Biggest/Best Hanging Plot Hooks

[Colt Ward]

Since the Arthur SD questions came up . . .

We have some that were resolved over the years- Wolverines, Minnesota Tribe, source of the Fidelis, where did Stone go, and of course the multitude of missing warships.

What are some that you thought were neat or enjoyed over the years?

[Daryk]

Given the game I running down in Roleplaying, I have to say the 3053 schism between ComStar and the WoB.  There's plenty of storytelling that could happen around that...

[victor_shaw]

Since the Arthur SD questions came up . . .

We have some that were resolved over the years- Wolverines, Minnesota Tribe, source of the Fidelis, where did Stone go, and of course the multitude of missing warships.

What are some that you thought were neat or enjoyed over the years?

I guess I missed this one.
When did they resolve the Wolverines story?
Last I heard, the only thing we had on this where some journals that seemed suspicious, and no one truly believed were real.
Did this change in one of the sourcebooks?

[Alan Davion]

I guess I missed this one.
When did they resolve the Wolverines story?
Last I heard, the only thing we had on this where some journals that seemed suspicious, and no one truly believed were real.
Did this change in one of the sourcebooks?

https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Betrayal_of_Ideals

Pretty sure that's the final wrap up to the Not-Named-Clan.  8)

[beachhead1985]

Was who killed Morgan Hasek-Davion and why ever resolved?

[Alan Davion]

Was who killed Morgan Hasek-Davion and why ever resolved?

Katherine Steiner pulled that one via a Lyran Intelligence Loki agent placed with Task Force Serpent as a means of whittling away at Victors circle of support.

[victor_shaw]

https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Betrayal_of_Ideals

Pretty sure that's the final wrap up to the Not-Named-Clan.  8)

My follow-up questions would be;

1. Are The Blood and the Minnesota Tribe the same group or did the two renaming task forces separate when they got to the Innersphere? It is not really touched on in the book.

2. If The Blood are the remains of one or all of the surviving Wolverines, why are the documents that were clearly written by someone familiar with the history off on there dates and times? Is this The Blood trying to throw-off the Clans or change the narrative of their history for some nefarious reasons?

3. Or are the writings authentic, and the dates were changed to hide the surviving Wolverines from ComStar as a whole?

[Pat Payne]

Some of my favorite hanging plot threads:

1. Who sent Jinjiro Kurita the doll dressed in a Star League uniform, why did they do it, how did they do it (as canon fluff has been pretty consistent that whoever did it somehow smuggled it into one of the most heavily guarded locales in the Combine) and what significance did Jinjiro see in it to cause him to fall violently into irretrievable madness?

2. Were Blanc's Coyotes another Clan probe, a'la Wolf's Dragoons? If not, why did they up and disappear and where did they go?

3. Who killed John Davion? 1SW does give a good lineup of suspects, but makes no definitive statements as to who was the actual guilty party.

4. Due to a possible throwaway reference in the latest House Marik sourcebook, was Snow Fire possibly a Marik operative who was part of a false-flag operation meant to implicate the Lyrans in Yoguchi Kurita's assassination? (the reference I'm talking about is one where the Captain General at the time placed a standing order that a bottle of expensive Lyran liquor be sent to the director of SAFE each year on the anniversary of the assassination for "services rendered")

[Alan Davion]

Some of my favorite hanging plot threads:

1. Who sent Jinjiro Kurita the doll dressed in a Star League uniform, why did they do it, how did they do it (as canon fluff has been pretty consistent that whoever did it somehow smuggled it into one of the most heavily guarded locales in the Combine) and what significance did Jinjiro see in it to cause him to fall violently into irretrievable madness?

2. Were Blanc's Coyotes another Clan probe, a'la Wolf's Dragoons? If not, why did they up and disappear and where did they go?

3. Who killed John Davion? 1SW does give a good lineup of suspects, but makes no definitive statements as to who was the actual guilty party.

4. Due to a possible throwaway reference in the latest House Marik sourcebook, was Snow Fire possibly a Marik operative who was part of a false-flag operation meant to implicate the Lyrans in Yoguchi Kurita's assassination? (the reference I'm talking about is one where the Captain General at the time placed a standing order that a bottle of expensive Lyran liquor be sent to the director of SAFE each year on the anniversary of the assassination for "services rendered")

1. Given the mysterious nature of how the doll arrived, miraculously getting through whatever ludicrous security was apparently in place, I'd be willing to put down real money that the nekekami were the ones that delivered the doll. Seriously, they can worm their way inside literally any place in the galaxy.

2. I'd never even heard of these guys, but reading their page on Sarna they don't sound like they were Clanners. Their whole "communing/living with nature in balance" bit makes them sound more like Druids or something. Which really makes it weird considering how utterly off balance the Word of Blake was, why would these mercs would sign on with them? Beyond that I'm scratching my head on these guys as much as you are. There simply isn't enough info to go off.

3. I'd love to know who these suspects are, cause there's literally nothing I can say on this one with how little there is on his Sarna page.

4. According to Sarna Snow Fire was a Lyran operative originally, but supposedly turned double agent for Marik's SAFE agency while on Luthien, which allowed them to use her as a patsy to implicate the Lyran's to get House Kurita to lash out at them for the next 14 years or so, leaving House Marik alone to do whatever it was they did over the next 14 years.

[glitterboy2098]

2. Were Blanc's Coyotes another Clan probe, a'la Wolf's Dragoons? If not, why did they up and disappear and where did they go?

https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Blanc%27s_Coyotes

given they joined the WoB my guess would be they weren't clan. given their penchant for getting impressive and classified intel, and their spiritualist bent, possibly a blakist splinter group from a hidden world?


alternately they did have ties to something else in the deep periphery, but when nearly their entire staff died out in the Samoyedic-Colonies after the misjump, no one remained who had any idea of that connection and they fell in with the WOB.

[Ghaz]

My hanging plot hook is what happened to the Knights of St. Cameron?  They were in a meeting with a reported member of the Cult of St. Cameron for three days and then left Galatea and vanished.

[Precentor Scorpio]

Oh, I still believe Galen Cox was originally a member of the LIC assigned to the 12th Donegal Guards to become Victor's friend and bodyguard.  (I just don't think Hanse would trust the Lyrans' with his son but for political reasons he had.)


 

[Robroy]

My follow-up questions would be;

1. Are The Blood and the Minnesota Tribe the same group or did the two renaming task forces separate when they got to the Innersphere? It is not really touched on in the book.

2. If The Blood are the remains of one or all of the surviving Wolverines, why are the documents that were clearly written by someone familiar with the history off on there dates and times? Is this The Blood trying to throw-off the Clans or change the narrative of their history for some nefarious reasons?

3. Or are the writings authentic, and the dates were changed to hide the surviving Wolverines from ComStar as a whole?

The Blood is canon rumor and even in the book the character giving the report expresses his doubts about it.

Where the information in the Blood documents came from is anybody's guess. They evidently had some info about the Wolverines, but not all, or felt it best to keep it vague to not get cough on details.

The biggest connection between Wolverines and WOB is the battleship Blake's Sword. It was probably found abandoned, but who knows.

[Alan Davion]

The biggest connection between Wolverines and WOB is the battleship Blake's Sword. It was probably found abandoned, but who knows.

That appears to be the case. During the Wolverine's attempt to escape Annihilation the McKenna class battleship SLS Zughoffer Weir was part of their little mini-exodus, and was involved in the naval battle in the Barbados, the only ship at the time capable of space naval warfare. The Zughoffer managed to destroy a Hell's Horses warship before it jumped out. ilKhan Kerensky ordered the rest of the fleet to destroy whatever Wolverine forces were still in the system.

What exactly happened after that no one is entirely sure. Did the Zughoffer meet up with whatever other tiny amount of surviving Wolverine forces led by Khan Trish Ebon when they returned to the Barbados system in an attempt to rescue any survivors?

Whatever did happen, a McKenna class battleship was apparently found in the more rimward portion of the Outworlds Alliance, which bordered the Draconis Combine and Federated Suns, it was found by WoB agents and somehow brought to the Sol system, ensconced at the Titan naval yards and overhauled over the next four years, from about 3061 to 3065, becoming the WBS Blake's Sword.

[Weirdo]

Note: it is unconfirmed that SLS Me became Blake's Sword. It could still be out there somewhere... :)

[dgorsman]

I've always addressed that as being "Don't let this fall into the Ghost Bear's hands! (winkwinknudgenudge)" full on fabrication, as a means of linking the WoB to the Wolverines, to goad the Bears into fighting them in earnest.

[Robroy]

Note: it is unconfirmed that SLS Me became Blake's Sword. It could still be out there somewhere... :)

Ahhh. So it is. More questions who's answers are obscured by misinformation. It is as if there is a cabal of people running this universe to their own ends.  ;D

[victor_shaw]

Ahhh. So it is. More questions who's answers are obscured by misinformation. It is as if there is a cabal of people running this universe to their own ends.  ;D

So in the long run we have proof that some of the Wolverines survived, but little else.
1. WoB "may" have found the ship.
2. The Blood "may" have been them.
3. The Minnesota Tribe "may" have been them.
4. ComStar "may" have been tipped off about the Clans by them.
5. The scouting task force "may have" landed in the  Nueva Castile region.
6. The SLS Zughoffer Weir "may" have been a ComStar/WoB vassal.
7. The Jihad documents "may" have been altered Wolverine records.

Overall there are way to many "maybe's" to say that this mystery is solved.

[victor_shaw]

Here a big hanging plot thread.

Why did warships become extinct in the battletech universe?
They where not some magical, mystical technology from the Star League.
They had been around since the before the founding of the Terran Hegemony.
The TAS Dreadnought , launched in 2300 and was the first full fledged Warship.
which would mean even if they could not duplicate the more advanced equipment of the newer ship the could easily reproduce the 2300s models.
So why did they become extinct?

Was it;
a. The house lords did not want to start a new arms race.
b. ComStar interference.
c. Wartime economy of the houses would not allow it.
d. They where an after thought of the writers and they realized they made them to powerful.

[Mendrugo]

Re: Wolverines, we have a canon story that a remnant survived the final naval battle by being elsewhere on picket duty, and headed for the Inner Sphere, while another subgroup fled the final battle and struck off on its own with Steel Vipers in pursuit. 

Based on what's been hinted in various sources, the implications are as follows (your mileage may vary):

1) Picket Fleet #1 and #2 reunited with a late-arriving ship of sibcadets and became the Minnesota Tribe, raiding the Combine to replace their lost civilian caste members.  This group circumnavigated the Inner Sphere and near Periphery going clockwise until it reached a spot rimward of the Magistracy of Canopus.  Sometime around the 2010s, they opened limited relations with the Magistracy, trading technology (particularly medical tech) in exchange for intel on the Inner Sphere.  At some point they abandoned their first base world for unknown reasons, and may have blended into the Magistracy.  They have had a working relationship with the Ebon Magistrate, and may have had a role in its creation.  (Trish EBON was the head of the Wolverine Watch.) 

2) The Zughoffer Weir and two support ships appear, based on circumstantial evidence and elements of the mostly fraudulent "Wolverine Journal," to have been found by ComStar while still in the Periphery, and were brought into the fold.  The Zughoffer Weir did end up in the Word of Blake fleet.  And someone fed highly specific intel to the Primus about the Clans (attributed to prophetic nightmares) that resulted in the creation of the Explorer Corps.

3) Picket Fleet #3 appears to have founded a settlement within transit range of the massacre site where most of the Wolverines died, since someone keeps coming back centuries later to lay flowers on the empty grave of Sarah McEvedy.

[Daryk]

Victor_Shaw: I'm pretty sure the answer is "e. All of the above"...  ^-^

[SCC]

I think probably the biggest problem with them ending up with the Magistracy is that they never took action against the Clans during the invasion or later.

[mbear]

Here a big hanging plot thread.

Why did warships become extinct in the battletech universe?
They where not some magical, mystical technology from the Star League.
They had been around since the before the founding of the Terran Hegemony.
The TAS Dreadnought , launched in 2300 and was the first full fledged Warship.
which would mean even if they could not duplicate the more advanced equipment of the newer ship the could easily reproduce the 2300s models.
So why did they become extinct?

Was it;
a. The house lords did not want to start a new arms race.
b. ComStar interference.
c. Wartime economy of the houses would not allow it.
d. They where an after thought of the writers and they realized they made them to powerful.

Victor_Shaw: I'm pretty sure the answer is "e. All of the above"...  ^-^

victor_shaw, I think Daryk's got the right answer, but I'll add two more possibilities to your list:

f. Expertise was lost as engineers/techs retired and died*.
g. A WarShip is a massive investment in time, money, and equipment. For the same amount of money, time, and (non-capital scale) equipment  House Lords could build up several regiments of 'Mechs with supporting aerospace and combat vehicles.

* possibly as a result of b.

[DarkISI]

Warships have a jump drive. No one knew how to build those at some point. So every damaged WarShip was lost, because they couldn't repair it.
There really is no mystery about it. It's the same reason, the IS didn't attack Jump Ships during the Succession Wars. Once they were lost, interstellar travel was lost.

[Tyler Jorgensson]

Note: it is unconfirmed that SLS Me became Blake's Sword. It could still be out there somewhere... :)

Still get a kick outta this: but I’ve never seen you refer to it as the ‘SLS Me’ so now I’m more amused. :)


On topic a lot of Wolverine chatter around the boards: it’s something that has not been completely resolved but BoI and Blake’s Documents (?) gave us a lot of information previously not had.

Is the Wolverine Arc finished? I hope not but at least it’s got a sorta season finale ish vibe to it.

[Alan Davion]

Is the Wolverine Arc finished? I hope not but at least it’s got a sorta season finale ish vibe to it.

Just cause we know how a story inevitably and ultimately ends, doesn't mean there aren't other stories to tell.

[Precentor Scorpio]

Who stole Apollyon's pants?
:)
Trying to be funny

[Daryk]

mbear: you should repurpose my "e" and move it below your two...  8)

[SCC]

Warships have a jump drive. No one knew how to build those at some point. So every damaged WarShip was lost, because they couldn't repair it.
There really is no mystery about it. It's the same reason, the IS didn't attack Jump Ships during the Succession Wars. Once they were lost, interstellar travel was lost.

I don't think building Jump Drives ever became LosTech, and given that the Houses actually had trouble with building Transit Drives during the 50's, I'd peg that as the problem.

[Alan Davion]

I don't think building Jump Drives ever became LosTech, and given that the Houses actually had trouble with building Transit Drives during the 50's, I'd peg that as the problem.

Actually it did become LosTech.

From Sarna...

The science behind the KF drive was lost in the course of the succession wars (except by ComStar, who concealed their continued knowledge). While new drives can still be made, this is done by simply repeating the known design, without variation. This also means that new jumpship designs cannot be created except by trial and error, a process that would be so ludicrously expensive in the case of even one failure that the closest anyone has come is making modest changes to non-jump related systems, such as changing armament and external accoutrements. ComStar had secretly produced a few new designs, most notably the Magellan class explorer, equipped with an HPG for use in scouting new systems and searching for Kerensky's fleet. Following the discovery of the Helm Memory Core, this science has begun to recover, and new designs have begun to produced. The Clans retained more of this information, fielding several unique designs and even maintaining a WarShip fleet, though how much they know is a closely guarded secret.

So while the Great Houses were able to make more Jumpships like the Scout, Star Lord and Monolith, they were basically just carbon copies. They couldn't create entirely new classes, which was another factor in why they couldn't begin to create Warships until quite a bit later during the Invasion era.