil War'', p. 177</ref><br/>[[Karl Steiner]]<ref name=FCCWp177/>
}}
'''Caesar Steiner''' was a notable member of the House of Steiner. He served in the [[LCAF]], [[AFFC]], [[LAAF]] and [[Second Star League Defense Force]], and was considered one of the most respected officers in the Commonwealth.

==History==
===Early Life===
Born in the city of Telesian, capital of [[Furillo]], Caesar was the only son of Duchess Iris Steiner and an unnamed father. Spoiled by his mother, Caesar spent most of his time pursuing women, food and drink.<ref name=HSTLC-163>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth'', p. 163 (PDF version)</ref> His mother's connections and his family name kept him mostly out of trouble, enough so that he was able to attend the [[Nagelring]].

=== Second Donegal Guards ===
Despite his off-field antics, Caesar was a gifted strategist and leader, leading him to be moved up the ranks quickly, becoming one of the youngest [[Colonel]]s in history at the age of 22, leading the [[2nd Donegal Guards|Second Donegal Guards]]. He would come to be associated strongly with the unit, which adopted the name "Caesar's Legion" while he was in command.<ref name=HSTLC-119>''House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth'', p. 119 (PDF version)</ref> While his sensualist nature and personal improprieties caused problems, his value on the battlefield was now what kept him away from most legal trouble, thanks to the patronage of [[Archon]] [[Katrina Steiner]]. Most notably, Caesar led the Second Donegal in action against the [[Draconis Combine]] in the [[Fourth Succession War]].<ref name=HSTLC-163/>

=== War of 3039 ===
Promoted to the rank of [[Leutnant-General]], Caesar was placed in command of a task force to take [[Kessel]] as part of General [[Nondi Steiner]]'s [[Operation WINTERSCHNEE]]. On April 15, 3039, one day before the official start of the conflict, Lyran marines secretly took control of the zenith recharge station, clearing the way for the rest of the offensive to jump in the next day. Without the station's advance warning, the [[Twelfth Sun Zhang Cadre]] was left with little time to prepare. It mattered little, though, as a single cadre regiment stood little chance against the forces the LCAF had committed.

Caesar's Second Donegal Guards, now reorganized as an [[RCT]], landed with the [[4th Skye Rangers|Fourth Skye Rangers RCT]], commanded by the newly promoted [[William Harrison von Frisch]] and an independent 'Mech regiment, the [[Eleventh Lyran Regulars]], made planetfall on April 19, skirmishing with DCMS pilots on the way in. Steiner and von Frisch wasted no time in luring the inexperienced DCMS cadets out of position and picking them apart on their way to seize Kessel's capital city, Sverdlovsk. On April 27, following a retreat by the Sun Zhang cadets to their waiting DropShips, Steiner declared himself military governor of the system, though he refrained from declaring an outright victory.<ref name=3039p32>''War of 3039'', p. 32</ref>

The Yakuza were a major force on Kessel, but stayed their hand until the [[ISF]] made contact on June 29. On July 12, they made their move, staging a campaign of bombings and attacks that killed or injured 126 of the task force's soldiers, including an act of sabotage on an atmosphere processor. Local pro-Commonwealth groups such as the Kessel Freedom Fighters, who had long resisted the Combine, retaliated with a series of bloody reprisals that may have been aided by the Eleventh Regulars. Suddenly, Caesar's task force was facing an all-out guerrilla war when they had prepared to deal with a smaller insurgency.

Things went from bad to worse when Caesar began receiving reports of 'Mech attacks on garrison positions. The Sun Zhang cadets hadn't left, but had sent their DropShips on without them and stayed hidden, waiting for this moment. Caesar realized this meant they were expecting reinforcements, which arrived in the form of the [[2nd Sword of Light|Second Sword of Light]] on July 16. Rather than hole up in the city and risk damage to the atmosphere processors that all two billion inhabitants of Kessel relied on, he dispersed his forces near the spaceport on the southern continent and challenged the DCMS commander to meet him there.

The Sword of Light, along with the Fifth and Twelfth Sun Zhang cadres, accepted the challenge. The battle began on July 29, characterized not by typical Lyran tactics but Caesar's typical focus on mobility and adaptability, with the Second Donegal forming a mobile reserve to probe at the Combine lines for weakness. When the Eleventh Regulars broke in the face of a Sword of Light advance, Caesar took personal command of the reinforcements, stopping the Combine within 50 meters of regimental HQ. His intervention pushed the DCMS commander to pull back. The two sides would continue to skirmish through September, but the ensuing battles were mostly a series of inconclusive probing battles rather than the all-out confrontation of before.

The campaign came to an ignominious end when ISF agents destroyed the LCAF ammunition depot on September 3. Caesar called for reinforcement or resupply, but the high command was already beginning to pull back into a defensive position. Realizing there was little hope for victory and pessimistic about the task force's ability to hold out against renewed Combine assault, Caesar told his subordinate officers he planned to withdraw on October 5. The last units would leave Kessel on October 9.<ref name=3039p75>''War of 3039'', p. 75</ref>

=== Generalship and the Star League Defense Force ===
In 3032, [[Reinhardt Steiner]], Caesar's first son, was born. Sometime after that, he had a second son, Karl.<ref>''Field Manual: Lyran Alliance'', p. 78</ref> By 3049, Caesar Steiner had risen to the rank of [[Marshal (rank)|Marshal]] in the [[AFFC]], commanding the Ford Theater.<ref>''20 Year Update'', p. 27</ref> Around this time he also first met Colonel [[Thomas Hogarth]], who Caesar suspected had intentions towards his mother.<ref name=FM:LAp67>''Field Manual: Lyran Alliance'', p. 67</ref>  Caesar would subtly harangue Hogarth until his death, though Hogarth would ironically pledge his loyalty to Caesar after the [[FedCom Civil War]].<ref>''Field Manual: Updates'', p. 175</ref>

Following the Lyran secession, he found himself back in a Lyran uniform, but was swiftly reassigned. Following the formation of the [[Second Star League Defense Force]], it was decided each nation would have its own theater, commanded by a Star League [[General]]. Some nations took the post very seriously and assigned one of their best officers. [[Katherine Steiner-Davion]], however, used a different approach. Viewing Caesar as too influential to simply remove and too opposed to her policies to retain in the LAAF, she appointed him to the position of SLDF General for the Lyran Theater.<ref name=FMC76>''Field Manual: ComStar'', pp. 75–76</ref>

=== Federated Commonwealth Civil War ===
Unlike his colleague, [[Ardan Sortek]],<ref>''FedCom Civil War'', p. 17</ref> Caesar did not immediately resign from the SLDF and join the fighting in the [[FedCom Civil War]]. Instead, he attempted to maintain his distance to uphold the SLDF's neutrality, though he did voice his approval of Reinhardt's unit, the [[10th Lyran Guards|Tenth Lyran Guards]], and their actions.<ref>''FedCom Civil War'', p. 50</ref> It was only when the Skye Revolt came to a head on [[Hesperus II]] that he decided to intervene. It is rumored that Steiner's first move was to hire [[The Bounty Hunter]] to abduct two key aides of [[John Dundee]], the military deputy of [[Robert Kelswa-Steiner]]<ref>''Interstellar Players'', p. 86</ref>

Caesar was one of the people with whom Victor Steiner-Davion shared the evidence he had compiled tying his sister Katherine to the murder of Archon [[Melissa Steiner-Davion|Melissa]]. Caesar later said that he found it quite convincing.<ref>''Field Manual: Updates'', p. 163</ref>

Leaving his post in SLDF command, Caesar journeyed to [[Giausar]], where he called upon the combatants to cease fire on 11 December, 3065. Out of respect for him, they obliged, and Caesar enlisted the aid of his old unit, the Second Donegal Guards, to put an end to the fighting on Hesperus II.<ref name=FCCWp146>''FedCom Civil War'', p. 146</ref> Though the unit was badly bloodied from years of fighting on Giausar, they tipped the battle in favor of the loyalists.

Caesar and the Second Donegal dropped on Hesperus II on 19 January, 3067. The unit fell immediately onto the rebel Skye Guard's position, nearly killing General [[Maria Esteban]] in the process. The unit's lightning strikes swiftly destroyed the command center of the [[14th Lyran Guards|Fourteenth Lyran Guards]]<ref name=FCCWp177/> and destroyed three quarters of the remaining [[32nd Lyran Guards|Thirty-second Lyran Guards]].<ref name=FMUp170-177>''Field Manual: Updates'', pp. 170, 177</ref> The Guards also captured what Free Skye DropShips remained on-world and so, with neither escape nor victory an option, Free Skye surrendered four days after Caesar's planetfall.<ref name=FCCWp178>''FedCom Civil War'', p. 178''</ref>

=== Reconstruction and Assassination ===
Having matured greatly from his time as a troublemaking Colonel, Caesar was now noted for his political astuteness and martial acumen. These combination of assets led him to be appointed [[General of the Armies]] ''pro tem'', as well as one of Peter Steiner-Davion's top advisors.<ref name=FCCWp177/> When the reorganization of the LAAF was finally complete, he was a General, commanding the Second Donegal Guards and serving as Margrave of [[Cavanaugh Theater]]. Additionally, he composed the LAAF update that was included in [[Field Manual: Updates]] for Archon Peter. Following the death of his mother Iris in the fall of [[3067]], Caesar inherited the Duchy of Furillo as well. Thanks to his recent deeds, political clout, and new titles, he was even an oft-mentioned candidate for Archon (though Caesar denied having any designs towards the throne, possibly due to his poor health).<ref name=FMUp163>''Field Manual: Updates'', p. 163</ref><ref name=HHSp98>''Handbook: House Steiner'', p. 98</ref>

However, Caesar's time in these positions was not long, as he was assassinated on 27 February 3068 by agents from the Free Worlds League,<ref name=J:FRp45/> although the loyalty of the agents was unknown at the time. The most obvious culprit was felt to be the [[Word of Blake]], who took out several major players in the early [[Jihad]] to destabilize the Great Houses, and few officers in any state had as many responsibilities as Caesar at the time. Caesar's personal ties to Archon Peter and his involvement with the ill-fated [[Whitting Conference]] may have also played a role in his assassination. Another possibility was the Free Skye movement, who took advantage of Caesar's death to push Bolan Province in to aiding them in a private war. Likewise, they had motivation in that Caesar was personally responsible for ending their most recent revolt.

A formal public memorial was held for Caesar on 30 March, 3068 in Tsalagi Park on [[Bolan]]. Robert Kelswa-Steiner was in attendance at the memorial, where he proclaimed that the Free Worlds League had been responsible for Caesar's assassination and used it as an impetus to launch a second wave of attacks.<ref>''Dawn of the Jihad'', p. 49</ref>

==Legacy==
While not intentionally named for him, many Lyran MechWarriors increasingly adopted the ''[[Caesar]]'' [[BattleMech]] during the Word of Blake Jihad as a means of honoring the assassinated Caesar Steiner, a station akin to the spike in interest shown for the ''[[Victor]]'' by the pre–[[Clan Invasion]] Federated Commonwealth and its then-heir Victor Steiner-Davion.<ref name=TRO3050U>''Technical Readout: 3050 Upgrade'', p. 77</ref>

In the years following the Jihad and Caesar's granddaughter [[Claudia Steiner|Claudia]] assuming power, the Furillo Steiners would be titled [[Grand Duke of Furillo]],<ref name=FR:LAAFp18>''Field Report: LAAF'', p. 18</ref> a title reserved for highly influential families, such as [[House Kell]] after [[Morgan Kell|Morgan]]'s ascent to prominence.<ref name=HBHS>''Handbook: House Steiner'', p. 96</ref>

==Quotes==
{{Quote|''Damn straight.''|General Caesar Steiner after the Second Battle for Kessel.<ref name="H:Wo3039p28">''Historical: War of 3039'', p. 28: "Commonwealth Thrust"</ref>}}

{{Quote|''Let no man, be it dictator or be it brother, stand between another man and liberty.''|Marshal Caesar Steiner, 25 April [[3063]], in a letter to his son [[Leftenant General]] [[Reinhardt Steiner]]<ref name="FCCWp50">''FedCom Civil War'', p. 50: "Wave One"</ref>}}

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[20 Year Update]]''
* ''[[Dawn of the Jihad]]''
* ''[[FedCom Civil War (sourcebook)|FedCom Civil War]]'' (sourcebook)
* ''[[Field Manual: Lyran Alliance]]''
* ''[[Field Manual: Updates]]''
* ''[[Historical: War of 3039]]''
* ''[[House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)]]''
* ''[[Jihad: Final Reckoning]]''


[[Category:Lyran Commonwealth Characters|Steiner, Caesar]]