Is Julian Davion an illegal prince?

[Arkansas Warrior]

Once they were tens of light years into the FedSuns, with dozens of worlds in their pockets.  I'm talking about around 3140, when the Dragon first rolled over the Reach and started moving into FedSuns territory.  At that time Caleb was busy planning an invasion of the CC to combat a Crapellan plot that existed only within his mind.  The competent officers in the high command were leaving him out of the loop as much as they could to make things happen, couching unauthorized reinforcements to the DC border as "freeing up troops for the Capellan border" to keep him from vetoing them.

[Decoy]

You mean the troops that got steamrolled by the Combine? Some competent officers there. No. I figure Caleb got involved right when he should have. Once it got out of the Sandoval family's ability to control, then it became the First Prince's problem. The March Lords are supposed to be able to see to their Marches.


As far as the Capellan Confederation goes, Caleb did all he could to foment something. Is it not natural to gear up for the blow that you know will come?

[Arkansas Warrior]

That's not the picture the fiction we have of Caleb-era High Command meetings paint.  He's oblivious to any possible threat outside of some nebulous Capellan plots.  All the competent HC officers depicted are freaked out by the DC saber-rattling and doing everything they can to go around the Prince and reinforce the Sandovals, who are up front that they don't have the troops to combat the threat they're facing.  Yes, it's their job to manage that border, but part of that is realizing when your 1/4 of FedSuns strength isn't enough to ward off the concentrated might of the DCMS and mercenary support.






Really, it reminds me of nothing so much as the 1st War, where the AFFS was judge the Confederation their more dangerous foe and were preparing a spoiling attack against the CC and got blindsided by Minoru Kurita's offensive.  The difference is that there the whole High Command miscalculated and were shocked, whereas here we see multiple Marshals trying to talk the Prince out of attacking Capellan phantoms no one sees but him, and working behind his back to mitigate the DC attack they all see coming.

[Colt Ward]

Its not really phantoms . . . when you rape the heir, who happens to want your head on a pike- especially in such a 'face-saving' culture.

Then again, his preparations for the Capellan front did not really seem to amount to much, so just what was he doing?

[Decoy]

Caleb's invasion force was Omnomnomed at Palmyra. That was the force he intended to use against the Capellans.

[Øystein]

And seeing how fast the Capellans LOL-rolled the Capellan March, their plan worked very well. They hold Tikonov, Chesterton, Victoria and New Syrtis.

But of course, there couldn't have been any plans on the Capellan side which Caleb was worried about, because that would paint him as somewhat right.

[Colt Ward]

It is not just about Caleb's invasion force . . . when launching an invasion, especially with the HPG net down, you have to keep some decent defensive forces and positions on your side of the border.  Otherwise someone gets the bright idea to be Scipio and run a Operation Audacity II.  For all his focusing on the Capellan threat, whatever defensive measures he instituted did . . . nothing.

[Arkansas Warrior]

Caleb's invasion force was Omnomnomed at Palmyra. That was the force he intended to use against the Capellans.

So they sat around for five years doing nothing?  Caleb was made aware of the Reach invasion in May 3139, and was killed on Palmyra in June 3144.

And seeing how fast the Capellans LOL-rolled the Capellan March, their plan worked very well. They hold Tikonov, Chesterton, Victoria and New Syrtis.

But of course, there couldn't have been any plans on the Capellan side which Caleb was worried about, because that would paint him as somewhat right.

The Capellans did nothing but wait and watch until the disaster on Palmyra.  Celestial Reward was launched in November 3144 after the AFFS was already waist deep in Dragons and reeling from Palmyra.




Whether you're reading Schmetzer's "Redemption Rift" where High Command Marshals are comparing him to Nero fiddling while Rome burns and actively plotting to keep him in the dark because of his fixation on the CC, or you're reading ER 3145 where he's talked about as "engrossed in his plans to invade the Capellan Confederation" (3040ish), withholding troops out of spite because Sandoval took action without his approval (3141), "shocked to learn of the Combine invasion"and "Having spent the past couple years planning an invasion of the Capellan Confederation, he found it inconceivable that anyone would steal his thunder or have the temerity to assault the Federated Suns" (3143) the picture is not a pretty one.  He's clearly portrayed as a narcissistic egomaniac.