So yeah, Anastasia seeded her Steel Wolves- that were deemed worthy- among other merc commands in order to foster bonds which would raise a crop of warriors she could call as a personal army.
Fair enough. I hadn't read this particular Shrapnel story before, but it sure does appear to be the case after reading it just now. It's even written by the same author, which I normally would consider a plus because of consistency (something BattleTech has sorely lacked in many areas over the decades), but in this case...
The whole thing reads like a massive retcon, because none of this was even
implied in Wolf Hunters, and one that never actually went anywhere because it bore no real fruit after this story. Which is a shame, because this could've made HotW/ilClan better than... well, the dreck we got. All of this could've made for a
fantastic novel instead of a Shrapnel short.
I wonder if this did end up being affected by the clear shift in direction during the lead-up to ilClan. In fact, given the fact that we've had more than one shift in direction since Wolf Hunters was printed, it's probably little wonder that this one slipped uner my radar. Things have been all over the damn place over the last two decades of BattleTech continuity.
Thanks for pointing me to this one, Colt. I
loved Wolf Hunters, and you know I adore Anastasia, so this was a fun little story to read.
Btw
Anastasia was taken bondsmen in Bonfire of Worlds.
I always mix up the two because Masters of War was right about the time I checked out (I really hated the way Stackpole wrote the Wolf Hunters). LORD, that book was bad.