Founder:	Lucien Davion
Year:	2317
Worlds:	475
Capital:	New Avalon
Military:	Armed Forces of the Federated Suns (AFFS)

Forging of an Empire

From the start, the Federated Suns owed its formation and growth, as much to force of arms, as it did diplomacy. While the campaigns during Reynard's reign are the best known of the early conquests, even the more pacifist leaders, such as Lucien Davion, occasionally resorted to military muscle to achieve their goals. An unsuccessful attempt to bring the Crucis Reach worlds of Emerson and Beten Kaitos into the fold saw the start of decades of border wars with the Capellan Confederation. The Suns suffered a number of humiliating defeats during the early years, but they found strength in adversity and learned lessons that helped turn the FPF into a formidable fighting force, building on the foundations laid by Charles and Reynard, eventually winning back every world lost, as well as adding a few more to the realm.

Despite the Davions essentially controlling the Suns' military, as well as large sections of the government, they managed to avoid turning this family hegemony into a dictatorship. Through the simple expedient of good governance, the people of the Federated Suns had little to complain about and few reasons to object to the Davions' prominence in every aspect of affairs of state. Over time, they earned the right to rule in the minds of the people, without the need for political indoctrination, as practised in other states. Consequently, they were able to achieve rule through a combination of democracy, which gave a degree of self-determination to the populace on a planetary level and neo-feudalism, which ensured a succession of noble rulers at March and State level, who would continue the traditions of the Davion family.

Of course, every family has its problems and the Federated Suns hit a rough patch, following Reynard's death and his son Etien's succession to the throne. It wasn't that Etien was a particularly bad person by nature, or an incompetent ruler, but his mental fragility and mood swings made his behaviour eccentric at best and dangerously unstable at worst. His reign began well enough, signing a peace treaty with the Capellans, establishing embassies in the Draconis Combine and even adding a few new worlds to the Davion empire. However, it was not long before the pressures of leadership began to take their toll and his bouts of depression and irritability became more frequent and violent, culminating in injury and even the deaths of those he took his frustrations out on. Less than 2 years after assuming power, his behaviour was judged to be so unstable that the High Council created a Board of Magistrates to settle disputes that had previously been resolved by the presiding ruler. As Etien's behaviour worsened and his neglect of his duties increased, the day-to-day running of government fell to the state bureaucracy, while other branches were effectively paralysed by their ruler's lack of leadership. Eventually a number of assassination plots were hatched, the final one being carried out by a former childhood friend. It failed, but Etien, so distraught that someone once so close to him, would attempt to kill him, took his own life with the would-be assassin's dagger.

The following two decades, under the rule of Etien's brother Paul and sister Marie, were relatively peaceful. This ended, however, when Edmund, the eldest of Etien's two sons, came to power in 2399. Much like his father, he was weak-willed and prone to fits of depression, making him easy to manipulate by his mother, Marion Michaels-Davion and his brother Edward. His mother pushed for goverment reforms which increased the power of the president, while eroding that of the High Council, until her death in 2410. Over the following years, Edward took this a step further, persuading his brother to enact a series of reforms that effectively placed the Davion family above the law and made the president an absolute monarch in all but name.

Following Edmund's death in 2415, Edward assumed power. Something of a megalomaniac and with little to constrain his actions, he embarked on a spending spree, commissioning expensive and pointless civic projects to feed his ego, imposing new taxes to pay for them and issuing all manner of bizarre edicts and regulations as his whims dictated. He also increased funding to the covert state security force, created by his brother, expanding its powers and capabilities. The High Council was powerless to stop him and the military, whose leaders were either Davions or Davion loyalists, took no action, partly out of fear of the secret police and partly because they saw no other suitable candidates. Instead they chose to bide their time and wait for a viable replacement.

They didn't have to wait long. In 2417, Edward's moves to marginalise the High Council led to several members deciding to take action. They formed a secret group, known as the November Conspiracy, with the aim of having a number of worlds secede from the Federated Suns, during the Council's annual end-of-year break. FPS units loyal to the conspirators were ordered to blockade the New Avalon system, while the conspirators announced the change of rule. Had this scheme succeeded, the consequences would have been dire, with the Federated Suns torn apart by civil war. However, the conspirators decided to cancel the planned coup when Simon Davion returned to New Avalon, just 3 days before it was to be set in motion.

By this time in his late 30s and with a distinguished military service record, Simon had been one of the first names on his cousin Edward's hit-list. Having already had one family member assassinated to secure his own son's eventual succession, Edward had no qualms about doing it a second time. However, Simon's commanding officer warned him of the looming threat and so he'd spent the previous 2 years safely out of reach of Edward's agents. His eventual return to New Avalon was a calculated risk. Having spent his time building support among those opposed to Edward's rule, his arrival was greeted with open displays of support. The public backing of the people and the High Council meant Edward could not make any moves against Simon, who was immediately placed under the Council's protection. Historical records on what happened next are patchy at best, but it appears that during a Coucil meeting the following day, Edward appeared unannounced, escorted by the Presidential Guard. Simon managed to snatch a gun from one of the guards and shot Edward several times. He then immediately threw the gun down and placed himself at the mercy of the High Council, requesting a trial and agreeing to abide by whatever verdict was passed.

What followed next could only be described a complete show trial, during which Simon was lauded and portrayed as a hero, driven to murder a tyrant, rather than risk a civil war. The eventual verdit was "justifiable homicide" and Simon was given a suspended sentence, on the grounds he had acted in the best interests of his nation. He was quickly elected as the next President and went on to undo the damage done by his predecessors.