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Fair enough. I suppose I took Vlad Ward's needling of Marthe Pryde on its face more than I should've--I suppose I saw it as "well, there's this one oddball Clan that doesn't care about age" versus a reading of "hey, join the oddball Clan that has a couple ancient Warriors, you might fit in with them." Which, now that I put it in words, feels like it hews to the latter. That said, it does seem that age is at least less of a concern among the Nova Cats. All else, I will concede.

Clan Chatterweb / Re: Clan Nova Cat - Zombie Catgirl Extravaganza

« Last post by tassa_kay on Today at 04:27:01 »

I wouldn’t take a handful of cherry-picked, and admittedly exceptional, examples of aged warriors in important positions as any sort of modus operandi. Per FM:Comstar (page 109, if you want a specific reference), the Nova Cats put warriors into solahma units just like every other Clan does. And we’ve seen lots of examples over the last decade or so of publication (ER3145 and FM3145) of bondsmen from other Clans and even Inner Sphere powers (the Ravens have a former Combine bondsman commanding a frontline Cluster, and Jake Kabrinski rose from bondsman to Khan of his new Clan) to show that the Nova Cats aren’t even remotely unique or exceptional in this regard. And frankly, given the Cats’ downward spiral post-Refusal, I think there’s a case to be made that the Cats are the last Clan one might want to end up as a bondsman. They end up beholden to an Inner Sphere power that not only costs them their autonomy, but eventually their very lives.

Clan Chatterweb / Re: Clan Nova Cat - Zombie Catgirl Extravaganza

« Last post by parable on Today at 04:01:38 »

Quote from: cmerwin on 07 April 2024, 17:44:15

I've been consistently fascinated by the character of saKhan Lucian Carns (who should have been played by Lance Reddick in any BattleTech film)

First point: Is Lucian Carns not Lance Reddick(RIP)?

But on the topic of "who would do well as Nova Cat bondsmen?" I have a simple answer: anyone who fears being solahma. Phillip Drummond was the longest-lived of the original Khans: at 77, after outliving his daughter and overcoming ALS or MS or thereabouts, trialed back into Warrior and became the third Nova Cat Khan until his death (I think of natural causes?) at 112. Vlad Ward teased Marthe Pryde about her age by suggesting she join the Nova Cats (until our abjuration took the humor from it). I mean, in the great refusal, IIRC the Nova Cats took only 2 casualties to beat the entire Ice Hellion detachment: Lucian Carns and his Khan, Severen Leroux (82 years old at the time).

If you're near 30 and not bloodnamed or favored by someone, you're looking at a future of garrison duty and suicide charges--against dark caste, lucrewarriors, pirates--not even real opponents. You're taken as a bondsman by Clan Nova Cat. The one clan that doesn't see age as an albatross or millstone around your neck. The one that, quelle surprise, views experience and age as assets, not liabilities. Would you care that they mostly see age as a benefit because of how it allows them to refine their mystical visions? Would you point out that a large part of their refusal to go out in one's prime, in a blaze of glory, is simply due to a quirk of their history and their 1st/3rd Khan? I sure wouldn't. I'd buckle down, get on board, and thank the Kerenskys that I had an opportunity to, when most Clans would mark me solahma and cannon fodder, become something of a ristar once more.

Add in how thinly stretched Clan Nova Cat was after their abjuration--even if you'd never get a bloodname (no Nova Cat genes, and you're not likely getting a reply from your home bloodhouse), you still might be slotted into a front-line formation as a full-fledged Nova Cat Warrior.

A better deal than being made bondsman by most other Clans, I'd say.

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