Tribble #552
In order to work past the various regional loyalties and prejudices, when the Wolf Dragoons take on the training of the various royal Heirs during the Outreach Conference in 3051 they propose drastic measures: dosing each student with a drug that will temporarily suppress their memories of their identities. For the sake of argument assume this is something the Clans have to deal with bondsmen who have trouble adapting to a new Clan. As long as it's not over-used it's perfectly safe and there's a counter-agent that will neutralise it within 24 hours if for some reason its' preferable not to let it wear off naturally. While the Successor Lords are hesitant, the debacle with the fake bomb persuades them that this is necessary. A few other not originally participating are included to muddy the waters in case the students figure it out.
So eight men and six women ranging in age from their teens to their thirties wake up with no idea who they are. They are informed they are a mix of royal heirs and promising young soldiers who are being trained together. Video recordings, suitably anonymised, show that they agreed to this.
The drugs may suppress identities but not character-traits or skills. Some clearly have talent and existing skills in combat, others are willing to learn or to support in other ways. And some are not.
Inevitably they do speculate amongst themselves as to who the royals are. Their theories are that 2 (decent fighter and solid leader) and 9 (self-centred bitch) are from the same royal family given slight resemblence, and that 5 (youngest and least skilled) is probably from another royal family. Similarly 13 has no significant combat training but does seem to be good at working with people, so she's a likely candidate. 11 would be rated similarly but she's clearly related to 10 who's so hyper aggressive they just can't believe she'd have been allowed to develop that behaviour.
6 and 7 are probably older aides or bodyguards they think, with 1 likely to develop into a similar role since he's very reliable as back-up but doesn't take the lead much. 3 and 14 are pretty much the two ace combatants and commanders, with 4 and 8 seeming to be good strategists but not so skilled as warriors so they could go either way. Best guess on 12 is that she's some sort of assassin/bodyguard because she's got lethal instincts.
The participants are:
1 Victor Steiner-Davion, 2 Galen Cox, 3 Kai Allard-Liao, 4 Sun-Tzu Liao, 5 Ragnar Magnusson, 6 Hohiro Kurita, 7 Shin Yodama, 8 Brian Cameron, 9 Katherine Steiner-Davion, 10 Cassandra Allard-Liao, 11 Kuan-Yin Allard-Liao, 12 Omi Kurita, 13 Isis Marik & 14 Maeve Wolf
And then the drugs wear off (or the counter is applied) and they and their families have to assimilate what they've learned about the trainees.
