I'm just curious about the contenders for the ilClan.
I don't really think the Falcons or Horses have the ability to launch a successful campaign of that magnitude. Malvia and her Horde were seriously out-played on Tharkad and Hesperus.
That leaves the Bears and the Wolves either of which have a large industrial footprint that they could use to springboard the needed expansions of their respective Toumans.
Unless we finally see the Homeworld Clans make an appearance after the Reavings... The Star Adders as the ilClan kinda scares the pants off me.
My own handicapping of who'll win the horserace to ilClandom:
1-5
Wolf Empire Clearly the leading candidate. High Mary Sue factor for the entire faction, not just Alaric.
3-5
the former RotS This is my dark horse. The more hints they drop about the doom of the Republic the more convinced I am TPTB are setting up a "surprise" come from behind win for Stone to re-invent the faltering Republic as the ilClan.
what follows are the long bets.
3-1 Falcon Clan. Malvina is a moth drawn to flame. She's doomed, but maybe her Clan isn't. Maybe.
4-1 Rasalhague Dominion. Of the Clan factions contending, they've probably got the best shot militarily at becoming ilClan. But they lack the will to do so, making them a longer shot.
6-1 Sea Foxes. Much like Rasalhague, they probably have the means but lack the motivation. What would becoming ilClan get them they don't already have?
10-1 Raven Alliance. They can't even manage worlds they were gifted peacefully by the Combine. They're not conquerors of sufficient caliber to lead the Inner Sphere.
10-1 Hell's Horses. Much like the Ravens, they're a Clan that didn't even rate as a reserve invading Clan. They're literally kept around just to spice up the periphery.
I insist that the ilClan needn't be a Clan. All it takes to be ilClan is to dominate the the Clans and make them squeal that you are indeed their ilClan.
4-1 House Kurita: Of the Great Houses, they certainly have the desire to rule the entire galaxy. Even if, and that's a long if, they have the means to do so, they're too distracted with gobbling up the Fed Suns at the moment to strike at everyone else.
4-1 House Davion: I don't place Davion down for the count. At all. Tucker Stone referenced deals being struck that he has great faith in, and the potential of a RotS/FS alliance or merger has so much Mary Sue it burns my eyes. Never, ever bet everything against Davion.
5-1 House Liao: Peaked too early in 3145. It can't be anything but downhill from there.
10-1 House Steiner: The Falcons are either going down or becoming ilClan. And the odds are against ilClan. Steiner has a comeback in its future and it'll be at the Falcon OZ's expense. Still, Katrina notwithstanding, they're too much pigeonholed as the plucky sidekick to be the ilClan rather than the ilClan's sidekick.
30-1 House Marik: The only way it's plausible is that a new Stone arises with a Marik surname. that is, the next Mary Sue is a Marik and he/she forms a coalition of everyone else to do his/her bidding and he/she gets all the credit. Probably not likely, but still possible.
20-1 The Tetatae: Who better to be revealed as having been behind the hyperspace mayhem?
