Just my view.
1. Both Khans were dead. In the absence of leadership, chaos reigned.
Both Khans were dead the Clan was in shock at their decision to turn against the other Clans and in chaos. It's actually impressive the numbers of Nova Cats that got out of the Homeworlds did.
Ah. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. :)
2. Way of the Clans. Clans sink or swim on their own merits. The strongest Warden Clan (the Bears) had just embraced the Warden way, and most of their touman was in the IS anyway. None of the others had the strength or desire to get in the way of rampaging Crusaders.
On the other hand, they did vote down the original notion of straight-up annihilating the Nova Cats, so what was stopping them from just casting their votes the same way again when it came to Abjuration?
Unless, for the most part, they did, and the difference came from some moderate Crusader Clan that thought Annihilation was going to far, but considered Abjuration a fair punishment...
They were pissed at the Nova Cats for betraying them and fighting for the Inner Sphere
The Diamond Sharks and Snow Ravens did provide transports and escorts in exchange for territory but that's the most the Nova Cats could have expected
That is just what I was wondering about in that part you quoted though - while I completely understand why the Crusaders would consider the Nova Cats fighting for the Inner Sphere to be betrayal, I utterly fail to comprehend why the Warden Clans would think that way. If they can be called Wardens at all, I would think, the thought of fighting for the Inner Sphere should at least have crossed their own minds as well! After all, is that not just bringing the Warden ideology to its logical conclusion?
3. There was no benefit to them. As an abjured Clan, the Nova Cats had no rights. Also, everyone was too busy fighting the opening rounds of the Wars of Possession, the years of trials fought over the Ghost Bear, Smoke Jaguar, and yes, Nova Cat territory.
Do Clans necessarily always look out for benefit to themselves when it comes to punishing those who stray too much from the Clan ideal and betray Kerensky's vision, though?
Throughout both the novels and BattleTech history in the wiki, I always had the impression that all Clans were always afraid of taking too un-Clanlike actions, for fear of being declared corrupted by the Great Council and made a target for Absorption or Annihilation (ultimately, is that not sort of what happened to both Clan Widowmaker and Clan Mongoose?). And genocide in particular, I thought, was something that the Clans abhorred. Is that not the case, then? Do Clans only oppose other Clans violating their traditions if they can see some benefit to themselves in doing so, and are happy to just turn their eyes away otherwise?
Anger and Shock. The Clans did not expect the Inner Sphere to ever find the Homeworlds let alone destroy the Smoke Jaguar Clan which at that moment was led by the ilKhan himself. So the Grand Council was in shock and they were angry the Nova Cats had fought for the Star League Defence Force defeating the Ice Hellions which added to the Clans defeat and the complete end to the Invasion.
If the Nova Cats had purely refused to fight in the Trial of Refusal instead sitting on the side lines they would have remained part of Clan society unfortunately their entire invasion force had already switched sides to the SLDF fighting the Jags in several occasions so the Nova Cat Clan would have become one of the weakest homeworlds Clans and ripe for its own absorption.
See above - why would the Wardens view it that way, though?
But, okay, I guess shock in particular can easily drive people to forget about their ideals and act in fear and panic. After all, the Warden Clans, too, voted in favour of the invasion after the arrival of the
Outbound Light (something that I, admittedly, also always found somewhat difficult to understand - and which, too, I interpret as people in shock and panic making choices they might not have made otherwise).
In other words the Nova Cats screwed themselves and burned every bridge to the other Clans by turning on them it was a betrayal of the Clan ideal - a big mistake but not the Nova Cat's last.
Turning their backs on the Draconis Combine during the Jihad - originally withdrawing from their posts to their enclaves and then joining Stoner was pretty much a rerun of their screw up at the Trial of Refusal
That is a nice parallel. :)
I think I view it quite a bit differently though. To me, that seems not so much a mistake, as the Nova Cats choosing to act on their ideals and do what is right, rather than just looking for the easiest and safest path. That, I would say, is the very definition of heroism - in a universe where heroes often end tragically.
