Marshal Anne-Marie Van Creveld

Anne-Marie Van Creveld is a FWLM officer who rose through the ranks to become District-Marshal of one of the more contentious districts in the Free Worlds League. Politically well connected thanks to her time at the premier academy in the League, she also gathered a good reputation through her work with the intelligence agencies. She was the primary commander of the FWLM in the Tikonov March during the Fifth Succession War.

Early Life

Anne-Marie Van Creveld was born to a MechWarrior family on Dieudonne in 3008, 3 years before the Free Worlds League “reconquered” it from the Lyran Commonwealth. Her family had been serving in the planetary garrison of the world and defected to the superior League forces when they landed on the planet, securing their position and keeping their prized ‘Mechs intact. This also placed her family in charge of the planetary militia of the planet, increasing their status significantly. In her late teens, Anne-Marie was selected by the planetary governor to join the Allison MechWarrior Institute on a special grant. She graduated with honors on a lieutenant commission.

Military Career

Taking her father’s place

Her father having retired from service, Anne-Marie Van Creveld took his Hermes II and was given a position in the Thirteenth Marik Militia. She was part of the failed defense of Bordon in 3029 against a raid by Snord’s Irregulars, but she competently served during the engagement, being promoted to Captain despite her young age. She was popular with the troops and had made many friends while at the academy, many of which were now both well connected militarily and politically.

In 3033, she was part of the anti-Lyran guerilla campaign led by the Thirteenth Marik Militia on Wasat. There, she learned more about command and guerilla tactics, but also grew a severe dislike for the Lyran government and institutions. The Militia did not take the planet but caused enough problems for the Lyrans to have to invest in more planetary garrisons.

Service in the Dark Shadows

With her actions on Wasat, Anne-Marie got noticed by SAFE, who gave her a promotion to Major and command over a Dark Shadows unit to perform anti-Lyran actions along the borders of the Free Worlds League in the Sarna March. She acquitted her task quite well, serving for two tours with the Dark Shadows instead of the standard one, but this was partially to shield her from the dishonor the Thirteenth Marik faced during Duncan Marik’s “special military operation” in the Duchy of Andurien.

This allowed Anne-Marie to return to the Thirteenth Marik Militia in 3037 and take command of the regiment as Colonel Chang Janewicz had been promoted to command the Oriente Hussars. She kept the unit active on the Lyran border, with their next major action being on the planet of Wyatt, where they faced the 17^th Arcturan Guards, severely damaging their supply lines and stealing a large amount of advanced technology from them.

Field-Marshall of Dieudonne and Operation GUERRERO

In 3051, District-Marshal Annabel Danton died of old age, leaving an opening for Marshal of the Dieudonne Military District. Some of her old friends from the Academy were now part of the LCCC staff, including one Colonel Rose Schrank who would then rise to become Occupation Liaison Officer. Under recommendation from the LCCC, Thomas Marik named Anne-Marie Van Creveld as the new District-Marshal.

Her work mostly focused on doing more of what she had been doing before, harassing the Federated Commonwealth border and forcing them to keep investing in local defense. With a large part of the Federated Commonwealth’s troops invested on the Clan front, the new District-Marshal had superior results in the region, helping establish multiple resistance and insurgent cells on nearby worlds in the Skye region and Sarna March.

The marriage of Isis Marik and Sun Tzu Liao opened new avenues for the Dieudonne District as it allowed them to lower the military presence on the Capellan front, reinvesting it on the Federated Commonwealth front. This is what allowed the Anne-Marie Van Creveld, along with other thinking heads of the LCCC to plan Operation GUERRERO for “when time was right”. She did not have to wait for very long, as the death of Joshua Marik on New Avalon gave a proper casus bello for the Free Worlds League to attack the Federated Commonwealth.

Fifth Succession War

The first waves of Operation GUERRERO were massive successes for the Free Worlds League Military, retaking 11 worlds from the Federated Commonwealth. Things, however, ground to a halt after Field Marshall Stephen Davion had enough time to organize his troops and his defense. Defensive forces in both the Skye region and former Sarna, now Tikonov, March could not resist further assault from the allied League-Capellan forces and even fought back, trying to retake worlds.

From her headquarters in Dieudonne, Anne-Marie Van Creveld was no longer capable of ensuring a three to one numerical advantage for her troops when facing the AFFC. Trying to hold on her gains, she started mobilizing planetary garrisons and militias into service to defend established positions and prevent raids. While she captured more worlds after Operation GUERRERO, her successes were now counted in miles on a planet rather than entire swaths of worlds.

The only military action Marshal Van Creveld saw during the Fifth Succession War was during a review on the captured world of Graham in 3063. During the review of operations and equipment, the planet was raided by AFFC affiliated mercenaries. Along with the planetary defenders, Anne-Marie fought back the raiders and claimed victory.

Personal Life

Anne-Marie Van Creveld spent most of her life in the military and surrounded by the military and it affected most of her view in life. Outside of playing Battle Lightning on her off days, she has not many hobbies. Thanfully, her Battle Lightning record is rather stellar in both important ways: she is a fantastic player, and she never was caught leaking classified documents from the Free Worlds League to the developers. Anne-Marie has a lifelong hatred for the Lyran Commonwealth, which she transferred to the Federated Commonwealth, but when asked “why”, she is generally short of an answer. She married her life partner Jacqueline Duval in 3051.

Anne-Marie Van Creveld’s BattleMech

District-Marshal Van Creveld started her career in a stock Hermes II, which was upgraded to a HER-2M during her time with the Dark Shadows regiments. As she moved away from frontline duty, she kept an upgraded version of her Hermes, but was also given an AWS-9Ma Awesome for command duty.

Clan Watch Report

“ Looking back at it, the Watch expected Van Creveld to be the key military commander of the Free Worlds League during the Fifth Succession War, but this position was then taken by Samuel Garibaldi in his ‘funny little war’ with Caesar Steiner. District-Marshal Van Creveld retook worlds for the Free Worlds League and held them but in terms of doctrinal actions and long-term effect, Garibaldi seems to have been more effective. This is not to say that Anne-Marie Van Creveld is not a threat if the Clans were to reach the Dieudonne district, as she is a very competent officer.”