Stephen Ducrimmon-Davion

Stephen Ducrimmon-Davion (or simply Davion) is the Duke of Bristol, former commander of the First Davion Guard and Field Marshal of the Sarna March during the 5^th Succession War. His status greatly improved during the war, going from a middling officer to a figurehead of the Federated Commonwealth regime known for his stoic defense of the realm. His lack of political aspiration might be one of the reason Hanse Davion and his son Victor put trust in him during these hard times.

Early Life

Stephen Ducrimmon-Davion comes from a minor branch of the Davion family which broke off during the early years of the Second Succession War. The last of the line, he was born on Benet III to a pair of alcoholic parents who regularly beat him before falling in ethylic comas. Nonetheless, the young man attempted to keep his family together and afloat through petty crime, generally theft and racketeering, which sent him to detention homes a number of times. By the time he was 14, he was discovered by Marie Davion-St-Clair as she was visiting detention centers for humanitarian service (mandated by her father Andrew Davion).

Stephen was adopted by Marie Davion and the main Davion family after a check of his genetic lineage. Both of Stephen parents were dead at this point, with his father dying in a work accident (likely caused by alcohol abuse) as Marie Davion was reaching out to him. His pathological anger issues and paranoia come from this early part of his life. Stephen Ducrimmon-Davion would consider Marie Davion his godmother for the rest of his life, but never saw eye to eye with his godfather, Michael Hasek due to Stephen’s fanatical devotion to the Federated Suns.

Stephen was sent to the Albion Military Academy after a brief stint into private schools to improve his general literacy and mathematical skills. Marie was saddened to see that Stephen was following her tracks in the MechWarrior program, only barely reaching passing grades, but he was saved by his incredible results in the tactical and logistical classes. Gifted one of the Academy Cyclops, he led his class to a victory against the First Davion Guard in an exercise, which surprised all involved.

Military Service

Stephen graduated from the Academy and given a Captain commission with the 1^st Ivaarsen Chasseurs, where he quickly raised in ranks due to his tactical skills but mostly due to his family name. Stephen honestly did not care about why things happened and took advantage of his position to get assignments where he could “stretch his wings”. He received a number of reprimands due to “acts unbecoming of an officer”, generally focused on his mistreatment of prisoners of war and partisans.

Hanse Davion moved Stephen away from the Chasseurs to the First Davion Guards to move him away from the front-lines and the opportunities to commit war crimes. Hanse wanted Stephen to meet with a renown psychologist on New Avalon, but Stephen always found reasons not to go to his appointments. During the 4^th Succession War, Stephen commanded the First Guards to take Shensi and Tsitang but his greatest success was the destruction of the Third Confederation Reserve Cavalry on Kawich during a defensive operation. His “mismanagement” of a few prisoners was critical to the defensive operation, which both angered and relieved the Davion High Command.

Stephen was then appointed as Marshal under the command of Field Marshal David Sandoval in the newly conquered Sarna March. David quickly appointed Stephen as the head of an informal military intelligence operation in the region focused on removing Capellan partisans and terrorists. Stephen was seen as the “hammer” to David’s “velvet glove” and the locals learned to both fear and respect the one-eyed man.

Field Marshal of the Sarna March

David Sandoval moved on from the Sarna March in 3056, being appointed to the defense of worlds near the Clan border. Stephen Davion expected to follow him, but he was instead given the command of the Sarna March by First Prince Victor Steiner-Davion. Not expecting much, Stephen bunkered down on Tikonov and did a full military review of the forces he had in presence. This review is potentially one of the reasons why the defense of the Sarna March Stephen performed during Operation GUERRERO and the subsequent 5^th Succession War was successful. He assessed the threat of local partisans, terrorists and known forces in presence and began a crackdown on illegal actions from Capellan sympathizers and “local independence movements” which had started popping up.

Operation GUERRERO

When the opening strikes of Operation GUERRERO started, Stephen Davion requested supplies and reinforcement from neighboring commands. This was hampered by the lack of transport capacity that was available to him due to the repositioning of forces on the Clan front and Nondi Steiner’s “closed door rebellion”. Rather than panic, Stephen ordered units on worlds hit first to be pulled back to worlds deeper in the Sarna March, closer to Tikonov. He then organized the defense of the remaining worlds by rotating troops while also keeping extreme pressure on Capellan partisan elements. While international observers (mainly from the Confederation and Free Worlds League) would argue that this repression could be viewed as war crimes, the Federated Commonwealth commended Stephen for his rational risk taking.

Operation GUERRERO was prolonged by the Strategios and LCCC, leaving Stephen Davion in a bind as he was still not receiving support from the AFFC central command. He pled to other nearby commands for assistance, hoping for some relief. Field Marshal Morgan Hasek-Davion responded by supporting the St.Ives Compact advance against Capellan worlds, applying pressure towards the capital of Sian. This forced Sun-Tzu Liao to relocate some of the forces he had in the Sarna March towards the heart of the Confederation. Peter Steiner-Davion, in the Isle of Skye, could not mobilize much forces as Nondi Steiner’s loyalists were causing issues still, but he rerouted a small number of JumpShips and DropShips, along with the AFFS Marie Davion (ironically) Fox-class Corvette. The Marie Davion would become the command ship Stephen would use when going on inspection duty during the war, even after a few Avalon-class missile cruisers were sent to the front. Finally, against the wish of James Sandoval, Tancred Sandoval took a significant portion of the Draconis March Militia and Robinson Rangers to assist with the defense of the realm.

Into the Fifth Succession War

The quagmire which was the Tikonov/Terran March front during the 5^th Succession War was ideal for a man like Stephen Davion, who favored slow and purposeful defense rather than quick, lightning offense. Clan Watch agents often described Stephen Davion as the polar opposite of the Clan way of warfare, preferring to stop an enemy cold and then grind them to a pulp. While worlds were lost, Stephen’s actions safeguard more than was lost in eyes of the general AFFC command staff.

A turning point in the 5^th Succession War was the assassination of Arthur Steiner-Davion on Carver by ROM operatives. Stephen’s own grandson Jonathan was with Arthur when the bomb planted under the stage where he was to speak exploded, injuring him severely. The Field Marshal took this very poorly and went to Terra to confront Primus Sharilar Mori with the Marie Davion, along with missile cruiser Lucien Davion and Simon Davion. Anastasius Focht was caught off guard by the aggressivity displayed by Stephen Davion, but the Primus and Precentor Martial explained the schism between the Word of Blake and ComStar to the Field Marshal, who was somewhat satisfied with the answer.

Unfortunately, after his return to Tikonov, Stephen ordered his WarShips to deploy along the front, which caught him unaware when the FWLM brought 3 of their own along with 2 Word of Blake WarShips. The blockade could not be broken with the ships Stephen had at hand (the Marie, Lucien and Simon Davion) and he requested backup from neighboring commands again. Before this could happen, the Word of Blake ship WoBS Herald of Justice opened up with an orbital bombardment on Tikograd, hoping to halt resistance from the Davion forces and to display the power of the Word forces to nearby ComStar acolytes.

Stephen Davion survived the bombardment as he was doing an inspection and drill with new ‘Mechs and cadets at the Earthwerks factory on Tikonov. When the Free Worlds League Navy pulled their ships away from orbit, he sent immediate order to his own WarShips to intercept the Word of Blake vessels. The Herald of Justice was destroyed as it attempted to reach a safe jump point by the Simon Davion and the Marie Davion. De-escalation of the conflict in the region follows, with Stephen focusing mainly on purging Capellan partisan elements that remained in the Tikonov March.

After the war, he retired to his holdings on Bristol.

Stephen Davion’s Personal life

While a simple brawler in his youth, Stephen Davion trained in Krav Maga after joining the Albion Military Academy, achieving a rank of E3. He also studied fencing and historical recreation fighting. Stephen is also an avowed teetotaler, having seen both his parents burn out due to alcoholism. He is known to be a New Avalon Catholic, even though he doesn’t actively practice. Stephen lost an eye during his days at the Albion Academy but nobody ever said why within his cadet group. While piloting BattleMechs, Stephen Davion wears a prosthetic eye replacement in his neurohelmet.

Stephen married Eliska Svoboda, a minor noble from New Syrtis, who he met through his “godmother” Marie Davion. The two had a tumultuous relationship due to Stephen’s anger issues, but they had 2 children, Jonathan and Antoine. Both children had a difficult relationship with their often-absent father, but in his later years, Stephen opened to them and managed to fix some of their family life. While Robert would pursue a career in business, Antoine joined the Federated Commonwealth military and his father explained to him he would not get preferential treatment due to his family name. Both children became successful in their own rights.

Stephen Davion’s BattleMech

Stephen Ducrimmon-Davion piloted a WHM-6D Warhammer early in his career. During the 5^th Succession War, he rarely went to the front but he piloted a GUN-1ERD Gunslinger. He was never known to be an especially competent MechWarrior, but he could “take out another ‘mech on an open field and a full magazine”.

Clan Watch report

“Stephen Davion would be a footnote in history if not for the 5^th Succession War. His natural propensity for violence, paranoia and sociopathic tendencies was exactly what the Federated Commonwealth needed on the Terran front. Even though he would be a geriatric for all intents and purposes, he rapidly took charge of the situation on the entire front and sacrificed the worlds he knew he could not hold and fortified the worlds he could. His skillful use of propaganda along with his liberal use of capital punishment for traitors likely made him quite unpopular in the kinder, more noble parts of the Federated Commonwealth. The results, however, spoke for themselves, as local populations rallied behind the Federated Commonwealth banner rather than side with either the Capellan or Leaguer, either due to fear or due to national pride.

In terms of military strategy, Stephen Davion is better known as a defensive tactician, but also as one which deferred to his officers for specific decisions. While making battle plans on an entire front, the Field Marshall was happy to delegate specific action to generals and colonels rather than micromanage every action. When Tancred Sandoval joined the defensive forces with the Draconis March Militia, Stephen gave his colleague full independence as long as he agreed to follow the general battle plan the Field Marshall had setup.

Stephen Davion showcases that, in war, the end generally justifies the means. Some of his actions likely would have seen him sit on a war tribunal if he had been captured or if he had lost the war. Nonetheless, he is regarded as a hero by the people of the Federated Suns, and even the Federated Commonwealth at large.”