I'm back, after a fashion, I won't go into it more than that, but hopefully these will start becomming more regular again.
Character Study of the Week: Nicholas Cameron
Who: Nicholas Cameron
What: Lieutenant, 43rd Royal Light Horse Regiment, 1st Royal Division, SLDF
Colonel, SLDF
Lieutenant General, SLDF
First Lord of the Star League
14th Director-General of the Terran Hegemony
When: 2556 - 2640
Weapon of Choice: BattleMechs
Armies
Politics
Bureaucracy
Eldest surviving child of Ian Cameron and Shandra Noruff-Cameron and born long after elder brother Timothy’s death during childhood Nicholas was groomed from an early age to take on the responsibilities of not only ruling the realm his ancestors had helmed for centuries, but also the new interstellar organisation of pan-human unity that his father was forging.
With guns.
Naturally this led to a military career, at just the right time to participate in the Reunification War, on the Taurian Front of all places.
He survives an ascends the ranks of the military and eventually inherits the throne, doing various things, making decisions and generally being the kind of boring, level headed (aside from a Taurian based prejudice likely from his time on the front lines) leader that every nation needs but history glosses over because there are far more interesting people to talk about.
Boring and dull are too extreme to describe Nicholas, it is however accurate to call him a flat character with little to no personality, development or much of anything really. All this because he does live in a time of relative peace and inactivity and thus little has been written about him, and much of what has tends to have more impact in relation to ancestors or descendants.
The one point of colour to him, participation in the Reunification War, is something of a given. For a Cameron to be in the military and not be on the lines smacks of hypocrisy from the soon to be royal family, moreover active participation adds legitimacy to Camerons as leaders of the whole Star League endeavour.
The Taurian Front, always anticipated as the hottest, hardest of zones, is questionable and logical at the same time. It avoids any accusation of a Cameron ducking serious duty while simultaneously putting an heir in very real danger.
From inside the setting it’s a calculated risk. In some respects the subversive Magistry is more dangerous, the Alliance wasn’t thought of to be a real fight and the Republic heated up too late to be a factor in making the decision.
On the authorial level the decision is much the same, put Nicholas in what is perceived from the beginning to be a real war zone, or an area where he can be seduced, or a place that’s a cakewalk that goes awry or the Johnny-come-lately battleground.
Taurian Concordat it is, and from there it’s simple enough to have him survive just because he has to.
Author fiat? Maybe, but this isn’t reality, and plot exist for a reason. Had he died there would have been another Cameron to take the reins, another flat character, there really isn’t much point in killing Nicholas except to kill him. No emotional or strategic sense to it. To paraphrase Starscream; flat characters survive.
Needless to say Nicholas’ time was less overtly eventful than his father’s. Not to say that it was peaceful, this is the BattleTech universe after all, but even with Hidden Wars there was nothing like the Reunification War that preceded them to grab attention. Much like the later Third Succession War there isn’t a grand, major movement of warfare, just slow, simmering along conflict.
So to that end a flat character is actually highly appropriate. Nicholas shouldn’t stand out, even numbering only six (official) First Lords, there have to be some who are mundane.
That being said Nicholas Cameron actually has quite a bit of personal expansion potential. Unlike his father, or others who bear the forename, Nicholas isn’t a grand, staggering figure straddling the setting with the events he put into motion, the decision he makes and the history he forges. From a writing perspective this makes him a much less intimidating and ultimately more flexible character to write about.
And again there is potential for the character since he did participate in the Reunification War to a degree. He was involved in events, though of far smaller and accessible scale.
So yes, Nicholas Cameron is a flat character, almost a nonentity, but at the same time has options available to be more, as so many other historical characters have proven in the last few years.
At present though does he serve any sort of purpose?
To a degree, by existence alone he establishes a legacy, and that legacy is important to the setting, both in terms of the Star League, it’s longevity as an organisation and an idea, and as a goal for petty lords to fight over.
That isn’t much to recommend Nicholas, but he’s actually at a crucial point in history since even though his father founds the Star League Nicholas is the first step in continuing it. It is under him that the organisation will condense, solidify and mature.
Unfortunately little of this has anything to do with big stompy things, so it’s not likely that there’s a lot of writable action in this from a BattleTech perspective, not in the traditional mould. Instead it would be a political potboiler, and while that can make for an interesting read it isn’t quite BattleTech.
Given that the backstory of the setting has been fleshed out considerably in the last few years it is entirely as possible that we may wind up seeing more of Nicholas and his contributions, and hopefully another facet of the supposedly peaceful Star League era.
