Character Study of the Week: Simon Cameron
Who: Simon Cameron
What: First Lord of the Star League
When: 2709 - 2751
Weapon of Choice: Virtue
Reason
PR
Son and heir to the less than stable and not entirely competent Jonathan Cameron, Simon inherited a political situation best described as tenuous, and while his taking of the throne was heralded as an auspicious new start it quickly staled.
Simon was a fair and principled man, not itself unusual or unheard of in a ruler, though a bit of a hindrance, and while hopes were high none of the Council Lords were particularly cooperative given their previous experience, and if anything there was a general public apathy lingering from his father’s rule.
This made the business of First Lording rather difficult, and while he valiantly struggled against these factors his efforts came to nothing until he decided to tour the Star League.
Initially a success it did not get far until an ‘accident’ in a MiningMech killed him, along with a number of other functionaries, guards, miners and so forth, but when the ruler of all humanity dies they tend to be forgotten.
Regardless it paves the way for grand and dire changes.
This is a rather brief and dry summary of the life of one of the more important men of his age, and the common First Lord Cameron related consequence of there being relatively little written about him until recently.
I’ll cut to the chase, just like all the other Camerons he is a plot device, part of setting up the Amaris Coup, the Fall of the Star League, the Succession Wars, the Clans and the whole modern setting in general, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Like his father Simon is very directly tied to the fall. While Jonathan built the foundations for Amaris’ success Simon’s death created the opening for the plot to begin.
Could these two roles have been merged? Jonathan as not only the mad man generating so many powerful weapons to be used against the SLDF, but the one to die and leave an underage heir who is easily manipulated?
Yes and no, there is something to be said for that sort of efficiency, but it also overloads a relatively minor character with a lot of pivotal plot, and there is also the matter of pacing to consider. One fewer First Lord is that much less history and legacy to the Star League. This is an important factor when there are only six, barely a decent sized lineage.
Dramatically it also serves to split these functions between two characters, one who is a part of a clear downward spiral and another who, even if only briefly, represents a possible reversal, a brighter hope, which, when turned on itself, is even more of a key dramatic twist.
It’s relatively easy in this case because, well, the thing is that Simon is a terrible First Lord simply because he is inflexible.
Not adamant, determined or stubborn, but so utterly certain of his views as being right that he can’t understand why others don’t automatically fall in line. This can be seen in the one clear profile picture we have of him. If anything he looks like a European Monarch shortly before World War One, much of that is the beard and uniform effect, but it’s a visual representation of that inflexibility.
Simon Cameron looks like a stuffy, unimaginative, inflexible man too set in his ways and values to change or adapt.
Which is a little unfair. While most of his rule was marked with the sort of leadership that seemed stunned that people thought differently from him the final years, cut short as they were, hit upon a good idea, a whistle stop tour of the stars to promote the Star League via the personage of the First Lord.
It only got a few worlds in but as ideas go it’s not that bad, its good old fashioned PR and showed early signs of working.
Which is why his weapons of choice are listed as Virtue (which failed), Reason (which never worked for any other First Lord) and PR, even though it is noted that he was a MechWarrior. As far as the character is concerned if he’s not seen piloting a machine in combat then MechWarrior is a background trait, not a characteristic. Why even mention it? Because it is plot relevant. Being a MechWarrior gave him the in setting natural love of piloting the machines.
Sadly it led to his death.
Now the whys and wherefores of Simon’s death are one of the smaller open debates of the setting.
It’s too convenient not to be an assassination, and while it opens the door for Stefan Amaris to influence Richard Cameron there’s no evidence one way or another, and in fact would show an element of planning by Amaris for which there is no evidence. By all accounts, and those are fragmentary, he only hit upon manipulating Richard after meeting the boy after his father’s death.
Then who? Kurita or Periphery groups in general are strong possibilities, but that discounts the ambitions of other House Lords, other groups in general who may just have not liked Simon or First Lords in general, or the simple possibility that there was just an accident.
In a fictional setting an accident can’t simply fly though, there’s too much swirling around Simon and subsequently his son after that very convenient death.
Realistically it ultimately doesn’t matter. Too many people profited from the situation, even as it led to the downfall and misfortune of many more, souring any legacies built. This means that it could be any of them, or none of them, and even if it were revealed it would change nothing. Richard still became First Lord, was assassinated, the Star League fell. Knowing the culprit at this point satisfies little beyond curiosity unless it answers another question.
It also serves not to answer everything in a vast fictional setting like BattleTech, omniscience, even narrator omniscience, bites into the reality of the setting.
Which means that Simon lives, does little of consequence, and dies, clearing the way for the big building blocks of the current setting.
It’s unfair, there could easily be more to the man, but right now there isn’t, it would require the sort of depth that takes energy and space away from the big stompy machines central to the game and setting.
And to be honest the dearth of information about Simon, even as the ‘historical’ timeframe is explored, suits the character quite well. Just as merging his functions with Jonathan would have overburdened the character so too would too much detail in this instance.
Thus Simon serves as a functional First Lord based plot device, advancing the setting without encumbering it.
