Bienvenidos a Casa deVega

The deVega name | Military History of the deVegas | Notable Personalities, Past & Present

The deVegas were originally Castillian Spanish, and the family first formed in the provinces of Valladolid, Palencia and Leon. The name means "Of the Earth of the Fields". The deVegas moved across Europe when Spain was in power, and had one ancestor aboard Christopher Columbus' ship, the Niña, who established the family in South and Central America. The deVega family heraldry is a red shield, a horizontal dark blue or black band bordered in gold and lettered in gold with the Latin motto, "Ave Maria Gratia Plena".

Vega is also the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, and one of the brightest in the northern hemisphere. Some deVega Knights use a single bright star at the top of their personal heraldry.

All ancestors were almost all writers or historians, some were engineers and a few went into the field of computer science. The deVega family's association with the military didn't start in until 2748. In that year, Salvador de Vega entered into the Terran Hegemony Royal Army's Special Operations Executive as an Operations Director following his success as the leader of an anti-terrorist militia group. One son and three daughters of Salvador deVega elected to join various arms of the Royal Army, Navy and Marine Corps. These stayed during the sometimes difficult procedure of the SLDF's original formation and integration with allied states.

In gratitude for their past contributions to the Terran Hegemony, all deVega family members were posted to nearby areas, and formed a strong family connection with each other in the Zollikofen system in the Lyran Alliance to where they were posted. Nearly the entire deVega family, civilian and military unanimously elected to join General Kerensky in his Exodus, with the 331st Royal Battlemech Division . The only deVega to stay instead of choosing Exodus was the former CO of the 7th Royal Hussars, Colonel García de Vega Y Ortiz, who stayed behind, sacrificing both his friendships and his family to help rebuild the Sol system of the Terran Hegemony which he loved.

With the Exodus, the deVega family's history got a little murky. One ancestor we do know of was in Clan Wolverine's Navy, saKhan Míra deVega, who was last seen battling a combined Clan Wolf & Widowmaker naval task force with her small 3-ship squadron. Escaping Wolverine ships never filmed the destruction of her flagship, and there are some rumours of other forces escaping Clan space during that time. Its possible we may have some relatives elsewhere in the Deep Periphery. Obviously the rest of our ancestors escaped with the main fleet under saKhan Franklin Hallis' leadership. Most deVegas at that time did work closely with the military as advisors, and engineers, but the Grand Council prevented any natural-born men & women from serving in front-line forces. Nothing about the Clan genetics programme fit with our family's strong Catholic beliefs, so none but already enlisted or commissioned military personnel served in Clan Wolverine's brief history.

Currently there are three deVegas in active military service: Commanding General Kristoffer "Sheik" deVega , Brigadier General "Redbelly" deVega and Lieutenant Lee "KB" deVega. General Kristoffer deVega currently commands the entire Star League Defense Force in Exile. Brigadier Redbelly deVega has a counciling role on the Command Staff, while Lieutenat Lee deVega is Executive Officer of the 382nd Royal Dragoons. All other deVegas are either in various military academies and too young to serve, or have gone into the private sector as scientists, engineers, and other professions.

Peruvian writer, soldier, and noted historian of Spain's colonial period. He was born in Cusco, the son of Sebastián de la Vega y Vargas, a Spanish conqueror of Peru; his mother was an Inca princess, niece of Huayna Capac. Garcilaso called himself "El Inca." He went to Spain in 1560 and became a captain in the army. He eventually settled in Córdoba, Spain. He is best known for his two-part history of the Incas of Peru and the Spanish conquest of Peru, Comentarios reales de los Incas (1609 and 1617; Royal Commentaries of Peru, 1688). He also wrote a romanticized account of the expedition of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, entitled Florida del Inca (1605; Florida of the Inca 1951).

An outstanding dramatist of the Spanish Golden Age, author of as many as 1,800 plays and several hundred shorter dramatic pieces, of which 431 plays and 50 shorter pieces are extant.

Salvador was interested in fencing from an early age, hooked on Spanish and military history during the colonization period of the Americas. His teachers noted his hyperactive memory, able to keep track of several simultaneous tasks, and his parents advanced the child into high school four years early. The Terran Hegemony's Royal Army watched his scores from elementary through high school, and offered the deVega family a fencing scholarship at the prestigious Royal Order of Sandhurst. Salvador initially declined, and instead pursued a degree in military history.

A terrorist bombing during an awards ceremony destroyed his family as well as almost all of his friends and nearly 9,000 other students, and collapsed his university following. Salvador organized a militia group out of the four dozen survivors of the attack and dedicated his group to hunting down anti-Hispanic fundamentalist groups in the American Southwest. The Royal Army watched his progress, seeing how the militia group became so organized so quickly and with such strength that the entire southwest US was transformed in a mere five months: Cells of terrorist groups were subverted from within, sent to prison through private detective work forwarded to police authorities, by being publicly framed, or through less savory methods.

Salvador deVega was again approached by the Royal Military, this time through their Special Operations Executive, and Salvador accepted, bringing his successful militia group under the control of the Hegemony military's counterintelligence department.

Throughout the rest of his life, Salvador deVega worked his way up through SOE and was one of the more successful directors of anti-terrorism in SOE's history before its inclusion into the Star League. Unfortunately, the clandestine nature of Salvador's contributions to the Hegemony prevent our finding out more of his past accomplishments from the period when he joined SOE to when he died of natural causes at the age of 103. Even family records don't have any more detail beyond his attending the annual deVega family reunions at the end of July and start of August, since he never "talked shoppe" with them. Civilian news posts have a few photographs and short movie clips of him at the scene of some anti-Star League bombing incidents in the Lyran Commonwealth and at the subsequent trials of the conspirators, but that is all that we have. Perhaps there would be more on Terra if Comstar would ever allow us into their Archives, but there's little hope of that with the fanatical WOB-bly Goblins in power on humanity's homeworld.

García graduated from the Royal Order of Sandhurst and joined the 156th Royal Light Horse, then forming in Sweden, as a Lieutenant. Not a spectacular MechWarrior by any means, García instead seemed to have inherited his father Salvador's ability to keep track of myriad tasks at one time, an invaluable ability for a Staff officer. It was no surprise to his friends, family and colleagues that he was promoted to Captain two years early as a company commander on the fast track to General Staff. Taken out of combat status and sent through the SLDF Strategy Headquarters' Command and General Staff College on Mars, Colonel García emerged as an incredibly able battlefield and political strategist.

García was one of the reformers of Hegemony and Star League military strategy by contributing to the practice of armed and fortified supply depots, or Castle Brian Fortresses. Derided by critics of following the school of attrition-style warfare that dominated the French and English militaries during WW1, and which were overrun by Prussian/German forces so quickly & thoroughly, Colonel García deVega was accused of being a throwback to those defensive strategies.

The truth was that García, along with his General Staff sponsors, was attempting to synthesize the static/defensive and attack/manoeuvre schools of military thought. In his own words, "A Castle Brian is meant to be a permanent hindrance against an enemy taking the planet, prevent the invasion and takeover of a Hegemony planet. Castles Brian, with their stockpile of weapons, food, and men, represent a permanent threat to any enemy attempting to seize control of the planet. Because more than one Castle Brian is on most border worlds, they represent a major hidden force than can attack the enemy almost at will. If an enemy really wanted to take a Hegemony world protected by Castles Brian, it would have to do so with a huge force of men and equipment and would have to remain on that planet for a very long time. It is a price most enemies are not willing to pay."

Unfortunately not at the level of a General Staff officer himself, his contributions to the Castle Brian project were counted against him by higher command authorities, who sidetracked his career at the Regimental Command level, effectively blocking his route towards Division and Army command.

During the takeover of the Terran Hegemony, the collapse of the Star League, and the SLDF's counterattack on the Rim Worlds Republic forces occupying humanity's central homeworlds, the 331st Division needed all the Staff officers it could get, and Colonel García deVega was advanced to control the 1st Brigade, including his old regiment the 7th Royal Hussars, the 156th Royal Light Horse, the 571st Grenadiers, and was given strategic coordination control of the 12th Royal Pathfinders, a special operations Brigade. Because of his nearly manic ability to concentrate on so many tasks at once, his untiring diligence, and his care of the troops under his command, the entire 1st Brigade's three Regiments survived even the assault on Terra itself and helped to secure the South American continent from Amaris forces and loyalist troops.

García was one of the reluctant officers who wanted to stay when the call to Exodus was sounded, wanting to help rebuild the Hegemony which he loved and had fought so hard for. With a sadness that would stay with him until his death, García deVega remained in the Sol system while his wife and unborn twins departed with Kerensky's fleet in 2784. His wife and her twins stayed with the 156th Royal Light Horse, and chose to follow their CO, Lieutenant General Sarah McEvedy.

García may have been responsible for helping the coordination of the Sol system's military takeover by Jerome Blake in 2788, since he stayed in South America after the Exodus. In any case, García retired from military service in 2788 and became an incurable alcoholic. Friends interred him into a private clinic in the Spanish Mediterranean, but he died of heart attack and liver failure soon after in 2798, alone while his family had gone on the SLDF's Exodus with Kerensky.

Míra deVega is a mystery for historians. No mention of her is found between the record of her birth aboard ship during the Exodus. Her Trial of Bloodright for the name of deVega in 2819 as a Star Colonel of Clan Wolverine was the first time her name was mentioned. This has lead historians to believe that she was one of those left behind in the Pentagon system and proven loyal to Clan Wolverine during its takeover and absorption of Pentagon worlds. She is most likely the granddaughter of García de Vega. Even the date of her death is a guess. Born extremely thin but athletic, Míra deVega must have joined the Aerospace branch of Clan Wolverine first as a fighter pilot and later as a Naval officer, since she ended her career commanding WarShip squadrons of Battleship class.

saKhan Míra was the only deVega to serve in Clan Wolverine's entire military structure. The remainder of the family disliked the military structure imposed on the Clans, as well as the genetic experiments which gave rise to the "iron wombs". This conflicted with the deVegas' carefully held Catholic belief system, and with saKhan Míra's help they avoided military service by careful doctoring of records.

saKhan deVega seemingly ended her career in command of a task force centred on the CWS Deliberation in interstellar combat against a naval task force comprised of Clan Wolf and Widowmaker. To her credit, the fleeing Wolverine transports' fighter escorts filmed the Deliberation and its small three ship squadron and fighter/bomber screen edging out the enemy Clans' squadrons in a nearly 17:1 kill ratio. Unfortunately, a Ghost Bear battleship group jumping into the system made further reconnaissance impossible, and the fleeing Wolverine fighters docked with their transports and jumped out of system.

Recently, reports intercepted from ComStar's Explorer Corps show that the skeletons of two extremely large naval WarShips of Texas and Black Lion class were seen orbiting one world of Nueva Castille. These reports give more evidence that some Wolverine ships had navigational difficulties and jumped at a tangent to our path. Quite a few of these probably ended up in the Deep Periphery as what Nueva Castille residents came to call the "Umayyads", after an ancient Spanish word for the attacking Moors during the first millennium AD

Descendants of the deVega line are curious whether Míra deVega managed to break the Wolf/Widowmaker naval blockade and escape, but with damage to her group's navigational arrays and mainframes. Images from the Explorer Corps showed that the ships had been stripped down to their framework, with all external armour panels and every bit of interiour equipment having been removed. This would have included the ship's coat of arms which was painted on every SLDF warship, but the IFF transponder should probably still respond to our radar emissions. We need more research soon to link up with any more survivors of Clan Wolverine.

"Darknight" deVega served in many of the same fronts as General "Sheik", in raids against the Smoke Jaguars, Star Adders, Clan Wolf, and in full-scale assaults against House Davion's previous leadership and Clan Jade Falcon. Nevin deVega has always preferred the security of a good thick shield of armour around him, and still prefers larger mechs. The two currently serving deVegas worked well with each other; "Sheik" with his direct movements and darting attacks, and "Darknight" supporting from a slight distance off with guns and heavy cannon. Sometimes with the former acting as an artillery spotter and NARC unit for the latter, which was always a deadly combination of firepower and skills.

Sergeant Nevin "Darknight" deVega currently serves as a squad leader in the 571st Grenadiers, 1st Brigade, 331st Royal BattleMech Division. With his shift of domicile, "Darknight" has had to stop attending live-fire training, unfortunately diluting his skills and teamwork. Once he is well-settled in, the other deVega Knights look forward to his continued contributions to the honour of the House of deVega.

The son of two hardworking but non-Staff level SLDF in Exile officers, Kristoffer deVega was identified by Army geneticists in-vitro as having the traits of his ancestor's mental coordination abilities. Kristoffer started out as a disappointment to the family though, with what seemed to be ADDS (Attention Deficit Disorder Syndrome) and several characteristics of learning disabilities. During elementary schooling he had very low grades, but was interviewed by a child psychologist at his family's expense.

The psychologist found something even more interesting than learning disabilities. She spent long hours going through his school papers and personal documents. What his parents first thought were the random art sketches of an adolescent were actually plans for organizing the entire neighbourhood's population of around 150 local children into complex paintball gun tactics by squads and platoons, all the way up to company level, based on Kristoffer's father's collection of military history textbooks. Kristoffer was simply fed up with the slow pace of his study groups and was studying his father's military books to relieve his boredom, even though the vocabulary was beyond him and he had to look up many of the terms in reference files.

Further investigation proved that local road construction projects bulldozing through land owned by the deVega family, on which Kristoffer and his friends played, was also being hampered. Breakdowns of equipment, unexplained losses of supplies, and bombardment by illegal fireworks were later proven to be instituted by the 9-year-old Kristoffer deVega. Through his parents, the Royal Army immediately began to counsel him and channeled his violent temper & energy into physical sports appropriate to his age such as soccer, running and swimming. When this was successful they placed him in advanced classes.

His classmates continually picked on "the pint sized freak of nature" through middle and high school. Kristoffer had to work harder just to keep up with his studies because of this constant teasing. The usual physical bullying of classmates who couldn't relate to him contributed to his growth, though. During his senior year of college, a sympathetic physical education coach introduced a 16-year-old Kristoffer deVega to the ancient Terran Japanese arts of Judo and Aikido. Completely converted to this process of using agility and manoeuvre against strength and inflexibility in defending himself against bullies twice his size, or at least escaping from them, Kristoffer soon formed an equality with his classmates and even respect. This way of thinking dominated his tactical thought processes from then on.

Further education through the Royal Military Academy and General Staff College on New Terra, Kristoffer deVega advanced steadily in rank and authority with the help of older Officers and NCOs with whom he served in combat, who appreciated his attention to detail and his easy way of working & talking with them instead of condescending to them. That he performed this well against the wishes of higher authorities who could not come to grips with his young age (Kristoffer graduated from the RMA as a Lieutenant at the age of 19 instead of the normal 24) is a testament to how our Armed Forces should continually study the abilities even of young children, and that good teachers should be better rewarded than what their salaries are today.

Major and later Colonel deVega went on to serve as the leader of the 1st Brigade, 331st Royal Battlemech Division. Always leading his Headquarters Lance in the forefront of the Brigade instead of from a desk, Kristoffer deVega led his highly customized Marauder against enemies such as Clans Smoke Jaguar, Steel Viper, Star Adder and Wolf, as well as retaliatory strikes against the previous generation of House Davion's and the Kellhounds' leaderships. It was at this time that he earned the nickname "Sheik", both from the Arabic/Spanish past of his ancestors and because of his maniacal way of piloting a Mech: His technicians believed that every time he checked out one of his family's Mechs, that it would be shaken apart, down to the last bolts, because of the violent movements Kristoffer would put the Mechs through to avoid enemy fire and move through terrain.

Colonel deVega also used his quirky imagination in customizing the most outrageous Mech designs which, amazingly enough, worked. Compared to the inventor of the UK's amphibious and flamethrowing tanks in WW2, Kristoffer deVega directed his Technicians in the creation of some of the Division's strangest Mech variants: 12-machinegun mounted Ryokens with enough ammo to stay in long battles and take out 4 mechs; a "Swiss army knife" style Warhammer with 2 of almost every single kind of weapon in MT's inventory; a Marauder variant with 6 flamethrowers that could destroy an enemy Mech with one salvo, through overriding its heat sinks with such high heat and therefore destroying its magnetic containment field; a Stone Rhino armed with seven ERPPCs, meant to work in a pair of this variant, that together could coat a field in chain-fired balls of lightning that could prevent the advance of an enemy at the greatest of ranges; and his favourite Recon & Raiding Mech, a Dasher containing no fewer than 21 jump jet pods, a cape-like partial wing structure on its back linked to the arms, and a top speed of 250kph, which remain airbourne across 2km before having to land and refuel its jets.

During recent years, now-General deVega has had the honour and privilege of being asked to serve as the Commanding General of a unified Star League Defense Force, coordinating such prestigious units as the Northwind Highlanders, Clan Wolf in Exile, and working alongside leaders from the Draconis Combine and Federated Suns who have become his friends. The irony that the leadership of the Draconis Combine is now lead by a power-hungry maniac who is working to tear down all that he fought so hard to create is not lost on General deVega.

General deVega continues to serve as the Commanding General of the Star League in Exile, and exercises frequently with his last command, the 7th Royal Hussars regiment, continuing his family's practice of commanding from the front instead of from a desk. Although unmarried, he has four brothers and two sisters, all of whom are in military academies. Two of the brothers are working towards the Army MechWarrior Corps, one is training for the Army Pathfinders infantry reconnaissance branch and one is studying to join the Admiralty. Both sisters are in the Army Air Corps as Aerospace fighter pilots. The rest of Kristoffer's older relatives are all in engineering careers ranging from marine to deep space fields, including his father, Sir Rodrigo deVega, knighted for his accomplishments in the advancement of hyperspace theory and application.

Biography sketch to follow.

Lee “Killerbee” Van Aernam was born in the lowlands of Amsterdam in the year 3026. His father was the Baron of the lands and raised his only son in the ways of chivalry and war. As the only child Killerbee was forced into the role of leader early in life. By the age of 18, he was commander of the boarder guards in the far reaches of the baronage.

Killerbee was raised in the ways of warfare. He became an excellent marksman, a good shot with the gauss rifle, and an inspirational leader of men. Yet, he did not give himself over to warfare entirely; he studied the art of cabinetry making. Hunting big game in the African wild and fishing are his favorite pastimes.

In the year 3067, only days after his 40th birthday, he went up to the great tournament to attest the befitting his rank and title.

The House of deVega has a long proud lineage of service to what was known as Clan Wolverine. The foundations of deVega are lost deep in the mists of time. But through there Knights, they have continued this great tradition of code and honour.

On 19th November 3067 He Takes The Vow of the House of deVega !
"I, Killerbee, do solemnly swear that I shall serve faithfully the Knights of the House of deVega. That I shall live by the code, keep my honor untarnished, and face death rather than dishonor. That I shall follow the orders of the Knights appointed over me. That I shall be fair to those over whom I am appointed. That I shall serve forever the House of deVega, the land of McEvedy ’s Ancesters. To this vow I shall solemly uphold upon forfeit of mine life."