This straddles the line between a unit listing and fan fiction, but it's the background I've come up with for the Cluster I'm building with the Clan Kickstarter models. Looking back I probably shouldn't have put a unit with this backstory in Beta Galaxy, but I wasn't aware of Beta's full backstory until I already had a ton of models painted. Comments welcome.
Star Colonel Nils (Andersen)
In May of 3050, on the same day the first Ghost Bear DropShips touched down on the planet Susquehanna in what was then the Free Rasalhague Republic, a baby boy was born in the South Central General Hospital. He was named Nils Andersen by his mother, who died of postnatal complications in the chaos following the Ghost Bear occupation of the world. With no father or other kin on record, the boy was placed in the slender orphanage system that existed on a somewhat backwater planet.
Ten years later, with the end of the massive Ghost Bear migration into the Inner Sphere in sight, the Clan's leaders began to turn their eyes towards the future. Plans were already afoot to integrate former KungsArme warriors based in the Occupation Zone into the touman, but what of the future? From where could they hope to draw the next generation of ethnic Rasalhagian recruits to continue the project of merging their two peoples? Unsurprisingly, few Rasalhagian civilians were willing to surrender their school-age children for training, and a proposal for conscription was firmly vetoed by the Khans as soon as their civilian advisors heard of it.
With few other options, Loremaster Laurie Tseng proposed combing through orphanages to in search of suitable candidates to be raised in freeborn warrior sibkos. At the age of 10 years Nils was one of the oldest candidates to be admitted, but performed well during his cadet years. At the age of 18 he passed his Trial of Position with two kills, one of the first trainees under the program to do so. Here fate intervened again, as Star Colonel Ragnar Magnusson of the First Rasalhague Bears decided to offer that first group of freeborn sibko graduates a choice: those with two or more kills could take the rank they had earned in second-line freeborn unit, or they could enter the Bears with the rank of MechWarrior. The Clan's leadership was reputed to be quite pleased when all the graduates, including Nils, chose the chance to serve with the Clan's best over rank and glory.
After joining the Bears in 3068 Nils saw his first action during the Trials of Possession that seized Rasalhague and Gunzberg from Clan Wolf, then served throughout the Jihad as a front-line warrior- first in the Bears, later in the 139th Striker Cluster of Omega Galaxy, rising to the rank of Star Captain on the battlefield. After the end of the Jihad, Nils found himself caught up in yet another experiment as the Clan leadership proposed forming a new Cluster from a mix of trueborn sibko graduates, Clan-born freeborn warriors, and ethnic Rasalhagians raised in the sibko system. When the time came to choose the new unit's first commander, Star Captain Nils and the trueborn Star Captain Elizabeth had roughly similar records- so, in the best tradition of the Clans, the matter was resolved with a BattleMech duel. When the smoke settled, Star Colonel Nils was the commander of the newly designated 791st Striker Cluster.
Notes: Nils is a powerfully built man of medium height, with prematurely white hair he wears long in a braid. He has always sought acceptance into the Warrior caste by trying to be "more Ghost Bear than the Ghost Bears", scrupulously avoiding contractions in his speech and refusing to use the surname he still technically bears on the records. His skill and devotion to duty have brought him to his current post, but he knows this is the peak of his career- he has no hope of being promoted beyond his current position, no possible way into the Clan breeding program, and cannot hope to keep his command for more than a few years before either political opposition or his "advanced age" send him off to a solahma unit. He is obsessed with making his Cluster a crack unit, seeing it as the only legacy he can hope to leave his Clan.
Nils is an accomplished Executioner pilot. He is also a historian, gathering information and writing articles about Ghost Bear history as his personal "Great Work." His writings have put him in occasional contact with members of Interstellar Expeditions and other Inner Sphere scholars, although naturally he knows nothing of IE's conclusions about the Minnesota Tribe.
791st Striker Cluster
Regular/Reliable
Nickname: The Rasalhague Hussars
Affiliation: Clan Ghost Bear, Beta Galaxy
Omni Percentage: 67%
Home Base: Susquehanna
Formed in 3081 from a mix of trueborn, Clan freeborn, and Rasalhagian warriors, the 791st is an experiment in what the next generation of an integrated Ghost Bear touman might look like. Although many in the Clan are openly skeptical of the idea of mixing ethnic Rasalhagians in with Ghost Bears, especially under a freeborn commander, the Clan's leadership have decided that the unit's true worth can only be determined on the battlefield. So far they have acquitted themselves well against a series of Clan Wolf raids, apparently provoked by outrage at the very idea of a freeborn Star Colonel commanding a frontline unit.
Many were surprised when the Hussars were assigned to the tradition-bound Beta Galaxy, but apparently Loremaster Laurie Tseng has decided she wishes to keep this experiment under close watch for the time being.
The Cluster insignia is a sword-wielding figure in a peaked Hussar cap from the 19th Century, mounted on a charging ghost bear.
Composition
Alpha Trinary: OmniMechs, mostly heavier designs.
Bravo Trinary: OmniMechs, largely light and medium designs with a few fast-moving heavies. The hammer to Alpha's anvil. Commanded by Star Captain Elizabeth, who Nils offered a place in the Hussars after defeating her for command. Whether or not this was a mistake remains to be seen
Charlie Trinary: A reserve formation equipped with conventional BattleMechs, a mixture of Clan and Star League technology.
Delta (Elemental) Binary
Echo (Aerospace) Binary: Oriented towards ground support, Echo makes heavy use of the Sulla OmniFighter, as well as the Batu as a fast interceptor and the Kirghiz as a heavy fire support design.
