Wasteland Legion personalities
Ulysses Coffin
Age: 47 (born 3082)
Position/Rank: Wasteland Legion commander
According to what little information is available, most notably his official biography, Ulysses Coffin is a native of Santa-Ana who’s rise to power largely comes from a desire to end the misrule of his homeworld. Born in the small community of Northlake, he joined the local volunteer militia. Fortunate enough to have survived a massacre at the hands of the Grave Robbers pirate band, he fled to the hinterlands and built his own army aimed at ending their reign of terror.
After a successful campaign to destroy the pirates, Coffin installed himself as the world’s new ruler. Driven by an apparently genuine de site for change, he has spent the last decade budding up his world and its people. At the same time, he has apparently set his sights on other worlds, building an army to obstinate stabilize them so they may be uplifted as he did with Santa-Ana while eliminating the pirates that plague the region.
Despite his apparently noble goals, there is little that is humanitarian about Coffin. He belives in peace and stability, but has little concern for individual rights or freedoms. While he did build a functional government, it is still a heavy handed dictatorship, where authority comes from imposing his will on others. None the less, he is still popular among the people for how much he has improved their lives.
Stern and humourless, Coffin is demanding and has little tolerance for incompetence or sycophants. His few personal relationships, including his own daughter, are cold and more professional than anything else. Formerly a skilled MechWarrior, he now is focused more on his role as a leader and builder then the battlefield.
(Editor’s note: there’s a few gaps in his story, most notably the issue of where he got his BattleMech training from. It is also rather convenient that he was the sole survivor of a massacre, which leaves nobody to verify or refute his story)
Ramon Sanz
Age: 50? (born 3080?)
Position/Rank: Colonel, Commander 1st Legion
Hailing from a tribe in the hinterlands of Santa-Ana, Ramon Sanz rose to prominence as Ulysses Coffin’s second during his war against the Grave Robbers. Already the leader of his tribe and having some renown as a skilled hunter and warrior, Sanz adapted his skills to the BattleMech cockpit with surprising ease. His time fighting alongside Coffin also taught him a considerable amount about modern warfare, and the capabilities of the machines he commanded. While a far cry from the simple weapons he was used to, Sanz proved to be a capable tactician and leader.
As their revolution transitioned to a viable, legitimate state, Coffin began to take over the day to day running of the new nation. In his place, Sanz was given more and more authority over the military and its management. Now the effective second of the new nation, he took direct command of their premier formation, the (’Mech regiment). While in theory, the other regimental commanders were equal in rank to him, in practice, he had authority over them.
While a capable commander, even if somewhat unsophisticated, Sanz tends to be more results driven. While he understands the need to conserve their rare BattleMech resources, he is not above using infantry as expendable assists to hold ground or force an outcome. He has an intense dislike of pirates, and does nothing to disguise it. This also includes the former pirates under his command, who he only barely tolerates.
Ramon Sanz is married with six children; at least three of them have positions in the Legion.
(As with Ulysses Coffin, there are a number of unanswered questions here, not the least is how he learned to operate a BattleMech and know so much about modern mechanised warfare. While we can assume that Coffin trained him, that comes back to the question of how he possessed these skills in the first place)
Shelly Mabott
Age: 39 (born 3091)
Position/Rank: Major, 1st Legion
One of the ranking officers in the 1st Legion, Shelly Mabott owes his rank and position as much to necessity as he does to any skill or experience on his part. One of the few surviving Grave Robbers, Mabott defected to Ulysses Coffin’s side during his uprising. This move does not seem to have been born of any loyalty or ideology, however, but rather opportunism. Mabott chose to join what he saw as the winning team, rather than risk being on the losing end of the revolution.
After the war, Mabott’s experience as an officer and a MechWarrior were seen as being essential to Coffin’s long-term plans. Installed as a captain (and then promoted to major as the new army grew), he helped shape the new army as it transitioned from a thrown-together revolution to something resembling a legitimate fighting force. Mabott was also key to the training of new MechWarriors, having been semi-formally educated by the Grave Robbers himself. While this background was dubious, it still was a more extensive degree of training then many of Coffin’s revolution possessed.
Mabott is not well liked, being seen as a greedy opportunist that few under his command actually trust. Many look at his past history of betrayal, and consider that he would not be above doing it again if the need arose. During his time with the Grave Robbers, he earned the nickname ‘Vulture’, a moniker that he personally despises but has been unable to shift. Added to this, he has been keeping a wary eye on Captain Ash Coffin. While nominally his subordinate, he is concerned that her parentage could be used as grounds to promote her to take his place.
Ash Coffin
Age: 25? (born 3105?)
Position/Rank: Captain, 1st Legion
The only known child of Ulysses Coffin, Ash was born to a tribal woman whom he had an affair with over a decade before his exile. However, it was not until he took shelter with that tribe that she entered his life. While she didn’t fight in the revolution (Even though there were child soldiers younger than her on both sides of the conflict), Ash was inducted into the army in its aftermath as it grew from a revolutionary army into a more organised, military force.
Trained as a MechWarrior by veterans of that conflict, she showed considerable skill at the controls of a BattleMech despite her upbringing. Upon ‘graduation’, she was given the rank of lieutenant and command of a rare heavy lance, likely the result of her father’s influence as much as it was her own skill. Two years later, she was promoted again to captain, again likely as a result of her parentage as much as any skill on her part.
Despite this, Ash is a skilled MechWarrior and commander in her own right, and has already proven herself in several skirmishes. And while her father’s position has been advantageous to her, she seems to be determined to prove herself and what she is capable of on her own, rather than having to live in his shadow. However, she has not been entirely above abusing that advantage when it can help her.
Currently, Ash is the commander of the Red Sands company, named for the region that her mother’s tribe hailed from and where her father built his revolution. Something of a prestigious unit, the Red Sands are seen as the spiritual (if not actual) descendants of the original revolutionary force.
(Strangely, we have not been able to find anything on Ash’s mother beyond her point of origin; not even her name. It is possible that she is dead, or the two are estranged)
Burney Nexx
Age: 31? (born 3099?)
Position/Rank: Captain, 1st Legion
Burney Nexx has been one of our best sources of information about the Legion, its past and its current strengths. This has not come through using him as any form of informant or the like, but rather through letting him talk. While a decent MechWarrior and officer, Nexx is also something of a loudmouthed braggart who loves to let the whole world know about his exploits.
Going with what we can verify, Nexx was a member of a small farming community who choose to join Coffin’s uprising, even if it was more for the adventure of it then any loyalty or ideals. However, he seems to have been genuinely swayed to his cause, becoming something of a believer during the course of Coffin’s rebellion. This loyalty was rewarded with promotion as the insurgents transitioned to a standing army.
For all his bragging, Nexx is a capable MechWarrior, although only a middling officer and tactician at the best of times. He is not afraid to get his hands dirty and do what needs to be done in order to achieve his objectives, but is also not beyond spinning the outcome to paint him in the best possible light. Having grown up under the rule of the Grave Robbers, he has little respect for the former pirates under his command and treats them with barely concealed disdain. Conversely, those who were born on Santa-Ana are treated far better.
Maggie Vossler
Age: 28 (Born 3103)
Position/Rank: Lieutenant, 1st Battalion, 1st Wasteland Legion
Almost universally known as “Magpie” to those that work with her, Vossler is a rare outsider to the Wastes region. Vossler was previously a part of the now-defunct Wilde’s Pack mercenary command. Left bankrupt and marooned in the Periphery after a series of disastrous contracts, Major Wilds chose to sell what was left of his command, both men and machines, to us in exchange for passage to somewhere closer to the Inner Sphere. Besides a small supply of BattleMechs and vehicles, we gained the services of several capable individuals from the deal.
Lieutenant Vossler is one such example. While only a mediocre gunner, she is a very skilled pilot, adept at manoeuvring in difficult terrain and avoiding enemy fire. She also has considerable experience as a recon lance commander, and understands the priorities of gathering information over getting bogged down in a fight. On top of that, Vossler has had experiences in the Inner Sphere and so-called ‘near’ Periphery that could prove useful to us; certainly she knows more about life beyond a handful of nearby systems then most of our people.
Vossler pilots the same Cadaver that she operated during her time in the Pack. One of the newer BattleMechs in the legion, it is in decent condition. As one of the few even moderately advanced scout ‘Mechs we have at our disposal, it is potentially a valuable asset.