Author Topic: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars  (Read 480662 times)

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #90 on: 20 April 2013, 23:00:33 »
----- 2 Weeks Later -----

Date: November 5-8, 2821

Location: Arcadia

Title: A Tale of Mercy in Defeat

Author: Chris Hussey

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Sheriff Tiberius Reed of Helgren County pilots an Archer as he battles the Steel Vipers for control of Arcadia’s Talbot Moraine.  It’s not going well – despite attempts to convince the Vipers of Helgren’s moral superiority over the other Arcadian warlords, fifty percent of Helgren’s forces has been wiped out.  His company is being pursued by a Viper Binary.

The Helgren equipment has seen hard use during 20 years of ceaseless civil war, while the Viper ‘Mechs are pristine.  However, the constant fighting has given the Helgren warriors a high level of competence, and Sheriff Reed gives the Vipers a good fight and leads them into an ambush, destroying several Viper ‘Mechs and forcing the rest of the Binary to surrender.

Returning to his attempts to negotiate a peace settlement with the Vipers, Reed is frustrated that the Viper clan won’t take him up on an offer of prisoner exchange.  Miguel Ayvazian speaks for the Steel Viper POWs, and tells the confused Reed that the ilKhan has chosen new tradiitions and practices to replace the failed methods of the Star League.  The Viper Star Captain in command of Ayvazian’s Binary considers their surrender dishonorable, and will not accept them back into the Viper touman.  Miguel dismisses Reed’s claims of moral superiority by noting that he chose to remain and fight rather than joining the Second Exodus, and is as guilty as the rest for the results.  He says that the Clans have come to wipe the Pentagon cluster clean of the old ways of thinking – a “genocide of ideals.”  Still, while Miguel doesn’t respect Reed’s ideals, he does respect his battlefield skills and honorable conduct.  Their discussion is interrupted by news that more Viper forces are approaching, forcing the Helgren troops to flee.

Several days later, in the Griggs Woods, the shattered remains of the Helgren forces continue to flee the pursuing Viper forces.  Exhausted and short on supplies after the Vipers overran their base camp, they stumble onto a Blood Spirit patrol.  Sheriff Reed stuns his troops by telling them he has a plan to deal with the Blood Spirits.  In his conversations with Ayvazian, he’s learned about the Clans’ Trial protocols, and determines to use that knowledge to save what remains of his forces. 

He approaches the Spirit patrol and issues a challenge to its commander, Zoltan Osbourne – if he wins, the Blood Spirits withdraw from Helgren territory forever, if he loses, Helgren County becomes Blood Spirit isorla.  Reed’s Archer duels Zoltan’s Starslayer, managing to get into position to deliver the coup de grace and claim victory.  However, Reed hesitates, allowing Zoltan to recover and defeat his Archer, winning the Trial and giving Reed and his men a place in Clan Blood Spirit. 

Notes:  H:OK recounts that Helgren County reacted to the Clans’ attack on Rand by opportunistically hitting the weakened Democratic Republic of Rand defenses in an effort to capture territory during the storm season, while the Rand army was busy battling the Vipers and Blood Spirits.  Helgren County is a nominally Davion-based state, so the claims of moral superiority combined with opportunistic land grabs are pretty much genetically imprinted.  ;)

Reed is a former SLDF captain who convinced most of his regiment to remain on Arcadia rather than joining Nicholas’ Second Exodus.  They carved out an enclave of relative peace and freedom, and viewed the ethnic Capellan Rand as their primary enemy.  At the start of KLONDIKE, Helgren had two mixed (tanks/vehicles/infantry) veteran battalions and uses its knowledge of the terrain to always choose the most advantageous ground on which to fight.
 
The H:OK bio for Sheriff Reed says that he still views himself and his soldiers as being part of the SLDF, and adheres to SLDF regulations and Star League laws.  Prior to the Clan attack, his goal was to reunite Arcadia by conquering/freeing one settlement at a time.  Sounds pretty Davion to me.  Ayvazian even calls him on it, saying that he clings to his Davion heritage like a child to its mother’s skirts.

H:OK notes that Khan Kinnison of the Steel Vipers objected to the Spirits’ claims to Helgren County, but the ilKhan backed the Spirits’ claim.  Reed’s gambit worked out well for him, and he was appointed as a regional administrator for the Blood Spirit territories, and his troops likewise assumed leadership positions in the new order.  The incident caused a rift between the Vipers and Spirits that lasted for decades.  It’s clear that Reed threw the fight with Zoltan, because victory would have only resulted in death at the hands of the Vipers, who were still furious about Reed’s earlier defeat of an entire Binary (a quarter of the Clan ‘Mech touman, at this point).
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 18:19:24 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #91 on: 22 April 2013, 05:44:52 »
----- 3 Days Later -----

Date: November 11, 2821

Location: Eden

Title: Family Ties

Author: Craig A. Reed, Jr.

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  After more than two weeks of cat-and-mouse battles through the crumbling streets of Novy Moscva, Janette Kisiel gets urgent orders to mobilize.  Ascendancy leader Major-General Mathieu Tillam (last seen storming out of the final meeting of SLDF high command) has been located and surrounded, and all AMF forces are ordered to join the relief force.

Amid the ruins of the former Star League-in-exile capital, both sides put everything they have left into the battle.  Aerospace fighters duel overhead while ‘Mechs and tanks race through mazes of crumbling buildings around Unity Station, a maglev depot that had only been partially completed when the wars began, and had been converted into the Ascendancy’s field headquarters.  While the main Clan toumans lay siege to Unity Station, Michael Kisiel’s Star is diverted to intercept an incoming AMF relief column.

The Kisiel siblings’ commands run into each other along Dieron Bulvar, near the portion of Novy Moscva where they’d lived as children, and where they lost each other during the riots.  Janette’s force makes several attempts to break through to support Tillam, but is repulsed by Michael’s troops each time, suffering heavy damage.  As a Wolf artillery strike scatters her command, Michael’s friend Carlos engages Janette and, in the course of demanding her surrender, learns her name.  Surprised, he tells her his CO is Michael Kisiel, her long lost brother.

Janette, finding it hard to believe that Michael is alive, and that he’s joined “Kerensky’s monsters,” again refuses to surrender.  Carlos pledges to try to take her alive, for Michael’s sake.  A vicious exchange of fire shreds Janette’s Black Knight, but puts Carlos’ Warhammer down, killing him in an ammunition explosion.  She has little time to savor her victory, as her brother arrives in his Marauder and swears vengeance.  Realizing the truth of Carlos’ words, but still unwilling to surrender and abandon her duty to the Ascendancy, she turns and flees.

Michael grieves over Carlos’ death, as the two had been like brothers on Strana Mechty.  With the rest of Janette’s command destroyed, he leaves his Star behind and chases after her.  He catches up just as she reaches Barton Street, where their family lived before the wars.  She positions the Black Knight to point at the window of their family’s apartment.  It is to no avail.  Michael, enraged, turns the corner and drops the Black Knight with a furious volley.  He then notices that the Black Knight’s face is painted to resemble the teddy bear he keeps with him in his cockpit.  Realizing the truth, he calls for a medical team.

Notes:  Historical: Operation KLONDIKE notes that Tillam was run to ground when a Jade Falcon patrol intercepted a transmission from Unity Station when they were only meters from the complex, allowing them to surround the site before the AMF high command could flee.  Elise Fetladral commanded the besieging forces, while Andery Kerensky led the force that intercepted the AMF reinforcements.  (So Michael’s Star must have been under Andery’s overall command.)  With no reinforcements to break the Clan lines, AMF defenders were forced to retreat and leave a number of high value prisoners behind, including Major-General Tillam.
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 18:21:07 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Kojak

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #92 on: 22 April 2013, 07:33:56 »
Interestingly, no one named Carlos can be found in the Clan Wolf touman listed in H:OK.


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trboturtle

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #93 on: 22 April 2013, 10:27:56 »
Interestingly, no one named Carlos can be found in the Clan Wolf touman listed in H:OK.

Thast's because Carlos wasn't a bloodname -- He was one of the second tier warriors, promoted to warrior status to replace a bloodnamed warrior who had been killed/wounded.

Craig
Author of 32 Battletech short stories including "The Lance Killer," "Hikagemono," "Negotiation," "The Clawing," "Salvage," "The Promise," "Reap What You Sow," "Family Ties," "The Blood of Man," "End of Message," "Heroes' Bridge," "Kurodenkou," "Thirteen," "My Father's Sword," "Evacuation," "Operation Red Lion," "A Matter of Honor," "State of Grace," "Operation Blue Tiger," "A Warrior's Fear," "Shadow Angels," "Murphy's Method," "End of the Road," (IAMTW 2019 Scribe Award nominee!), "Tales of the Cracked Canopy: Blind Arrogance," "Laws Are Silent," "No Tears," "Tales of the Cracked Canopy: Shadows of the Past," and "Three White Roses."
Novels -- Icons of War, Elements of Treason series, "Vengence Games." Upcoming: "In the Shadow of Dragons" and "Poisoned Honor" (WoR #1)

My Blogs!
Battletech:  http://thebattletechstate.blogspot.com/
Other writings: http://trboturtleswritings.blogspot.com/

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #94 on: 22 April 2013, 14:17:38 »
Craig included that detail in the story - I just left it out of my summary of part 1.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #95 on: 23 April 2013, 05:19:09 »
----- 7 Months Later -----

Date: June 12, 2822

Location: Eden

Title: Family Ties

Author: Craig A. Reed, Jr.

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Janette Kisiel has been sitting in a Clan stockade in Novy Moscva since the defeat of the Levic Ascendancy, seven months earlier.  Today, she has a special visitor – her brother – just returned from the siege of the Black Brian on Dagda.  It’s not a particularly warm reunion, since Janette is understandably upset about the destruction of her adopted nation, the death of her fiancé, and her brother’s role as one of the invaders.  Due to the brutality of the Smoke Jaguars’ tactics, Janette isn’t convinced that Nicholas’ Clans are any better than the other warlords until Michael tells her that things were much worse on the other worlds than on Eden, leaving more than two and a half million people dead.

He offers Janette the chance to join Clan Wolf as a warrior.  She’s unsure, since she’s been through so much fighting and seen so many friends die.  Nonetheless, they hug – all animosities forgotten – and Michael returns Janette’s long lost teddy bear.

Notes:  This story takes place two weeks after the end of combat operations in the Pentagon (concluding with the fall of the Black Brian on Dagda), and shortly after the Coursing of the Pentagon has begun, wherein those responsible for the atrocities of the Pentagon Civil War are brought to account for their crimes.

During the earlier segments of the story, Janette expressed some frustration with one of her lancemates who assumed a higher social position due to having high ranking relatives, but that seems to be the extent of her disquiet with Levic Ascendancy society.  She probably lived through the annihilation of a number of unsuccessful factions and frequent battles against the Sarbat Khanate, but it seems that Eden was largely spared the widespread barbarism or the indiscriminate use of WMDs that characterized the Civil War on other Pentagon worlds.  Then again, H:OK notes that of the 2.5 million casualties from the Pentagon Civil War, over 1 million took place on Eden, wiping out 70% of the planet’s population, so her ignorance of the war’s effects seems fairly myopic.  (Though, as the most powerful of the Eden factions, the Levic Ascendancy may have been able to better shield its people from the ravages of Eden's environment, which probably caused more deaths among the weaker factions than bullets or lasers.)

Once the Bloodname Houses are established, it’s interesting to speculate on whether Janette’s genes would be authorized for inclusion in the legacy.  Having the same parentage and a proven record as a warrior would seem to be an argument in her favor.  Three centuries later, the Wolves didn’t seem to have a problem adopting Phelan into the Ward Bloodhouse based solely on one distant common ancestor.  The only difference here is that she’s a sibling to one of the Bloodnamed, rather than a descendant.
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 18:21:43 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #96 on: 24 April 2013, 05:18:59 »
-----  Meanwhile, on Strana Mechty…  -----

Date: June 12, 2822

Location: Strana Mechty

Title: Betrayal of Ideals – Foundations of Fate

Author: Blaine Lee Pardoe

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Wolverine Khan Sarah McEvedy surveys the construction of the Great Hall of the Clans at the center of Katyusha, on Strana Mechty.  She muses on the changes she’s seen begin to emerge in the Clans – once a brotherhood of warriors united under Nicholas’ banner, and now beginning to form secret alliances and making back-room deals.  She prides herself in having kept the Wolverines aloof from any such politicking.
 
With the fall of the Black Brian on Dagda two weeks earlier, she notes that the Khans of the Clans have begun to chafe in the absence of the war they were engineered for – a warrior people without a foe.  Though Nicholas has stepped into the role of “great father” once occupied by his father, Aleksandr, McEvedy feels that the future has become harder to see since the death of Andery Kerensky on Eden during the mopping up against the Levic Ascendancy.  She has nagging suspcions that Nicholas may have had something to do with Andery’s death.  She also feels that Nicholas has none of Aleksandr’s warmth.

To replace battlefield losses from Operation KLONDIKE, new warriors have been inducted into each Clan, and McEvedy finds that this new generation lacks the common bonds that knit the original Clans together.

She goes to the temporary command center to join Nicholas for dinner, and notes that the officers’ mess this night hosts a number of other Khans: Jason Karrige of the Widowmakers, Franklin Osis of the Smoke Jaguars, and Joyce Merrell of the Snow Ravens.  McEvedy counts Merrell as a friend, but views Karrige as being unpleasantly extreme in his views.  She recalls that relations between the Wolverines and Widowmakers have been strained since an unspecified incident during the Pentagon Civil War.

In the IlKhan’s private dining room, McEvedy muses on Nicholas’ numerous quirks – any violation of his protocols results in temper tantrums that proceed nearly to the point of requiring a Circle of Equals.  Nobody is allowed to sit before he does, and eats his steaks unseasoned, nearly raw.  Conversation may not begin at the table until he finishes his meal and rests his arms on the table.  Those close to him have learned his foibles to avoid setting him off.

This night, Nicholas has an agenda – he chastises McEvedy for allowing social mobility between castes in the interests of efficiency.  Though this has resulted in record productivity from the Wolverine enclaves, it undercuts Nicholas’ goal of removing personal ambition by imposing rigidly defined caste roles and eliminating most opportunities for social mobility.  McEvedy muses that many of Nicholas’ extreme measures imposed during the crisis of the Pentagon Civil War and Second Exodus are now becoming permanent, and serving as the basis for even more extreme social engineering.

Regretting that Andery is no longer around to restrain Nicholas’ impulses, McEvedy accedes to his demand that she undo her reforms and deal with any resulting social unrest – harshly, if necessary.  However, to satisfy her own sense of honor, she demands to know which other Khans brought her reforms to the ilKhan’s attention, so that she may challenge them to a Trial of Grievance.  Nicholas denies her request.

After McEvedy departs, Nicholas informs Widowmaker Khan Karrige that he has dealt with the Wolverine situation of which Karrige had complained.  However, he criticizes Karrige's use of intrigue by placing a spy in another Clan – a major breach of etiquette by Nicholas’ standards.  Karrige expresses gratitude for Nicholas’ assistance, and takes another tack – characterizing the Wolverines as demonstrating a pattern of violation of Nicholas’ regulations that encourages competition among the lower castes, rather than leaving the resolution of all conflcts exclusively to the Warrior caste.

Karrige and Osis tell Nicholas they are worried that their own lower castes will demand reforms similar to those enacted by the Wolverines.  Nicholas tells them that, should any disputes arise, the Circle of Equals is the proper venue for their resolution.  He tells the two disgruntled Khans to step up their Trials against the Wolverines and prove the rightness of their claims on the field of battle.  However, given a spate of defeats in the Circle at Wolverine hands, Karrige instead suggests that Nicholas authorize enhanced monitoring of the Wolverines, to better detect further violations of Clan ideology.

Nicholas agrees, though he specifies that such a new intelligence gathering organization will monitor all the Clans for violations of his doctrine, and bring them to his attention for proper resolution in a Circle of Equals.

Notes:  Though it was never published in hardcopy format, Pardoe's four-part chronicle of the Wolverines' true story runs 231 pages in total, which puts it in novel territory as far as I'm concerned.  Thus, I've categorized it as a "Serialized Novel" in my reviews.

McEvedy notes the discrepancy in goals between Nicholas’ vision of the future (as epitomized by the Great Hall) – one trying to appear austere and plain, and the other trying to be wonderous and monumental.  This is emblematic of Nicholas’ conflicting ideas about the Clans themselves – that the strongest should rule and thrive, but that all non-Warrior elements of the Clans should be held back to the level of progress of the slowest.  I suppose that this might have been an effort to remove external factors from the equation and let each Clan rise or fall solely on the skill of their Warriors.

McEvedy’s view of the Clans as a united “band of brothers” during Operation KLONDIKE doesn’t quite square with the reality of the situation.  Numerous Clans slighted each other in the competition for glory, and Coyote Khan Dana Kufahl intentionally withheld battlefield support from Clan Sea Fox at a critical juncture, leading to a number of completely unnecessary casualties, including their Khan.

Khan Karrige is the clear villain of this piece, plotting and scheming with enough gusto to put a Liao to shame.  Karrige is portrayed as a glory-seeking warmonger in Historical: Operation KLONDIKE.  His pre-invasion address to his Clan includes such passages as “we are the immortal warriors for all time” and “we will strike and give no mercy, no quarter, to those that oppose us.”  Karrige’s bio notes that he was born on New Syrtis and was brought along on the Exodus with his father, who unfortunately sided with the Prinz Eugen mutineers and was executed, stigmatizing young Jason.  He tested into the Eden Academy in 2793, but encountered prejudice based on his father’s actions and couldn’t advance past Major.  Nicholas appreciated his drive, and gave him a second chance on Strana Mechty.  H:OK notes that the Widowmaker civilian castes bore the brunt of the Warriors’ post-KLONDIKE frustration, treated with contempt and brutalized by the Warriors.

Historical: Operation KLONDIKE doesn’t offer much clarity in what the Wolverine-Widowmaker incident during the Pentagon Civil War could have been.  In Operation KLONDIKE, the Widowmakers were assigned to Dagda and interacted mostly with the Goliath Scorpions and Burrocks, while the Wolverines were on Circe sharing an operational area with Clan Snow Raven.  H:OK repeatedly states that the purging of Wolverine-related records made it difficult to determine their exact actions during KLONDIKE, but it does say that the Wolverines were not considered as reinforcements for the Widowmakers on Dagda (in the siege of the Black Brian).  Thus, the incident must have stemmed from something that happened between the Widowmakers and Wolverines on Strana Mechty, while the Clans were staging for KLONDIKE.

Nicholas’ dinnertime quirks and fits of rage are, I feel, clear evidence that he did suffer some brain damage from his bout with the Curse of Eden.  Demonstrated disorders include paranoia, obsessive compulsive behavior, and inability to control his temper.  Perhaps Andery sat down too early at a final, fateful dinner and/or overcooked/overseasoned Nicholas’ steak. 

In Warriors of Kerensky, Phelan Kell opines that, in creating the Clans, Nicholas wanted to break all pre-existing ties, including those of the divisions that had journeyed to Strana Mechty.  He used strong-arm tactics to force through his reforms, including threats and even violence.  Historical: Operation KLONDIKE hints that several people who opposed Nicholas’ societal changes were ostracized (forced to live off scraps), imprisoned, and even executed.

The creation of a “doctrine police” monitoring agency within the Clans, of course, presages the creation of the Watch.  With the full support of the ilKhan and the Clan enclaves being relatively open and close together, such an agency wouldn’t have to be particularly stealthy – probably part of what made the Operation REVIVAL-era Watch so inept through the 3050s and 3060s.

It’s interesting that McEvedy feels that Aleksandr Kerensky had personal warmth.  That didn’t really come through in his other appearances (“Destiny’s Call,” “Destiny’s Challenge,” “Way of the Champion,” “Living Legends,” “Hard Justice,” and “Fall From Glory”)  I’d place him more as introverted, intellectual, stern, and excessively reliant on quotations from historical figures (Russians, mostly) to score philosophical points in debates, rather than letting his emotions carry any weight.
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 18:25:37 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #97 on: 25 April 2013, 05:07:06 »
----- 1 Month Later -----

Date: July 13, 2822

Location: Strana Mechty

Title: Betrayal of Ideals – Foundations of Fate

Author: Blaine Lee Pardoe

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  In the city of Bearcat, Wolverine Star Colonel Franklin Hallis puts a newly made Pulverizer through its paces, noting its superior performance over his previous ride, a cobbled together FrankenMech (a Shadow-Griffin).  He takes it into combat against Star Colonel Ferris Ward from Clan Wolf, who has come to challenge for the Wolverines’ Bearcat genetics repository and research facilities.  Khan McEvedy warns Franklin that a spate of recent challenges have set the stakes to be as economically damaging as possible to the Wolverines, suggesting ulterior motives beyond simple demonstration of combat prowess and inter-Clan bragging rights.  Despite the Wolves breaking their bid and calling in their entire pre-cutdown force, Hallis manages to take them out by setting the tar swamps ablaze and forcing the Wolves to shut down.

Khan McEvedy ponders the aggressive Wolf trial, and worries that this means that Nicholas’ Wolves have joined the Widowmakers and Smoke Jaguars in the list of Clans conspiring to weaken her Wolverines.  She thinks back to Andery, briefly, thinking that he could have done something about his brother.  Determning to take the offensive in this growing shadow war, she announces her intent to launch some challenges of her own against the Widowmaker enclave on Dagda, and tasks Hallis with rooting out the spies that have been leaking confidential Wolverine information to outsiders.

Notes:  Regarding Sarah and Andery, recall that she saved his life when her Excalibur intervened just as a Highlander was about to destroy his Exterminator during the rearguard action of the Second Exodus.  There was definitely an attraction between the two, though the return of future Coyote Khan Dana Kufahl nipped that in the bud.

Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents gives the statistics for the Pulverizer, which is described as the third of Clan Wolverine’s next-gen BattleMechs (the first two being the Mercury II and the Stag).  It’s a showpiece of advanced construction materials – Endo Steel, Ferro Fibrous armor, CASE, Guardian ECM, and an “enhanced” ER PPC (beginning the power climb towards the modern Clan ER PPC) backed by large lasers and LRMs.  However, since later chapters of "Betrayal of Ideals" deal with the rollout of Clan ER PPCs, we can assume that Hallis’ Pulverizer is, at this point, mounting only standard ER PPCs (which still outrange the Thug’s non-ER particle projector cannons.)  Assuming that Ferris Ward was in a standard SLDF Thug, Hallis’ Pulverizer could have gotten in a first strike with the ER PPC and LRMs before the Thug’s standard PPCs were within range, and the Pulverizer would have had nearly 50% more than the Thug’s firepower as long as it stayed out of the SRMs’ effective range.
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 18:37:28 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #98 on: 26 April 2013, 05:17:38 »
----- 2 Days Later -----

Date: July 15, 2822

Location: Strana Mechty

Title: Betrayal of Ideals – Foundations of Fate

Author: Blaine Lee Pardoe

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  A conclave of anti-Wolverine Khans holds a strategy session at the Widowmaker enclave.  Widowmaker Khan Jason Karrige chews out Khan Jerome Winson of the Wolves for having lost the latest challenge against the Wolverines.  Khan Osis of the Smoke Jaguars argues that the Wolverines have only won by using new technology not available to other Clans.  Coyote Khan Kesar Jerricho (Dana Kufahl’s replacement, following her recent self-exile) semi-innocently inquires whether the ilKhan has sanctioned this anti-Wolverine working group, much to Karrige’s annoyance.  The Fire Mandrill Khan (Raymond Sainze?) suggests something more aggressive, but subtle.  Inspired, Karrige says that he has something in mind that will cause the Wolverines to harm themselves and expose themselves as betrayers of the Clans.

Notes: This segment of “Betrayal of Ideals” doesn’t give the Fire Mandrill Khan’s name, but I can’t find anything in Historical: Operation KLONDIKE that suggests Khan Raymond Sainze died during or immediately after the fighting in the Pentagon Worlds.  That being the case, it seems out of character for Sainze to suggest something “subtle” against the Wolverines.  His character notes in H:OK say he’s a stickler for tradition, and meets any challenges to his honor or status head-on, favoring combat as a means of resolution.  Moreover, he considered himself a true samurai of the Combine in “Fall From Glory,” so advocating for subterfuge doesn’t seem to fit.  Either Raymond has died and been succeeded by Laura Payne, or he’s gotten so enmeshed in the Fire Mandrill “competition beyond all reason” mindset that his former honor and directness have been sidelined.

Overall, the Widowmaker-Smoke Jaguar-Wolf-Coyote-Fire Mandrill conclave comes across as a collection of bickering also-rans, eager to tear down their betters, but already angling to plant knives in each others’ backs.  Warriors of Kerensky records that the Fire Mandrills took over a large chunk of Widowmaker territory soon after the Wolverine betrayal.
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 18:38:47 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #99 on: 27 April 2013, 05:50:30 »
----- 1 Month Later -----

Date: September 12-17, 2822

Location: Strana Mechty

Title: Betrayal of Ideals – Foundations of Fate

Author: Blaine Lee Pardoe

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Wolverine Technician Karl is the Widowmakers’ mole inside the Wolverines, able to move almost invisibly amongst the oh-so-superior Warrior caste.  However, now that Khan McEvedy’s tracking method has led back to Karl, Star Colonel Franklin Hallis and Star Captain Trish have been shadowing him, hoping to learn his techniques.  After Hallis determines that they’ve learned as much as possible from observation, they detain Karl and take him to a padded interrogation chamber, where Trish sets to work with relish.

After five days of “enhanced interrogation,” Hallis reports to McEvedy that Karl was a Widowmaker civilian who retained his old loyalties when absorbed into Clan Wolverine after the 2817 Trial of Possession.  He volunteered to become a mole for Khan Karrige, and has been building a network of informers among lower castemen originating from other Clans – showing that a widespread attempt to infiltrate Clan Wolverine is underway.  Though McEvedy suspects Nicholas’ hand in this, there’s no direct evidence of the ilKhan’s involvement.

Hallis advocates purging the Wolverines of all inductees from other Clans, purifying the Wolverines and thereby rooting out the infiltrators.  Those purged would be consigned to the Bandit Caste.  McEvedy concurs, and informs him that she is also stepping up production of the Stag and Mercury II, as well as expanding the Clan’s transport assets and accelerating sibko training programs.

Notes:  Karl recalls that he was taken into the Wolverines five years earlier during a Trial of Possession over a military base.  That figure would put the Trial of Possession in 2817, three years before Operation KLONDIKE.  H:OK records a note from Chias Vong of the Ghost Bears in 2818, that their support castes had created a tremendous stockpile of equipment and provisisons – sufficient for decades, and that the Warriors have been conducting drills and combat exercises for years.  If all the Clans had such massive reserves, why would there have been a Trial of Possession by the Wolverines against the Widowmakers in 2817 for a base on Strana Mechty?  H:OK has no mention of inter-Clan possession trials prior to Operation KLONDIKE – only noting that trials were used to determine membership in the Clans and which Clans would participate in each planetary assault.  In fact, it says that the first real Trial of Possession in combat took place during the Shogunate campaign on Arcadia, and that inter-Clan Trials were a product of post-KLONDIKE programs to maintain the Clans’ fighting edge. 

One possibility that the Trial of Possession by the Wolverines against the Widowmakers is the incident (mentioned earlier) “during the Pentagon Civil War,” while the Clans were still prepping on Strana Mechty that created the bad blood between the Widowmakers and the Wolverines.  As one of the earliest Trials of Possession, losing it would have been a nasty and memorable blow to Widowmaker pride, and the fungibility of Clan loyalty wouldn’t have yet been well established.
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 18:40:36 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #100 on: 27 April 2013, 07:12:00 »
Random comment.  Widowmakers....they seem despite being clan similar in behavior to mercenary Widowmakers that sacked Outreach during the Jihad.
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #101 on: 27 April 2013, 07:34:53 »
Random comment.  Widowmakers....they seem despite being clan similar in behavior to mercenary Widowmakers that sacked Outreach during the Jihad.

To be fair to Wannamaker's Widowmakers, they had what I consider to be a very legitimate grudge against the Dragoons.  After all, one of their DropShips had a communications failure, and rather than sending fighters to establish visual communications or sending a BattleTaxi of Elementals over to board the ship and ascertain its intent, a Dragoon WarShip casually shot it out of space, wiping out a goodly percentage of the unit's assets and personnel.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #102 on: 27 April 2013, 08:43:40 »
Important Lesson: Pirate Point use dues not engender trust, and you are unlikely to get the benefit of the doubt.

EDIT: To stay on topic - Would moving the date of the novel forward 4 or 5 years help?  Or is the setting requiring just post Klondike-ism?
« Last Edit: 27 April 2013, 08:47:20 by Scrollreader »

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #103 on: 27 April 2013, 10:38:00 »
Important Lesson: Pirate Point use dues not engender trust, and you are unlikely to get the benefit of the doubt.

EDIT: To stay on topic - Would moving the date of the novel forward 4 or 5 years help?  Or is the setting requiring just post Klondike-ism?

They're on a tight schedule for destruction - Clan Wolverine has to to get Annihilated and flee in time to become the Minnesota Tribe and hit the Combine in late 2825.

There are multiple references to Karrige's hatred for McEvedy stemming from an unspecified "incident" during the Pentagon Civil War.  Since they were on separate planets during KLONDIKE, that means it must have happened back on Strana Mechty.  If Widowmakers perceived that the Wolverines stole their base and technical personnel "just for kicks" in 2717, and then had it sanctioned by Nicholas as a "Trial of Possession," that would definitely rankle Karrige.  Nicholas may even have used the Wolverines' raid on the Widowmakers as a precedent for Trials of Possession in general.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #104 on: 28 April 2013, 07:16:02 »
----- 9 Months Later -----

Date: June 10, 2823

Location: Strana Mechty

Title: Betrayal of Ideals – Treachery’s Stage

Author: Blaine Lee Pardoe

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  At her Strana Mechty HQ, Wolverine Khan Sarah McEvedy reviews intelligence reports regarding Nicholas’ new spy agency – The Watch.  She’s entertained the notion of throwing the evidence of Watch activities in Nicholas’ face before the Grand Council, but realizes that a confrontation with Nicholas would only harm the Wolverines.  Over the past nine months, Star Colonel Franklin Hallis’ purge of Watch agents from the Wolverine Clan has been highly effective – some reassigned to roles with no access to data, some detained, and some executed.  A few have been turned and used to send disinformation.  Hallis’ report estimates that the Wolverines will have their own “Watch” network up and running within a few years.

With a growing list of enemies, McEvedy worries that the Wolverines don’t have years left before the mounting series of Combat Trials becomes a full fledged civil war.  The Wolves, Jade Falcons, Smoke Jaguars, Coyotes, Ghost Bears and Widowmakers have all stepped up their attacks on Wolverine holdings, demanding Wolverine resources and technologies.  She notes that her feud with Widowmaker Khan Karrige dates back to the Pentagon Wars, when Karrige, who had been McEvedy’s friend, misinterpreted something as damaging to his ego that drove him to hate McEvedy and her Clan.

With attempts to take Wolverine tech in Trials faring poorly, McEvedy notes that other Clans have started designing their own next-generation BattleMechs.  She worries that her efforts to improve her Clan have touched off an arms race and upset the balance of power.  She realizes that, in the wake of Andery’s death, she’s attempted to step in and fill his role as a brake on Nicholas’ radicalism as a tribute to Andery’s memory.
 
McEvedy reviews a report from her Scientist Caste about a breakthrough in creating a more powerful ER PPC.  She worries that deploying the new technology will further inflame inter-Clan tensions, but eventually resolves to go ahead, since the Clans’ primary motivation is their competitive spirit.

Meanwhile, Widowmaker Khan Jason Karrige meets with Ghost Bear Khan Hans Jorgensson in the Forest of Gunsburg – a hunting preserve in the Ghost Bear enclave.  Karrige is trying to get Jorgensson to sign on with his anti-Wolverine coalition, but Hans sees Jason’s concerns about the Wolverines trying to establish dominance over other Clans as a non-issue, and calls Karrige out on his hypocrisy in complaining about Wolverine technological advances while his Widowmakers work on their own.  Karrige grudgingly admits that he has no evidence of Wolverine impropriety, but promises that the Watch will deliver it soon.  The Widowmaker Khan realizes that he’ll need more than just arguments and half-truths to enlist more supporters for his coalition against McEvedy.

Notes:  Author Blaine Lee Pardoe opens the “Treachery’s Stage” section with an acknowledgement that his story doesn’t exactly match the account from the Wolf Clan sourcebook, and definitively states that the “official” Clan history related in the Wolf sourcebook is a cover-up, and that his version definitively expands upon the “real story.”

The origins of the Widowmaker/Wolverine feud continue to be shrouded in mystery.  “Matters during the Pentagon Wars had been misinterpreted by Khan Karrige.”  Karrige tells Jorgensson that he “fought with Sarah once during the civil war in a minor mission in support of her troops.”  He’d been a Major in the SLDF when the Pentagon Wars erupted, so it’s possible that his battalion interacted with her command during the effort to safeguard the withdrawal of Second Exodus refugees. 

H:OK claims McEvedy may have been part of one of the rebel factions that emerged between the deaths of DeChavilier and Aleksandr Kerensky – so her action to save Andery may have been her deciding to switch sides after living through months of growing warfare.  If that’s the case, then Karrige’s interaction with McEvedy must have been fairly late in the Second Exodus, since he was with Nicholas’ faction while she may have been with one of the small factional rebel groups in the Purgatory Peninsula until the Second Exodus withdrawal line reached the city of Vesta.

McEvedy sees Andery as having challenged Nicholas and not blindly done his bidding.  There must have been quite a few changes in Andery’s personality following the Second Exodus, because the Andery we saw in “Fall From Glory” was Nicholas’ doormat, not his conscience.  He never stood up to Nicholas (well, there was one time, but he ended up agreeing to support Nicholas completely after a brief argument), and only once stood up to Aleksandr.  If McEvedy felt that Andery had been her greatest friend and ally, one wonders about the nature of her relationship with Andery’s beloved Dana Kufahl – especially given the brief reference to an attraction between Andery and Sarah during the Eden rearguard action.

If McEvedy sees herself as filling Andery's role as a constraining influence on Nicholas, that may be one of the reasons he orchestrates her destruction.  I'm pretty sure Nicholas likes not having any constraints, and there are rumors that he caused Andery's death on Eden.  If that was the case, he certainly wouldn't appreciate anyone trying to step into the role again.  We've seen that he likes to repeat his successful tactics (working covertly to set up a weak challenge to his authority, then securing control over the remainder by brutally crushing the puppet "rebels" - seen in the Prinz Eugen incident and again (probably) in the New Capellan Hegemony breakaway) so it would be in character to have whoever tried to mimic Andery meet the same fate.
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 18:42:06 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #105 on: 28 April 2013, 11:30:52 »
Part me REALLY wishes the novels were still possible, lord this sounds like it would been great novel to read in book. (Darn ROC!!!)

I think only problem with these stories between the Fall of Grace and Betrayal of Ideals is authors have differient take on behavior of the lead characters.  Randall protays Andry as Mendrugo describes as a "Doormat" while in BoI he sounds like he was more than mindless follower and tried keep Nicolas from going over the edge. 

Even this sort of a form of Cliff notes to the story/serial Betrayal of Ideals , i get the impression that McEvedy was infact better person than Nicolas was.  Wolverines may have been actually more SLDF than rest of the Clans devolved into. If there any truth to Blake Documents, they would ultimately become power behind ComStar...either making the noble (non-reglious version) or raving fanatical loons in end.   Too bad Wolverines didn't become something more we haven't seen it yet.

P.S. Mendrugo: Are you going to include the dairy of the Wolverines or is it to dangerous to consider it in-universe story/or fact enough?
« Last Edit: 28 April 2013, 11:36:14 by Wrangler »
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #106 on: 28 April 2013, 12:54:28 »
I think Randall had planned for Andery's character to undergo an arc of personal growth in the second and third ClanGrunder novels, and that his spinelessness in the first novel was done to provide contrast to later developments (which, alas, we haven't gotten to read). 

I looked through the purported "Wolverine Diary" and found that I just couldn't reconcile it with the chronology as laid out in "Betrayal of Ideals."  The diary implies that the Wolverines fought through Clan space for months before successfully breaking contact with only a small remnant of their people.  This doesn't match the chronicle of "Betrayal of Ideals" at all.  However, there are elements in the diary that make me believe it's been written by someone with some concrete knowledge of the Wolverine saga, but who is trying to cover up key details and spread disinformation.  They mention the Zughoffer Weir at one point in the diary.  My guess is that the Zughoffer Weir (one of the few ships that escaped the final battle in the Barbados system) crew is the Wolverine group that encountered ComStar and was incorporated into its inner cabal, while McEvedy's/Ebon's group is the one that circled around and settled in the vicinity of the Magistracy of Canopus.  The missing third picket fleet would be a good candidate to have slipped off to become the Umayyads in Nueva Castille.

The chronology of the diary just doesn't match up with Betrayal of Ideals.  Since it appeared in one of the "rumor" sourcebooks, I think it's about as accurate as the tales of Illuminati high lords on the Tanite worlds, Manei Domini bases in hyperspace, and the genecaste, with perhaps a few crumbs of truth sprinkled within.
« Last Edit: 28 April 2013, 16:13:44 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #107 on: 28 April 2013, 15:37:24 »
I think Randall had planned for Andery's character to undergo an arc of personal growth in the second and third ClanGrunder novels, and that his spinelessness in the first novel was done to provide contrast to later developments (which, alas, we haven't gotten to read). 

I looked through the purported "Wolverine Diary" and found that I just couldn't reconcile it with the chronology as laid out in "Betrayal of Ideals."  The diary implies that the Wolverines fought through Clan space for months before successfully breaking contact with only a small remnant of their people.  This doesn't match the chronicle of "Betrayal of Ideals" at all.  However, there are elements in the diary that make me believe it's been written by someone with some concrete knowledge of the Wolverine saga, but who is trying to cover up key details and spread disinformation.  They mention the Zughoffer Weir at one point in the diary.  My guess is that the Zughoffer Weir (one of the few ships that escaped the final battle in the Barbados system) crew is the Wolverine group that encountered ComStar and was incorporated into its inner cabal, while McEvedy's/Ebon's group is the one that circled around and settled in the vicinity of the Magistracy of Canopus.  The missing third picket fleet would be a good candidate to have slipped off to become the Umayyads in Nueva Castille.

The chronology of the diary just doesn't match up with Betrayal of Ideals.  Since it appeared in one of the "rumor" sourcebooks, I think it's about as accurate as the tales of Illuminati high lords the Tanite worlds, Manei Domini bases in hyperspace, and the genecaste, with perhaps a few crumbs of truth sprinkled within.
I guess thats how its going be, plot books aren't great source of solid canon specially when they don't say if they are or not. Just Canon Rumor.
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #108 on: 28 April 2013, 23:05:24 »
----- 1 Month Later -----

Date: July 20, 2823

Location: Strana Mechty

Title: Betrayal of Ideals – Treachery’s Stage

Author: Blaine Lee Pardoe

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: At Wolverine Training Facility Gamma, Star Colonel Franklin Hallis oversees a Trial of Bloodright between MechWarriors Trish and Drake (running a Shadow Hawk and a Wyvern, respectively) for the Ebon bloodname.  Trish wins, taking the bloodname and succeeding the deceased Foster Ebon who recently died in a Trial of Possession on Eden against Clan Smoke Jaguar.

Hallis congratulates Trish on her win, and on her recent work in developing the Wolverine Watch – particularly her idea to patch into other Clans’ satellite networks and use them for covert intelligence gathering, while safeguarding the Wolverine sat-net against similar intrusion.  Noting the damage to her Shadow Hawk, he authorizes her to receive a new Pulverizer off the production lines, this one equipped with enhanced 'gutbuster' ER PPCs.

Notes:  Hmmmm.  Just spitballing here, but since the Wolverines were last thought to have landed on/around the extremely suggestively named world of McEvedy’s Folly, which lies fairly close to the Magistracy of Canopus, I can’t help but wonder if there’s any connection between the Ebon bloodname and the MoC’s “Ebon Magistrate” special forces commandos which debuted following a reorganization in the 3040s (coincidentally around the time that the Clans began prepping for Operation REVIVAL).  A Guide to Covert Ops says that “the creation of the shadowy, ultra-elite Ebon Magistrate, has not been easy to track,” but shows “a level of ability that cannot be attributed to simple reorganization.”  The report attributes the improvement to “a vague reference to extremely resource-rich worlds located ‘beyond explored space.’”  Handbook: Major Periphery States notes that “the primary ‘evidence’ of some secret resource or benefactor is the sheer speed of the MIM’s transformation from a small and struggling department of the military to a formidable tool.”
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 18:44:26 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #109 on: 28 April 2013, 23:25:04 »
Interesting....if true, its sorta like the Fidelis and the RotS.

Of course, why would the Wolverines be helping the MoC in the first place....?  ???
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #110 on: 28 April 2013, 23:29:36 »
If that particular bout of speculation had any truth to it, one would imagine the Magistrate being especially careful not to have any of their operatives fall into the hands of a Council of Six Clan; epecially with the Sea Foxes casting such a wide operating net (and bringing the most effective Clan Watch along for the ride).

But then, one could imagine the Magistrate making a point of recruiting fresh blood, so to speak; even if the founding members had such a lineage, it would make sense for them to ensure that the operatives they did send against Clan targets had no compromising genetic lineage to leave behind, in the event that a Fidelis-esque "last resort" failed to dispose of any fallen remains.
« Last Edit: 28 April 2013, 23:32:10 by Nerroth »

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #111 on: 28 April 2013, 23:33:49 »
Curiously, both the Ebon Magistrate and the WoB/Manei Domini have a heavy cybernetic focus (and have both been, separately, linked to the Wolverines).  Is there any hint in BoI that they favor cybernetics, or medical research?

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #112 on: 29 April 2013, 06:39:49 »
The Wolverines are very much into research in general, much moreso than the other Clans, which is why they were the first to develop new 'Mechs and the Clan ER PPC prototype.  However, there's no early indications of a preference for cybernetics.

My speculation (based on nothing other than that it would be fanboyisly "kewl" with a capital K) is that perhaps the Zughofferites hooked up with ComStar, resettled on Mars, and became the core of the ComStar cabal that eventually unleashed the jihad via the Word of Blake.  They would have wanted revenge on the Clans and would have the necessary ties to ComStar.  Meanwhile, the Bismarckites (Ebon/McEvedy) became the Minnesota Tribe, swung around to McEvedy's Folly, and then founded a new baseworld near there (seen in the Interstellar Expeditions sourcebook intro fiction).  Given the apparently destroyed nature of that base (equipment strewn about and abandoned), my notion is that the two ex-Wolverine groups later learned of each other's existence (or at least one learned of the other's) and found, for whatever reason, that they had grown apart philosophically.  At some point, the Zughofferites/Cabalists attacked the Bismarckites/Minnesota Tribe and wiped them out, then tasked forces with keeping anyone else from learning about them for fear that anyone knowing too much about the Minnesota Tribe might be able to link them to the cabalists.

MechWarrior 2nd Edition notes that the Magistracy of Canopus started receiving fresh supplies from a mysterious source "beyond the Periphery" in the late Third Succession War.  That could have been when the Minnesota Tribe made contact and started backing the Magistracy.  Perhaps after the war with the cabalists (if there was one), the Minnesota remnants fled into the Magistracy for shelter, and ended up forming the Ebon Magistrate.  There certainly was no love lost between the Manei Domini and the Ebon Magistrate during the Jihad, so the two aren't in cahoots.

Tribe vs. Cabal - Wolverine Civil War.  What do you think?
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Frabby

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #113 on: 29 April 2013, 08:09:27 »
The one thing that bothers me it that it would be friggin' stupid to keep the names - Ebon Magistrate, McEvedy's Folly.
Even when you take into account that nobody in the Inner Sphere was likely to recognize these names, and that the Magistracy was a bandit kingdom in the outback (or so the IS said), the first thing to do for a prosecuted minority would be to cover up their identity, or at least not push it into everybody's face like this and risk information getting out. It's almost as if they dared the universe to find them.

As for the mysterious source of equipmet the MoC had around 3025... my apocryphal pet theory based on the old unfinished BattleForce comic series is that the CapCon and Michael Hasek-Davion's troops fought each other to a standstill on Tibolt, and that the MoC got to pick up the remains (probably after Lugosi and her Dog Lance defected to the MoC from the Hasek troops who set them up for being wiped out) and thus found what Hasek was after. Doesn't rule out the cache being a Wolverine cache of course.
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Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #114 on: 29 April 2013, 10:57:26 »
The one thing that bothers me it that it would be friggin' stupid to keep the names - Ebon Magistrate, McEvedy's Folly.
Even when you take into account that nobody in the Inner Sphere was likely to recognize these names, and that the Magistracy was a bandit kingdom in the outback (or so the IS said), the first thing to do for a prosecuted minority would be to cover up their identity, or at least not push it into everybody's face like this and risk information getting out. It's almost as if they dared the universe to find them.

Perhaps it was entirely due to the Minnesota Tribe's lack of guile that the more secretive cabalists dropped the hammer on them.  The same things that bothered you bothered the Mars colony Zughofferite cabal and they decided to do something about it.  (Memo to the Primus - taking the WarShip fleet out for...exercises.  Back in a few months.  Don't wait up.)

What was the name of that Succession Wars-era merc group that paused in mid-battle on the Liao/Davion front, met with someone off a DropShip, and then packed up and vanished?  Perhaps their disappearance could be tied to the date of the notional Wolverine civil war.  ("Time to come home.  The baseworld is under attack by our long lost brethren.")
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

roosterboy

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #115 on: 29 April 2013, 11:01:40 »
What was the name of that Succession Wars-era merc group that paused in mid-battle on the Liao/Davion front, met with someone off a DropShip, and then packed up and vanished? 

Clinton's Cutthroats. IIRC they get mentioned in some of the Five rumors.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #116 on: 29 April 2013, 11:08:59 »
Clinton's Cutthroats. IIRC they get mentioned in some of the Five rumors.

Thank you kindly, sir!
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Frabby

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #117 on: 29 April 2013, 12:47:55 »
I got them covered on Sarna: Clinton's Cutthroats
We're told they were hired to guard the Hidden Five after one was accidentially discovered. That only has tangential ties to the Wolverines, except if you postulate it was the Ebon Magistrate/MoC Wolverines that found one of The Five in 2869 and not an innocent commercial JumpShip captain/explorer.
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Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #118 on: 30 April 2013, 05:08:09 »
----- 2 Days Later -----

Date: July 22, 2823

Location: Circe

Title: Betrayal of Ideals – Treachery’s Stage

Author: Blaine Lee Pardoe

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Wolverine Point Commander Cale (Beta Galaxy, 102nd Strike Cluster, Bravo Trinary Striker, Third Star) investigates a Jade Falcon incursion into the Wolverines’ Tiki Province on Circe.  The Wolverines had secured control over the province by taking it from the Fire Mandrills near the end of the Pentagon Wars, and it now borders the Jade Falcons’ Uthar Province and the Ghost Bears’ Ta’Kal Province.  His query about the Falcons’ intentions is answered by Star Captain Phillip Buhallin of Gyrfalcon Galaxy, who awaits his batchall.  Cale gives the same response as Andrew Steiner will on Somerset some 227 years later, and is brusquely informed that it is the new official term for “BATtle CHALLenge.”

The Falcons insist that the Wolverine maps are wrong, and that they have come to defend a hidden Brian Cache that lies in the territory.  The Wolverines declare the heretofore unknown cache their property and call in to Zypher City for an HPG linkup to Khan McEvedy, preferring to let her make the decision rather than simply ripping into the Falcons.

Notes:  The Clans – Warriors of Kerensky states that there were so many caches on the Pentagon worlds that many of them remained unlooted during the fighting in the Pentagon Civil Wars.  That seems like a doubtful assertion to me, since the warlords showcased in H:OK would likely have mortgaged their grandmothers for more SLDF-surplus equipment by year 20 of the fighting, when they were down to armed IndustrialMechs and “Technicals” made out of autocannon-packing dump trucks and flatbed trailers with banks of crude rocket launchers.  The account in “Betrayal of Ideals” makes more sense to me – that a cache had remained undisturbed after being covered by a landslide.

I’d never heard the origin of the term “batchall” before.  It makes sense (and since Blaine was involved in the early writing for BattleTech, it’s probable that this was the original intent for the term), but nobody seems to have told Nicolai Malthus’ voice actor on the BattleTech Animated Series, who pronounced it as “ba-chawl” rather than “bat-chall,” giving us a 3050s pronunciation probably significantly different than what Cale was hearing in 2823.  Of course, language changes over time.  Andery’s “Aff” has apparently regressed in usage for the time being, and the current style is to end questions with full “query affirmative” and “query negative” statements.

In “Fall From Glory,” Andery describes the construction of the Brian Caches – massive Castle Brian-style fortifications “marching off across the continent in a line.”  Based on my reading of FFG, my understanding was that the Brian Caches were intended to store surplus military equipment against future need.  Rather than hiding it, the goods were to be put inside nigh-impregnable fortifications (that could also serve as strongpoints) and pulled out if Great House forces or aliens (The Grand Tetatae WarFlock) came calling.  Hiding a Brian Cache doesn’t seem like it fits into that plan.  If it’s not marked on the maps, then what good does it do for the defending forces when Task Force SERPENT arrives?
 
Given Karrige’s prior scheming, one possibility is that he emptied out one of his own caches and had Mandrill laborers covertly build this cache in their territory before intentionally “losing” the province to the Wolverines.  Recall that the Mandrill Khan was at Karrige’s “Wolverine Revenge Society” powwow and suggested something subtle.  Part two would be to leak info about the “lost” cache to the Falcons, who would take the bait and claim it due to their pre-Mandrill claim to the territory.  (The Falcons may or may not have been in on the plan, since their Khan wasn’t mentioned as being part of the anti-Wolverine conclave.)
« Last Edit: 30 April 2013, 18:48:11 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #119 on: 30 April 2013, 23:10:57 »
----- 1 Week Later -----

Date: July 28, 2823

Location: Circe

Title: Betrayal of Ideals – Treachery’s Stage

Author: Blaine Lee Pardoe

Type: Serialized Novel (BattleCorps)

Synopsis:  Following Cale’s call for reinforcements, Star Colonel Franklin Hallis has been dispatched to the Tiki Province to resolve the question of ownership of the cache.  He proposes to Falcon Star Colonel Phillip Buhallin that they resove it through a Trial of Possession, implying that the Grand Council would order such a resolution in any event, if the matter were brought before them.

The Trial commences with a Star on each side.  The Wolverines claim victory with a well placed ambush followed by a grand melee, throwing the traditionalist Falcons for a loop.  Buhallin acknowledges defeat, but says that the Falcon Khan will raise the issue of the cache before the Grand Council, and that the matter is far from over.

Notes:  The doctrine of one-on-one dueling didn’t become a hard-and-fast rule until Nicholas’ death and the resulting Absorption of the Widowmakers.  However, it has become standard enough practice for the Wolverines’ shift in tactics to flummox the Falcon warriors. 

This scene also spotlights one of the main problems in the Clan society – nothing is ever permanently resolved.  If one side or another really wants something, they can keep challenging for it until they get what they want, but then they have to keep facing new challenges as the other side tries to take it back.  It must make long-term planning next to impossible, since Clans can’t know what resources they’ll have access to in anything but the short term.

Hallis references his use of a JumpShip command circuit to travel between Strana Mechty and Circe.  One wonders how extensive such command circuits are – just between Strana Mechty and the Pentagon worlds, or strung out to rapidly connect each Clan’s various enclaves.  They proved expensive to maintain in the Inner Sphere when used for pre-HPG communications, but the Clan society is all about putting its resources at the disposal of the Warrior caste, so having command circuits set all over the Kerensky and Pentagon Clusters sounds like a high probability.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

 

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